Greetings! This month's issue marks the 1-year anniversary of The Neowsletter!! Thank you to everyone who has been reading along since the beginning.

The Mega Crit team is still hard at work on the sequel. We're on that grindset >:( But also striking a good work/life balance >:)

The main focus lately has been content. It has to be fresh, challenging, and complex while also making sure that the game is accessible to new players and retains that Slay the Spire feel and magic. That was a bit too vague to be interesting news... let's take a sneak peek at some relics and potions instead!


Here's an assortment of relics (top row) and potions (bottom row) coming in the sequel! Relics retain their classic look but you may have noticed that potions got a little makeover; they each have their own distinct sprites. Very rare potions can look quite exotic too.

1. Wongo's Bargain Ticket: Here we see a standard bargain ticket from a Wongo's. Only patrons of Wongo's can find out what this means.
   
2. Stone Humidifier: This handy little device ensures that you gain a great night's sleep.
   
3. Joss Paper: Mysterious sheets of incense paper... what could it be for?
   
4. Heart of Iron: This is also in the first game but I wanted to show off how a classic potion got an art do-over :).
   
5. Ship in a Bottle: We're not quite sure if you're drinking this one, but there's a feeling that it can get you to safety.
   
6. Foul Potion: We're not sure who or what is making a potion called Foul Potion. What is it for? How foul is it!?

Okay, we hope you enjoyed this sneak peek.


Alex asks: What is your favourite beta art from Slay the Spire 1?
Casey: Certainly TURBO
Demi: Popping in to say Tantrum was the first one to come to mind. It's cute :)

Akroo asks: I'd like to know if you are planning on improving even further the modding possibilities of STS2 ?
Casey: We're creating more entry points in the game but I don't know about improving modding possibilities... in STS1 you can rewrite any part of the game already. You could put a game in the game or order a pizza already.

Oscar asks: Will some cards have pun-based art?
Casey: Preferably not. If STS2 has puns, I've failed.

Brandon asks: Do the characters have canon names? Like, sure, they're the Ironclad, but is his real name Steve? What about watcher? Is her name Jasmine? Cause that's a pretty name
Anthony: no

Delta asks: If all the artifacts are made of bronze… does using Feed to kill Donu turn the Ironclad into Bronzeclad?
Anthony: no

Thaan asks: What can we expect from general UI Improvements? My wish list includes a turn counter display that doesn’t disappear after two seconds and a way to know how much you have spent on card removal so you can budget your next one.
Casey: Yes




Demi here! That means it's time to continue our journey through the much-evolved Spire.

Let's take a look at last month's mysterious silhouette:



And now, let's check out our researchers' hypotheses:


The award for saddest theory goes to alex1729, who drew Neow trapped in vines at the bottom of the ocean... poor Neow :(


The award for most accurate theory goes to PrincexKoi, who drew an organic-looking, viny, quadrupedal monster!

Shout out to all of the other submissions (many of which seemed to center around Neow or another character becoming trapped/corrupted actually...)


Credit from left to right: ssorgatem, gummyfungi, Marmoth, popnfresh24, GooseEle, Multi-Man, Ada, Mound Sand, Podunk22, Nevve1776, mainasuarafa, ironstove, B.D., PorpleKnight, 2kiye, Trevor.

Without further ado, let's have a drum roll for the unveiling...



Agh! It's an enormous, shambling monster seemingly made of vines?? This publication is currently referring to this creature as a Vine Shambler, which we thought was apt.



Of course, there are always further discoveries to be made--yet another shadowy creature has emerged! If you have any guesses as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel!



Cant seem to beat the heat? Have a Slay the Spire Connections puzzle as a treat!


Thank you to Osakana for our incredibly beautiful cover image this month! And a very special shoutout to all of the other artists who ALSO submitted incredibly beautiful potential cover images... it was so hard to choose, as always! </3


Credit from left to right: WildeChelsy (timelapse on Instagram!), HAN, tide, and 周恒辉!

Next month's theme is: Neow in an autumnal forest! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title!

Ok, let's take a look at some of this month's top community highlights!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVE4SlP02d8
An amazing Slay the Spire parody song/animation by PixelPenguin (released in honor of the 1-year anniversary of their "Drawing badly until StS2 comes out" project!)


A pixel Ironclad as well as a mini pixel Ironclad by Lamily!


A Binding of Isaac x Slay the Spire crossover mousepad made by GM_Whitose!

Alright, that's it for this issue. Cheers to one whole year of Neowsletters! Be sure to tune in, as always, next month!

Greetings! This month's issue marks the 1-year anniversary of The Neowsletter!! Thank you to everyone who has been reading along since the beginning.

