Another big update has arrived at last! You may also notice that it's simply referred as Update #14 instead of the game build version number 0.7.2.27. Those version numbers probably won't mean very much, so I guess the simpler number makes more sense. This update brings you four bigger things, and gets you one step closer to escaping the island. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Update Highlights

Solaris

The Solaris desert is now accessible. The locomotive at the Sunburn Desert train station (Q17) has been tweaked, so you can progress further there. You will need to complete the related quest goal first though. I won't spoil much, but remember to visit the gift shop diner at O14. Don't forget your sunscreen!

The Ark

The fenced off area in Frore is now open. There's a terminal which will open the gate to the inner area. Note that the Ark is optional content and is not required for completing the main quest. The Ark Quest is colossal as you will learn!
The Ark is an underground complex. Most of the first level is available at this point, but level 2 is not yet accessible. You'll find those familiar blue dev-work-in-progress barriers there. We'll keep opening the facility towards the full launch.

Local Shared Screen Co-op (BETA)

The feature we teased the last time is indeed co-op as some of you guessed. We had sort of prepared for adding this (development-wise), so we decided to try if everything worked as expected... and surprisingly it did. I'm sure there are still small issues, so we're putting heavy emphasis on BETA. You can play online with your friends (or enemies, just remember to enable friendly fire) using Steam Remote Play or a third party alternative such as Parsec. The second player can join the team any time. Just click Co-op in the pause menu System tab. Everything should be completable in co-op already, but some tombs may be either a bit easier or way more difficult with two players. Please report any problems you may find and we'll fix things!

Mana Rifts

You may notice some strange time bending phenomena on the island. Don't worry about it, just continue progressing the main quest and it will all make sense (hopefully).

Simplified Chinese Test Localizations

We're moving forward with our localization development efforts, and testing the system with probably the hardest language we could think of. Most of the game strings you can find in game are now localized to Simplified Chinese thanks to our Chinese friends at Across Media. Note that these are still test localizations and there will be errors of all sorts. Full text localization support for other languages will be added when the game is otherwise complete. There will be standard EFIGS and Russian and Turkish localizations at full launch too as promised.

Baby Deer!

Over the early access period, we've received one particular feedback over and over again: the deer are too hard to hunt in early game. We're listening. We hear you. We've now added another deer variant that is slower and weaker, so you can catch it more easily. This should help you gather those precious materials you need. You monsters.

CHANGE LOG

ADDED

- Access to 'Solaris'. - Access to the Ark (first part). Accessible in Frore. - Added Local Co-op (BETA). Accessible in the Menu 'System' tab. - Level Cap is now 38. Up by TWO levels! - Added possibility to bind keys to rotate camera left and right. - A new deer variant. - New material: Mana Chunk which can be refined from Mana Beads using Smelter. - Added Simplified Chinese localizations for testing. - Sound effects here and there. - Mana Rifts. - Added new fishing spots to numerous spots around the world as some areas were lacking in fish feet.

CHANGED

- Smelter is now a heat source when activated. - Idle animation tweaks. - Clarification interaction for the Central train if the player does not possess the TPU. - Made some steps in "A Way Forward" quest more implicit. - Minor text and grammar fixes. - Nerfed farmable plant growth time and the random range that governs the amount produced by a single harvest. Most of the plants have lower initial seed costs, though. This is to encourage tilling more farm plots. - Boosted select trinket effects to make them more viable. - Made the number of uses for knives, shiv trio, grenade and lure smaller. - Raised proximity mine damage. - Gave Shiv trio a slightly weaker version of the same damage modifier that throwing knives has. - Tweaked reward probabilities for most of the fishing spots. - World map renderer optimizations and new visuals.

FIXED

- Projectile damage (throwing knives, monster slimes, etc caused excessive damage). - CTD fixes. - Usual open world visual glitch & terrain fixes. - Fixed Co-op crashes when fast travelling, entering tombs, and reloading save in certain conditions. - Main quest getting stuck at the evac site if you were too fast.

Up Next

One rather immediate next step for the dev team will be the traditional Finnish Summer Vacation, which will pretty much last for the whole July. We'll try and recharge for the last push towards the full launch later this year. Note that we will not likely be answering your questions on Discord during this vacation. We'll head back to the office in early August. (Also literally hoping to return to the office physically, as COVID-19 situation is getting pretty good here in Finland. But we'll evaluate this again in August.) I also have to mention something. Thank you for all the kind encouraging words and the positive Steam reviews you've sent our way. Game dev (like many other jobs) can be tough, especially during this COVID thing, so getting positive feedback really means a lot.
Overall, the game dev is still progressing nicely. We've got the next (a bit colder) part of the map about 80% complete already, so it should be out maybe in halfway August or so. All in all, we're still behind the schedule, but we're still hoping to wrap up the main island area in September, which could put the full launch mark around October or so. And we know: that's almost 12 months in early access. Our initial estimate was 6 months max. But the bright side is that the game is definitely bigger and better than some of our early roadmaps predicted. Have a great summer everyone!