FEZ

The June 2014 patch brought a variety of gameplay adjustments and quality-of-life improvements to FEZ, enhancing the overall player experience. Notably, the power saving mode was introduced, allowing players to reduce CPU usage for better performance, especially on laptops. Additionally, several visual and audio fixes streamlined the game's presentation.

• Gameplay Adjustments:

  • Clock tower level fall damage was adjusted for more permissive fall damage.
  • Downward level traversal with the flying cheat became easier.

• New Features:

  • A borderless fullscreen toggle was added to the video settings menu, addressing an AMD flickering bug.
  • Power saving mode was introduced to reduce CPU usage.

• Visual Fixes:

  • Garbage-textured blocks were no longer rendered in perspective view.
  • Bright edges on some 3D art objects were fixed.

• Audio Improvements:

  • Sound effect volume now affects map navigation sound effects, enhancing audio consistency.

• Quality of Life Enhancements:

  • Screen resolution adjustments eliminated pillarboxing, allowing for arbitrarily wide resolutions.
  • X and Y look invert options were separated based on player feedback.
  • Gamepad thumbstick deadzone was widened by default, improving control sensitivity.

The release of the 'Achievements' menu option on September 17, 2013, marked a significant addition to FEZ, enhancing player engagement on the Steam build. Alongside this, a series of gameplay improvements introduced valuable quality-of-life features, including save file backups upon completing a playthrough and warnings for starting a new game when New Game+ is available.

• New Content:

  • 'Achievements' menu option added for the Steam build on September 17, 2013.

• Gameplay Enhancements:

  • Save file backup introduced upon finishing a playthrough.
  • Warning added when choosing 'Start New Game' if New Game+ is available.

• UI/UX Improvements:

  • New UI for toggling non-in-game options for troubleshooting launched on August 10, 2013.
  • Brightness control added in video options on September 17, 2013.
  • UI keyboard mappings became remappable, improving player customization.

• Performance Optimizations:

  • Music streaming thread usage reduced, potentially lowering CPU usage by 50% on most systems.
  • Improved load times without requiring the OpenGL background context.
  • Support for 120Hz and other refresh rates, alongside enhancements to frame rate stability.

• Audio Updates:

  • 5.1 audio support added, providing balanced positional audio for a richer experience.

• Quality of Life Changes:

  • The option to disable game pausing when exiting focus state was introduced.
  • Invert look options were renamed and disabled by default for clarity.