- Dev Diary #4 - 26 June 2026
Well, well, well... Hello again everyone!It is my pleasure to reveal that we are indeed still here, and still working hard developing the story of Finch & Archie to share with you all. Thank you for being patient with us ⋮3Since releasing the Prologue and Episode 1 into Early Access, we've received a good deal of feedback and even put out a few patches. It was genuinely awesome to read about people's experiences and we just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played so far and taken the time to write us some detailed feedback. It's clear that you're excited to see Finch & Archie truly come to life! That's really motivating for us, and we're beyond excited that you're invested in this story we're creating.A lot of that feedback helped us fix bugs or tweak the experience here and there right after the EA release - we couldn't have made those improvements without your help, so…
- Early Access Patch Notes 0.1.1 - 17 February 2026
BUG FIXESFixed some spelling errors in dialogFixed cutscene not skipping for both players sometimesFixed Case #6 not unlocking properly
- Early Access Patch Notes 0.1.0 - 10 February 2026
Hey everyone, we have made some improvements to the game thanks to your feedback! The biggest change is that we have implemented Steam Cloud Save so that you can keep your saves across devices but you may or may not lose your current save data. We apologise for any inconvenience - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3NEWSteam Cloud SaveSteam Invite/Join gameAccusation UIKey rebinding (Work In Progress)CHANGESUpdated accusation boards to make more senseAccusation phase now checks if each sentence is correct instead of whole boardOpening the pinboard while in the accusation phase no longer removes all unusable cards, but greys them outSlight dialogue updatesBUG FIXESFixed accusation board not loading properlyFixed being able to use magnifying glass on non magnify-able objects
- Early Access Patch Notes 0.0.2 - 24 January 2026
Hey everyone, thank you all for your feedback over the past week! Here are some fixes this patch. Please join our Discord and let us know if you run into any more issues!Thank you all for your support! - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3BUG FIXESFixed accusation board layout issueFixed evidence being deleted from boards on continueFixed UI issues with non 16:9 aspect ratio monitors (Currently by letterboxing)Fixed saves not triggering at the same time
- Early Access Patch Notes 0.0.1 - 19 January 2026
Hey all, thank you so much for playing and supporting our game! We will be updating the game a lot and you might run into some unexpected errors but we will be working hard to fix them! Feel free to join our Discord if you run into any issues and we will address them there. Once again, thank you all for your support! - Octarine Arts Team ⋮3 NEWImplemented save systemAdded audio for Episode 1 ending cutsceneCHANGESUpdated leads messagesTweaked some collidersKNOWN ISSUESRejoining after finishing Episode 1 breaks the accusation mechanic
- Finch & Archie Early Access!!! - 13 January 2026
It’s finally time - Finch & Archie is officially being released into Early Access!The release is NOW LIVE for the last half of Steam's Detective Fest!!! Shout out to Steam for such a good opportunity! Also, the game will be available at a 15% discount for the first week!As stated on our store page, we’ll be in Early Access for about a year while we work on adding more story content. This will include two brand new cases to solve, each with their own unique crime scene to investigate and cast of characters to interrogate! We’ll also be further developing Finch & Archie’s relationship while advancing the overarching narrative involving The Jackal.Each new case will be released as and when it is ready, so you won’t be waiting an entire year for new content. In the meantime, enjoy the current Early Access content, and help us out by giving us your honest feedback so that we can continue to…
- Patch Notes 0.0.1 - 16 October 2025
NEWGraphics settingsVSync ToggleTarget Frame Rate sliderWindow ModeCHANGESReworded tutorialsSlight update to Pinboard Card UIUpdated alley environmentNPC Dialog updatesMINOR FIXRemoved duplicate meshes in the bar (Whoops...)
- Demo Hotfix 0.0.1 - 14 October 2025
Hey all,There was a pretty major bug with people not being able to join rooms. But it's fixed now! Sorry for the problems and thank you all for your support!Cheers, Octarine Arts Team ⋮3Major FixFixed issue where players can't join rooms even when the room is not fullFixed Unity vulnerability issue
- Finch & Archie Dev Diary #3 - 22 September 2025
Hello everyone! We’ve been quiet here for a little while, but rest assured we have been hard at work!Our last post spoke to the asymmetrical design of Finch & Archie’s player mechanics, and how we managed to get these two uneasy allies working together to crack cases. Since then, we’ve made a lot of improvements to other areas of the game - Polishing up our tutorial and the ‘puzzle’ sequences that follow. Tightening up the narrative, enhancing the environments, adding in little QoL updates here and there… And maybe even a new animation for our protagonist pair!?Uneasy allies though they may be in the beginning, Finch & Archie’s partnership grows closer as the story progresses, thanks to you, the players! Besides, every good boy deserves a nice pat, don’t you think?We’ve taken the game to a few events as well! If you saw us and came to say hi or check the game out, we want to say a huge…
- Finch & Archie Dev Diary #2 - 9 June 2025
The alley stinks of old rain and fresh lies. Finch squints through the gloom, trying to piece together what happened. Archie’s nose twitches—he already knows.Welcome back to the dev diary series for Finch & Archie. This time, we’re diving into the beating heart of the game: the asymmetrical mechanic that puts one player in a trench coat and the other on four paws. Let’s talk about how we built it—and what we’ve learned along the way.Why Man & Dog?From the start, we were drawn to asymmetry. We didn’t just want two characters—we wanted two perspectives. Two ways of seeing the same world.You and your partner aren’t meant to talk freely over voice chat. You’ve got an intentionally clunky, in-game comms system that forces you to learn how to share info in short bursts and weird phrases. It’s messy, inefficient, and sometimes hilarious. That’s the point.The tension—and the fun—comes from stru…
- Finch & Archie Dev Diary #1 - 5 May 2025
Hi everyone! It was a dark and stormy night… No, that’s not it. Deep in the city, a siren wailed… Nah, that won’t cut it either. Well, let’s go for a straight approach. This is the first entry in the dev diary series of Finch & Archie, an episodic co-op murder mystery where you play, along with a friend, as a hard-boiled cop and his canine buddy. We’ve got a long development road in front of us, and we want to walk this path with you – so in these diaries we’ll share with you what we are working on, our trials and tribulations as indie developers, our inspirations, mistakes, and discoveries… We hope you stay for the ride! Team Introduction But first of all, introductions are in order. We are Dickson, Rhys, Tom, Liz and Harry – or, in short, Octarine Arts, a new indie development studio based in Perth, Australia. We studied game design/development and audio design together, and just befo…
