We're marking the release of our studios new title Unpacking, the slow paced, meditative puzzle narrative game, by giving everyone an opportunity to pick up the fast paced, adrenaline and battery powered eyeball melter better known as Assault Android Cactus.

Both Assault Android Cactus and it's incredible soundtrack are 75% off for the rest of the week, so it's a great time to snatch either up or recommend them to some friends! If you've ever wanted a few more friends on the friends-leaderboards to be above, this might be your chance!

And don't forget that Assault Android Cactus+ includes our Plus campaign - available once you've finished the regular campaign - that features every level and boss re-balanced for a fresh experience.

Last year we released Assault Android Cactus on Nintendo Switch as Assault Android Cactus+ with extra content that we were then able to bring back to the Steam version in our biggest content update since leaving Early Access.

Not only was our Switch release a great version of the game, it made the Steam version better, so we hope some of you are excited to learn its escaped its digital confines and manifested in the real world!



We never expected to hold it in a box but thanks to Super Rare Games it now exists as a limited physical release! This is the perfect opportunity to own a boxed copy of the game, or a handy way to play when you're on the move, or a way to throw money at us if you got the game in a bundle without noticing but later realised it was amazing, or a gift for friends or family members who extremely tragically may not yet know what it's like to S+ a level or swear at a Daily Drive.

There's only 4,000 copies so pre order yours now if you don't want to miss out! These are region free, come with a 20 page colour manual and three randomly chosen collectable cards.

Update - sold out! There are apparently still some available in a three game bundle or you can take your chances that extra copies show up once orders have shipped and the dust has settled

In our biggest update since leaving Early Access in 2015, Assault Android Cactus has been upgraded with Campaign+, new costumes and a new aiming mode. To mark the occasion, Assault Android Cactus+ will be on sale, then move to a higher price point when the sale ends.

Each stage has been rebuilt with new enemy waves and dynamic elements, utilizing the game's full arsenal of enemies for new encounters and amped up boss fights. More than just a hard mode, Campaign+ is meant to give accomplished players a new experience, new leaderboards to climb and a fresh challenge for couch co-op players.

Beat stages with each Android to unlock a new look!


Included under Accessibility Options, enabling Automatic Aim will take care of aiming when you don't use the right stick or the mouse, letting players concentrate on dodging and using weapons effectively.

Preserving the core of the Cactus experience while reducing complexity, this is a game mode we think will appeal to those who struggle with the controls or anyone who wants to give their thumb a rest. The opt-in nature also makes it ideal for couch co-op sessions that involve players of different skill levels.

• Added Movie Gallery under Collections for reviewing cutscenes
  
• Selecting an Androids costume is remembered and can be used for AI team members and cutscenes viewed through the Movie Gallery
  
• On knockdown, hold any button to Revive, at a slightly slower rate than tapping
  
• Added Revive Assist to Accessibility Options which will revive downed players without controller input (at a slower rate than tapping or holding)
  
• Fingerstyle+, the new version of the Android Select / Stage Select song for Campaign+ is in the jukebox and added to the Soundtrack DLC
  
• Animated Cactus silhouette on the loading screen is fun to watch
  
• Too many fixes, improvements and adjustments to list

To celebrate Assault Android Cactus+ on Steam we are going on sale on the 30th! If you're considering picking up the game make sure you wait until we're 50% off!

Not only is it a great price to grab the game at, once this sale is over we will be taking the unusual step of increasing the price. With the many improvements and features we've added over the years, and now Campaign+, we believe AAC+ is just a different and better game than what we released in 2015 and we want the price to reflect that. If you already own the game you are just receiving a free update, but we have given this a lot of thought and decided that this was the fairest way to bring content that was originally made for our Nintendo Switch release back to the PC.

We hope you understand our reasoning and if you've been on the fence about buying the game, that you consider grabbing it while discounted!

You may have noticed Assault Android Cactus updating a few times since the last update - after such a long gap we ended up having a few issues that weren't caught in testing. We think we're done now though and thank you for your patience!

