A time-limited test
The September 4, 2026 announcement celebrated 400,000 Steam wishlists and invited players to an open playtest from September 10 to 14. It listed Windows PC through Steam and English-only test language. The test dates have passed. This report preserves the feature changes described in that announcement; it is not a current invitation to join.
Quests and the first fishing lesson
The developers said they had significantly revised the quest chain to make objectives more consistent and introduce systems more naturally. More repairable objects were added to the world. Fishing directly from a pier was also introduced, with a detailed tutorial on the first attempt. These changes describe that test’s introduction to fishing, not a verified step-by-step route through the final game.
Shovelnose, Gleamer and night-time schools
Two new fish were named: Shovelnose and Gleamer. The announcement also said mutated fish schools would be slightly more common at night and gain a distinct visual effect. It did not give numerical spawn probabilities or preferred bait for each species. The confirmed-fish section adds those names alongside the earlier Softgrazer and Bristler records.
Areas and dialogue
The area around Betsy and the Dry Dock was reworked, The Throat gates area received improvements, and a small island with quest-related loot was added. Character and radio dialogue changed to support the revised quests, with more optional information and player reactions. These are useful location references, but the mention of Betsy alone does not establish a complete NPC identity or role.
Save conditions belonged to this test
Participants were told to start a new save rather than continue an old one. The announcement said progress would not carry over to future versions and that the test had no NDA. Those conditions apply to the event being described; they are not automatically the terms of a later demo or release.
What to read now
Use the world guide for the named areas and Demo information for the separate public-demo announcement. This article was written after the event, so its publication date differs from the source announcement date shown above. No hands-on testing by this site is claimed.
THE ORIGINAL INFORMATION
Sources & scope
Official information checked 2026-10-06. Announced features may change between versions. This article does not claim hands-on gameplay testing.