The Bench news & patch notes

Hey,

If you enjoyed our last game, we wanted to share a little something new with you. We’ve just announced ShoreTiles, a fresh strategy experience from VOXEL Studios and Noovola.

Set around a fragile lighthouse in a cold, endless sea, ShoreTiles blends thoughtful tile placement with a growing sense of survival tension. You’ll carefully build and expand your island by day, then defend it against what rises from the depths when night falls.

If that sounds like your kind of thing, we’d love for you to take a look and wishlist the game right here on Steam, it really helps us a lot!

We'll leave you with our fresh teaser trailer:

Thank you for your support! Noovola & Voxel

Hey Old Timers!

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to fix an issue raised by the community related to fishing that prevented some of our players from reaching 100% completion in the game. With this new update, the bug is gone, and you’ll be able to complete it! 

We’ve also tidied up some other bugs and small issues that had been flagged!

We’re still here and working hard to make The Bench the best it can be, and your feedback is key, so please continue to let us know your thoughts going forward via the in-game feedback form or in our Discord server

We appreciate this community so very much!

VOXEL Studio

Hello fellow pensioner,

If you're in Leeds, Bradford or the surroundings and wanted to spend a day (or two) playing videogames, then why not visit the Science and Media Museum for the Yorkshire Games Festival!

The Bench Publishers Noovola, who are West Yorkshire based, will be there to say hello, introduce you to The Bench, and perhaps giving away a few goodies ːsteamhappyː The game is playable from 14-22 February, but we'll be around on Feb 13 for a stroll and on Feb 21 with a dedicated The Bench station.

More information on the event can be found on the Science and Media Museum's official website

See you there!

Noovola

Hi old timer!

From today until January 8th, if you play The Bench and search our in-game world for gift boxes, you may just be able to unlock limited-edition Christmas-themed cosmetics!

If you've been wishlisted for a while and still haven't gotten your copy, The Bench is 35% off until January 8th.

We’re just two months past launch (literally, we launched October 24th!), and every copy purchased helps support this indie project's longevity.

There’s only two weeks, don’t waste any time, play, unlock the new cosmetics and share them with us!

• Voxel Studio

Hey there, pigeon lover!

If you’re in our Discord server, you’ll know we’ve been pecking away behind the scenes, as we continue to work on The Bench, and today we’re finally ready to drop the biggest update the game has ever received. Whether you’ve already solved every puzzle, found every egg, taken every snap…  or you’ve just sat down and joined us for the first time, this update brings a whole new layer of charm, challenge, and pigeon-powered mischief to the park.

This patch has been weeks in the making, shaped by your bug reports, your suggestions, your screenshots, and all the chaos your pigeons managed to create. Thank you for helping us polish every corner of the experience. We read every report, and this update exists because of you.

New Puzzles, New Secrets, New Feathery Friends

We know many of you have become master puzzle-solvers, so we couldn’t resist giving you brand-new mysteries to tackle. New hidden items, new pigeons and most importantly, a brand new mega-puzzle bring ever more to experience in The Bench. You’ll also spot new hats, new skins, and a few delightful cosmetic surprises, including the winning entry from our recent community contest. 

A better bench, thanks to you

This update isn’t just about shiny new additions. It’s also about making sure The Bench simply feels right. We’ve tackled a huge amount of player-reported bugs, smoothed out animations, tweaked layouts, rebalanced interactions, and improved a few systems that needed extra love, with fishing getting particular attention.

Your feedback genuinely shaped this patch, and we hope everything feels more fluid.

Here’s the full list of everything highlighted today, exactly as promised:

• The addition of 3 new golden pigeons and a final secret Mega-Puzzle

• User-requested feedback additions

• Improvements to the Fishing mechanics

• New hats and skins, including the one that won the contest

• Graphical improvements

• Last but not least: Fixes for (almost?) all reported bugs

If it’s been a while, this is the perfect moment to return, meet the new pigeons, rediscover all our comfy benches, and see what’s hiding behind the new puzzle. If you’re already deep into the adventure, we can’t wait to hear what you think of the new additions!

