1.0 FULL RELEASE OUT NOW!

Following nearly 2 years in Early Access, Midnight Ghost Hunt 1.0 is OUT NOW on both Steam and the Epic Games Store!

It’s been a long and exciting road as we ramp up to this full release!

Here’s a rundown of what has changed for our 1.0 release:

✨ALL 10 maps FULLY REVAMPED✨

We've been tirelessly working behind the scenes, overhauling all the maps to ensure they reach their absolute best versions! Our objectives with these changes were:

  • Large layout changes on most maps

    • Less reliance on ladders for verticality on maps like Ghost Ship or Asylum

    • Improved map flow for getting around the map easier

  • Add more line of sight breaks for escapes

    • By breaking up line of sight, Ghosts can get away from Hunters easier by having more walls/corners to hide behind

  • Add more hiding spots and have less dead ends

    • The redesigns of most of the maps allowed us to rethink a lot of the hiding spots for Ghosts as well, which has led to many more exciting “run-away” moments

    • We also ensured that every spot on every map has multiple ways to escape, always giving the Ghost a chance to get away from those relentless Hunters 😉

  • Improved lighting and contrast

    • During Early Access, most of our maps were very blue. With the new lighting pass, we have added warmth and contrast back to the maps, which also reduces a lot of the visual noise; allowing Ghosts to stand out even more 👻

🔫WEAPON SKINS🔫

We wanted another way for players to spend their hard earned Ghost Shards, and weapons skins seemed like the obvious choice! For 1.0 every weapon has at least 1 new skin that can be unlocked via Ghost Shards. Each weapon also has a ✨golden ✨ skin, which can only be unlocked by getting the Mastery achievement for that weapon!

🤖 ALL NEW BOT AI, Difficultly levels, Profile Pictures, and more!🤖

Both the Hunter and Ghost bots have gotten a MAJOR upgrade! Their revamped AI will employ improved strategies and navigation - and will make for indispensable allies or formidable foes!

We wanted to make sure that if you just wanted to chill in a lobby with a couple of friends, that you could turn the bots on the fill out your teams, and feel good knowing that they will actually be able to play with you as Hunters or Ghosts.

👻new ghost VISUALS👻

Our new and improved Ghost visuals enriches the appearance and aura of our spectral friends. From the default skin to the Krampus and everything in-between, our overhauled Ghost visuals are a significant upgrade.

Much like with the map changes, we felt the Ghost visuals were much too bright and blue, so we redid all of them to add even more visual clarity to your chosen spectral skin.

🛠️NEW HUNTER WEAPON VFX🛠️

Spectral Cannon, Project X, Ghostsmasher, Grenade, and more all received new and improved visual effects for improved clarity! The goal was to make the weapon effects warmer colors so they contrast better against all the Ghostly blue.

AND MORE…

  • New Pathfinder screen to prevent motion sickness/improve clarity

  • Medkits now heal 40% of your max health, instead of a 100% heal previously

  • Medium sized props are now more likely to break when using charge up attack

  • Spirit should no longer rotate incorrectly when exiting spirit

  • Improved Riot Shield and Ghost Smasher Shield block success rate

  • Finalized localization in the 11 supported languages

  • Player titles now show on all of the end of game screens

  • Hunter gadgets (trap, camcorder, etc) no longer disappear when changing loadout at the generator if gadget is unchanged

And so much more just waiting for you to discover on the hunt!

Thanks for reading, and for joining us on our early access journey! What started as an after-hours passion project has grown into what Midnight Ghost Hunt is today, and we couldn't have done it without you.

Also a huge thanks to Ernst & Borg, our co-development studio. We couldn’t have brought MGH to full 1.0 release without them!

Hope to see you on the hunt! 🥳

👻 -Team MGH 

1.0 FULL RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT!

You read that right Ghosts and Hunters, 1.0 is right around the corner!

Following nearly 2 years in Early Access, we're thrilled to announce the official full release of Midnight Ghost Hunt 1.0 on March 21st, 2024 on both Steam and the Epic Games Store! The excitement is palpable as we unveil some truly AMAZING changes to accompany our 1.0 release. Let's dive right in!

