Astral Ascent

Hibernian Workshop Developer

Hibernian Workshop Publisher

Coming Soon Wishlist now! Release

Indie Adventure Singleplayer Multiplayer CoopTags

Game News Posts: 100

🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🎮 Full Controller Support

Very Positive (4274 reviews)

https://hibernian-workshop.com/

Steam Store

Public Linux Depots:

linux64 [343.13 M]

2.0 update - Mark the date!

Hello everyone! zimzimSmile We are coming to show you a bit more elements of the 2.0 Update - The Outer Reaches update and DLC, first of all thanks so much for being already more than 10.000 to have wishlisted this new DLC ! barbecuePog Wishlisting it helps us with visibility on Steam and you will of course receive a notification once it's out! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3372880/Astral_Ascent__The_Outer_Reaches/

Andromeda is getting ready

Andromeda fight is almost ready and she will be brutal! We want this duel to be either a quick win or quick defeat, you've been warned!

(but no worries she just wants to see if you are worthy or not, she wont stop your runs)

New system for spells

We have been working on the new system related to spells named "Void Imprints", it is going to be a new loot type in Exploration rooms (in addition to Gambits, Quartz and Auras) giving more variety to the choice of rooms.

You can equip one directly on a spell but every one you found (even if not equiped) during your run are available at Andromeda's bar to equip during your run.

There are Void Imprints for each affinity for a total of more than 90 unique imprints!

Here is one example per affinity - [quote=author]

On spell cast, create an Incandescent barrier for 10 seconds, create 1 combustion if the enemy hits you Transcendence effect:If the spell is lvl 10+, gain Shield for 3 second and attract 3 enemies
The first enemy hit by this spell creates a frozen ground for 6 seconds applying 1 freeze periodically Transcendence effect:For each freeze gambit equipped on this spell, adds 1 second to the duration
On spell cast, 2 enemies are marked by a curse mark for 7 seconds, dealing damage when the affected enemies attack Transcendence effect:If the spell is full poison affinity, adds 1 curse mark on another enemy
The first enemy hit by this spell creates a column of lightning for 5 seconds, pushing back enemies and apply 1 electrify on hit Transcendence effect:If the spell is full electric affinity, passing through column of lightning grants thunder dash for 5 seconds
The first enemy hit by this spell attracts up to 4 enemies Transcendence effect:If the spell is full neutral affinity, increase damage on this spell by 30%

[/quote] This new system is made to make spells more interesting to use and build and overall more impactful and strategic to use!

New Intro room

One new change is that we decided to add a new room before the first intro room when starting a run and there are several reasons for that [quote=author]

First Room was too stacked with too many things to do at once
First Intro Room was very different from the other intro rooms from worlds 2, 3, 4
We needed to be able to select default world or The Outer Reaches variation before entering the world
Elements were badly placed with the Baby Dragon being on the left of spawn for example

[/quote] This has also allowed us to add the portal to buy the DLC there instead of adding even more elements in the main hub, we will have more possibilities if we want to add more features there!

We decided to make of this new room a calm and neutral place!

More Improvements

In addition to all the content planned, (not everything is shown there as its missing the 4 new worlds, 32 new enemies, 16 new traps) we are also taking time to improve things all around the game. One feedback we often received was the lack of impact feeling when doing basic attacks, we have made a new impact FX per weapon/per character (so 20 different FX) and improved the hit feeling.

We have also speed up many slow interactions like picking up the drinks at Andromeda's

We have also speed up entering end of rooms portals, reset start auras, we even reduced the size of some rooms to make runs more fluid and smooth to go through!