The Mega Crit team is still hard at work on the sequel. We're on that grindset >:( But also striking a good work/life balance >:)

The main focus lately has been content. It has to be fresh, challenging, and complex while also making sure that the game is accessible to new players and retains that Slay the Spire feel and magic. That was a bit too vague to be interesting news... let's take a sneak peek at some relics and potions instead!


Here's an assortment of relics (top row) and potions (bottom row) coming in the sequel! Relics retain their classic look but you may have noticed that potions got a little makeover; they each have their own distinct sprites. Very rare potions can look quite exotic too.

1. Wongo's Bargain Ticket: Here we see a standard bargain ticket from a Wongo's. Only patrons of Wongo's can find out what this means.
   
2. Stone Humidifier: This handy little device ensures that you gain a great night's sleep.
   
3. Joss Paper: Mysterious sheets of incense paper... what could it be for?
   
4. Heart of Iron: This is also in the first game but I wanted to show off how a classic potion got an art do-over :).
   
5. Ship in a Bottle: We're not quite sure if you're drinking this one, but there's a feeling that it can get you to safety.
   
6. Foul Potion: We're not sure who or what is making a potion called Foul Potion. What is it for? How foul is it!?

Okay, we hope you enjoyed this sneak peek.


Alex asks: What is your favourite beta art from Slay the Spire 1?
Casey: Certainly TURBO
Demi: Popping in to say Tantrum was the first one to come to mind. It's cute :)

Akroo asks: I'd like to know if you are planning on improving even further the modding possibilities of STS2 ?
Casey: We're creating more entry points in the game but I don't know about improving modding possibilities... in STS1 you can rewrite any part of the game already. You could put a game in the game or order a pizza already.

Oscar asks: Will some cards have pun-based art?
Casey: Preferably not. If STS2 has puns, I've failed.

Brandon asks: Do the characters have canon names? Like, sure, they're the Ironclad, but is his real name Steve? What about watcher? Is her name Jasmine? Cause that's a pretty name
Anthony: no

Delta asks: If all the artifacts are made of bronze… does using Feed to kill Donu turn the Ironclad into Bronzeclad?
Anthony: no

Thaan asks: What can we expect from general UI Improvements? My wish list includes a turn counter display that doesn’t disappear after two seconds and a way to know how much you have spent on card removal so you can budget your next one.
Casey: Yes




Demi here! That means it's time to continue our journey through the much-evolved Spire.

Let's take a look at last month's mysterious silhouette:



And now, let's check out our researchers' hypotheses:


The award for saddest theory goes to alex1729, who drew Neow trapped in vines at the bottom of the ocean... poor Neow :(


The award for most accurate theory goes to PrincexKoi, who drew an organic-looking, viny, quadrupedal monster!

Shout out to all of the other submissions (many of which seemed to center around Neow or another character becoming trapped/corrupted actually...)


Credit from left to right: ssorgatem, gummyfungi, Marmoth, popnfresh24, GooseEle, Multi-Man, Ada, Mound Sand, Podunk22, Nevve1776, mainasuarafa, ironstove, B.D., PorpleKnight, 2kiye, Trevor.

Without further ado, let's have a drum roll for the unveiling...



Agh! It's an enormous, shambling monster seemingly made of vines?? This publication is currently referring to this creature as a Vine Shambler, which we thought was apt.



Of course, there are always further discoveries to be made--yet another shadowy creature has emerged! If you have any guesses as to what this creature could be, be sure to submit them via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel!



Cant seem to beat the heat? Have a Slay the Spire Connections puzzle as a treat!


Thank you to Osakana for our incredibly beautiful cover image this month! And a very special shoutout to all of the other artists who ALSO submitted incredibly beautiful potential cover images... it was so hard to choose, as always! </3


Credit from left to right: WildeChelsy (timelapse on Instagram!), HAN, tide, and 周恒辉!

Next month's theme is: Neow in an autumnal forest! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title!

Ok, let's take a look at some of this month's top community highlights!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVE4SlP02d8
An amazing Slay the Spire parody song/animation by PixelPenguin (released in honor of the 1-year anniversary of their "Drawing badly until StS2 comes out" project!)


A pixel Ironclad as well as a mini pixel Ironclad by Lamily!


A Binding of Isaac x Slay the Spire crossover mousepad made by GM_Whitose!

Alright, that's it for this issue. Cheers to one whole year of Neowsletters! Be sure to tune in, as always, next month!

This update introduces an optional playstyle where you control multiple characters at once:

• You can switch between your party members and each one has separate stats, inventory, and spells
  
• You can recruit party members in the lobby by using the Soulforge
  
• You can encounter a "Fellow" in the dungeon who will join you

Other changes and fixes:

• Outline shader tweaks
  
• Changed player height
  
• Some UI tweaks
  
• Added lava particles
  
• Fixed boss portraits not rendering correctly in the lobby
  
• Fixed an issue with incorrect controller detection when SteamInput is enabled

Greetings!

