Equinox: Homecoming News

[p][/p][p]It’s been four months since we launched into early access and welcomed our first batch of players to the picturesque Alderwood Island. Since then, we’ve released 11 patches - with many more on the way! If it’s been awhile since you’ve taken a ride across Alderwood, it will probably look a bit different and feel much better to play.  We have so many exciting updates planned for the future that we've shared in our new roadmap here! [/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]...But before we dive into the future, we wanted to take a moment to look back on what we’ve accomplished together. 🥰[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]It’s a tough time in the industry and all of us are grateful for the opportunity to create something that’s so different. Whether you’ve been here since our first reveal, joined us on launch day, or are waiting for the right time to ride: thank you for supporting us![/p][p]Steam reviews are the lifeblood of any game - especially for a game as unique and nontraditional as ours. If you’ve played, please take a moment to leave us a Steam review! We can’t respond to all of the reviews, but the team reads each and every one of them. We take the community’s aggregate feedback and use that to guide our future plans. Together, we’re making this game the best it can be.[/p][p][/p][p]Without further ado: let’s take a look at the updates we’ve released and their highlights... [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Patches #9, #10, and #11[/p][p]This trio of summer patches released more art polish, several bug fixes, and our first localization! Read our summary below to learn what changed:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]German Localization: Our first language localization launched in German![/p]
• [p]New Hairstyles: Several new hairstyles were added to the game. [/p]

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• [p]Vanity Equipment Slots: New cosmetic slots let you look fabulous and enjoy other items’ stats.[/p]
• [p]Compendium Updates: Two new compendium sections were added to track Tutorials and Race information.[/p]
• [p]Art Polish that introduced new set dressing, horse handfeeding, performance updates, and child animations.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]These patches focused on removing quest blockers, collision issues, and more. We fixed shaky cameras during dialogue, resolved an issue that prevented some players from receiving Weekly Race quests, continued improving navmesh, and more.
[/p][p]To see the full change logs, check out the release notes here: Patch #9 | Patch #10 | Patch #11[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]New Content Drop: Patch #8 - Chapter 3 [/p][p]This patch was one of our biggest yet and introduced a new chapter and riding island as well as community-requested features like subtitles, keybindings, and environmental jumping! Check out our summary below:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Over 20 New Quests: A new narrative drop for Chapter 3 alongside some new side quests and weeklies were released.[/p]
• [p]New Ride Island - Sunset Lake: Take a lakeside retreat to a hidden gem and the darling of the archipelago! This map takes you around a beautiful lake dotted with forest trails and cozy nooks.[/p]

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• [p]Environmental Jumping: The first iteration of our mechanics that lets players jump over obstacles outside of races, such as fences and trees.[/p]
• [p]Custom Settings: Now players can customize mouse and keyboard keybindings and adjust new camera sensitivity options.[/p]
• [p]Subtitles: This update brought subtitles for our cutscenes and support for future localizations. [/p]
• [p]New Compendium Updates: Now you can track completed quests in a new section in your Compendium! [/p]
• [p]New Loyalty Currency: As a small token of gratitude for our Early Access players! This currency can be used, in the future, to redeem exclusive cosmetics items just for EA players. [/p]

[p][/p][p]Fixed an issue where clues during Deer Trail Danger wouldn’t light up when investigated, removed Alfred’s doppelganger in Postman Duties, added quest map markers for several quests, continued to polish Compendium copy, and fixed the knife’s incorrect Egg UI icon.[/p][p][/p][p]Check out the full change log here: [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p]Summer Patches: Patch #7 and #6 [/p][p]Our summer patches introduced bug fixes for quest issues, a lot of new cosmetics, our new Emote system, and a lot of different Quality of Life improvements. Here’s the highlights:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]New Emote system: This new system lets players express themselves and pet their horse.[/p]
• [p]Texting and Riding: A new improvement that lets you steer on horseback even while your phone is open.[/p]
• [p]New Cosmetics: A new shipment of items arrived on the island in this patch, letting players purchase new hats, helmets, bridles, and blanket pads.[/p]

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• [p]Set Dressing: New environmental set dressing across Alderwood Island[/p]
• [p]Horseback Collection: An update that makes it easier for players to collect items even while riding past on horseback![/p]
• [p]Polish: We continued to roll out improvements for our animations, editorial polish, and environmental art errors.[/p]

