1. Update notes (19th December 2025)
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  3. Hello, PC & PCVR players, you haven’t been forgotten! The VR experience has gotten a complete graphics overhaul. The new version of VR mode on PC is now much more performant so if you’ve had any issues running it before, now is a good time to give it a new try.
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  5. On flatscreen mode we decided to roll back to using Unity’s own SSGI instead of the previously implemented GI solution. This leads to the lighting looking a bit different in some areas. The decision was made because of unsolved compatibility issues on some systems and to make the project easier to maintain.
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  7. If any of you prefer the look or feel of the earlier version of POOLS either in flatscreen or VR, we will leave it up to be downloaded from Steam (instructions at the end of this message). Personally we prefer the look and performance of the latest update though!
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  9. Along with this update we want to wish happy holidays and new year to all of you who celebrate! Thank you so much for supporting us!
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  11. Full changelog:
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  13. VR: Complete performance overhaul with URP rendering pipeline
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  15. Updated lighting to Unity’s SSGI instead of HTrace WSGI
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  17. Updated Unity engine version (Fixes CVE-2025-59489 Unity Runtime Vulnerability)
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  19. Added barefoot footstep sounds for all missing surface types
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  21. Fixed dods diver achievement activating in a wrong spot
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  23. Chapter 0: Fixed a bug where VR player up direction would sometimes have unintentional rotation applied on startup
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  25. Chapter 0: Fixed a bug where player could get stuck in a room with lots of chairs and a speaker
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  27. Chapter 0: Disabled auto save in few places in where you could get stuck by loading auto save
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  29. Chapter 0: Fixed level restart not working properly sometimes (fixes number of the beast achievement)
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  31. Chapter 2: Fixed several lighting artifacts on lowest lighting settings
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  33. Chapter 3: Added invisible colliders to help prevent moving through some railing objects
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  35. Chapter 3: Fixed pool glitching near start of ch3, if you go under the metal railing and walk the stairs down
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  37. Chapter 4: Updated materials to some objects
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  39. Chapter 4: Fixed invisible water at the start
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  41. Chapter 5: Fixed footstep sounds when walking over glass windows
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  43. Chapter 5: Fixed a bug where player would jerk upwards when stepping on the bottom part of a ladder in flatscreen mode
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  45. Chapter 6: Updated audio for the hallway event
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  47. Fixed audio volume setting not loaded correctly sometimes
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  49. Fixed water dripping sounds being dependant on frame rate and not working correctly with crouch
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  51. Fixed black lines in duck texture
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  53. VR: Fixed a bug where snap and smooth turn rotation pivot position was not perfectly centered to the head position
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  55. VR: Added more detailed colliders, and hand touch sounds for different materials
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  57. VR: Fixed a bug where an invisible teleport snap anchor would be created in the game world at position (0, 0, 0)
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  59. VR: Added water dripping effects on camera lens
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  61. VR: Added recovery logic for if a VR hand model gets stuck within the environment
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  63. VR: Fixed incorrect footstep sounds on glass floors (Ch2)
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  65. VR: Fixed footsteps sounds repeatedly playing when standing still on an escalator
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  67. VR: Fixed a bug where crouching activated water dripping sound even on dry land
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  69. VR: Fixes to waterslides, to prevent getting stuck
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  71. VR: Added foveated rendering support (Note: only when using DirectX 12 as the rendering API. You can input "-force-d3d12" into the Steam launch parameters to activate it.)
  72.