Astral Ascent News

First of all, thanks for the great reception of the 1.7 version! We are working hard on new updates!

[h2]Version 1.8 complete Patch-Notes:[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4545912358018084589


The first major change of this new version is the rework of the hub Telescope. We removed all the perks that were linked to a specific build because you would select them in the hub before knowing what would be your build during the run so it would either be frustrating because you do not find the right build or not be useful if you don't do this build so we focused on perks working with all builds. We also added new perks in the hub.

Adding to that, we have created a new room type : The Cursed Telescope!



This new room can be found up to 2 times per run and will allow you to get new Telescope perks, different from the Hub ones, with usual rarities : common, rare, mythic and astral.
But a random Malus is attached to each of these bonus and will be removed when reaching Andromeda's bar of your current world.

That's a total of 31 bonuses there (102 with rarities) and 15 maluses in this new room. This room works very similar to Chaos in Hades, high risk high rewards! ːzagplsː
To help you find what you want, we added up to 6 rerolls you can get from a new Zim-Zim upgrade -




A new feature is also the Build Recap, we used to see community members share their builds through a dozen of screens taken before the final boss and it felt really bad to share a good build. We have came with a solution to that - the Prison Memento! In the hub you will be able to find this large book in the bottom right, if you open it it will show your runs (only the ones post 1.8 release).


This screen also appears when you Win a run or die and it also works in co-op (only from hub for now)!

We truly hope this will make sharing your best runs and best builds easier!


We have also improved a lot of small elements requested by the community!


You can now preview on the progress bar where are the special rooms, the bar and the Zodiac fight, it does not display all the random rooms like Moon/Sun for example but it gives a better idea of what is coming next to help organize your run better!


An icon now shows what is the effect of the Zodiac summon before entering the room so you have a better idea if it will fit into your build or not.


We have added a new system to reward players perfecting rooms, perfected rooms can stack and offer different rewards

• Explo / Fight rooms - 1 Star
• Star Guardians - 2 Stars
• Zodiacs - 3 Stars

And this stacks over room so the more rooms you perfect in a row the more stars you get in each new room and it resets when getting hit!


It has been requested a lot and the Arsenal is now available in the hub and in Andromeda's bar so you can change your weapon/passive before the boss if you want to!


Another change is also that salvaging an Aura Refiner will give rarer Auras depending of your current world if you have Barbecue's aura.

There are more small changes like a 5th Aura Refiner in Event Horizon, double rewards in Cetus room in co-op and more!


We had also like to address a global concern we started to hear, the 2.0 planned for Q1 2025 with new worlds is not the end of our updates for Astral Ascent, we have more updates planned after that, some of them are already in the work ːzimzimSmileː

We do not tease the 1.9 version (big collab with a famous game) yet because we are still looking for opportunities to maybe announce it in some places to get more visibility but it's progressing very well on our side and we cannot wait to show you more about this update coming very soon! (Q4 2024)!

Last thing, our friends at Doom Turtle just released a massive DLC + free update for their game Ember Knights in a few hours, this update is huge, don't hesitate to check it here -
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2948140/Ember_Knights__Wrath_of_the_Architect/

Have an excellent time in the game and a great week ːzimzimSmileː

Louis

⭐Changes inspired by our community!

[h2]Major Features[/h2]

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• New room ""Cursed Telescope"": This room can appear as a reward option alongside other rooms starting in world 2, 3, or 4. Inside, you'll find a cursed version of the Telescope from the hub, offering a perk tied to a Malus, which adds a temporary negative effect to the player. The Malus is lifted once you reach Andromeda's bar, leaving only the perk behind.
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• Build recap: Players can preview their build after completing a run. A list of previous runs is also available in the hub by interacting with the Altar beneath Sova's spot
  

[h2]Small Features[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ New Aura Refiner in Event Horizon (co-op players used to have 1 extra aura refiner use they could not use)
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• community inspired ⭐ Auras Refiner recycled now drops rarer Auras depending of current world if you have Barbecue Summon
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• community inspired ⭐ You now have double the loots in Cetus Cavern when playing in co-op
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• community inspired ⭐ Hints are now displayed on Auras from Barbecue interface
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• Arsenal now in Andromeda's Bar and in Hub
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• Players can achieve a 'Perfect Room' by clearing all enemies without taking damage in the following rooms: Exploration, Fight, Eclipse, The Void, and Boss. Earning a 'Perfect Room' rewards players with stars, with the reward increasing based on the current streak of perfected rooms.
  