✨ALL 10 maps FULLY REVAMPED✨

We've been tirelessly working behind the scenes, overhauling all the maps to ensure they reach their absolute best versions! Brace yourself for all new designs, new layouts, new lighting, strategic hiding spots, improved gameplay flows, and beyond! Get a sneak peek at the transformations with the before-and-after clips below! 👀

Before
After

🔫WEAPON SKINS🔫

That’s right, Hunters now have their choice of weapon skins for all of the weapons, unlockable via Ghost Shards! Earning the “Master” achievement for a weapon will unlock the shiny new ✨golden✨skin for that weapon. Other skins can be acquired with Ghost Shards like other cosmetics.

🤖 ALL NEW BOT AI, Difficultly levels, Profile Pictures, and more!🤖

Both the Hunter and Ghost bots have gotten a MAJOR upgrade! Their revamped AI will employ improved strategies and navigation - and will make for indispensable allies or formidable foes!

Ever envisioned a Hunter bot equipped with a Radar following you on the hunt? Your wish is now a command away! Direct them to wield specific weapons or perks, or simply have them follow your lead.

They also now have 3 difficultly levels for you to choose from (easy, normal, hard), or leave them on auto to adjust to the average player level in the server!

But that's not all – these bots now exude more personality than ever with fresh names, skins, and profile pictures!

👻new ghost VISUALS👻

Our new and improved Ghost visuals enriches the appearance and aura of our spectral friends. From the default skin to the Krampus and everything in-between, our overhauled Ghost visuals are a significant upgrade.

🛠️NEW HUNTER WEAPON VFX🛠️

Spectral Cannon, Project X, Ghostsmasher, Grenade, and more all received new and improved visual effects for improved clarity! Generally, the effects are warmer colors so they contrast better against all the Ghost blue.

🚗NEW HUNTER VAN DESIGN🚗

The van's interior has been revamped for maximum comfort during those long nights of Ghost Hunting across all of the haunted maps! 👻

And so much more just waiting for you to discover on the hunt!

Thanks for reading, and for joining us on our early access journey! What started as an after-hours passion project has grown into what Midnight Ghost Hunt is today, and we couldn't have done it without you.

We are so very excited to release 1.0 on March 21st, 2024, and we can’t wait to see you on the hunt very, very soon! 🥳

👻 -Team MGH 

UPDATE 11: 2ND HUNTER GADGET SLOT, MAIN MENU UI OVERHAUL, SEPARATE EMOTES/VICTORY POSES FOR GHOSTS, AND MORE!

Season’s greetings, Ghosts and Hunters!

As the holiday season blankets the world in warmth and cheer, our ghostly game is no exception to the festive magic. 'Tis the season for festive spirits, so grab your gear and get ready for a hauntingly delightful Christmas hunt!

❄️2ND HUNTER GADGET SLOT ❄️

Previously, Hunters had only one gadget slot that would force a player to pick either a tracking gadget or something else. Internally, we’ve experimented with adding a second gadget slot to Hunters that gave lesser-used gadgets a time to shine without needing to give up the ability to track Ghosts. The results were promising, so we are rolling this change out in this update!

Hunters now have the choice of a weapon, a regular gadget, a utility gadget, and a perk. We have currently split the gadgets in a way that we think makes the most sense to prevent a solo Hunter from being overly strong, but please note this is experimental, and we would love to hear your feedback!

The “regular” gadgets are Radar, Vacuum, Camcorder, Spectrophone, Pathfinder, and Trap. While the “utility” gadget options are Defibrillator, Medic Kit, Grenade, Grappling Hook, and C4.

Our goal with this change is to allow the Hunters to use more of the niche gadgets while still retaining a tracking gadget. We can’t wait to see what new crazy builds you come up with!

In an attempt to balance out this change, we have decreased Hunter movement speed by about 10% to compensate for the extra power that Hunters gain to hopefully prevent a major swing in balance. We will be keeping a close eye on the analytics and your feedback, and we will adjust as needed!

💻 MAIN MENU UI OVERHAUL💻

The first thing you will notice when booting up Update 11 will be the newly overhauled main menu! This new main menu allows for easier navigation through the various menus, brings the style up to date, and adds a widely-requested new feature: you can now toggle between Ghost and Hunter skins for your party in the main menu!

💃 SEPARATE EMOTES & VICTORY POSES FOR HUNTERS & GHOSTS💃

You may also spot a new feature in the new main menu, separate emote and victory pose selections for Hunters and Ghosts! You know you have always wanted to Praise the Duck as a Hunter and do the Forbidden Gesture as a Ghost, right? RIGHT? Well, now you can!

