Mar 28, 2024

Full controller support and UI improvements - public beta!

Of Blades & Tails - coldi

Hey everyone!

I would like to give you an update of what's cooking right now for Of Blades & Tails.

Over the last months, me and my friends at Pineapple Works have put a lot of effort into making the game 100% playable with controller. This has always been ranked high in terms of player requests (especially on Steam Deck) and for us moving forward in bringing Of Blades & Tails to consoles later this year.

We also took this opportunity to add a bunch of quality of life improvements to the inventory view! You'll be able to filter for various item types and categories and also sort the list for name, recently added and item value. This will be available for regular mouse and keyboard controls as well (of course).

Feedback appreciated

Right now, we are at a stage where all features and mechanics of the game are fully accessible with controller, but we would love to get your feedback on this subject! We want to get this as good and convenient as possible, but that's only achievable with your feedback :)

Therefore we've set up a Beta branch that you can use to check out the latest changes and tell us either in the comments of this post or on our Discord server what you think about the current implementation.

To access the Beta branch you have to do the following:

Go to your Steam library
Right-click on the game > Select Properties... > Betas
Select the "beta" branch from the Beta participation select box

If you've already been playing Of Blades & Tails on your Steam Deck and would like to check out the Beta as well, remember to change your controller layout back to the default by taking these steps:

Open the Steam Deck game library
Open Of Blades & Tails
Move option highlight to the controller icon on the right
Select the large button with the currently selected controller layout.
Select your (currently selected) layout from the provided list and set it to "generic gamepad"
Press X to apply Layout.

Some notes before you dive in:

the help/tutorial system hasn't been rewritten to match the new controller scheme yet, mainly because we're not sure yet which controller input scheme will be final
there are button hints/tooltips basically everywhere, they don't look super nice but that's intentional (we'll make them look nice when we finalize the controller scheme)
you can find the full input scheme on the Options screen (no button remapping for now I'm afraid)
new texts which come with this beta build are only available in English (we'll move forward with translations after we finalize the controller scheme)

Below are a few impressions of the new controls, but be aware that this is still work in progress.

Items in the inventory can be filtered and assigned to the quick slots via wheel selection.

The inventory items can now also be sorted by various aspects. This also applies to trading and player stash views.

Skills are quickly accessible through a wheel selection. The same applies to item quick slots.

You can walk and interact directly with the analog stick, but it is also possible to switch to a much more precise cursor control. This will be handy in tough battles, where precise positioning is key and for range weapon attacks as well.

Preview of world map controls. Here you can snap from tile to tile, but it will be also possible to scroll through the whole map with the analog stick.

I really hope you like what we have achieved so far! However, I cannot stress enough how much we would appreciate your feedback after spending some time with these new controls.

So go check out the Beta branch and get back to us here or on our Discord server!

Until then, take care everyone!

Felix & Pineapple Works

Mar 28, 2024

Modern Naval Warfare - Navy Log Book #3

Modern Naval Warfare - Severus Lupus

Ahoy, tech enthusiasts and oceanic visionaries! After a brief hiatus, the Navy Logbook Series is making a splash back into the scene this year.

We're committed to delivering a new logbook every month leading up to the simulator release and beyond, so keep those eyes peeled on the screen of the photonic mast.

In this edition, we're pulling back the curtain to introduce the team—actually, they'll be introducing themselves. You're likely familiar with the two dynamic Maslas brothers, Kyrmitsos and Kyrgiannis, one is good looking and smart, the other is smart and good looking!

But behind the scenes, there's a fresh squad of up-and-coming developers and 3D artists who recently joined our studio.

Amidst their challenging tasks, our talented team graciously took the time to answer some questions about themselves and their contributions to the project. Rest assured, no developers or 3D artists were harmed or injured during the course of this interview.

So, plunge into the pixelated depths with our coding and artistic crew as we set sail on a journey to craft Modern Naval Warfare, a simulator that'll have you exclaiming, "the sonar, the merrier! (I know, it’s a bad joke but I had to do it).

Let’s start!

