A quick reminder before the update: When using mods it's a good idea to back up your saves. If you are experiencing problems you can still switch to an older version of the game by going to your Steam library -> Right-click Necesse -> Properties -> Betas -> Select the version -> Close the window and you will see it downloading the old version. Note: Older versions may have trouble loading new version saves. Hey everyone! It's been a while since the last update and I am sorry for the delays on this one. But it's finally out now and other than a bunch of new features, it will be the start of a new end-game system that will be added to in coming updates as well. This one has been a long time coming, and I plan to go back to more frequent, but smaller updates again. I will of course as always keep a close eye on all feedback and likely do some hotfixes and tweaks between the updates to keep everything fun. With all that said, let's get into the update :) First is the teased new end-game system. The Fallen Wizard now drops a tablet that is used to craft an altar, which gives you access to this new system. Unfortunately after many iterations I couldn't get gear upgrading to a place I was happy with without a ton of extra work, so this will also come in a future update. Currently there are 2 mission types and 2 new biomes each with a new boss and a bunch of new weapons and gear. This will be expanded in future updates and a lot of time has been spent on building systems that support a diverse set of biomes, missions and new zone mechanics.
You can now ask your settlers to join your adventure party. Doing so will make them follow you anywhere you go, including in caves and other biomes. Your adventure party will need food to stay active and they will use potions you give them access to. I've balanced it so you will encounter slightly more enemies and bosses will have slightly more health the more settlers you bring. This also makes Guard settlers more useful, since they have more base health and movement speed than the other settlers. Adding support for settlers on other islands took a lot of work, but I am excited that this can now also be used for other features.
Magic weapons have been rebalanced and now consume mana. All magic gear also got a balance pass and new trinkets and potions have been introduced to help with your mana generation. I know this can be a controversial change and I will keep a close eye on the balance of this to still keep it fun, interesting and powerful to play magic damage.
Some of the other features and changes in this update include:

• Added new Miner settler you can send on mining trips similar to Anglers fishing trips.
• Added Cartographer Table you can use to share map discoveries with other players.
• Added 11 new original sound tracks throughout the game.
• Islands now generate much more naturally with interesting shapes.
• Added another tier of health and buff potions.
• Buff icons are now placed on the right side of your health bar instead of under it.
• An earlier version of Zephyr Boots are now available straight from the beginning.
• Recruiting new settlers are now no longer limited by the amount of settlers without a bed.
• Settlers will now get the buff from the foods they eat.
• Old vinyls can now be found in cave ruin chests.
• And a bunch of other changes and fixes!

You can read the full changelog below. Some other exciting news is the team has now grown from just me to one other developer and 2 new artists, and I will be getting another developer on board soon as well. This took a bunch of time out of development to find the right people, but I think it's the right call to support future updates in the long run and to bring some improved graphics beyond my own art skills. This means it's no longer a solo game and I'm excited to see where that can take us :) Hooded Horse has taken over the publishing part of Necesse. This means more time will be freed up for making updates, instead of being spent on marketing. In the future they may help out with community stuff, like setting up some events as well. I've been looking for a publisher like that for a while, and I think Hooded Horse is the perfect fit :) You can check out the Hooded Horse Steam page for all their other games. Thank you all for the patience and keep giving that feedback! - Fair

0.22 changelog

Additions:

