Beautiful Light's second map: bring an artifact in, raise the stakes
Beautiful Light's second map raises the stakes: you can carry in an artifact you already extracted to increase its value. Everything confirmed.
Beautiful Light launches in Early Access with two maps. The first, Ground Zero, has been playtested for years. The second has only been described in a handful of lines and, since 15 September 2026, a first set of work in progress screenshots. Those lines already point to one of the most interesting ideas in the game.
The idea: your artifact is not safe once you extract it
In its 2024 review, published on Steam on 27 January 2025, Deep Worlds said the second map would build on Ground Zero and offer even higher stakes. The mechanic behind that: you will be able to bring an artifact you previously extracted into this map to increase its value.
The studio summed it up in three words: all or nothing.
In a genre where extraction usually marks the end of risk, that turns a successful raid into a decision. You can bank the artifact, or put it back on the line, in a raid where 17 other operators and six anomalies are also in play.
Where the map stood
- January 2025. Deep Worlds said it wanted to start playtesting the second map as soon as possible, to validate early elements of its game loop.
- January 2026. The level design was nearly complete. The studio's level artists had built numerous visual kits and started detailed art passes across many of the map's buildings.
- October 2026. On 20 October, Deep Worlds named the map: Pyramiden, with two new level art screenshots titled "Pyramiden Level Art". Everything about it is on the Pyramiden page.
- September 2026. On 8 September, Deep Worlds' CEO listed the second map among the team's current priorities and said everything was on track. On 15 September, the studio shared the first screenshots of the map's level art on its official Discord, presenting them as something it had kept secret for a while.
The first look
The four screenshots Deep Worlds posted on 15 September are work in progress level art, and the first images the studio has explicitly tied to the second map.
Three of the four are interiors, and they set a very different mood from Ground Zero's forests and village: a corridor sealed with plastic sheeting and lined with body bags, a tiled washroom falling apart, and an office room with old desks. Snow lies outside every window.
Our reading: sealed corridors and body bags suggest a quarantined site, which would suit a map built around carrying an artifact back into danger. Deep Worlds has not described the setting, so treat that as an impression, not a fact.
Watch on YouTube from 8:20BEAUTIFUL LIGHT UPDATE #3 - Black Squad, Rain, Maps, AI, New Guns and MOREWhat is confirmed, and what is not
Steam lists two maps for Early Access, and the second map described above is the only map besides Ground Zero that Deep Worlds has discussed in its Steam posts. It is very likely the second launch map, but the studio has not said so in those words.
Also still unknown:
- Where it is set: the screenshots show snow, and the name is shared with an abandoned mining town in Svalbard, but Deep Worlds has not linked the two
- Whether bringing in an extracted artifact survives the rework of the core game mode that Deep Worlds announced in January 2026
- How much an artifact's value can grow, and what that value is used for
Why it matters
Beautiful Light already takes everything you brought into a raid when you die. An artifact you can choose to risk again is the kind of decision that makes an extraction shooter memorable, and it fits the studio's stated aim for 2026: more meaningful choices during a raid.
When Deep Worlds names the map or shows it in a playtest, this page is where it lands first. For what you can already prepare, see the release date and the system requirements.
Sources
- Deep Worlds, "2024 In review & What's coming in 2025", 27 January 2025, on Steam
- Deep Worlds, "2025 in review & what's coming in 2026", 14 January 2026, on Steam
- Beautiful Light on Steam: Early Access content list
- Development update videos presented by Psychoghost for Deep Worlds, on YouTube
- Deep Worlds' official Discord (discord.gg/project-bl), #leaks-wip: posts by Aherys, CEO (8 September 2026) and Matavatar, Head Staff (15 September 2026, second map level art)
BL Guide, unofficial community coverage of Beautiful Light: how we check what we publish.