PS: Christmas is around the corner, so keep an eye out for some xmas cheer in-game!

As always, feel free to drop a bug report, share your discoveries, or chat with us on Discord. Your enthusiasm keeps our little world alive.

See you on the bench,

•  VOXEL Studio

Hi old timers,

How're the knees holding up?

This is a quick update just to let you know that we've got a ton of things coming this December, starting with the Games in Italy sale - which for us, starts December 7th.

With winter sales, and a major update releasing later this month, there's never been more reasons to Wishlist the game, play the demo, or purchase your own copy (or two, why not gift one to a friend?)

Don't forget to join our lovely Discord server for extra pigeon content, you can do so here!

Voxel Studio

Hey Old Timers,

If you’re heading to Milan Games Week this weekend, come find us in the Indie Dungeon! You’ll be able to play The Bench, dive into our pigeon powered puzzles, and chat directly with us, the developers behind the game.

How this works:

When you stop by our booth in the Indie Dungeon, you’ll receive a special newspaper with 8 stamp slots.

Each time you complete one of the in-game puzzles during the event, you’ll earn a stamp on your newspaper.

Fill all 8 stamps, and you’ll receive your very own 3D-printed golden pigeon: a tiny, shiny feathered friend for your desk, shelf, or pocket, exclusive for Milan Games Week explorers.

We can’t wait to share the game with you in person, hear your thoughts, trade stories about our mischievous flock, and meet both some of you who are already in our Discord, and new friends alike. 

So if you're wandering through MGW, keep an eye out for us in the Indie Dungeon. Come take a seat, try the game, meet the team… and start collecting those stamps. A golden pigeon awaits!

See you in Milan,

VOXEL Studio

PS, here's how our booth looks like for you visiting:

Hi everyone, 

Another week, another excellent event and excuse to try The Bench.

This special event shines a spotlight on games where animals take center stage, from loyal companions to mischievous wanderers, and everything in between. The Bench proudly joins this lineup with its charming cast of pigeons.

What’s The Bench you ask?

The Bench is the perfect mix before cozy visuals and increasingly challenging puzzles. You’ll live the lighthearted adventure of an old man who escapes the monotony of retirement with the help of his loyal pigeon crew. Explore colourful parks, solve puzzles, and uncover snippets of his mysterious past, one bench at a time. Lead a growing flock of mischievous, customisable pigeons, cause harmless chaos, and rediscover joy in the smallest moments. 

So, why not give it a go?

We’re thrilled to perch alongside other incredible animal-focused games from around the world, and if you’re asking “is this game for me?”, why not check the reviews, join our Discord community (full of puzzle masters), play the demo which is live as of today, or simply say hello - we also gave away four The Bench limited edition controllers last month, don't miss out on more of that either!

Whether you’ve already spent some time on the bench or are just discovering it for the first time, there’s no better moment to settle in, take a breath, and enjoy the view.

– VOXEL Studio

Hi friends!

Localisation has been a very important part of our development process, a collaboration that included almost two dozen people across the world, from Osaka and Seoul to London to Istanbul, we’ve worked around the clock to ensure you can enjoy The Bench in your native language.

Step by step our team has been iterating, refining, and testing every line to make sure The Bench feels just right in every language, even before we launched the demo, and whilst most of the supported languages have been in the game since launch, many have been reviewed and updated over time. 

This new update brings a few exciting additions and improvements to localisation:

• Arabic has officially joined the flock: a huge thank-you to Pisty for his incredible contribution and attention to detail, and for literally gifting us his time, to ensure that The Bench can now be played by 380+ million native Arabic speakers across the world!

• Portuguese (Portugal) has also been added to the game, by having native speakers revise and rework the Portuguese (Brazil) text, we hope our Portuguese friends appreciate this, especially during DevGamm Lisbon!