🎄SEASONAL DECORATIONS 🎄

What would the holiday season be without some seasonal decorations? We’ve once again covered all the maps and the van with decorations galore. You might even find Santa or his elves across the maps as well 👀

💵UPDATE 11 SALE💵

To celebrate our eleventh Early Access update, we’re also celebrating with a discount. If you haven’t had a try at hunting and haunting quite yet, now is a perfect time to do so! MGH is 66% off right now on Steam for the Steam Winter Sale and 66% off on the Epic Games Store as well! Gather your crew and hop on in. The sale runs until January 10th on EGS and January 4th on Steam!

🤑DOUBLE GHOST SHARDS🤑

We’ll also be granting double the normal amount of Ghost Shards throughout this whole week to celebrate the Holiday season!

👀AND MORE… 👀

This update also includes:

  • Prevent full-screen “Logging into your Epic Account” popup from happening mid-match

  • Fix weapon projectiles sometimes stopping and instantly breaking flinging props

  • Many smaller bug fixes as well

That’s all for now, Ghosts and Hunters! We wish you a great holiday season, and a wonderful start to your New Year! As always, thanks for your unwavering support and we can’t wait to see you back on the h(a)unt soon! 😊

👻 -Team MGH 

UPDATE 10: SCARY SEASON, ECTOPLASM & MIDNIGHT BALANCE CHANGES, UI REFRESH, AND MORE!

Hey there, Ghosts and Hunters!

As the crisp, cool breeze of autumn fills the air, it can mean only one thing: Halloween season is here! So don your favorite duck costume, and join us in the excitement as we delve into Update 10!

🎃SCARY SEASON DECORATIONS 🎃

What would scary season be without some seasonal decorations? We’ve once again decorated all the maps and the van with ghostly adornments galore. The three Halloween hero props are back once again for you to enjoy!

Chomping Pumpkin - Much like our Mimic Chest friend, this pumpkin will have no problem taking a bite or two out of you

Pumpkin Jack-in-the-box - Is the hammer from our regular Jack-in-the-box too aggressive for you? How about launching pumpkin guts at them instead?

Witch Doll - Who needs a knife when you have a broom? Zoom across the maps and bonk the hunters to your heart’s content

🕸️ ECTOPLASM BUILDUP/Radar CHANGEs 🕸️

With this update we have also made some pretty serious balance changes, and that starts with how Ectoplasm buildup works.

We have heard from the community that Radar detecting Ghosts with 0 Ectoplasm buildup didn’t make much sense, so we changed it! Our intention is for Radar to be much more accurate, while also making Ectoplasm buildup more clear for Ghosts.

  • 0 Ectoplasm buildup now means 0 reading on Radar/Spectrophone

  • Moving in a small circle as a Ghost will no longer reduce Ectoplasm buildup

  • Radar will no longer get confused between different floors

    • Before, Radar could show a high reading if a Ghost with high Ectoplasm buildup was on the floor above you, that is no longer the case

  • Radar will no longer get confused if you have a low Ectoplasm ghost directly in front of you, and a high Ectoplasm ghost slightly further away

    • Before, this would cause Radar to show almost no signal, even though you have a high Ectoplasm ghost nearby

  • Taunting still lowers Ectoplasm buildup, however we have increased the volume to make this more risky in revealing your location

  • The Ectoplasm buildup bar now will show a shaking Radar icon the higher your Ectoplasm buildup gets to clarify what having high Ectoplasm actually means: High Ectoplasm = High Radar reading

🕷️ MIDNIGHT BALANCE CHANGES🕷️

We’ve focused this update on improving balance and how Midnight plays out during matches. Hunters missing even a single Ghost previously meant that all Ghosts come back at full health, or they could easily heal any damage they took pre-midnight.

This new system is designed to still allow Ghosts to feel powerful at Midnight, while assuring Hunters that the last 5 minutes weren’t for nothing. Destroying 3 out of the 4 ghosts before Midnight will now make a drastic difference to the possible outcome for Hunters at Midnight.

