Since launching into Early Access, we’ve been busy. Really busy.
In just a few weeks, we’ve pushed out numerous hotfixes, quality-of-life updates, and balance tweaks—all driven by your feedback. We want to say thank you to everyone who has been sharing thoughts, bug reports, and ideas. Your voices are shaping Pizza Bandit every step of the way.
Our next major update will be rolling out within September, and here’s what you can expect:
📝 TL;DR – What’s Coming in the Next Update
🤖 New Companion NPC – Meet N.I.C.O., your Neural Interface Companion Operator
🎖️ Papa Prestigio Rank 6 – New buff + ~50 autumn-themed furniture items
💉 New Gear – The Vital Injector healing pistol (already live—check your Blueprint unlocks!)
🔧 More fixes & polish – Continuing to squash bugs and refine based on your feedback
1. Companion NPC – Meet N.I.C.O.
Some of you might remember that we initially teased a shotgun-wielding human companion to support players in Solo mode. But during development, something didn’t feel right.
The character looked so capable that when we gave them proper combat stats, they became too strong—strong enough to make the player feel unnecessary. That goes against the whole idea: companions should support new and solo players, not play the game for them.
So, we pivoted. Instead of a powerhouse fighter, your trustworthy partner will be N.I.C.O. (Neural Interface Companion Operator).
NICO is part of your spaceship, introduced as the “final missing part” you recover during the tutorial. (Previously this was just a boring control panel—now it’s a living, quirky companion!)
Once you bring NICO back to the ship, the tutorial wraps up, and from then on, NICO accompanies you during solo play.
Right now, NICO helps fight by your side, but we plan to expand its role into utility and convenience features worthy of its name.
Sadly, if you’ve already finished the tutorial, you won’t see this new introduction unless you start fresh—but you’ll still meet NICO in Solo missions.
We are still working on NICO. Here's a little silhouette of NICO.
2. Papa Prestigio Rank 6
Until now, Papa Prestigio has capped at Rank 5 (8,000 points). Many of you went far beyond that without meaningful rewards. It's time to fix that.
We’re adding Rank 6, complete with:
A brand-new Papa Buff (details soon).
~50 new furniture items (final count may change slightly).
This set is autumn-themed and includes some of your most-requested items: sofas, stand-alone chairs, stand-alone tables, instruments, lighting, menu boards, and more ways to bring atmosphere to your restaurant.
We’re also rebalancing some existing Papa Buff effects to match community feedback better.
3. New Gear – Vital Injector
If you’ve been playing recently, you should already have access to the Vital Injector, our newest secondary weapon.
It’s a pistol that heals allies when you shoot them.
Designed to be available early in the game to help out new players.
For those who had already passed that point in progression, the Blueprint should have unlocked automatically with the update.
More Gear is in development based on your suggestions, and we’ll share details once they’re ready.
Wrapping Up
Early Access isn’t just about fixing bugs (though we’ve squashed plenty already)—it’s about growing Pizza Bandit with you. These updates are our way of answering your feedback directly, and we’re excited for you to try them out when they land later this month.
As always: keep the comments, bug reports, and ideas coming.
Together, we’ll keep making Pizza Bandit bigger, better, and weirder.
— Team JofSoft