The World Is About to Change: Life Arrives in Upland Next Week

Next week marks one of the most meaningful evolutions in Upland’s history.

For years, Upland has been built on the foundation of property ownership, development, and trading, giving players the ability to acquire, shape, and grow their place in the world. With the introduction of Life, that foundation doesn’t change, it expands.

Properties are no longer just assets to own and develop; they become living environments that grow, evolve, and actively participate in the broader ecosystem. For the first time, value in Upland is not only defined by ownership and location, but by how a property is cared for and how it evolves over time.

This is the moment when Upland becomes truly alive.

From Ownership to Living Spaces

Life introduces a new dimension to property ownership. The way you design, maintain, and develop your land now has visible and functional impact.

Artist rendering shown. Final in-game appearance may vary.

Uppies and Residents, two distinct systems within Upland, are naturally drawn to spaces that feel cared for. Bright plants, healthy greenery, and active maintenance signal that a property is thriving. Over time, this creates a powerful feedback loop. Well-maintained properties attract more Residents, which increases their importance within neighborhoods and across cities.

This isn’t just decoration. It’s a system that connects care, activity,andvalue in a way that builds directly on Upland’s core gameplay. Players who focus on planting and care will see stronger property appeal, increased activity, and greater reward potential over time.

The First Plants Take Root

Many players have already been collecting seeds in anticipation of this moment. With the launch of Life, planting officially begins, but it will roll out in phases to ensure everything performs as intended.

At launch, only a select group of seeds will be plantable:

• Tulips
• Grass
• Maple
• Palm
• Roses

This phased approach allows us to monitor how the system performs while giving players their first opportunity to bring properties to life. As the feature evolves, more of the seeds already circulating in the ecosystem, along with entirely new additions, will become available to plant.

How Planting Works

Planting begins in your seed wallet. Seeds that are ready to be used will display a grey “Plant” button. From there, players can select the property where they want the plant to grow and move directly into placement.

Once selected, you will be taken to your property and shown the plant in its fully grown state. This preview is intentional. It allows you to see exactly how your property will look at full maturity before placing anything, making design decisions more deliberate and informed.

Planting burns the seed, and once placed, plants cannot be moved and must be uprooted (destroyed) to be removed. Plan placements carefully, as plants are intended to be a lasting part of your property.

This experience is supported by a redesigned editor system that makes planning and placement more intuitive. The updated interface gives a clearer view of your property, helping you organize layouts and visualize how different elements work together.

Alongside this, the new snap feature makes alignment simple. Plants will snap into position, allowing for cleaner layouts and more precise designs without the need for constant adjustments.

Trees also introduce a new level of flexibility. They can be placed close enough to overlap, making it possible to create natural privacy screens or dense, forested areas. Alternatively, they can be spaced out to highlight each individual tree and give your property a more open feel.

While trees can overlap, placing them too close together may make it more difficult for players to interact with and pet them.

How you design your space is entirely up to you.

A Note on Grass

Grass introduces a slightly different approach to how players design their properties.

At launch, grass follows a “stay off my lawn” approach, meaning other map assets cannot be placed directly on top of grass. Instead, players will need to design around it, using surrounding space to complement and enhance the look of their property.

This creates more intentional layouts and gives grass its own distinct presence within a property’s design. As the system evolves, this approach may be revisited. For now, it sets a clear foundation for how grass functions within the broader Life ecosystem.

Keeping Plants Alive: Health and Wellbeing

Once a seed is planted, its survival depends on the attention it receives. Plants are not decorative objects. They grow, respond to care, and require consistent interaction, creating a system that Uppies and Residents can sense and respond to.

To keep plants thriving, players need to manage two core systems: Health and Wellbeing.

Health

Health is maintained by feeding your plants with STEM. It represents essential nourishment, similar to watering. Keeping Health high ensures your plant has the resources it needs to continue growing.

Feeding is not limited to the property owner. Any player can contribute by feeding plants with STEM, allowing neighbors, visitors, and the broader community to help keep properties healthy and thriving.

Overfeeding does not harm the plant, but it will consume additional STEM, so players should be mindful not to use more than necessary.

The transition from Protem to STEM is targeted to occur this next week.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing improves through petting. This reflects the ongoing care plants need, such as grooming and maintenance. Strong wellbeing slows the rate at which health declines, while low wellbeing causes health to deteriorate more quickly.

Petting is fully interactive and available to all players. By long pressing a plant, players can pet it and receive a subtle visual response confirming the interaction. Neighbors, visitors, and friends can all contribute to keeping plants healthy, reinforcing the shared nature of living spaces in Upland.

Both Health and Wellbeing are measured on a scale of 100. If health drops too low, the plant will die. Dead plants remain on your property until uprooted by the player and do not contribute to your property or neighborhood greenery score. They cannot be revived.

