I downloaded 0.85.1a and started a new game but the games is all over the place. Characters everywhere at once, tasks pop up out of the blue and looks like events don't follow their proper chronological order. Anyone has any idea what's going on?
v0.82.4/v0.85.1 is the start of making the game appear more like a sandbox. Yes, there are time frames where the same character may be in more than one location (or twice in the same location). Those bugs have been reported.
Tasks don't pop up out of the blue. However, after the MC is hit by Gerda - a whole page and a half of tasks become active. From that point on new tasks are revealed after the player's completion of tasks or performing certain triggers (i.e. waking up the day after completing certain tasks).
I don't know what you mean by proper chronological order? There are several events which remain out of order, just as they have been for several versions. Some of the orders of events have been fixed in v0.85.1a - the developer is aware of many of them and has plans to fix.