Hello to all space enthusiasts!
If you look at the night sky right now, you might see a lot of meteors—these are the Perseids, dust clusters our planet is moving through. I tried to see some yesterday and I think I saw one! While that’s more than nothing, it's not the main topic today.
This is the final demo update before we enter Early Access, and that’s because we've added all the main features we planned! We're still polishing the mechanics and balancing the game, but I hope with your help we can get it all done.
So, let’s get to the list of new features.
Ship Weapons & PvE Combat
You can now find a variety of weapons in the game: railgun, industrial laser, mortar, rocket launcher, EMI cannon, graviton, and plasma cannon.
To help you get familiar with the new combat mechanics, we've created a separate tutorial level. You won't miss it! You can also find different weapon types in the demo and sandbox levels. Cutting various objects with a laser is especially fun.
You can also meet different enemies now:
Drones are dangerous but vulnerable. The best way to deal with them is with a plasma grenade—it'll smash them to pieces.
Larger ships (similar to octopuses) have a powerful protective field in front, so approach them from the tail.
The EMI cannon is also a great tool; it neutralizes enemies for a short time.
Enemies will defend their zone or patrol a route, but if you get into their line of sight, they will attack. A good tactic is to knock the weapon modules off an enemy. They'll be left without a way to fight back and will start to run away. Give it a try!
Gamepad & SteamDeck Support
Flying with a gamepad is a special treat—be sure to try it and let us know what you think. We've added partial support so you can dock, select different devices, and control them. The gamepad also works with the user interface almost everywhere.
We’ve also added new hints for those playing on a gamepad and updated the keyboard and mouse hints. We are still making some changes to our control solutions and would love to hear your feedback and advice.
Other Improvements & Bug Fixes
These are the big features, but we've also made many small changes and bug fixes. Of course, a number of new bugs have likely been introduced that we haven't caught yet.
Among the smaller features:
A new approach to the field of view that uses ray tracing and changes shape, especially in caves.
The control panel now generates and stores a small amount of energy, so you can fly to the nearest generator even if your batteries run out.
We've also had a few optimization sessions that have paid off—everything is running faster. I recommend playing in full-screen mode for the best experience.
And of course, we're preparing a large open world that will tell a story... I hope you'll find out what it is soon.
Enjoy the update, and let us know what you think!