Atomic Picnic News

First of all, Happy 2025 Loners!

This update introduces exciting new features to enhance your adventure! Enjoy a revamped Objectives UI and two brand-new Mementos (Cosmic Fragrance and Infinite Trash), which add fresh layers of strategy to your gameplay.

We’ve also introduced visual upgrades, including polished drop effects and new banners for interactable objects. Plus, category icons have been redesigned for easier navigation, and performance optimizations ensure smoother gameplay for hosts and players alike.

And as some of you Loners requested, you can now skip the Special Chest Animation!

[h3]What's New[/h3]

• New Mementos Added:

• Cosmic Fragrance (Purify)
  
  • Once you purchase some Cosmic Fragrance levels, you can spend them during a level up to Purify any Cursed Curio, removing all negative effects and only obtaining the positive ones!
    

• Infinite Trash (Banish)
  
  • After you get some Infinite Trash points in the Mementos store, you can spend them during a level up to banish any level 1 Curio or Cursed Curio from the pool so they won't reappear again during this run. Keep in mind you can't banish Curios that you've already obtained. If you banish a cursed curio, that exact combination of effects won't show in your current run again!
    

• New Objectives UI – A sleek and improved way to track your goals!

[h3]Visual Improvements
[/h3]

• New banner for interactable objects and NPCs in the camp.
  
• Polished drop VFX for better consistency with pebbles’ behavior. Both now rotate when dropping.
  
• Enhanced VFX for the curio "Bitter Barking Brew."
  

[h3]Quality of Life Updates[/h3]

• Category Icons: Redesigned for easier navigation (Discoveries, Mementos, Loadout, Start Picnic).
  

• Performance Optimizations:
  • Boost performance for the host by revamping enemy systems to determine player position.
    
  • Optimized VFX for One-Eyed Twirl for smoother visuals.
    

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• Special Chest Skip:
  • Only the host can skip, with a fast-forward button, to finish the animation quickly.
    

• VFX optimizations for Icy Orbs.
  
• Curio UIs now display "MAX" instead of "LVL 4" when maxed on every screen.
  
• Removed Christmas decorations from the camp. It's time to welcome the new year!
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Turtle Bombers localization names are now correctly displayed on the discovery screen.
  
• Buff stacks no longer break lines when exceeding 99 (below health).
  

[h3]Known Issues
[/h3]

• The game starts stuttering during the transition to the Final Boss stage
  
• The game starts stuttering, freezes, and clients are disconnected
  
• Opening Taka-chan and then instantly leveling up might cause the Taka-chan screen to freeze
  
• Music starts stuttering and stops playing until the game crashes or the user returns to Camp in co-op
  
• Dead ally might be invisible to other players
  
• Safeguard while downed blocks the user from continuing playing
  
• Inviting through Steam makes friends join random people
  
• Ash's Ultimate and Gear Dash Combo Allows Unintended High-Flying Out of the Playable Area
  
• Placeholder Cubes are Being Used as Debuff Indicators
  
• Incorrect Prompt for Curios Screen: "TouchPad" is Shown Instead of "Share" on the PS5 Controller
  
• The player can get stuck in a gap and fall out of the map area
  
• Selecting 'Unlock Skills' on an unlocked character and then switching to a locked one allows purchasing skills for a locked character
  

[h3]Director's Commentary[/h3]
Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all your comments, feedback, critiques, and suggestions. A special shout-out goes to ruff1298 in our Steam Discussion forum; bro's been cooking a lot. While we're preparing our first major update, addressing the most significant player's pain points is still essential. We're currently looking at changes related to the first map's difficulty and improving the Discovery System to allow for a much better progression and unlock flow. This will be a lot of work and take some time, but we hear you and want to make it right
Please keep sending your feedback; this is the only way we can make Atomic the best game it can be 😊 . As always, I'll be on the Steam Discussion forum answering you guys, or you can ping me on our Discord and send your feedback there!

Cheers!
-[Dev] Ashkental

We’ve rolled out a quick hotfix based on your feedback! Thank you for helping us make the game better! Here’s what’s new:

• Fixed a bug where enemies hit by the Chain Light evolution would sometimes become permanently invulnerable until the end of the run.
  

