Aporia: Beyond The Valley news & patch notes

Here are the patch notes for Aporia: Beyond the Valley v. 1.1.0 Hi everyone! First of all, thank you very much for playing and supporting Aporia: Beyond the Valley. We are thrilled to see so many positive reviews of our game and we are sorry for the bugs some of you have endured during your gameplay. Thanks to you guys, we know of several undiscovered issues and we’ve been able to fix many of them in this patch. IMPORTANT: Players who have already played the game before this patch, will not experience these changes, UNLESS they restart the current chapter they are in, OR restart the entire game. To unlock all chapters from the menu, press and hold the “1” key for 10 seconds and release it. Change Log:

• Achievements are now implemented and available
• Steam trading cards added
• Steam badges added
• General performance slightly improved.
• Ladders tweaked to behave more normally - get on/off is now more smooth and forward button can be hold in when getting off.
• Fixes an issue where some mirrors, in rare cases, lost their light beams.
• Fixes an issue where projections on doors shows an incorrect symbol
• Fixes an issue where “Water tub puzzle” had too many water entities, making the puzzle unsolvable
• Objects’ draw distance and LODs tweaked (avoiding pop-ins close to player)
• Splash screen on starting the game now loads correctly
• Many physical ropes replaced with static animated objects to avoid unlinking issue, where things fell down on load/save game.
• Introduced Chapter selection in menu, that unlocks each level accordingly to progression.
• Glass discs in first major puzzle (Life Puzzle in the pavilion) shows their symbol immediately after placing
• Vial icon now shakes when trying to light a lamp without sufficient juice
• Already lit lamps cannot be “turned on” again
• Fixes an issue where the animated stairs in light mirror puzzle, did not reload properly
• Reset health UI properly after load
• Drown screen-effect changed and implemented correctly.
• Difficulty increased “Pillar puzzle” in open world section.
• Further improvements in stabilization.

It is necessary to mention, that we are highly restricted engine-wise, making some glitches harder to fix - such as random crashes, flickering textures, blinking objects in the horizon and some issues on load game. We’ll continue to improve game and address any issues. If this patch should cause you any problems, please let us know and we will adress the issues ASAP. Thank you! Best regards The Investigate North Team

Here are the patch notes for Aporia: Beyond the Valley v. 1.1.0 Hi everyone! First of all, thank you very much for playing and supporting Aporia: Beyond the Valley. We are thrilled to see so many positive reviews of our game and we are sorry for the bugs some of you have endured during your gameplay. Thanks to you guys, we know of several undiscovered issues and we’ve been able to fix many of them in this patch. IMPORTANT: Players who have already played the game before this patch, will not experience these changes, UNLESS they restart the current chapter they are in, OR restart the entire game. To unlock all chapters from the menu, press and hold the “1” key for 10 seconds and release it. Change Log:

• Achievements are now implemented and available
• Steam trading cards added
• Steam badges added
• General performance slightly improved.
• Ladders tweaked to behave more normally - get on/off is now more smooth and forward button can be hold in when getting off.
• Fixes an issue where some mirrors, in rare cases, lost their light beams.
• Fixes an issue where projections on doors shows an incorrect symbol
• Fixes an issue where “Water tub puzzle” had too many water entities, making the puzzle unsolvable
• Objects’ draw distance and LODs tweaked (avoiding pop-ins close to player)
• Splash screen on starting the game now loads correctly
• Many physical ropes replaced with static animated objects to avoid unlinking issue, where things fell down on load/save game.
• Introduced Chapter selection in menu, that unlocks each level accordingly to progression.
• Glass discs in first major puzzle (Life Puzzle in the pavilion) shows their symbol immediately after placing
• Vial icon now shakes when trying to light a lamp without sufficient juice
• Already lit lamps cannot be “turned on” again
• Fixes an issue where the animated stairs in light mirror puzzle, did not reload properly
• Reset health UI properly after load
• Drown screen-effect changed and implemented correctly.
• Difficulty increased “Pillar puzzle” in open world section.
• Further improvements in stabilization.

It is necessary to mention, that we are highly restricted engine-wise, making some glitches harder to fix - such as random crashes, flickering textures, blinking objects in the horizon and some issues on load game. We’ll continue to improve game and address any issues. If this patch should cause you any problems, please let us know and we will adress the issues ASAP. Thank you! Best regards The Investigate North Team

Version 1.0.2 - Released 29th July

• Continued optimization, following tweaks to shadow generation.
• Some stabilization improvements.
• Texture revisions on several 3D assets.
• Colliders and physical proxies revised on several models.
• Particles on geometry should render correctly more often.
• First round of advanced graphical options exposed under “Advanced Graphics Settings”. Including Anti-Aliasing level, Motion Blur and SSDO.
• Large temple/cathedral now correctly cast shadows from geometry on high specs.
• Lighting in start cutscene slightly adjusted.
• Loading music was deemed redundant and removed as it stopped abruptly.
• Reset-code implemented in case of further issues for smaller puzzles.
• Ladders tweaked to be less annoying. More changes to follow.
• Vegetation added to cover up water edge in second chapter.
• Further floating vegetation hunting resulted in more for deletion.
• Grass in last chapter’s puzzle re-enabled.

