The ULTIMATE update has arrived in Atlas! Prepare to discover a freighter-load of enhanced content, including new challenges, freelancers, talents, missions, recons, and many more. Help prevent the mega meltdown from hitting Atlas and experience the latest gameplay and progression revamp. All players will have their progress reset and there is an additional option to reset progress again on the main menu.
As you start your new solo or co-op loop, there are a significant amount of balance changes, co-op connection improvements, bug fixes, tooltip additions, and UI revisions to elevate your gameplay. Special thanks to our amazing community for all their feedback and bug reports!
The requirements for reaching the final Reactor mission have changed. Gather 100% intel for a Trust (Omni, EvoS, Hyperbotics) in order to access the Trust stronghold boss encounter. The Reactor will now only spawn if all three Trust strongholds have been defeated in the same run.
Two new Firepower Freelancers appear from out of the shadows: Celeste and Kaigin.
Celeste the Thief
A crafty thief who uses two grappling hooks to steal power-ups and knock out enemies. Lure enemies into traps and steal enemy status effects with Celeste's ultimate ability!
Strong Arm - Fire two grapplers, dealing damage separately, or extra damage if they hit the same target. Grapplers can target power-ups instead of enemies to grab them.
Proximo Charge - Setup a sneaky trap that deals damage when triggered and lasts for 4 turns. The trap takes 1 turn to arm and cannot detonate the turn it is placed.
Smoke Bombs - Throw two smoke bombs that apply Blind and deal damage on hit. Smoke bombs last for 2 turns, standing inside smoke increases ally dodge by 200 and reduces enemy dodge by 200.
On the Run - Dash to two locations in quick succession. Enemies hit take damage. If no enemies are hit reduce the cooldown.
Safecracker - Fire two empowered grapplers, dealing damage separately, or extra damage if they hit the same target. Steals Might, Energize, Haste, or Unstoppable status effects from enemies hit.
Kaigin the Warpstalker
A deadly, elusive assassin armed with daggers, shuriken, and smoke bombs. Create combos and assassinate enemies after repeat attacks with Kaigin's passive (Void Mark: Deal more damage to the target if you damaged them last turn).
Twisting Blades - Release a strike attack in an arc, dealing damage in the front arc and damage in the outer areas of the arc.
Razor Tempest - Throw 3 shurikens, each dealing damage. Deals additional damage for each shuriken that hits the same target.
Void Strike - Teleport to a target enemy and slash them, dealing damage.
Shadowstalker - Drop a smoke bomb at your location and gain invisibility until next turn. Smoke bombs last for 2 turns, standing inside smoke increases ally dodge by 200 and reduces enemy dodge by 200.
Spectre of Death - Teleport to a location and release a flurry of deadly blows, dealing max damage if there is only one target. If there is more than one target in the area, the damage dealt to all targets is reduced for each target after the first.
Patch Notes:
Gameplay
- All characters can now reach level 25 and have a new challenge to defeat the game while using them.
- All characters have new challenges for rewards at levels 6, 15, 20, and 25. Ultimate Talents unlock at Freelancer level 6, and levels 15/20/25 are filled with skins and other rewards.
- Reset progress option now available on the main menu. This is optional and will reset all existing freelancer experience, challenges, and everything for those looking to experience the new game progression. Please choose wisely before selecting!
- New and improved starting run options found in the recon Time Looping 101 (launchpad) such as the Tutorial, Intel, Gear, Friendly Escalations, and Difficulty Modifiers. There are new challenges for completing the game successfully while using the difficulty modifier challenges found in Time Looping 101 (launchpad) recon. Previous run outcome may affect options found in your next run.
- The requirements for reaching the final Reactor mission have changed. Gather 100% intel for a Trust (Omni, EvoS, Hyperbotics) in order to access the Trust stronghold boss encounter. The Reactor will now only spawn if all three Trust strongholds have been defeated in the same run. Failure to defeat all three Strongholds before running out of time on the doomsday clock will result in a game over! No worries mate, then the next time loop begins again with lessons learned from your previous run.
- Numerous balance changes to overall damage, healing, shields, and stat modification adjustments in gear, talents, enemies, and freelancers.
