Finch & Archie news & patch notes

BUG FIXES

• Fixed some spelling errors in dialog

• Fixed cutscene not skipping for both players sometimes

• Fixed Case #6 not unlocking properly

Hey everyone, we have made some improvements to the game thanks to your feedback! The biggest change is that we have implemented Steam Cloud Save so that you can keep your saves across devices but you may or may not lose your current save data.

We apologise for any inconvenience - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3

NEW

• Steam Cloud Save

• Steam Invite/Join game

• Accusation UI

• Key rebinding (Work In Progress)

CHANGES

• Updated accusation boards to make more sense

• Accusation phase now checks if each sentence is correct instead of whole board

• Opening the pinboard while in the accusation phase no longer removes all unusable cards, but greys them out

• Slight dialogue updates

BUG FIXES

• Fixed accusation board not loading properly

• Fixed being able to use magnifying glass on non magnify-able objects

Hey everyone, thank you all for your feedback over the past week! Here are some fixes this patch. Please join our Discord and let us know if you run into any more issues!

Thank you all for your support! - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3

BUG FIXES

• Fixed accusation board layout issue

• Fixed evidence being deleted from boards on continue

• Fixed UI issues with non 16:9 aspect ratio monitors (Currently by letterboxing)

• Fixed saves not triggering at the same time

Hey all, thank you so much for playing and supporting our game! We will be updating the game a lot and you might run into some unexpected errors but we will be working hard to fix them! Feel free to join our Discord if you run into any issues and we will address them there.

Once again, thank you all for your support! - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3

NEW

• Implemented save system

• Added audio for Episode 1 ending cutscene

CHANGES

• Updated leads messages

• Tweaked some colliders

KNOWN ISSUES

• Rejoining after finishing Episode 1 breaks the accusation mechanic

It’s finally time - Finch & Archie is officially being released into Early Access!

As stated on our store page, we’ll be in Early Access for about a year while we work on adding more story content. This will include two brand new cases to solve, each with their own unique crime scene to investigate and cast of characters to interrogate! We’ll also be further developing Finch & Archie’s relationship while advancing the overarching narrative involving The Jackal.

• Join our Discord,

• keep an eye on our Steam Community Hub, and

• follow us on Instagram.

NEW

• Graphics settings

  • VSync Toggle

  • Target Frame Rate slider

  • Window Mode

CHANGES

• Reworded tutorials

• Slight update to Pinboard Card UI

• Updated alley environment

• NPC Dialog updates

MINOR FIX

• Removed duplicate meshes in the bar (Whoops...)

Hey all,

There was a pretty major bug with people not being able to join rooms. But it's fixed now! Sorry for the problems and thank you all for your support!

Cheers, Octarine Arts Team ⋮3

Major Fix

• Fixed issue where players can't join rooms even when the room is not full

• Fixed Unity vulnerability issue

Hello everyone! We’ve been quiet here for a little while, but rest assured we have been hard at work!

The alley stinks of old rain and fresh lies. Finch squints through the gloom, trying to piece together what happened. Archie’s nose twitches—he already knows.

Welcome back to the dev diary series for Finch & Archie. This time, we’re diving into the beating heart of the game: the asymmetrical mechanic that puts one player in a trench coat and the other on four paws. Let’s talk about how we built it—and what we’ve learned along the way.

Why Man & Dog?

From the start, we were drawn to asymmetry. We didn’t just want two characters—we wanted two perspectives. Two ways of seeing the same world.

You and your partner aren’t meant to talk freely over voice chat. You’ve got an intentionally clunky, in-game comms system that forces you to learn how to share info in short bursts and weird phrases. It’s messy, inefficient, and sometimes hilarious. That’s the point.

The tension—and the fun—comes from struggling to translate your discoveries to your partner, even as you’re both trying to crack the same case. The mystery doesn’t just live in the world—it lives between you.

The result? High-stakes detective work, filtered through messy human (and canine) interpretation.

Their Skills, Their Stories

To make this work, each character needed their own distinct mechanics and narrative lens.

Archie, a sharp-nosed Pointer with more intuition than patience, sees the world through smell. His trail mechanic shows a clear path of travel from one location to another. At the start of a trail, you get a clue—something left behind that links to the person at the other end. The rest is on you to follow and piece together.

Finch, ever the classic noir detective, uses his magnifying glass to spot the small things: a torn scarf, a boot print, a smudged label. It’s how we show key evidence without overloading the player. He’s the classic sleuth, catching the details that others miss—but he can’t smell a lie like Archie can.

One sees the invisible. The other sees the overlooked.

The Puzzle of Partnership

Creating solo mechanics was easy. Making them work together was the challenge.

We’re constantly refining puzzles that require both players to interact with the same space, but from different angles—without leaving one player lost or idle. The goal is simple: both players should know what they’re doing, but not necessarily why it matters to the other.

The challenge has always been making both players feel essential. It’s not enough for one to be solving while the other watches. We wanted both to understand their own piece of the puzzle, then struggle (and laugh) as they try to combine them.

Sometimes that works beautifully. Other times, one partner ends up wildly guessing while the other shrugs helplessly. We're still refining that balance—but that's the fun of it.

One of our favourite examples is our item mechanic. You might find a character who refuses to help without a bribe—or a very specific object. Problem is, you don’t have it… but your partner might.

Suddenly, you’re yelling across the room, “Rat need smoke stick!” and hoping your partner can figure out what that means before they can move on. 

It ties the environment, NPCs, and co-op communication into one very loud (and hilarious) moment.

What We’ve Learned

We started with a serious noir murder mystery. Gritty. Grimy. Moody. But somewhere along the way, something unexpected happened: the characters came to life—and they were funny.

The more we wrote, the more they joked. The more they joked, the more we leaned in. They started driving the tone. We followed. The noir is still there, but the game feels alive now—like two real partners who can’t help but bicker through the job.

We’ve also learned that players will always surprise you. Some stumble into the solution, others brute-force their way through. But if they’re having fun, we’ve done our job.

Evolving the Partnership

The heart of Finch & Archie is the partnership itself. Not just in the story, but in the way you play.

At the beginning, Finch and Archie are uneasy allies—just doing the job. But as the story unfolds, their relationship deepens, and their cooperation tightens. That narrative arc mirrors the ludonarrative one: players, too, begin unsure of how to work together—but grow more intuitive, more connected, as they go.

That bond—on screen and off—is what the game is really about.

That’s all for now. We’ve still got plenty of puzzles to tweak and trails to follow, but this mechanic is the soul of the game.

Got thoughts? Suggestions? Dog puns? Drop us a line on Instagram, Reddit, or Discord. We’d love to hear from you. Until next time… stay sharp, and keep sniffing.

— The Octarine Arts Team ⋮3

Team Introduction

Early Days

Current Day