The Nest - Major Update

Hello Climbers!

Your next challenge awaits. The fifth region, The Nest, has been released!

But before we get to the details, We're on sale during this Summer Sale (Later Today!) The game's price will be increasing after the sale, so fair warning if you're thinking about picking up the game that this is the best deal it'll be for a good while! Tell your friends!

What's New

New Region: The Nest

Venture into Habitation Blue's long abandoned research sector in the campaign's fifth region: THE NEST. Wield a powerful handgun and your growing array of tools, artifacts, and other weapons to slash, rip, throw, gib, and otherwise wreck havoc within the Habitation turned alien jungle.

You, still, won't be alone on this journey. The Mass is hot on your tail and is growing more and more desperate as it continues its rouse from a long slumber.

Not all denizens of the superstructure are threats, your decisions over the course of the run will determine if you make friends with a powerful potential ally: The Mother of the Grubs. Do well enough by her, and she may gift you the Barnacle Hook. Kill her children, and she will instead throw you out of her protection and into the Hot Zone, or worse, into an early grave.

New Subregions

• Interlude 4: Symbiosis

• Infested Labs

• Hot Zone

• Feeding Trough

The Nest is an alien jungle, and is full of a massive variety of dangerous wildlife. From Sprider swarms, to packs of Grub Aunts, to shambling Barnacles which have been keeping their infested hosts 'alive' for decades, it's not an ecosystem suited to your imminent survival.

Which is why you'll need..

We are giving you a gun. Yes. A real honest to goodness firearm that shoots lead bullets fast enough to turn bloodbugs into pink mist. A Drake Combat Solutions MD95 10mm Service Pistol. A gun. Shoot. Bang Bang.

A handgun isn't the only new tool at your disposal however, over your run you may find that your array of Powerful Artifacts increases:

The two new major artifacts are:

• The Rapier

  • A sword made from mercury, able to change its shape and propel the user forward. Dash into the ground while falling to pogo, or up a wall to skate. Also, great at stabbing.

• The Barnacle Hook

  • A young Barnacle, trained to grab and release. Its stamina recovers extremely slowly, but like you it loves a good meal. Keep it fed, and you'll soar.

In addition, you may find two new minor artifacts:

• The Cleaver

  • Rip and tear through enemies with ease, eat their (definitely very tasty and not hallucinated) flesh and power yourself up with each kill.

• The Rho Stone

  • Found rarely or sold by the Roach Merchant, the Rho Stone can briefly protect yourself from all Mass forms when crushed.

While any signs of recent human habitation might be absent from your travels, the Lambda periphery that originated all alien life in the Nest was once host to an array of strange, and sometimes sapient, species. Now, some of them live in the Superstructure itself.

The Trader is willing to make a deal with any friendly passerby, even if you don't share a tongue or, well, any related mouthparts, for that matter.

The word is that he's set up a permanent shop somewhere in the Underworks. Though, with a keen eye (or a trusty hand scanner) you may be able to find him in nooks in many more places.

A slew of new perks have been deposited into your upgrade consoles. Pet Grubs, Become a Slaughterhouse, Get Sticky, and More.

In addition, there are three new Trinkets:

• The Helmet

  • Keep your noggin safe from any incoming hazard, be it a bloodbug, bullets, or steam.

• The Climbing Shoes

  • Catch your breath by locking your feet to the wall to barely drain any stamina, or climb-jump even more fervently than you already were.

• The Calming Buddy

  • Official-Unofficial mascot of SB17, this stress toy is sure to keep you calm and collected when looking in your bag. So calm, in fact, it might feel like time is not moving at all. Because it isn't.

Oh, and that's right, there are two new Bindings:

• Roach Mode

  • Become a roach. That's it, you're just a little fella. You have short stubby arms, but a hell of a kick jump.

• Hunted

  • IT IS AFTER YOU IT IS AFTER YOU IT IS AFTER YOU IT IS AFTER YOU

Oh, and did we mention a whole grabbag of new and cool cosmetics? No? Well, this update has those too.