  • At midnight, all health orbs will despawn, and they will not respawn for the rest of the match

  • If you die as a Ghost before midnight, you will come back with less health

    • If you were not vacuumed, you will come back with 60hp

    • If you were vacuumed, you will come back with 35hp

  • There are only two ways to heal as a ghost after Midnight

    • Consuming a Hunter soul will do one of the following:

      • If you are <100% HP, you will heal some damage

      • If you are 100% HP, a health orb will spawn at this location for a teammate

    • Destroying the Generator will drop 2 health orbs, allowing you/your team to heal

  • UI will indicate how much health you will have when you respawn at Midnight

  • Ghosts will look less saturated at lower health after Midnight, making it easier to choose which Ghosts to target

We hope that these Midnight changes will reward Hunters for any success they do have before Midnight, while still allowing the Midnight Ghosts to feel powerful. Do give it a shot and let us know what you think over on our Discord!

💻 UI CHANGES💻

Alongside our Midnight balance and Ectoplasm/Radar changes, we have also made some UI changes to add additional clarity:

  • Health bars are now segmented into ~25HP chunks - this should allow you to roughly determine how much health you have in various props or Hunter perks

  • The health bar now animates more clearly and with more polish when taking damage or healing

  • When you are low health, you now have a more intense red outline on the outside of the screen so can more clearly understand you are low health

🥳 DEDICATED SERVER PROPS FIXED 🥳

A major issue that we noticed over the past few months was related to unpossessed props stuttering after a dedicated server had been online for an extended period of time. This was causing lots of other issues as well, such as Hunters teleporting around when getting hit by these specific props, as well as Ghosts being able to occasionally teleport outside of the maps when attempting to possess these props.

I am happy to report that this should be completely fixed now! So go forth and enjoy the nice, stable dedicated servers once more, and if you run into any issues please let us know on our Discord! 🥳

💵UPDATE 10 SALE💵

To celebrate our tenth Early Access update, we’re also celebrating with a discount. If you haven’t had a try at hunting and haunting quite yet, now is a perfect time to do so! MGH is 66% off right now on Steam for the Steam Scream Fest and 66% off on the Epic Games Store as well! Gather your crew and hop on in. The sale runs until November 1st on EGS and November 2nd on Steam!

🎵SEVERAL NEW GHOST TAUNTS🎵

We also added several new Ghost taunts for you to unlock and enjoy! Taunt the Hunters to your hearts content!

🤑DOUBLE GHOST SHARDS🤑

Trick or treat! We’ll be granting double the normal amount of Ghost Shards throughout this whole week to celebrate the Halloween season!

👀AND MORE… 👀

This update also includes:

  • Activating voice chat should no longer cause FPS drops

  • Join friends match in progress button from the Social menu should work again

  • Players from all platforms (Epic/Steam) should now show in the Social menu, regardless of what platform you are playing on

  • Implemented improved experimental bot pathing

  • Many smaller bug fixes as well

That’s all for now, Ghosts and Hunters! As always, thanks for your unwavering support and we can’t wait to see you back on the h(a)unt soon! 😊

👻 -Team MGH 

UPDATE 9: VAN RIDE ENTERTAINMENT, CONTROLLER SUPPORT, STEAM TRADING CARDS, AND MORE!

Hey there, Ghosts and Hunters!

The summer season is over, and we have been hard at work on some of the things we called out in our July blog post. We’ve got a new update for you today, so let’s get into it!

🚗New Van Ride Entertainment 🚗

One of the suggestions we have heard from a ton of players is that the Hunters seem a little bored and need something to do (other than the spray 😉) while they are heading to their next haunted destination on those van rides.

Hunters will be idle no more! Introducing: the GhostMaster handheld gaming console! You can play “Ghost Invaders” and pass the time on your next ride. You can also customize the handheld with multiple color choices (including transparent purple ✨)!

🎮 Full Controller Support 🎮

Full controller support is another highly anticipated feature. Although we’ve had experimental controller support since our Early Access launch, we’ve been working hard to perfect the experience of playing with a controller. We’re thrilled with the results and can’t wait for you to try it out! Whether you prefer using a mouse and keyboard or a controller, we’re confident that you’ll have a fantastic experience. As always, we welcome your feedback on Discord or Twitter (X) about this new feature!