Michael-Evangelos Diamantis (MAD) - Game Developer, QA/QC and Integrator.

I'm currently 23 years old - soon to be 24! As a character, I find myself constantly evolving, learning from experiences, and cherishing the relationships that shape me throughout my life.

With a small background at programming that started as a hobby back in to 2012, I began experimenting with various Game Engines, Programming languages and steadily began self-teaching myself through high quality programming books and of course a lot of tinkering. The rest is history because I've lost count of how many things I've done since then.

I joined the studio in 2022 because aside from the Maslas Bros being a damn good, internationally recognized development studio (OBVIOUSLY!) I chose to apply for the position of the -then- Internship Game Programmer to hone my skillset and further develop my programming skills in my line of work. As to why they chose me, aside from my then skillset they saw the "spark" and passion about my work and hobby called programming.

In the span of one year with them, I've developed several features (and bugs) inside MNW and not only these. I really can't "count" the things I'm doing in the project because it's a "love about my work and the subject of it" not "work I have to do so I get paid" situation.

I am a gamer, of course! I've played countless games in my lifetime and I've yet to play even more! Right now, I'm playing Baldur's Gate 3 and - still - trying to play Command (it's hard).

I am using a PC for everything except couch-gaming, this is where the consoles win.

Outside work I like to socialize, partying, make new friends and NOT stay inside in a Saturday night - although I do so many times heheh. When I'm not doing any of these I like studying about my field, playing games, having a coffee with a friend and trying new things. LEGO building is my guilty pleasure...

My favourites games are TESV: Skyrim, Cyberpunk 2077 and of course every LEGO game in existence. In the field of books, I'd say that the following are must-read:

When Nietzsche Wept - Irvin D. Yalom

The Anti-Christ - Nietzsche

Ecce Homo - Nietzsche (still reading it for the 4th time...)

As of movies I love any kind of movie but psychological thrillers/horrors, action-packed and fantasy/sci-fi movies are my go-to e.g. "The Shadow People" or any John Wick and Harry Potter movie. My music taster varies based on my mood, but my non-changing music group is Rammstein. A martini Bianco with three ice cubes - other drinks do not exist.

Petros Daskalakis (DSK) - Game Developer

Well, I'm 20 years old and as far back as I can remember, I was always obsessed with consoles and computers. Even though my age, you would always catch me playing some very old school games, mostly 2D top-down or platform games.

From an early age, I loved the idea of programming and the opportunity it gave people to transform their ideas, in functional realities. The ability to bring concepts to life through code fascinated me. So, because I played those classic video games that gave many children like me moments of freedom and joy, I decided to become a Game Developer, so through my ideas I can give to other people those exact feelings I had while I was playing.

I join Maslas Bros because of my good posture? Well, who wouldn’t want to work with highly experienced developers and passionate people about their work? Since then, I've been involved in a variety of aspects within the project, including widgets development, tools creation, and systems managers.

I've been a gamer since I could understand how a console or a PC works! Currently, playing Shovel-Knight: Dig and Cyberpunk 2077 (yes, two completely different genres I know, don't judge me for being diverse...) I really don't have a preference between PC and consoles. I started my gaming addiction with an NES and then followed with PCs and other consoles. Anything that can run a videogame is good enough! My favourite games are Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Crash Bandicoot, Days Gone and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

With my free time, I mostly blast some music on my headphones, play guitar, I pursue photography as a hobby and of course gaming. Should I say that I try to socialize? Well, I'm a very social person so I try to have fun with my friends and family also!

Music is a big deal to me. I listen to lots and lots of Blues and Soul music. Favourite music group I'd probably say Snowy White & The White Flames, but I listen a lot of solo artists like Rory Gallagher etc.

My favourite drink is Whiskey...just any kind of Whiskey is good for me.

Evagelos Vasilakis (ZX) - Developer and Technical Artist.

I'm currently 21 years old, I enjoy winter (despise summer) and believe Windows 7 was Microsoft’s best OS (ok and maybe 2000). Back when I was 10, I discovered a "making of Halo 2" documentary, fiddled with game engines after and got hooked.

