Hello everyone!

It’s me again—the dev—bringing you another update!
This one’s a bit lighter on content since I’ve been focusing hard on performance for both high- and low-end devices. But we’ll get into that in just a moment (●'◡'●)

First things first: as mentioned in the last patch notes, Leaderboards have been reset!
Good luck, and happy hunting!

Now let’s dive into the juicy stuff!

Nyxaria Joins the Battle

Nyxaria—formerly known simply as Aria—a Cosmic DoT DPS specialist! She’s a powerhouse when it comes to building up elemental effects, and her passive dramatically increases DoT tick rate (with a trade-off in duration).

Her signature weapon, the Judgement of Nyx, cuts through not only enemies but the very fabric of space itself, applying Cosmic DoT in a wide arc.



Her ultimate, Collapse of Aeons, is a 3-stage channeling ability triggered by holding down the skill button.



(GIF is sped up due to file size limits)

As you hold the button, Nyxaria rains cosmic fire from above, increasing in intensity the longer it’s held—dealing more damage, but consuming more of her health per second.

Elemental Accumulation

Elemental Accumulation is a new mechanic designed to reward single-element and rapid-hit builds.

Repeatedly applying the same element to enemies triggers unique effects. These scale with elemental effect buffs and fade over time, so fast attacks are key!

Here’s a breakdown of the new accumulation effects:

• Ignition – Fire: Deals 5% of the target’s max HP every 0.5s for 5s.
  
• Overload – Lightning: Stuns for 0.3s and deals 2% max HP every 0.5s for 5s.
  
• Frostbite – Ice: Slows by 40% for 3s and deals a burst of damage equal to the triggering hit.
  
• Wounded – Physical: Bleeds for 40% of the hit damage every 0.5s for 5s.
  
• Burst – Wind: Your next attack after this deals 150% damage.
  
• Radiance – Light: Reduces a random elemental defense by 20% (stacks).
  
• Singularity – Cosmic: Makes reactions and accumulations 15% stronger vs. the target (stacks).
  
• Shadowbind – Dark: After 4s, deals damage equal to current HP. Reapplying shortens the delay by 0.3s.
  
• Petrify – Earth: Stuns for 0.5s and reduces physical defense by 20%.
  

I hope you enjoy messing around with builds and discovering combos!

Damage Indicators

You’ll now see red screen edges flash when taking 5+ damage. A similar effect appears when reviving—check out the Nyxaria ult GIF above!

You can toggle this in the settings menu.

Also, player damage numbers are now an optional display—when taking or healing at least 1 HP, you'll see numbers above your character. Toggle that in the settings too!

New Damage Numbers

Out with the old, in with the shiny new:



You can customize how they behave! Let them explode all over your screen or vanish quickly—it’s up to you. More visual effects may come in the future!

New Difficulty System

Difficulties are now split into more gradual stages:

1. Normal
   
2. Shallow I–V
   
3. Deep I–V
   

Deep levels come with special enemy effects for added challenge.
Details are visible on the difficulty list to the right of the selection screen.

Leaderboards

As mention before leaderboards have been reset!
Time to rise through the ranks all over again—good luck out there!

But that’s not all—there are some changes to how scoring works!
Previously, scores were calculated based only on weapon damage, which meant elemental reactions and ultimates didn’t count. That felt a bit unfair.

Starting from v1.8.4, your total damage dealt is now what matters—this includes everything: weapons, elemental reactions and ultimates.

You can even see it on the result screen:



Oh, and here’s the real kicker...

You can now view the builds players used for their leaderboard runs!
Ever wonder how someone pulled off that crazy high score? Wonder no more:



You can even copy their build directly to try it out for yourself.

Quality of Life Improvements

Camera Zoom

Scroll in or out with your mouse wheel. Finally!

Shop Sliders

Buy items in bulk (except for upgrades). Save those clicks!

Fragment Overlay Cleanup

Removed extra lines that obscured shard graphics.

Memory Fragments

Memory Fragments (EXP shards) will no longer be merged when within camera view.

Performance Optimizations

Nature Renderer

New experimental GPU Instancing toggle in settings (off by default).


Implemented only on the Capital Outskirts map (the only grassy one). Yields better performance at high distances/densities. May not work well on older hardware.

Code Optimizations

Refactored code for pickups, damage numbers, enemy logic, and projectiles.
Result: Better FPS across the board—up to double in crowded scenes.

Pickup Animation Toggle

Disable pickup animations to save CPU power. It’s subtle but helpful!

Performance Tips

If your FPS still drops:

• Disable damage numbers in late game
  
• Minimap can cause FPS dips
  
• Turn off antialiasing and ambient occlusion (huge help on integrated GPUs)
  

Friendly reminder that I provide the max settings that are completely overkill most of the time. If your PC sounds like it's about to take off it may be a good idea to reduce grass/tree render distance and density

Bug Fixes

Sprite Rendering

Animated sprites were misbehaving—appearing in front of things they shouldn’t. That’s all been fixed!

DoT Scaling

DoTs now scale properly with elemental damage, resistance penetration, and reaction bonuses!

Misc Fixes

• Yami-no-Tokyia’s animated sprite was missing—she’s back!
  
• Madra’s sprite was misaligned—now fixed.
  
• Game result screen was skipping if switching between skinned/non-skinned characters.
  
• Crate icon no longer spins with you on the minimap.
  
• Character tuning icon was incorrectly labeled as “Relics.”
  
• Tuning icon now properly greys out for locked characters.
  
• Kaware’s shop fragment title fixed from "echo of peace" to "fragment of peace."
  

Afterword

That’s it for this patch!
Lots of work for a "small" update ┌(。Д。)┐ but more is on the way!

Recollection Animations (WIP)

No promises, but I want to try adding these as unique pull animations.



Here's an early mockup for Nyxaria—not in-game yet, but I hope to give every character something like this!

A New Progression System?

With the expanded difficulty system, I’m exploring a new layer of progression.
We’ve got shop upgrades, relics, and item unlocks already... so what’s next?

The idea: use character levels to power up a new system—something like a big PoE-style passive tree.
Level up characters, unlock paths, and tailor builds even further!
That’s the dream (≧∇≦)ﾉ

Further Optimizations

I’ll continue keeping an eye on bottlenecks and frame-hogging systems, and aim to bring even more optimizations in future updates.

Gameplay Tutorials

I’m working on expanding tutorial pop-ups directly into the gameplay area to make things clearer and more intuitive as you play.
No more guessing what buttons do or what the weird rocks are for

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Thanks for reading! As always I will be waiting for any suggestions and opinions regarding new features!