This update is now live on the Empyrean Defense Steam Playtest. Thanks to everyone who’s been testing and sending feedback, many of the updates below came directly from your reports.
✨ New Features
Localization added with support for 5 languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian
Added Overdrive ability
Boosts the firepower of all military sites within range by 15% for a short duration
Added controller guides to settings and level loading screens
Added controller pointer icon when hovering over sites
Added action text to tooltips for neutral targets
Added soft text glow to Founder DLC titles and all Tier II and Tier III market items and abilities
🔧 Improvements
General performance improvements to reduce minor stuttering
Reduced shadow map size to improve performance
Updated main font and increased font sizes across the UI for better readability
Improved UI layout for popups and the in-game top bar
Updated site descriptions to sound more natural
Reworded all skills for improved clarity and consistency
Increased visibility of important UI elements such as warning text and completion labels
Adjusted default draw distance modifier from 1.5 to 1.3
Increased render distance of rocket trails
Improved explosion audio intensity
Updated landmines to move with Gerstner wave swells
Increased vessel collision box sizes for better hit detection
Updated path shield symbol and site shield visuals
Updated Landmark and Boss icons and switch Boss to High Value Target
Increased focus and hover highlight color intensity in some of the menu pages
Automatically scroll to the top/bottom of the Abilities page when focusing a top/bottom row ability
Automatically scroll to the top of the Foundry page when focusing a top row element
⚖️ Balance Changes
Reduced SAM Launcher health slightly (demo version)
Reduced Extra Credit skill bonus from 15% → 10%
Reduced Reduced Taxes skill bonus from 15% → 10%
Adjusted starting resource amounts in the Market
Rounded site repair values to align with credit/hitpoint ratio
🐛 Bug Fixes
Fixed achievements persisting incorrectly across save slots
Fixed new enemy encountered popups not appearing
Fixed controller action icon displaying mouse input in level panel
Fixed demo Level 3 time requirement issues
Fixed LNG models losing material overlays
Fixed settings not saving correctly from the main menu
Fixed visual issues with site shield upgrades
Fixed some explosion ghosting
Fixed issue with redeeming Founder DLC packages granting equipment already purchased
Fixed issue where ability text in game would flash briefly
Development is now focused on the upcoming demo, which is planned to release within the next week.
Full patch notes and development details are available on the Empyrean Defense wiki: