Highlights
Legendary fish have been spotted in Norway!
See if you can hunt down and catch the Northern Pike, dubbed Kalle Paul the Dominator, as well as Speilfinne the Atlantic Salmon, and Store Henrik the Burbot.
Dev Team’s Notes: We loved the reaction to the Legendary Fish that were originally introduced to Golden Ridge Reserve and we've enjoyed watching you try to find them each week. We're equally hyped to see how you get along with the new trio in Norway!
Multiplayer text chat is here!
Now you can easily share your favorite fishing spots and angling tips with others.
Dev Team’s Notes: Now you can send messages to anyone within the same multiplayer session to help each other out and share the best tips. Introducing this feature marks another milestone in our efforts to further improve the social aspects of the game.
Features and QoL Improvements
Gameplay
The Secure Catch mechanic has been added as a new part of the fishing gameplay. The goal was to make the catch phase more engaging and to define it as a distinct stage of the fish fight for heavier specimens.
Dev Team’s Notes: To increase the satisfaction of landing the catch during the final stage of the fight, we have introduced an interactive layer that adds a sense of tension to the experience. This layer also prevents any 'surprise' or 'instant' catches. In the future, we'll be making more changes to this phase, with improvements to the catch animation flow in the works.
Xbox Gamepad Rumble and Vibration have been added to a number of key events in the game to improve the core fishing experience and provide useful feedback for those who play on an Xbox gamepad.
Dev Team’s Notes: This is just the first step towards offering a comprehensive set of Rumble and Vibration effects, along with support for a broader range of gamepads. This update focuses on the core fishing experience, giving you feedback about casting, nibbling, striking, and fighting. In future updates, we'll be bringing more effects to the game, along with broader support beyond Xbox Gamepads. Note that other gamepads may trigger rumble in some instances, but experiences will vary until we add full support over time.
An unsuccessful strike now keeps the float or lure in the water instead of snapping back to the casting pose, allowing you to continue fishing without having to recast.
Dev Team’s Notes: We know it was frustrating when you missed a strike and had to recall the line, so we've changed the behavior to keep you fishing.
To address additional community feedback, we have made adjustments to the compatibility of baits, lures, and fish species to increase the likelihood of a successful bite. We have also expanded the baiting radius for float fishing, and curious fish will now move toward the bait faster.
Dev Team’s Notes: Although we aimed to narrow down the specificity of the baits to target certain fish species, we know that we unintentionally made it difficult to get a bite in general. However, instead of reversing the changes, we have implemented balancing adjustments to various systems to increase the overall bite rates. We are constantly evaluating this area based on community feedback and data. In this update, you will notice that fish are attracted to bait from a greater distance, move faster toward the bait when curious, and have broader bait compatibility where applicable.
The calculation of line tension has been improved in order to provide a more accurate reading during fish fights. There will be fewer sudden spikes in tension, resulting in a more nuanced representation of what the fish is doing while on the line.
Dev Team’s Notes: To support the Secure Catch feature we've reworked some of our tension calculations to make the line behavior more realistic. It should allow you a little more flexibility when picking your line, so you can try weaker lines on heavier fish, with more confidence that you can use the drag to control the tension better.
Progression
The Local Souvenir Shop is now open in Norway! Work towards unlocking ten new unique cosmetic items to stand out in a crowd.
Dev Team’s Notes: We saw how you enjoyed dressing up as Bigfoot and Clayton in Golden Ridge Reserve, so we've added some fun Norway themed cosmetics. We believe the Astrid’s Jumper is going to be a firm favorite, and we hope that the Monster Mask isn't too scary for anyone (that April Fool’s Day joke got a bit out of hand).
Stability
General improvements have been made to how we utilize VRAM and how it is allocated over time.
Dev Team’s Notes: These changes should result in a decrease in the amount of VRAM needed overall (relative to resolution and settings) and over time VRAM usage shouldn't increase as much as it did previously. This should improve both performance and stability.