• Chinese and Russian have received multiple UI and text layout fixes, and all languages have seen new words added as the game expands, including tonal fixes in Korean and Japanese

• Polish also sits on The Bench, but is at an earlier stage, so you may still encounter errors. If you do see something that isn’t quite right, please let us know!

• In total, The Bench is now playable in English, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Ukrainian, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Portuguese (PT), German, Turkish, Portuguese (BR), Modern Arabic, French and Russian

We remain independent teams and therefore a few little quirks or UI issues here and there. If you spot anything odd, please report it, every bit of feedback helps us make The Bench even better.

But there’s more!

Thank you to everyone who stepped up and supported us with feedback, we’re grateful for every bug report, it has helped us enormously, we try to address every report quickly and have updated the game (almost) daily since its launch, and your contribution has made an enormous difference - really!

If you loved The Bench and would like to contribute improvements or help localize it into your own native language, we’d love to hear from you! Drop by the Community section or come chat with us on Discord, we’re always happy to collaborate with fellow pigeon enthusiasts.

The Bench is still on sale for one more day! We hope the cheaper launch price can entice you to explore our world and help it grow if you haven’t done so already, but there’s only 24 hours left before the sale ends!

See you soon with new cool pigeons, and a few very big surprises!

– Noovola and Voxel Studio

Hi friends,

It’s only been a week since launch, but more big news from our end! 

As of today, The Bench is heading to DevGAMM Lisbon with a digital Steam event running from November 3rd to November 9th. To top it off, the game is currently 34% off until November 7th, so there’s never been a better moment to grab your copy and take a seat. 

We’re also preparing a substantial localisation update, expanding support with new European Portuguese and Standard Arabic translations, along with refinements to many existing languages.

Our puzzle adventure world continues to grow! We’re grateful for everyone who left a review so far (wow 95% positive, thank you!) and we’d love for more of you to be part of the game: play, share your thoughts in our Discord (pigeon photographs not mandatory), and help us shape what comes next. 

Whether it’s your first time taking a seat or you’ve been here since day one, your feedback and support mean everything to us.

– VOXEL Studio

Hey Old Timers, 

Firstly, thank you so much (once again) for the wonderful reception of The Bench, we are so glad to hear from so many who are resonating with  our game, your feedback continues to remain invaluable! 

Here come the big news: Twitch integrations have just gone live meaning that anyone who loves to Stream on the platform can now connect to their Twitch account in-game t and have viewers actively participate in the game via the Twitch chat! 

This will allow viewers to customize streamers’ pigeons, by changing their look in-game in real time, with a massive list of commands Viewers will also be able to interact directly with the environment spawning in hungry Raccoons to mess up the player’s plans (seriously, if you don’t shoo them away with your stick, they will EAT YOUR PIGEONS! 

We’d love your feedback on this new addition to the game, so why not give it a go? We hope it can make streams even more fun and interactive, and remember, you can change who can interact with your stream in the game options, so choose anyone, your subscribers, or moderators only!!

Going forward, we will continue to read and engage with you to make sure The Bench provides the best experience possible. With this, today we are releasing a fairly big update which also tackles a large portion of the reported bugs, controller issues on Deck, as well as the aforementioned Twitch stuff. 

Here is a list of Twitch commands, and below is a screenshot with more information on the customization options:

We’ve also just updated a bug that made some players use their kiosk purchases. For a list of full bug fixes, you can check out the previous steam post we shared on 29th October 2025!

Thanks!

• Voxel Studio

Hi everyone,

This is a big update.

Your help in polishing the game and helping fix bugs is something we're immensely grateful for, as indie devs, we can take all the support we can get, so thanks again for chipping in and helping to improve The Bench.

Here's our Highlights:

• Save System: Revised and fixed several save-related issues.

• Journal & Map: Resolved multiple bugs affecting these features.

• Quests: Fixed issues with open or incomplete quests.

• Photo Requests: Photo quest completion logic has been corrected.

• Soft Locks: Addressed rare cases where players could get stuck in certain map areas.

• Steam Deck & Controller Support: Improved compatibility and performance.

