What's new on Castaway
Player-facing additions, improvements, and fixes—newest first.
Latest release
Full notes ↓July 16, 2026
- Improved: Fishing finally has some punch! 🎣
Full archive
Every island update
25 releases with all notes
July 2026
Improved
- Fishing finally has some punch! 🎣 The line now snaps tight when you hook something, every thrash hits back, and your rapid taps build toward a satisfying tension break. The fight tells you exactly when to pull, when the line clears, and how close the fish is to escaping. A new responsive soundscape follows the whole loop too: rod whip, water landing, bobber dunk, rising reel clicks, tension impacts, danger warning, and slack-line escape.
- Every catch gets a proper celebration. Fish burst from the water through splash, ripples, sparkles, sound, and a bold catch reveal—even a common fish or a weird piece of junk gets its moment. Rare, epic, legendary, shiny, and record catches layer on bigger light, color, sound, and particles.
- Catch cards feel like trophies now. Your fish takes center stage with its own animated portrait, a catch headline, flavor text, clear size and value, and special callouts for clean reels, new Fishpedia entries, personal bests, and island records. The important Cast again, Sell, and Share actions stay right where the celebration ends.
- Sound off means off, instantly. Muting now silences everything already playing — including a catch fanfare mid-ring — and stops vibration too.
- Gentler for reduced-motion players. If your device asks for reduced motion, the new 3D catch splash, rings, and leaping-fish animation stay calm: your fish appears in its trophy pose without the fireworks.
New
- True-to-life catch sizes! 🐋 The island now has a real sense of scale: you are 1.80 m tall, and the fish you land shows at its actual size next to you. A shrimp is a speck, a koi fits in your hands, and landing an orca is… an experience. Junk got real too — a soda can is exactly a soda can.
- Every catch is its own fish now! 📏 Fish roll a realistic length AND weight — two fish of the same length can weigh differently, just like real life. Most catches are average-sized; true giants are rare.
- You can SEE the size. Land a big one and it pops out of the water visibly bigger — a 60 cm koi looks twice the 30 cm one.
- Big fish, big payday. Shells now scale with your catch's size: a tiny fish sells for a bit less, a trophy for a lot more. (Junk is still junk — fixed prices.)
New
- The website shows off the new fish! castaway.social now features the pixel portraits — the legendary showcase uses the real in-game art, and a scrolling strip parades every catchable species in its rarity colors.
- Detailed fish portraits! 🖼️ The catch celebration, share cards, and feed previews now show a big, detailed portrait of your catch — the catfish has whiskers, the lionfish has its fan of spines, and the message in a bottle actually has a scroll inside. A batch of the fish pictures also got redrawn to look more like the real animals.
- Every catch got its own portrait! 🎨 All 46 species — every fish, critter, and even the junk — now have their own pixel-art picture. You'll see them in your Inventory, the Fishpedia, trap hauls, the derby board, and share cards. No more lookalike fish!
Improved
- Prettier fish cards. The little fish pictures in your Inventory, trap hauls, and Fishpedia lost their dark boxes — each catch now sits on a soft tint in its rarity color, so a glance tells you how special it is.
- The catch moment shows your actual catch. When you land something, the celebration above the water now shows the very fish you caught instead of a stand-in model.
Fixed
- The island is back! 🏝️ For part of the day the game's servers were turning away almost everything — quests, traps, bottles, fishing, the lot. Our database ran out of its monthly allowance mid-month (turns out you all play a lot — a good problem). We've upgraded it and tuned the game to be a much lighter guest, so this one shouldn't happen again. Nothing was lost: shells, fish, streaks, and traps are all exactly where you left them.
New
- Your castaway actually casts now! 🎣 Cast at the dock, pond, or reef and your character draws their rod, winds up, whips it forward, and sends the bobber sailing out over the water — splash, ripples, and a real fishing line from rod tip to bobber the whole time (watch it pull tight when a fish is on). You stand planted while the line's out, like a real angler — tap a direction to reel it back in and walk away. Other castaways see your rod and cast too, so the dock finally looks like a fishing trip.