Well, I choose to work for The Maslas Bros because I wanted to work with games (or simulators) and they were making one! They also periodically feed us quality food which is a great bonus! The best part about my role as my tasks can range from Explosions and Shaders to the studio infamous zx map scalebar. Currently I'm working on water based explosions and I believe Damage modeling is next.(I make ship go boom)

When I am not working for the studio, I try and keep up to date with various games but I usually end up playing either the same old ones I enjoy (Halo), and yes, my favorite game is Halo Combat Evolved but I also like dabble with borderline ancient titles (Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, Wipeout etc.) on PC and Xbox 360 (specifically).

Outside work I enjoy coffees (and cocktails), limited socializing (I'm a cave goblin) and would you believe it dabbling with stuff on my computer. This usually entails failed attempts at Visual FX or studying/whining about Unity and other software. I also sometimes fiddle with music (my favourite music group is My Chemical Romance). The movie I like the most is Hackers 1995 (not a joke). Finally as you asked, what I like to drink, I will say anything with Mastiha liquor. (or lemon soda)

Andreas Konstantakopoulos (Learie) - Junior Game Developer

I am currently 24 years old going for the big 25. I am a very passionate for what I do in life whether that's working or playing video games whenever I have free time, I try to give the best parts to of me to what I m passionate about. I am very considerate of others, and I try to help out my coworkers whenever and however I can.

The inspiration to become a game developer came after years of being a casual gamer playing Pokemon, Call Of Duty and World of Warcraft I felt like this was my calling.

I recently join the studio, it is one of the very few Greek development team in the Greek gaming community and I m very happy I chose to work for them especially when I met the rest of the team. I m in training and for the time being I m still learning

As I told you earlier, I am a gamer and of course I play video games the game that i play a lot lately is World of Warcraft with some single player games along the lines. I don't have an issue with the platform because it really depends on the game for example if there is a game on console, I'll play on my PS4 or Nintendo Switch it really depends on what I feel like playing.

During my free time, I generally go out with friends and hopefully I’ll start going to the gym soon but I m mostly spend my time gaming.

Apart from that, Pokemon Emerald and WoW are my favorite games. John Green's "Looking for Alaska" is my preferred read, while Bring Me the Horizon takes the lead as my favorite band on the music front. Shrek is my favorite movie, and when it comes to beverages, I have a penchant for Weiss beer, especially for those in the know.

Nicolae Laurentiu Dulca (Dulcan) - Junior Programmer.

I am 23 years old. And I enjoy to learn new things and to constantly evolve.

Since I can remember myself, I've enjoyed playing games and I kept saying how interesting it would be to create one myself. So when i was in high school, with the support of my computer science teachers, my journey into programming began.

I join the studio last year and one of the many reasons is that they do something unique. Now that I've spent some time with the team, I really like working with the other members of the team and the vibe it has. They're not creating another shooting game. For the moment I am in training and learning a lot of new things.

As I said above, I've been playing games for as long as I can remember (my favorite game is Hollow Knight). I'm currently playing "Cookie Cutter". On the platform, I don't have a preference, I consider PlayStation a more "cosy" solution and the PC a more capable for better experience in games like Cyberpunk.

When I have free time after work, I enjoy listening to music (my favorite music group is Twenty One Pilots), walking in parks, and going on day trips. For me, the best movie is Deadpool and the book is The Da Vinci Code, and finally as you wanted to know, my favorite drink is whiskey.

Nick Michalopoulos - Game Developer/Programmer

I'm 25 years old, an only child and hail from Athens, Greece! In general, I try to assimilate and cherish all the knowledge and experiences I can while I am able, in order to better myself every way I can. I used to study Physics for a few years before acquiring my Computer Science degree, I love music and games

Ever since I was little I loved video games. Growing up, my way of thinking got a lot more analytical and this love turned into fascination, then into curiosity. So when the opportunity to study programming presented itself, I knew that was what I wanted to do.

