Dustborn content update v1.8

November 2024 content update

Content additions, QoL improvements, and bug fixes

We’re excited to bring you our latest update, featuring new content, quality of life improvements, and a bunch of bug fixes to make your cross-country road trip aboard the Cougar Cruiser a smoother and more enjoyable ride!

Here are the highlights:

Dialogue line skipping

By popular request, you can now skip dialogue lines with the spacebar (game controllers: Ⓑ/Ⓞ).

Introducing “Coda Moments”

Ever wonder when your choices impact the story? “Coda Moments” highlight key branching moments linked to your crew's Codas.

Combat skipping and difficulty tweaks

The new Story Mode skips all combat encounters automatically — for players who just want the story. You can also skip individual fights in Easy and Normal modes.

Hard Mode has upped the stakes: you can die, which sends you back to the last checkpoint.

Enhanced combat mechanics

We heard your feedback and we've made some changes to combat:

Pax's bat now reacts to walls and obstacles, dealing incidental damage on its way to enemies. Plus, there's a new bat-throw animation and a cooldown for more strategic throws.

We've improved blocking: hold the block button for continuous defence with an increased auto-turn radius.

We've also added three new chain combos to Pax's arsenal of melee bat-attacks.

Save-game browser

You can now browse and restore older saves, offering more control over your progress.

Additional gameplay enhancements

Manually exit band rehearsals, find alternate paths through challenges, discover extra lore and environmental details, like movie posters and new arcade machines in the mall.

Comic-book updates

We’ve polished the wrap-up comics and Coda pages, and added Coda pages for Theo.

(There’s also a new post-credits scene: restore the last checkpoint and rewatch the credits to see it!)

Bug fixes

Fixed camera control issues, resolved scene-blocking bugs, and squashed memory leaks.
Additional fixes for specific scenes and combat mechanics have been addressed.

Thanks for your feedback! We'll continue to make improvements, changes and additions based on your comments and input, so please let us know what you think!

Full patch notes:

• Dialogue line skipping
  • Use spacebar to skip dialogue lines, when possible
  • Not all dialogue lines can be skipped. This is due to scripts and animations that run in the background.
  • On Xbox controllers this action is mapped to the Ⓑ button.
  • On PlayStation controllers this action is mapped to the Ⓞ button.

• CODA Moments
  • “Coda Moment” pop-ups have been added throughout the game.
  • Coda Moments highlight when the story branches or events happen because of a character’s current Coda.

• Skip combat functionality
  • For players who want to focus on the story, there’s a new “story mode” that automatically skips all combat encounters.
  • Combat difficulty modes renamed to “Easy”, “Normal”, and “Hard”.
  • In addition, a “Skip combat” button is displayed when playing in easy/normal modes, enabling players to skip single fights.

• “Hard” combat mode made harder
  • You can now die when playing on the hard difficulty setting.
  • Dying puts you back at the previous checkpoint.

• Versus and victory screens added to all combat scenes
• Bat updates
  • Pax’s magnetic bat no longer passes through environmental collision. Instead, if the bat hits a wall or obstacle, it bounces back.
  • The bat does incidental damage if it hits enemies on its way to the target.
  • Pax’s bat-throwing animation has been replaced with a better animation.
  • The bat has a cooldown before Pax can throw it again.

• Improved combat blocking
  • Based on player feedback, we’ve improved the block functionality.
  • You can now hold the block-button to keep blocking, and Pax’s auto-turn radius has been increased.
  • Blocking is interrupted by attacking.

• New chain attacks
  • Three new chain attacks added to combat.

• Timing pass on banter dialogue
  • Combat banter dialogue is now paced better, with more pauses in banter, less overlapping dialogue.
  • Combat banter can still be switched off in accessibility settings.

• Save-game browser
  • You can now browse and restore older save games, not just the previous checkpoint.

• Exit band rehearsal
  • Added functionality for manually exiting band rehearsal scenes.

• Band mini-game calibration
  • Calibration has been added to the first songwriting scene.
  • Calibration is still available from the game settings screen.

• Pax's initial reaction to Robot
  • Players are no longer forced to use Vox on the robot driver in La Torre.
  • Pax will not use Vox if you simply let the dialogue time out.

• Alternate path for getting into The Bad Lands Bar & Grill in Chicago
  • There’s now an alternate way to get into the bar, which affects branching and the comic book.

• New post-credits scene
  • There’s a brand new post-credits stinger.
  • Tip to players who have completed the game: restore the last checkpoint and watch the credits!

• Noam may sing happy birthday to Mr President in the mall
  • This only happens if Noam’s current Coda is ████████.

• Noam plays hide-and-seek
  • Noam will now participate in the hide-and-seek segment in the farmhouse if their current Coda is ████████.

• Visual updates to the wrap-up comic book pages
  • Many pages have been polished and improved.

• Visual updates to the Coda splash pages at the end of the game
  • Several of the Coda endings have been polished and improved.

• Added Coda pages for Theo
  • Theo now gets a post-game Coda.

• Added missing Pax reflection moment in Camp Cedar
• Movie posters added to the mall cinema
• New arcade machines (non-playable) added to the mall arcade
• Added more JFK lore to the opening scenes of the game
• Added animated icon to the “feat of strength” tapping mini-game (e.g. Pax lifting bus in La Torre)
• Fixed inertia-issues when using mouse to control camera
• There’s now a setting to turn on/off camera smoothing.
• Fixed a problem where the heli-carrier cutscene in issue #10 broke the taunt camera
• Fixed blocker when using Sai interaction on bus in La Torre immediately after trying to lift bus
• Fixed bug with saving and reloading during motel escape
• Fixed bug in a campfire scene where gifting Theo something teleported Pax to another spot in the scene
• Fixed bugs in combat movement set
• Fixed multiple memory leaks