Wildstar teases the locations and rewards of the Strain Ultradrop update

Last week, Carbine introduced us to Strain Ultradrop , the first major content update since the game's release. Only a month after the game's launch—and all the excitement, demands, complaints and requests that such an event naturally brings—the developers are unleashing a deadly plague upon us all. Hopefully there's nothing to be read into that.

The new area, Blighthaven, is home of the Strain—a purple, pustulous infection that creates mutated versions of the planet's creatures. There's also a max-level Adventure, set in one of the Exile starter areas, Northern Wilds. Carbine are promising new enemies and "max rewards" for successful completion of the instance.

For housing, the Strain means lots of potential for gloopy ooze-things. Your house can become a bacterial breeding ground with new furniture and architectural accoutrements. There's also a giant gaping maw plug of unspecified use. Lastly, players have the chance to earn a new Costume set, infected mount accessories, and a gross hoverboard thing.

It's decent drop of new content, and a positive sign for the future of a game I like a lot . Additional screenshots are below, and you can see more of Strain at the update's mini-site .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.