I've worked for Maslas Bros for the last six months. I was very intrigued when I saw MNW; the combination its big scale and the small (at the time) size of the studio really impressed me. I also loved the concept of a submarine simulator, as well as the Maslas Bros' personalities. Now as to why they picked me, I have no idea. They say it was something about my decent mathematics and physics background, my personality and my potential, but I don't believe them!

In the span of this time I've developed a number of different tools, features and, of course, a lot of bugs and unstable code. Overall, I adore what I do, so it's hard to actually quantify my work; however I try to be involved, in any way, in a lot of different parts of the project, because I like learning new things

I am a gamer both PC and consoles and most likely will continue being one for the rest of my life. Currently I'm playing Resident Evil 4 Remake, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dead By Daylight while anxiously waiting for the PC port of Spiderman 2 and God Of War: Ragnarok (to my bosses if you're reading this: of course this answer is hypothetical in nature, I spend all of my waking hours working on MNW and my absolutely-minimum-necessary-sleeping hours dreaming about how I will be working on MNW when I wake up/subconsciously working in my sleep!)

I generally have a reputation for doing a lot of things in my spare time, to the point where I don't have time to do all of them well. Except for playing games, I also study the guitar, singing and music theory and psychology. Furthermore, I work out a few times a week, and dabble in the art of handcrafts and miniature/replica painting and chess.

I cannot for the life of me pick a single thing of the above that is my favorite, due to me being extremely indecisive. If I can give a generalized answer for each, it would look like this: For games: God Of War (old & new), Uncharted, Darksiders, Dead By Daylight, Smite, Pokemon, Half-Life, Spiderman, Tomb Raider (old & new), Assassin's Creed, all the LEGOs and more that I'm certainly forgetting!

On the books side: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sword of Truth, Mortal Instruments, Eragon, Greek Myths (by Stephen Fry), the Odyssey, Iliad, It.

Some of my favorite group and single artists are Bon Jovi, Garry Moore, Billy Joel, Queen, Scorpions, Evanesence, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Paramore, Pentatonix, The Beatles, Ed Sheeran and many more

As for movies, I love most genres, with horror and fantasy being my go-to; some examples include Star Wars, Harry Potter, all the famous horror and slasher movies of the 80s/90s and their sequels, Kung Fu Panda, most of the superhero movies from the last decade and more.
And finally, I will surprise you about my favorite drink: Nothing beats a cup of good old water!

Konstantinos Lampropoulos – 3D artist.

I am currently 21 years old. I grew up in Corfu, Greece. While I am working I like listening to music or even podcasts sometimes. Also I love coffee, I drink two or three per day (I am not addicted I swear).

From a very young age I wanted to create video games similar to the ones I was playing. Yes I wanted to make AAA games by myself... Anyway I started by making 3d assets and I loved every minute of the process and then soon enough I realized I want to make a career out of it. So I did. And honestly it is a dream come true situation. I always wanted to break into the gaming industry and was lucky enough to find The Maslas Bros where I am mostly responsible of the 3d modeling side of things.

Like my teammates, I am a gamer. Unfortunately I haven't played as many campaign games as I wanted, I am mostly stuck on multiplayer games. The last thing I played was PUBG. My favorite games are the Halo franchise, maybe Halo 3. Personally I play on PC but consoles are great too, in fact it doesn't really matter as long as you have fun.

My free time is mostly about spending time with family and friends, watching movies (and since you asked about my favorite movie I will say Parasite - 2019) and TV series. However, I really want to learn how to draw so I think I am going start doing that.

As for book, it’s hard since I not an avid reader but if I have to choose one, it will be Stranger by Albert Camus which is fantastic. Musically speaking, I am a Kanye fan. Finally, when it comes to drinks, I'm a wine enthusiast.

Christina (Qui) - 3D artists

I am 30 years old, (sadly) and I was a waitress for most of my life until one day I woke up and I realized I hate talking to people. So I tried to make some money to enroll to SAE College in Athens and start a different career doing something I like at last. That actually DID go well.

Since I was a kid I loved playing video games with my brother, and since he had kind of a rich godfather every year on his birthday he bought him gaming consoles. (My godmother didn’t remember my existence). I continue to play games as an adult and realized that this was not a "phase" as I thought and I decided to contribute in the gaming industry.