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• community inspired ⭐ Yamat ""Dance of Contempt"" spell now has Dodge at the beginning
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• community inspired ⭐ Spirit Swords can now attack faster
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• Poison now ticks faster depending on the number of stacks
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• Enemies with ""Frostbite"" status effect will receive an additional 20% damage
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

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• Special rooms, Andromeda's bar and final boss are now displayed in the progression bar
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• Challenge Rooms from Zodiacs now display the type of reward/affinity you will have by completing the challenge
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• Key Converter now shows number of Keys and Stars when nearby
  

[h2]Visuals[/h2]

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• Portal to Elite fight rooms and Elite Star Guardians are now red
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• Icons above portal and not changing overtime anymore for better readability
  

[h2]Narrative Design[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Typos fixed in the Forge Room
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• ""Vanquisher of the Star Guardians"" and ""Stars Vanquisher"" achievements from Sier Bapy were too similar in english
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• Intro voices when entering Elite Minibosses room were missing
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Loot Keys could sometime never reach players and keep rotating around
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• Key Converter was now displaying the right amount of keys to stars if you used keys in the room
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• The game would freeze while trying to open the Arsenal if it triggers the first interaction tutorial - ☄️ hotfix 1.8.1
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• Wrong dialogue line was played by Ordan when interacting with Elite Minibosses - ☄️ hotfix 1.8.1
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• The second player wouldn't receive the aura from the ""City of Gold Telescope"" with the Void Catalyst perk - ☄️ hotfix 1.8.1
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• Event Horizon Aura Refiner was not usable if used at the end of Crimson Highlands - ☄️ hotfix 1.8.2

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

• Discord Server
• Twitter Account
• Official Store

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We have teamed-up with Roguelites we love for this new update, bringing -

• Bodyboulder from Scourgebringer
• Praxis from Ember Knights
• Tasmos from Spiritfall

If you haven't play these games you, we highly recommend you to try them and we might have the best reason for you, we created an Action-Packed Roguelike Gems Bundle adding an extra 10% off to all the games already discounted that you do not own already!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44735/ActionPacked_Roguelike_Gems/

We have also made a specific video about our collaboration with Ember Knights team as they added Yalees as Spells in their game! :barbecuePog:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Version 1.7 complete Patch-Notes: [/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4607833411865476591

[h2]The Relentless Void[/h2]
A new room has been added to the game with this update, now you will find The Void to fight minibosses in each world up to 3 times in a run. If you pick it and win in world 1, 2 and 3, you will be able to find the Relentless Void, a new type of Miniboss room, coming with a new song!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Minibosses there are harder than regular Minibosses with more patterns and more complex fights. For now there are 3 Minibosses in this room : Bodyboulder, Praxis or Tasmos.

Why take the risk? Well... guaranteed Astral Gambits :taurusSmirk:


[h2]Forge Rework[/h2]
We have reworked the Forge Room, you used to be able to get random spells to pick but it was not very exciting and it was rarely giving you what you wanted so we follow a community suggestion and reworked it so you can now select any spell of your hero and with the affinity of your choice!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

It is also working differently in co-op where you can select 2 times the reward and they only work for the player selecting the reward instead of working for both players at once.

[h2]Keys Converter[/h2]
Who never had leftovers of Keys at the end of a run? Well we might have the perfect solution for you!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Convert your Keys into Stars to use for drinks right before the final fight and always maximize your efficiency :zimzimSmile:


[h2]Sneak Peak of 1.8[/h2]
We are aiming to release this new update for October, the main feature is a rework of the Telluric Telescope, we will modify the existing bonuses in the Telluric Telescope so we dont give bonuses that are linked to a specific build anymore as we think it felt bad.
We are also going to add new ones, mainly for the Telescope in the main hub but also in a new Room that you will be able to find during your runs!
Visuals not definitive!

In this new area you will be able to select an extra Telescope bonus but these bonuses will be mostly different from the existing ones and they will also be attached to negative temporary effects.
Room and UI visuals are not definitive!

Bonuses examples (subject to change) -

• The mana cost of the spell in slot 4 is remove
  
• Spells that cost 3 mana have a X% chance to not use mana
  
• Spell in slot 2 cost between 1 and 3 mana
  
• Reduces Echoes cooldown by X%
  
• On spell refresh, kill X random enemies
  
• X% chance to reset the signature spell when you use it
  

Maluses examples (subject to change) -

• The rooms are hidden
  
• The signature spell is unavailable
  
• All spells cost 3 mana
  
• The damages can’t critical
  
• Max life reduced by X%
  

We are also working on a new feature so you will be able to show your past runs builds and be able to see your whole build at once!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Very placeholder elements! Visuals not definitive!

It was painful seeing the community share so many screenshots to share a build so we hope this will be better this way and encourage everyone sharing their best builds :zagpls:

We really cannot wait to share with you what is coming, in particular for the 1.9 but we have even more collabs unannounced collabs coming from licences we love!

Have an excellent time in the game everyone :kiranThumbUp:

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

⭐Changes inspired by our community!

