Astral Ascent News

Hello everyone!

We just released the 1.3 version on PC. This new version is focused on elements often requested by the community.

[h3]Patch Note[/h3]

Find the full Patch-Notes of 1.3 here -
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/7281829929758883013

[h3]Affinity System[/h3]

The most frequent request and complaint about the game since its 1.0 release was the lack of Synergy of your build during your run. Wanting to go in a direction and loots would go in another direction gave the feeling of being unlucky during the runs.

We have created a new system called the Affinity System that increases synergies of the loots depending of your current build so you are more likely to make a fully coherent build at the end of your run. Keep in mind that keeping some flexibility on the loots you find is still important, if you find something very powerful, you might still want to re-orient your build during your run!

We have also made Auras rarities stand out more on your interface.



[h3]Destiny Fragments[/h3]

You will now be able to get up to 3 Destiny Fragments at once per Zodiac victory!



The way it currently works in 1.2 is this :

• You get 1 Destiny Fragment per Zodiac per Destiny Level (up to 54) and the Master gives 3 fragments per level, you can at best get 7 fragments in a run.
  
• If you defeat a Zodiac at a high Destiny Level, you will only get 1 Destiny Fragment and it will increase by 1 the Destiny Level you need to get a new fragment of this Zodiac.
  
• Ex : if you have all fragments of Taurus at Destiny Level 10, if you beat him at Destiny Level 20 you will get his 11th fragment, and you will need to beat him at Destiny Level 12 or more to get one new fragment.
  

This system is slow, does not reward players wanting to take more risks in higher Destiny Levels and it exhausts the Master Destiny Fragments much faster than the Zodiacs fragments, this is how the 1.3 system works :

• You get from 1 to 3 destiny Fragments per Zodiacs depending on the difference between your current Destiny Level and the number of Destiny Fragments already collected from the Zodiacs.
  
• Ex : if you have all fragments of Taurus at Destiny level 10, if you beat him at Destiny Level 13 you will get 3 fragments. Then you will need to beat him at Destiny Level 14 or more to get new Destiny Fragments.
  
• The Master still gives 3 Destiny Fragment per Destiny Level and you cannot collect several ranks at once so your maximum Destiny Fragments per run is now 15 and the Master and Zodiacs fragments would exhaust at the same time if you win all your Destiny Levels runs.
  

[h3]Improved Descriptions[/h3]

We have made descriptions for Effects, Player Statuses and Elite Aspects much clearer adding details for how they work, durations, chances to add stacks in order to give you a clearer idea of what to expect from each of these elements.



Some Astral Auras also used Common Spells without giving informations on them, they now have the descriptions added as hints.



[h3]Permanent spell icon[/h3]

We added an option to make next spell icon always visible above your head. We know this option can help players having an hard time checking the icon during action.




[h3]Astral Dragons [/h3]

Small Astral Dragon now gives 3 Auras to choose from instead of 2 so you have more choices to start your build during the run.



We have also replaced the Void Catalyst element that increased strength when killing enemies without being hit by Barbecue's Grace giving the Echo of Barbecue to reroll the Auras you do not want with new Auras of same rarity. This gives even more choices to build during your runs.






[h3]Darker Background Option[/h3]

In order to give more options related to readibility, we added an option to make everything in background darker so enemies and players stand out much more.




[h3]Ultimate Challenge[/h3]

We sponsored Gellot ,a great content creator that performs very hard challenges on games, to do all Zodiacs no-hit at Destiny Level 6 which sounds ridicously hard but that wasn't even close to the challenge he did, making a no-hit on all Zodiacs at Destiny Level 54, it sounds really impossible but he made it!

Send him some love in the comments of the video for the incredible performance this is!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h3]Arsenal Update Preview[/h3]

The Arsenal will be the next update, the 1.4, it will give each Hero 2 new weapons and 3 passives modifying gameplay of each hero, including for their base weapons.

We announced Ayla will have a Katana giving her more impactful attacks with a longer range.



Kiran will have a Double Falchions for large range attacks at a slower pace but keeping high mobility.





Octave will have a Rocket Launcher to kill enemies from far but without auto-targeting, you will need to position correctly to hit your enemies, a bit similar to the one from Hades.



Below, Octave has a passive creating grenades on the third Basic Attack.



Calie will have Spears, all Signature Spells will keep working the same so the spears will create gems when attacking.