New
- A brand-new island HUD is on its way. 🧭 We rebuilt the whole game screen around what you're actually doing: one clear goal with a compass arrow pointing the way, a bell that collects everything waiting for you (full traps, finished quests, chat mentions), and tidy Journal / Bag / Social / Menu buttons instead of a screen full of overlapping panels. New castaways get a gentle guided first catch instead of a checklist. It's rolling out gradually — if it looks different and you'd rather switch back for now, add
?ui=v1to the address. - This page got a glow-up. ✨ Updates now has its own explorer — browse by month, jump between releases, and share a link straight to a release.
Improved
- Room building feels like a real build mode. Place furniture with keys or taps (with a preview ghost), undo and redo up to 50 steps, and "Clear room" now asks first — and tells you what you'd get back. Visiting without an account? Preview mode says exactly what is (and isn't) saved.
- Honest catch cards. The result card now always tells the truth about where your fish went — saved to your account, kept in your guest log for this visit, or (rarely) not saved because of a hiccup, with a clear retry.
- Smoother loading and clearer error screens across the island, rooms, and the home page — no more wondering whether "empty" meant "still loading".
- A brand-new island HUD is on its way. 🧭 We rebuilt the whole game screen around what you're actually doing: one clear goal with a compass arrow pointing the way, a bell that collects everything waiting for you (full traps, finished quests, chat mentions), and tidy Journal / Bag / Social / Menu buttons instead of a screen full of overlapping panels. New castaways get a gentle guided first catch instead of a checklist. It's rolling out gradually — if it looks different and you'd rather switch back for now, add
New
- Visitors can brag too! 📣 Catch a fish before signing in? The catch card now has a Share button for everyone — post your haul to Farcaster or X, or copy a link, no account needed. (Signing in still gets you the fancy picture card, plus keeping your fish and earning shells.)
- The fish fight back! 🎣 Reeling is a real tussle now: your line reels in while a red "getting away" meter creeps up — and on the way in, the fish fights. When it thrashes, tap fast to break its pulls (rarer fish fight harder — a legendary pulls five times). Land it before the red meter fills or it gets away, bait and all. Casual mode still reels for you between fights and gives you plenty of room; skill mode is tighter, for the anglers. Quick clean fights land heavier fish, same as before.
Improved
- Fishing is now fully fair. 🎣 The island itself decides every catch the moment your line hits the water — no tampered client can conjure trophy fish, snipe rainbow shinies, or farm records anymore. Your reel still matters: a clean reel lands a noticeably heavier fish. You shouldn't feel any difference — except that the leaderboards stay honest.
- Bait now goes on the hook when you cast. If a fish gets away in skill mode, the bait went with it — that's fishing. (Assist mode never misses, so nothing changes there.)
New
- Add funds to your island wallet with a card. 💳 The Account panel's wallet section has a new Add funds button — buy USDC with your card or Apple Pay and it lands straight in your embedded Base wallet, right from the game. (On the web — sign in and open Account from your @name.)
Improved
- Lamp light sits more naturally on its post. The bright hard streak down light poles is gone — lamps now glow from inside their housing, with a tighter halo and the same generous pool on the ground.
- Nights are friendlier now. 🌙 The moon pulls a little more weight after dark — the island stays moody but you can actually see where you're going.
- Lamps really light things. 🏮 Placed lights now throw a proper warm pool across the ground beneath them and shine noticeably brighter — a lamplit dock at midnight finally looks the part.
Fixed
- Turning around is smooth now. 🔄 Reversing direction used to make your castaway spin the long way round, picking a side at random. Everyone now pivots the short way, like a person would.
New
- Castaways really walk now! 🚶 Feet stride and lift, arms swing, and sprinting leans into a proper run — with a little mid-air tuck when you jump. The camera widens slightly at full sprint so speed feels like speed, and everyone casts a soft shadow that stays on the sand as you leap (handy for judging landings, and it keeps you grounded at night). You'll see other islanders' animations too.
- Lamps are real lights now. 🏮 The island keeper can make any placed prop glow — pick the color, how far it reaches, how high it sits, even a cozy candle flicker. Lights wake up through dusk and carry the night, pooling warm light on the sand around them. Expect the island to get a lot more atmospheric after dark.
