This patch mainly focused on performance, and we received some reports of a significant increase in FPS from some of our AMD users.
For instance, certain zones that previously had 20-30 FPS now have a stable 60 FPS.

Changes:

- New starting gear for the player.
- Previous starting gear is no longer lootable.
- Replaced Ratagan-wielding enemies in the Monastery with a new enemy type.
- Replaced Restless Knights enemies in the Monastery and Blok6147 with a new enemy type.
- Replaced Pitchfork and Pickaxe-wielding enemies in Blok6147 with a new enemy type.
- Replaced Eviscerator Knights with a new Elite enemy.
- The Eviscerator is now a lootable item instead of a drop from Eviscerator Knights.
- The mini-boss in the Monastery now has its own arena and boss health bar.
- The mini-boss is now stationary.
- Added more secret loot across certain maps.
- Several maps received visual upgrades.
- Removed ragdoll animation from pushaway abilities (Monastery mini-boss, Konrad the Traitor, Robots, Machinarium Technomancer, etc.).
- A new animation is now played instead.
- The player will now play landing animations when falling from greater heights.
- These animations can be interrupted if the dodge input is pressed 0.4 seconds before hitting the ground.
- Pressing Heavy Attack while having a bow equipped will now cycle arrow types.
- Slightly adjusted default controller keybinds.
- All staves received new light, heavy, and sprinting attacks.
- The Evolved Staff got updated with a new mesh.
- Vermillion Knights received a visual upgrade.
- Removed Raw Input option as it caused more harm than good.
- Encumbrance value is now visible from the equipment window.
- Reduced the hitbox length of Robots with Axes.
- Removed collision from rocks in the Nurgei the Blademaster arena.
- Any camera input will now disable aim assist.
- Underleveled characters in NG+ now receive bonus XP until reaching the appropriate level for that NG+.

Balancing:

- Power Armor now only blocks direct damage dealt.
- Power Armor now gives a small amount of immunity frames to better handle rapid-fire enemies.
- Stagger Resistance increase is now based on Total Weight instead of Encumbrance.
- Encumbrance now has a threshold effect on stamina delay instead of a linear effect.
- Encumbrance now has a threshold effect on stamina recovery per second instead of a linear effect.
- Encumbrance no longer affects movement speed. The default movement speed has been set to the previous 80% of Encumbrance.
- Movement speed can still be affected by perks, buffs, or augments.
- Staff melee attacks now scale off the Intelligence attribute instead of the previous Strength.
- Staff melee attacks now deal Technomancy Damage and are affected by Technomancy Armor Rating and Technomancy Penetration.
- Halved the damage of Deluge Ranged Fishermen.

Fixes:

- Fixed Plagued Nemesis and Nurgei the Blademaster sometimes having slightly less wind-up than usual.
- Powerful Immune System Concoction now properly blocks all debuffs it's supposed to block.
- Fixed rotation being disabled if the Block input was held during the diving animation.
- Fixed the holster animation being slowed down if an attack was interrupted by said animation.
- Fixed the player sometimes being unable to walk off ledges if an attack was interrupted by a stagger.
- Fixed the delay before the next ability can be used after using the "Dash" ability.
- Fixed controller navigation detecting some hidden options while switching presets.
- Fixed pause menu closing on its own if the button is not released quickly enough on controllers.
- Fixed transition pop-up window auto-closing if sprint is held on the controller.
- Fixed controller input not working if alt-tabbed during preset selection on a new game.
- Fixed Quick Wheel selection with controller input.
- Fixed odd initial camera correction on controllers if rotation input was larger than 120 degrees.
- Removed camera correction triggering while aiming with staves.
- Aim assist on sentinels now properly aims at their chest.
- Fixed aim assit aiming at Silicon Visage feet.
- Agility now properly displays its effect on melee weapon attack speed.
- Fixed initial black screen lasting 30 seconds or longer on the first boot of the game after a patch.
- Fixed incorrect scrolling in the inventory when F1 (LB/L1) is used.
- Fixed the "Inventory" text moving around if there are not enough items in the inventory.
- Fixed enemies going into slow motion randomly.
- Fixed large enemies doing nothing after being stunned.
- Fixed random stutters caused by Giant enemies.
- Improved Technomancy projectile detection on lower FPS machines.
- Fixed the halberd-wielding Vermillion Knight in the desert not giving any XP.

