Kinetic Games has issued an official apology for the troubled Player Character Update that launched on May 5, acknowledging the team "missed the mark" and that the release did not meet the "higher standard" the playerbase deserved. The update had been long anticipated, promising a complete overhaul to character models and animations — including fixes to the infamous "bendy back" animations that had become something of a running joke in the community. Instead it shipped with broken wrists, incorrect head and neck animations, equipment clipping through screens, characters floating above floors, and mouths hanging open during movement. A patch addressing most of these issues is now live as version 0.17.1.0, arriving alongside the Alan Wake crossover update. The fix covers character model issues, ghost behavior problems, environment bugs including doors detaching from hinges and incorrect door locking on Bleasdale Farmhouse, and a wide range of equipment fixes spanning VR and non-VR players alike.

Some issues remain unresolved in the current patch, including animation problems with certain equipment and audio-visual glitches tied to the Alan Wake event — the Angel Lamp causes visual glitches when used alongside an EMF Reader, and the Tier 1 Spirit Box becomes invisible on Oh Deer Diner when using CCTV. In response to the overall reception of the character update, Kinetic Games has committed to releasing a second Player Character Update before the game's 1.0 launch, which will expand cosmetic options, improve animation quality and speed, add legacy badge customization to the shop screen, and deliver additional quality of life improvements. No timeline has been given, but the commitment to a follow-up update rather than simply patching the existing one signals that the team recognizes the original release fell short of what the feature deserved.