We've got a huge update for you today, with new features, new items, and multiplayer improvements. It also brings us one particularly wonderful new face that I'm sure you're going to- Well, I've been told that there's something else I absolutely need to talk about first, so let's get it over with:
Fragments in shard runs now have various modifiers and effects, such as gaining or losing Sparks, gaining Boost or Items, increased difficulty and obstacles, and more! It should make choosing a path on the map much more interesting and give you greater control over what kind of run you have!
You'll now have to think a little bit more about what kind of path you take, depending on what kind of effects you would like or not like, or if you want to pick the prettiest path available to you!
Fragment Disruptions gradually increase over the course of the game, with none in Shard 1, and reach their full potential in Shard 10.
There, done! I can finally talk about the best new addition:
Isn't he just adorable?? I could sit and listen to him play all day long, if not for the fact that I need to be out there looking for items to bring him.
Ahem. Here's how it works:
Rest stops now have a new character who will happily accept any item you might offer for donation. This gives you ways of getting rid of unwanted items, and possibly get something more useful in return!
Make sure to pay him a visit! Tell him Riza says hi!
There are now various new items utilising Boost Rings in various ways, allowing for new kinds of builds. There are also a few new Luck-based items to make Luck-based builds more interesting and impactful.
I'm going to let you discover what they are for yourself, but take my word for it - they're a lot of fun!
The Item View now has tooltips explaining what the different item effects actually do in the game! The dev team has decided to include this despite the fact that it will deprive many users on our Discord of their main livelihoods, when people no longer come online to ask what Luck does.
There's a setting to disable it if you don't like the way it looks, or if you already know what everything does. Or if you'd prefer to come and ask on our Discord.
I know how much fun it is to run with friends, so I made sure that the dev team paid some attention to all the suggestions you have been offering!
You can now give another player one of your Lives - as long as you have one to spare! You can do it at any time by using the new interaction in the Player List.
In the Research Outpost you can now also send one of your items to another player, which we're sure you're only going to use to help and support each other. Talk to Dalil to figure it out!
Finally there's also now a setting to have players spawn Boost Rings in their wake, which makes it more beneficial to follow in your friends' footsteps.
It really makes it feel like a cooperative experience now! If it's the end of the world it's better if we're in it together, right?
We have rebalanced the rate at which you get Sparks and the amount of Sparks items cost, so that actually collecting Sparks in levels becomes more impactful. Some of the new items lean into this as well!
I'm not sure how I feel about the dev team meddling with my hard-earned Sparks, but they promise that this is going to make for a more fun game...
Oh, and here's another thing that many many many of you have requested:
Whenever you're offered an item in Endless you can now spend Sparks to reroll your selection. This adds a little more strategy to long-distance Endless runs.
The team has also added a setting for using the new Fragment Disruptions in Endless Mode! Since you don't choose the path yourself, they'll be chosen randomly, but this is for those that want a little extra spice with their snack of Endless.
This one is going to be very important for some of you, so I'll highlight it as well:
There's a new setting in the options to disable some visual distortion filters, which was apparently causing headaches for some players. If that's you, go and switch it off right away!
If all of this seems like a lot, that's because it is! Our testers have helped immensely here and deserve a special shoutout for bringing this leviathan of an update to life. Haste wouldn't be what it is without you!
That brings us to the end of the feature list, but the team has also included a small collection of item changes, a bunch of bug fixes and a few QoL improvements. Check the full list below!
Fragment Disruptions: A new system that makes different Fragments in a Shard have different effects. Choose your path carefully!
The Hungry Weeboh: A new character at Rest Stops that lets you get rid of an unwanted item - and who might offer you something in exchange!
Multiplayer Improvements: Increased cooperation and interactivity.
Reroll Endless items!
Item Effect tooltips: We actually explain most of the core features of the game now!
New items: 9 new items for you to discover, including passing through Boost Rings as a new way of triggering item effects!
Reduced base Spark gain from Fragments by 50%
Decreased Research Outpost item costs by 25%
Slightly reduced the starting Collapse Speed for Shards 8-10, and slightly increased their ending Collapse Speed, meaning that it should be slightly easier to get started and slightly harder to finish.
Item balance is an ongoing concern, so please keep giving us feedback on items that aren't quite living up to expectations, or if you've found fun ways of combining them!
Wingspan now has an increased Cooldown. It's still dangerous, but offers a little bit of grace. Reduced the Cooldown of Steel Hat Lining, hopefully making it more viable as a very intentional protective measure
Increased the Cooldown for Experimental Thrusters
Brittle Breastplate now only does 25 damage instead of 50. Does that make it TOO GOOD? Absolutely not, but now you might actually use it.
Shortcut has increased its duration from 2 to 5 seconds
Boost from Well Earned Confidence increased from 2.5% to 5%
Heir's Determination now also gives +5 Speed (making up for some of the speed usually lost when taking damage)
Blood Engine now gives 8 damage instead of 5, but has its Boost increased to 15% for 6 seconds
Made various improvements to navigating menus with a controller, particularly to the Shard Settings screen
Items in the Research Outpost now show a discount label if their price is reduced
Items from your current run are now displayed on the "Run End" screen
Fixed the description for Experimental Autopilot (yes, we actually did it this time)
The Wobbler Skin now unlocks immediately when the conditions are met so it'll be easier for you to figure out what you got it for
The extra buttons on the main menu (for Credits, Discord and Multiplayer) now disappear correctly when you open the Settings menu
Fixed an issue where the first time you opened the Item View with a controller it would not let you actually inspect the Items you had
It's no longer possible to bring up the Item View while in Interactions or on the Shard Complete screen
Added some missing tags for Items (for random item selection in Encounters)
The Outfit Selection UI can no longer be scrolled horizontally. There wasn't anything to be found there, but that didn't stop some of you from checking.
Fixed getting the Disaster Completed message before actually finishing Disaster Mode. Some of you might get this message for a second time the first time you open this update, but after that it should be fixed!
Fixed Ascension Crowns sometimes not appearing correctly in multiplayer
Fixed some Ascension effects not starting properly in multiplayer for late joiners
Fixed unlocking the next ascension level sometimes not functioning correctly for multiplayer late-joiners
SkinDatabase.GetSkin() now returns the Default skin by... default
Phew, that was a lot! I hope you all enjoy this huge update!
Ahaha, you didn't really think I was going to let you go without looking at our community art, did you?
Let me present:
This Zoe art by Aviarasart
This amazing pixel art animation by thehiyacinth
This Wraith art from RocketPotatoL62
Gan art by Elliot!
This Zoe pixel art by Peri
Enjoy the new update and join the discord to see more art!