Added the ability for settlers to follow you on adventures. Added a new mana system for all magic builds and weapons. Added a chat command to change the settler job search range. Added attack speed tooltip to boomerangs and other throwables. Added Fallen Gateway Tablet dropped from Fallen Wizard. Added Fallen Gateway crafted after Fallen Wizard. Added the ability for levels to have modifiers like enemy health, spawn rate etc. Added Incursions, a new type of biome you can visit. Added 2 incursion biomes, each with their own crafting materials, enemies and bosses. Added Essence crafting materials dropped incursion bosses. Added Fallen Alchemy Table crafting station. Added Superior Health and Mana potions. Added 11 different Greater buff potions. Added the ability for teams to be public for anyone to join. Added the ability for people to request to join a non-public team. Added a Teams and PvP button to the pause menu when playing multiplayer. Added a Miner settler found in caves after Evils Protector. Added a Cartographer Table crafted at Workstation. Added a Worm Carapace material dropped by Sand Worms. Added Carapace Dagger crafted at Advanced Workstation. Added Carapace Shield crafted at Advanced Workstation. Added Sand Knife crafted at Advanced Workstation. Added Summoner version of Ancient Fossil armor set crafted at Advanced Workstation. Added 2 Slime armor sets crafted at new Workstation. Added Slime Greatsword crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Slime Glaive crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Slime Staff crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Gelatin Casings crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added 4 Nightsteel armor sets crafted at new workstation. Added Night Razor crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Night Piercer crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Phantom Popper crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added Phantom Caller crafted at Fallen Workstation. Added normal and greater mana potions. Added mana regen potion. Added Dream Catcher trinket crafted at Workstation. Added Nightmare Talisman trinket crafted at Demonic Workstation. Added Spare Gemstones trinket found in Snow Caves. Added Spell Stone trinket crafted at Advanced Workstation. Added Siphon Shield trinket found in Deep Snow Caves. Added a new magic variation to the Frost armor set. Added a new magic variation to the Ivy armor set. Added Sparkler magic weapon crafted at Iron Anvil. Added Leather Dashers trinket found at starter house or crafted at Workstation Added Zephyr Charm trinket found in Forest Caves. Added Ammo Bag and Potion Bag. Added 11 new original soundtracks throughout the game.

Changes/misc:

Reworked island generation with more natural and interesting shapes. Trial rooms camera will now not be restricted to the room bounds. Trial rooms no longer restricts healing. Trial rooms are now more rare until they get updated. Changes trap trial room slightly to prevent skipping it in co-op. Elders now have a 10% chance to spawn with special names of people showing continued contribution to the game and community. Settlers job search range is now by default a 100 tile radius. The max amount of settlers raiders will kill is now based on the difficulty you play on. Coin piles can now be destroyed by weapons. Buff icons have been moved to the right of the health bar. Rebalanced magic weapons and armor sets to fit with the new mana system. Increased health potion stack size to 100. The Alchemist and Mage now sells mana potions. Uncommon item color is now slightly brighter. Zephyr Boots are now crafted at Demonic Workstation and no longer found in Forest Caves. Items now sink slower in lava. It is now possible to plant saplings on farmland. Reworked and rebalanced Glacial Boomerang, allowing it to fire continuously. Increased damage of Tungsten Boomerang. Made storage and workstation to settlement buttons stand more out. It is now no longer possible to destroy cattails and water grass with projectiles or other weapons. You can now open pouches and crafting guides from inside the Void Pouch and Bag. Removed the requirement for having less than 3 homeless settlers before recruiting new ones. Hovering over "Use nearby inventories" in crafting will now fade out the HUD. You can now no longer quick place same not fully grown seeds with a new seed. Settlers will now have a harder time getting stuck while being hit by enemies. Your settlers that die now display a death message with the source similar to when players die. Settlers will now get the buff from the food they eat. Spawn island selection will now avoid nearby pirate islands. Swapped high/higher and low/lower job priority names. Pouches content is now counted towards its Pawn Broker value. Advanced Workstation can now no longer be used to craft recipes from the Forge. Torches can now stack up to 500. Optimized game registry dictionaries, making loading, sending packets etc. much faster. You can now find old vinyl tracks in cave ruin chests. Tall walls now no longer exists. Max dropped items before they start despawning is now 1000. Renamed Combat Regen Potion to Health Regen Potion. Updated a bunch of translations and added some new ones. Increased the health of deep cave cavelings. Rebalanced almost all armor, weapons, enemies and bosses after Reaper.

Controller:

Controllers can now use scrollbars if needed. Added use mana potion to controller config.

Modding:

It's now no longer possible to load modded recipes from recipes.cfg file. KNOCKBACK_INCOMING_MOD modifier is now multiplicative instead of additive. Translations can now have a custom enchantment-name format for enchanted items.

Fixes:

Fixed walls sometimes not rendering their solid background. Fixed Lightning Hammer being able to hit stuff it shouldn't. Fixed destroying ladders also destroying the object below. Fixed sometimes items being moved to invalid slots when picking up from your corpse. Fixed Vulture Hatchling sprite being blurry. Fixed crafting stations sometimes creating thousands of items. Fixed worm enemies sometimes not spawning correctly if you enter a fight after it started. Fixed some cases where Steam connections would not be successful. Fixed individual settler job priority form sometimes not behaving correctly. Fixed items in pouches not being counted when trying to craft recipes. Fixed issue with loading getting stuck on world data if achievements or stats file is corrupt. And other smaller changes and fixes.