Hey everyone, we bring good news!
We have just launched Update 3 which focuses on improving meta-progression by streamlining the currency system and modifying constellations so that unlocks are more impactful to aid you in future runs!
Additionally, we have removed stamina costs for every action except for sprinting and added some additional content in the form of a powerful new crossbow weapon and a terrifying new boss that awaits at the end of stage 3.
Meta-Progression Improvements
The changes we have made to the meta-progression system are in direct response to your feedback regarding rarer currencies being gated behind the stage 1 boss fight. As a result many of you were finding meta-progression through the constellations to be slow, and to compound this issue the unlocks themselves were not feeling impactful enough! We have addressed this problem by making the following changes:
Simplified currency system: Hearts are now the only in-game currency. This means that even if you are unable to make it past the first boss, you will still be able to use currencies from EVERY wave you complete to unlock constellation nodes which would have previously been inaccessible. For existing players, all of your teeth and eyes will be converted to hearts following the update to ensure that you can spend your hard earned resources!
Simplified constellations and default QoL unlocks: We have completely removed the Ranger and Merchant constellations, and have given you full access to the navigation tools (bonfire and resource cache proximity), extra ability and inventory slots, and have added the prominence burn ability to the dark magic pool by default. This means that early stage gameplay will feel much fairer and will allow you to focus on crafting a unique character build from the very start of the run.
Ancient God, Night Owl, and Humpback Whale constellation node tiers: The three remaining constellations have been completely overhauled to introduce tiered nodes that will make meta-progression feel much more flexible and impactful by allowing you to invest currencies in incremental levels of permanent stat and effect boosts.
The Ancient God constellation now focuses on developing player stats such as starting health/stamina, stamina recovery rate, walk speed, defence, and experience gain.
The Night Owl now focuses on effect boosts such as bonfire duration, max lantern oil reserves, lantern radius, enemy damage when in light, and ability pins/bans/rerolls.
Finally the Humpback Whale is tied to offensive upgrades such as base bullet damage, elemental damage, critical chance, and knockback.
The combination of the above changes will mean that every run matters, every run will be more fun, and every run will get easier as you unlock more permanent buffs! This will ultimately mean that you’ll be able to reach the later stages and unlock the higher difficulty settings much sooner for those seeking some additional challenge.
Crossbow Weapon Overview
The Crossbow is a brand-new weapon for you to unlock that fires three bolt bursts and holds a nine bolt clip by default. The Crossbow synergises with the following weapon upgrades that were introduced in our last update:
- Incendiary Rounds
- Chain Lightning
- Plague Bearer
- Dualist
- Rapid Fire
- Headhunter
- Relentless
- Life Steal
- Mind Steal
Stage 3 Boss Overview
The unholy trinity is complete with the introduction of a challenging new boss that guards the end of stage 3! This levitating monstrosity encased in ice introduces some classic bullet hell gameplay with four projectile based attack patterns. You’ll need to ensure that you’re managing your positioning carefully as you attempt to hold off the horde while fighting this deadly new adversary...
See below for the full patch notes:
New features
- Stage 03 boss added
- Crossbow weapon added
- Three existing constellations have been reworked to provide permnanent stat increases for almost every game parameter
- Experience automatically follows player regardless of range
- Implemented some narrative text after each boss stage
- Implemented some game performance optimization
Balance changes
- Removed references to heavy weapons, evasion, agility, dark magic resistance, and hunger and deprecated these systems
- Removed stamina cost from everything except running and removed the exhausted effect that disabled running
- Removed teeth and eye currencies and changed all rewards to require only pulsating hearts (existing players combined currency are converted to pulsating hearts)
- Laudanum Hit and Iron Skin now require sanity instead of stamina to activate
- Removed Wisdom and Sixth Sense passive upgrades
- Removed Soul Reaper
- Adrenaline Boost stamina gain increased from 2 to 5
- Removed all previous constellations
- Coffee and meat are now unlocked by default
- Bonfire indicators and distance indicators are now unlocked by default
- Scavenging indicators and distance indicators are now unlocked by default
- The temperature gauge is now unlocked by default
- All item slots are now unlocked by default
- All ability slots are now unlocked by default
- Prominence burn is now unlocked by default
- Player meta progression has been wiped but all the combined currency used is refunded and converted to pulsating hearts
- Updated the tutorial to reflect recent game changes
- Adjusted enemy spawns during boss waves
Bugfixes
- Removed the rogue back button on the keybinding menu
- Update several text strings
- Updated Headhunter buff icon
- Prominence Burn no longer provides temperature restoration or light
- Elemental audio now ends when changing screens
- Relentless II and Relentless III (Magazine) now correctly increase the weapon's magazine size
Update 4 plans - Character classes & in-game achievements
Our next update is planned to go live mid-August and will focus on introducing new character classes, for more varied runs, that can be unlocked by completing in-game achievements. We'll have more details in the next few weeks!
As usual, don’t forget to leave your feedback and bug reports in our Steam forum or join our Discord.
Until next time!
PQube, Electric Monkeys & Secret Level Studios