Genesis: Rise of Life — Update 0.4.1

Update 0.4.1 transforms the reefs of the Nutrient Soup and Coral Barrier, adds five mouth variants and four Genetic Memory upgrades, and improves the tutorial, controls, and in-game readability.

Completely renewed reefs

• The Nutrient Soup and Coral Barrier now use a modular system that replaces the old shapes. Floors, walls, ledges, ramps, rocks, and plant compositions create more organic terrain with clearer relief. (This system is still experimental.)
• Maps gain accessible lagoons, winding channels, archipelagos, carved plateaus, crescents, reef chains, stars, broken rings, fractures, and Y junctions. Passages avoid long straight lines and enclosed water pockets with no entrance.
• Colonies are richer, better connected to the terrain, and animated by the current.
• Wall food is slightly more common. Nutrient Soup bulb clusters remain aligned with their supports during harvesting and regrowth.
• Large free-standing bulb branches in the Nutrient Soup are slightly easier to push.

Five new mouth variants

• Crushing Jaw: bypasses part of the target's protection and does not trigger Short Spine retaliation.
• Tearing Jaw: recovers mass based on the health damage actually dealt.
• Ramming Mouth: favours animal food and turns a fast frontal charge into damage and knockback.
• Regenerative Mouth: favours plants and gradually converts assimilated food into health while the cell is injured.
• Filtering Mouth: slowly gathers mass while swimming with its mouth open. Its bite does not harm other cells.
• Each variant has an Awakening Objective, a Genetic Memory node, and a dedicated appearance. The build menu only shows mouths for the current diet.

New upgrades

• Short Spines now cost 40 mass instead of 55.
• Repulsive Reflex knocks back and briefly stuns attackers biting a covered area.
• Nociceptive Imprint then gives them a chance to force the attacker to flee for a few seconds.
• Hypertrophied Conduit increases Mucilage Gland range by 25%.
• Accelerated Secretion reduces its cooldown from 12 to 8 seconds.

Progression, tutorial, and controls

• Winning a Nutrient Soup cycle now awards 6 DNA instead of 5.
• The guided HUB tour now introduces the Lineage Archives.
• The Spike Volley lesson now consumes mass and restarts locally if the reserve runs out before the target is defeated.
• When diet selection is locked, the HUB's Objective action now opens the corresponding mission directly.
• A new configurable action saves a screenshot, even while paused: F12 on keyboard and right stick click on controller by default.

Readability and fixes

• Retriever Symbiote vision now blends into the Annular Eye without drawing a dark circle inside its blurred area.
• French text in the tutorial and Mutation Reorientation screen now uses consistent formal address.

Saves and compatibility

• Existing 0.4.0 saves, progression, settings, and controls remain compatible.
• No acquired organelle, purchase, or DNA is removed.
• Terrain generated from an older seed changes under the new reef system.