The Challenger Update is live! Taking direct inspiration from the community feedback we’ve received, it brings a ton of new features, improvements and fixes to the game - let’s take a look!
What’s New?
- Daily & Weekly Challenges: Put your skills to the test and earn XP by completing periodical challenges. Bragging rights included!
- Local Souvenirs Shop: This new shop is full of unique and quirky items and cosmetic accessories specific to Golden Ridge Reserve.
- Activity Feed: Who caught that massive fish? With the activity feed, you’ll be able to stay up to date with the latest happening in your multiplayer session.
- News Feed: Receive the latest news in-game directly from the development team!
https://youtu.be/XdVaOHbellA
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
- Improved transitions between water bodies and improved water tessellation.
- AMD FidelityFX Stochastic Screen Space Reflections (SSSR) added for improved reflections on water surfaces.
- Support added for DUALSHOCK®4 Wireless Controller and DualSense™ Wireless Controller.
- The Apex Connect menus have been overhauled to improve the usability of joining friends, adding friends and managing friend requests.
- Boats now accurately react to waves, bobbing and rocking with the motion of the water. What’s more, water no longer clips through boats.
- The animation of the fish is now more accurate to reflect the speed of movement.
- The verlet system for fishing line rendering has been revised to provide more accurate states between taught and slack.
- Taylor's Tackles Store pricing has been refreshed in-line with updated XP earnings for a better sense of progression and clearer differentiation of value between items.
- Players can now find out when they caught a fish in the Latest Catches Menu in the Handbook.
Full Patch Notes
STABILITY & PERFORMANCE
- Fixed a majority of the remaining stability issues players encountered for an improved overall experience.
VISUAL
- Fixed an issue that would cause water to clip though the boat’s hull.
- Solved an issue that would cause the rod to vibrate when holding down the pump button during fish fights.
- Fixed an instance of a weather station intersecting with the terrain.
- Fixed an issue that would cause water movement speed to vary depending on the player’s viewpoint.
- Resolved all known instances of abruptly-cut water bodies.
- Fixed the missing flag pole near the hot springs.
- Resolved an issue causing the water in a specific water body to remain static.
PROGRESSION
- Optional tutorial missions are no longer all unlocked at the game’s start, instead continuously unlocking through player progression.
- Players can no longer continue to use vehicles after they’ve been sold. Dev Team’s Notes: You wouldn’t steal a car…
- The No Fin Left To Give achievement now properly unlocks upon completion.
- The Going For Gold achievement now properly unlocks upon completion.
- The Have Fish, Will Travel achievement now properly unlocks after finding all 97 points of interest.
- The Buckaroo achievement for completing all Warden missions in Golden Ridge Reserve now properly unlocks.
GAMEPLAY
- Fish are no longer spooked by the drift of the float caused by water currents.
- Players no longer spawn in the same location when exiting the 4x4 at the same time.
- Fixed the player’s position while fishing in a boat.
- Solved an issue that would break the out of bound timer when driving a vehicle in deep water.
- Fixed the remaining water bodies where floats would sink.
- It is no longer possible to nudge other players’ boats to interrupt their fishing.
- It is no longer possible to undress your avatar by selling clothing and apparel that you’re currently wearing in the store. Dev Team’s Notes: We’re just as sad as y’all about it, okay?
- The Hold to Interact inputs are now faster and consistent across all prompts.
AUDIO
- Casting audio now plays as intended when you cast and miss the water.
- Resolved an issue that would cause incorrect background audio to play in the Handbook.
- Opening and closing the Handbook no longer causes the vehicle’s engine to restart.
- All known instances of vehicles losing engine audio have been resolved. Dev Team’s Notes: We feel for all our EV enjoyers in Golden Ridge Reserve. We’re aware some of you liked having no engine noise. We’ll keep it in mind for the future.
- Vehicle engine audio now plays back correctly for remote players.
UI
- The Handbook now displays the primary compatible baits and lures for each fish species.
- Gamepad interaction with the Add Friend menu no longer moves two elements simultaneously.
- The Golden Tour mission is no longer re-tracked automatically when you fast travel or re-load into the reserve.
- Unsupported characters no longer cause player names to appear blank in multiplayer. They instead appear as question marks.
- The Join Friend option is no longer present if you’re already in the same session.
- Players can now send friend requests through the map.
- The camera panning speed has been updated to move faster to appropriate areas of focus in the customization menu.
- Map icons now move in-sync with the map.
- The Silver Mines map icon now appears correctly.
- The Press Any Key prompt on the welcome screen has been updated to Press Any Button when using a gamepad.
- The blank box in the Apex Connect menu next to the players’ names has been removed.
- It’s now possible to select the third rod slot within the quick menu using a gamepad.
- The timer to confirm video settings changes now appears as intended.
- The recorded comparisons for caught fish now take into account previously caught fish.
- Fixed an issue that would cause the recommended gear for the Smallmouth Bass mission to not display correctly.
- Fixed an issue that would allow gamepad users to select phantom options in the Add Friends menu.
- Waypoints now re-appear correctly if you quit the game mid-mission.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the reward screen to be skipped when cutting the line at a very specific time.
- Fixed the screen flicker caused by quickly cycling between the Journal and the Handbook.
We hope you’ll enjoy all the additions The Challenger Update brings to The Angler. This is just the beginning, as we plan to keep on bringing more content and features to the game in the future. We’d also like to thank you for your passion and support since we launched The Angler three months ago. Your feedback is key in helping us shape the future of the game. We’ll continue to listen and improve so we can deliver the best fishing experience possible!
Make sure to join us on Discord if you wanna share feedback, report bugs or just have a quick chat with fellow anglers - https://avlche.com/TADiscord
Happy fishing!