The Fast Travel Update
Fast Travel: Repair the docks at major locations, then ring any bell to sail straight to any dock you've fixed. Your home bell works too, so you can sail home from anywhere.
5 New Critters: Bessie, Coral, Cynthia, Eclipse and Grumble are ready to wash up as castaways or turn up as tourists.
The Bakery Fixed: Customers now queue at the counter, sit down on a real chair and eat food. Tourists pay once they're served.
Less Confusing Graphics Options: On first start the game picks Low, Medium or High for your machine. We've made massive improvements to how the game looks on lower end machines but also some really nice improvements to all levels. The graphics options changed so much that your graphics settings reset once to the recommended level for your PC. Your sound, controls, language and saves aren't touched.
Faster Loading: Continuing a game gets you onto the game much faster now.
Render Scale with FSR: A new option that draws the island at a lower resolution and sharpens it back up, helpful for lower end machines or people who just want a little more FPS.
Smoother Edges: We've continued our work on the shimmer that has been reported in the forums. Let us know how it looks, as this can be tricky to replicate.
Sold Out Badges: Shop icons grey out once you've bought the last one, so you can see what's left at a glance.
🛠 Quality of Life
Rescued critters now board your boat wherever it's moored and ride with you all the way home.
Villagers who can't reach somewhere now find something else to do instead of popping across the island.
Villagers and tourists step past anyone blocking them instead of freezing (and wait politely if you're in the way).
When a shop worker has a new request, it goes straight onto the bulletin board and the shop stays open.
Shops covered by a backup worker now count as open and earn from tourists.
Tourists always arrive by boat, and late-night tourists that do miss the boat get removed by morning.
Sick villagers now get well on time instead of staying ill for days.
The bedtime save waits until everyone is home, and naps no longer pull villagers away from what they're doing.
Villagers who move out can come back later as new visitors you can befriend again.
Former villagers stranded by a storm can be rescued again.
Lantern hats now give light from your hat slot, even with another hat in your vanity slot.
Your tool is put away before crafting starts, with no added wait.
The character creator now shows your critter in a plain shirt and trousers while you design them.
All of the mushroom farmer's goods can now be bought with tickets at the farmers market.
Lost the Lost Ark treasure map? A replacement now arrives by letter.
🎮 Camera & Controls
When something blocks the view, the camera now slides in smoothly instead of jumping.
The camera no longer ends up on the far side of your critter when you're against a wall.
Chests, crops, crafting stations, statues and street lights no longer push the camera in.
Smoother swimming stops, steadier footing on rocking decks, and no more jolts over stairs and kerbs.
Boats steer more gently on controller: the rudder follows how far you push the stick.
VSync is now on by default on PC and Steam Deck and stays the way you set it.
The Motion Sickness Helper now widens your view, turns on VSync and keeps your boat level on the waves.
"Press to use" prompts no longer jump around in first person.
The camera keeps your angle after conversations and upgrade screens.
Your critter fades out when the camera gets very close.
⚡ Performance
New Game gets you to the character creator sooner.
Medium and the sea run lighter on every quality level, with no change to how they look.
Far fewer hitches when villagers change clothes, start jobs or step off the boat. The minimap stutter is gone too.
Textures, icons and portraits use less graphics memory.
Finished effects are cleaned up properly, so long sessions should stay smooth.
Rocks, piers and resources are ready before you reach a new dock.
🐛 Other Fixes & Adjustments
Fixed new outfits vanishing on reload and old clothes duplicating. (Outfits already lost in older saves can't be brought back, sorry!)
Fixed diving gear losing its bonuses after swapping outfit loadouts.
Fixed eye settings, colour changes and the preview quality in the character creator.
Fixed critters you created turning up in worlds where you never made them.
Fixed salon critters both loving and hating gross food.
Fixed shoppers not finishing their animations, and café, salon and clinic visits getting stuck.
Fixed tourists walking back through the café queue.
Fixed a second boatload of tourists arriving when you load a save mid-visit.
Fixed tavern and gym staff restarting their routines every few minutes.
Fixed museum visitors floating in front of the exhibits.
Fixed clinic patients losing their bench seats.
Fixed crabs leaping onto the lighthouse bridge.
Fixed Copperbottom getting stuck inside the forge.
Fixed one of the robots' mouth shapes never appearing.
Fixed visitors ending up inside market carts.
Fixed farmers not being able to reach the north pitcher-plant patch.
Fixed villagers heading off to a donation box that isn't there.
Fixed the opening ship ride and the cruise ship juddering.
Fixed floating salvage jittering on the waves.
Fixed sinking through the ground after leaving a cave, and sea creatures swimming through the air in the Boomerang Bay cave.
Fixed thin lines and missing haze underwater on some older graphics cards.
Fixed missing tropical grass near the port.
Fixed villagers vanishing at the bottom of the screen.
Fixed a thin line showing under the main menu bar and the loading banner.
Fixed saves stuck on "I Smell a Rat".
Fixed the mailbox handing over the wrong Lost Ark map.
Fixed one piece of the world failing to load stopping all loading.
Fixed falling through the ground when it's slow to load.
Fixed a rare crash when a piece of clothing failed to load.
Fixed the game saving mid-conversation, during loading or during the opening boat ride.
Fixed an error that could quit the game when a villager ended up at sea.
Fixed an error when saving in the background on Switch.
Fixed tent quest critters claiming the beaches are full.
Campfires, cooking stations and fabricators now show red and green placement colours.
Save & Exit now shows a proper loading screen.
Fixed tears and dizzy stars following villagers around all day.
Fixed food, crafted items and fish getting stuck in your hand.
Crab snacks no longer look like a treasure chest.
The Suspicious Mission now gives one mystery crate, not two.
Fixed the otter radio duplicating itself.
A second yellow berry now plays its trip again.
Fixed doors freezing open, so the bakery no longer looks open after hours.
Fixed naps ending just after 6 am skipping the start of the day.
Gym gear a villager is using can't be picked up in decorating mode.
Fixed items that share a name showing up as the wrong item.
Rocks and trees now wiggle on every hit.
Fixed shop workers' props blinking in and out.
Fixed villagers' animation props not reaching their hands.
Fixed the bean costume not coming off cleanly.
The old barber pole leftover now tidies itself away.
Distant props now hold their detail better.