Fixes:

- Fixed a potential crash when fast traveling from Uranopolis to Monastery.
- Fixed an issue where changing gamepad presets wouldn't correctly assign the Sprint input to the Dodge hold input.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to grab onto Wormlord as soon as its weak point was destroyed.

Balancing:

- Adjusted the maximum health of certain bosses in NG+.

Changes:

- Camera distance offset setting now also affects holstered camera.
- Added fading material to most props in the game, greatly assisting with camera clipping.
- New setting: Holster Type; Keyboard Default: Separate Input; Gamepad Default: Combined Input.
- While combined input is enabled, hold the switch weapon keybind to holster weapons.
- New setting: Parry Type; Keyboard Default: Separate Input; Gamepad Default: Combined Input.
- While combined input is enabled, press the block keybind to parry, hold to block.
- New setting: Mouse Aiming Sensitivity.
- Switch Shoulder Camera moved to Lock Target keybind.
- Changed icons for certain debuffs.
- Running Attacks.
- Fixed Tenderizer and Mechanical Tenderizer weapon holds and updated their moveset.
- Game now autosaves roughly every minute to prevent any potential progress loss during a crash.
- New mini boss in Ghost Town, requires Plagued Blood from Asylum to start the fight.
- Diminishing returns on experience removed from Final Zone.
- Added "Dual Wield" weapon sort in inventory.
- Pierce, Whiplash, and Heavy Strike received the same tracking as regular attacks.
- Turning in Handler Echoes in NG+ now gives Anomalous Fragments if the handler is already at max level.
- New item: Ring of Slumber; Prevents the wearer from obtaining any experience.
- Looted from Monastery.
- Smoothered and reduced the duration of aim assist.
- Controller Scheme: Simplified, renamed to Simplified Modifier.
- New Controller Scheme: Simplified; Fully avoids the modifier button.
- Removed healing potions from Restless in the Monastery.
- Added "Removes Invincibility Frames" warning on all Tacticians Amulets.
- Improved optimization during seamless travel.
- Improved weapon hitbox detection precision.

Balancing:

- Slightly edited unique helmets anomalous crystals.
- Duelist upgrade perk that removes the delay before stamina regeneration after a successful block now instead removes the penalty from stamina regen while blocking.
- Ring of Command now increases durations of all summons; Elementals, Illusions, and Reanimated Corpses, instead of the previous summons' cooldown reduction.
- Silence debuff no longer reduces the cast time of bosses but instead reduces their ability damage by 5% per stack.
- Reduced arrow speed of enemies by an additional 30%.
- Combo Points are now obtained by dealing damage with regular attacks and stack up to 15.
- Associated perks have been edited to better synergize with the new system.
- Combo System remains unchanged; only the acquisition of the points themselves has changed.
- Adjusted the damage of the Giant in the upper block.

Fixes:

- Fixed an issue where sometimes the character would be rotated incorrectly while on a ladder.
- Fixed a crash caused by switching to a previously removed weapon set.
- Fixed a low camera angle on bigger enemies during lock-on.
- Fixed constant fade on Uranopolis -> Ghost Town transition with seamless transitions on.
- Fixed FPS drops in inventory while quickly hovering over several armor pieces.
- Fixed Archinquisitors Sentinels sometimes not working properly.
- Chronoblade Timewarp now properly gets teleport along with Archinquisitors' phase change.
- Archinquisitors' clone no longer displays his debuffs on the boss health bar.
- Fixed Duelist second upgrade not restoring stamina on weapon switch.
- Fixed Asklepious projectiles not leeching flux.
- Pestilence no longer affects out-of-combat enemies.
- Pestilence properly applies extra debuffs.
- Increased the volume of Wormlords' sound effects.
- Fixed an issue where enemy AI breaks if a perfect parry was performed with Claymore or Tenderizer.
- Fixed high bash chance against bigger enemies.
- Fixed the incorrect duration of certain concoctions when the Tinkerer perk is active.
- Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor would be lost during the fast travel menu.
- Gamepad vibrations will no longer trigger if the last input was from the keyboard.
- Fixed an issue that caused roll backward to root character in place for 0.1 of a second.

