greetings lantern wielders, this update contains a batch of features, adjustments, and improvements that I have been working on while making the upcoming larger 0.6.0 update.
See below for a summary:
a new trial "Crypt Circuit" is now hidden in the Crypt.
for it to appear, make sure you have gotten all Crypt key fragments and unlocked the first few regular-sized locked doors there. save at a lantern post to refresh it.
note that there is no reward for completing this yet.
the Depths area now has a cliffside path for getting back to the rest of the world more simply.
the Depths and Cistern areas now have a simple connection between them. still WIP.
there is a new utility bracelet hidden in the Basin. the bracelet's function is janky and needs polish, but it is already working well enough to be cool, so I added it in early.
for those looking for a challenge, you can now get the Early Access ending while Lanternless.
to begin, start a new game and do not pick up the Lantern Hook.
reaching the ending like this is not straightforward, you will need to look for alternative routes.
certain sections become surprisingly challenging to traverse.
doors and switches are updated to be openable (or not if it has the glowing white ring on it).
lantern posts cannot be used as checkpoints without the hook.
besides playing completely Lanternless, you can now do a finger snap at any time if you unequip your lantern. this was planned a long time ago so I am glad it finally made it in.
some sounds for player moves have been added and adjusted.
slide hops increase speed more, especially down slopes.
downhill slides collide with the ground more consistently.
grapple pulls can now be buffered by holding down the "Burden" heal input.
most of the player moves Recollections now have images as a visual aid.
surfing on a Wyvern in the air will allow you to glide like a plane, use the forward and backward move keys to pitch up and down.
the Axeleton enemy has been reworked to be throwable and its art has been touched up.
most boss fights are rebalanced slightly. weakpoints have been added to two bosses.
two additional boss fights are now replayable.
a separate Lanternless category has been added to all relevant trials, ranked separately from the Standard board. simply unequip your lantern to compete in that category.
equipment used for a trial is now shown next to its leaderboard score. might give a clue into your next strategy.
a quick-restart button for trials is shown as a gold-chain in the pause menu.
ammo is now temporarily refilled when attempting certain trials.
since there have been a lot of movement changes and exploits fixed, leaderboard scores have been reset. the previous version's rankings are archived and viewable in the leaderboard menu.
leaderboards can now be viewed from the main menu (load a game and save once to make it show)
addressed some overpowered aspects of the Claw lantern
map menu controls improved and interface improved
various bug fixes and minor optimizations
refer to the previous news post for the latest Roadmap!
I had hoped to get all this patched in sooner but I decided to take a bit more time to add the Lanternless mode. The next major update is coming along well but there is still more work to be done. I am now pivoting away from adding features to focus on the upcoming levels. I hope you can all try out some new areas soon. Thank you for playing the game in the meantime, enjoy the update!
0.5.2 Lanternless update
- added support for Lanternless new game route
- added finger snapping
- updated lantern hook damage balance and behaviors
- added Crypt Circuit time trial, available after most Crypt locks opened
- added a hidden utility bracelet
- added something that appears when you skip a certain area
- added surf gliding for Wyvern enemies
- reworked Skullaxe enemy mechanics and art
- updated Hand and Lone Exoskeleton encounters to be replayable
- updated a boss drop to re-drop pickup on level-load if missed
- rebalanced boss fights slightly
- rebalanced general enemy stamina recovery behavior
- adjusted Solarium scene visuals
- adjusted door and lever visuals
- added climb path along cliffs of the Depths with lever gate to Chasm
- adjusted Depths lever switch position and effects
- reworked Cistern end room to access a weapon and peek into another area
- adjusted and added player movement sounds
- tweaked player kick jump strength falloff
- improved player speed increase from slide hop
- fixed some issues for player sliding down slopes
- added some move icons to recollections menu
- reworked equips menu to open and list inventory more consistently
- improved map interface for unmapped areas
- improved map camera controls to drag and refocus better
- updated map menu to hide checkpoints from unmapped regions
- updated map menu to show active checkpoint
- added support for more areas to be properly listed in map menu
- changed "Burden" input to be cancelable to help buffer hook pull
- adjusted menu UI scaling for uncommon screen ratios
- added save slot info text to stats menu
- updated continue menu to select most recent played save slot
- added leaderboards button to main menu, along with global records save file
- reset leaderboards to new version "0.5.2"
- added support for viewing archived leaderboard versions
- added separate leaderboard category: Lanternless
- added equipment tier ranking system for leaderboards
- updated trials to block equipment swapping in menus
- reworked trials to check equips and tag runs with loadout
- added trial quick-restart button in pause menu
- tweaked some equipment menu descriptions
- fixed Claw lantern hook enemy hang state exploits
- fixed lantern protection oob issue while in trial
- adjusted scene loader error handling
- fixed collision issues while surfing enemies
- fixed a collision issue with kicks near geometry
- fixed minor issues with pausing the game
- fixed overcharge visual issue with skullaxe enemy
- fixed issues with trigger and look input for controllers
- fixed some text correctness, length, and typos
- fixed some scene issues
- adjusted various area music to play in more circumstances
- added 'upgradeall', 'gamespeed' cheat commands
- minor optimizations and fixes