REKA News

Hello witches,

We hope you're keeping warm and snug in this colder weather! Now's the time to be curling up underneath mountains of blankets and pillows, and baking festive treats to enjoy by a log fire... So, we thought we'd make the witchy world of REKA even cozier! But firstly, some news we are VERY excited about:

[h2]REKA is now Steam Deck verified! ✅[/h2]

Alongside this new content, we're so excited to announce that REKA is now Steam Deck verified! We've made some tweaks and polishes so you can now enjoy a handheld version of our game whilst snuggling up on the sofa!



[h2]A festive update has arrived in the woodlands![/h2]
[h3]Festive chests will spawn until 25th January! [/h3]

We've been secretly working on a mini addition to REKA that brings you some of our favorite things from the holiday season. Keep an eye out for these festive chests dotted around the forest that contain some new loot to enhance your chicken-legged cottage and wardrobe. (Please move to a new map before playing the update to reset the chests! We are aiming on a patch for this soon.)



[h2]7 new recipes. Can you find them all? [/h2]

We know how much you love cooking up delicious foods in REKA, so we've added 7 new recipes for you to discover. Experiment with ingredients and see if you can make something mouth-watering!



[h2]A cozy new outfit to keep you warm [/h2]

We had so much fun putting this new outfit together! Customization options are something we really enjoy adding to our game - let us know what you think of this wintery get-up!



[h2]Festive items for your chicken-legged cottage! [/h2]

From blankets and pillows to hanging decorations, we've added a few special items to help your hut feel even more homely!



[h2]Grow your own trees! [/h2]

You can get pretty creative with this one... Turn your home into a magical treehouse! Tree seeds can be planted and you can grow a few different types (including apple!) which we think looks very dramatic when you're walking around the world!



[h2]We've added a few bug fixes 🐞[/h2]

Bug fixing is something we are continually working on in the run-up to our 1.0 launch, and we have added a few to this mini update. Thank you so much for flagging any bugs via the bug report form, it has been so helpful!

• Many bugs for controller/Steam Deck users have been fixed
  
• Transferring single items between inventories with controller now works
  
• Doors and windows now save whether they were open or closed
  
• Fixed the moth display not displaying your moths. (You might have to find it again if you had a broken version)
  
• Fixed some sound issues in the souls chapter and added sound for recharging your mask
  
• Fixed building tutorial not displaying a mouse wheel glyph
  
• Fixed bringing home lifeless Lutki not giving the lifeless Lutki building blocks 3/4 times
  

If you spot anything that isn't working as it should, please do let us know! We'll be working on a patch for this update so your feedback would be so appreciated!

We hope you enjoy this update, and we wish you the most relaxing and enjoyable holiday season.

Speak soon!

Emberstorm x

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your bug reports, it's been so helpful. We've made the below changes to help improve your witchy adventure:

[h3]Changes:[/h3]
- At the Siva Shrine you no longer need to destroy all of the bushes, to avoid confusion.
- Updated credits.
- Restructured the intro dialogues for the Souls chapter, to decrease confusion.

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]
- Berries can now spawn in the Beech Forest.
- When saving and loading during Dziady Baba Jaga’s default dialogues will not be available anymore.
- Baba Jaga will properly sit in her chair/stand next to the oven when completing Dziady after saving/loading.
- The chicken legged hut now properly sits down and stands up at the Dziady ritual place.
- The position of the chicken legged hut is now properly saved and loaded.
- Reka will now stay seated while standing up or sitting down with the chicken legged hut preventing her from getting stuck.
- Improved resetting of settings. This will now also reset your custom button mappings.
- Made settings saving more robust.
- Fixed controller navigation for graphics settings.
- Fixed controllers sometimes not working in the main menu.
- Fixed another instance of the tonic of connection recipe vanishing for some players.
- Fixed controller navigation for food selection/ travel screen when you have no food.
- Fixed certain rewards vanishing after loading.
- Fixed rotating tutorials sometimes not working.
- You can now correctly swap between the Lantern and Swarog’s Charm, without the radial menu breaking.

[p]For changes and fixes directly affecting quests like the scarecrows not appearing on the Leshy’s Trial map or the ghosts to fully work you will need to travel onward to a new map.[/p][p][/p][h3]Changes:[/h3]

• [p]Villages in “Learning the Ropes” chapter increased in size, to make it possible for more quests to spawn there.[/p]
• [p]Added a pop up to ask for your content warning preference when you first open the game.[/p]

[h3]Performance:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a bug that could cause the performance cost of villagers to spike[/p]