Wake up - and reap what you sow.

Changes:

- Increased the visibility of the "Apply Changes" button for leveling attributes.

Fixes:

- Fixed navigation issue in UI for those who keybound "TAB" to inventory.

Fixes:

- Fixed navigation in the Handler UI for the Xbox controllers.

!! IMPORTANT !!
Changes below might have caused some issues with your keybinds. It is recommended to reset them to default.

Changes:

- The camera now automatically corrects itself if no camera input has been pressed for longer than half a second while climbing a Giant.
- Improved camera clipping in certain tight places.
- Sprinting will now always disable strafing movement.
- Turn animations will now complete fully, even if the input is released, making it possible to turn 180 with a slight tap of the movement key.
- Greatly reduced bouncing off props and buildings while jumping.
- Increased air friction for horizontal velocity while free falling, preventing the character from sliding great distances off ledges.
- Forward momentum from weapon attacks can no longer drop the player off ledges.
- Running pivots removed from no strafe movement.
- The character will no longer enter stop animations if the character hasn't moved for more than 2 seconds.
- Greatly improved character movement responsiveness.
- Clicking on equipment/belt slots will now automatically assign the item to that slot instead of giving you an option to place it in a different slot.
- It's now also possible to sort these options by armor weight.
- Increased the visibility of the currently selected item in the Handler Upgrading Panel.
- Bosses killed for the second time (either in co-op or NG+) will now give an Anomalous Fragment, which can be turned in to the Handler for a Greater Anomalous Fragment of choice.
- New Item: Asylum Brew
- Refunds your perk points. Only one is obtained per NG+.
- New Setting under "Keyboard & Mouse": Switch Target Type; Default: Camera Input.
- Tier 2 Anomalous Crystal and Tactician Amulet recipes are unlocked from the start in NG+.
- Adjusted Lock-On angle while having Soft Lock-On disabled.
- The keybind for switching weapons will now function as the holster keybind if only one weapon set is equipped.
- Blocking while holstered will now unholster weapons.
- Arrows stuck in the player will now disappear after a few seconds.
- Input delay for switching/holstering weapons after a dodge has been removed.
- Mantling will now always holster the weapon.
- It is no longer possible to fall off ledges while rolling or dashing if locked-on.
- New setting under General & UI: Simplified Stamina Bar; Default: ON.
- Removes the green bar from the stamina bar.
- Leeches will now display a decimal value if the leech is below 10 points.
- While not aiming with bows, pressing the 'Shoot' key will now fire an arrow either at the lock-on target or in front of the character instead of doing nothing.
- It's now possible to lock-on enemies while not aiming with the bow, but arrows will perform body shots.
- Bow locomotion can now perform strafing movement, following the same logic as with melee weapons.
- It's no longer possible to sprint while using consumables.
- Increased the walking speed by 40%.
- A sound cue now plays if it's not possible to parry.
- Parry is now based on enemy weapon range instead of the player's weapon range.
- Parry angle increased to a 190-degree angle.
- The same enemy spawns will have diminishing returns if farmed.
- I-frame timing happens almost instantly in roll animations now.
- Locking onto enemies will now forcibly display their health bars.
- Confirm button added for assigning attributes.

Balancing:

- Chaining rolls is now faster.
- The cost of chaining dashes has been reduced.
- Tweaked the amount of stamina obtained from Anomalous Crystals and the Agility Attribute.
- Tweaked the amount of Flux obtained from Anomalous Crystals and the Intelligence Attribute.
- Reduced the amount of Flux restored by consumables.
- Flux Leech caused by Technomancy projectiles now works in the same way as Stamina Leech for melee weapons.
- Tweaked the damage of Technomancy projectiles early to mid-game.
- Doubled the quiver size.
- Doubled the amount of arrows crafted from the same resources.
- Halved the arrow damage.
- Increased drawing speed of all bows by 40%.
- Plagued Nemesis and Aberrant Knight in NG+ damage tweaked.
- Greatly decreased the RNG range of all weapons.
- Base Technomancer perk now also grants increased drop rate of Ionization Fluids.
- Faithful upgrade 3 now trades 50% of Maximum Health instead of 50% of Constitution Attribute.
- Reduced number of Giants weakpoints in Upper Blocks.