We're pleased to announce that as well as on many other digital stores, you can now purchase the first volume of the soundtrack to Cross Product Multiplayer on Steam! Additionally, we're running a discount for the first week it's on Steam!

The album, which includes both MP3 and WAV versions, includes all the music and recordings produced for and used in Half-Life: Cross Product Multiplayer in Seasons 5-9; or, versions 2.5-2.9, during 2021-2024.

We hope you enjoy the music for there will be more to come as the game evolves, and we hope to see you jumping into the action next week!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3835370/See You On the Virtual Battlefield on August 22nd...

Sabian Roberts

Lead Developer @ The Phoenix Project Software SVG

2025-08-15

Changelog
- Improve player animation state when switching to a new officer
- Fix player taunt aggroing friendly officers

-Fixed Truck Stuck at Deposit(for real this time)

The ongoing beta test for MSFS 2024 Sim Update 3 continues with two new pre-release builds this week. In case you missed it, you can see the release notes for each of these test builds here:

• Sim Update 3 Beta (1.5.24.0) Release Notes – August 11th, 2025

  • Sim Update 3 Beta (1.5.25.0) Release Notes – August 13th, 2025

Earlier this week, we opened a survey in partnership with Xbox Research to solicit player feedback about the in-sim Marketplace. If you would like to share your opinions about the Marketplace with the development team, you can participate in the survey at this link. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us as the team looks to make future improvements to the Marketplace experience. Thank you to all who complete the survey!

As mentioned in the weekly Development Blog a few weeks ago, Microsoft Flight Simulator will be at Gamescom again this year in Cologne, Germany! If you are attending the event, please stop by our booth and say hello to members of the MSFS team. We always love meeting and chatting with our players and fans!

To coincide with Gamescom, next week we will be releasing both City Update 12 and Local Legend 21! We’re excited to share more information about both of these updates with you in the coming days!

Our efforts to backport selected aircraft from MSFS 2024 to MSFS (2020) continues. This week, three additional planes from MSFS 2024 are now available in the MSFS (2020) Marketplace: the Air Tractor AT-802, Pipistrel Taurus M, and Powrachute Sky Rascal.

Last but certainly not least, August 18 is the five-year anniversary of the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) on PC! To celebrate, we’re asking the community to participate in our 5×5 event: for the fifth anniversary of MSFS, share your top five favorite things from the past year: they can be your best screenshots, your most memorable flights, your top five aircraft, your favorite third party add-on developers, and more! See this forum thread for more information and to share your personal MSFS 5×5!

– MSFS Team

---

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

This week we have a bunch of new cards added in for the transformation options that hadn't been modified last week. We also have a new parallax effect for all battle scenes! A lot more QOL changes have been added.

- Updated basic battle icons
- Added new parallax effect for all battle scenes
- New shader for transformation scene
- Added new cards "Branch Sweep", "Wave Cutter", "Dam Breaker", "Fixed Gaze", "Log Slam", "Cataclysm", "Overbank", "Agitator", "Apex Fang", "Fang Rush", "Toxic Rain", "Fang Burst", "Searing Strike", "Blight Ward", "Venom Burst", "Blast Rain",
- Added new status "Glare"

That's right, Astropods: Starside Glaze has been officially released!

Thank you for the love and support everyone, particularly during Early Access. Your feedback and play data was very insightful, and many significant changes stemmed from this time period. But now, it's time to say goodbye to Early Access.

Version 1.0 has the final boss and his stage, so go beat him up for stealing the Waterfall of Dreams!

You may also have noticed the game is currently not on sale. Unfortunately, I changed the price too late, and couldn't line up the launch of the game with the sale. But, when the 30 day timer goes away, I will put it up on sale ASAP. RN, that is looking to be around 10ish days from now. Thank you for understanding and for your patience.

As for my next plans, I want to begin working on couch coop features for this game, both coop mode and PvP, and I will be drafting up ideas for the sequel game, which will have the same core gameplay with a different structure. As well as fixing bugs and all that fun stuff. What a journey this has been! My game developing journey has only just begun tho, so I hope you all stick around and see what next I'll cook up!

Unexpected? For many, probably yes, but right now, on this occasion, the game has the biggest discount in its history – 30 percent! There won’t be a bigger discount this year. So for those who haven’t bought FIME yet, this is the perfect opportunity! 🤩

🫡 I am very proud that FIME made it to this festival. I am proud that we created the first Ukrainian strategy with a provincial map. I am proud that we created the first Ukrainian global strategy in 3D. And most of all, I am proud that we created one of the most beautiful global strategies in the world! 😍

Thanks to everyone! Glory to Ukraine ❤️‍🔥 – Stand with Freedom!

-Marsenko