We have some catching up to do.

Updates have been landing faster than we have been writing about them! Since our September 16 update post, MegaDope 2D has gained two playable heroes, two substantial survival interiors, new enemies, bosses and legendary loot, plus a lot of work on the systems holding it all together.

Everything in the main sections below is available now in the current Steam build. Update your game and jump in. Nyx and Mara bring the survival roster to 10 playable heroes, and both new interiors support solo LTID — Leaderboards Till I Die and LTWD — Leaderboards Till We Die co-op.

Meet Nyx — The Last Rite

Point her at the horde. Nyx is our twin-shotgun crowd breaker: left volley, right volley, reload, and back into the fight. Her automatic attacks tear through enemies up close, while her upgrades let you build around more pellets, fire, extra volleys and kills that feed faster reloads. Attack speed helps the whole firing-and-reloading cycle.

Her six active abilities give you several ways to make room:

• Gravewheel: Spin through six outward shotgun blasts while staying mobile.
• Hellbreath: Sweep a cone of supernatural flame with your aim and ignite the crowd.
• Kickback: Throw enemies away with a double blast while the recoil launches you backward.
• Gravebind: Pull nearby enemies into cursed chains, then follow up with a volley. Bosses are slowed rather than dragged.
• Blackpowder Veil: Drop a smoke charge that reduces incoming damage while slowing and choking attackers.
• Final Sentence: Bring both shotguns together for an enormous focused discharge that pierces lesser enemies.

She has her own animations, voice lines and upgrade choices. If your answer to a closing circle of enemies is “more shotgun,” Nyx is ready.

Meet Mara — The Plague Alchemist

Mara fights by turning the ground against everything pursuing her. She throws plague flasks into dense groups, splashing enemies and leaving lingering Miasma pools that stack Blight. Build her toward wider pools, more flasks, spreading corpse bursts or enemies taking more damage as their Blight builds.

Her six active abilities let you prepare a killing ground, spread the infection and survive long enough to finish the experiment:

• Miasma Bomb: Shatter a large flask into a wide plague cloud that damages, slows and applies Blight.
• Caustic Volley: Send five flasks down a lane, each leaving a smaller Miasma pool.
• Contagion: Infect nearby enemies so their corpses burst and pass the infection on.
• Tincture of Vigor: Heal yourself and temporarily brew faster.
• Plague Step: Dash along your aim while leaving a trail of Miasma.
• Pandemic: Rupture nearby Blighted enemies for damage based on their stacks, then release a vast cloud.

Mara also has a history with someone waiting in the new content: the Grand Physician was her teacher. Bring her to his domain for their own voiced exchange.

Descend into the Buried Cathedral

Buried Cathedral destination artwork, also featured in the game's new loading screens.

A crypt stair can appear out in your survival world. Follow it down through the Buried Galleries, Desecrated Cathedral and Infernal Nave: a 13-room journey with wardens, sealed gates and an optional Drowned Bell wave challenge.

Six new enemy families live below: Entombed Pilgrims, Coffin Crawlers, Chainbound Penitents, Hollow Cantors, Riven Martyrs and Reliquary Brutes. Expect ambushes, chains, supporting chants and enemies that make standing still a very poor idea.

At the end waits the Pallbearer, a three-phase boss whose coffin has more to reveal as the battle develops. Defeating him gives you a chance at the exclusive legendary Reliquary of the Last Rites, a relic that turns basic-attack kills into corpse explosions.

Enter the Rotting Apothecary

Rotting Apothecary destination artwork, also featured in the game's new loading screens.

The Gas-Choked Cellar leads to a much larger plague-soaked journey through the Flooded Cellars, Apothecary Streets and Great Distillery. Broad streets, plazas, bridges, green sludge canals and looming buildings give this interior its own identity. There is also an optional Plague Font challenge for anyone willing to make the trip more dangerous.