• Stamps: Fixed issues where some stamps could not be completed.

• Throwing Aim: Adjusted and refined the aiming system.

• Fishing HUD: Updated and improved for better clarity.

• Twitch Integration: Now fully available! (but more info on this in a second, dedicated post coming soon.

If you're experiencing any issues in game, please let us know in the comments, we will get to it ASAP!

Thanks again,

• Voxel Studio

Hi everyone,

It’s been a exactly two days since The Bench officially launched, and we’re just grateful for each and everyone of you who supported with a purchase or review so far. The feedback you've shared has already help fix a lot of bugs, we've been active all weekend and will continue to work so that you can enjoy the game at its best.

Seeing players go from bench to bench, exploring and having a good laugh, means the world to us, and we want to continue to improve that experience

We’re continue working on updates and improvements, including the plan to add additional languages, and continuing to bring current localisation quality to its best, so please keep your feedback coming. Every comment helps us make the game even better. If you want to avoid the in-game form link, leave your feedback directly here, in the community or comment sections on Steam. We'll get back to each one!

We also want to thank you with more than just words, so keep an eye out for more events and announcements from us in the coming weeks.

From everyone here at VOXEL Studios and from our publishers Noovola, thank you for joining our old man on his journey so far. We're both small studios, both on our first project, so expect our continued dedication to The Bench, more patches, more pigeons!

– VOXEL Studios

Hi everyone,

The Bench is out today, so come on in and take a seat! After spending the last weeks refining details and making sure each doodle, bounce, and wobble feels alive and meaningful, we’re excited to be finally able to hit “launch” on the project!

We’re a small team, on our first game, with a small publisher, on their first game, so as you can imagine, this is a  very important day for all of us, and we’re proud to be sharing it with you.

Let us know your thoughts on the game, and feel free to leave a comment and say hello to fellow pigeon lovers.

Let us remind you of The Bench’s key features:

• Gather your pigeon crew: they’ll help you navigate the world, so collect them, dress them up, and live your best life!

• Solve puzzles, play minigames and discover a charming world with your new feathered besties 

• Pigeons, Pigeons Pigeons: they can help carry bricks, scissors, and even electricity! Customize them to your  liking, and give ‘em names like only real friends deserve

• Interact (or interfere!) with park visitors in hilariously creative ways, go fishing, play chess, take photos, and much more

• Fill your stamp collection like a true pensioner, and use your magazine to doodle what you see in the world, or play games like connect the dots and tic tac toe (excellent!)

The game also features various localised languages, with more being added in the coming days and hopefully, even more in the future! We want to do this right, so please bear with us as we continue to work diligently on getting the game to more audiences.

For now, we wanted to thank you for your support on behalf of both our development and publishing teams. We’re excited for you to experience The Bench starting today, and are on hand for any help, to chat or answer any questions. 

– VOXEL Studios

Hey there old timers, 

Our feathered friends and their trusty old cobber are on display in the Games Showcase alongside other amazing international titles.

You’ll be able to play The Bench on both the 16th and 18th of October (that’s Thursday and Saturday) at our booth in the games area.

Being showcased all the way in Australia is such an honor, and we’re thrilled to be meeting fans and sharing our game in person.

If you’re at SXSW, come find our booth, we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working so hard on!

PS:

We're also running a competition, so be sure to scan the QR, join us on Discord, and share your art! (40+ people have already sent theirs!)

Thank you, 

VOXEL Studio

Hey there old timers, 

Today is the day! We’re over in Barcelona at BCN Game Fest, showcasing The Bench live from La Farga de l’Hospitalet until October 12th.

Our booth is all set up with our feathered friends & their loyal companion alongside so many other great games, hosted by our publisher Noovola and our friends Troglobytes Games. It’s going to be awesome to meet new players and to give everyone a hands-on sneak preview of The Bench ahead of launch.

The Game Fest is setting itself up to be great one, and we’re so grateful to be representing our project in person. If you’re at the festival, swing by and say hi - we’d love to see you!

We're also doing a giveaway (but more info at the booth!).

Thank you, 

• VOXEL Studio

Hey there old timers,

We’ve got great news:  The Bench launches on October 24, 2025! 

Our quirky and colourful puzzle adventure is almost ready for everyone to enjoy. 

Grab your walking stick, stock up on bread, and prepare for a colourful adventure full of puzzles, secrets… and pigeons, lots and lots and lots of adorable pigeons! 

What Awaits You in the Park:

• Gather your pigeon crew: they’ll help you navigate the world, so collect them, dress them up, and live your best life!

• Solve puzzles, play minigames and discover a charming world with your new feathered besties 

• Pigeons, Pigeons Pigeons: they can help carry bricks, scissors, and even electricity! Customize them to your  liking, and give ‘em names like only real friends deserve

• Interact (or interfere!) with park visitors in hilariously creative ways, go fishing, play chess, take photos, and much more

• Twitch Integration! Viewers can spawn pigeons, raccoons, and NPCs to help or hilariously disrupt your playthrough.

• Fill your stamp collection like a true pensioner, and use your magazine to doodle what you see in the world, or play games like connect the dots and tic tac toe (excellent!)

We’re excited to finally release The Bench so, we hope you are too. Follow us on socials to hear about giveaways, events and follow development announcements: Discord |  Twitter/X | Instagram

See you soon!

• Voxel Studio

Hey there old timers, 

We’re so excited to announce that The Bench has been chosen to exhibit at the Indie Dungeon for this year’s Milan Games Week, which is happening at the Rho Fiera Convention Center on November 28-30th.

Our flying friends and their trusty old companion will be featured in the Indie Dungeon area alongside other great up and coming Italian games, this means you’ll be able to get hands on with The Bench at the convention (if you haven’t bought a copy by then!)

We know spaces were limited and so it’s really an honour to have been selected and be able to show you the game in our home turf.

We look forward to meeting you all at the Milan Games Week, and giving you a proper preview of the game!

Thank you, 

• VOXEL Studio

Dear friends,

With the launch fast approaching, we're really excited to be able to feature in so many events. From Barcelona to Lisbon, Sydney to (only the pigeons know where next) we're excited to be able to showcase our game to so many of you.

This also means our game is getting nominated for awards ːsteamhappyː

This time, we ask for a kind vote by going to DevGAMM's voting website (link below), searching for The Bench, and casting your vote:

Vote for The Bench here: https://devgamm.fillout.com/community-vote2025

If you vote for us, please share a screenshot, a message on here or a post on our Discord. We will feed a pigeon for every vote cast from now until October 5th when votes close.

Thanks so much for your attention!

• VOXEL Studios

Hi everyone,

We’ve got a little scheduling news: we’re moving the launch of The Bench from late September to late October.

Why? You probably guessed it. The surprise launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong has affected a ton of developers who were scheduled to launch on the same day or week, meaning a ton of more games are now being pushed to launch later, in our own previously scheduled launch window, meaning our old man and his pigeons may miss out on your important attention!

Even benches need their moment to shine, and we want to make sure The Bench gets a fair shot at being noticed, so we’re taking a couple of extra weeks to do things right. The good news is the delay isn’t long at all. We’ll use the extra time to polish, tweak, and make sure every doodle, bounce, and wobble feels just right.

Thanks so much for your patience and support, we can’t wait to share The Bench with you in late October!

 – The VOXEL team

• Reworked the movement system: a lot of you shared similar feedback, so we hope we've hit the nail on the head with the new system
• Improved pigeon handling - another big request!
• Reworked some parts of the map and bench placements
• Revised the throwing system
• Made some UI improvements
• Added new settings
• Improved translations
• Revised the party area
• Added fast travel between benches via the map
• Reworked the brick-pigeon
• Fixed the demo end menu
• Fixed Ukrainian and Russian language teething issues after thorough LQA
• Updated the font to better suit the Cyrillic alphabet
• Other general fixes