• FXAA graphics option
  
• Boss spawns in the Campaign
  
• Lemon's rockets against Medulla's last form
  
• Weird issue that could leave a single Wasp unresponsive
  
• Missing audio in post credits scene

as mentioned in the previous update, due to game engine updates we no longer support DX9 on Windows, only DX11 and OpenGL.

For anyone inconvenienced by this, you can continue using the previous build of the game by right clicking and choosing Properties > Betas and selecting Legacy from the dropdown menu.

This update incorporates the beneficial changes and bug fixes that had occurred elsewhere since our last Steam release.

In collaboration with feedback from some of our most dedicated players, we've given the Androids a tuning pass and overall higher scores can now be obtained, so attack those leaderboards anew!

We have also added a Developer Commentary mode! Enabled via Audio Options in the Main Menu, you can now play through the campaign while hearing the three of us reminisce and shed light on the AAC development process.

• The majority of Androids have received buffs to their Primary and Secondary weapons
  
• Lemon and Liquorice have received small increases to their Secondary AOE's
  
• The window for triggering the multi-kill bonus ('surge' bonus) has been increased, allowing it to be utilised by more characters under more circumstances
  
• The Time Bonus in campaign levels has been increased
  
• Developer Commentary can be enabled via the Options > Audio menu

• Reinstated the Battery collection screen edge effect
  
• Layer 37 of Infinity Drive has been made less mean
  
• In Boss Rush, dying bosses no longer delay the spawn of the next boss
  
• Improved enemy behaviour on Centrifuge (zone 5 - 1)
  
• Many small improvements, fixes and tweaks

• DX9 support has been dropped - this may impact users of older Windows operating systems

• Daily Drive highscores have been migrated to Steam from the third party service we were using in the past. This is a backend change meant to work the same way as before but a side effect is an increase in responsiveness and being less prone to failing to save scores.
  
• Daily Drive now includes a Time Bonus like the Campaign levels to make the leaderboards more competitive.
  
• The Daily Drive now shows the date of the Drive you are about to play on the menu
  
• Final Boss Medulla has had hitpoint tuning intended to make specific phases slightly faster / easier. If you have struggled with Medulla's fight in the past, please try again now!
  
• With Pro Mode enabled (S+ Indicator or Auto-Restart) the Stage Clear screen will now display seconds with two decimal places of precision
  
• When Auto Restart is enabled, the in-game S+ Indicator turns purple
  
• Some older scores on Vespula, Venom and Medulla have been removed for no longer being possible to obtain with current scoring rules

• Fixed shadow projection issues on Zone 4 Boss Venom stage
  
• Improved/consistant lighting on the background Genki Star in all Zone 4 levels
  
• Fixed the transition effect at the end of the Final Boss Medulla fight to slide under particles/effects as intended
  
• Fixed mouse controls not correctly driving volume sliders on Main Menu
  
• Main Menu Leaderboards now have navigation sound effects
  
• Esc key now backs out of Leaderboards in Main Menu (consistent with other menus)

• Daily Drive highscores have been migrated to Steam from the third party service we were using in the past. This is a backend change meant to work the same way as before but a side effect is an increase in responsiveness and being less prone to failing to save scores.
  
• Daily Drive now includes a Time Bonus like the Campaign levels to make the leaderboards more competitive.
  
• The Daily Drive now shows the date of the Drive you are about to play on the menu
  
• Final Boss Medulla has had hitpoint tuning intended to make specific phases slightly faster / easier. If you have struggled with Medulla's fight in the past, please try again now!
  