- The island got solid. 🌴 Palm trunks, rocks, barrels and lanterns now block your path instead of letting you ghost through them — walk into one and you'll slide around it like you'd expect. (The arch is still a walk-through, as arches should be.)
- Placed decks are real decks. 🛠️ The island keeper can now mark any placed prop as walkable — including imported models — so a custom dock or platform becomes something you can actually stand on, even out over the water, with proper plank footsteps and a little hop-down at the edge.
- You can run and jump now! 🏃💨 Hold Shift (or push the joystick all the way to its edge) to sprint, and press Space (or the new ↑ button on phones) to jump — with a satisfying little squash, a puff of sand, and a thump when you land. Moving feels snappier all around: your castaway eases into a walk instead of snapping to full speed, and footsteps now sound like sand — or like planks when you're out on the dock.
Fixed
- Island decorations stand still now. 🗿 Lanterns, barrels, the arch and other placed decorations used to rock gently in the wind as if they were floating — only the trees are supposed to sway. Everything solid now stays planted.
New
- Your bait rides on the top bar now. 🪱 A little chip shows what's on your hook and how many casts you've got left — it glows when you're running low, and tapping it opens the tackle box. No more casting into a surprise empty pocket.
- Sell right off the catch card. 🐚 Landed something? A Sell button now sits next to Share on the catch card — one tap turns the fish into shells and you're back to casting.
- Catches splash! ✨ Every landing bursts with water droplets and sparkles in your fish's rarity color — shinies get the golden treatment.
- The island celebrates your first pearl. 🦪 And your pearl count now always shows next to your shells, so you know the currency exists before you strike it rich.
- Quest progress at a glance. The Quests button shows how far along today's three quests are all day — not just when there's something to claim. First-timers get a friendly heads-up that daily quests exist.
- Streak guardian. 🔥 If your quest streak is 3+ days and the day is running out, a gentle banner reminds you before midnight takes it.
- Derby day announcement. 🏆 When the weekend derby opens, the island says so — no more finding out on Monday.
- "While you were away" is tappable now. Guestbook news jumps to your room, fallen records open the Fishpedia, and full traps tell you where to look.
Improved
- No more mystery misses while fishing. The prompt used to suggest tapping while you waited — which actually scared the fish off. In Casual mode an early tap is now simply ignored; in Skill mode the risk is yours, as intended.
- Walk off mid-cast and the island tells you your line was reeled back in, instead of it just vanishing.
- Saying hi is one tap away. The chat's sign-in note now has the actual sign-in button in it.
- The emote shop stopped pretending it's closed. The footer said "shop unlocks coming soon" — you could already buy emotes. Now it tells you how.
- Sharing is rewarded — and now it says so. Your first share each day earns shells; the share menu finally mentions it.
New
- The islanders woke up. 👀 Everyone on the island blinks now — including you. It's a tiny thing, but say hi to someone and watch: they're alive.
- Clouds cast shadows. ☁️ When a cloud drifts over the island, its shade glides across the grass with it — clearer on grey days, gone after dark.
- Kinder storms for sensitive eyes. If your device asks for reduced motion, lightning no longer flashes the screen — you'll still hear the thunder roll and see the rain, so you won't miss the storm (or the storm-only fish).
- A proper welcome for new castaways. 👋 Wash ashore for the first time and the island hands you a little first-day list — take a stroll, catch your first fish, find the pond, wave an emote. It notices as you go, cheers you on, and celebrates when you've done all four. No pressure, no timers — the tide keeps time.
Fixed
- The island's new life is actually visible now. The first cut was too shy: the damp tide line on the beach was hidden under the grass edge, the meadow patches were too faint to see, the pond looked unchanged from above, and calm-day wind was somehow calmer than before. All four turned up properly — grass patches show from any angle, the tide line has a real edge, the pond ripples visibly, and the palms sway even on a clear morning.
New
- The island breathes now. 🌬️ Palms sway harder as storms roll in and barely stir on calm days, clouds race or amble with the same wind, the beach shows a damp band where the tide reaches, and the grass is a living meadow instead of a flat green sheet. After dark, the dock and reef lanterns pool warm light — and the pond finally reflects the sky like the ocean does.
