Hey everyone,
[h2]Happy Almost-Holidays!![/h2]
Today marks the first seasonal update to
The Night Shift! I had planned a seasonal update for Halloween, but tech issues and life got in the way. To make up for it, we’re starting with a Christmas update! With the holiday season upon us,
The Night Shift will join in the festivities... for the entire month of December.
[h3]The Details[/h3]
The event runs from
December 1st at 12:01 AM to
December 31st at 11:59 PM, all local time.
[h3]What Does This Mean?[/h3]
For this holiday season, once the event begins, you’ll experience a Christmas-themed store and other surprises throughout your playthrough*.
This Christmas event includes
three new achievements exclusive to the month. Timed achievements aren’t for everyone, so once December ends, I plan to let players toggle seasonal content as much as they want. This feature isn’t integrated yet, but more updates on this will come in 2025.
[h3]Why?[/h3]
There are a couple of reasons I’ve decided to include seasonal content in a single-player game.
First, I think it’s fun! Seasonal updates add variety to the game’s look and feel while also getting you into the festive spirit.
Second, this idea goes back to when I played Team Fortress 2 religiously. I absolutely loved the seasonal updates their team created.
While I know these kinds of updates aren’t for everyone, I currently don’t have a way to toggle them off. This feature will likely arrive alongside the seasonal content toggle in 2025.
* To note, this will effect both the Early Access game and the free demo.
Now, onto non-seasonal content!
One of the biggest parts of this update isn’t new content but performance improvements. I’ve made several optimizations, and I hope you’ll notice the improved performance in this update.
There are also updates to visuals in several areas. For instance, I’ve added more feedback for player interactions with certain items. One example is the fire alarms on Shift 5—they were easy to miss before, so I’ve made them slightly more noticeable.
This update also addresses a few bugs:
- Fixed an issue where players could get soft-locked while carrying a fire extinguisher (or other physics-based items) and entering a menu or dialogue.
- Resolved a few other issues related to physics-based items.
- Not being able to read movies or games that you inspect. You should have the same visibility as you do with notes. There are a couple of really cool easter eggs to discover here!
Now to the changelog.
[h3]Changes[/h3]
- Prepared the mannequins for the holiday season.
- Added seasonal decorations, notes, and interactions.
- Added 3 Christmas achievements.
- Updated shift 5 for consistency to what is coming.
- Updated visuals of fire alarm button.
- Updated locked breaker handles to animate when interacting with them.
- Updated the distance between the player and item when picking it up.
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed emergency lights showing when loading a saved shift 5 slot.
- Fixed sometimes the dialogue audio on shift 5 not being effected by the audio slider.
- Fixed an exit sign not being consistent across shifts.
- Fixed the blue flatbed trolley missing some of its mesh.
- Fixed not being able to see movies and some post it notes in the dark when inspecting them.
- Fixed reticule disappearing if you walked a extinguisher to the case.
- Fixed being able to release/throw a held item with the journal or menu open.
- Fixed being soft locked if you held an item and opened journal, menu, or chose a dialogue option.
- Fixed missing localisation for some dialogue on night 1.
- Fixed a box on shift 5 being open and closed at the same time.
- Various performance and optimisations improvements.
Report any bugs or issues on the Steam Discussion board, the
Discord, or the
website.
Follow The Night Shift on
Bluesky and
X/Twitter.
Chat soon!
Marty