Sparta. Whether the name calls to mind Lacedaemon, Helen of Troy, Leonidas, or the Peloponnesian Wars, Sparta’s legend stands apart. In classical times, its influence stretched across the Peloponnesian peninsula and as far away as Italy.
So naturally, we wanted to feature Sparta in Titan Quest II. But we didn’t want these to be the same old Spartans. In keeping with our philosophy, we wanted to present a unique and fantastical twist that was nevertheless rooted in the history and classical stories that inspire us.
Ours is a world in which the monsters of myth are real, and they pose a real threat to the humans who live among them. Until recently, the Spartans and their powerful military served the role of protectors, defending the towns and villages of Greece from these mythological threats.
But what happens when Sparta falls, and that protection is gone?
Eagle-eyed observers may have noticed that our intro cinematic shows a wall ringing the city of Sparta. Of course, historical Sparta had no such wall. We don’t want to spoil too much, but imagine what happens when the most powerful city-state on the Peloponnesian peninsula turns inward and walls itself off, while seeking a power that can drive back the monstrous hordes and make them rivals to the gods. Imagine what happens when their hubris draws the attention of Nemesis, goddess of retribution, and she takes it on herself to punish them.
This is just a teaser of what’s going on in the world of Titan Quest II when the player starts the game. As they try to evade Nemesis’s wrath and free those she’s punished, their journey will reveal more about what happened to Sparta and why.
And as for that Spartan hipparch featured in the cinematic? He has a role to play, too, and he’s sure to cross the player’s path. To know more, you’ll just have to play the game. We don’t want to reveal all our secrets.
The mayor lost the keys to his safe. He asked you to find the keys and open the safe. During this event, at regular levels and in Challenge mode, you can collect Green Keys. If you collect the required number of Keys within the allotted time, you'll get a big reward; if you don't manage it in time, you'll get a consolation prize.
The time of the event is based on the time on your PC, and the duration may vary slightly from the duration of this announcement.
It's time for the 2024 roadmap! We've been having lots of conversations behind the scenes, and have some big news to share:
We're back to work on content-focused DLCs!
There are tons of great things we want to add to the ONI universe, and they're getting too big to squeeze into free updates.
Wait, What?
When we were originally considering making more DLCs back in early 2022, we had just come off a three-year-long haul on Spaced Out!, and our ideas for future DLCs were all on a similar scale. Trying to make them work for both the base game and Spaced Out! was daunting.
But over the past year, DLC ideas just kept coming—many of them focused on content that would be a more natural fit with the base game, Spaced Out! DLC, and each other.
So after a year of smaller free updates, we're switching back to paid DLCs that'll allow us to take our derpy little colonists into wild new uncharted corners of time and space.
Our plans for these modular DLCs center around new asteroids packed with new biomes, critters, plants, buildings, elements, lore and blueprints (aka cosmetic skins).
At some point, we may make systems changes. If that happens, those changes will likely be added (for free) to any existing versions of the game that you may own.
What's Next?
We haven't nailed down an exact schedule, but we do know that it won't involve multi-year waiting periods between DLCs!
In fact, we're planning to release the first one this year. Perhaps featuring a chilly new starting asteroid...
We'll keep releasing free quality of life updates, fixing bugs and improving performance.
We're also continuing to build out the blueprints system, creating more opportunities for colony customization. You'll be able to earn blueprints through gameplay, and we expect to include new collections in DLC as well.
TL;DR
Our plan for this next chapter is to switch from occasional smaller free updates to content-focused paid DLCs. We're still doing free QoL updates.
We know it's a big pivot! This year's ONI adventure promises to be a particularly exciting one.
Thank you all for your ongoing support—it means the cosmos to us.
See you at the next DLC!
FAQ
Why the change from free updates back to paid DLCs?
DLCs were always the better choice for expanding the ONI universe, but we just didn't think we could do it. Now that we have new ideas that play nicely with existing versions of the game and lend themselves well to mixing and matching later on...we're making it happen!