🎉Steam Trading Cards🎉

We’ve added Steam Trading Cards to the game! Now, as you play MGH, you’ll have the chance to collect wicked virtual cards featuring artwork from the MGH world. Once you’ve collected a full set of cards, you can turn them into game badges and tradable Steam community items. The sooner you collect ‘em all, the sooner you can flex on your friends. 😉

🕹️QUICKPLAY IMPROVEMENTS🕹️

After observing the quickplay data, and of course listening to your feedback, we have made more adjustments to the quickplay algorithm that should now result in finding better, faster matches! Specifically, quickplay will look for a “perfect” match, and then fallback to a “good” match faster, which should result in finding a match faster, and ending up in your own match with bots less often. Please give it a shot, and let us know what you think over on our Discord!

💵UPDATE 9 STEAM SALE💵

To celebrate our ninth Early Access update, we’re also celebrating with a discount. If you haven’t had a try at hunting and haunting quite yet, now is a perfect time to do so! MGH is 66% off right now on Steam! Gather your crew and hop on in. The sale runs until the 26th of September.

👀AND MORE… 👀

This update also includes:

  • Fix Extra Gear not working with Camcorder and bumped default ammo count from 1 to 2

  • Female skins now have female voice callouts for both Hunter and Ghosts

  • Deflector can no longer be activated while charging a slingshot

  • Ghost Health Orb pickup radius increased

  • Hunters now have a unique running sound instead of a sped-up walking sound

  • Improvements to Buckler Shield with Ghostsmasher not always blocking hits (even more improvements for this coming soon)

  • Doppelganger will appear with the other player’s actual gadget/weapon, no longer just Spectral Cannon

  • Code refactor of most Hunter weapons and gadgets, leading to improved performance with bots and weapon projectiles, such as Frostbite and Project-X

  • Map exploit fixes (looking at you…Carnival 🎪)

  • Many other smaller bug fixes as well

Although that’s all the news we have for now, rest assured that our team is hard at work behind the scenes to bring you even more exciting updates! From enhancing performance and fine-tuning bots to improving matchmaking and beyond, we’ve got plenty of tricks up our sleeves. So keep your eyes peeled for future announcements!

That’s all for now, Ghosts and Hunters! We’re grateful for your unwavering support and can’t wait to see you back on the h(a)unt soon! 😊

👻 -Team MGH 

EXCITING MILESTONES AND AN UPDATED ROADMAP, OVER 1 MILLION NEW PLAYERS!

Hey, Ghosts and Hunters!

In our last update, we released Midnight Ghost Hunt on the Epic Games Store with full crossplay compatibility and we were absolutely blown away by the support. We saw over 1 million new players join us on the hunt, a million! This is a remarkable achievement that fills us with gratitude and excitement for what's next. Speaking of what's next...how about an updated roadmap? 😉

Our Q3 (July - September) roadmap lays out our plans for the near future, but here are some key highlights:

🎮 Full Controller Support 🎮

We are planning to improve our overall controller support over the next few months to provide an equally excellent experience for all players, regardless if you are playing on mouse & keyboard or using a controller.

🚗New Van Ride Entertainment 🚗

One of the big suggestions we hear from players is the Hunters need more to do during the van ride, so we are cooking up something special for this...be on the lookout for more info soon.

✨HUD / UI Improvements✨

Over the next few months we will be working on sleeker menus, better tooltips, and enhanced visual cues to hopefully provide more clarity and convenience.

🎉Steam Trading Cards🎉

With the introduction of Steam Trading Cards, you'll have the opportunity to collect, trade, and craft cards featuring stunning artwork inspired by the game's universe.

📅July Vacations📅

Almost all of our dev team is based in Sweden, and July typically marks the start of a few weeks off for vacations in Sweden! What this means for us is a bit of a slowdown in updates during this time, as we will be working as an even smaller team for the month. However once the vacations are over, you can expect everyone to be back at it 100%, and we have some big things planned!

💵STEAM SUMMER SALE💵

If you haven’t joined us on the hunt quite yet, now is a great time to hop in as MGH is 66% off as part of Steam Summer Sale! The sale runs until the 13th of July, so be sure to tell your friends!

👀AND MORE… 👀

While that is all we have to share right now, we are certainly working on other things as well; such as performance improvements, bot improvements, matchmaking improvements, and more, so be sure to keep an eye out for future announcements.

That’s all for this time, Ghosts and Hunters! Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you back on the h(a)unt soon!