A few changes may not apply to existing save games in chapter 3 "The Long Walk".

Version 1.0.2 - Released 29th July

• Continued optimization, following tweaks to shadow generation.
• Some stabilization improvements.
• Texture revisions on several 3D assets.
• Colliders and physical proxies revised on several models.
• Particles on geometry should render correctly more often.
• First round of advanced graphical options exposed under “Advanced Graphics Settings”. Including Anti-Aliasing level, Motion Blur and SSDO.
• Large temple/cathedral now correctly cast shadows from geometry on high specs.
• Lighting in start cutscene slightly adjusted.
• Loading music was deemed redundant and removed as it stopped abruptly.
• Reset-code implemented in case of further issues for smaller puzzles.
• Ladders tweaked to be less annoying. More changes to follow.
• Vegetation added to cover up water edge in second chapter.
• Further floating vegetation hunting resulted in more for deletion.
• Grass in last chapter’s puzzle re-enabled.

A few changes may not apply to existing save games in chapter 3 "The Long Walk".

Here are the patch notes for Version 1.01:

• Random crashes should occur less frequently!
• General performance increases following tweaks to shadows and directional occlusion.

The following will apply only to new games or saves made before the second chapter. Existing saves in the chapter called “The Long Walk” will not have these fixes, but players can continue playing if no issues are appearing.

• Water Puzzle handle should no longer disappear. If it does, that part of the puzzle is solved by default and no longer blocks progress.
• The Water Puzzle Layer now loads correctly. Area shapes reconfigured to not overlap.
• The grate at the Water Puzzle now stays gone when the water has been activated. Before it reappeared and locked players that went back into the cave.
• Auto-save triggers in the Mine (trap-floor puzzle) have been moved to circumvent an issue with ropes and the suspended platforms.
• AI exclusion zone has been added around a ruin that caused a big FPS drop.

If you wish to reset the chapter called “The Long Walk” and get the fixes hit the ½-key (or ~ key) and carefully type in “map aporiaopenworld1b” without quotes and hit enter. This will reset progress and restart the chapter. Alternatively, a save game with preset progress will be provided within 24 hours. The patch is live now.

Here are the patch notes for Version 1.01:

• Random crashes should occur less frequently!
• General performance increases following tweaks to shadows and directional occlusion.

The following will apply only to new games or saves made before the second chapter. Existing saves in the chapter called “The Long Walk” will not have these fixes, but players can continue playing if no issues are appearing.

• Water Puzzle handle should no longer disappear. If it does, that part of the puzzle is solved by default and no longer blocks progress.
• The Water Puzzle Layer now loads correctly. Area shapes reconfigured to not overlap.
• The grate at the Water Puzzle now stays gone when the water has been activated. Before it reappeared and locked players that went back into the cave.
• Auto-save triggers in the Mine (trap-floor puzzle) have been moved to circumvent an issue with ropes and the suspended platforms.
• AI exclusion zone has been added around a ruin that caused a big FPS drop.

If you wish to reset the chapter called “The Long Walk” and get the fixes hit the ½-key (or ~ key) and carefully type in “map aporiaopenworld1b” without quotes and hit enter. This will reset progress and restart the chapter. Alternatively, a save game with preset progress will be provided within 24 hours. The patch is live now.

Hello! On behalf of everyone at Investigate North and Green Man Gaming Publishing, we'd like to thank you all for supporting Aporia: Beyond The Valley. It's been a long road, and now the game is finally out in the wild! You've been very active on the forums, and helpfully been reporting a few issues that have been cropping up. We've collected all the currently know issues in a thread over on the Steam Community right here. The team over at Investigate North are working to address these issues, and we'll have more information on that over the coming days. Other things we're looking into bringing to the game soon includes achievements, language options, and additional mouse/keyboard mapping options. Look forward to seeing more screenshots, videos and discussion in the community! Investigate North / Green Man Gaming Publishing