Will these new DLCs work with both the base game and Spaced Out?
Yup!
What kind of DLCs are coming?
Lots of new content: New starting asteroids, biomes, critters, plants, buildings, elements, lore and blueprints (aka cosmetic skins). We expect that each DLC will contain all of these things, but that may change depending on demand or scheduling concerns. No big plans for systems changes right now.
How much will these DLCs cost?
The plan is to have them cost less than the Spaced Out! DLC. We’ll have more details as we get closer to release.
How often will we get new DLCs?
The first one is scheduled to come out this year, and the turnaround time between DLCs will be (much, much) shorter than it was for Spaced Out!
What's happening to blueprints (aka cosmetic skins)?
We expect that DLCs will include new blueprints, but blueprints already in the game will be attainable through gameplay.
Are you still doing free QoL updates?
Yes! We're still figuring out the scale and scope for these, but we have lots of performance improvements and bug fixes on our To Do list.
1 - Tunnel added to the map. 2 - It is arranged for customers to buy different products. 3 - If the warehouse capacity is insufficient when adding products to the cart, the "Warehouse Capacity Insufficient" notification has been added. 4 - Online store customers' spawn points have been increased from 10 to 29. 5 - Some shelves were placed side by side in an L shape. 6 - Prices have been updated.
Hey all. We have been super busy. Steam Next Fest went great. The response was overwhelmingly amazing, and you have all blown us away with your support! Carbon and I have been collecting feedback, suggestions, and comments from all of you and have been putting things into action since then. While we certainly have more we want to polish and update, here are some of the more fun highlights we've gotten to so far...
Speed Boost - Player run speed has increased.
Spaceboard! - Added the ability to ride your own hovering spaceboard because we know one run speed boost is just not enough! Much faster movement speed around the ship if you get this upgrade later in the game.
Workbench Storage Bin - A specific Workbench Storage Bin has been added and attached to the workbench. This smart bin is designed to automatically use the items held within when crafting from the workbench. The refrigerator also works this way in the kitchen now too.
New Hair - Added a few new hair options to the start of the game.
Post Release System - Set up system to unlock post release content better when specific story moments have already passed. This really helps to future proof save files after new content is added later.
SFX levels, adjustments, and fixing our grammar
Now, these are NOT IN THE DEMO yet. They will be tested out in the beta game version first, but we just really wanted to share. All of your thoughts, ideas, and encouragement is actively making the game better. Thank you all so very much!
Magic weapon fans rejoice, old Magma Orb is back! It will now once again automatically damage enemies in its path, rather than requiring a trigger. The change back in version 0.3 seemed reasonable in a vacuum but fell short with the introduction of dual-wielding. This weapon has perhaps the most complicated history in our catalogue, and we hope this change will bring it back into relevance.
Animal Ability Rework
Animal Abilities have been reworked!
They no longer charge passively, and charge gained by dealing damage has been reduced.
Spirit Orbs now spawn on occasion during waves, fully charging your spirit ability.
Wolf Strike now has three charges. It charges three times as fast and all three are granted upon picking up a Spirit Orb.
Hawk Drop has been completely reworked into Hawk Screech. It deals damage around Koboo and Parries enemies with an exclamation mark.
Turtle Shell now forces Koboo to stay still and has a more dramatic visual effect.
All Abilities have a small amount of screenshake and freeze on cast for dramatic effect.
Wolf Strike, Snake Blink, and Bunny Hop all deal more damage.
The UI better indicates how many charges the player has of an Animal Ability.
Weapon Changes
A new ranged weapon is available, with three all new upgrade paths! This one is more akin to the Throwing Leaves before the rework in the previous update, but has a unique mechanic to compliment Dual-Wielding synergy.
In Mara’s Shop when beginning a run, Magma Orb will instead be available immediately, and all other weapons will be available one run sooner.
Magma Orb has been reverted to its original mechanics, it now damages enemies automatically.