And today we announce the second weapon of Octave : the Gunblade! Giving him the ability to fight at a closer range.



We are targetting for this update to release by the end of April 2024.


Have an excellent day

-The Hibernian Workshop

[h2]Patch Note[/h2]
Find the full Patch-Notes of 1.2 here -
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4061752935706427823

[h2]20 new spells[/h2]
We have added 5 new spells per Hero, 2 of them are directly unlocked and you need to buy 3 of them at the Merchant. If you already have a rarer spells you won't need to unlock them with experience at the end of runs


We received a lot of feedback saying you would like to see more spells about making the enemies move. More spells making something else than pure damage. We have tried to include that as much as possible in our new spells design and we are really happy about these new spells!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]PvP Arena[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The PvP Arena is placed in Andromeda's Bar. It is accessible only in local co-op during runs and you can make as many duels as you want. We had so much fun testing this new feature, we know it won't be used by everyone as it requires playing in co-op but during co-op runs it adds a lot of fun!


When you start the duel it will make you full life and full mana and it will restore the amount you had before the duel when getting out.

During the duel both players get mana point with time so you can focus on launching spells more than attacking with Basic Attacks to restore mana. We also added some buff trees spawning sometimes to spice things up. We also removed the Echoes and Zodiac Summon during the duels, it was way too chaotic when it was possible.

The player winning the Duel will get a little crown symbol above their avatar as a reward for the run but it can change back to the other player if they win another duel.


We received a lot of questions relative to online PvP but we are not going for it as it requires so much work. We also thought about accessing the PvP from main menu or from the game hub but it would require a build creating system and we also know that the PvP is not balanced depending of the spells you currently have, it's mainly targeted to get some fun when you do co-op runs!

[h2]Extras[/h2]
Some noteworthy change mainly inspired by community suggestions!

• Offline Telescope - We have made the Telescope working offline now, it will solve the problem that it was not working in some regions of the world and it will also be available on Console now.
  
• 4 Categories at Cetus Cavern - Cetus Cavern now has 4 categories instead of 3, the fourth one will always be the random one (Nebulous Choice)
  
• Pavo Feathers - Feathers on Pavo's ruins will always be of a higher level after sacrificing health 3 times (globally)

[h2]Arsenal Update Preview[/h2]
We have also started working on the next update : The Arsenal. In this update each Hero will have new weapons and associated passives. We will explain this better next time but for now you can see one of the new weapons of Kiran below -



[h2]Merch Suggestions event[/h2]
We are also gathering your ideas about potential merch on our Discord Server, you can give your own ideas and vote for other suggestions you like, do not hesitate to join!


Have a great time in the game and a fantastic week,

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

⭐Changes inspired by our community!

[h2]Major Features[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• PvP Mode: Added a option for players to fight each other in a duel during co-op runs. You can start a duel at Andromeda's bar by interacting with the new Duel's altar.
  [hr][/hr]
• 20 new spells: 5 new spells per Hero
  [hr][/hr]
• Telescope now works offline. We made this change to make the feature accessible for players in some areas that had issues connecting with the Telescope server. Telescope should also work now on console as well
  

[h2]Small Features[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• Cetus Cavern now has 4 categories instead of 3, the fourth one will always be the random one (Nebulous Choice)
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Slimes will now change direction toward nearest available enemy when bouncing (if they have a line of sight to them)
  [hr][/hr]
• Sparks now bounce multiple times even if no enemies around (make it stronger on bosses) + visual improvement
  [hr][/hr]
• Effect descriptions can stack into different columns if too many elements are displayed while checking spells
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Feathers on Pavo's ruins will always be of a higher level after sacrificing health 3 times (globally)
  [hr][/hr]
• During Basic attacks you can change direction more freely - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• Increased damage for some spells:
  
  AYLA
  - Toxic bomb
  - Fatal dash
  - Misleading clone
  - Fisherman's demise
  
  KIRAN
  - Fiery dragon punch
  - Hadoken
  
  OCTAVE
  - Miseria
  - Adustio
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Added back 3 Stars per Shadow Clones
  [hr][/hr]
• Sparks bounce one more time
  [hr][/hr]
• Increased damage for Fire Shield
  [hr][/hr]
• Slightly increased time delay between attacks for Aries / Cancer & Gemini
  [hr][/hr]
• Removed or reduced invincibility on some attacks of Scorpio / Cancer / Libra / Aquarius when it was not necessary
  

