Hi everyone! This is probably the biggest update since the beginning of Early Access, so I’m pretty excited to get it out in the world. It was also somewhat exhausting to cram all this content into one update, so I'm also relieved it's finished. The combat overhaul in particular was much more work than even I anticipated, especially balancing the new skills and working out the bugs.

I’m also working on a big surprise. Since it’s still at a very early stage, I’ll simply leave you with this teaser image:

What’s in version 0.21?

ACT II

Players can start ACT II at any time as long as they have finished the fourth quest in ANY faction chain. Starting ACT II will not cancel or expire any missions. At the end of ACT II, players can formally ally themselves with either the Traditionalist or Progressive guild factions, or continue to remain neutral.

ACT II can be accessed on Level 1 of the Guild Hall, with a floating quest marker, once the above conditions are met.

Diane, Zafra and Jasen’s romance quests

Romance quests for the final 3 companions. Zafra’s quest in particular is combat heavy and relatively difficult, although the new combat overhaul may make it more manageable. Due to time constraints, the sex scenes will be added next month.

Combat skill tree overhaul

Around 50 new combat skills added! A new subclass/specialization for each class! Two new Momentum skills for each existing subclass!

My gameplay design philosophy has always been to offer players more options. I understand this goes against most modern design philosophies, which prefer to streamline and reduce gameplay to appeal to wider audiences. That’s not something I generally agree with.

The biggest overhaul to the combat system is the increased attention on Momentum skills, which are bonus actions much like features. This will make combat much easier for many players, as it can dramatically increase the number of actions taken per turn. However, due to how powerful mid and late game enemies will be, I consider this possibly a necessary addition.

There are now a whopping 12 subclasses in the game! The skills added in this update are designed to help the subclasses focus more on their specialty. Additionally, each subclass now must be unlocked by spending two class points.

Due to some restrictions from the game engine, the new skill trees will not automatically update. Talking to Golgo will now prompt you to update your skill trees, with the option to skip.

Subclasses and their general roles:

Soldier Subclasses

Frontline Juggernaut - melee tank
Heavy Artillery - ranged AOE
Chem Rager - high mobility melee


Shaper Subclasses

Reality Warper - damage mage
Memory Weaver - debuff mage
Wudajin Disciple - very high mobility melee mage

Support Subclasses

Combat Engineer - well-rounded support
Battle Saint - melee healer
Drone Controller - summoner support

Vigilante Subclasses

Shadow Stalker - high-damage single target melee
Silent Vanguard - high-damage single target ranged
Troubleshooter - silencer/mage killer

Due to the overwhelming amount of new combat options, I haven’t had enough time to thoroughly bugtest as much as I’d like, so expect some bugs.

I have also added a new category of weapons: Less-than-lethal weapons. For now this includes a whip and taser, and they can be found in the Saint Gorfu gunshop. Likewise due to time constraints, additional items will be added at a later date.



Bugfixes:

• Various typos in the Skill Trees have been fixed
  
• Reputation loss from attacking factions in the overworld have been greatly increased
  
• Relationship bugs have been fixed
  
• All summoning skills have been rebuilt and switched to direct control
  
• Summoning errors should now be fixed