[p][/p][p]In our sixth patch we fixed several bugs that locked players out of quests, prevented quest completion, and crashes.[/p][p]In our seventh patch, we continued to resolve several issues that affected quest completion, continued to polish and improve UI - especially for the phone! - and fixed missing collision on the High Coast Trail riding island.[/p][p][/p][p]Want all the details? Read the patch notes here: Patch #7 | Patch #6[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]New Content Drop: Patch #5 - Chapter 2 [/p][p]Our first content update included over a hundred and fifty fixes! This update introduced a new chapter where you retrace Jenny’s final moments with Sarah as well as new content and improvements. Here’s the key takeaways:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Over 50 New Quests: This new quest content included new Chapter 2 quests, side quests, and weeklies.[/p]
• [p]New Ride Island - High Coast Trail: Descend down the mountain via a series of switchbacks that take you across waterfalls, lakesides, and a charming coast.[/p]
• [p]Two New Races: These two new tracks are full of challenging jumps, with Alderwood Lap taking you through downtown and across the tracks. Fisherman’s Folly is a winding beachside route just outside the picturesque fishing village.[/p]
• [p]Daily Gifting for NPCs: A new daily quest that lets you increase faction reputation.[/p]
• [p]Equipment Upgrades: Upgrade the stats on your equipment for better performance by heading to the Farrier![/p]

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• [p]Shader Loading Bar: A loading bar on the main menu to indicate when your machine has finished loading shaders.[/p]
• [p]Animation polish for rider reins, reverse riding, and Dynamic Sky performance improvements.[/p]
• [p]New Compendium updates and Journal entries for our new quests.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]We focused our efforts on rolling out improvements to stability, overexposure issues, and navigation mesh improvements.
[/p][p]Read the full patch notes here: [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p]Post Launch Patches: Patches #4, #3, #2, and #1.[/p][p]In the three weeks immediately following launch, we pushed out four patches! These patches added a lot to the game: game performance improvements, a ton of bug fixes, and several important Quality of Life additions.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]New Race - Forest Weave: A challenging forest track full of twisting turns that takes you uphill.[/p]

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• [p]Character Reset: Due to player requests, we added a temporary reset option so users could adjust their appearance and replay our narrative content![/p]
  • [p]Pssst.... Our new Stylist NPC is nearly ready! This will let you change your character's and horse’s appearance whenever you want~[/p]
• [p]Sprint Motion Blur Toggle: Now players can turn off motion blur to prevent getting nausea while sprinting.[/p]
• [p]Race Sign Posts: To help prevent players from getting lost in the races, we added additional sign posts to all tracks.[/p]

[p][/p][p]The team came together to fix as many critical issues as possible, and as quickly as possible, post-launch. Some of the more important updates included:pesky nav mesh errors, incorrect color renderings for horse markers and PC hair color, race progress not tracking correctly, and improved UI screens across the board.[/p][p]
For the full details, check out the patch notes here: Patch #4 | Patch #3 | Patch #2 | Patch #1[/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Shortly after deploying our latest patch, we identified an issue that blocked some players from receiving weekly quest rewards as well as a camera shake that caused nausea. We are rolling out a hotfix to remedy these problems![/p][p]
In order to deploy the update, our servers will be going offline beginning 11:00am CEST. Everything will come back online by 12:00pm CEST, but likely earlier.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Resolved a bug that caused missing Weekly Races for a small number of players who logged into a Ride Island map. [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that caused the camera to shake excessively during dialogue.[/p]

[p][/p][p]We’re back for another update full of bug fixes, improvements and one of our very first localization patches![/p][p][/p][p]German Localization: We prioritized localization after seeing how active our fledgling German community was. This update introduces the first of our translations: German![/p]

• [p]Language Setting: You can now select which language you’d prefer to play with by heading to your Settings menu and choosing between English and German. (It will also automatically select German depending on your OS settings.)[/p]
• [p]New Support Resources: If you need help, we’re ready and waiting! Our Zendesk has a new German localization and Miriam, our German customer support agent will be here for you in our support queue. [/p]

[p]Two New Hairstyles: Parted Messy and Buzzcut are new options you can select in the character creator.[/p][p][/p][p]To celebrate the release of our first localization, we’ve partnered up with Kaddi Gaming! Catch the replay of their livestream at the top of our Steam page this weekend or directly on her channels.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Compendium Improvements: We’ve added two new sections to the Compendium to help you keep track of all your ongoing quests and goals…[/p]