New physical edition

We are also super happy to announce that we will be partnering with Red Are Games open pre-orders for new physical editions including steelcase and other elements! Long story short, the 2.0 Update will be a massive change for the game and we hope you are as excited as we are for it! We are still keeping more secrets coming for 2025 so stay tuned and don't hesitate to follow us on

Have an excellent week ahead and mark the date for April 30 ! zagpls

[ 2025-03-17 10:50:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Bergsons' Reinforcements update

We are so happy to make updates including licences we love and inspire us and this time it's Children of Morta's turn! [previewyoutube=MM13iX8ZTxE;full][/previewyoutube] We'd like to thanks once again Dead Mage and 11 bit studios for the opportunity! For more details you can check the 1.10 Patch Notes.

7 new Echoes from Children of Morta

It's really great to be able to summon the Bergsons with 7 new echoes that complete the possible builds.

- Apan's Magic Glyph (restore life)
- Joey's Smite (meteors)
- John's Heaven's Strike (spirit swords)
- Kevin's Fan of Knives (missiles)
- Linda's Explosive Crescendo (ignition)
- Lucy's Cyclone (sparks)
- Mark's Scourging Whip (ice idols)

As we have more echoes now, 40 in total, we added an extra Yalee reroll.

Reroll Starting Auras

We have also added the possibility to reset the Small Dragons Auras for Sun Pieces so you have more flexibility for your starting Aura -

Visual Effects Opacity Option

We have also added an option to change the opacity of visual effects -

More of the 2.0

This 1.10 update content is smaller than usual because we are hard working on the 2.0 update! The update is planned for April 30 2025 and we still have a lot to do! The amount of content is very big as we wish for it to deliver a new and fresh experience for Astral Ascent at this moment. We have already been working on the new Rooms. One of them is allowing you to pick any Auras from the game, Auras are ordered by key words so if you have Fire Slime like in the example below, they will be in the Fire and in the Slime categories. [previewyoutube=oYmRqwhvctk;full][/previewyoutube] The idea is that you simply go to the category you are focusing right now, for example Ice Swords and you will see all auras related to Ice Swords at once. We have also worked on the Room to select any Echoes from the game, with 40 Echoes in the game it makes sure you can get the exact Echo you want to complete your build as we want to make sure all echoes exist for their respective builds. [previewyoutube=9DdoQ2mLxLM;full][/previewyoutube] We have also started to work on the Andromeda's boss fight and we found out how she will fight and how this fight will be integrated in the game!

Don't hesitate to wishlist the DLC if you want to! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3372880/Astral_Ascent__The_Outer_Reaches/

Steam Couch Co-op Fest

Finally, we are part of the Steam Couch Co-op Fest so it's a great opportunity to remind you can play in co-op in Astral Ascent, either in local co-op or through Remote Play Together or Parsec for online play!

We wish you all to have an amazing week ahead and we cannot to tell you more about the Outer Reaches and other surprises coming this year! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2025-02-10 18:00:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - February 2025 - 1.10.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

The Bergsons' Reinforcements: 7 new echoes from Children of Morta licence : - Apan's Magic Glyph - Joey's Smite - John's Heaven's Strike - Kevin's Fan of Knives - Linda's Explosive Crescendo - Lucy's Cyclone - Mark's Scourging Whip [hr][/hr]
Rerolls of Small Dragon Auras: You can now rerolls for Sun Pieces the starting auras of the Small Dragon [hr][/hr]
Visual Effects Opacity option: A new option allows you to reduce the opacity of visual FX for better readability

Balancing

Octave's Bellator Destruction damage now deals double damage [hr][/hr]
Reset Echoes in the Echo Island goes from 3 times to 4 times [hr][/hr]
Cursed telescope: The Astral immunity: increased chance of gaining 1 protection absorbing next hit from 10% to 20% (mythic) and 20% to 40 % (astral)

Bug Fixes

Small dragon Aura spawning would show an empty text for one frame [hr][/hr]
community inspired When playing for a long time, Chinese symbols could be replaced by circle symbols [hr][/hr]
community inspired Typos fixed [hr][/hr]
Ice Idols hits could not work when several were spawned at once

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2025-02-10 10:05:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

2.0 DLC, New Roadmap, The Dead Cells Rendezvous Update

The Dead Cells Rendezvous 1.9.0 is now live!