Fixes:

- Fixed an issue where it wasn't possible to switch climbing holds on certain Giants while playing with a controller.
- Fixed an issue where it was sometimes possible to hit the wrong weak point while climbing on the Giants.
- Fixed a crash caused by gaining 20 Faithful buff stacks at the same time.
- Fixed a selection issue when using the mouse wheel to scroll in the Handler Upgrading Panel.
- Greatly improved FPS in Machinarium and Blok6147 zones.
- Killing Wormlord now properly autosaves.
- Fixed the Handler in Monastery (NG+) sometimes not having any recipes.
- Fixed the issue where the Desert zone would not load properly if continued from the main menu while seamless transitions are enabled.
- Fixed the issue where where it was possible to spam the Switch Weapons animation.
- Giants no longer die due to fall damage.
- Vampirism no longer Flux Leeches twice with Technomancy projectiles.
- Fixed the desynced lower and upper body while using consumables.
- Fixed the desynced lower and upper body while falling during bow draw.
- Fixed an issue where animations for switching weapons were slowed if a jump interrupted an attack.
- Fixed Ratagan holster position.
- Fixed parry damage being 0 if the torch is in the offhand.
- It's no longer possible to parry with Staves or Bows while holstered.
- Fixed perfect parry animation for 2h Hammers and 2h Swords.
- Fixed the gray screen outline after a jump if previously fell off the ledge while crouched.
- Fixed missing hitboxes during the Recalibration sequence.
- Fixed missing Recalibration UI from Uranopolis.
- Fixed a visual issue in the details panel where it displayed stagger resistance as +0.1% instead of +10%.
- Fixed Monastery mini-boss giving increased XP per kill.
- Fixed Plagued Nemesis spin attack sometimes not having any windup.
- Fixed camera clipping while rolling in shallow water.
- Fixed an issue causing the handler's UI to malfunction during navigation with the mouse.
- Fixed an issue where backspace was mistakenly registering as enter while using the fast travel panel.
- Fixed an issue that caused the loss of keyboard focus when exiting the panel after selecting abilities.
- Adjusted the selection of abilities to ensure that both WASD and D-Pad inputs are responsive for both horizontal and vertical directions.
- Fixed an issue where enemies drawing speed was increased.
- Fixed an issue where enemy health bars occasionally failed to appear.
- Fixed a bug where character would be in constantly falling after secret area.
- Fixed Archinquisitor Belisarius clone dropping loot.
- Fixed crash caused by closing Handlers UI before it had time to initialize.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to toggle both Handler UI and Inventory UI at same time.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to toggle both Fast Travel UI and Inventory UI at same time.

Fixes

- Fixed Evolved Staff and Vermillion Staff damage.

This update may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you but we want to stress that this update comes after a long window of testing and thinking through which best way to incorporate and combine seemingly contradicting feedback about the inclusion of i-frames. The inclusion of i-frames does not go against our design philosophy, which is to try and respect player expression and give them various options when deciding which tools to best tackle the Omnistructure with. In this respect, the update includes i-frames as a way to avoid damage in combat. There are items and builds that offer other benefits at the cost of losing i-frames. In this way we have opened a fork in playstyles by offering players an option between reaction and positioning when it comes to avoiding damage. This is not a hard line, as veteran players know that blocking, jumping, crouching, and many abilities already offer reaction-based complete avoidance of damage. All playstyles are equally valid and require a different approach to combat - this is simply an inclusion of an additional tool in your wide arsenal of choices.

