From the lake to the river
What's new
Updates to the playable browser demo. Dates below are in UTC.
Help test the latest browser release. Five minutes and one confusing moment are enough.
Music choices and gentler fishing
- Choose the music: scenes and site pages can follow their own arrangements. Settings offers private style overrides, shuffle or sequence, and configurable phrases per style. Changes wait for a musical phrase boundary; game events gently color the music and ease back to baseline. Music stays optional.
- A steadier flow: Lake and River compose music as you play, with each style's own pace and smoother note endings. Ambient ice and wind continually renew through overlapping, freshly generated sound.
- Take in the catch: automatic strike zoom eases in and out more slowly, and anglers hold their catch for longer. Touching the board keeps it steady under your finger.
- Clearer population: the lobby labels waiting, available and connected PvP players separately from registered accounts. Known automated tests use their own queue and stay out of public presence counts.
Mystery values and Ernie's unboxing
- Fish values: ordinary fish are worth 1–6 points. In new River journeys, a mystery catch reveals either +7 or -3. Existing journeys keep their saved rules.
- Ernie opens the stock: after a course unlocks merchandise, he opens its carton at the counter, lifts the sample to show it, then returns it to the box. Reduced motion shows the shelf stock immediately.
- Your Fish Coins stay yours: opening a box makes its goods available. You still choose whether to buy them, and replaying a course credits only an improvement over your earlier best.
Creature catches and Ducky
Two new catch appearances are available at Ernie's Trading Bend.
- Rainbow fish: clear Frostmere to unlock the 1 FC pack. Colours follow point values; revealed negative catches are black.
- Creature catch pack: clear Lookout Bank to unlock the 6 FC pack. Catch mystery snails, cuttlefish, squid, octopuses, nautiluses and giant squid, with a Kraken or jellyfish for revealed mysteries. The 1-point golden mystery snail shares Ducky's model.
- Preview, then choose: browse and turn every catch before buying, including locked stock. Equip an owned appearance from Anglers → Shop gear → Catch appearance, or switch back to Ordinary fish. Your selections and purchases survive reload.
- Same game, new catches: appearances change animals under the ice and the catch you lift. Points and mystery concealment stay the same, including in existing journeys.
Ernie's winter gear and the level catalogue
Browse course stock, try gear on, and keep what you buy with earned Fish Coins.
- Meet Ernie at Trading Bend: clearing Frostmere and choosing Next level opens Earnest “Ernie” Bookless's first greeting. The map place is Trading Bend; its only store is Ernie's Trading Bend, marked by a simple slanted roof and wooden sign over the door.
- Visit Ernie's Trading Bend: the shop opens on its own screen. Clear Frostmere for recolourable parka patterns (1 FC), the Shallows for a complete trapper hat (3 FC), and Upper River for a flared metal mallet (4 FC). Try gear on every angler before buying. A corner Catalogue button lets you browse each level's stock, including locked goods. Purchases use earned Fish Coins only, are final, and remain yours after reload. Ernie's physical unboxing is still in development.
- See the fishing: catches include casting, fishing, reeling and lifting. The angler turns toward you to show the catch, then returns to the previous heading and cell. Automatic zoom reuses the static scenery so it can keep playing the action.
- Hold a steady strike: touching the board pauses an unfinished zoom at its visible position, keeping the ice under your finger while you charge.
- Fast travel to unlocked levels: after clearing a crossing, choose any level already unlocked on your journey as well as the newly opened routes. The host checks and replays the saved route before allowing travel.
- Hear a score unfold: optional Lake and River music composes new phrases from recorded accordion and harmonica samples. Music starts off; raise its level in Settings to hear it during play, and to use the live River preview.
- Find the next step: online match results put Rematch and Return to lobby first; replay, save, board review and fair-match proof are under More. Keyboard focus is clear on the result heading.
- Clearer Home labels: choose Computer practice or Find a person online. Friend invitations remain available, with computer-opponent and lake choices under Practice settings.
- Split contested catches point by point: each point now has its own fair roll, so a four-point catch can split 4–0, 3–1, or 2–2; a −2 fish can split −2/0, −1/−1, or 0/−2.
- Clearer control edges: form fields have stronger boundaries, and player-card borders keep the board's blue and orange seat colours in normal and high contrast.
Read the river and choose a route
- See the forks: the home lake takes up less of the map, forward routes have direction marks, and numbered junctions show how many branches continue. Cleared crossings highlight the destinations you can choose now.
- See more of each crossing: the desktop river board uses a wider view while keeping the whole playable section on screen. Portrait phones keep their upright board.
- Know where you are: each visited crossing names its location and gets a stable, code-generated riverbank layout that returns with that course.
- Read your energy: a clearer, color-changing bar shows your remaining energy against the full supply for this crossing. River zoom steps are smaller, and strike focus eases in gently.
- Track River Fish Coins: a cleared crossing shows any new surplus award, your best result or no award; Your angler shows available and lifetime Fish Coins from the host.