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a bug where the chicken legged hut was too close to the map border after traveling, immediately prompting the “Travel onward” PopUp.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where players did not have the Tonic of Communication recipe anymore.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the Kopnik scarecrow quest could not be interacted with after shooing the birds. This will only work on newly generated maps.[/p]
• [p]Resolved a bug where the Honor Quest ghost could clip through the ceiling and become stuck.[/p]
• [p]Reka no longer slides around the hut when she is home while it is standing.[/p]
• [p]Scarecrows now correctly appear on Leshy’s Trial map.[/p]
• [p]Gardening Dress Leggings no longer appear partially see-through.[/p]
• [p]The Ghosts of the “Bound to the Bog” Quest now properly follow the player, if their lantern is raised.[/p]
• [p]Addressed an issue, where saving and loading would cause the player character's eyebrows or eye color to change.[/p]
• [p]Clothing rewards of the Dziady quest are now properly saved.[/p]
• [p]The Siva Shrine Point of Interest can no longer spawn too close to the map border.[/p]
• [p]The Sit Down/Stand Up options when sitting in the Skeleton Chair now appear correctly.[/p]
• [p]Item descriptions now properly appear in the journal again.[/p]
• [p]After completing the Farmwork quests, villagers now sit in their proper chairs rather than on the field.[/p]

[p]Here is a list of patch notes for the Ashes & Ancestors update![/p][p][/p][h2]Content[/h2][p]New Chapter: Dziady[/p][p]New Points of Interest[/p]

• [p]The Carver[/p]
• [p]Lost souls[/p]
  • [p]The Drowned Witch[/p]
  • [p]The Murderer[/p]
  • [p]The Deceased[/p]
  • [p]The Feud[/p]
  • [p]Basic Lost Soul[/p]
• [p]Dziady[/p]

[p]Other new Points of Interest[/p]

• [p]Lutki ritual place[/p]
• [p]Ghost Release[/p]
• [p]Cursed Spirit[/p]
• [p]Bound to the Bog[/p]

[p]New Biome: The Spruce Forest[/p][p]New Crafting Stations[/p]

• [p]Spell Binding Table[/p]
  • [p]Craft charms and protection items[/p]
• [p]Furniture Workbench[/p]
  • [p]Sell Building Blocks and craft Blueprints[/p]

[p]70+ new Building Blocks[/p][p]New unlockable Character Customization options (new outfits)[/p][h2]Other[/h2]

• [p]Added pages in journal for trinkets and wearables/ clothing[/p]
• [p]Improved Journal Usability[/p]
• [p]New travel screen mechanic[/p]
• [p]New character controller for more precise jumping[/p]
• [p]Added content warnings (You can turn them off under Settings > Controls > Content Warnings)[/p]
• [p]New music[/p]
• [p]Updated rendering and lighting engine[/p]
• [p]Implemented new Graphics Settings[/p]
• [p]Implemented toggleable fog blur[/p]
• [p]Due to technical limitations we had to remove the back to main menu button from the pause menu. We are sorry about this.[/p]
• [p]Steam Deck playable badge[/p]

[h2]Performance[/h2]

• [p]Major Performance improvements[/p]
  • [p]Decreased load on CPU[/p]
• [p]Implemented FSR3.1 upscaling algorithm[/p]
  • [p]This can be toggled and adjusted in the graphics settings[/p]
• [p]Steam Deck - adjusted recommended settings [/p]

