BE AWARE THAT SPOILER TAGS ARE BROKEN AT THE MOMENT!
It's here! We have been updating POPGOES Arcade: Fighting Chance behind the scenes, using your feedback to improve the game in some big and small ways. The WRAPPED UP! update should now be live on Steam, and you can check out all of the changes here.
If you are new to the game, I would recommend you play the game WITHOUT reading the changelog. Just hop in right now! If you're a veteran player and you want to know what's new or what to look out for, feel free to read through - I have spoiler tagged the bigger stuff.
POPGOES Arcade: Fighting Chance - WRAPPED UP! (3.1.3)
NEW: Achievement Warnings
Players have expressed some frustration regarding missable achievements exclusively available in The Dead Forest. Unfortunately we are not able to temporarily bring the player back to their campaign in The Dead Forest to collect these kinds of achievements, so we have implemented a compromise for new players.
Achievements that are unlocked exclusively in The Dead Forest (and can be missed) now have a green asterisk in the in-game achievement menu.
Hovering over achievements with this asterisk will display a warning, "Unavailable after The Dead Forest".
9 achievements in the game have this tag.
It Gets Easier - Lose against a Corrupt Hedgehog before upgrading any stats.
Pop Champ - Defeat 100 enemies in POPGOES: The Dead Forest.
You Should Be Golden - Encounter a [spoiler]Gilded enemy[/spoiler].
Fool's Gold - Escape from a [spoiler]Gilded enemy[/spoiler].
B Polite, B Efficient - Complete all of BB's hit lists without spending money on any of them.
I'm Sorry I Axed - [spoiler]Find something in the well[/spoiler].
In Its Code - [spoiler]Witness the Blackrabbit[/spoiler].
Out of Order! - [spoiler]Betray the soul at the last moment[/spoiler].
Paranormal Reactivity - [spoiler]Bring the soul back to the arcade cabinet[/spoiler].
NEW: [spoiler]Gilded Hat[/spoiler]'s New Purpose
The Money Boots perk from older versions of POPGOES Arcade was replaced by the new "Quick Pocket" ability in Fighting Chance. Money Boots would provide passive money generation, granting small amounts of coins based on how long Popgoes has been walking (even in totally safe areas, like The Garden). We found that Money Boots was overkill in Fighting Chance, and allowed for some unintended "playstyles", hence its removal.
However, we have decided to add the perk back but as a reward that is tied to the [spoiler]Gilded Hat[/spoiler], which is granted to the player once they reach 200% completion in The Machinist. This sounds redundant on paper, because the game is effectively over by this point, but the [spoiler]Gilded Hat[/spoiler] is one of three items in the game that are retained in a New Game. This means you can play the game again, maybe to collect leftover achievements, and have an easier time purchasing items and unlocks.
Wearing the [spoiler]Gilded Hat[/spoiler] will generate 5 coins for every 15 seconds of walking (20 coins per minute), before unlocking the Speed Boost from BB.
Upon unlocking the Speed Boost, coin generation is increased to 5 coins every 7.5 seconds of walking (40 coins per minute).
When the player first beats the game at 200%, a new information box will pop up that explains the properties of the [spoiler]Gilded Hat[/spoiler].
NEW: [spoiler]Achievement Statue[/spoiler]
Some players expressed disappointment in zero in-game acknowledgement of all achievements being unlocked (especially since myPOPGOES does have a special reward for this). So now, upon completing all 50 achievements, [spoiler]a statue will appear in The Garden[/spoiler].
[spoiler]The statue appears in the cell below the inn, instead of inside your bedroom.[/spoiler]
It can be interacted with, to read [spoiler]the plaque attached to it[/spoiler].
Achievements do not get reset on New Game (though they do if you use the file wiping option in the ESC menu), so [spoiler]the statue will also remain[/spoiler].