👻 -Team MGH 

MIDNIGHT GHOST HUNT IS NOW ALSO AVAILABLE ON EPIC GAMES STORE!

Hey, Ghosts and Hunters!

Today we have an exciting announcement to make about our availability on the Epic Games Store. We also have some details to share about how you can support a great cause while getting MGH at a discount for yourself or a friend!

Since our last big update back in March, we’ve been hard at work, but we’ve also been keeping a close eye on player feedback throughout this time, so huge thanks for that, and be sure to keep your spooktacular thoughts on ways to improve MGH coming.

AN EPIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Exciting news! MGH will be headed to the Epic Games Store! Starting today, June 1st, MGH will be available on the Epic Games Store. This is an exciting moment for the team, as it means more players will have the opportunity to play MGH, and we can reach an even bigger audience, and even more players!

We’re also excited to say that for a limited time, MGH will be FREE on the Epic Games Store! For one whole week beginning today, June 1st, you can get MGH on the Epic Games Store 100% FREE TO KEEP.

If you’ve got a friend you’ve been dying to get in on the sweet, sweet, ghost-hunting action, there has never been a more perfect time to recommend they grab a copy. And while you’re at it, might as well grab a copy yourself. I mean, hey… it’s free! 🤷

If you’re dead set on playing on Steam, you can also snag a copy on sale until June 8th and get yourself a cool 66% off!

CROSSPLAY

While the Epic Games Store version is the version you know and love from Steam Early Access, this is also exciting because one of the features we’ve been working hard to implement behind the scenes is cross-play functionality. Players joining us on EGS will be able to hop right into the action with our Steam players, and vice-versa. From day one, we’ll have full cross-play capability!

DOUBLE Ghost SHARDS

To welcome all our new Epic Games Store players and welcome back our longtime supporters, we’ll be granting double the normal amount of Ghost Shards throughout this whole week!

MAXIMUM HUMBLE BUNDLE GOODNESS

As some of you may know, MGH is currently being included in this month’s May Multiplayer Madness Humble Bundle in support of the Bungie Foundation and No Kid Hungry. If you purchase the bundle, you’ll get some incredible games AND you’ll be supporting some amazing organizations. Thus far, the bundle has raised over $30,000 for these two charities!

It would mean a lot to the whole MGH team if you would help us in supporting these phenomenal charitable causes.

File size/compression changes

Alongside our EGS launch, we pushed an update that completely changes how MGH is packaged, resulting in a much smaller download size overall (21.6 GB to 14.8 GB)!

This change will trigger a 1 time download of basically the entire game, but after that, future updates/patches should be much faster to download and they will take up less space overall in the process!

BALANCE changes

In this update we also made some minor balance changes, and would love to make more in the future based on your feedback! Last week we sent out a survey asking about Hunter Weapon balance, and we have gotten some great feedback so far, and would love to get some more! If you have a couple of minutes to spare, please check out the survey!

The two balance changes we made this time are:

  • Increase splash damage for Spectral Cannon

    • This was a pretty minor bump, but hopefully will allow Spectral Cannon to be a more viable option in more situations

  • Decrease prop damage pre-midnight

    • While this isn’t a massive decrease, the hope is to reduce the number of Hunters being killed by ghosts before Midnight strikes

THE NEXT UPDATE AND BEYOND

While we don’t yet have a concrete date for the next major update, we’re currently working on a number of quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, and some additional content, so we appreciate the patience as we sort out what will be included in that update. We’re hoping to have some news for you in the near future, so watch this space!

That’s all for this time, Ghosts and Hunters! Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you back on the h(a)unt soon!

👻 -Team MGH 

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY UPDATE: DEDICATED SERVERS, SOUNDTRACK RELEASE, WEAPON SKINS, A FREE WEEKEND, AND MORE!

Has it really been a full year of MGH Early Access, already? We can’t believe it either! We’re so thankful for all of you who played Midnight Ghost Hunt during the Early Access period, and, of course, the OGs who have been here since our Beta, or even the Alpha tests, back in the day.  To celebrate the occasion, MGH is getting its seventh update, aptly named the ANNIVERSARY UPDATE. We have quite a few new things to show off so why don’t we jump right into it!

