Before I get into the patch notes, I want to take a moment to talk to you as people, not just give "developer speak".
The launch of Rewind 99 1.0 did not land the way I anticipated or hoped. I know many of you have run into frustrating bugs, performance problems, and issues that have gotten in the way of simply enjoying the game.
I'm really sorry for that.
I love Rewind 99, and it genuinely hurts knowing that we've come up short for many of you at launch. I also know that an apology only means so much without action behind it. The team has been working incredibly hard to address the problems you've reported, and we're going to keep doing that.
We're determined to do right by Rewind 99 and, most importantly, by the players who have supported us.
Thank you to everyone who has reported bugs, shared feedback, sent us save files, or simply given us the patience to make things right. ❤️
Hotfix 1.0.3 is another big step toward that goal, with a major focus on customer and employee AI, checkout reliability, save/load issues, and performance.
Store & Checkout
Self-checkout is now significantly faster and more reliable. Customers properly position themselves at the front of the machine, use the correct loading animation, and scan their items much faster.
Fixed an issue preventing customers from reliably queueing for and using automatic checkout counters.
Cashier Employees now properly recognize waiting customers as checkout work instead of idling next to a full line.
Improved customer behavior when checkout lines are full or temporarily unavailable. Customers should now handle these situations more gracefully and resume shopping when appropriate.
Customers & Employees
We've made a number of improvements to NPC behavior aimed at making your store feel busier, smarter, and much better at taking care of itself.
Customers now prioritize stocked display shelves, avoid Storage Shelves, and respond more appropriately to empty shelves.
Employees now run to their first assignment after clocking in.
Blocked Employees will now wave and call for attention instead of simply appearing stuck.
Employees now collect all returned tapes when handling Rental Returns.
Employees will only use the Rewind Station when a returned tape actually needs to be rewound.
Employees now prioritize restocking display shelves.
Multiple customers can now return rentals at the same time.
Improved NPC navigation around doors, checkout lines, and other NPCs to reduce stalls and deadlocks.
Speech bubbles are now capped and prioritized so important calls for help remain visible even when the store gets hectic.
Building & Store Expansion
Improved fixture placement near walls. Aiming at a wall should now select the usable side instead of attempting to place fixtures in blocked or inaccessible cells.
Fixed newly unlocked store expansions sometimes failing to properly open their floor space for NPC navigation.
Save/Load & Inventory
We've addressed several issues that could cause inventory and checkout data to behave incorrectly after loading a save.
Fixed Mixed Movies sometimes failing to restore correctly when loading a save after a fresh launch of the game.
Added a recovery system for older saves affected by missing movie items. When recoverable items are detected, replacements will now be delivered to your store's Lost and Found, and you'll receive a notification letting you know.
Recovered Mixed Movies will preserve their discovered names and customized covers.
Load-completion notifications now wait until the loading screen has cleared so important messages aren't missed.
Fixed checkout transaction and customer ownership data not always restoring correctly after loading.
Fixed shelves incorrectly announcing stock changes when no item was actually placed.
Claw Machine & Collectibles
Claw Machine prizes can no longer be picked up through the glass before they've actually been delivered.
Corrected a misplaced collectible.
Added additional protection against collectibles being placed multiple times.
Performance & Settings
We've continued targeting some of the largest sources of hitching during busy gameplay.
Reduced hitching during:
Large restocks and inventory changes
Shelf updates
Busy checkout lines
Heavy NPC activity
Enemy Camp wave changes
Added a new Maximum Full-Detail NPCs Video setting. This allows you to limit how many NPCs are rendered at full detail at once, with defaults based on your selected quality preset.
An Unlimited option is also available for higher-end systems.
This isn't the end of our work on 1.0.
We're continuing to watch your reports and feedback closely, and we're actively working through the remaining issues players are experiencing. Our goal isn't just to patch the most obvious bugs - it's to get Rewind 99 to the level of quality we wanted to deliver to you in the first place.
We know we have work to do, and we're doing it. I'm sorry if I'm slow to respond on Steam Discussion or Discord - but I promise you we are here and we are engaged.
Thank you for sticking with us.
The Rewind 99 Crew