Maintaining high wellbeing is especially important. It slows health decay and reduces the likelihood of random damage events, which can occasionally impact plants as part of a living, dynamic system. With proper care, these events become increasingly rare, reinforcing the value of consistent attention and upkeep.

Health and Wellbeing also influence the rewards your plants can generate, including their role in Troves, which will be covered later in this announcement.

If both systems are neglected for too long, the plant will wither permanently and die.

Because both feeding and petting can be done by any player, properties that attract more visitors are more likely to stay healthy over time. This creates a natural connection between care, activity, and long-term value, reinforcing the importance of building spaces that people want to return to.

Uppies and Residents are drawn to properties where plants are healthy and actively maintained. Players who consistently care for their plants will naturally create spaces that attract more activity to their properties and neighborhoods.

Upland Seasons and the Bloom Cycle

Plants in Upland evolve over time through two connected systems: growth cycles and seasonal bloom cycles.

Each plant has its own growth cycle, which determines how long it takes to fully mature. Depending on the plant, this can take anywhere from a single Upland season to multiple seasons, creating longer-term progression tied to what you choose to plant and maintain. Growth cycles continue across seasons and are not reset by the seasonal bloom cycle.

Separate from growth is the seasonal bloom cycle, which affects all plants across Upland. Within each Upland season (Blossom, Genesis, Sizzle etc), plants move through four distinct stages:

Autumn → Winter → Spring → Summer

Unlike a single synchronized bloom, different plants reach their peak at different times throughout the Bloom Cycle. Just like in the real world, some plants thrive in specific seasons while others remain consistent year-round.

For example, evergreen trees will remain green through the winter, while other plants may fully bloom in the spring or reach their peak in the summer. This creates a more natural and varied environment, where properties evolve differently depending on what is planted.

As the seasons progress, properties will shift in appearance. Some will become more vibrant during spring, others will stand out in summer, and some will maintain a steady presence across all seasons.

This system introduces a shared rhythm across the entire world while allowing for diversity at the property level. As the cycle shifts, so does the visual identity of neighborhoods, creating a world that feels dynamic, responsive, and alive.

Miracle Grow

Each plant progresses through multiple growth phases before reaching full maturity. Once fully grown, a plant reaches its full visual and functional potential within the ecosystem.

For players who prefer to accelerate that process, Miracle Grow provides a way to move faster.

Applying Miracle Grow allows a plant to skip its current growth phase and immediately advance to the next one. Each plant progresses through its own set of growth phases before reaching full maturity, typically four or more, giving players the option to accelerate progress at any stage.

To use Miracle Grow, players can open the full screen view of a plant and select the Miracle Grow option. This action costs UPX, with pricing that varies depending on the plant type and its current phase.

This system adds a layer of flexibility, allowing players to choose between steady progression or faster development based on how they want to build out their properties.

Troves

Troves will not be available at the launch of Life, but they are coming shortly after as part of a planned test phase.

During this phase, players will get their first look at Troves by collectingtemporary troves through plant interaction. These can be earned by petting plants, including your own and those on other properties. All troves collected during this period will reset at the end of the testing window, as this phase is focused on helping us evaluate and refine the system ahead of its full release later this year.

Troves are earned through interaction, primarily by petting plants across Upland. This makes plant care not only important for growth, but also a direct source of rewards.

Each plant has the potential to drop a range of troves, from common to more rare. While more detailed breakdowns will come later, this initial phase is designed to introduce the system and give players a chance to engage with it early.

Plant condition plays a key role in what you receive. Health and Wellbeing directly influence trove outcomes:

• Healthier, well-maintained plants increase the chances of receiving rarer troves
• Neglected plants are more likely to produce common troves

This creates a clear connection between care and reward. The more attention you give your plants, the better the potential outcomes.

More details on Troves will be shared as we move closer to full launch. For now, get ready to interact, collect, and help shape what this system becomes.

A New Chapter for Upland

Life introduces a new layer to everything players already know and value about Upland.

Property ownership, development, and trading remain at the core, but now they are connected to systems that evolve over time. The way you design your property, how consistently you care for it, and how your neighborhood comes together all begin to play a larger role in shaping the world around you.

This is where properties move beyond being static assets and become active parts of a living ecosystem. Care influences growth. Growth influences activity. And activity begins to shape the value and identity of entire neighborhoods.

From planting and design, to ongoing care, seasonal change, and emerging reward systems like Troves, each piece builds toward a more connected and responsive experience.

This is not just a new feature. It is a foundational step toward amore dynamic Upland, one where what you build and how you maintain it matters more than ever.

Next week, that shift begins!