Customization
We've expanded the customisation options with a broader selection of hair colors and most importantly beards and mustaches!
Dev Team’s Notes: We heard your requests for more customization options, specifically the beards (should we blame Jaxy for it?). So we've added not just a beard, but also a mustache and a new selection of colors to pick from.
UI
Add markers and labels to your map to easily recall where the different fish species and ranks are in each reserve.
Dev Team’s Notes: Way markers are useful for getting to a destination, but it was hard to mark up the map to easily remember where the best fishing spots are. Now you can add up to 40 markers, with 8 different icons and labels for all the individual fish species.
Full Patch Notes
Stability
- This update has resolved some of the most frequent and disruptive stability problems.
- The issue with the rod being able to come apart while casting or during a fish fight and getting the character locked in place has been resolved.
Gameplay
- Fishing missions in Golden Ridge Reserve now spawn more fish than just the targeted fish, bringing it in line with the fishing missions in Trollsporet Nature Reserve. Now it's possible to target other fish while the mission is active.
- We’ve changed how the 'Cut Line' feature works. Outside of a fish fight it is now labeled as 'Quick Retrieve'. When triggered it will play an animation showing the retrieval of your fishing line.
- An issue with swapping seats on a boat while accidentally holding down the 'Cut Line' button after the action had been completed has been addressed.
- It is no longer possible for a fight to remain active even though the fish has become unhooked after spooling the player.
- A selection of boat spawn locations have been updated in both Golden Ridge Reserve and Trollspret Nature Reserve to make them easier to access.
- The Juvenile Grayling wasn't possible to catch since patch 1.2.4. This has been resolved.
- The player will no longer be put in a crouched position due to auto-twitching while reeling in all the way.
- Auto-jigging would not work when using a jig head and soft plastic, it now works with all lures.
- An issue with passengers being unable to switch views while riding in a boat has been fixed.
Visuals
- The water beyond the Cruise Ship in Norway has been restored, along with a series of fixes to smaller water seems and glitches across both reserves.
- The bait no longer clips the float on the line if the depth is set to a low value when using the larger-sized float.
- Foam on the water's surface is now rendering as intended in all locations in both Golden Ridge Reserve and Trollspret Nature Reserve.
- Fixed a bug with the camera showing the inside of the driver’s head for a few frames while cycling camera viewpoints in vehicles.
Multiplayer
- The player’s avatar (and view) no longer turns around 180 degrees after finishing using a looping emote in multiplayer.
- The player is now automatically connected to an online session after completing the tutorial and transitioning straight into an online session.
Progression
- Solved an issue with Photo Challenge 1 in Diamonds Peak (Golden Ridge Reserve) becoming unresponsive unless you spawn and enter a car.
- The lump of coal in the Narrative Mission has had its proximity audio fixed.
UI
- A number of text misalignment issues when playing in Japanese or Simplified Chinese has been resolved.
- An issue with the input getting stuck when using a controller to toggle the torch on and off in the Quick Menu has been resolved. Additionally, the Torch UI icon now updates as intended in all states.
- The activity feed messages could previously appear on top of each other when entering a multiplayer server with 8+ players, this no longer occurs.
- We fixed an issue with the individual settings not updating correctly after using a custom video preset and switching to a predefined preset.
- The correct list of fish species is now present in a habitat when viewing the map while interacting with a waterbody.
- Various problems with selling multiple items in a row have been fixed.
- A back button has been added to the Quick Wheel to allow for easier navigation through the radial layers.
- The "Find Friend" option in Apex Connect had no character input limit, allowing for text to overlap within the UI. A limit has now been set to match the Apex Connect Account name’s maximum length.
- Switching languages and backing out the menu unintentionally presented both the Privacy Policy & EULA in the newly selected language. This has been fixed.
Audio
- We addressed an issue with vehicles missing engine audio for remote players if a vehicle was spawned in a different location.
