In Brief:
- Upland (official site) said its visual upgrade is live, released early for Troves, and players can turn it on in the app’s Settings menu.
- The studio called this release phase one. It said more improvements and automatic device-based optimization are coming.
- The release follows a visual overhaul Upland first outlined in late 2025, which included roads, property textures, new ownership outlines and atmospheric effects.
Upland’s visual upgrade is live.
The studio announced on X that the upgrade was “released early for Troves.” It isn’t on by default. Players have to switch it on themselves in the Settings menu inside the app.
Upland’s visual upgrade is LIVE, released early for Troves!
Upgrade your visuals in-app in Settings. This is phase one, with more improvements and automatic device-based optimization to come.
See it in action and get all the details:
“This is phase one, with more improvements and automatic device-based optimization to come,” Upland said in the post.
Manual opt-in for now
For now, the upgrade stays off until a player turns it on. Upland hasn’t said when the automatic device-based optimization will arrive. It also hasn’t said which hardware the first phase is built for.
The studio said there’s more to come but didn’t list the next round of improvements. The post pointed players to a separate breakdown and a video of the upgrade.
Plans from December 2025
Upland first described a full visual overhaul in December 2025. The studio called it the most significant visual overhaul since the game’s inception.
That plan had four main parts. It called for enhanced property colors with clean, consistent ownership outlines, textures on property surfaces and road layouts across all cities. It also called for atmospheric effects like haze and weather conditions.
Property colors would keep their meanings, so green still means a property is for sale. But Upland said the colors would “appear less bright, with a more balanced tone that better fits the evolving aesthetic of Upland.”
Owned properties will no longer be filled in solid blue. A blue outline will mark ownership instead. Players in POV mode would see atmospheric haze along the distant horizon.
Upland’s 2025 year-end recap said the map “will get a visual upgrade by the end of the year with roads, atmosphere effects, and upcoming weather systems.” At the time, Upland said the changes would roll out over the course of its Wonderland season, which ran Dec. 1 to Jan. 15.
Troves
Troves is the system Upland gave as the reason for the early release. The studio laid it out in a May 26, 2026, post that described Troves as a layer linking location-based actions to rewards and progression.
Players can earn Troves through plant care, exploration, structures and activities. Upland has said fishing, farming, trade routes, racing and treasure hunting will be added later.
Players bring Troves to service structures and use them as inputs in recipes. Those recipes can return rare Troves, SPARKLET, UPX, STEM, yield and other rewards. Uppies can ask for specific Troves.
Which Troves a player finds depends on where they are on the map and which Block Explorer they’re using. A Block Explorer’s stamina caps how many Troves it can collect.
An alpha version of Troves ran during Genesis Week 2026. Upland had previously said Troves, along with Trove Banking and a new Progression system, would arrive before Harvest Season begins Oct. 1.
The studio’s May post summed up the design in one line: “Almost anything in Upland can become an output, and almost any output can become an input somewhere else.”
