The final public playtest has just kicked off and will run for the next 7 days. This is your last shot to try out new features, objectives, and wild Curios before launch. Plus, we need your help to test and perfect everything before the big day!

You’ll need to unlock a few characters and weapons this time around. Keep in mind that not all characters and weapons from previous playtests will be available at this time. But you’ll also find plenty of new goodies to experiment with. Please also note that any progress in this playtest will re-set and wipe before launch.

So, let’s get into what’s new in v0.4.8:

What’s New:

• Cursed Curios: A fresh batch of Curios that change your attributes permanently—both good and bad. High risk, high reward!
  
• New Curios:
• One-Eyed Whirli: Spawns twisters that push enemies away.
• Brisk Enkindlement: Chills nearby enemies.
• Firebranded Whisk: Leave a burning trail when using Air Gear.
• New Evolutions
• New Objectives & Events: Missions to shake up your Picnics!
• Aura Pillars, Gold Goblin, and Area Hold Explosive challenges.
• New Drop Chest: Defeat Minibosses or complete events to score Evolutions, Pebbles, Curios, or shop items.

New Systems & Changes:

• Curio Limit: You can now equip up to 8 different Curios. Cursed and Evolution Curios don’t count toward this limit!
• New Memento: Unlock the Frictionless D20 (Reroll) by earning it—no more freebie on the level-up screen.

Visual Improvements:

• Updated visuals for various locations inside the Loner’s Camp.
• Character idle animations are smoother.
• Ash now has dynamic equipment loadout animations.
• A reworked Toon Shader and better antialiasing for a cleaner look.
• New Water Shader and improved terrain materials.

Quality of Life Upgrades:

• Single Player Pause is finally here—take a breather whenever you need.
• Improved rendering performance, better object culling, and shadow quality.
• Partial Localization and Controller Support improvements.
• Optimized for wider aspect ratios (16:10 and 21:9), the game looks crisp no matter your screen.
• New Loading Screens with tips and tricks.
• Sound upgrades, including a vocal boss-fight track and enhanced SFX for key moments.

Gameplay Tweaks & Balancing:

• Harder Difficulty: We’ve cranked up the challenge. Think you can handle it?
• Discovery System: It now takes more playtime to complete, but the rewards are even better.
• Octavio Boss Rework: Now packs an even bigger punch!
• Improved enemy targeting and flying enemies that mix up their altitude for a more dynamic challenge.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed game freezes during objectives.
  
• Corrected issues where certain enemies weren’t taking damage from some Curios.
  
• Resolved problems with UI flickering and made various improvements to controller navigation.
  
• Fixed connection errors in some regions and addressed minor glitches to smooth your experience

Known Issues:

• VFX for new Curios may persist when a character is downed.
  
• Some projectiles don’t disappear properly.
  
• Certain rewards for Discoveries aren’t showing the correct icons.
  
• We're still squashing various minor bugs with 3D models, endgame screens, and more.

That’s it for now! Thanks for joining us in this playtest and helping us make Atomic Picnic the best. We can’t wait to see what chaos you create with all these new Curios, Evolutions, and missions!

And that’s not all - we’ve just kicked off our FINAL public playtest. Hit “Request Access” on the Steam page now to get right in. Here’s the new stuff we’re testing out this week:

• New “Cursed Curios”: These new types of Curios are both buff and bane!
  
• New standard Curios and Evolutions: More ways to build out your character and combine Curios.
  
• In-game Events and Objectives: More things to do in a Picnic, like taking out Pillars and chasing down Gold Goblins.
  
• Plus new Mementos, localizations, visual improvements, UI elements, and sound effects!

For full details and patch notes on this playtest, LINKhead to this post all about itLINK. The playtest will run for one week, ending on October 17th.

Back to the big news - launch on Nov 7th! Here’s what to expect when Atomic Picnic hits Early Access:

• Four Hungry Loners: Ash, Hani, Bonnie, and JD are ready to Picnic! Each Loner boasts unique stats and abilities, allowing for varying playstyles. Try each out and find which suits you! Permanently upgrade character stats via Mementos, which are acquired through Discoveries as Loners complete Picnics.
  
• Mementos and Discoveries: Loners will scour maps for valuable resources that unlock 18 different Mementos: character and gear upgrades for future runs. Completing specific challenges within Picnics will reveal Discoveries, which in turn grant new Mementos, characters, and weapons.
  
• Three Maps to Picnic On:
• Train Plateau: Set up your Picnic in an abandoned trainyard, ripe for resource scavenging. If you’re lucky, you might find something worth cold cash! You can also come back to the Plateau in night mode, facing off against a different set of even tougher enemies.
• Twilight Dam: What cataclysmic event ravaged this dam? Picnic here to explore this mysteriously wrecked rift, in day or night mode!
• City of Sand: Two dimensions, one city. Explore and Picnic in a glorious city caught within the sands of time…or what’s left of it.
• Curious About Curios: In-run upgrades known as Curios represent the dramatic changes a Loner’s build will go through as they progress a Picnic.
• Standard Curios unleash your Loner’s full potential as its stats and abilities dynamically adapt to every acquired Curios.
• Cursed Curios offer additional boosts but come with a trade-off, potentially lowering other stats!
• Evolved Curios, created by combining standard Curios, represent the pinnacle for a character’s build and provide unparalleled power.
• Floating on Air: Loners need to be mobile in the wasteland to survive - and they have Impulse Gear to fling, dash, and swing at breakneck speed around each map. Use Air Gear to move in the air, and Gear Dash to speed along the ground.
  
• Picnic Objectives: Within a Picnic run, Loners will tackle a variety of objectives—from defeating a set number of enemies to toppling specific bosses and destroying pillars in different parts of the map. Each Picnic hosts its own set of challenges for players to accomplish in order to progress the run and make it home alive.
  
• Wasteland Weaponry: Pick your poison: five traditional weapons – an assault rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, and pistol – are at your disposal. Tear down the crowd with these firearms, or blast ‘em to bits with four unique grenades!
  
• Enemies Galore: In the wasteland, terrors lie in wait for unsuspecting Loners. Face off against 11 distinct enemy types, and when you’ve conquered them, take on three minibosses to gear up for the final showdown with two massive and fearsome end-run bosses.

We hope you’ll jump into our playlist, and become Loners with us when we launch in November! Please keep the feedback coming here on Steam and in the Discord[www.discord.gg].

Oh and don’t forget - we’re giving away an awesome Starforge Systems gaming PC with a custom art case at launch. Join the community at http://OTK.to/AP to enter to win!