How’s the Zone treating you during the Holiday Update?🎄 Let us know by hitting the “Send Feedback” button after your next picnic or joining us on Discord to chat—we’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for an amazing 2024! Your support means the world to us, and we’re excited for what’s to come in 2025. ✨

See you out there, Loners!

To celebrate the end of the year, we prepared a new update with new Curios, a new night mode map, and quality of life improvements!

And... a holiday splash art for you Loners to download. 😁

We've been reading all your comments and took time to revamp a significant part of the Combat Experience by changing how enemies despawn and completely remaking the Snakes (and other Shooters!) and its AI Behavior!

This update should boost multiplayer performance as well! So, if you were having networking issues, please try again and let us know!

[h3]What's New?
[/h3]Curios:

• Alternate Actuality: Defeating an enemy has a chance of spawning Snowbro, who'll inflict stacks of Chill on your Enemies! Gear Dashing through Snowbro will cause it to explode and deal tons of Chill!
  

• Scoopert: While your Device is on Cooldown, it spawns Orbs around you that apply stacks of Chill to enemies. Shooting these Orbs applies even more stacks!
  

New Night Mode Map:

• Twilight Dam: An ancient structure used to generate energy from way before Core splitting was a thing... A reality break envelops this area on permanent Twilight.
  

Director Note:
The Night Mode version of Twilight Dam should introduce a new challenge for those Loners who are incredibly experienced. If you manage to beat it, let us know!

Visual Enhancements:
A snow-kissed Loner's Camp:

• The Loner's Camp gets a holiday makeover:
  
• Snow-covered landscapes and frozen water.
  
• Twinkling Christmas lights.
  
• A glowing Christmas tree.
  
• And yes, even Rose is rocking a Santa hat.
  

• Goop VFX revamped! Now, it’s yellow for better understanding and visibility.
  
  • This is part of our quest to improve readability and better teach Camille's fight. This should make the Goop less fearsome for some players who mistook it for a "Poisonous" field.

• Enhanced lighting on characters, weapons, and devices in the loadout screen—looking sharp!
  
• Sleek new outlines for characters, enemies, and props.
  

[h3]Quality of Life Upgrades
[/h3]

• Locked Content Preview:
  • Content that players have yet to unlock appears in the mysterious atomic font... 👀

• Visible discoveries display unlock progress for better tracking.
  

• Interactions: Hold E action is now instant for most in-picnic actions.
  • Selecting Offerings, Buying Items, Activating Events, and Opening Taka-Chan are examples of now instant interactions.
    
  • Reviving Players is still a press-and-hold action.
    
  • All Camp actions are still press-and-hold.
    

[h3]Changes & Balancing
[/h3]

• Discovery System Rebalanced:
  • Most Discoveries are now easier to unlock
    
  • Some Discoveries now offer higher currency rewards.
    
  • Previously unlocked content will still be available, even if the discovery disappears and it's locked. Don't be surprised! Players will receive unlocked notifications again, even if the item has already been unlocked.

• Enemy AI Tweaks:
  • Enemies will not easily despawn anymore.
    
  • Enemies will now spawn much further away from you.
    
  • Snacks will now try its best to teleport in front of the player they are targeting.
    
  • Snacks now teleport further away from the player.
    
  • Shooter enemies AI rebalanced to be less frustrating when attacking players from behind.
    

• XP drop VFX intensity toned down—less flash, same reward!
  
• Slippery Surfaces: Light poles just got trickier. Testing this feature for future hazard zones.
  

Director Note:
Although they seem small, these combat changes are extremely significant. We've noticed the game is much more manageable, especially when doing Events, Objectives, or when fighting against lots of enemies. Enemies not despawning and spawning much further away means you can see them and better prepare yourself for the fight, while they won't just randomly pop right in your face all the time. This is part of our ongoing efforts to make combat in Atomic Picnic feel amazing, so let us know what you think. This change could only happen due to your feedback on our Steam Forums and Discord!

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Snake Enemy:
  • Fixed Elite Snake's bouncing bullet VFX
• Camille Teleport:
  • Lag spikes during boss fights? Not anymore. Performance and connection issues resolved.
• Enemy Spawn Stability:
  • No more random despawning. Enemies are here to stay until defeated.
    