Old Inferno is also back! The Inferno upgrade from Magma Orb now instead summons additional orbs on the same orbit all with reduced effectiveness.
Damage over time weapon upgrades, such as Scorch from Leaf Axe and Magma Orb and Toxicology from Throwing Leaves and Fae Daggers, now deal a set amount of damage (12 and 3 per upgrade level respectively) and the description has been changed for clarity.
The Trickery upgrade from Fae Daggers has been buffed, now applying increased damage to the next two strikes after dashing, instead of just one.
The Ricochet upgrade from Boomerang has been renamed to ‘Dribble’ to avoid confusion regarding its function.
The description for Ricochet (Now Dribble) has been reworded for clarity.
Enemy Changes
Enemies now reveal the location of their next crit spot.
Critical Damage is no longer multiplied when an enemy is winding up an attack. (It’s still multiplied against parried enemies)
Enemy Attack Speed is now calculated slightly differently. Enemies will have it updated after their next attack if the player changes their accessibility settings mid-fight.
Ranged Enemy Attack Indicators will now scale with distance so they are visible regardless of Koboo’s distance from the attacker.
Bosses now start attacking much sooner.
Cutscenes and Transitions
The eye opening scene that starts every run after the first can now be skipped by pressing the ‘Interact’ key. (By default, ‘F’ for keyboard and RB or R1 for controller)
The menu has a transition when beginning a run. After your first run, this transition also helps load the rooms for a smoother opening.
Bosses have a much more dramatic entrance.
Dialogue now reveals fully on click instead of skipping entirely.
The interact button icon now appears under dialogue to indicate how to continue.
Visual Fixes
Changed the Wolf sprite to be more detailed and imposing.
NPCs like Mara are now properly affected by lighting and shaders.
Enemies have a faster, punchier flash when they take damage. The colour of this flash can be changed in the ‘Colours’ settings.
Added the word ‘Lives’ to the UI in the hopes it’ll finally be clear to players lmao you know I love and appreciate y’all but this is the bane of my existence. <3
The aim indicator for controllers is now only revealed when the player wields at least one ranged weapon.
Added a sound, screenshake, and visual effect to slam attacks.
Fixed some visual bugs with slam attacks.
Fixed some visual bugs for wielding multiple melee weapons.
Other Touch-Ups
More punctuation has been added for formality and consistency.
Fixed typo in settings from Anti-Alias to Anti-Aliasing.
Added a small indicator just under Koboo to show dash cooldown. Its colour will match the GUI. This can be removed in the ‘Gameplay’ settings.
Fixed a bug with secondary weapons not properly adapting to hold-to-attack settings.
Fixed a bug with players still being able to perform certain actions while dying.
Better controller support has been added to the “Thanks For Playing!” menu.
Added: "Auto-Flatten UVs when editing Vertices" option in Edit > Settings > Edit Mode section. If enabled, it will basically adjust the UV coordinates of the vertices as you are transforming/editing them in the 3d scene, expanding or contracting the UVs so that they match the shape of the geometry. You can also set/pin a keybinding for "Toggle Auto Flatten" in Edit > Buttons > Edit Mode, which will toggle this mode on/off.
Added: "Select tiles (UVs contain mouse position)" in context-menu of UVs panel. This will select tiles in the scene that have UVs overlapping the current mouse position in the UVs panel.
Fixed: Rendering a movie with an Act that has no length would cause it to get stuck if there were UV animations used in the scene. It wasn't able to calculate which UV frame to render when the Act was empty.
Fixed: .mtl files couldn't use texture names with commas. Now exporting .obj files will remove any invalid characters.
Fixed: Importing a scene while editing an object would cause imported objects to place tiles into the edited object instead. Now it will exit editing objects before importing.
Fixed: If crosshair wasn't at 0,0,0 then importing scenes wouldn't import objects correctly. Now it will auto-set the crosshair to 0,0,0 as a workaround.