[h2]Music & SFX[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• One important line from The Master was missing in Japanese Voice Over - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

[h2]Interface[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Reduced Main Menu brightness as it was too bright for many players - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

[h2]Visuals[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• Small visual improvement of particles when bosses teleport and they are now behind Bosses - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

[h2]Narrative Design[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Kiran typo fixed in a dialog with The Master - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ You could get stuck in a ground of one of the exploration rooms
  [hr][/hr]
• Calie's Prismatic Beam could sometimes not hit enemies correctly if game FPS dropped
  [hr][/hr]
• When being casted by player 2 some hits from the spell ""Slashing Squall"" would always use player 1 spell modificators
  [hr][/hr]
• When being casted by player 2 the spell ""Quicksilver"" would spawn at player 1 position
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ When being casted by player 2 the spell ""Poisonous vortex"" would move facing player 1 direction
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ ""Start 30 escape attempts"" would unlock earlier than it should
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Achievement for unlocking Bapy and Barbecue would sometimes not work on ps5
  [hr][/hr]
• It was possible to press input to equip an aura while the game was paused
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ The combo of the aura ""Prowess of the sky"" and ""Zimzim laugh"" echo would trigger pseudo infinite spawns of thunder strikes
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ The game could sometimes freeze while skipping Zodiacs cutscenes
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Healing shards would not be collected if the spawn animation didn't finish before a layout transition
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Capricorn warn signs for their missile attacks would sometimes not disappear
  [hr][/hr]
• Topaz Companion spell would not always hit every time if attacking fast
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Return to Characters in Papa Yalee was only making you go one rank higher
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Lightning Dance spell could keep visual elements after being launched
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Favored by the Earth bapy achievement would not work correctly
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Bapy Summon Star Chest would not give stars in falling in the pit of Pavo's ruins and Echo Island
  [hr][/hr]
• We reworked the way we handle backup files to handler cases on where player could lost save data if their game crashed or in case of a power outrage. If you find any issues with save files after this update please contact the developer team through the steam forum or the official Hibernian Workshop discord server.
  [hr][/hr]
• Replacing hub teleporters which were removed by mistake - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.3
  [hr][/hr]
• Adjusting backup system to avoid creating backup from invalid files - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.3
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Poetic Peddler's Chance description was not displaying the right amount of Quartz to collect - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Cancer killed during his ultimate could stay in air and have reversed height or weird angle - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ In Coop, a player could be stuck in the wall before The Master fight - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ In Coop, a player could be stuck in dead animation if killed in P1 of the Master and revived after P2 starts - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Large world 1 monster spawning thorns would not spawn thorns if platforms were too small or close to a wall - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Laserified Achievement from Sier Bapy was not using the right Laser from world 4, it was using the small lasers trap instead of the giant laser trap - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ When playing at more than 60fps it would sometimes require several down inputs to go through platforms - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Steam and consoles achievement ""Arsenal"" (unlock all spell on Peddle) would not work correctly after the 1.2.0 update - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Bapy's achievement for unlocking the Path of Destinies should work retroactively now, this specially affects players from EA that unlocked the feature before the 1.0 release - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Triggers from some specific player effects (Ice fragments and Thunder Strike) would not work correctly for auras and damage would not register on damage meter - ☄️ hotfix 1.2.0.4

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

• Discord Server
• Twitter Account
• Official Store

Hello everyone! ːzimzimSmileː

We are making nice progress for the incoming update, it will be simultaneously released on Steam and Consoles on February 12th!

[h3]But we have made a Public Beta version available for you to try right now! ːbarbecuePogː[/h3]

We would like to setup a new process for our updates, making them available first as Public Betas to collect your thoughts and feedback.
In order to be notified about the Public Beta releases, you can join our Discord Server, there you can get a role by reacting to the message in Public-Beta channel -



Doing this, everytime a new Public Beta version is updated you will be notified with a detailed Patch-Notes describing what you will find in the version.

This server is also the perfect place to feedback us about your thoughts on the Public-Beta content!