In this way we hope to further the conversation in hardcore ARPGs about how different approaches to combat should feel. This new change forced us as developers to evolve the way we think of the player base and better understand that our systems are a conduit to player expression, not a limitation to it.

Of course the update contains many rebalances, tweaks, and fixes as well.

Be on the lookout for another update before the year is up!



Invincibility Frames:

- Short duration I-Frames added by default to the rolls.
- The Amulet of Evasion can increase the duration.
- Dashes still don't have I-Frames.
- Reduced the distance of Dashes/Rolls by 60% while I-Frames are enabled.
- Tactician's Amulet (found from the first loot in the game or from handler) will restore previous dash/roll distance at the cost of removed I-Frames.
- Tactician's Amulet is the only accessory item that can be improved through Handler.
- Certain Abilities and Mechanics (Such as shockwaves or Nurgei the Blademaster grand AOE) still have to follow proper mechanics.

Changes:

- All stamina actions can be performed as long as stamina is above 0, but a minor penalty of delayed regeneration is inflicted.
- Sprint no longer costs stamina outside of combat even with the weapons unholstered.
- Stamina cost is now being taken once hitboxes are activated on weapons instead of when animation starts.
- Separate keybind added for dashes.
- This keybind is disabled if using Dash&Roll setting.
- Default setting for Roll Input changed to Separate Input.
- New default controller scheme: Simplified.
- Removed "Center Camera" keybind. Using "Lock-On" while no target in range will now center the camera instead.
- Next/Previous Lock-On target for gamepad no longer affects quiver ammo.
- New keybinds on the gamepad for quiver ammo have been added.
- Attribute windows now display additional Attributes as bonus(Green) or penalty(Red).
- The Amulet of Experience is now "The Scholar's Ring".
- Ring of Evasion has been renamed to Ring of Swiftness.
- New Amulet: Amulet of Evasion.
- Increase the duration of Invincibility Frames.
- New Amulet: Tactician's Amulet.
- Increase the distance of Rolls & Dashes at the cost of removing Invincibility Frames.
- New Amulet: Bulwark Amulet.
- Upgraded Tactician's Amulet with +225 Health.
- New Amulet: Piercing Amulet.
- Upgraded Tactician's Amulet with +10% all penetrations.
- New Amulet: Nimble Amulet.
- Upgraded Tactician's Amulet with -0.5 seconds delay before stamina regenerates and +50 stamina recovery per second.
- New Amulet: Amulet of Focus.
- Upgraded Tactician's Amulet with +90% Base Weapon Damage.
- All amulets received new icons.
- Handler will now appear in Monastery in NG+.
- Leech and Vampirism no longer display overhealing.
- New Setting under Video & Graphics : Fog Scattering; Default: ON
- Toggles Fog Scattering on and off.
- New Setting under General & UI : Show Cloak; Default: ON
- Toggles cloaks visibility on and off.
- New Setting under General & UI : I-Frames Timing; Default: ON
- Whether to display I-Frames Timing as transparent effect on Player.

Balancing:

- Speed up regular dual wield attack animations.
- Offhand weapons in regular dual wield now deal full damage instead of the previous 35%.
- Slightly tweaked critical chance obtained from Agility Attribute.
- Agility now also grants increased critical damage at 15+ in the Agility Attribute.
- All weapon abilities now scale based on the weapons Mk. tier and associated Attribute.
- All active abilities now scale based on Players Level and associated Attribute.
- Technomancy projectiles still scale as before, purely based on Intelligence Attribute.
- Nodachis tornado have increased speed when chasing non-player targets.
- Increased maximum amount of leech from Soul Reaver.
- Flux arrows are now part of the regular quiver instead of previously only appearing when the quiver is empty.
- Flux arrow can now be obtained from base Archery Mastery perk.
- Flux arrows now scale based on Intelligence Attribute and Technomancy Penetration.
- Mobius Blade damage now scales based on Players Level.
- Weapon leeches now leech additional amounts based on weapon base damage.
- Crow cloak now gives +100 Health and +150 Health Leech Rating.
- Stamina Leech now returns the portion of the stamina cost for that attack.
- Vampirism perk now adds a flat leech amount instead of doubling the current amount.
- Armor Buster passive now reduces target's current Armor Rating by half.
- Expose Armor debuff now reduces Armor Ratings by 20% instead of putting them at 0.
- Decay now only reduces the target's attack power. Armor Rating reduction was moved on Debuff Mastery perk.