First of all. I really needed the money to not die of starvation. BUT to be honest when we did the interview, I really thought the vibe was so good and I knew I wanted to work in that kind of environment. I also liked the idea of working in this project cause they showed me how organized this company is and how the whole vision has inspired them.

Here at the studio, I mainly do the 3D texturing in Adobe Substance Painter but also I’m trying to learn how to do 3D modeling in Blender. We did learn modeling at the college but sadly we did it in 3Ds Max which is my arch enemy.

I am a gamer since birth PC, I think and right now I’m replaying Baldur's Gate 3.

I’m very fond of sleeping (he he!). I also love gaming in case I didn’t mention. I try to go the gym because at 30 if I don’t my whole body decays and hurts and dies. I listen to music and I go do different activities with my friends like bowling, cinemas and escape rooms.

My favorite game hands down is Baldur's Gate 3, I just can’t comprehend the level of dedication needed to make such a good game. As for movie it has to be Interstellar and for music group, I’m going to pick The Jonas Brothers, joke aside, I love the Archive a lot. And since you ask my favored drink, it has to be the hated by the whole world: Campari & tonic with a peel of orange (I know, I'm a psychopath!).

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As we reach the end of this post, I want to thanks the incredible developers and 3D artists for generously sharing their time, a bit of their personal life and insights during the interview for this first Navy Logbook of 2024.

Their willingness to delve into the details and provide valuable perspectives has truly enriched the content. The passion and dedication they exhibit in their work are evident. Cheers to their exceptional talent and commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation in creating Modern Naval Warfare!

We will continue to deliver more insight and unique content of the development of Modern Naval Warfare in the following months.

Mar 28, 2024

Major Update: A New Beginning

Soulstone Survivors - Rouler

Hello Survivors! :cozyroe:

The New Beginning update is here, and with it, we are bringing many changes and fixes to the game! The new update is bringing massive changes to the gameplay, adding a new character, element, weapons, skills, and much more!

But before that, we want to invite you to participate in our Discord event called Big Damage!
➣ Join us On Discord to learn about it!

Here is a short video that contains a lot of new mechanics:

Here is the full list of changes for this update:

New Character: The Monkey King
- The first new character to join the game, the Monkey King is a master of the martial arts and has access to Slam, Earth, Holy, Electric, and Bomb skills, with 4 new weapons, 3 new runes, and his new ascension Twilight Harmony.

New Skill Type: Earth
- Earth skills focus on allowing you to hit massive areas with potent effects while providing good defensive options to keep you in the fight.

New Ascension - Twilight Harmony
- The Monkey King may follow the way between black and white, day and night, finding balance by collecting orbs of energy, which can be used to create powerful clones to fight at his side.

New Skills and a massive overhaul of existing skills
- This update not only brings 50 entirely new skills but also changes how almost ALL the existing 250 skills in the game work, with a ton of new effects, synergies, and combos to explore.

New System: Stackable Buffs
- As part of the skill overhaul we are introducing a new system, Stackable Buffs, which can be gained from casting skills, certain power-ups, and more, and allow you to explore countless new builds!

New weapons and major changes to all characters:
- Every character now has access to 5 skill types, down from 7, and each of their weapons is focused on one of these elements, focusing and changing the play style of most characters considerably. With this change many weapons have to be reworked from the ground up, so check out the existing weapons as well!

Massive Rune rebalance
- A large chunk of runes has been rebalanced to be more in line with each other, making a ton more combinations possible and interesting to play with. Existing rune presets have been reset.

New Power Ups
- Tons of new power-ups were added to the game, focusing on incentivizing builds that would not have been possible before. Countless new combinations are to be discovered!

Enemies rebalanced from the ground up
- Major changes to the scaling of enemies, Lords of the Void, new Danger Level added to each zone, and Endless mode scaling entirely revamped, all to bring a more interesting challenge to the game.

Curses Reworked
- All curses are now optional, and you can pick and choose which ones to play with to progress to the next curse level. Customize the game and play whoever you want. Tanky Lords? Tons of Elites? Rain of fire from the void? You choose!