DEDICATED SERVERS

You’ll be happy to know that as of this post, our first-pass implementation for dedicated servers is now live! We’re thankful for the patience you’ve shown during this journey since we had quite a few technical hiccups to overcome before we were able to bring this much-anticipated feature to you all. You can now play on either user-downloaded and configured dedicated servers or some of our official 24/7 dedicated servers. Peer to peer is still an option of course, but dedicated servers provide much more stability and hopefully improved performance as well!

Dedicated servers will be broken up into two categories, user hosted and “official”. The official dedicated servers will be run by us, and we will have servers available in 3 regions, US West, US East, and Europe, with Asia hopefully coming soon! These servers are up and running right now, so be sure to check them out!

User hosted servers can be hosted on pretty much any Windows machine, just open your Steam install folder and then open the WindowsServer folder and check out the “ReadMe_CustomRules.txt” to get started! When hosting a server, you can set a server name, a password, and some custom game settings!

Also in the very near future, you will be able to go to https://server.nitrado.net/ to rent a server directly from Nitrado. We will have more news to share on this soon!

As this is the first pass on the dedicated servers, we’re keeping a close eye on how things play out. We’d be happy to hear your feedback, so don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts on our Discord. 

FREE WEEKEND, DOUBLE SHARDS & 66% SALE

We’re always excited to introduce MGH to new folks! Now that we have reached an important milestone and are just about to wrap up our first year of Early Access, we can’t wait for more people to experience MGH with us. To celebrate Update 7, we’ll be having a free weekend on Steam! The free weekend will run from March 30th to April 3rd.

To welcome all our new players, welcome back our longtime supporters, and give a boost to all of the shard sharks out there, we’ll also be granting double the normal amount of Ghost Shards throughout this whole week (March 30th to April 6th) for all players.

Those of you who are checking out this post because you’ve given MGH a whirl over the free weekend, and like what you see, you’re in luck! We’re also running the biggest sale ever to celebrate our one-year anniversary! MGH is 66% off from March 30th to April 6th, so there’s no better time to snag a copy. If you’re a new player concerned about carrying over your progress from the free weekend, worry not! All of your progress from throughout the free weekend will carry over if you decide to give it a test run first and purchase it on the last day of the deal.

In addition to the base game being on sale, you can also get 66% off the Early Backer Bundle, Early Backer Pack, and the Soundtrack if you’d like to show a bit of extra support during our one-year Early Access anniversary!

WEAPON/GADGET SKINS

For the first time ever, we are bringing you weapon skins, with some anniversary flair, of course!

Grenades have never looked this delicious. Don’t let the copious amount of frosting fool you, though. These cupcake grenades still pack a punch!

If you want to send your ghoulish ghost friends a gift, the C4 present will definitely be delivered to the right address. Open at your own risk.

2 new SKINS

The Disruptor Hunter skin is a stylish outfit designed to strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest ghosts.

The Returned Ghost skin gives a sense of both familiarity and eeriness with it’s hauntingly realistic portrayal of a Hunter who recently met their demise.

A NEW HERO PROP AND ANNIVERSARY DECORATIONS

What is a birthday celebration without some cake? Beware, this cake bites back!  Our new hero prop, Chompkin Birthday Cake is a wonderful addition to the hero prop line-up. In MGH, the cake eats you. Time to bake it till you make it!

The van and the maps are decked out, as is tradition, and ready for the anniversary shenanigans. You only turn one once, after all!

SOUNDTRACK DIGITAL RELEASE

Ghostwood Empire, the talented duo behind the Soundtrack of Midnight Ghost Hunt, are releasing the MGH Soundtrack digitally on most platforms where you can listen to music. You can find it on Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, and more! You can also check out the 35-minute music video on YouTube, the soundtrack creates that perfect MGH ambience to listen to while gaming, working, or studying, even if we say so ourselves. The Soundtrack consists of 11 absolute bops, so please go check it out! The soundtrack available on our Steam page has some exclusive editions of tracks, so the digital release is slightly different.  

LOOKING BACK ON OUR FIRST YEAR IN EARLY ACCESS

This year has really flown past, and we’re so thankful to have you here with us as part of this journey. We’ve gotten valuable feedback during the first year of MGH Early Access, and you, our community, have been directly affecting what things the developers have been spending their time doing.

Let’s take a quick look at all the things we had an opportunity to put out during the first year of MGH Early Access:

MARCH 2022

On March 31st, Midnight Ghost Hunt went into Early Access. The community really came through (thank you!), and during the launch, we even reached Steam’s Top Sellers number two spot, right behind Elden Ring.