- Dodge has been removed from most enemy AI base stats. Dodge still remains for player controlled Freelancers like Su-Ren and Kaigin.
- New enemy AI units added. K8 Warhound, Crescent, and many more.
- Added game speed options for gameplay (0.25x, 0.5x, 1.5x, 2.0x speed) in the upper right corner in-game UI. Try it in slow-mo to see your favorite animations up close!
- Added functionality when a Freelancer has no actions left that they can still select other characters through Tab.
- Fixed an issue with targeters regarding enemy and ally hits.
- Fixed an issue that causes some abilities that calculate chances to not show the accuracy wheel.
- Fixed a bug that caused some non-ground targeted damaging abilities that ignore accuracy calculation, such as Dr. Finn's Electrifying Eel ability, to not show the accuracy wheel when targeting an enemy.
- Fixed an issue regarding energy spent in combat during resolution.
- Fixed an issue with Zuki Bombard and Blackburn Scorched Earth targeting.
- Fixed an issue with making certain quick actions like revive.
- Fixed an issue where targets were getting status effects appearing that they were not supposed to.
- Fixed an issue with non-stackable status effects appearing multiple times on targets.
- Fixed an issue for abilities that do not display status effects that are applied by Barriers or Ground Effect Field abilities.
- Fixed an issue with using an ability to move out of a ground field effect should cause effects to fall off appropriately.
Co-op
- Co-op mode overall UI, connectivity, and gameplay has been improved upon.
- In co-op mode, players can also now preview the mission info by mousing over or clicking on the mission/recon node. When the host clicks on a mission or recon it will immediately start loading that event.
- Fixed an issue with invisible respawned enemies/allies in co-op. The revived/spawned target may however appear as a ragdoll until their next movement.
- Co-op players can no longer revive allies infinitely. Better earn those Rez Contracts in Atlas!
- Implemented reconnecting support into an ongoing co-op matches. The host takes control of disconnected guest characters.
- Fixed an issue caused by reconnecting players getting stuck in character select.
- Fixed an issue caused when co-op link was used after match has started for new players.
- Fixed an issue connecting as a guest into a co-op session and getting stuck on a connecting message.
- Fixed an issue to allow for people within the same network(router) to play together.
- Fixed an issue with Challenges that unlock via choices in Recons that do not complete for non-host guests.
- Fixed an issue that causes chained recon choices at the second recon node for non-host clients in co-op.
Maps & Recons
- Missions and Recons on the Atlas map screen now display the details on mouseover. Title, day cost, days left, description, difficulty, and rewards. Clicking on a mission or recon will start loading the event immediately for better functionality.
- Updated all recons and missions to have the appropriate icons, difficulty, and background for dialogues.
- Objectives updated across all combat mission encounters.
- Adjusted certain recon timing, some recons may appear early, later, or can be rarer to see during runs.
- Added a new transparent background to new recons.
- Added Anti-Trust specific friendly recons.
- Omni Stronghold text rename and mission updated.
- Omni assassination missions updated.
- Added music to combat mission encounters that were missing it.
- Fixed some extraction locations so that they can be escaped successfully during some missions.
- Fixed an issue that caused the recon nodes that open combat missions to soft lock the game.
- Fixed and re-enabled the Houndmaster mission.
- Fixed an issue that causes the recon choices to have a delay before recieving mouse inputs.
- Fixed an issue that causes a soft lock when playing 2 dialogues back to back.
- The Catalyzer I, II, and III have been streamlined into a single recon node, The Catalyzer Returns.
- Corrected the objective text for the mission encounter with The Splash.
- Fixed an issue that caused recon chained combat nodes to not start.
- Updated combat missions Play Ruff - PuP.
- Updated combat missions to unlock Nix.
- Updated combat missions on freigther maps.
- New Mission - The Atomic. Battle against a new Omni VIP known as the Atomic.
- New Missions - Datahack. Added Datahack variant missions.
- New Recons have been added to the game. Many of these will not appear until you have unlocked the offering freelancer.
- New Nix specific Recons that may appear after unlocking Nix.