• With Pro Mode enabled (S+ Indicator or Auto-Restart) the Stage Clear screen will now display seconds with two decimal places of precision
  
• When Auto Restart is enabled, the in-game S+ Indicator turns purple
  
• Some older scores on Vespula, Venom and Medulla have been removed for no longer being possible to obtain with current scoring rules

• Fixed shadow projection issues on Zone 4 Boss Venom stage
  
• Improved/consistant lighting on the background Genki Star in all Zone 4 levels
  
• Fixed the transition effect at the end of the Final Boss Medulla fight to slide under particles/effects as intended
  
• Fixed mouse controls not correctly driving volume sliders on Main Menu
  
• Main Menu Leaderboards now have navigation sound effects
  
• Esc key now backs out of Leaderboards in Main Menu (consistent with other menus)

• mapped Q and Z to movement to better handle some European keyboard layouts
  
• brightened the energy tether on Fetcher Fidos and Justice's Grapple Balls and tinted the player blue when attached for increased visibility
  
• Improved look of Rocket trails on Lemon's Rocket Launcher
  
• Added more movement to Lemon's ponytail in-game

• Fixed rare case where a framerate stutter or other large time step would cause Titan's to be unresponsive after spawning
  
• Fixed issue where music would play during the pause menu if the game was paused before the level music started
  
• Fixed issue where the grid of the Aethersphere would remain black instead of purple
  
• Stage Select scoreboards now show the correct leaderboard for the number of players
  
• Corrected discrepancies and interpolation of high score comparisons at the end of stages
  
• Fixed a few places where cultural formatting (based on language) wasn't applied
  
• Corrected minor hair clipping occurring on Cactus and Lemon's stage entry animations
  
• Fixed issue where enemy lasers could appear wrong for a frame on initialisation
  
• Fixed issue where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade range indicator would appear for one frame
  
• Tutorial markers follow target visual position for smoother results at very high framerates
  
• Characters slightly clipping through the floor no longer display floor silhouettes

• mapped Q and Z to movement to better handle some European keyboard layouts
  
• brightened the energy tether on Fetcher Fidos and Justice's Grapple Balls and tinted the player blue when attached for increased visibility
  
• Improved look of Rocket trails on Lemon's Rocket Launcher
  
• Added more movement to Lemon's ponytail in-game

• Fixed rare case where a framerate stutter or other large time step would cause Titan's to be unresponsive after spawning
  
• Fixed issue where music would play during the pause menu if the game was paused before the level music started
  
• Fixed issue where the grid of the Aethersphere would remain black instead of purple
  
• Stage Select scoreboards now show the correct leaderboard for the number of players
  
• Corrected discrepancies and interpolation of high score comparisons at the end of stages
  
• Fixed a few places where cultural formatting (based on language) wasn't applied
  
• Corrected minor hair clipping occurring on Cactus and Lemon's stage entry animations
  
• Fixed issue where enemy lasers could appear wrong for a frame on initialisation
  
• Fixed issue where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade range indicator would appear for one frame
  
• Tutorial markers follow target visual position for smoother results at very high framerates
  
• Characters slightly clipping through the floor no longer display floor silhouettes

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/bigpicturegames/

Not only does Cactus work great with Big Picture mode, we've been a good fit for the Steam Controller from the beginning - you may remember our unexpected appearance in Valve's announcement trailer at around the minute mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fs2Yh1PFwM
One cool thing about the Steam Controller is it can be customised, by anyone, and thanks to improvements made by HERO 01, we now have two Recommend configurations which can be reached by choosing Manage Game and looking for the Controller Configuration option.

• AAC Gamepad Aiming emulates a gamepad and is the easiest to get up and playing with, particularly for local multiplayer! Be sure to let your thumbs trace big easy circles towards the edge of the trackpad surfaces to get the full aiming accuracy the Steam Controller is capable of.
  
  
• AAC Mouse Region Aiming emulates Mouse and Keyboard and suited for players with a bit of experience. The right trackpad positions the aiming reticle directly, allowing for lightning fast adjustments and precision Helo movements. If you have a Steam Controller, give it a go as it's a fun and new way to play!

We've put these two profiles under Recommended to to make them easy to find and use, but take a peek in the Community section to see what other people have come up with!