Dear Travelers!

Patch 0.5.3 just landed on Steam. We managed to fix lots of reocurring criticals, including the cooking and loading issues that caused most of the problems in the last few days. Over the past days, we’ve been gathering save files and player.logs for saves you couldn’t load anymore: most of them were caused by different issues, so every file you sent us was a massive help in locating these problems. We wouldn’t have been able to fix most of them without you and your help. Thank you. AS always we are thrilled by your support and ongoing trust in us.

It’s still possible for the loading screen issue to occur, but we’re positive that with your help, we’ll fix this one too.

With each day, we’re getting closer to the state that will make you proud of us, and we’re slowly getting back to planning the content roadmap we published during release. We know that it’s not just about fixing things now, but also about keeping our promises alive.

In the background, we’re completely reworking our internal structures to make our work and decision-making processes more efficient. We don’t want our mistakes to be repeated.

And now, it’s time to show you the scope of the 0.5.3 fixes. As you’ll see, there’s a lot, and we’ve reworked many issues and significantly improved the experience for you. It’s not over yet, but it’s a very promising patch that you’ll certainly feel when launching the game.

Tomorrow, you can expect a full summary of this week: what was done, what we’re working on now, and what still lies ahead on our fixing roadmap, including our first content plans.

Please remember, every bug report sent through Discord or email (support@ancientforgestudio,com), especially with Player.log files and your game save, helps us deliver fixes faster. Thank you for your support. We're heading back to work on the next update!

Task System & AI

• Fixed multiple cases of stuck dishes and processor stalls (including overlapped/abandoned order delivery tasks).

• Fixed bugs related to how workers can get stuck with processing and deposit tasks.

• Repair‑item and demolition‑task routines now complete properly after loading a save.

• Added fail‑safes and validators for deposit, unload and cleanup tasks (no more orphaned tasks on reload).

• Implemented task timeout: when a task is deemed undoable, workers will stop to get hang up on it and carry on with other tasks.

  
  

Quests & Cinematics

• Fixed a bug where Salima cutscene officers were missing proper outfits.

• Added camera angles and new animations to Greta’s SleepingDragon and excavation dialogues.

• Grand Opening, IslandCatcher and GPC Farming Island cutscenes now have improved visuals and rock materials added.

• Reworked how guest quest logic works: whenever a guest of a given species is unavailable, the game will gracefully cancel the dialogue request and request it again when a new guest checks in at the hotel.
  
  

NPC & Guest Interactions

• Restart action‑board routines on load so ship crews (Pouncy Paw/Salima) no longer get stuck at docks.

• Fixed multiple issues with ghost‑guest luggage.

• Turneep and Toravis now spawn and face correctly in their dialogue scenes.
  
  

Cooking, Crafting & Laundry

• Fixed cooking‑target locks so no two tasks grab the same item.

• Fixed laundry deposit detection, autosave on story mode and errors when item sources were destroyed.

• Added interactive props to the laundry room and movement constraints for crafting stations.
  
  

UI, Assets & VFX

• Fixed some missing localization; updated wall‑texture textures and main furniture textures to avoid visible seams.

• Validation now prevents moving blueprints with no placeable behavior.

• Fixed issues with invisible dishes when reloading the game.

• Fixed save recipe panel positioning on wide screen setups.
  
  
  

Thank You,
Ancient Forge