Rock Bottom: Known Bugs, Fixes & Common Problems (Launch Week)

Quick Answer: Rock Bottom launched stable for most players — many reviews explicitly mention zero bugs across a full run. But week one surfaced a handful of real issues: a chunk-counter desync that stalls progression, an Orc Base elevator that stops responding (reload fixes it), and a forge auto-mode that confuses everyone at first contact. The solo developer is unusually responsive and has already confirmed fixes for the worst of these.

Status below is as of July 15, 2026 (launch version). We'll update as hotfixes land.

Gold Chunks Objective Stuck (2/3 Won't Complete)

Symptom: The "Find and mine Gold chunks (2/3)" objective refuses to complete no matter how many gold chunks you mine in the Sunken Canopy — players report a dozen or more chunks with no progress.

Cause — confirmed by the developer: the counter desyncs if you mine a chunk before the quest formally appears. The developer's words on the forums: "It's been flagged as a bug and will be fixed shortly."

What to do now:

• If you're mid-run: keep playing other objectives; the fix is queued. The chunks you've mined aren't lost effort — the objective state is what's broken, not your inventory.
• Prevention on a fresh save: let each layer's chunk quest pop up before you start smashing chunks in a new area.

Status: fix promised by the developer.

Can't Travel Between Orc Base 1 and Orc Base 2

Symptom: The elevator UI claims you're at Orc Base 1 and offers travel to Base 2 (or the reverse), but clicking does nothing.

Workaround that players confirm works: quit to the main menu and reload your save. The elevator state resets and travel works again. One player also worked around it by starting fresh objectives elsewhere first, but the reload is faster.

This one matters if you're heading back for the crab or cleaning up old layers for achievements.

Status: developer acknowledged it and committed to an upcoming hotfix.

Forge Auto-Mode Smelts Everything (or: "I don't want to click 500 times")

Not a bug — a UI discovery problem that hits almost everyone:

• Auto-mode is a toggle at the top of the forge. While it's on, the forge queues all ingot types. Toggle it off for manual control of a single type.
• The quantity box accepts typed numbers. Want exactly 500 of one ingot? Type 500. No button-mashing required.

The furnace UI at base — auto-mode toggle at the top, and the quantity box accepts typed numbers. (Screenshot: Logan Games)

Flashing Lights (Photosensitivity Warning)

Symptom: From the iron layer onward, flashing light effects become frequent, and late-game explosions add many more. One launch review flags it as genuinely unbearable for light-sensitive players in its current state.

Status: the developer confirmed a "reduce flashes" accessibility option is coming, explicitly noting that late-game explosions cause a lot of flashes too — quote: "It should be out in a couple of days." If you have photosensitivity, consider holding your playthrough until that patch note appears.

Iron Is Hard to See

Symptom: Iron chunks blend into the white rock of their layer — players following the chunk marker still walk straight past deposits sitting at the outer edges.

Workaround: trust the marker's position over your eyes and mine the edges of rock formations near it; deposits hide in the boundary blocks. (Related feedback about ore visibility in the HUD — showing "0" for discovered-but-empty ores instead of hiding them — is with the developer.)

Steam Deck: Thumbsticks Don't Work

Symptom: At launch there's no native gamepad/stick support on Steam Deck, making the game appear unplayable there.

Workaround from the community: the game works with an Xbox controller profile — import a community Xbox controller layout via Steam Input on the Deck and the sticks map correctly.

Status: community workaround; no official word yet.

Ultrawide (21:9 / 32:9) Not Supported

The game renders at 16:9 with black bars on ultrawide displays; forcing a 3440x1440 resolution doesn't expand the view. It's been raised on the forums as a feature request. No developer response yet at time of writing.

The Meta-Complaints (Not Bugs, but Asked Constantly)

• "Is there anything after the story?" No — no New Game+, prestige, or endless mode at launch. The game is a 3-5 hour complete arc. Players have pitched an infinite loop/ascension system on the forums, and the developer is actively asking what a hardcore difficulty should look like — so the conversation is live, but nothing is promised. See the hub FAQ for the full state of this.
• "The water section is slow." Known pacing complaint, no fix announced. There are no swim-speed upgrades at launch; it's a push-through section.

The underwater stretch that every "pacing" complaint is about. No swim upgrades at launch — just push through. (Screenshot: Logan Games)

FAQ

Is the game buggy overall? No — the notable thing about launch week is how many full-run reviews report zero technical problems. The issues above are the exceptions, and half of them already have fixes promised.

How fast does the developer patch? Fast, by the evidence: within a day of release the developer (posting as Zachary) had personally responded to the accessibility report, the elevator bug, and the chunk-counter bug with fix commitments.

My problem isn't listed. The Steam community forum is small and the developer reads it — launch-week threads routinely got developer replies within hours.

Compiled July 15, 2026 from Steam community bug reports, player-confirmed workarounds, and the developer's own responses on the forums. Launch version — statuses above will change as hotfixes ship, and we'll update this page when they do.