Overlord Arena: Mode Reworked
- In order to make Overlord mode more interesting and different from Endless mode its being entirely reworked. Enter the Overlord Arena, if you dare! This mode is for those of you seeking a fast-paced challenge!

Tons of UI and usability improvements
- Loads of new additions, improvements, and UI reworks all across the game to make the experience smoother.

Easter Season
- Seasonal decorations on the menu and maps to celebrate Easter! Menu decorations will be enabled until 15/04, and it’s a great time to find the secrets in the Caves of Dhal Zhog! (Secret is unchanged, and available permanently independent of the decorations)

Runes:

New Rune: Battle Proficiency, gives you a chance to gain Prowess whenever you cast any skill;
New Rune: Immortality, gives you one extra charge of Death Protection;
New Rune: Focused Mind, reduces the number of skill slots by 3, but increases damage caused by 80%;
Multiple balance changes to adapt to the new balance of most things in the game, as can be seen in more detail at the bottom of this list;

Skill Tree:

Changes to a few nodes in multiple skill trees, mostly related to hit effects changing to stackable buff effects;
Central skill tree has had its overall power considerably reduced, but its total cost is also reduced by approximately 35%;

Characters:

Increased the cooldown of Dash from 2 to 2.5 seconds;
Changed the experience formula, most of the time you will have a few less levels than before in a match, especially in long endless runs;
Every character now has access to 5 skill types naturally, down from 7. This change makes the playstyle of each character more unique;
Revised the weapons of multiple characters, as now each weapon will be related to one of the elements that the character has access to. A total of 12 weapons have been reworked or entirely changed to accommodate for this design change;

Skills:

Most skill types now have entirely new "identities", for example, Electric no longer focuses on applying Dazed, instead it focuses on granting Electrified, a new type of stackable buff. Almost all skills in the game have had one or another change to their functionality and the full list can be seen at the bottom of this list;
More than 50 new skills added to the game. These come in all shapes and forms, including generic skills, weapon skills, character skills and so on;

Negative Effects:

Vulnerable and Paralysis are removed from the game;
Melting is also removed, replaced by the new Shattered which reduces armor but does not cause damage over time;
Rot is merged into Poison, so every Poison now can spread to other enemies;
Cursed is merged with Doom, so every Doom now can cause damage to an area;
Hemorrhage is merged with Bleed, so every Bleed now can cause damage when the target moves;
Removed the "upgraded" relationship between all negative effects, for example, Disoriented is no longer related to Dazed. The same is true for all other negative effects;

Traits:

New Trait - Devastating: Direct damage caused is multiplied by 3;
New Trait - Piercing: Projectiles deal extra damage for each target they pierce;
New Trait - Precise: Increases the damage based on how far you are from the target;
New Trait - Brutal: Increases the damage based on how close you are to the target;
New Trait - Impactful: Increases the damage based on how close the target is to the point of impact (such as from a Bomb);

Stackable Buffs:

These new stackable buffs can be found in multiple skills across the game and can be used to grant you massive powers and define new builds to try. The newly available buffs are:
Resilience - Increases armor power;
Prowess - Increases damage modifier;
Form - Increases critical damage chance;
Haste - Increases movement speed;
Finesse - Increases multi-cast modifier;
Bulwark - Increases block power;
Aptitude - Increases critical damage;
Vigor - Increases max health;
Colossal - Increases area modifier;
Swiftness - Increases cast frequency modifier;
Retaliation - Whenever you are hit, consume stacks of Retaliation to reduce the damage received and cast one of your skills back at the attacker instantly;
Radiance - Whenever you cast a skill, consume stacks of Radiance to release a powerful beam of energy in the direction you are aiming at;
Electrified - Whenever you cast a skill, consume stacks of Charged to release multiple jolts of electricity that move in random directions;
Purity - Whenever you cast a skill, consume stacks of Purity to release a wave of holy light;
Ammunition - Whenever you cast a skill, consume stacks of Ammunition to add 5 charges of multi cast to the skill being used;
Icy Veins - Whenever you cast a skill, consume stacks of Icy Veins to launch frozen icicles towards random enemies;

