Hello, Animas.
In this update, we’ve added Endless Mode, a new game mode that many of you have been consistently requesting.
Take on an endless series of stages, battle enemies that grow stronger as you progress, and make new choices at each stage to shape how you approach each battle.
Alongside this, we’ve also added a new mission to Arcade Mode and carried out additional optimization work.
You can find the main details of this update below.
Update Details
Endless Mode Added
Endless Mode, a new game mode that many of you have requested, has been added.
As you clear stages, you can earn Nano Data based on your progress, and Memory Chips can also be obtained after reaching a certain stage.
In Endless Mode, stages continue indefinitely, with enemies becoming progressively stronger as you advance to higher stages.
After clearing each stage and moving on to the next, you can choose from a selection of randomly presented stage themes. Each stage theme also comes with a randomly assigned Combat Modifier, allowing you to choose your preferred combination before entering the next battle.
Combat Modifiers provide various bonus effects that can help you during Endless Mode. The way your run develops may vary depending on which stage and Combat Modifier combinations you choose.
Defeating bosses that appear in later stages will award higher scores, helping you set new records.
We had originally aimed to introduce the leaderboard alongside Endless Mode in this update, but unfortunately, we were unable to include it this time. We are continuing to work on the leaderboard, so we appreciate your patience a little longer.
New Mission Added
A new Cyberspace stage has been added to Arcade Mode.
Balance Adjustments
With the addition of Endless Mode, we reviewed the overall game balance with longer battles and continuous progression in mind.
As part of this process, we adjusted some elements that were performing too strongly or became significantly more effective in certain combinations, while also improving weapons and skills that had seen less use.
Rather than limiting specific playstyles, these adjustments are intended to improve the overall balance so that a wider variety of weapons and builds can be used across different combat situations, including Endless Mode.
Primary Weapon Balance Adjustments
Shotgun
Damage: 6 → 8
Accuracy: 10% → 15%
Shots per Fire: 12 → 15
Effective Range: 160 → 180
Overall performance has been increased to allow the weapon to deliver high firepower more consistently at close range.
Gatling Gun
Accuracy: 45% → 50%
Fire Rate: 45 → 40
Effective Range: 250 → 280
Fire Rate has been slightly reduced, while Accuracy and Effective Range have been increased to allow for more consistent concentrated fire during sustained attacks.
Pulse Rifle
Fire Rate: 1 → 1.4
Stun Value: 10 → 20
Fire Rate and Stun Value have been increased, allowing the weapon to build up Stun more quickly and gain an advantage in combat.
Anti-Tank Gun
Projectile Vel.: 420 → 450
Reload Time: 4.5s → 4s
Projectile velocity has been increased and Reload Time reduced, improving the weapon’s overall attack tempo and ease of use.
Bazooka
Reload Time: 3s → 2.6s
Reload Time has been reduced, allowing you to follow up with the next attack more quickly.
Beam Rifle
Projectile Vel.: 900 → 740
At excessively high projectile speeds, some firing effects were not displayed correctly. Projectile velocity has been adjusted to ensure more consistent visual effects.
Railgun
Projectile Vel.: 900 → 840
Reload Time: 2.4s → 4s
Considering its high single-shot damage and charged attack performance, Reload Time has been increased. Projectile velocity has also been adjusted to address issues with firing effects not displaying correctly.
Autocannon
Projectile Vel.: 400 → 500
Fire Rate: 10 → 8
Ammo: 40 → 30
The ammunition type has been changed to explosive rounds, dealing Splash Damage on impact.
While Fire Rate and Ammo have been reduced, projectile velocity has been increased and Splash Damage added, allowing the weapon to deal with groups of enemies more effectively even in Flight Mode.
Marksman Rifle
Projectile Vel.: 470 → 600
Projectile velocity has been increased, allowing enemies to be hit more quickly and accurately at medium to long range.
Beam Smartgun
Projectile Vel.: 900 → 740
As with the Beam Rifle, some firing effects were not displayed correctly at excessively high projectile speeds. Projectile velocity has been adjusted to ensure more consistent visual effects.
Minigun
Accuracy: 45% → 55%
Effective Range: 260 → 240
Effective Range has been slightly reduced in exchange for increased Accuracy, allowing the weapon to concentrate fire more consistently within its intended range.
AA Flak
Damage: 70 → 80
Fire Rate: 2 → 2.5
Both Damage and Fire Rate have been increased, improving overall firepower and offensive performance.
Rocket Pod
Damage: 30 → 40
Damage has been increased to improve overall offensive performance.