Hello! On behalf of everyone at Investigate North and Green Man Gaming Publishing, we'd like to thank you all for supporting Aporia: Beyond The Valley. It's been a long road, and now the game is finally out in the wild! You've been very active on the forums, and helpfully been reporting a few issues that have been cropping up. We've collected all the currently know issues in a thread over on the Steam Community right here. The team over at Investigate North are working to address these issues, and we'll have more information on that over the coming days. Other things we're looking into bringing to the game soon includes achievements, language options, and additional mouse/keyboard mapping options. Look forward to seeing more screenshots, videos and discussion in the community! Investigate North / Green Man Gaming Publishing

New Video

It's one week to go until the release of Aporia: Beyond The Valley, and we've just released a new video that shows off more of the world of Ez'rat Qin and how the story is presented throughout the game. Exploring the environment will uncover stories from the former world - from small personal vignettes to larger pieces of the puzzle of why you are in this world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9EJ9bgOY4A

Soundtrack Release

We're also pleased to announce that the Soundtrack for Aporia: Beyond The Valley will be available as Downloadable Content - 24 tracks of moody, atmospheric Nordic soundscapes from composer Troels Nygaard. Listen to one of the tracks in the game, Coming Home, right here. Here's the artwork for the soundtrack - http://i.imgur.com/M2e8Jhu.jpg

New Video

It's one week to go until the release of Aporia: Beyond The Valley, and we've just released a new video that shows off more of the world of Ez'rat Qin and how the story is presented throughout the game. Exploring the environment will uncover stories from the former world - from small personal vignettes to larger pieces of the puzzle of why you are in this world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9EJ9bgOY4A

Soundtrack Release

We're also pleased to announce that the Soundtrack for Aporia: Beyond The Valley will be available as Downloadable Content - 24 tracks of moody, atmospheric Nordic soundscapes from composer Troels Nygaard. Listen to one of the tracks in the game, Coming Home, right here. Here's the artwork for the soundtrack - http://i.imgur.com/M2e8Jhu.jpg

Hello! We're pleased to announce that Aporia: Beyond The Valley will be launching on 19th July 2017! Developers Investigate North have also produced a short developer walkthrough showing off a number of elements of the game. Sit down with Kasper and Nina and explore some of the world of Ez'rat Qin. https://youtu.be/lcpi0178Rk4 We're working hard to make sure Aporia: Beyond The Valley is the best experience it can be, and we look forward to bringing the game to you on 19th July! Green Man Gaming Publishing & Investigate North

Hello! We're pleased to announce that Aporia: Beyond The Valley will be launching on 19th July 2017! Developers Investigate North have also produced a short developer walkthrough showing off a number of elements of the game. Sit down with Kasper and Nina and explore some of the world of Ez'rat Qin. https://youtu.be/lcpi0178Rk4 We're working hard to make sure Aporia: Beyond The Valley is the best experience it can be, and we look forward to bringing the game to you on 19th July! Green Man Gaming Publishing & Investigate North

Some early press coverage has started to come through for Aporia: Beyond The Valley from a press event we ran recently. Niels and Sebastian from Investigate North were on hand to help explain a little more about the game and took people through the early stages of the world of Ez'rat Qin. We'll have more to show of Aporia: Beyond The Valley soon, but in the meantime, here's some of the coverage of the game so far. "Telling Tales Of A Fallen Civilisation In Aporia: Beyond The Valley" - The Sixth Axis "Aporia: Beyond The Valley Wants You to Feel Like a Tourist in a Lost World" - n3rdabl3

Some early press coverage has started to come through for Aporia: Beyond The Valley from a press event we ran recently. Niels and Sebastian from Investigate North were on hand to help explain a little more about the game and took people through the early stages of the world of Ez'rat Qin. We'll have more to show of Aporia: Beyond The Valley soon, but in the meantime, here's some of the coverage of the game so far. "Telling Tales Of A Fallen Civilisation In Aporia: Beyond The Valley" - The Sixth Axis "Aporia: Beyond The Valley Wants You to Feel Like a Tourist in a Lost World" - n3rdabl3

Hello! We recently released the first look at gameplay in Aporia: Beyond The Valley. Take a look at our trailer! https://youtu.be/-urNQigxmAc We're also very pleased to announce that you can pre-order the game on Steam right now, for a 15% launch discount! We hope you enjoy the video, and we look forward to revealing more in the run up to launch! - Investigate North and Green Man Gaming Publishing

Hello! We recently released the first look at gameplay in Aporia: Beyond The Valley. Take a look at our trailer! https://youtu.be/-urNQigxmAc We're also very pleased to announce that you can pre-order the game on Steam right now, for a 15% launch discount! We hope you enjoy the video, and we look forward to revealing more in the run up to launch! - Investigate North and Green Man Gaming Publishing