[spoiler]The Puppet's Challenge[/spoiler] Balancing
[spoiler]The battle with The Puppet, which becomes available after completing the wishlist, is being rebalanced following player feedback.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The Puppet should no longer be able to spawn two of the same Gifts in a row.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The SHOWDOWN phase of the battle is being adjusted.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The initial, non-"spinning" segment of SHOWDOWN will now be 2 phases of 1 move, instead of 2 phases of 3.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]"Incorrect" moves throughout SHOWDOWN will no longer deal damage to the player, and will instead increment the music box.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]SHOWDOWN's Gift description will change during the "spinning" segment, to let the player know that this is when they can act.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The Puppet will no longer heal himself from death with TEDIUM, and will instead just move to the next Gift.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The Puppet's instant shield now says "SHIELD!" instead of "BLOCK!", to better illustrate that it can be broken with SCYTHE or Shield Piercers.[/spoiler]
Bestiary/Index Battle Simulation Changes
We have taken a look at the "battle simulation" option offered by the Bestiary and Index and will be changing some parts of it.
You can now exit battle simulations with a new "Abort" button, where Escape would usually be.
This is invisible via [spoiler]The Puppet (because Gifts are active and must be readable)[/spoiler] but it can still be used with E.
Rematching [spoiler]Dead King Freddy[/spoiler] in The Machinist will revert certain player stats and abilities.
Health and attack will be lowered to 300 and 30, if you have exceeded those amounts.
If you have unlocked [spoiler]SCYTHE, it will be changed to HOOK[/spoiler] (purely cosmetic in this battle).
Shield Piercer and Ability Recharge will both be unavailable.
In previous builds, successfully hitting [spoiler]DKF during his gold phase would not display Golden Freddy if the attack was a random crit.[/spoiler] This is fixed.
Balance Changes
A few parts of the game have been rebalanced based on player feedback.
EXCAVATION has been reworked. It can now give between 0 and 3 scrap, instead of an equal coin flip between 0 or 1. Higher scrap yields are rarer.
40% chance of 0 scrap.
30% chance of 1 scrap.
20% chance of 2 scrap.
10% chance of 3 scrap.
Charged Robot enemies can no longer activate shields immediately after one has expired. There will now always be at least one turn between them.
The rarity of [spoiler]the special gift[/spoiler] has been adjusted.
By default, it will be rarer. It is being changed from a base 1/100 chance, to a base 1/300 chance.
However, moving to The Machinist will double the chance from 1/300 to 1/150.
The chance can be doubled again by completing the wishlist, changing it from 1/150 to 1/75.
Popgoes will now jump every time JUMP is used.
Previously, he would not jump if the enemy used their turn to charge or activate a shield.
This was not a bug. But, by changing this, we have effectively buffed SHOCKWAVE.
Various QOL Changes
Other parts of the game have been changed, mostly just visually, to improve the overall experience.
A new intro frame exists when the game has detected that it's being played on a Steam Deck, encouraging the installation of Proton GE.
(Video playback simply does not work on Steam Deck without Proton GE installed.)
If you have Quick Pocket active (at the start of a battle), the Items button will have a special icon to remind you that it can be used.
Tunnel's minimap will now show hints for [spoiler]the secret overworld gifts that appear when the ribbon is equipped[/spoiler], based on what colour you are wearing.
[spoiler]The plushie on the bed will now emit gilded particles, if you are wearing the gilded hat.[/spoiler]
You can now get Gifts in battles with [spoiler]Gilded enemies[/spoiler].
The "You Win" screen is now silent upon defeating [spoiler]The Mangle[/spoiler] to preserve the intense moment.
The Help/Tips menu now describes the ESC option as "Settings / Exit Game" instead of just "Exit".
You can now hold left/right to quickly scroll through achievements in the in-game achievement menu.
The description for SHOCKWAVE now outright mentions that the damage it deals can bypass enemy shields.
The description for PERSISTENCE now makes it clear that its effect can be used indefinitely.
Deleting save data via the ESC menu now has some visual feedback.
At the end of The Dead Forest, Sara will now immediately give Popgoes the final emerald coin instead of asking him to talk to her later for it.
Certain achievements like In Its Code, Out of Order and Paranormal Activity will now wait until the title screen before being activated.