Fixes:

- Removed slightly rooted in place after roll animations has finished..
- Crescent slash properly shoots second projectile now.
- Removed negative floating text leech from Soul Reaver.
- Fixed stamina cost reduction happening only at 2nd attack.
- Fixed rotation sometimes being disabled while having a bow equipped.
- Improved FPS in the Machinarium zone.
- Fixed Konrads The Traitors AI being stuck in place.

Since release we’ve been constantly gathering feedback from every front available to us. A noticeable recurring theme has been a somewhat volatile progression experience while surmounting various challenges in the game mostly deriving from a lacking reward system. This update introduces a feature that will provide players with a consistent feedback loop in the form of a traditional leveling system. The previous gear upgrading system has been slightly tweaked to make room for this new change. We’ve been thoroughly testing the player experience with the addition of this new system and the feedback has been extremely positive.

This change will also provide a more intuitive way to grow and surmount challenges as they come your way, while de-prioritizing micromanagement of less obvious resources and mechanics. And finally, with the addition of a levelling system we've even further emphasized the player's ability to build the playstyle that fits them most.


Experience System:

- A total of 25 levels in NG, and an additional level cap for NG+.
- Additional increase of 5 level per instance of NG+ up to a total of 40 levels maximum.
- Attributes are now obtained either via leveling system or from accessories (Rings, Amulets, Capes)
- Anomalous crystals give new bonuses.
- XP is obtained from killing enemies, completing objectives, discovering new locations, discovering new NPCs and from loot.
- XP from killed enemies diminishes based on the player's level.
- XP is instance based for Co-Op.
- There is no confirmation window currently, and existing inventory will confirm assigned attributes.
- Handler can craft "Basilisk Hack" that resets your assigned attributes. Used from inventory.
- Handler can craft "Experience Concoction" that increases your XP gain by 10% for 10 minutes.
- Iron Helmet received a passive ability: "Up to 20% increase to XP gain based on missing health."
- Characters from before the XP patch will be boosted to their adequate level based on the progression and amount of bosses killed.
- Exclamation mark appears if there are any points remaining for attribute assignment.

Changes:

- The Handler no longer locks players in forced UI.
- If the Handler has something to say, interact will play that dialogue, otherwise it will open the manufacturing screen.
- The Handler can now be found near most of the checkpoints. (must first be discovered and cleared)
- There is now a small notice in the inventory panel if a Handler Echo is available for use.
- Major overhauls to Monastery, Blok6147, Rain District, Desert, and Uranopolis zones. (more zone improvements coming soon)
- Asklepios can now be looted from the Rain District.
- New Concoction: "Mystery Concoction", recipe unlocked from the start. Can only be crafted by handler.
- More responsive archery locomotion.
- More responsive crouch locomotion.
- Gates that are locked now have a "Locked" Interact UI, so players know which gates can be opened.
- "Continue" button in the main menu now loads previously played characters.
- New button in the main menu: "Load Game" performs the same task as the "Continue" button previously performed.

Balancing:

- It is now harder to be stunlocked as there is now an internal cooldown between two staggers.

Fixes:

- Blocking after a dash that interrupted an attack is no longer delayed.
- Fixed incorrect spine bend on some animations.
- Fixed sliding after a roll if movement speed is above 95%.
- Fixed sliding if the dash was interrupted by switching weapons.
- Spamming interacts after falling off ladders no longer stucks characters in perpetual falling animation.
- Spamming interact after canceling fast travel no longer keeps fast travel UI active.
- Fixed being able to place down homunculus while staggered.
- Removed visible debug box from shield bash ability.
- Fixed remaining Revenant collision after death.
- Interact UI is no longer visible from certain angles in the inventory.
- Interact UI will now auto close if it stays active due to a glitch.
- Fast travel will now properly rotate the player and the camera.