[previewyoutube=HiapflgmtbY;full]-- youtube video[/previewyoutube] Thanks again to Motion Twin for their trust, it has been an honor for us to work on Dead Cells which is a genre-defining game and an inspiration! Do not hesitate to check their new game Windblown, it is so fun to play and even more in co-op (up to 3 players)!

Dead Cells content

Discover 5 new weapons from Dead Cells:

Ayla: Throwing Knife

[hr] [/hr]
Kiran: Nutcracker

[hr] [/hr]
Calie: Scythe Claw

[hr] [/hr]
Octave: Wrenching Whip

[hr] [/hr]
Yamat: Symmetrical Lance

These new weapons add even more variations to your playstyles! As you saw above, these new weapons come with an extra 15 new passives to discover to complete your fighting style. Andromeda's bar will also have a surprise visitor if you have a Dead Cells weapon equiped!

[hr] [/hr]

Weapons Improvements

You can now equip 2 weapons at once, this will allow you to adapt depending of the situation. For example if you cannot get close to an enemy, switch for a ranged weapon to keep attacking!
This also changes a lot of things for Weapon Passives as you can have both passives at once but you need the right weapon to use them. For example if you get stacks for your weapon when killing enemies, you can kill them with your other weapon and still get the stacks but you will need to switch to the right weapon to consume them!
The weapons are also always visible now, it was a lot of work to do as all animations are done frame by frame but this gives more personality to weapons and allows you to better understand which weapon you have now that you can have 2 at once.

[hr] [/hr]

Complete Patch Notes

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4453592104064518892 [hr] [/hr]

Announcing the 2.0 Update content!

We are very happy to announce that we are working on the 2.0 planned for April 2025 (this is subject to change) and this update will have a lot of content at once, there will be a major Free update and a paid DLC named The Outer Reaches. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3372880/Astral_Ascent__The_Outer_Reaches

[quote=author]The Master destroyed countless worlds for his selfish collection. The Fragments Plains, The Red Barrens, The Coral Archipelago and The Crimson Highlands. Quoted text You go through these worlds to reach The Master because it is the easiest way to reach him but there are many other worlds, alternative paths to follow, The Outer Reaches. The Outer Reaches are new worlds to explore with their own wildlife and foes.

The Outer Reaches DLC content -

4 new worlds to explore with their own musics
16 new traps/elements in worlds
32 new enemies:
Andromeda:
- Boss Fight
- Summon
- Ending

You may know that even Zodiacs are afraid of Andromeda because of how powerful she is. She might accept to fight you but do not be afraid, she won't kill you but she won't go easy on you either. If you success to beat her, she will come with you as a Summon fitting with all builds and you might also unlock her ending!

Major Free Update released simultaneously -

New currency to find during runs related to spells
2 New Rooms to find during your runs:

[/quote] We hope this content will be as exciting for you as it is for us, this will make the game so much bigger than it already is. Doubling the variety of enemies and worlds making each run even fresher and interesting! And we will do our best to create an epic boss fight out of Andromeda, that has been a wish of us for a very long time! If you are interested by this DLC, do not hesitate to wishlist it, it always helps for our visibility too! (Page is still being reviewed by Steam, we will update once it has been validated!) [hr] [/hr]

New Roadmap!

We are also very happy to share an updated version of our Roadmap for Astral Ascent, We have added 2 smaller updates, 1.10 and 1.11 before the 2.0 that is now planned for April 2025. The 1.10 will add long time requested features to the game that we didn't want to postpone more and the 1.11 will add 7 new very fun echoes to the game from a licence we love! With this new Roadmap we are also making it clear that 2.0 is not the end and more updates are planned after it. We even have very cool things that are not announced yet. [hr] [/hr]

Ultimate Action-Packed Bundle

We are super happy to team up with incredible games for an epic bundle!