The Nest (And April’s Anniversary Update which was split from it) mark the next chapter of your climb through the Superstructure both narratively and mechanically. But do not worry, the ride isn't over yet.

Next Up: The Penultimate region, The Core. Once the height of advanced technology within the Superstructure, its massive power generation is now being overtaken by the Mass, and it's getting both hungrier and more capable. Good Luck. You'll need it.

Thank you so much for everything, hope you enjoy the new content!

-Dark Machine Games

New Zones

• Interlude: Symbiosis 

• Nest

  • Three subregions

    • Infested Labs

    • Hot Zone

    • Feeding Trough

• Alternate Deadman's Handle

New Denizens

• The Hunter

  • A new form of the Mass, evolved to chase you through the tight corridors of Habitation Blue.

• Hanging Gardens

  • Moth Whelp - replacing Worker Bloodbugs 

• Nest

  • Grubs

    • Mother

    • Aunt

    • Sister

  • Bloodbugs

    • Swarm

    • Spitter

  • Barnacle Zombie

    • Scientist 

    • Security 

  • Vernal Gasbag

  • Myzonts

  • Tick Roach

  • Sprider

  • Ravelin

  • Roach Trader

New Hazards

• Signal orchids

• Flashflowers

• Deep Water

Items

• Handgun

  • Shoot

  • Bang

  • Reload?

Artifact Items

• Two Major Artifact Items

  • The Rapier

  • The Barnacle Hook

• Two Minor Artifact Items

  • The Cleaver

  • The Rho Stone

Perks

• New Perks

  • Deep Pockets

    • You can pocket Rebar and other large items.

    • Your pockets can stack 3 of any regular item.

  • Carnal Bloodlust

    • Gain a temporary buff for every creature you kill.

    • Provides a lesser secondary permanent buff that levels up with every creature you kill.

  • Ammo Spiracles

    • Ammunition takes no inventory space.

  • Metacarpal Refinement

    • When climbing nonstop without jumping you gain increased reach and climbing speed.

  • Motherly Instincts

    • Grubs provide a buff when in your inventory.

    • Instead of crushing grubs you can pet them for a temporary buff.

  • Adhesive Perspiration

    • You sweat temporary stick goop when grounded.

• Balance Changes

  • Overwhelmed

    • As you stay grounded longer you gain increased walking/running speed, climbing speed, jump height and a midair jump.

  • Muscle Relaxants

    • Buffed the amount of stamina regen per grip open and close.

Trinkets & Bindings

• Trinkets

  • Calming buddy

    • Slows time while your inventory is open.

  • Climbing shoes

    • Reduces stamina drain while resting during a hang, and from climb-jumps.

  • OSHA approved helmet 

    • Reduced grip loss, increased damage and knockback resistance.

• Bindings

  • Hunted

    • DONT DIE DONT DIE DONT DIE DONT DIE

  • Roach Mode

    • Play as a roach! Short arms but you got  big hops!!

New Cosmetics

• Hand Cosmetics

  • Roach Hands

  • Xray Hands

  • Stone Hands

  • Infested Hands

• Hammer Cosmetics

  • Crowbar

  • Crowbar (Retro)

• Voice Cosmetics

  • Roach Voice

Other Changes

• Items

  • Rho Spear Artifact

    • Overheat mechanic, spam the spear

  • Timepiece

    • Now recharges passively.

• The Bazaar

  • Owned and operated by the friendly roach trader! Make fair trades and swap out trinkets! Unlock with a facility upgrade

• Decals

  • Spears crack concrete! Bullets leave holes!! Leave handprints after using a grub!!!

• Revamped mass textures/effects 

• Removed Gomblo. For real this time.

Bugfixes

So many, but here's a few of the big ones:

• Fixed Forward+ culling Blink Eyes, negative lights and bled lights culling in a few specific levels.

• Fixed Parasite's Hardmode not being available.