[h3]We hope to see you there to get your opinion about the update, here is what you can find in the currently uploaded Public-Beta -[/h3]


[h2]Major Features[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• PvP Mode: Added a option for players to fight each other in a duel during co-op runs. You can start a duel at Andromeda's bar by interacting with the new Duel's altar.
  [hr][/hr]
• 20 new spells: 5 new spells per Hero
  [hr][/hr]
• Telescope now works offline. We made this change to make the feature accessible for players in some areas that had issues connecting with the Telescope server. Telescope should also work now on console as well
  

[h2]Small Features[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• Cetus Cavern now has 4 categories instead of 3, the fourth one will always be the random one (Nebulous Choice)
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Slimes will now change direction toward nearest available enemy when bouncing (if they have a line of sight to them)
  [hr][/hr]
• Sparks now bounce multiple times even if no enemies around (make it stronger on bosses) + visual improvement
  

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• Increased damage for some spells:
  
  AYLA
  - Toxic bomb
  - Fatal dash
  - Misleading clone
  - Fisherman's demise
  
  KIRAN
  - Fiery dragon punch
  - Hadoken
  
  OCTAVE
  - Miseria
  - Adustio
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Added back 3 Stars per Shadow Clones
  [hr][/hr]
• Sparks bounce one more time
  [hr][/hr]
• Increased damage for Fire Shield
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ You could get stuck in a ground of one of the exploration rooms
  [hr][/hr]
• Calie's Prismatic Beam could sometimes not hit enemies correctly if game FPS dropped
  [hr][/hr]
• When being casted by player 2 some hits from the spell ""Slashing Squall"" would always use player 1 spell modificators
  [hr][/hr]
• When being casted by player 2 the spell ""Quicksilver"" would spawn at player 1 position
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ When being casted by player 2 the spell ""Poisonous vortex"" would move facing player 1 direction
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ ""Start 30 escape attempts"" would unlock earlier than it should
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Achievement for unlocking Bapy and Barbecue would sometimes not work on ps5
  [hr][/hr]
• It was possible to press input to equip an aura while the game was paused
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ The combo of the aura ""Prowess of the sky"" and ""Zimzim laugh"" echo would trigger pseudo infinite spawns of thunder strikes
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ The game could sometimes freeze while skipping Zodiacs cutscenes
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Healing shards would not be collected if the spawn animation didn't finish before a layout transition
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Capricorn warn signs for their missile attacks would sometimes not disappear
  [hr][/hr]
• Topaz Companion spell would not always hit everytime if attacking fast
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Return to Characters in Papa Yalee was only making you go one rank higher
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Lightning Dance spell could keep visual elements after being launched
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Favored by the Earth bapy achievement would not work correctly
  [hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Bapy Summon Star Chest would not give stars in falling in the pit of Pavo's ruins and Echo Island
  

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

• Discord Server
• Twitter Account
• Official Store

Hello everyone!

We are back from holidays and we are working on our next update coming on February 12! ːtaurusSmirkː

[h2]PvP Arena and public beta[/h2]
We have made great progress on the PvP Arena and it turned out even better than we anticipated, it is so fun to play! We will explain better everything related to it in the update news but for now here is a work-in-progress video.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The PvP Arena is now available for you to try and we are really interested to get your feedback related to it!

As a safety measure, we would recommend you to make a manual copy of your saves before selecting the public beta. For that copy the content in :

 Windows (C:)
 Users
 - Your Windows User Name -
 My Games
 Astral Ascent
 Number of your Steam Account
 - Copy the content there to somewhere else -

To select the public beta, open Steam then :

 
 Right click on Astral Ascent in your Library
 Click on Properties
 Open Betas tab
 Select "public.beta"

The public beta already has a change related to Telescope making it offline now and if you see any issues related to spells or during the PvP it would be very appreciated if you could report them to us, thanks!

[h2]New Spells[/h2]
We have also started working on 5 new spells per hero, these new spells feel very cool to use and we tried to make some of them move enemies around as it was something often requested by the community!







[h2]Other Changes Coming[/h2]
We took time to read all the reviews, all the suggestions and bugs reports we received and we will try to fix and improve as much as possible of these beginning with the most requested ones.

For example we will be fixing the issue making Telescope unavailable in sone countries (and consoles) for this update but we have little time for fixes for this update so more fixes and improvements like improving the synergy between loots during a run should be following in a patch dedicated to improvements in March 2024.

[h2]Backerkit Survey
[/h2]We are finalizing the survey and should be able to send it this month. We are also talking a lot with Limited Run Games recently and things are moving in the right direction to prepare every physical rewards!



Wishing you a great day and the best for 2024! ːzimzimSmileː

- The Hibernian Workshop Team