Hey Keepers!
With Horticular's full release fast approaching (less than a week to go, ahhhhh!), we've decided to bring you a demo update to tide you over until the game launches on July 11th!
Keep reading for all the details about what you can enjoy in the latest version of the demo! Spoiler: there are a lot.
New Creature Tool
We're sure a lot of you will be excited for this big addition to the demo; we've now added a creature habitat tool to your toolbar, which will help you to build the correct habitat for the creature you're targeting, instead of having to rely on the overlay (although your creature overlay will still be available).
Story, Decoration and Animal Adjustments
We've made some adjustments to how the story progresses in the demo, which also means you'll notice some differences in the quests, which animals you have available, and which decorations are obtainable in the demo. We've given you some new decorations and animals too, so there's still plenty to do - this just makes it a little simpler to progress in the demo story.
Keeper Upgrades
Your Keepers are now better than ever at helping maintain your garden - especially when they've been upgraded! This should make handling any decay much smoother in-game, giving you a little more freedom to focus on your overall garden health. Decay has been overhauled, too, so you'll be very grateful for this adjustment - trust us on that one!
Major Polishing
Almost all of the UI and in-game assets have had an overhaul in this patch, giving a lot of Horticular a brand new look and feel. We're excited to see what you think!
Of course, there are lots of new QoL updates and bug fixes in this update, too. You can see the changelog below, and all you have to do to enjoy these improvements is update your version of the demo.
If you'd prefer to stay on the older version of the demo for now, you can do so by clicking on the settings next to Horticular in your Steam library, then selecting 'properties' and 'beta', then choosing 'beta3' from the dropdown list.
If you have been enjoying the demo so far and haven't had a chance to wishlist the game yet, please do - it helps Horticular massively in the run-up to launch, plus you'll get notified as soon as the full game is available to purchase on the 11th of July!
Changelog:
- Fresh lick of paint: Most assets and UI elements have had some polishing.
- Story adjustments: While most things remain the same, a quest or two have been replaced, and some aspects have been tweaked.
- Item adjustments: Some items have been moved to further in the story and have fallen off the demo. But there are a couple of new additions to look at as well.
- Animal adjustments: The game has a larger overhaul to animal habitats, and we've replaced the demo moth with the snail to match the story progression.
- New creature tool. Habitat planning can now be done with a bespoke tool to help you design habitats. This replaces the awkward overlay usage (but the habitat overlay is still there).
- New item selector grouping: All your yarrows now live in the same place.
- New contact page in the notebook that lets you see your contacts and their completion.
- New photo album viewer. Browse your captured screenshots from the game.
- Decay has been overhauled to be less annoying but also potentially more dangerous.
- Keepers are really good at their job now and even better when upgraded!
- You can now pause time in-game if you need to think a bit.
- There's a copy button that lets you copy the hovered surface/item without entering the catalogue.
- Rumble on gamepad.
- Curbs can be manually adjusted if you don't like the auto-selection.
- See names of creatures when zoomed out.
- TONNES of polish and touching up the experience. From bug fixes to QoL and performance boosts.
- BETA Twitch integration. Let chat interact with the game.
- More settings to tweak including Mouse Size and Alternative Fonts (latin languages).
- Automatic crash reporting: should the worst happen, you will get a prompt to send an automatic crash report.