Patch 1.05 is here

Patch 1.05 is here, the largest content update to date! Bringing with it several new gameplay modes, new achievements, a new dungeon, and a new runestone, plus many improvements to existing systems

New Gameplay Modes

When starting a new game, you will now be prompted with one of four possible gameplay modes:

1. Normal Mode : The original Darkspar play mode, a longplay mode that takes about 100-300 hours to complete.
   
2. Semi-Turbo Mode: The same as Normal except that much of the build and research trees are skipped. Estimated 30-70 hours to complete.
   
3. Turbo Mode : A greatly accelerated gameplay mode where you earn 5x the normal amount of experience and resources, you start deep in the build and research trees, and the time required for build, research, and population growth has been greatly reduced. Estimated 5-20 hours to complete.
   
4. New Game Plus : Start a new game using the characters from an old save. Monsters gain 25 levels. Monster level cap is now 145. Runestones and artifacts are more powerful. There is an additional dungeon after you defeat Vix. You must defeat Vix in Normal or Semi-Turbo mode before you can access New Game Plus mode.
   

The Turbo and New Game Plus modes each have new achievements associated with them.

Game Randomization

To enhance replay value and provide a unique challenge, there are now a total of five optional randomization settings which can be enabled when creating a new game.

The following things can be randomized: Combat zone locations, Monster Locations, Rune locations, Artifact locations, and Monster Stats. If Monster Stat randomization is enabled, each monster has a chance either to have normal stats, up to 25% reduced stats versus normal, or up to 25% increased stats versus normal. The stat randomization is set at the start of the game and is the same for every monster of that same name for the entire playthrough (it is not set per encounter).

There is an achievement for completing the game in any mode with all of the randomization settings enabled.

New Category of Achievements: Rare

Added a new category of achievements "Rare". These achievements are "account wide" (across all of your saves). Most are related to the new game modes.

Crafting Revamp

We took a long look at crafting and decided it was more tedious than it needed to be. As a result, all crafting is now instantaneous. Additionally, crafting has all been relocated to one Crafting screen, which can be accessed from the lower-right menu.

Alerts Redone

Alerts have been redone and are now much more informative.

Other Improvements

• Rare crashes related to the unused Gamepad functionality of Renpy should be reduced or eliminated
  
• Fixed an issue where a rune drop and XP might rarely be awarded more than once after a kill
  
• The "choose zone" screen now tells you whether there are any artifacts left to be found in each gathering zone
  
• You can now hover over runestones in the Monsterpedia to see what the runestone does
  
• The Artifact menu has been relocated to the lower right, to be more consistent with the Runestone menu
  
• The champion interface has been simplified and the buttons made bigger.
  
• Character portrait can now be changed under the Crafting menu
  
• Doubled the effect that Surge has on build timers
  
• Added an Artifacts and Runestones page to Game Stats in the lower right. These screens will tell you which specific places to go for the remaining artifacts and runestones you are missing. (very useful in Random mode)
  
• Clicking in slightly the wrong spot in the Artifact menu no longer closes that menu
  
• Offhand weapons and quivers no longer incorrectly show a item level (these items cannot be upgraded so should not show a level)