- Smoother on older phones. The island now quietly lowers its rendering sharpness for a moment when your device is struggling and raises it back when things calm down — smoother play, no settings to fiddle with.
New
- Memories 🍾 — when a bottle of yours drifts back with a reply, opening it now keeps it forever: your note and their words, side by side, on your new keepsake shelf. Find it in the Island hub under You → Memories (or your Account panel's Keepsakes shelf on desktop). Not one you want to keep? A gentle "forget" lets it go.
Fixed
- Typing doesn't take you for a walk anymore. ⌨️ Writing a bottle note (or anything else) with W, A, S or D in it used to march your castaway around mid-sentence. Your keys now stay in the text box where they belong.
- Chat opens on the newest message. The island chat used to greet you with messages from weeks ago at the top — it now opens at the latest line, follows new ones as they arrive (unless you've scrolled up to read), and only shows the last half hour of talk, so the room always feels like now.
- Result cards wait for you. 🎣 Catch results and haul cards used to vanish on their own — sometimes right as you reached for "Share". They now stay put until you close them, and casting again simply clears the old one.
- The island has a hub now! 🏝️ On phones you'll find a cozy dock along the bottom of the screen: Fishpedia, Inventory, the Island hub in the middle, Quests, and Emotes — everything one thumb-tap away, with little badges when something's waiting for you. The hub itself opens as a tidy sheet with your name, shells and streak up top, quick Casual/Skill and sound switches, and neat sections for everything else. (Playing sideways? The ☰ button opens the same hub.)
Improved
- Panels stopped stacking on top of each other. Opening one panel now smoothly replaces whatever was open — no more Inventory hiding under the Fishpedia.
- Result cards take turns. If you catch a fish while a trap haul or your "while you were away" recap is on screen, the cards politely queue instead of piling up.
- Selling everything asks properly. "Sell all" now shows a clear "Keep them / Sell all" choice instead of a sneaky tap-twice timer.
- Your castaway stays put. 🦶 Tapping the screen no longer walks your character around — movement is the joystick (or WASD on desktop). No more wandering off the dock mid-cast because a stray tap landed on the ground.
- Tidier phone top bar. Just your shells and the island clock up top now — the Derby and everything else live in the Island hub, so nothing wraps or overlaps.
New
- Real night skies — and fireflies. 🌌 Stormy nights are properly dark and moody now (the sky used to stay weirdly pale), clear nights go deep navy with the stars and moon hanging over a moonlit sea… and if you wander the grass on a clear night, fireflies drift around you. The ground also sits more naturally in the world instead of looking like flat cutouts.
- The ocean is alive now. 🌊 Real water at last: it mirrors the sky above it (silvery at dusk, moonlit at night), fades from deep blue to warm turquoise shallows at the sand, laps the beach with a line of foam, and sparkles under the sun. Storms whip up whitecaps. And look up after dark — there's a moon riding above the island.
Improved (the island got a glow-up 🎨)
- The island's colors got a real cinema-style treatment. Days are softer and airier, golden hour actually glows at dawn and dusk, and nights are moody without being unreadable — on every device. Before this, phones and desktops literally saw two different islands (one washed out, one crushed dark at night); now everyone sees the same island, just with fancier shadows on stronger devices.
- Stormy nights are readable now. The darkest moment of the island (storm + night) used to go nearly black on phones — you can see your castaway again while keeping the storm spooky.
Fixed
- The emote wheel opens properly on phones. It used to fan out squished over the bottom dock; now it pops up centered on screen.
June 2026
New
- You can now check which version of the island is live. Open the menu (or your Account panel) and you'll see a small build label at the bottom — handy if something looks off and you're not sure whether you're seeing the latest update or just an old tab.
Improved
- A whole new cozy look. 🌴 Castaway got a warm, sunny redesign — soft cream panels, ocean-teal and coral buttons that press in like real buttons, rounder everything, and a friendlier typeface. Best part: the island's time of day now shows in the menus too — bright and creamy by day, deep teal at night.
- Easier to read at a glance — however you see colour. Fish rarity now shows a little shape badge (a circle, diamond, star…) instead of relying on colour alone, friends show a filled dot when they're around and a hollow ring when they're not, and fish that are biting right now get their own "🎣 now" tag.