Secondary Weapon Balance Adjustments
Magnum Hand Cannon
Damage: 100 → 180
Critical Chance: 25% → 30%
Reload Time: 2.8s → 2.6s
Effective Range: 80 → 100
Damage has been significantly increased to further emphasize the weapon’s high single-shot firepower, while Critical Chance, Reload Time, and Effective Range have also been improved.
Flux Repeater
Ammo: 15 → 25
Reload Time: 3s → 2.8s
Stun Value: 1 → 2
Ammo and Stun Value have been increased and Reload Time reduced, improving both sustained attack performance and Stun buildup.
Heavy Rotary Cannon
Damage: 8 → 6
Accuracy: 35% → 50%
Fire Rate: 15 → 16
Reload Time: 10s → 8s
Effective Range: 240 → 260
Damage has been reduced, while Accuracy, Fire Rate, Reload Time, and Effective Range have all been improved, allowing the weapon to deliver more consistent firepower during sustained attacks.
Sub Weapon Balance Adjustments
Multiple Rocket Launcher
Damage: 40 → 50
Projectile Vel.: 180 → 160
Effective Radius: 8 → 10
Damage and blast radius have been increased, making the weapon more effective against groups of enemies.
Rocket Launcher
Reload Time: 6s → 5s
Reload Time has been reduced, allowing you to follow up with the next attack more quickly.
Artillery Missile
Damage: 120 → 160
Damage has been increased, further strengthening the weapon’s ability to attack a wide area.
Auto Turret
Damage: 20 → 30
Reload Time: 16s → 15s
A new Memory Chip upgrade slot has been added, allowing the turret’s durability to be increased.
Damage and reload performance have been improved, along with a new way to increase turret durability, allowing it to operate more reliably on the battlefield.
Plasma Cannon
Projectile Vel.: 80 → 100
Reload Time: 16s → 15s
Projectile velocity and base reload performance have been improved. Reload Time will also decrease by a greater amount as the weapon levels up, allowing it to be used more frequently as it progresses.
High-Power Beam Cannon
Effective Radius: 6 → 7
Effective Radius has been increased, allowing the attack to reach slightly more enemies.
Ability Balance Adjustments
Magnetic Field Generator
Reload Time: 35s → 45s
Reload Time has been adjusted to provide a more appropriate usage interval for its powerful defensive effect.
Orbital Strike
Movement speed has been adjusted so that the Orbital Strike moves across the battlefield more quickly and can hit enemies faster.
Item Balance Adjustments
Rapid Cooling System
Booster Regen.: 20 → 10
Quick Boost Cost: -20 → -5
Booster recovery performance was abnormally high, allowing the Booster to be used continuously without effectively being depleted. The related values have been adjusted accordingly.
Unit Balance Adjustments
AG-52B Argus
Armor Integrity: 1800 → 1200
Armor Integrity has been adjusted to better balance overall survivability when combined with various defensive and recovery setups.
The response speed of Ram Charge has been improved, allowing players to more effectively utilize Argus’s ability to become invincible while using Quick Boost.
System & Accessibility Improvements
Auto Aim Delay Improvements
When Auto Aim is enabled, the system will now lock onto the next target more quickly after defeating an enemy.
Additional Optimization
We carried out further rendering and combat effect optimizations to reduce momentary frame drops and stuttering during combat.
These improvements focused particularly on high-load combat situations where large numbers of enemies, projectiles, and attack effects appear simultaneously.
With these optimizations, momentary frame drops and stuttering in these situations have been significantly reduced, providing a more stable combat experience.
※ Actual performance may vary depending on your PC specifications and gameplay environment. For smoother gameplay, please adjust the graphics quality settings according to your PC specifications.
Anti-Aliasing Method Changed
SMAA is now used instead of the previously used TAA method.
This change reduces rendering load from anti-aliasing processing and improves overall performance.
Combat Effect Optimization
Some effects that caused high processing loads when repeatedly generated during combat or when many objects were displayed simultaneously have been optimized.
Particular focus was placed on reducing momentary performance drops and stuttering in situations where large numbers of enemies, projectiles, and attack effects appear at once.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where enemy homing missiles would launch directly forward instead of launching vertically before flying toward their target.
Fixed an issue where Susanoo’s paint scheme was incorrectly applied as white instead of its original black color scheme.
About Future Updates
With this update, we hope to provide a new gameplay experience that offers an ongoing challenge in a different way from the existing missions.
We plan to continue expanding Endless Mode with a greater variety of enemies, weapons, skills, Combat Modifiers, and more.
Starting with this update, we will continue to improve and expand the balance and content of Endless Mode based on your feedback.
After giving it a try, please feel free to share your thoughts or let us know about anything you feel could be improved.
Thank you, as always, to everyone who continues to play and support the game.