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• [p]Unity update to fix Unity security issues[/p]
• [p]Fixed grass not being under the terrain[/p]
• [p]Fixed floating terrain and floating structures[/p]
• [p]Clothing don’t clip into NPC’s body model anymore[/p]
• [p]Reka can no longer glide on fences[/p]
• [p]NPCs are no longer getting stuck in the ground or walls[/p]
• [p]NPCs can no longer walk through fences or trees[/p]
• [p]UI for interaction and speaking do no longer overlap[/p]
• [p]Goatling walking through fences[/p]
• [p]ESC button now goes back in main menu[/p]
• [p]Button remapping is now displayed correctly in building menu[/p]
• [p]Camera is now following Reka correctly when standing up or sitting down in the walking house[/p]
• [p]Chests in the tutorial that didn’t have loot now have[/p]
• [p]Reka is able slide upwards on a vertical surface[/p]
• [p]Text is now displayed correctly when clicking the question mark button displayed while interacting with the food shelf, scales, and fireplace[/p]
• [p]Chicken hut footsteps don’t play any longer while hut is idle[/p]
• [p]Crows in the tutorial don’t freeze in the air and don’t disappear anymore after saving and loading the game[/p]
• [p]Journal bookmarks are easier to read while highlighted[/p]
• [p]Trapped hare can’t spawn under water any more[/p]
• [p]Save/ Load during ‘trial of the forest spirit’ while Leshy appears does not get Leshy stuck in place anymore[/p]
• [p]Players can’t get permanently stuck during ‘trial of the forest spirit’ quest (pop up appears to tell player can teleport home/ leave map to start quest anew if stuck)[/p]
• [p]Fixed that ‘trial of the forest spirit’ does not break upon regenerating the map and throwing enchanted larch cones early in the quest[/p]
• [p]Enough hunter lookouts will now appear to complete the sidequest during ‘trial of the forest spirit’[/p]
• [p]Fixed jumping animation during frequent jumping on uneven ground[/p]
• [p]Player can’t get stuck by clipping character head into a ceiling anymore[/p]
• [p]Fixed animation of woodcutting NPCs after talking to them[/p]
• [p]Fixed interaction with skeleton chair while jumping that caused the sit down animation to loop [/p]
• [p]Controller button icons are now displayed correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed save games having the same names after saving[/p]
• [p]Teleporting home does not cause Reka to fall from a height anymore[/p]
• [p]Beekeeper is no longer sitting in the air[/p]
• [p]Player can no longer sit in chairs occupied by NPCs[/p]
• [p]Points of interest are no longer spawning below the map[/p]
• [p]Player can no longer get both the old watering can and Siva’s Boon after regenerating the map[/p]
• [p]Picking up an animal while using the tonic of connection no longer results in being unable to drop the animal[/p]
• [p]Only one siva shrine can spawn on the siva shrine map[/p]
• [p]Fixed UI to display correct use item wheel prompt[/p]
• [p]Fixed environment to no longer change upon reloading and no longer spawning in villages or POIs[/p]
• [p]Fixed illumination BBs to be interactable[/p]
• [p]Player can’t teleport anymore during final tutorial cutscene[/p]
• [p]Fixed rapid light/color flashes in Tutorial to appear sometimes (seizure risk)[/p]
• [p]Fixed POIs spawning inside one another or other structures on the map[/p]
• [p]Fixed the crows to work as intended when picking up an animal[/p]
• [p]Fixed "Work on the Cabbage Farm" to not spawn cabbages[/p]
• [p]Fixed ‘Toggle Sprint/Aim/Collect’ to be turned on despite them not being shown as on in the settings[/p]
• [p]Fixed that deleting grain from inventory in tutorial no longer hard locks you[/p]
• [p]Fixed "The Smiling Hive" quest to disappear from journal after completion[/p]
• [p]Fixed so that collecting with crows is no longer delayed[/p]
• [p]Chicken hut can’t get stuck on environment so that it cannot move anymore[/p]
• [p]Fixed so that UI for destroying objects does not appear before equipping crows[/p]
• [p]Using arrow keys in a menu now let you scroll through it[/p]
• [p]Fixed that the render distance slider has no effect[/p]
• [p]Fixed use items to no longer switch places in the UI [/p]
• [p]Fixed that Reka no longer stands at an angle after getting out of the skeleton chair early[/p]
• [p]Fixed map regeneration so that Reka can’t be knocked out of the chicken hut chair anymore[/p]
• [p]Fixed that if you open the use item wheel while walking or having auto walk enabled, the player is unable to select an option[/p]
• [p]Fixed the item counter UI so that after collecting something with crows it now disappears again[/p]
• [p]And many more bugs[/p]

Hello witches,

It brings us great excitement to say that the Ashes & Ancestors update is now live on Steam!



[h3]What's new to REKA? [/h3]

This update brings loads of new content, including:

• Talk to spirits with the Dziady mask: With this mask, Reka can speak to spirits from beyond the grave, and is able to see and interact with them. While some ghosts need help with moving on, others are cursed or want to find their way back to their bodies.
  
  
• New biome, crafting stations and clothing: You can now craft charms at the Spell Binding Table and craft Blueprints at the Furniture Workbench, as well as explore the Spruce Forest biome! There’s also new clothing and accessories for Reka to wear as part of her ritual attire.
  
  
  
  
• Expanded story: REKA’s narrative grows in Ashes & Ancestors as you'll continue the apprentice journey with Baba Jaga, meeting the spirits of powerful witches along the way...
  
  
• Major performance improvements: With at least 300 new bug fixes thanks to player feedback, this update marks another step in REKA’s Early Access journey. The chicken-hut no longer gets stuck, the hares can now be moved, and loads more!
  Thanks so much for all your comments and bug reports. We read all of your feedback and it has really helped us prioritise what to work on. While we have fixed a whole bunch of issues, there will still be a few bugs which we hope to have a patch for soon. If you notice anything not quite working how it should, please do fill in our bug form. Thank you!
  
  
• Officially playable on Steam Deck: You can now play REKA on the go, or curl up on the sofa as you explore the woodlands!
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]What's next for REKA? [/h3]

Our next big content update will be for our 1.0 launch in 2026. In the meantime, we'll be keeping our heads down and working towards making even more progress with our witchy little game, with our goal to make REKA as smooth an experience as possible for you. Below is our updated roadmap, which shows the updates we've had so far.



Thank you so much for all your ongoing support. We hope you enjoy this new update and we can't wait to bring you more of Reka's story!

Talk soon x