The Big One: PNUT 2.0 and a Major PicoNav Update

October 4, 2026

It’s been a while since the last update, and a lot has happened. This release touches almost every part of the PicoNav, from the PicoNav Update Tool (PNUT) to the long awaited Deep Dungeon updates, and a heck of a lot more. There’s actually so much that this is actually PART ONE of a big two part update. Here’s everything that’s new.

PNUT 2.0 (PicoNav Update Tool)

PNUT has been rebuilt from the ground up with a modern, refreshed design. Originally I had the intent to make the PNUT the central hub for all things PicoNav, and I think now it’s one step closer to being that.

PNUT 2.0

  • New look and feel. A fully updated interface, now with dark mode!
  • Full save data editor. Edit your deck, your Pico, your wardrobe, your Deep Dungeon runs, and more!
  • Built-in tooltips. Hover over cards, merits, afflictions, and items to see their descriptions, pulled straight from the wiki and matched to your save data’s version.
  • Color picker bound to your save. Your PicoNav’s colors also now travel with your save data!
  • Screenshot tool. Starting with PicoNav v2.0Beta1, you can now plug your PicoNav into your PC and take screenshots using the PNUT!
  • Automatic updates. PNUT updates itself, and pulls the latest PicoNav firmware straight from GitHub.
  • Revamped backup and restore that actually works as intended now.

Save data editor

PicoNav Firmware

QoL Updates

  • Button fix. The input delay on the navigation buttons is gone. It should feel much more natural now to mash and spam buttons. This was largely due to my own incompetence, but it works a lot better now.
  • Animation skipping. Skip repeat animations in various menus, like eating, wake, etc. (Battles aren’t included yet, but I’m looking into it)
  • Brightness settings. Adjust backlight and LED brightness.
  • Timeout settings. Choose how long the screen and LED stay on.
  • Show battery percentage (beta) An option that shows the estimated battery life percentage. Since the PicoNav does not have an onboard fuel gauge, this is a rough estimation with some updated math, and it’s reasonably accurate, but not 100% so use it with discretion.

Battery life optimizations

Several battery optimizations went into this release. In testing (a spare PicoNav that went untouched), a single charge went from 100% on September 22 at 9:40 PM all the way down to 0% on September 27 at 6:49 PM. That’s just under 5 days (about 117 hours) on one charge! Do note that this is with the LED timeout setting set to 5 minutes, but it worked out really well and even with regular use I was able to hit a solid 3-4 days without much thought. This is before we update the hardware to the new LED, which could give us similar battery life without timing the LEDs out in the future, but more on that another time.

Ventures

Ventures now run on a cooldown system instead of a charge up. Rather than waiting 30 minutes to get into a battle, you now jump into a battle right away and your PicoNav goes on cooldown afterward. This was a community suggestion and I have to say, it feels a lot better this way.

Deep Dungeon updates, FINALLY

The Deep Dungeon was always intended to be a full roguelike, but we ever quite had the time to get it where it needed to go. Noris came up with a lot of the systems, so massive shoutout to her for this. Below we will discuss the new DD system, but please understand that this is very much incomplete. Some aspects like boss battles are still placeholders, there are many bugs and interactions that have not been tested, and feedback is always welcome.

  • Buy in. Entering a run costs credits upfront.
  • Gems are now archetypes. Each gem changes how your whole run plays. Gems are no longer passive buffs you get during regular gameplay, but archetypal passives that influence a DD run.
  • Card draft. Draft your cards at the start of every run, so you have more say in deck building. Each DD run begins with a choice of 3 random cards that you can choose from, and this repeats twice. This lets you choose your preferred cards out of 9 options, with Pierce and Block also being added as standard options.
  • Afflictions. Debuffs and negative statuses that can hit you or bolster your opponent. These increase every 10 floors.
  • Bosses every 10 floors, with boosted stats. The dungeon gets harder the deeper you go. Bosses have an additional 30% base stats than you do upfront. PLEASE NOTE: Bosses are still a work in progress and in the near future they will also have themes, unique names, and start the battle with a counter pre-applied to them or to the arena. Boss Picos are chosen from a different pool of Picos with pre-constructed decks. In the next update these will be hand-curated.
  • Merits. Beat a boss to earn a passive buff for the rest of your run.

You can see the full list of merits, afflictions, and gems here!

  • Miscellaneous: Random decks have more synergy. Decks that are randomly generated have weights to allow for more synergistic cards to be more likely to pair together (i.e. Fireball will be more likely to show up in decks with Flare).

Random events

Random events have been expanded to 26 in total (from the previous 9). Some are now contextual: they can offer you choices, and some will even force you into a battle.

A Pico with a personality

Thoughts and dreams

  • Hidden natures. How you raise your Pico slowly shapes who it becomes, and its behavior changes to match. These are small changes, but you may notice more or less of a specific animation, meters going up/down faster, or even small buffs!
  • Thoughts and dreams. Every so often, a thought bubble appears over your Pico. Press B to see what it’s thinking. These have no gameplay implications, but you get some silly messages. These messages are influenced by your Pico’s nature and the events that transpired within the last 24 gameplay hours.

Activities menu

Farming has moved to a new Activities menu, which is where minigames and other activities will live going forward. Currently it’s a little empty, but trust me, next update it won’t be!

Under the hood

  • Code refactor. The firmware has finally been split up and reorganized into separate files, making it much easier to edit and iterate on.
  • Sprite compression. A new compression method lets the PicoNav hold up to 9 times as many sprites as before. More gear, more cards, more everything.
  • Bug fixes and quality of life changes throughout.

This is a big update, and it’s still a work in progress. Expect bugs, and expect things to change. If you run into anything, please let us know.

Coming next

This is actually about two thirds of the full update I wanted to give you guys, so coming soon you can expect:

  • Real bosses. The current Deep Dungeon bosses are placeholders, there as a proof of concept.
  • About 40 new cards.
  • Petting or brushing your Pico.
  • More minigames in the Activities menu.

Thanks for sticking with the PicoNav and being patient. There’s a lot more on the way! -Vince