MAY 2022

In May, it was time for our first big update. Based on community feedback from our alpha and beta tests, we decided to work on the Factory map and give it some extra love. Prior to the EA launch, we had taken Factory out of the map rotation and gave it a new life as a creepy Doll Factory. With the first update, we brought in tons of new hero props: Murder Doll, Warehouse Gate, Forklift, Soda Machine, and Speaker. Our melee weapons, Ghost Smasher and Sledgehammer also went through a rework to improve usability. Early Backer skins became available, and our friend from Satisfactory, the Pioneer, got her own skin both as a hunter and as a ghost. During Update 1, we also added lots of new victory poses, emotes, and titles.

JUNE 2022

In June we put out something of a mixture between a patch and an update, and since we are an inventive bunch, decided to name it the Summer Patch. We added the in-match challenge system, Ghost in the TV hero prop, new skins: Jock and Birthday (which is very topical right now!), plus some new emotes and victory poses.

SEPTEMBER 2022

In September we started gearing up for the spooky season, and it was time for Update 2. Mr. Giggle’s Happyland a.k.a the Carnival map was something we were extremely excited to release since the community polls and suggestions had been hoping to see a creepy Carnival or Circus-themed map in the MGH universe. The ghosts also gained a brand new ability during this update, Deflector. Hunters were awarded with some new drip, and the Paramedic, Pilot, and Old Hippie skins were added in. We like a plethora of hero props at the MGH HQ, so Jack-in-the-box in three different color variations was added in to take the mood of the carnival to the next level. In addition, we added a few more titles and a new song to the MGH Soundtrack. 

OCTOBER 2022

Oh, October. Our favorite month. Spooky season speaks to us. In October we changed things up and decided to switch up our update strategy a bit. Smaller updates, more often. That’s how we like it. Update 3, the Halloween Update, brought in spooky new Halloween-themed decorations and hero props (of course!). Chompkin Pumpkin, Pumpkin-gut-spewing Jack-in-the-box, and Witch Doll made the maps feel even more spooky, for the occasion. Our new experimental game mode, Darkness, also saw the light of day for the first time. Random level variation on Mansion was also brought on for the first time, and it’s another fantastic idea we were able to bring to life thanks to the community feedback! To celebrate Halloween, the hunters were able to get dressed in a fan-favorite Duck Hunter costume and the ghosts could don the Pumpkin Head Ghost skin. These are some of our favorite skins, so far!

NOVEMBER 2022

In November, we were feeling thankful and Update 4 was released with a brand new feature, the Boombox. Have you found all the cassette tapes since the feature was launched? We added in a new hunter gadget, Camcorder, and in the name of Thanksgiving, all the maps and the van were ready for the feast. Our released hero props were also in theme. Splattering Pumpkin Pies and a tasty, juicy Turkey, what more could you ask!

DECEMBER 2022

In December we put out Update 5, and our third new map, the Mall. Decked with seasonal decór, the abandoned Mall truly felt like we had traveled back to the 1980s. The Hero Props this time around made quite a pair, Spooky Santa and Creepy Elf. We hope you were not on the naughty list in 2022. We added in some seasonal skins for both hunters and ghosts, bots were improved, and the soundtrack was updated. Last but definitely not least, we introduced the Progression Tier System to add a bit more fun to leveling up.

FEBRUARY 2023

Just last month, we pushed Update 6, in the name of love! The much-anticipated host migration feature was added to MGH. All the maps and the van were decorated in Valentine’s theme so you could spend some quality time with a special someone, and the lovely new hero props Cupid and Chocolate Box added some love to the maps. The Carnival Map was also expanded upon with the addition of the Tunnel of Love, and some improvements to the progression UI were made to allow you to keep a better track of your progression level. 

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The Early Access journey for MGH isn’t over yet, and we’re still finalizing all of the details before we’re ready to share an updated Roadmap with you all, but we hope to have one out soon!

Thank you for all of your support this past year, Ghosts and Hunters, we appreciate it more than you know! As always, all the details can be found on Steam. We’re excited to celebrate our first anniversary with you, we hope you enjoy Update 7. Come share your favorite MGH memories, and all the feedback with us on Discord, or drop us a comment on Twitter!

👻 -Team MGH