The Black Pool update for 25 February 2024

THREE ABILITIES TO START

Players now start with three abilities, choosing from each of the offered starting elements. Previously, combat in the first world could feel limited with only two abilities. This makes the first levels feel more engaging from the start, and also requires players to improvise with their builds a little bit more.

PATCHWORK

A point of frustration for players has been falling into crevices while in combat. We have painstakingly gone through all of the biomes and smoothed out many of these problem areas. While we want there to be environmental obstacles to contend with, the worst offenders have been greatly improved. If you run across an area that feels “bad”, let us know!

ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• Player starting jump hang time has been reduced to feel a bit less “floaty”.
• Levels now have enemies spawned at the start, helping the worlds feel more populated.
• Improved out of combat spawns to be biased in the direction of progress and to not interrupt guide arrow display.
• Further revisions to the new player tutorial biome sequence.
• Respawn button: Added a visual effect to indicate that a respawn is in progress.
• Icelands Boss: Platforming revised to be a bit easier.
• Additional new and tweaked sound effects.
• Added informational popups for the more complicated abilities. If you feel a skill could use more explanation, please let us know.
• World and level numbers now display in the in-game menu.

BALANCE UPDATES

• Single player revives on the Proficient difficulty now heal 100%.
• Kamikaze Mechs now have a distinctive footstep sound, making it easier to hear them coming.
• Jagged Peaks Pyramid missile barrages now scale based on player count and playthrough progress.
• Rift Storm: Improved to hit more frequently, hit enemies above, and have a larger radius.
• Stone Wall: Tripled reflected damage, doubled the reflected terra effect.
• Fire Thrust: Made stronger when the player has a downward velocity, making it more consistent if used while starting versus in the middle of a jump.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed issue that would prevent guiding arrows from showing on Jagged Peaks boss.
• Numerous fixes to guiding arrows on Temple, Icelands and Molten Pillars bosses.
• Performance tweaks for shield generators.
• Fixed Fire/Decay/Void amounts on the health bars to continue to grow when the logarithmic bar fills up.
• Fixed flux not extending challenge time on pickup.

Many more smaller tweaks and bug fixes.