- Your friends list is readable. Friends who haven't picked an island name used to all show up as "@islander"; now each shows their handle so you can tell them apart, and the "Visit room" button no longer breaks onto two lines.
- The top bar makes sense now. Every button has a clear label (Players, Wardrobe, Inventory, Fishpedia, Tackle, Derby, My room…) instead of a row of mystery icons, and they're grouped so related things sit together. Your shells and pearls read as info, and the clock now just shows the time and weather in plain words. 🧭
Fixed
- Your room looks like the rest of the island now. Decorating mode had a leftover dark color scheme — it's the same cozy cream-and-teal look as everywhere else now.
- The full wardrobe is browsable. Several categories were hiding off-screen with no hint there was more — the wardrobe now shows you when there's something to scroll to.
- Furniture options no longer overlap the instructions when decorating your room on a phone.
- Tapping the fishing-mode button now tells you what it does, instead of only showing on hover.
- Fishing before you sign in? Your catches now get a proper shout-out. The Fishpedia used to tell you to "catch your first fish" even after you'd landed a few — now it tells you how many you've got waiting to be saved.
- Straightened out the mobile menu bar. On phones, your shells/Derby/ Quests/clock row could end up squished to one side with empty space next to it — it now sits flush against the edge like it's supposed to.
- Fixed the chat keyboard hiding what you're typing on phones. Opening the keyboard to chat could shove the whole screen out of place — it should now stay put and keep your message visible while you type.
- Cleaned up the chat keyboard. It was offering to autofill passwords and card numbers into a chat message — that's gone now.
- Brightened up stormy nights on phones. The island at night during a storm was nearly pitch black on mobile — you should be able to actually see yourself and what's around you now, while it still keeps the mood.
New
- See who's fishing. When another islander has a line in the water, you'll spot a little ripple at their feet and a 🎣 fishing tag next to their name in the players list. 🎣
- You're in charge of your chat. Every message now has a ⋯ menu to mute someone (their messages vanish from your view, and it sticks), hide a single message, or report it for us to review. Changed your mind? A little "muted" note lets you unmute anytime. 🔇
- A warm welcome — and a welcome back. First time on the island? You'll get a friendly nudge toward your first cast. Coming back with quests waiting? A little reminder (and a pulsing 🔥 streak badge) nudges you to claim them before the day resets. 🎣
- New here? There's a quick guide now. A friendly How to play card walks you through the island loop — fish, earn, decorate, chat. Find it in the menu or tap the ? by the controls hint. 🏝️
- Just catching your first fish? If you're playing as a guest, your catch card now offers a one-tap sign-in so you can keep that fish and start earning shells. 🐚
- Sharing pays off. Share a catch (Farcaster, X, or your phone's share sheet) and earn a few shells — once a day. 🐚
- A welcome gift. Land your very first fish and you'll get a little shell bonus to start your island life. 🐚
- Every new fish feels like a discovery. Reel in a species you haven't caught before and you'll get a "✨ NEW!" moment showing your Fishpedia progress — and your very first catch gets its own little celebration. 🎣
Improved
- Casual fishing has a real beat to tap to. Instead of a confusing green band, the reel gauge now pulses on the beat — tap along with the glow to reel faster. 🎣
- Tidier on phones. Turn your phone sideways and the HUD now tucks into the ☰ menu instead of crowding into two rows, and the little chat pill no longer sits on top of the movement joystick. 📱
- Respects "reduce motion." If your device is set to reduce motion, the island calms down — avatars stop bobbing, the clouds hold still, and looping animations settle. Rain, storms, and the day/night sky still do their thing. ♿
- The island won't go blank over one bad prop. If a single piece of scenery or furniture ever fails to load, just that item shows a small placeholder now — the rest of the island and your room keep right on rendering.
- Reward messages stick around. A catch, quest claim, or welcome note won't get cut off by a weather or time-of-day message anymore.
- Friendlier when you're just starting. Your Fishpedia, Inventory, and a fresh room now nudge you toward what to do next instead of just looking empty — and the hints point you to any fishing spot (dock, pond, or reef), not only the dock. 🎣
- Casual reeling rewards a steady hand. Keep the meter full and you'll land the catch a little sooner — no need to wait out the whole timer. 🎣
- Even smoother on older phones. On lower-powered devices the island runs lighter now — steadier frame rates and less heat. 📱
- A little buzz. On phones that support it, you'll feel a gentle tap as you reel and a satisfying thump when a catch lands. 📳
- Chat behaves while you read. Scrolling up to catch the backlog no longer snaps you to the newest line — a "New messages ↓" pill appears instead. Links are clickable now, and @mentions (especially your own) stand out. 💬
- Friendlier messages. When something doesn't go through, you'll get a warm, plain-language note instead of a techy error — and the little prompts around the island read more consistently.
- Better on touch. On phones the on-screen hints tell you to tap to fish and pinch to zoom (instead of mentioning keyboard keys), and tapping a text box no longer zooms the page. 📱
- The catch card has some pop. Catches and trap hauls spring in now, and a brand-new island record gives off a golden glow. ✨
- Quests tick over the instant you finish one — no more waiting to watch a quest complete after the catch that actually did it.
- Panels close the way you expect. Tap outside or press Esc to close any panel (Inventory, Quests, Fishpedia, Wardrobe, and the rest) — and it's all keyboard- and screen-reader-friendly now, with clearer, comfier close buttons. ♿
- Smoother on phones. The island and your room render lighter on high-density screens now — better frame rate and less battery drain. 📱
- Your stuff stays in sync. Coins, shells, and your bucket refresh the moment you tab back in, so your balances are always current.
Fixed
- Visiting other islanders' rooms works again — for everyone. Tapping someone from the players list, chat, or your friends list now opens their room (it was saying "that room doesn't exist," especially for newer accounts). 🏠
- Your catch card brags about the right spot. A pond catch won't claim it came from the dock anymore. 🎣
- Your catch won't slip away. If the connection hiccups right as you reel one in, the game now retries and lets you know — instead of quietly losing the fish. 🎣
- A friendlier "oops" screen. If a page ever trips, you get a calm island recovery screen with one tap back to the world, not a blank page.
New
- A little buddy for your shoulder. Meet the Floating Shell — a curious shell-sprite that bobs along beside you. Find it in the new Companion slot in your Wardrobe. 🐚
- Fresh looks in the Wardrobe. Try on a Fisher Cap, a Flower Crown, a Shell Necklace, and a Tiny Backpack — and everyone around you sees them too. 🎽
New
- One home for every update. Every island update since day one now lives right here. 🏝️
Improved
- Share your catch anywhere. Tap Share on a catch or haul and pick where it goes — Farcaster, X, Copy link, or your phone's share sheet for everything else. It's posted from your own account, and your catch card looks just as good everywhere it lands. 🎣
Fixed
- Sharing works again — for everyone. Share was failing on the web, and only Farcaster players could do it at all. Now every islander — Farcaster, X, Google, or email — gets a shareable catch card. 🎣
New
- Pick your own island name. Everyone now chooses their own name — it's how other islanders see you in chat and over your head, and you can change it anytime from your Account.
- Show your social handle. Signed in with Farcaster or X? You can display that handle as a little tag beside your island name, each with its platform icon — and it's verified, so a handle can't be faked. Totally optional, with per-platform toggles in your Account. More platforms coming later.
Fixed
- Anyone can chat now. Players signed in with Google, email, or a wallet could get stuck at a "sign in to chat" wall — that's gone. Every signed-in islander can join the chat.
New
- Real-life size on every catch. Every fish now shows its length next to its weight — reel in a heavier one and it's a longer fish, too.
- Metric or Imperial. Flip the whole game between kg / cm and lb / in from your Account — catch cards, Inventory, Fishpedia, the derby, everywhere.
Improved
- Your Backpack is now your Inventory, and every row shows the fish's length.
- Every fish is a real animal now. The made-up species were renamed to real ones — Tilapia, Mahi-mahi, Orca, Manta Ray, Peacock Bass and more — with the same models and rarity. All your catches, bests, and records carried over.
New
- Bait your hook. Dig free worms on the south beach so you can always fish, or spend shells on premium lures — the Spinner Lure for more keepers and the Glow Lure for better shiny odds. Manage it all in the Tackle box.
