Stario: Haven Tower launches in EA on Sept 25 | New Content Preview Pt.1

[p]Hello, everyone! Thank you for waiting![/p][p]At today’s Convergence Showcase, we finally revealed the release date for Stario: Haven Tower:[/p][p]The game will launch in Early Access on September 25 at 8:00 PM PDT, priced at $13.99 (launch price $12.59), with a 10% launch discount for two weeks.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]The Demo is scheduled to close on September 25. If you haven’t tried it yet, there is still a chance to give the game a try:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Please note that Demo save files will not carry over to the Early Access version. In our previous post, we explained in detail why we had to drop save transfer support. While we truly wished to preserve your progress, the game has gone through multiple major balance adjustments. After evaluating the compatibility between versions, we ultimately decided to let go of supporting save transfer.[/p][p][/p][p]That said, with all the optimizations and overhauls we’ve made, the Early Access version you’ll soon play is a significantly improved experience. We believe it will be more fun and more polished than the Demo, and we sincerely hope you enjoy exploring this carefully refined world![/p][p][/p][p]The Early Access version will include the entire main storyline, unlocking the full Tech Tree and Tower Construction Progress, along with three difficulty modes and dozens of hours of gameplay.[/p][p][/p][p]But we know many of you may still have questions, such as: What exactly does the full tech tree contain? How high can the tower reach? And aside from the content already teased in the Demo, what brand-new features will the Early Access version bring?[/p][p][/p][p]To answer these, here is an overview summarizing all the new content included in Early Access. We’ll go through each of these points in detail together![/p][p][/p][h2]Miracle Tower: Milestones in the Sky[/h2][p]Disasters may shatter the buildings, but it is often the endless unknown that truly inspires fear. To keep their faith from eroding, people must record distance from the earth, and the achievements along their ascent.[/p][p][/p][p]That’s why we’ve designed the Miracle Tower: a way to build lasting milestones throughout your long journey toward the sky.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each atmospheric zone features its own unique Miracle Tower. Once completed, it not only strengthens the faith of your Towertizens, but more importantly, an activated Miracle Tower forces disasters to retreat.[/p][p][/p][h2]Cross the Zones, Reach the End of Sky[/h2][p]In the Early Access version, the game will feature six atmospheric zones. Beyond the Sand Zone and Mist Zone already seen in the Demo, players can now ascend into the Rain Zone, the Frost Zone, the Clear Zone, and ultimately reach the journey’s end in the Star Zone.[/p][p][/p][p]Each zone carries its own climate and resources to uncover: mantas will drift through the Rain Zone, while great whales will roam the Clear Zone.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Yet just as the whispers of mist gnaw away at willpower in the Mist Zone, new crises will surface as you climb higher, threatening the lives of the Towertizens. Unlocking new technologies will certainly help, but how you arrange production layouts, manage logistics, and keep Towertizens safe will still depend on optimizing your own strategies.[/p][p][/p][p]At the same time, we’ve made major adjustments to resource production. In the Demo, many resources could only be obtained in specific zones. For example, Quartz could not be harvested from Jellyfish Bay in the Sand Zone, yielding zero efficiency.[/p][p][/p][p]For the Early Access version, we completely overhauled this system to offer players greater freedom and more diverse options. All resource-gathering buildings can now be freely constructed at any altitude. However, each zone still retains its own specialties, with certain resources only reaching peak efficiency in specific atmospheric zones. How to plan and optimize your layouts will once again be left in your hands.[/p][p][/p][h2]Unlock the Tech Tree, Face the Disasters[/h2][p]The tech tree, already introduced in the Demo, will now allow players to ultimately unlock more than seventy buildings. But this isn’t simply a matter of opening every node at once.[/p][p][/p][p]As one of the game’s core mechanics, the tech tree shapes both pacing and strategy, and so in the EA version we have not only expanded its content but also rebalanced its structure.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Unlock orders and prerequisites for each tech have been carefully reconsidered. Nodes in the tech tree have also been adjusted. For instance, during the Demo, Tower Rebuild was locked behind a late-game tech, but after hearing your feedback, we’ve decided to remove it from the tree altogether and make it available from the start. This way, players can freely adjust their production layouts throughout the game and face early decisions with lower cost.[/p][p][/p][p]The disaster system, also previewed in the Demo, has been redesigned based on community feedback. We’ve refreshed the visual design of the four disaster totems, adjusted their stats, and rebalanced their duration and effects on the Toweritizens.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As the game’s central challenge, disasters should not merely break players’ flow. Rather, they would be woven into the experience itself. From barely surviving them in the beginning, to gradually mastering them, and eventually even learning to summon disasters on purpose.[/p][p][/p][p]As for how exactly you may summon a disaster… we’ll leave that story for next time.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Due to space limits, we’ll save many of the brand-new systems and mechanics for the next post. However, we’ve already shared some development previews in earlier updates, and we’ve put them all together here for those who are interested:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]If you have any thoughts or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below, or join our official Discord server to chat with fellow Tower Masters![/p][p][/p]