    • This fix should mitigate disconnection issues.
• Explodable Bouncing Bullets:
  • Fixed multiple explosions, missing explosions, and odd behavior on irregular surfaces.
• Peace Time Spawns:
  • Fixed enemies who were rudely interrupting your downtime.
• Performance Tweaks:
  • Bullet data optimizations that should decrease network traffic.
    
  • Optimizations for enemy jump VFX.
    
  • Fixed leaking event data from incomplete events that were causing performance and networking overhead.
  
  
• Camille Fixes:
  • Corrected oversized hitbox, expanding ball of bullets attack position, bullet size, and compatibility with the Suspicious Mirror (Curio) and JD's Active Skill.
• Other Fixes
• Fixed Taka-chan not responding when opening it simultaneously when the Mini-Boss spawns.
  
• Fixed Camp UI disappearing (We fixed it, but we are still testing this! So help us if you see that happening!)
  
• Fixed Enemies getting stuck on a rock shelf in Train Plateau.
  
• AI Pathfinding Update
  
  • Fewer places where enemies are spawning inside walls.
    
  • Enemies jump loop should not happen anymore.
    
    • Sometimes, enemies kept jumping in the same place without getting closer to the player.
  • Enemies navigation mesh is more straightforward and should demand less from weaker machines when hosting.
    
  • Melee enemies slightly shake when reaching the player's closest position on NavMesh.
    
  • Improved Little Mac's AI to better focus on one player at a time.

[h3]Known Issues
[/h3]

• Dead allies might be invisible to other players.
  
• Inviting through Steam sometimes makes friends join random people.
  
• Safeguard, while downed, blocks the user from continuing playing.
  
• The game starts stuttering during the transition to the Final Boss stage.
  
• Ash's Active Skill and Gear Dash combo allows unintended high-flying out of the playable area. (This is why we can't have nice things 🤣)
  
• Placeholder Cubes are being used as Debuff Indicators in Bonnie's Drop Lvl 3 skill.
  
• Incorrect Prompt for Curios Screen: "TouchPad" is shown instead of "Share" on the PS5 Controller.
  
• There are still some connection issues happening, we will continue investigating them.

[h3]Happy Holidays!
[/h3]This is more than just an update. It’s a thank YOU from us! Most of the impactful changes we've made here were thanks to your feedback, reports, and suggestions. Please keep them coming so we can make Atomic Picnic the best game it can be 💖

Have fun with the new content, improved combat experience, and a snow-kissed Loner's Camp! Whether you're here to build the best Chill Build or soak in the holiday vibes, this update is for you.
Bundle up, grab your Snowbro, and make this holiday one to remember! See you in-game!

Happy Holidays from the BitCake Team

PS: We will take our break from Dec 20 to Jan 6, but we're already cooking stuff for next year. Stay tuned!

[h2]Hey Loners![/h2]

We’ve rolled out a quick hotfix based on your feedback—thanks for keeping us in the loop! Here's what's new:

• Smarter Multiplayer Startups: Increased tolerance on the startup of multiplayer matches in order to reduce connection errors at the start of a picnic.
  
  • This fix should help reduce the number of failed picnic starts when playing in a squad, especially when in a group with a high discrepancy in PC specs.
    
• Future-Proofing: Added even more tools to help us diagnose and tackle potential connection hiccups down the line.
  

If you weren’t able to play with friends before, please try now and tell us how it went!

Quick Reminder: Don’t forget to hit the "Send Feedback" button after your picnic, or swing by our Discord to chat with us. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

See you out there, Loners!

Creative Director Edu here! Now that we've released the game in Early Access and fixed some of the most urgent issues via hotfixes, we can start doing more meaty updates!

This first one addresses some of the pain points you've been sending us via our Steam Forums and Discord! So, let's do a quick rundown:

• Glossary on Level-Up Screen: A handy new glossary is now available on the level-up screen, helping you easily understand game vocabulary.
  • We've received a ton of feedback regarding how specific mechanics work, and while this isn't the final solution, we wanted to do something fast to help players better understand the game! You can expect us to improve on this later on 🙂
    

[h2]Visual Improvements
[/h2]

• Revamped Discovery Screen: The Discovery screen has been polished with new visuals.
  • This is a first pass. We will keep improving this screen so you know what to expect from discoveries!