You can check the Bundle below, the price is much lower due to Steam Autumn Sales! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/47308/Ultimate_ActionPacked/ [hr] [/hr]

Celebration Giveaway

To Celebrate everything that is happening we are making a Giveaway of physical copies that you can get before the end of the year.

You can win 1 copy per platform if you follow us and share on the posts on the following platforms:

Twitter/X: post link
Instagram: post link
Bluesky: post link

This is also the opportunity for us to be followed outside of Twitter/X as that is currently our main communication platform (outside of Discord), so we hope to see you there too :zimzimSmile: [hr] [/hr] Once again thank you so much for your support making all of this possible! We are currently standing at 3812 reviews on our Steam page

When starting this year we thought it would be amazing if we could reach 4000 reviews by the end of the year and we are so close to it, maybe this update will give us a small increase of reviews making it possible! Thank you a lot if you already gave us a review or consider doing so! Have an excellent time in game, you can share your feedback with us on the Steam Forum or on our Discord server - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-11-27 17:58:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - November 2024 - 1.9.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Dead Cells Update: - 5 New Weapons from Dead Cells licence Ayla: Throwing Knife Kiran: Nutcracker Calie: Scythe Claw Octave: Wrenching Whip Yamat: Symmetrical Lance - 15 new Weapon passives for the new weapons - Guillain NPC will visit Andromeda's bar if you have a weapon from Dead Cells [hr][/hr]
Dual Weapons: Equip 2 weapons at once, switching anytime between both for deeper gameplay [hr][/hr]
Visible Weapon: You can now see weapons you currently hold during most animations

Balancing

Auras: Ravaging sphere: Increased damage from 15% to 30% Crystal Screen: Increased explosion damage of max life from 60% to 100% and 100% to 200% [hr][/hr]
Weapons: AYLA Passive Starfire: Increased damage KIRAN Passive Hit marker: Now also hits nearby enemies Passive Explosive temper: Increased damage Passive Sword juggling: Increased damage OCTAVE Weapon Exterminatum Exemplaris : Increased damage Passive Priora signa: Increased damage CALIE Weapon Servive spear: Increased attack speed

Bug Fixes

Attacking aiming bottom with Octave dual guns would make Octave shake

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-11-27 17:55:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Ascent x Dead Cells update announcement

We are very excited to announce to you our collaboration with Motion Twin to release a Dead Cells update for Astral Ascent coming out on November 27th! Here is our reveal teaser below! barbecuePog [previewyoutube=GYnAX_EZEIQ;full][/previewyoutube] We are very proud of this collaboration as Dead Cells is the most popular of our genre of Platformer Roguelike games it is probably the game that defined this genre the most. It is also a game we took inspiration from for its fluidity of movement and nervous action. If you do not own Dead Cells already, you can now purchase it alongside Astral Ascent in a bundle! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46767/Dead_Cells__Astral_Ascent_Duo/ They have also released a Board Game just recently and their great Animated Serie started release in English! And of course they recently launched their new game Windblown we have a ton of fun playing in co-op! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911610/Windblown/ Though you may want to wait November 27th for an extra discount for the launch of the update.

What to expect from this update?

You will be able to play with 5 unique weapons from Dead Cells :

Nutcracker for Kiran
Throwing Knives for Ayla
Wrenching Whip for Octave
Scythe Claw for Calie
Symmetrical Lance for Yamat

These weapons will also come with 15 new passives.

We are also introducing a new system in the 1.9 update, you will be able to hold 2 weapons at once, giving you more strategy opportunities and poweful combos with weapon passives!

It will of course be possible to unlock both of weapons equipped passives at once! A new addition is also that weapons will always be visible when playing the game now!

It was a lot of work so we hope you will enjoy this change! It is also the case for big weapons like Octave's rocket launcher!

We didn't show anything from 1.9 before today but we will be able to share more on our Discord Server and Twitter of what is coming in just 2 weeks from now We hope you will keep supporting us in this journey to become one of the best action roguelite out there zagpls Have an excellent week everyone! zimzimSmile - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-11-12 14:59:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Cursed Telescope Room, Builds Recap and QoL !