- New Recon Chain - Bash Bros.
- New Recon - Face Off - Titus is looking for someone that looks similar to him...
- New Recon - Sheep's Clothing - Titus has finally started speaking up...
- New Recon - Creature Comforts - Titus is grumbling around the Wildcard.
- New Recon - The Heist and new Challenge - Trusting A Thief.
- New Recon - Wasteland Wanderer - A tall dark figure with a thing too big to be called a sword is asking questions in an imposing manner.
- New Recon - Hyperbotics Habits - Meridian is in his small factorum awaiting business.
- New Recon - Freebooter Radio - Zuki's started up an old school radio broadcast and needs help with a guest.
- New Recon - Chasing Justice - Asana has hired your crew to cause a distraction at Omni.
- New Recon - Stand and Fight - Asana is cornered by warbots and Omni isn't lifting a finger to help. Get in there and save Asana.
- New Recon - Test of Worth - Asana is beginning to trust you. Now she has a task to put you to the test.
- New Recon - Justice Prevails - Asana is seeking you.
- New Recon - Voids In Time - Asana is tracking odd events cropping up all over Atlas.
- New Recon - Ares Squad Rides Again - The Band is back together. This recon spawns on day 2 and only if your party consists of Garrison, Titus, Blackburn, and Lockwood (and they can be any order).
- New Recon - Bully Fish - Dr. Finn is causing a halibut lot of trouble yelling at anyone who will listen...
- New Recon - Guided Meditation - Su-Ren has offered to help journey through the maze of your mind.
- New Recon - Peace Offering - Su-Ren offers an olive branch.
- New Recon - You're All Ares Now. Completing either of the Ares Squad recons will reward the player with a unique friendly escalation.
- New Aurora Recon Chain: Virtual World. Completing the Virtual World recon chain unlocks the Virtual World combat node recons and combat mission maps. After you have completed enough Virtual World normal combat nodes you complete a challenge that unlocks the hard missions.
- New Recon - PuPs Mind - Utilize time travel to help Zuki unlock the secrets of PuP's past.
- New Recon - ISO Bored - Zuki is bored and looking for some entertainment, and like always she's solving it with bombs. In this recon you can risk ISO for big pay days.
- New Recon - Boring – Zuki’s bored, so she made a casino to liven up the day!
- New Recon - War Stories - Hear some old war stories from Garrison.
UI
- A new character may have snuck their way onto the main menu Wildcard splash screen. Kaigin is now chilling in the back. Other UI improvements on the splash screen. Removed reflective purple from splash screen logo, and added blue lines.
- Character stat screen now updates with equipped with talents or gear that provide stats.
- Added dialog UI animations for both mission map and mission dialogs screens.
- Added new key bind UI system and icon.
- Added health/energy UI to mission map Freelancer portraits.
- Added a "No talent point" tooltip option when no talents remain.
- Added doomsday clock day change rewards to mission preview popup.
- Updated the correct Freelancer role names (Firepower, Frontline, Support).
- Updated the Escalation screen to now click anywhere to close it.
- Updated the news ticker text on the Atlas map screen. Increased hit box size for the news section trust to include the icon and the intel change labels.
- Updated resolution options in settings limited to multiples of 30Hz to avoid overpopulating the list of options.
- Updated Keybinding Dialog UI elements based on sprites and layout of the Settings screen.
- Updated how the Escape keypress is handled so that settings and keybinds dialog are closed in the proper order when both are visible.
- Fixed an issue that causes the dialog animation to play the entry animation after clicking.
- Fixed an issue with the map node appearances.
- Fixed an issue that causes the ISO and Revive tokens to not show up in the summary screen.
- Fixed an issue that causes an empty box reward element to show up in the summary screen.
- Fixed an issue that causes the accuracy wheel to display it's fill amount incorrectly causing some values to not show up.
- Fixed an issue that causes the TP text in the Atlas mission map to not resize when exceeding 2 digits.
- Fixed an issue with the system button hit box in the Atlas mission map.
- Fixed a typo in the tutorial.
- Fixed an unhandled exception caused by an empty summary reward screen.