Five more enemy families join the fight: Rot Walkers, Plague Rats, Vat Spawns, Plague Acolytes and Flesh Abominations. Watch for lunges, clouds, acid and hooks that pull you into trouble.

The Grand Physician awaits at the end with a three-phase fight, voiced dialogue and a particularly personal welcome for Mara. Watch his attacks carefully: even the Physician can overdose on his own work.

His exclusive legendary drop, Physician's Last Prescription, is an amulet that produces periodic prescription clouds. Like the Cathedral relic, it is a possible boss reward, not a guaranteed drop.

These are journeys inside your current run

Both interiors work in LTID and LTWD. They are part of the same survival run, with the overworld waiting for your return.

Entering is a commitment: the way back closes, and Return Scrolls cannot pull you out before you beat the interior boss. In co-op, both living players need to be nearby and agree to enter. Come prepared, clear the journey, then return to the world you left.

Rusty, Rotor and less time sorting equipment

Sanctuary destination artwork.

Visit Rusty in the Sanctuary to install the optional equipment helper for free. It is available in both survival modes and starts switched off.

Choose Balanced, Tank or DPS priorities and let it evaluate incoming gear against your loadout, including equipment combinations and powers. Rotor, the little helicopter companion, provides some company along the way.

Know your settings: when enabled, the helper can automatically discard lower-rated carried gear when your backpack is full, including a new pickup that loses the comparison. Mythic gear and banked items are excluded. Leave it off if you prefer making every equipment decision yourself. Rotor is cosmetic; it does not fight or collect distant loot for you.

More reasons to explore, and stronger survival foundations

There has been plenty happening beyond the new heroes and interiors:

• Exploration drives objectives. Survival objectives now reward moving into previously unvisited areas after their cooldowns. Camping one spot no longer makes objectives keep appearing around you, and placement preserves the surrounding terrain.
• More temporary power in the field. Rare survival buff drops bring effects such as Frenzy, Bloodlust, Phantom Steps, Soul Magnet, Soul Shield and Death's Favor into LTID and LTWD.
• Research and evolution progress across both modes. Earned exploration, trial and boss milestones feed the shared survival systems. In co-op, shared achievements can advance milestones while each player retains their own research ranks and build choices.
• Better equipment and consumable handling. Recent fixes address co-op inventory delivery, consumables, healing quick slots and guest attacks.
• Clearer combat information. Shared boss health bars, stacked boss encounters and more readable damage numbers help keep the action understandable.
• Leaderboards from the main menu. Browse Campaign, LTID and LTWD boards, with improvements to duo names, record details, paging and controller navigation.
• More personality. Nyx and Mara have their own voiced lines, the Grand Physician has new dialogue, and speech-bubble and voice presentation have continued receiving attention.

17 destination paintings and smoother transitions

Campaign, LTID and LTWD now have 17 destination-specific loading paintings, including the two interiors shown above. Loading transitions cover the work of preparing the next area, giving each destination a proper arrival.

Under the hood, we have also reduced save-processing overhead and worked on transition and interior-loading hitches. There have been additional fixes around stat previews and shared survival presentation. These are the less flashy changes that matter when you are deep into a run.

A quick LTWD reminder

LTWD is currently a two-player co-op preview. You can play the new heroes and interiors together now. The saved-team foundation introduced in the previous update keeps solo progress separate from your exact co-op team, and co-op leaderboard records remain preview/unverified.

Three- and four-player support remain a future goal, with no ETA. We are continuing to build and improve the two-player experience first.

We are having fun building this. There is more coming.

We have more big content planned, and the updates will keep rolling in as we build MegaDope 2D into everything we want it to be. There is a lot we still want to add, and we are having a great time making it happen.

We will share the next content reveals as they are ready. For now, try Nyx and Mara, take a friend below the world, and let us know what you think. Your feedback helps us decide what needs attention next.

Thank you for playing, finding the rough edges, and being part of this with us.