s&box

0.5.1

26 October 2026

Areas

36 changes in this update

Community

Join our Discord – the start menu has a Join our Discord button (and the pause menu a Discord chip at the bottom) for patch notes first, events and people to play co-op with: discord.gg/sb9NgCPc25

Holidays

Smog Hollow – the Halloween event runs 24 October to 7 November: pumpkins on the porches, a town in costume and Hollow Night on Saturday 31 October
Candy Skulls – earn them by selling, stomping jerk-o'-lanterns and doing the holiday jobs, then spend them at Mort's Hollow Cart on costumes, decor and Gourd Almighty seeds

Story

Seven acts – Dez's story runs in seven acts from Room 6 to your first export order, with chapters, act rewards and an ending
Lessons and gold stars – short lessons as new things open up, and a gold star on every place you max out
Your own strain – Act 5 ends with you registering a strain of your own and selling it under your name
Side jobs – Dez hands out side jobs and season jobs while you play

Gangs

Eight gangs – the streets belong to eight gangs, each with its own turf, a boss, jobs, protection and turf wars
Smell – flowering plants without a carbon filter get the neighbours talking, the gang comes for a share and the council inspector books checks
Bonk fights – twelve weapons from a Pool Noodle to a Golden Plunger; hit a gang member and the crew fights back

Casino

The Lucky Gull – a casino open 8pm to 4am from crew level 24, with Twenty-One, the Gull Wheel, slots and dice played at the table in 3D, and a Gold Room from level 27

Town

A rebuilt town – Gull Park, Square Street and Mill Street, the Hillside Bowl festival stage, a freight train and buses on numbered routes
Secrets – thirteen hidden minigames tucked around town, and townsfolk drop rumours about them
Beds – sleep through the night, or wait until a shop opens or a plant is ripe

Shop and staff

Brand merch – tees, hoodies, caps and rolling gear in your colours, and the locals wear it around town
Staff and specials – hire a street promoter, curer, propagator or kitchen hand, and put discounts on a specials board
Couriers and bags – Store app orders arrive by courier, and three bags take your backpack from 36 to 63 slots

Characters and co-op

Make your character – body, face, hair and clothes with a live preview, from the start menu or Room 6's mirror
Public games – strangers join as Visitors until the Boss makes them Members, with kick and ban in Esc > Players
Save backups – every world keeps up to three backups

Graphics

Very Low preset – Settings > Video has a Very Low preset for older PCs and laptops, with shorter view detail, smaller crowds, one sun shadow layer, no lamp shadows and lighter rain

Performance

Faster town – on our test route through town, High went from 42 to 73 fps, Medium now averages 99 fps and Very Low 138 fps
Small prop shadows – grass tufts, flowers, bins and other small props no longer cast sun shadows (under 1 m on High, 2.5 m on Medium, 4 m on Low and 6 m on Very Low)
Medium shadows – Medium uses three sun shadow layers instead of four
Distant townsfolk – townsfolk, customers and pigeons more than 30 m away and out of view stop animating until you look their way; it only changes what your PC draws, not what they do
Smaller download – about 230 MB smaller, from compressed sounds, smaller bud scans and phone map, and unused files taken out

Menus

New Game – a simpler screen with Normal and Custom difficulty
Rebind everything – every key can be changed in Settings > Controls, and hints name the key you picked
Get unstuck – a pause menu button gets you out of a spot you can't leave

Town

Hillside – the farm creek and the duck pond show their water again
Lots more – dozens of smaller fixes since 0.2.0 for townsfolk, registers, joints, bottles, tutorials and saves

Stores

Hank's Hardware – no more notice board standing on its own in the middle of the store
Smoke Signals – the items in the glass counters can be looked at and bought again

Menus

New Game rows – the clock speed, event pace and story rows are gone; new worlds start at the usual 1x clock with the story on

Performance

Hitches – a short stutter can still happen when a customer changes clothes near you, by the boardwalk, and now and then when the game tidies its memory
High resolutions – the patch was measured below 1080p and not yet at 1440p or 4K; if the game is slow there, try Medium first

Catch-up Update – Story, Gangs, Casino, Smog Hollow & a Faster Town