• New Discovery Unlock Animation: Discoveries now include a fresh unlock animation paired with a detailed textual description.
  

• Explosive Area Hold VFX: Experience the power with dazzling new effects.
  
  • We're listening! We heard you loud and clear how the Explosive Area Hold main objective wasn't clear and needed better communication, so we did something about it!
• Updated Loadout Buttons: Fresh button sprites have been added to the character loadout screen for a cleaner, more intuitive interface.
  

[h2]Quality of Life Enhancements[/h2]

• Camille’s Laser Anticipation VFX Improvement: The Laser Anticipation VFX now accurately stops when it encounters the Goop Slime, giving better gameplay clarity.
  
  • After watching you guys play and reading your comments, we realized we needed to do a better job explaining how Camille's fight works. This improvement addresses the fight's biggest pain point: The Laser attack. We'll keep working to make this a better fight with your feedback

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Audio Adjustments:
  • Skill SFX volume increased for better audio balance.
    
  • Critical hit SFX and Hani Handyman Charge SFX also have volume boosts.
• Icon Updates: Some discovery icons have been replaced with updated versions.
  
• Discovery Rewards Tweak: Pebble rewards no longer trigger a fanfare.
  
• Level-Up Screen Simplification: Stats for regular curios are no longer shown, focusing only on Cursed Curios.
  
  • The reason we're hiding this information for now is because the way we had it displayed was causing a lot of confusion for players. When players read that a Curio Level Up gained +2% Probability, they thought that this stat applied to their entire character and not to that Curio only. So, we decided to remove these stats change display for now while we think of a better way of communicating that. This is a temporary change while we find better solutions! So thank you for your understanding 🙏
    
• Balancing Adjustments:
  
  • Slight buffs and tweaks for upgrades with underwhelming evolutions.
    
  • Sniper now shoots faster for a smoother experience.
    
  • Gold Goblin drops an XP Vacuum reward when escaping with low health.
    
  • Players can now be revived from greater heights.
    
  • Chest rewards now vary in probability, with a smaller chance for one-reward chests and better odds for three-reward chests.
    
  • Night mode bosses got a health boost and only drop cores now, no regular XP.
    

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Gameplay:
  • Gold Goblin now only drops Pebbles after activation.
    
  • Ghost Story curio (levels 3 and 4) and Explosive Area Hold objective no longer show decimal values.
    
• End Game Screen:
  
  • "Send Us Feedback" can now be closed with the gamepad.(Sorry about that gamepad people!)
    
  • Holding "Continue" no longer affects the "Send Us Feedback" button.
    
  • Corrected level display issues.
• Tutorial: Fixed "Skip Tutorial" button for clients after completion or skipping.
  
• Camp Display: Text now properly displays after players hold CTRL to ready.
  

[h2]Known Issues[/h2]

• Some discovery trackers (e.g., deposits, devices) are not working as expected.
  
• Certain enemies might get stuck during Peace Time.
  
• Unit spawns and movement are glitchy on Train Plateau.
  
• Dead allies may appear invisible to teammates.
  
• Inviting friends through Steam may result in joining random lobbies.
  
• Players with Safeguard, while downed, may encounter gameplay blockage.
  
• Taka-chan is unresponsive if opened simultaneously with a Mini-Boss spawn.
  

[h2]Snacks Combat Behavior
[/h2]As I've said before, we've been reading all comments, and this is BY FAR the biggest pain point still in the game. Unfortunately, we haven't addressed it in this update. Still, we are working on improving the Snacks combat so it doesn't feel cheap and frustrating, especially their Teleporting near you and Shooting behind you. We're prototyping some solutions and iterating, this takes a bit more time to do and we want to do it properly, but at the same time I feel we should address this directly so you know what to expect. Again, thank you all for your patience regarding this! 🙏

We're super excited to be receiving so much feedback from the community, and we want to make Atomic the best game we can, so please keep sending your comments, suggestions, bug reports, and more! And if you want to reach me, you can do so in the Forums or Discord, which is where I hang out the most
Stay tuned for our following updates because we're cooking!

See you in the Picnic,
- Edu