- Idle fishing — the trotline. Set a baited longline at the buoy off the dock and collect a cozy haul when you come back. A gentle reason to return.
New
- One account, many ways in. Sign in with Farcaster, X, Google, email, or a wallet — they all link to the same Castaway account, so logging in a second way just connects it (never a second account).
- Account & Settings panel. See your name, every connected login, your Base wallet, and how long you've been on the island — connect more, or sign out for real.
- Everyone's a full islander. X / Google / email players can fish, run crab traps, decorate rooms, do quests, send bottles, sign guestbooks, and join the derby — the whole island, not just chat.
Improved
- Your room feels like a dollhouse now. Rooms are fully enclosed, and whichever wall sits between you and the camera fades away — so you can roam and decorate without a wall ever blocking the view.
- Every emote has its own icon again in the wheel and the panel.
New
- Sign in with Farcaster, X, Google, or email on the web — plus a built-in Base wallet for everyone.
Improved
- Fishing is faster and friendlier. Once you hook a fish you always land it now — reeling just sets how big it is. Casual mode (on by default) auto-hooks the bite and turns reeling into a one-finger tap. Want the old challenge back? Flip on Skill mode — and a clean reel still lands a heavier fish.
- A whole new look. Castaway now has its own hand-drawn icon set — one cozy visual language across the entire game, instead of emoji that looked different on every device.
New
- Fishing 2.0 — the reel is real. Hooking a bite starts a reeling fight: keep your float inside the fish's drifting zone. Rarer fish fight harder, and a great reel lands a heavier catch.
- Two new fishing spots — a freshwater pond on the west grass and a reef jetty out over the water, each with its own residents.
- The weekend derby. Every Saturday–Sunday the whole island competes for the heaviest single fish, with a shell pot split among the top 10. The 🏆 board shows your rank and the countdown.
- Daily quests + streaks. Three quests a day, shell rewards for finishing, and a daily streak with escalating payouts, a big chest every 28 days, and driftwood streak insurance for the day you slip.
- Messages in bottles. Write a note at the driftwood stump and the tide carries it to another islander's beach; they can send one reply back to yours.
- Room guestbooks. Leave a line in any room's guestbook, and get a ping when someone signs yours.
- "While you were away" recap. A friendly card on each visit gathers what happened since you last left — traps full, bottles washed up, records that fell, guestbook signatures.
- Share cards. Catches and trap hauls now share to Farcaster as a proper card with a one-tap "🎣 Fish with me" button.
- A living sky & weather. A full day/night cycle — one island day is about 3.5 hours, so everyone gets day and night — plus rain, fog, storms, and rainbows. Rain and storms make the fish bite faster, with storm-only species and rainbow shiny boosts.
- Crab traps. Bait a pot in the shallows, go about your day, and haul it in a few hours later — six trap-only shellfish including the pearl-bearing Pearl Oyster.
- Push notifications for when your trap is full or your island record falls.
Improved
- Island chat is instant now — messages appear island-wide in under a second, and there's no key to approve, so you can say hi the moment you arrive.
- Echoes settle once you leave. Your words linger where you stood only after you sail off, instead of cluttering the ground while you're still here.
New
- Castaway runs inside Farcaster. Open it as a Mini App — you land already signed in, and casting the link shows a 🏝️ Play card.
- Live multiplayer. See other islanders move, emote, and chat in real time.
- Tap-to-walk & pinch-to-zoom, and a portrait-first mobile layout built for one-handed play.
- Emote shop + pearls. Earn 🦪 pearls from shiny fish and spend them on emotes.
New
- Walkable rooms with friends. Visit and decorate rooms, with explore and build modes.
- In-game friends. Send requests, see who's online, and get a ping when a request lands.
- Wardrobe & emotes. Dress your castaway and collect emotes.
New
- Castaway sets sail. 🏝️ A cozy 3D social island: walk around with other islanders, chat, fish off the dock, earn shells, and decorate your own room.
- The shells economy. Sell your catch by rarity, buy furniture (fully refundable), and visit other islanders' rooms.
- A deep fish catalog with day- and night-only species, shiny pearlescent and golden variants, a Fishpedia collection log, and island records to chase.