Original story:
Rust went into full release on Steam eight years ago, but its early access debut goes back to 2013—13 whole years ago. In videogame terms, that means it should've had at least three sequels by now, but so far? Nothing.
Is that about to change? I have no idea, but an all-caps post on Reddit (via GamesRadar) that went up today sure has some fans talking about it.
"RUST 2 IS REAL?!" is as far as the text goes, but it includes an image of an incomplete Steam page that, as far as it goes, is real: You can see it on Steam right now, in all its massacred glory.
RUST 2 IS REAL?! from r/playrust
You can also look at it on SteamDB, which—sorry to say—is where the air starts to come out of the tire.
"SteamDB staff have flagged this app as suspicious, as it may be malicious or impersonating another product," a red-banner warning warns. "We recommend exercising caution and avoiding purchasing or downloading this app."
Casting further doubt: The Reddit user 'Freeqncy' who initially posted about Rust 2 was created just minutes before that post went up. But things get interesting again, because less than five minutes after that, Facepunch COO Alistair McFarlane posted a very terse, one-line reply: "You saw nothing."
Which as we all know is a very implicit warning to people who saw something that they'll keep their noise holes shut about it if they know what's good for them. And coming so quickly after the first went up? As redditor Inevitable_Butthole asked, "Bro why did you make a seperate reddit account to 'leak' this ?"
Ah, but was McFarlane merely messing with everyone on a slow Thursday? "I visit the subreddit a lot, and I sometimes see shit posts and comments that cause confusion," he wrote in a later reply to another redditor. "Now you're all questioning yourselves, is this real? Maybe?"
The fact is that Rust 2 is probably real to some extent: Facepunch boss Garry Newman mentioned it in 2023 as part of his poetic declaration "Unity can get fucked," in which he said "Rust 2 definitely won't be a Unity game."
And while Facepunch isn't known for elaborate teases or ARGs, it does occasionally let big news out of the bag through very indirect means—like when it "announced" the s&box release date in a background Steam page update, for instance. So, confirming Rust 2 by schlepping up a half-finished Steam page? Doesn't seem entirely beyond the realm of possibility to me.
McFarlane himself also has something of a history of saying things of an ambiguous nature: You may recall that in January he offered to buy the New World MMO from Amazon for $25 million. Was he serious? Probably not—but, again, maybe?
