It's finally time to return to the grove.
Catamyst v1.1: releasing on October 24th!
This update contains a bumper pack of new Potions, Catalysts and Upgrades alongside some pretty significant reworks to some of the game's jankier systems. You'll also see some added visual improvements that give the game a bit of extra charm.
So what's actually in the update?
I won't post the full patch notes until the update releases, but here's a taster of what's to come.
New Potions
First up are two new potions that utilise new Status Effects. These potions show off new systems that were created for Status Effects.
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Corruption Flask focuses on Stacks that can continually debuff your enemy over time - don't worry, this effect doesn't disappear until the enemy is defeated.
Overloading Potion gives a delayed hit that will deal massive damage. This delay can help you stack up a ton of damage at once or perhaps you want the initial weaker hit to take out a shield for you.
New Catalysts
v1.1 includes 5 new Catalysts for you to augment your Potions with. Catalysts provide extra uniqueness for each potion that make each run different, and these new ones are no different.
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Patient Catalyst signficantly reduces your damage output, but on the 5th potion hit you'll get a massive strike that exceeds the power of all five normal hits.
Stealthy Catalyst simply gives you an increased Dodge Chance when holding it. Dodge is a new stat that lets you avoid an instance of damage. Time your potion switches and this could be a lifesaver.
Bonded Catalyst focuses on those complex potions that use multiple molecules in their recipes. Your potion's Crit Chance and Crit Damage are increased based on how many molecules this potion uses that are different.
Fortunate Catalyst gives you a chance to double the damage of your potion. Pretty simple, but extremely powerful when used on the heavy hitter.
The 5th one is... huh? One's not here. Must have slipped out my hand, sorry!
Alongside these new catalysts, coming in v1.1 is a rework to Catalyst Rarity. This rework lets all catalysts have all potential rarities and will adjust their power accordingly, and gives each catalyst the same chance to show up in your runs.
A Bunch of Reworks
A good amount of time in this update has been focused on tidying up parts of the game that weren't up to scratch. Some was jank that made development harder and some were core systems of the game that have been brought to a much better standard. There's a few to go over, so let's get into it.
Status Effect System
The previous system for Status Effects was... well, not great. After a lot of head bashing, this new system is cleaner and more usable than ever.
For starters, you can now have multiples of the same effect (provided they come from different sources) at once. For example, you can utilise your Burn effect from both Combustion and Sunburn potions at once! The effect icon will be recoloured to show the difference.
This should make bleed builds a lot stronger, and give this playstyle a fighting chance at saving the grove.
This update also comes with brand new icons for each effect, as well as a visual rework for the Status Effect Bar.
Damage Reduction & Overheal Replacement
These two stats weren't doing the job I wanted them to and were difficult to balance. This lead to a brand new system called Ward. Your Ward is a shield that halves incoming damage, at the cost of your Ward Strength.
Ward Strength is obtained via places you'd be able to get Overheal previously, such as the shop or through enchantments. This update will also provide some new upgrades to get Ward Strength, but I won't reveal those yet.
Hopefully this new stat provides a good defensive option, whilst also not.. breaking the game completely.
Molecular Imbue Rework
After beating Wave 5, you'd be offered a choice of Molecular Imbues that act as Special Enchantments. These are powerful upgrades that were meant to give themed effects based on each molecule, but they fell flat in what they did. Some were insanely strong and some were useless.
In this update, these have been reworked to grant effects that relate to collecting or owning molecules. The intention is to focus on these molecules and give you a push towards potions that might utilise these molecules.
As a bonus, Molecular Imbues are included in the pool of Special Enchantments that are granted after a miniboss wave. This means you can have multiple, or none if you really want!
I won't give details on each individual one in this post, so look forward to more details on Friday.
New Enemy Sprites
No longer will you see a ton of Barcs chasing you endlessly. Well, you'll still see a bunch of those, but also some of the "Barc Variants" have their own unique sprites. This should improve the visual clarity of each enemy and grants them their own unique identity.
Here's the new sprite for the shield-focused enemy, previously known as "Berserk":
Introducing... Mosscrab! This little friend is immune to Status Effects until its shield is broken.
Barcs have also been shrunk by about 25% to account for just how many there are, but also it makes them look really cute. You'll still have to destroy them though.
That's a lot already, but this doesn't cover the full extent of the update. Expect more visual improvements, balance patches, and bug fixes to come next week.
On a personal note, I'm grateful to everyone who has been patient with this update. This year has been super busy! I've finished my degree at university, started a new job and a new life. Catamyst is my personal hobby, so I use my free time to work on these improvements.
Going forward - expect smaller updates incrementally adding new stuff to play around with. The next update shouldn't take over a year to come (don't hold me to that).
That's all for now! Make sure to follow me on my new Bluesky to keep up to date with everything to do with my games (including upcoming projects).
I'll see you next week in the Grove - good luck!