• [p]Tutorials: A new category has been added to the Compendium to store all previously completed Tutorials! This lets you go back and check on previous instructions and guides.[/p]
• [p]Races: See which tracks are available, what your latest times were, when your Weekly Race limit will reset, and how many Weekly Races you’ve completed in the brand new Race Compendium tab.[/p]

[p]Weekly Tasks Moved to Phone: We’ve moved Weekly Tasks away from the Compendium; now they can be found in the new Phone UI tab dedicated to Weekly Tasks. This new section lets you see when your Weekly Tasks will reset, review which Tasks are available, and accept new Tasks.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Art Polish: We are always refining our animations, seeking to optimize the game to improve performance, and tweaking our game’s art. These are some of the larger changes this update introduces…[/p]

• [p]Child Animations: Zoe, one of the NPCs you encounter in later chapters, now has custom animations! (As a child, she uses a different model and rig than other NPcs which means she needed custom-made animations.)[/p]
• [p]Visual Improvements: Several areas around the island have been spruced up with new set dressing items such as Mike’s Farm, the Equestrian Center, the Riding Hall, and Paige’s House. [/p]
• [p]Downtown Performance Updates: We’ve improved the performance of areas around Downtown Alderwood to help ease the load. [/p]
• [p]Handfeeding: We’ve kicked the bucket to the curb! Now when you give your horse treats, it will be by hand. We’re looking to polish this, so please let us know your thoughts.[/p]

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• [p]Players have discovered several areas that they can become stuck in due to environmental jumping. We’ve tracked everyone’s reports and have attempted to fix as many of these navmesh issues as possible. [/p]
• [p]Players who completed Father and Son Part 1 before our hotfix in Patch #9 were unable to start Part 2. For this subset of players, now after interacting with Jett again, the second part of the quest will trigger after a couple hours have passed.[/p]
• [p]Fixed several cases of collectibles such as mushrooms or fossils being invisible to players and covered by terrain. [/p]
• [p]Zoe now walks during the quest in Chapter 2. [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where Club Leaders could leave a club without naming a successor.[/p]
• [p]Resolved a visual bug that caused text messages to overlap on the scrollbar.[/p]
• [p]Map Waypoints associated with Wasp Emergency and Wasp Attack will now disappear as intended upon completion. [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where reflections in the caves did not render correctly when playing on low quality settings.[/p]

[p]Our latest patch was full of new content and updates! Unfortunately it caused a few new bugs to pop up... But today we're deploying a hotfix to resolve those issues. Our servers will be down temporarily beginning Aug. 19th at 5pm CEST until 5:45pm while we deploy the patch. [/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where Early Access currency would not display in your inventory after completing your Weekly Goals until you restarted the game. Now after you complete your Weekly Goal you will immediately see the purple EA Currency in your inventory.[/p]

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• [p]Fixed a bug that prevented users from starting Part 2 of the Father and Son quest.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that caused items assigned to your Cosmetic slot to provide bonus stats.[/p]

[p][/p][p]New Cosmetic Slots: No need to sacrifice stats for fashion anymore! There are two new options in the Gear inventory![/p]

• [p]You can now "Equip Gear" to retain an item's stat bonus. [/p]
• [p]You can "Assign Cosmetic" to keep item's visuals without retaining the stat bonuses. [/p]

[p]Now you can have your cake and eat it too: enjoy the stats from one item while looking fabulous. 💅🏼[/p]

[p][/p][p]We’re back from summer vacation and excited to push out our newest patch! This update brings the next chapter in our narrative campaign, a new earnable loyalty currency just for Early Access players, a whole slew of customization options, and last but not least environmental jumping.[/p][p][/p][p]Chapter 3: Continue your investigation and unearth inexplicable clues in our newest chapter. Can you find a reasonable explanation or is there really something supernatural at work here?[/p][p]Please note that we do not have any new cutscenes yet but that the team is hard at work producing them![/p][p][/p][p]New Quest Content: In total this patch brings players a whole bunch of new content to experience:[/p]

• [p]8 main quests[/p]
• [p]6 side quests[/p]
• [p]10 new weeklies added to the pool[/p]

[p][/p][p]New Riding Island - Sunset Lake: This hidden gem is the darling of the archipelago and inspired by the stunning summer views we enjoy in Sweden! This trail winds around a beautiful azure lake with plenty of cozy nooks, forest trails, and beaches.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Custom Control Settings: We’re happy to announce new, much requested settings have been added to the game! Now players can customize their camera and keyboard settings. To do so, please press “Esc”, navigate to the “Options” menu, and select the fifth icon.[/p]