- Fixed an issue that caused dialog popups to show up and persist through a run even though the run has ended.
- The right corner of the screen for various sections of the game (like character select) now has a highlight tint when hovering over it.
- Fixed an issue that causes the control point UI to desync.
Challenges
- New Challenge: Virtual World – Complete the Virtual World recon chain to unlock the Normal Virtual World combat missions.
- New Challenge: Virtual World Upgrade I - Complete 6 Normal Virtual world missions to Hard Virtual World combat missions.
- New Challenge: Virtual World Upgrade II - Complete 3 Hard Virtual world missions to unlock the Bash Dome.
- New Challenge - Master of Death - Kill Rask in the Hunter Recon and send Kaigin against each of the Trusts in the Storm of Death recon.
- New Challenge - Ares Squad - Win the game with all the members of Ares Squad at the same time. (Titus, Garrison, Blackburn, Lockwood)
- New Challenge – Freebooter Raido – Send each freelancer on Zuki’s radio show.
- New Challenges: Tougher I-V – Defeat the Reactor while any of the new Tougher difficulty modifiers are active to complete the challenge equal to that modifier and all before it.
- New Challenges: Stronger I-V – Defeat the Reactor while any of the new Tougher difficulty modifiers are active to complete the challenge equal to that modifier and all before it.
- New Challenges: All of the special enemy escalations (Impact 2.0, Half Life, Vanguarded, Pre-Cog Shields, and Danger, Danger, High Voltage) in Time Looping 101 have challenges associated with them for defeating the Reactor while they are active.
- New Challenges - ISO Bored I-IV - As you spend ISO at the ISO Bored recon you make progress on these challenges, eventually unlocking the High Roller choice in the ISO Bored recon and one of Zuki's Skins!
- New Misc Challenge - PuP Cracker - Successfully unlocking Layer 3 of PuP's mind in the PuP's Mind recon rewards PuP's Bulldozer skin.
- Each Frelancer has a new challenge that is completed when you defeat the Reactor encounter while using that Freelancer, rewarding a new skin for that freelancer.
- Each Freelancer has a new challenge that is completed by defeating each Stronghold with that Freelancer, rewarding a skin affiliated with that Trust.
Gear
- Added Celeste and Kaigin themed exotic gear items.
- Added Gear icon and WIP Store button in the Atlas mission map screen.
- Updated incoming healing stats reduced by about 60%.
- Updated the Hype Helmet to now correctly appear as the appropriate rarity.
- Removed Foresight from gear (due to Dodge no longer on enemies) and replaced with other stats.
- Fixed an issue that caused gear tooltips to throw an error.
Freelancers
- All Freelancer ability tooltips have updated descriptions and include text about how range may affect the ability accuracy.
- Accuracy categories:
- Always hits.
- Accuracy increases if adjacent to the target.
- Accuracy is unaffected by range.
- Accuracy decreases if farther than 25% of max range.
- Accuracy decreases if farther than 50% of max range.
- Accuracy decreases if closer than 50% of max range.
- Added skins for all Freelancer for defeating each Stronghold.
- Skins unlocked are now shown in Challenges and on the Character Select screen.
- Titus Unlock Update - Titus no longer unlocks after defeating the game. Titus is now unlocked by the Bash Bros recon chain.
- Asana Unlock Update – Asana is no longer unlocked after 5 runs regardless of victory. Asana is now unlocked by a recon chain that forces Asana to question her loyalties.
- Rask Unlock Update – Rask’s is no longer unlocked after defeating 15 Hulkers in a single run. Rask is now unlocked after completing the Rage Cage recon.
- The PuP unlock has changed slightly. After the Double Shares recon the Let's Play recon spawns. Each time the recon is completed it will spawn again until the player finally receives the option to Play Ruff, which will unlock PuP.
- Fixed Blackburn Equalizer cone vfx not displaying correctly.
Asana
- Whirling Blade damage changed from 81 to 95.
- Rebounding Charge cooldown changed from 3 to 2.
- Retribution cooldown changed from 3 to 2.
- Retribution shielding changed from 81 to 102.
- Retribution damage changed from 43 to 57.