Some parts of The Puppet's overworld presence have been improved, mostly to avoid confusion regarding some mechanics.
The box on The Puppet's desk (which toggles Battle Gifts being active) will now flash upon its initial spawning, to encourage the player to open it.
The Puppet's [spoiler]death note now directly states that the ribbon will persist across a new game[/spoiler].
Bug/Issue Fixes
The significant changes introduced with Fighting Chance led to some (mostly minor) bugs and oversights being discovered by players. Thankfully, we have now fixed everything that we were able to investigate and replicate.
Having a controller connected to the game led to some bugs and oversights which we have now addressed.
The ESC menu now has prompts for players using a controller. Deleting save data is now possible.
Using keyboard override with a controller plugged in would make the [spoiler]interactive portion of the 200% cutscene[/spoiler] buggy. This is fixed.
The in-game achievement menu should now immediately display the correct prompt for exiting it with a controller.
The Help/Tips menu no longer says "ESC" when a controller is connected. It will display the relevant glyph.
One of the bulletin board messages would overflow with a controller connected. We've fixed this by adding a glyph to the game's alphabet.
A few bugs tied to The Puppet's overworld presence were found and fixed.
The Puppet's greeting note at Corrupt Chica's area will now spawn immediately. Some players missed it on FC's launch due to a bug.
The Puppet's [spoiler]death note[/spoiler] should now be animated correctly.
You should now be able to purchase The Puppet's jukebox track [spoiler]even before you defeat him (as long as you've activated the battle once)[/spoiler].
[spoiler]The Puppet's ribbon[/spoiler] will now fall into place instead of snapping into existence.
The box on the table will no longer spawn particles during The Dead Forest's [spoiler]"night mode"[/spoiler].
Some achievements were not behaving correctly.
Coupon and On should now activate immediately upon redeeming 30 stamps, instead of waiting for the game's frame to update.
The Pop Champ achievement had an incorrect/incomplete description. The 100 enemies must be defeated during the first chapter of the game.
A new check has been added to the game's title screen to help with re-activating missing achievements.
Digging up a Fruit will no longer display the healing number of an Acorn (the actual healed amount was always correct thankfully).
Using Dig while in an underground battle will no longer briefly dislodge the battle's escape chance percentage.
The Dead Forest's bulletin board has unique functionality at 99% completion which was bugged on launch. This is fixed.
The "Increase Chance" button in the Wishlist will no longer be permanently highlighted when Gifts are at 100% chance.
[spoiler]Prototype Manora, and the Laser Pillar,[/spoiler] will now only be added to the Index if the player has actually seen them in the [spoiler]Morse[/spoiler] battle.
Blank/empty save files will no longer be falsely detected as corrupt by the game.
Holly's description for HP UP would falsely call it "expensive", even though it now starts at a very low price. This has changed.
Popgoes now reads the locks on the north forest gate in the correct order.
Breaking a shield with the [spoiler]SCYTHE ability[/spoiler] will now play the Shield Piercer sound effect.
The description for the [spoiler]secret gift[/spoiler] has had a minor sprite error fixed.
Fixed a quadruple-period typo in one of The Puppet's lines.
Exiting to the title screen from a silent room (like The Puppet's) will no longer bug out the game's audio upon selecting Continue.
A visual bug on the scrubber at the bottom of the Jukebox UI has been fixed.
You should no longer be able to walk away from the [spoiler]Machinist's hideout area[/spoiler] after dialogue has been triggered.
Fixed a very subtle animation error regarding the west forest's falling leaf particles.
BALANCE will now stop making calculations that involve health numbers below 0 (such as with an overkilled enemy).
The uncharged JUMP button will now play a "failed" sound effect when attempted, like the other two battle abilities.
Fixed some bugs regarding damage numbers in battles.
Thank you to everyone who played through Fighting Chance and gave their feedback! Please enjoy this latest version and let us know if you spot anything that may have slipped through the cracks. We want this game totally sorted before it's sent off for porting! Let's go!
- Kane