• [p]Key Bindings: Now you can review and set custom key bindings for your mouse and keyboard. (Please note that you must be in-game for the menu to work.)[/p]
• [p]Camera Customization: In the same menu you can adjust camera sensitivity, orientation, and inversion. [/p]

[p][/p][p]Subtitles: As soon as we realized how important subtitles were for our community, we reprioritized them so that we could get them into the game ASAP.[/p]

• [p]English subtitles: Moving forward, we have automatically enabled English subtitles for all of our cutscenes!  [/p]
• [p]Localization support: Adding a single language’s worth of subtitles is one thing, but we want to work smarter. As we worked on subtitles, we also made sure to set up our systems to support future localizations and make that process easier… Stay tuned for more info on upcoming translations![/p]

[p]Completed Quests: The Compendium has a new category for “Completed Quests” where you can review what you’ve done so far.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Environmental Jumping: This update also introduces another suggestion from our community: jumping over obstacles outside of races! The first public iteration of free range jumping is enabled, which means you can clear minor obstacles like low-lying fences, trees, and minor cliffs.  [/p][p]“As a first iteration, we expect there to be some proverbial rough edges. That might mean you can jump into some unusual spots or even get stuck. While we have tried to ensure that this isn't the case, the islands are large and we are sure the intrepid adventurers amongst you will find those spots! If you do, or if you have feedback, please let us know by using the in-game bug reporting feature.[/p][p]“Getting mounted traversal right is one of our core goals. We want your feedback on this feature and combined with our continued animation updates. So go out and explore and let us know what you think!” - Craig Morrison, Studio Creative Director[/p][p][/p][p]Loyalty Currency: We have added a new currency that you can get after completing your weekly goals. This is a special reward for folks who play during the Early Access period! You’ll be able to earn one each week and this currency will not be reset during testing. Eventually there will be exclusive Early Access only cosmetic items available for you to purchase with this currency.[/p][p]In addition to the reset scheduled to happen before our 1.0 launch, for balance and testing reasons, we will likely need to reset other currencies at various points during Early Access. This currency is immune to that! It's a feature we added to recognize and reward players like you: the ones who are spending time playing, growing the community, and providing us with valuable feedback during our Early Access period. Thank you! 🥰[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Alfred no longer has a doppelganger clone appear during “Postman Duties”. (Sorry folks, this isn’t The Prestige!)[/p]
• [p]Forest traps in quests such as “Deer Trail Danger” now react appropriately (e.g. light up and make a pinging sound) when using the Investigation mechanic.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where quest markers were not appearing in several quests such as “Meet the Lighthouse Keeper”, “Poacher’s Alert”, and more.[/p]
• [p]Adjusting the voice volume setting now properly affects voice over lines that play during emotes and mounting.[/p]
• [p]Fixed various typos and grammatical errors in the Compendium and quests.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a level of detail bug that caused the Bob and Bangs hairstyle to stretch when viewed from a distance.[/p]
• [p]Resolved a problem in “Not so Sharp” where Nina’s knives used the incorrect Egg icon. Goodbye my beloved knife egg~[/p]

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• [p]There are several quests across Ch. 2 and 3 that rely on the Investigation Mechanic. There is no reminder to do so, so please try to remember that you can search for clues by using the “F” key.[/p]
• [p]This is our first iteration of environmental jumping. If you encounter any issues or have feedback, please let us know by reporting in game![/p]
• [p]The map for the new Sunset Lake riding island has inaccurate labels.[/p]
• [p]It is not possible to customize key bindings in the main menu; you must enter the game to do so.[/p]
• [p]After completing your weekly goals, your new purple EA currency doesn't appear in your inventory until you restart your game.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Did you know you can report bugs and feedback while in game? This is our preferred method of reporting because it automatically attaches logs for us! If you encounter any jumping problems and report it in game, we’ll get your coordinate info automatically so our team knows exactly where the problem occurred.[/p][p][/p][p]So how do you report in-game issues?[/p]

1. [p]Press ESC to open the Options menu.[/p]
2. [p]Select the headset icon to open up the Reporting and Support menus.[/p]
3. [p]Select “Bug Report”.[/p]
4. [p]Fill out the Bug or Feedback reporting form.[/p]
5. [p]When you’re done, click that you agree to the privacy policy and send![/p]