Ascensions:

New Ascension - Monkey King - Twilight Harmony: Collect Night and Day orbs to summon powerful clones to fight for you for a limited time;
Most ascensions have had their values changed to adapt to the new balance of the game. In general, ascensions that grant multiplicative buffs are now less powerful, while ascensions that interact with summons or direct skills have had their power increased significantly. This change aims at bringing the different power levels of ascensions a bit closer;
Sentinel now has a tracker pointing towards the Panther whenever it is active;
Elementalist ascension has been adjusted to reflect the 5 skill types that the character has access to;

Power-Ups:

New Power Up Type - Debuff Modifiers, allowing you to increase the efficiency of Burn, Poison, Doom and Bleed effects considerably in different ways;
New Power Up Type - Distance-based powerful bonuses to allow for specialized melee or ranged builds;
New Power Up Type - Stackable Buff Synergies, allowing you to make the most of the new buff effects;
New Power Up Type - Skill Chain, which allows for one skill type to trigger another skill type, making many new builds not only viable but extremely strong;
New Power Up Type - Cross Type Powers, which increases the power of skills based on how many skills of a certain type you have, once again allowing for some new and interesting combinations;
New Power-Up Type - Ascension power-ups that can bring your ascension even further, empowering each ascension in a different way;
New Power Up - New versions of negative effects on hit and on critical strikes that can help DoT builds specialize even further;

Enemies:

New Danger Level: Each map now has its own Danger Level which makes its enemies more resistant, and creates a more defined difficulty progression between maps;
Significant changes to the pacing, attributes and challenge level of all enemies in all maps, too many to list. Overall enemies should feel more resistant, but the game a lot more manageable in relation to red zones, in great part due to the changes to the Curses as listed below;
Lords of the Void now appear encased in statues, and only when infused start to fight, giving you a few seconds to prepare for the fight;
Elimination Objectives now only start counting when all Lords of the Void are eliminated, to avoid multiple groups of Lords accumulating at the same time;
The health of Lords of the Void is no longer related to the time of a match, in general making it harder for very fast builds but easier for slower builds;
Elite enemies in general should now feel considerably more resistant and appear in mixed groups, however they appear less often;
Multiple fixes and changes to enemies that previously could be causing more damage than expected or with areas larger than expected;

Curses:

All curses are now optional, allowing you to customize your matches however you want;
Rewards for curses are now reworked. Instead of each individual curse granting a certain bonus and having an additional bonus for the group of curses, now the rewards are based on how many curses in a tier are selected;
You no longer need lower tier curses enabled to gain bonuses from curses in higher tiers;
Certain curses are marked as Elite Curses. These modifiers are more intense and will require more attention and reaction to be dealt with, but are entirely optional;
Revenge of the Void now has a considerably smaller chance of releasing meteors whenever you kill enemies;
Corrupted Void Hunters are now much more powerful, but appear in pre-determined moments in a match;
Pillars of Despair now appear with a smaller frequency;
New curses such as Ethereal Lords and Council of Lords introduced to allow you to further customize the challenge level you want to face;
Increased the bonuses you can get for Minor Soulstones, Common and Uncommon minerals by activating curses;

Endless and Overlord:

Both modes have had their scalings entirely reworked from the ground up. Enemies will have considerably less health, and both attack and movement speed are limited to a certain amount;
A new enemy attribute is introduced, Armor Penetration, which will gradually ignore more and more of your armor power and block chance;
Endless mode offers a more streamlined experience, where you continue fighting from map to map with ever increasing difficulty, but with a much more manageable enemy scaling;
Overlord mode offers a greater challenge, focusing on Elite enemies and powerful Lords of the Void, and takes place in the new Overlord Arena. This mode is bound to keep you on your toes;

General:

Trackers are now larger when they appear and slowly reduce in size to help give you a better sense of where the notification is pointing towards;
New Death screen and effects introduced;
You can now zoom out to view the entire Skill Tree and scrolling in general is more reliable;
Fixed issue where runes would still be highlighted when switching presets;
Fixed weapon description layout in the Blacksmith which sometimes could be overlapping;
Fixed an issue where mine skills would be calculating multicast twice for their initial damage;
Fixed an issue where certain skills could target enemies outside of the screen;
Fixed an issue where certain channeling skills would not scale their projectiles and frequency of release properly;
Tons of fixes to multiple skills with minor configuration issues;
Tons of small UI improvements all across the game;
Tons of fixes for gamepad interactions all across the game;
Tons of fixes for sound effects and new sounds added to the game;

Balance Changes:
Given that this update changed the balance of almost everything in the game, we decided to keep these changes separate from the core changes above, the list is a bit too extensive for this announcement (it literally cannot fit!), so here you can find the rune changes below, and a link in the bottom to view the skill and power up changes on Discord!

Runes:

Reroll Mastery now grants 1 extra reroll every 5 levels, instead of every 10 levels;
Center of Attention now grants a 5% bonus area, down from 15%;
Immovable Object now grants 20% bonus damage, down from 30%;
Overwhelming Chaos maximum damage is now 220%, down from 250%;
Last Resort now grants 20% bonus damage, down from 30%;
Purity now grants 20% bonus damage, down from 50%;
Purity damage reduction per negative effect is now 4%, down from 5%;
Adaptive Empowerment now grants 10% bonus damage per fire skill, down from 20%;
Synchrony now grants 0.7% bonus damage per skill type, up to a maximum of 20%, down 2% and 60% respectively;
Head Start now grants 20% bonus damage, down from 30%. Other attributes unchanged;
Multi Cast Mastery now grants a smaller bonus to multi cast chains;
Critical Mastery now adds 25% of your critical chance as critical damage, down from 100%;
Controlled Chaos is now Epic and costs 3 Runic Power, up from Rare with a cost 2;
Death Touch is now considerably stronger;
Impaler is now considerably stronger;
Glass Cannon now grants 40% bonus damage and reduces health by 70%, down from 50% and 75% respectively;
Oscillating Power now grants variable bonus damage from -10% to 30%, down from -20% to 80% respectively;
Executioner now grants 4% bonus damage per negative effect, with a maximum of 20%, down from not having a maximum;
Pulse of Agony now grants 0.5% bonus attack speed up to a maximum of 20%, down from 1% and 30% respectively;
Generalist now grants 1.5% bonus damage per different skill type, down from 4%;
Amplified Power now grants 0.1% bonus damage for every 500 minor soulstones to a maximum of 25%, down from 0.5% and 50% respectively;
Lords Bane now grants 25% bonus damage whenever a Lord of the Void is active, instead of scaling with each Lord of the Void;
Decapitator now may execute enemies with 40% health, up from 25%;
Recklessness now grants 0.3% bonus damage per missing health point to a maximum of 30%, down from 0.4% and 70% respectively;
Adrenaline now grants a 0.25% bonus attack speed per missing health point to a maximum of 25%, down from 0.4% and 60% respectively;
Focus Fire now grants 30% bonus damage and reduces area by 15%, down from 60% and 30% respectively;
Sacrificed Growth maximum damage bonus is now 25% and the experience penalty is 10%, down from 80% and 20% respectively;
Vulnerable Exploit maximum bonus damage is now 25%, down from 50%;
Searing Intensity maximum bonus damage is now 25%, down from 50%;
Versatile Strength now grants 0.6% bonus damage per power-up type up to a maximum of 24%, down from 3% and 90% respectively;
Commanding Presence now grants 25% bonus damage, down from 40%;
Synergetic now increases the chance of synergies happening by 50% multiplicatively, instead of 25% additively (effectively unchanged from the existing values for negative effects);

If you want to see all the changes to all skills, Join us On Discord

As always, we would like to thank you very much for your support and feedback! We continue working on loads of HUGE new features in 2024 and we are super excited about all that is coming. And, if you run into any issues with the game, don't hesitate to reach out! We will see you in the next one!

~Soulstone Team