[h2]Major Features[/h2]

[hr][/hr]
• The Relentless Void: New room type with harder Star Guardians with more patterns and more dangerous only appearing in world 4 if you already beat 3 Star Guardians in your run, rewarding with Astral Gambits!
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• community inspired ⭐ Forge Rework: Picking a spell in the forge now allows to pick any spell from your hero and select the affinity you want instead of random spells!
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• Keys Refiner: You can now transform your Keys leftovers in world 5n before the final battle into Stars to use for Andromeda's drinks!
  

[h2]Small Features[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Accessibility: You can now open Big Chests by keeping input pressed instead of spamming it
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• End of rooms portal now also open while being on the stopping from running animation, making them a few frames faster
  

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Yamat summon Dance of contempt: reduced cooldown from 45 to 25 seconds
  

[h2]Music & SFX[/h2]

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• New Music in the new room and in the Jukebox
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Resilience Mode is now displayed on main UI
  

[h2]Narrative Design[/h2]

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• community inspired ⭐ Fixed a typo in english and french Resilience description
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

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• Buying a spell at Andromeda's bar for the first time would not make spell sound
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• community inspired ⭐ Fixed some Yamat perks that would not spawn effects correctly
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• community inspired ⭐ Fixed some Yamat perks that would indefinitely spawn elements after the effect of her signature spell was over
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• community inspired ⭐ It was possible to skip a room during co-op if both players pressed the input to pick a portal at the same tick
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• community inspired ⭐ Kiran ""Explosive Temper"" passive ability from ""Burning Bo"" weapon would not hit enemies
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• community inspired ⭐ Fixed a visual glitch with decimal cases of ""Resilience mode"" values
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• community inspired ⭐ Resilience mode would mistakenly be buffed while finishing a winning run under DL6+
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• No audio when buying a Spell at Andromeda's bar for the first time
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• community inspired ⭐ Yamat could not change colors as Player 2
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• community inspired ⭐ Light quality option on the left was not looping correctly
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• community inspired ⭐ World 3 Anchor enemy projectiles would hit you if enemy was destroyed and you were above a target while it didn't explode yet
  

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

• Discord Server
• Twitter Account
• Official Store

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We are very happy to announce that you can now get Yamat - the Breach Traveler DLC

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3073420/Astral_Ascent__Yamat_the_Breach_Traveler/

Let's see what you can expect from this DLC below!

[h2]DLC CONTENT - [/h2]

• Pixel Art hand-drawn cinematic animation!
  
  
  
• 16 new unique spells - summons powerful wild creatures, spinning giant blades and more!
  
  
  
• Signature Spell - Forbidden Power transforms Yamat into her flying draconic form allowing her to move freely around while shooting magic missiles to nearby enemies.
  
  
  
• 37 Associated Perks to modify her Signature Spell
  
  
• 3 Weapons types for different playstyles
  
  • Dark Energy Fists - close range quick attacks of dark matter unleashing flaming magical creatures
    
    
    
  • Two-Handed Dark Sword - longer range powerful slash that can hit several enemies at once
    
    
    
  • Dark Bow - shoots from afar and shower enemies with arrows
    
  
  
  
• 9 Weapon Passives - Each weapon comes with 3 unique passives to change playstyle, making Yamat an even deadlier fighter, here is one example per weapon -
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• New Papa Yalee Stories - 4 new stories to learn more about the mysterious Yamat
  
  
• 1000+ new lines of dialogs between Yamat and all the other characters of the Garden – including heroes – fully voiced in English and Japanese
  
  
• Pixel Art ending screen - a new ending has been added to the game for Yamat!
  

[h2]ADDITION TO THE BASE GAME - [/h2]
Even if you do not own the DLC, you still will be able to-

• See Yamat hanging out in the Garden
  
  
• Collect and use 2 Yamat Echoes during the runs
  
  
• Fight Yamat's Shadow Clone

You can find the full Patch-Notes below for the 1.6 version!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/6718890930813444852

We have worked on many elements to improve the overall experience during runs, one of our focus was build synergies and Astral Auras!

• 23 New Astral Auras for more synergy builds, here are 9 examples from the 23 new Auras!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• You now have 5 Auras slot instead of 4 as you will have 2 base Aura Slots instead of 1, this allows so much more synergies and possibilities of build, in particular for mixed builds!
  
• You can now reroll 3 times the Auras in Yalee Kingdom with Sun Pieces, like for Echo Island, you need to defeat the Master in DL6 first! The Yalee Kingdom has now increased amount of Astral Auras loot, making it more likely for you to find loots matching your current build.
  
• You now have 3 rerolls in Echo Island instead of 1, making it easier to find something matching your build.
  
• The way you find Zodiacs in the Bar to come with you has been changed, instead of finding 2 Zodiacs per run, you will find 1 per world so up to 4 in one run and their affinity are now displayed on the door of the Bar so you don't need to enter in the bar if you do not want to.
  
