New Features & Content

• Save & Load System
  • Game progress is now automatically saved every time players visit the Sanctum.
  • Hosts can now choose to load a game from one of three save slots or start a new game when creating a lobby.
  • Implemented UI for save slot selection, displaying day and playtime, and a confirmation for erasing saves.
• New Mechanics
  • Added new flower ingredients, gathered via a "distance-to-wildflower" mechanic using the Magnifying Glass.
  • Overheat hex which will remove colour from the screen when the cauldron is not stirred.
• UI Additions
  • Reputation and Gold are now visible while in the Sanctum.
  • A "Save" icon is now briefly displayed for the host when an autosave occurs.
  • Added a credits page to the main menu.

Gameplay Changes & Quality of Life

• Dynamic Difficulty Scaling
  • Customer patience now scales dynamically based on the number of players and the current day number.
  • This makes the game more balanced for solo players and larger teams, while accounting for increased recipe complexity over time.
• Reworked Game Over Flow
  • The "Retry" option in the Crossroads no longer reloads the entire game.
  • It now transitions players back to the Forest after fully resetting progress (Day, Gold, Unlocks, etc.) for a smoother experience.
• Progression Rebalance
  • Players now start with 2 potions instead of 4. 2 more are unlocked on day 2.
  • Stations are now on odd days and hexes are on even days.
  • Players begin with the flower ingredients rather than mushrooms.
• UI & Experience Improvements
  • The host now has an option in the pause menu to toggle unlock tutorials on or off.
  • Main menu settings (fullscreen, vsync) now use clearer text-based buttons.
  • The bootsplash intro has been shortened.

Bug Fixes

• Multiplayer & Networking
  • Fixed a critical bug where the host leaving the game would not correctly transition peers back to the main menu.
  • Fixed an issue where a peer disconnecting would not remove their player character from the host's scene.
  • Implemented a handshake to prevent clients from joining an ENet game that is already in progress.
  • Fixed an issue where the sanctum transition request was not an RPC, preventing peers from transitioning.
• State & Gameplay
  • Fixed customers spawning during the "skip to day" debug command.
  • The win screen transition now correctly waits for any active customer to leave before proceeding.
  • Fixed player clones not being removed when a peer disconnected.
• UI & Visuals
  • Fixed the player's animated sprite state not being synced correctly for peers.
  • The end-game info screen in the Crossroads is now correctly hidden on arrival.
  • Fixed player silhouettes not being hidden correctly in the Crossroads.
  • Patched a visual glitch with the background shader in the Sanctum and Crossroads.

Audio

• Sound Design
  • Added a new sound effect for when a valid chant is entered but does not match the current cauldron recipe.
  • Implemented new ambient audio for the Crossroads.