- Guardian Angel shielding changed from 68 to 140.
- Guardian Angel damage changed from 104 to 123.
Aurora
- Shock Therapy healing changed from 27 to 22.
- Ion Cloud energy gain per target changed from 4 to 5.
- Ion Cloud damage changed from 45 to 63.
- Ion Cloud healing changed from 22 to 27.
- Healing Flare cooldown changed from 3 to 2.
- Healing Flare healing changed from 72 to 68.
- Paralazer width changed from 3 to 3.5.
- Heart of the Storm healing changed from 45 to 36.
Dr. Finn
- Water Spout damage 41/26 (67 total at smallest cone) changed to 56/26 (82 total)
- Healing Spray healing changed from 74/+32 to 52/+21.
- Healing Spray energy gain per target changed from 4 to 5.
- Fixed Electrifying Eels base and talent functionality to apply status effects at start of enemy turn.
- Electrifying Eels energy gain on cast changed from 5 to 7.
- Bubble Trouble cooldown changed from 3 to 2.
- Bubble Trouble shielding changed from 158 to 147.
- Bubble Trouble damage changed from 45 to 56.
- Maelstrom damage changed from 94 to 112.
Garrison
- Piston Punch damage changed from 76 to 86.
- Missile Barrage damage changed from 50 to 54.
- Shockpod damage changed from 104 to 112.
- Base armor changed from 150 to 200.
Helio
- Echo Hammer damage changed from 76/34 to 81/55.
- Blast shield shielding changed from 124 to 104.
- Blast shield energy gain on cast changed from 8 to 5.
- Blackhole Generator is now a free action and has damage removed. The knockback pull now activates at the end of the turn it is cast.
- Blackhole Generator cooldown changed from 3 to 2.
- Blackhole Generator energy now 7 on use and 5 per hit.
- Disruption Matrix changed to be a full action and increased damage from 34 to 68.
- Battleforged shielding changed from 124 to 119.
- Battleforged damage changed from 81 to 85.
- Talent - Disruption Matrix - Swift Fabrication cooldown reduction changed from 2 to 1.
Lockwood
- Light 'em Up! damage changed from 72 to 99.
- Light 'em Up! cooldown changed from 1 to 2.
- Run and Gun changed from 126 to 165.
- Run and Gun range changed from 8.5 to 10.5.
Meridian
- Dawnhammer now destroys cover on hit.
- Boneshatter energy per hit changed from 7 to 10.
- Boneshatter damage changed from 81 to 104.
- Solar Strike no longer destroys cover on hit.
- Zenith minimum energy cost changed from 25 to 20.
- Base armor changed from 100 to 150.
Nix
- Overwatch drone duration changed from 1 to 3.
- Overwatch drone cooldown changed from 2 to 1.
- Fusion Pulse damage changed from 136 to 152.
PuP
- Megabite healing changed from 33 to 16.
- Megabite damage changed from 121 to 115.
- Pounce range changed from 10 to 7.
- Pounce damage changed from 109 to 92.
- Prowl damage bonus changed from 30% to 15%.
- SubWoof targeter changed from 7x7 square to 9x9 circle.
- SubWoof damage changed from 144 to 138.
- Fixed an issue with Find the Vein talent only applying Rupture to 1 target.
- Fixed an issue with Spiked Collar healing instead of doing damage.
Rask
- Maul damage changed from 81/63 to 94/72.
Su-Ren
- Serenity healing changed from 104 to 81.
- Shifting Winds damage changed from 60 to 72.
- Spirit Bend casting now ignores line of sight.
- Fixed an issue with Zephyr and On My Tempo talents not being obtainable.
- Fixed UI text in Spirit Bend description.
Titus
- Overhead Slam damage changed from 95/70 to 100/75.
Zuki
- Bombard damage on primary target changed from 110 to 99.
- Rocket Jump knock back issue fixed and now occurs from where she started, not where she lands.
- Rocket Jump damage changed from 104 to 115.
- Missile Storm damage changed from 121 to 132.
- Talent - Shell Shock roots enemies within target area and remains as a Free Action (removed text).