Hey all,
Big day today. Katanaut is featured in Steam's Daily Deal, and update 1.2 is going live alongside it. This is the biggest update I've shipped since launch, and I timed it for today on purpose, since a lot of you might be trying the game for the first time. If that's you, welcome!
The short version of what's new: Warp 4, a difficulty that runs the entire station in reverse with elites hunting you the whole way down. Added a new soon-to-be-dreaded level called "The Warp". Samaelix, a new final boss, with a new ending behind him. New enemies, new tricks for a bunch of the old ones, and a big skill tree that lets you upgrade every katana in the game. On top of that there's new music, new achievements, new lore notes, a pile of quality of life, and a sweeping balance pass over every enemy and boss in the game that makes climbing into higher warps way more attainable. Full patch notes are below this post.
If you've never tried the leaderboards, give them a shot this month. Every month is a fresh season, winners get a reward chest and a new crown buff that I build for each season, and honestly the seasons have become my favorite part of working on this game. Season 5 starts today, and there's a new board for Warp 4 too.
And I want to say thank you. I'm one person making this game, and the only reason it keeps growing is that you all kept playing it, reporting bugs, posting insightful comments about balance, and posting your runs. I read all of it, and it helps more than you'd think. This update exists because of that.
If you're new, I hope you have a blast. If you've been here a while, thanks for sticking around.
Core:
- Warp 4, a new difficulty. Beat the final boss on Warp 3 to unlock it. The station runs in reverse, new Warp elites hunt you on every floor, and the run ends inside The Warp itself, with Samaelix waiting at the bottom. Make it through and you'll get to see a brand new ending.
- The Warp, a new level. From Warp 1 onward, the level 8 elevator is now a reality-bending detour. The level is built completely fresh every single run, only the five new Warp elites roam it, and it ends at a door that leads to Samaelix.
- Samaelix, Lord of the Warp, a new final boss. Ive put a lot of thought into this boss to make him truly challenging, and I think there's good reason to him being at the end of warp 4, as the ultimate test for players that want a challenge.
- Five new Warp elites stalk The Warp and hunt you throughout Warp 4, and they grow stronger with lower life:
- Crushfiend: a heavy bruiser with parryable ground slams that send out shockwaves, a guard that blocks sword spam and counters, and delayed ground eruptions once it's hurt.
- Riftclaw: a fast melee elite that lunges with double slashes and spins, pulls you in with rifts, and backs off to reset after taking hits.
- Shivfiend: a fast melee elite that teleports around your attacks, throws spreads of blades, and lunges across gaps.
- Shockmaw: a ranged elite that hurls reflectable lightning, drops sigils that leave lingering shock fields, and discharges to both sides if you crowd it.
- Warpmass: a slow tank that burrows under the arena and erupts spikes, spits crawling worms at range, cleaves up close, and gets bigger and meaner at low health.
- Sinner, a new Warp "creature". A harmless wretch that shuffles around the halls of the Warp, minding its own business.
- The Katana Skill Tree: a skill tree with over 270 nodes for every katana, found at the katana rack, allowing players to customize how their katana works, and upgrade them beyond their base. Spend Void crystals on stat and mechanic nodes, pick keystones with real trade-offs, and work your way toward the powerful skills. The strongest nodes also ask for Boss orbs. You can have up to 25 nodes woven at a time. The tree is open to everyone right from the start, just look for the marked tab at the katana rack.
- The Exchange: a new third tab at the katana rack that converts your Void crystals into Boss orbs, for when you're sitting on crystals but short on orbs.
- The pause menu now has tabs in its top left corner, including a new Katana Skills tab that lists every Abyss Weave skill unlocked on your equipped katana.
- Existing enemies got a big rework pass to make each one feel more unique:
- Some climbers now lurk on walls and ceilings and pounce when you get close.
- Talon zombies no longer stay dead. They collapse and rise again, their bodies shake just before they get up, and they only drop loot the first time.
- Screamers now wake nearby enemies and call climbers out of the ground.
- Legator hounds now spit their projectile at range.
- Corals now vent poisonous spore clouds.
- Enemy attacks that create hazards now show clearer warnings marking exactly where the damage will land.
- Added a new leaderboard for Warp 4.
- Ten new Steam achievements covering Warp 4, the Warp Lord, bosses, and abilities.
- Seven new lore notes scattered across the Warp 4 levels.
- New music for the final boss and for level 12.
- Living bestiary: every creature in Captain Chop's bestiary now idles on the page instead of standing frozen, and every entry is framed and centered properly under the lamp.
- The HUD now shows a row of weave skill cooldown icons with countdowns, katana secondary skills show their own cooldown icons, and Voidthorn stacks appear as a number on the katana icon.
- Katana HUD icon gains rarity borders as you weave more skills into each katana.
- Menus now show the damage you'll actually deal. The pause screen shows your katana's real damage with every skill bonus applied, skill and offhand damage include all your active buffs, and secret combo damage is counted in weapon and skill numbers.
- Floating damage numbers are livelier and easier to read.
- The credits pages now cycle. Press left or right to flip between them.
Balance:
- Every enemy and boss in the game got a balance pass. Fights should feel fairer across the board, bosses won't feel like walls anymore(hopefully, thats what patches are for), and higher warps are a lot more attainable now.
- Vorpal Pistol's damage ramp is now tracked per enemy and caps at 10 stacks of 10% each, with a counter icon on the target so you can see where you're at. It was carrying the speedrun boards a little too hard.
- Pulse Barrier now has a minimum cooldown even with Weaverfang's cooldown reduction.
Bugs:
- Fixed a rare crash when an Infecting Shot or Bleeding Edge tick landed on an enemy that had just died.
- Fixed a rare crash when a Gun Bananas projectile bounced off something that broke at that exact moment.
This patch also wraps up season 4! Congratulations to the players below, you'll find your rewards in the home base! This season's reward is the Regent's Arsenal crown: three spectral blades orbit the crown, attacking nearby enemies and occasionally inflicting bleed. Season 5 starts today!
:)하라,
Ai4,
Akame,
Ase Of Life,
AuxCh00rd,
Back_schaev,
bigMAK,
Brother Rence,
Carcosian,
cfishman,
Chupep,
consul88,
CUCKDESTROYER,
DarkTemplar,
DiginURGrav3,
Dr.Onabinol,
Everhell,
Fla1myC,
foxy_is_cute,
Gats,
Geeni,
Gogiz,
Guantanamo Bae,
gwtrey,
Hazman_Yahya,
Horoho,
iaspis,
Jingizu,
JOKER,
Kuchařka,
lao_die,
Lordpfefferkuchen,
Lucy'nin peşinde,
Macho,
MAD,
Manaく くYne,
Mistifikator,
MortalNinja,
Multifuel,
N0t_inverted,
NecroFatality,
Nightmare,
OH HELL NO,
OldSnake,
OrderlyOfTime,
PaddeMcnasty,
PANIC,
RedCornx,
Redolent_Thought,
revolS,
Riz-Bley,
Sarsos,
SecondRook,
Shinigami,
Sillyplantation,
Sinarade,
sir this is a wendy,
SlimDenis,
SneepSnorp,
SpartanRune,
Talos,
thad.powell.1138,
thekiller,
Treidos,
Tristán Nucifera,
Tyvus,
vladimirdudkin19,
Vovosh',
walkaris,
XamFess,
yourabusivestepdad,
yumekun64,
乇尺ᗪ口乙乇Ꮆ口,
古月木其,
習近平
Good luck on the new season!
Happy hunting! See you soon.
- Eugene | Solo dev