Arctic Awakening News

[p]It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since Arctic Awakening launched! We’ve been absolutely blown away by the response. Hearing from so many of you who have connected with the story, world, and especially the music has meant the world to our small team.[/p][p]Players and reviewers alike have raved about how much the original soundtrack elevates the experience. That’s all thanks to the incredible work of Joff Winks, who brought this world to life with over 90 minutes of original music, and it's now available here on Steam![/p][p]Purchasing your own copy directly supports Joff's work and gives you lifetime access to the complete OST in MP3 and high quality FLAC formats. You can also find it on streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music as well as directly from Joff's Bandcamp.
[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]If you've been enjoying Arctic Awakening, please also consider leaving (or updating) a review. It really makes a huge difference in helping us to continue improving the game and reaching more players.[/p][p]Thank you all again for an unforgettable first week. We can't wait to hear what you think of the soundtrack![/p]

[p]Thanks again for diving into Arctic Awakening! We’ve been carefully listening to your feedback and working hard to address rough edges and polish the experience. Patch 1.0.6 includes a wide range of fixes across traversal, UI, puzzles, and stability. Many of these updates were made possible thanks to your reports.[/p][p]As always, if you run into an issue, the best way to help us fix it for you and everyone else is by visiting our troubleshooting guide.[/p][p][/p][h3]Traversal[/h3]

• [p]Fixed various collider issues that could cause players to get stuck.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a certain ledge in episode 4 that wasn't supposed to be accessible and allowed you to bypass a scene.[/p]
• [p]Prevented Alfie from getting stuck behind an elevator door when restarting a scene.[/p]
• [p]Prevented falling off the world if attempting to exit an episode 5 location after reaching the top.[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing rock colliders in specific locations.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a few occlusion culling issues that caused areas to flicker when standing in certain spots.[/p]
• [p]Various traversal and level design polish throughout.[/p]

[h3]Interactions[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where you could be stuck sitting after restarting a certain scene.[/p]
• [p]Re-worded some objectives and hints for improved clarity.[/p]
• [p]Added additional hints to make some Episode 1 puzzles more intuitive.[/p]
• [p]Improved clarity in environmental hints for a few Episode 5 puzzles.[/p]
• [p]Added extra cairns in locations where they were too far apart.[/p]
• [p]Show hints about hunger/stress sooner to avoid confusion.[/p]
• [p]Eating is now allowed at 50% hunger instead of 25%.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Star Crossed Lovers achievement not awarding in one particular branch.[/p]

[h3]UI/Controls[/h3]

• [p]Improved movement handling on gamepads for better axis sensitivity normalization across devices.[/p]
• [p]Fixed traversal actions not triggering correctly when using some Xbox 360 controllers and some third-party controllers.[/p]
• [p]Fixed camera clipping issues when head bob is turned off.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue preventing typing into the feedback form on PC.[/p]
• [p]Fixed high refresh rate monitors not always showing all available refresh rate options.[/p]

[h3]Audio[/h3]

• [p]Fixed music not always transitioning correctly in the final scene.[/p]
• [p]Fixed several dialogue overlap issues.[/p]

[h3]Stability[/h3]

• [p]Fixed rare instances where restarting a scene or returning to the main menu could result in a black screen.[/p]
• [p]Fixed various other errors that could cause crashes, hangs or other unexpected issues.[/p]

[p]Thank you again for your patience and support as we continue to improve Arctic Awakening. If you’ve been enjoying your time in the snow, leaving a review (or updating one!) really helps us out a lot![/p][p]We're working on more updates/fixes right now and will update you again soon![/p]

[p]A huge thank you for diving into Arctic Awakening with us! We're so thrilled to see how many of you are loving the experience :)[/p][p]We’ve been listening closely to your feedback and working hard to smooth out any rough edges. Many of the below fixes/updates were made possible thanks to reports from many of you -- we really appreciate all of the feedback and help tracking these down![/p][p]As always, if you run into an issue, the best way to help us fix it for you and everyone else is by visiting our troubleshooting guide.[/p][h3][/h3][h3]Traversal[/h3]

• [p]Prevented situations where players could get stuck at cliff edges or climbing walls.[/p]
• [p]Fixed instances where Alfie could get stuck flying high in the air, especially when going up and over cliffs.[/p]
• [p]Fixed edge cases that could leave players stuck while meditating or sitting at scene transitions.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some areas where Alfie could fall off of a cliff and go missing for a while.[/p]
• [p]Smoothed traversal/collider issues in multiple areas (including around the power facility and later exploration areas -- we're still working on this throughout the world map).[/p]
• [p]Slightly sped up rock climbing animations for a smoother feel.[/p]
• [p]Reduced camera clipping through rocks and geometry in some specific locations.[/p]

[h3]Interactions[/h3]

• [p]Fixed specific instance where you could get stuck in the cockpit.[/p]
• [p]Fixed soft lock where a particular scene would sometimes get stuck after exiting the cockpit and talking to Alfie.[/p]
• [p]Using the "auto keep" option will no longer block progression when collecting pill bottles.[/p]
• [p]Fixed instance where a specific event in episode 2 could be unknowingly bypassed, blocking further progression.[/p]

[h3]UI/Controls[/h3]

• [p]Exiting to main menu now correctly clears all on-screen UI (meditation, code entry, etc.).[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where remapping input could break code entry sequences.[/p]
• [p]Blocked compass usage when the left arm is already performing an action/animation.[/p]
• [p]Fixed hand scanner sometimes not activating on first use.[/p]
• [p]Prevented scanning interactions from outside vehicles.[/p]

[h3]Stability[/h3]

• [p]Fixed various logged errors that could lead to crashes or unexpected behavior.[/p]
• [p]Improved consistency of save/load across edge cases.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Thank you again for your patience and support as we continue to improve Arctic Awakening. If you’ve been enjoying your time in the snow, leaving a review (or updating one!) really helps us out a lot![/p][p]We're working on more updates/fixes right now and will update you again soon![/p]

The walking simulator really died on its arse circa 2018, didn't it? It's like What Remains of Edith Finch released and everyone went "Well, we're not going to do better than that!" before hanging up their hiking boots once and for all. Even Giant Sparrow, the creator of What Remains of Edith Finch, hasn't released a game since...
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[h3]The wait is over. Arctic Awakening is now available![/h3][p]Creating this game, world and story has been a true labor of love for our small team over the last 5+ years, and we're beyond excited to finally share it with all of you. We've poured every ounce of ourselves into this game, so now it's your turn to step into Kai's shoes, explore the vast landscapes and uncover the mysteries buried beneath the ice![/p][p]Don’t forget: there’s a 10% launch discount for 7 days on Steam. If you enjoy the game, the best way you can support any indie is by leaving a review on Steam -- it really does make a huge difference to help us continue making games.[/p][p]We've also put together a brand new launch trailer to get you extra hyped before you jump into the game![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Thank you so much for being part of this journey. We can’t wait to hear what you think! Please be sure to tell your friends and share with anyone that loves storytelling in video games! You can always find us on Discord, BlueSky and X as well.

Support/Bugs[/p][p]We've spent many months going through extensive QA testing and bug fixing rounds, but with such a large and detailed world, there's always going to be unexpected issues that slip through.[/p][p]We'll be working to patch any issues as quickly as possible, and we've set up a troubleshooting doc with information on how you can best report issues to us so that we can fix them in a timely manner.[/p]