- Keep feedback out of the way: the Feedback link lives in the footer instead of floating over the lake or results.
Results, river routes and a choice of outfits
- A proper finish: lake matches show the result, scores, rounds and key moments, with replay and a return to the lobby. Online rematches are available while the other player remains.
- River performance: see your crossing's fish points, goal, turns and remaining energy. Replay the journey, choose the next destination after a clear, or retry the same crossing while keeping earlier completed crossings.
- Go around islands: solid islands block travel and the angler follows the route around them. Slow-water gaps are crossed by seated raft at normal movement cost; fast water cannot be crossed.
- Read the fish before striking: larger vector numerals and automatic strike zoom in lake and river. The camera shows the nearby strike area, then restores your overview. Fit, zoom and pan take priority, and Strike zoom can be switched off.
- Know when a crossing ends: new journeys check the remaining energy for another catch or a finish holding the required fish points. Older saved recipes keep their original rules.
- Choose lake or river: equal mode cards and direct wardrobe links lead into play with your selected outfit. Human online matches and friend invitations remain available alongside computer practice.
- Wind and event sounds: synthetic vocal effects are removed, wind renews rather than repeating a fixed sound loop, and impacts and splashes follow the visible events.
Generative AI assistance was used for programming code and written text. Artwork is produced by game code, and computer anglers use the game's own policies; neither uses generative AI.
Choose your way downriver
- A branching river atlas: clear a section, then choose a connected destination on a pannable, zoomable vellum map. Places begin as question marks and gain names as you visit.
- Shared river courses: each map location has a versioned course. Returning to a place gives you the same layout; revising one course leaves the others and journeys already in progress unchanged.
- Saved discoveries: signed-in journeys keep their route, visited locations and course versions with the host.
- More life on the bank: Lou's crooked truck-panel shack and new conversations bring the anglers' different knowledge and opinions into view.
- A clearer board: fullscreen play, vector fish numerals and sharper zoom controls help on desktop and phones.
- Five-minute playtests: volunteer through the playtest page and send private session feedback. Playing remains available without an account.
Open alpha: this update changes the journey save format. Progress may reset or become incompatible as development continues; persistence is not guaranteed. Refresh older open tabs.
Optional mystery catches and guided angler setup
- A question mark under the ice: some river sections now have a bonus mystery fish. Its catch is worth either 8–12 points or a loss of 3–7 points. You can leave it alone; each section has a verified crossing that uses ordinary catches.
- The gamble stays hidden: its size, board description and energy preview keep the outcome secret until caught. Reloading keeps the same outcome. A loss cannot take your section score below zero and restores no energy.
- Set up your angler step by step: from Settings, Your angler, choose Guide me through setup. Pick a character and companion, choose your winter kit, then wear earned equipment beside the live mirror.
- Keep your journey: saves from the previous river release continue with their original sections and verified equipment.
Fish markings, cracking ice and river controls
- Fish values on their bodies: the markings move and turn with the fish, making catches easier to compare.
- Watch the ice react: strikes, spreading fractures and broken ice play out in both lake and river modes.
- Explore the river: zoom and pan to inspect your route, then choose Fit to see the whole section again. Your view survives a reload.
- Six river prizes: earn equipment separately by catching fish, clearing sections and completing a route. Change your colours and wear earned pieces from Settings, Your angler.
Playable release: 0dc87f3. Refresh an older open tab to load these changes.
Catch fish. Refuel. Reach the far bank.
The solo river journey now asks you to cross each section with enough fish points to move on. You begin with limited energy; catches restore it, up to your starting cap. Each catch helps you travel, but breaking ice changes the route you still need.
- River crossings: ten routes of 25 sections, with far-bank targets, varied fish placement, open water and narrow passages.
- Wooded islands: raised snowy banks, cliff faces, trees and boulders make the river's interior islands easier to recognise.
- A larger river board on portrait phones: reference text and journey tools fold away so more of the screen goes to the ice.
- Clearer decisions: the river preview explains ice that gives way, fish lost and energy restored before you commit.
Playable release: 48837b3. From Home, choose Solo river journey.
A clearer first trip onto the lake
- Choose and play together: opponent and lake choices sit beside Play NPC; the live queue has its availability counts beside it.
- Strikes explain their cost: the preview shows the energy needed to break through, and selecting a fish raises an insufficient strike setting.
- Custom foul rules: choose point penalties or strict first-foul loss. In penalty modes, a fallen angler is rescued and play continues.
- Touch and browser improvements: controls keep more room for the board, and older supported iPhones have a compatibility page.
Playable release: a42914d. The river update above includes these changes.
Can you spare five minutes?
Try a solo river section, or choose Learn to play on Home. You do not need to finish. The most useful feedback is the first moment you were unsure what to do or why something happened.
Tell us your device and browser, what you tried and what you expected. A short description is enough; a screenshot is optional.
Use the Feedback button on any page for a private account ticket or anonymous note, or use the optional Discord community.
The current demo needs no install, game account or payment. Feedback is welcome whether you enjoyed it, got stuck or stopped early.