• Applying Ignition while enemy already has Igntion now adds 2 extra Burn Stacks and Applying Fireshield while already having Fireshield will make a pulse of 2 Burn Stacks, this makes stacking these effects much more interesting.
  
• The Weapon Passives working "until you get hit" can now reactivate if you don't get hit during a certain duration.
  
  • - Ayla Moonlight blade: Ray of light
    
  • - Kiran Raging fist: Double tap
    
  • - Kiran Burning Bo: Magnetic Personality
    
  • - Octave Exterminatum Exemplaris: Fragor mortis
    
• Some Weapon Passives now restore mana on hit.
  
  • - Ayla Lunar Dagger :Parting gift
    
  • - Ayla Moonlight blade: Starfire
    
  • - Kiran Raging fist: Flower power
    
  • - Octave Pistor Vocatis: Coniicio Iocor
    
  • - Octave Pistor Vocatis: Priora Signa
    
  • - Octave Magnum Cupitere: Seco Verbera
    
  • - Octave Magnum Cupitere: Anima Vampiris
    
  • - Calie Polytechnical Gems: Aerial Strike
    
  • - Calie Service Spear: Wolf Hole
    
  • - Calie Service Spear: Homing Spear
    
• Shadow Clones can no longer spawn in world 1 as they were sometimes spawning too early and very hard to beat.
  

We have also fixed a lot of bugs and made balancing and small changes all around!




We have another announcement to make kind of related to Yamat that you can check below!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



You know Sagittarius, our tough badass Zodiac that spends her days screaming at people and showering arrows on prisoners' heads at the Garden. But do you know that behind this aggressive and annoying attitude, there's a cute little girl that makes Yalee plushies as a hobby? ːtaffyː

That's her little secret, but I'm really bad at keeping secrets, so I got some of her plushies and decided to put them on sale because... well, WHY NOT? ːtaurusSmirkː

[h3]Hurry up and get yours, before she finds out and takes them back! [/h3]

Xoxo, Yamat

PS: Don't dare to tell her it was me

----

The community asked and we made it! We have ran an event on our Discord Server for potential merch and Yalee Plushies have been the most upvoted by far!
If you like Astral Ascent, this is the perfect occasion to support our work and on top of that get a super cute plushie of one our cutest characters, the Yalees! We need to gather 200 pre-orders for the plushie to be crafted by Makeship and created!

This will be available for a limited time only, so don't miss the opporunity if you're a fan – or if you simply likes fluffy cats in coats! And if you really enjoy our plushies, we might even try to convince Sagittarius to stitch different ones... 👀



The way it works with Makeship.com is that we need at least 200 pre-orders on a concept of the plushie (which you can see above) for Makeship to craft the first version of the plushie and open final pre-orders.

Pre-orders at this stage are even more important as they make it more likely for the plushies to be created based on the visual concept, if we do not reach the 200 pre-orders they simply won't be crafted. If you have any questions you can check the Makeship FAQ for more details about shipping countries, shipping costs and more!






GuGu, from our Asia publisher Maple Whispering Limited, and 猫沢Rino made this adorable Yamat custom mouse cursor for you to use, thanks a lot to them! Download links -

• Google Drive
• Baidu(CN)

We are honored to have the first cross-over of Astral Ascent in an indie game with this Spiritfall skin of Aquarius, this cosmetic should be available in Spiritfall on August 1st!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Gentle Giant team has been updating their game Spiritfall regularly and we invite you to check it below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1835240/Spiritfall/




First of all, we really hope you will love Yamat as much as we do, it has been an hard work for us to do but we are really happy about her! She has a strong personality and she has her own unique identity on spells and signature spell.
We also feel that 1.6 is much more fun to play than 1.5 with many new builds available and we hope you will have the same feeling!

For what is next you are now used to it, a lot more is coming for Astral Ascent and we are very excited to show you an updated Roadmap for incoming updates!



As you can see, Astral Ascent still has a lot coming and we have plans for even more updates in mind if the game keeps selling!

We have been hesitating to share a Roadmap because the first one became outdated very fast but we think it's better to show a Roadmap that may change than no Roadmap! Here is a Sneak Peak of the Forge Rework system for 1.7 -



You will be able select the Hero spell of your choice with the affinity of your choice and you can select 2 times a reward in co-op!

We have already started working on the 2.0 update, you can see below one of the alternative world for the dedicated DLC -
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Each world will keep the idea of original world, for this one as it's ice it replaces the Water world (Coral Archipelago), each new area will have 8 new enemies for 32 new enemies in total and new level design elements too!

Thanks again to everyone sharing about Astral Ascent and supporting us, it makes it possible for us to keep working on the game and we want to keep improving it as much as we can!

- The Hibernian Workshop Team