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

Version 1.8 complete Patch-Notes:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4545912358018084589

Cursed Telescope

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! zagpls To help you find what you want, we added up to 6 rerolls you can get from a new Zim-Zim upgrade -

Builds Recap

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!

QoL elements!

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!

2.0 is not the end!

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 zimzimSmile 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 zimzimSmile Louis

[ 2024-10-15 10:08:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - October 2024 - 1.8.1

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

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. [hr][/hr]
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

Small Features

community inspired New Aura Refiner in Event Horizon (co-op players used to have 1 extra aura refiner use they could not use) [hr][/hr]
community inspired Auras Refiner recycled now drops rarer Auras depending of current world if you have Barbecue Summon [hr][/hr]
community inspired You now have double the loots in Cetus Cavern when playing in co-op [hr][/hr]
community inspired Hints are now displayed on Auras from Barbecue interface [hr][/hr]
Arsenal now in Andromeda's Bar and in Hub [hr][/hr]
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.

Balancing

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

Interface

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

Visuals

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

Narrative Design

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

Bug Fixes

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

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-10-15 10:04:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Bosses collab, Forge Rework & more!

Astral Ascent X Scourgebringer X Ember Knights X Spiritfall

[previewyoutube=-EIvpIh_vGw;full][/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=IH_XW0n_FVo;full][/previewyoutube]

Version 1.7 complete Patch-Notes:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4607833411865476591

The Relentless Void

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=jVQKuN5cNC0;full][/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:

Forge Rework

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=Su_4v83n0sc;full][/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.

Keys Converter

Who never had leftovers of Keys at the end of a run? Well we might have the perfect solution for you! [previewyoutube=c6Wo8adSUxA;full][/previewyoutube] Convert your Keys into Stars to use for drinks right before the final fight and always maximize your efficiency :zimzimSmile:

Sneak Peak of 1.8

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 cant 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=F-evdItjDbg;full][/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

[ 2024-09-05 17:10:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - September 2024 - 1.7.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

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! [hr][/hr]
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! [hr][/hr]
Keys Refiner: You can now transform your Keys leftovers in world 5n before the final battle into Stars to use for Andromeda's drinks!

Small Features

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

Balancing

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

Music & SFX

New Music in the new room and in the Jukebox

Interface

community inspired Resilience Mode is now displayed on main UI

Narrative Design

community inspired Fixed a typo in english and french Resilience description

Bug Fixes

Buying a spell at Andromeda's bar for the first time would not make spell sound [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed some Yamat perks that would not spawn effects correctly [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed some Yamat perks that would indefinitely spawn elements after the effect of her signature spell was over [hr][/hr]
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 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Kiran ""Explosive Temper"" passive ability from ""Burning Bo"" weapon would not hit enemies [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed a visual glitch with decimal cases of ""Resilience mode"" values [hr][/hr]
community inspired Resilience mode would mistakenly be buffed while finishing a winning run under DL6+ [hr][/hr]
No audio when buying a Spell at Andromeda's bar for the first time [hr][/hr]
community inspired Yamat could not change colors as Player 2 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Light quality option on the left was not looping correctly [hr][/hr]
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

[ 2024-09-05 17:01:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Hero DLC now Available + Roadmap + Yalee Plushies!

New Hero DLC Release Trailer

[previewyoutube=6Z7qbx2ctEw;full][/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!

DLC CONTENT -

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!

ADDITION TO THE BASE GAME -

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

1.6 version changes

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!

Yalee Plushies

We have another announcement to make kind of related to Yamat that you can check below! [previewyoutube=y8h7-Lk1wXY;full][/previewyoutube]

Pre-order yours on Makeship.com!

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? taffy 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? taurusSmirk

Hurry up and get yours, before she finds out and takes them back!

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!

Yamat custom cursor!

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

Spiritfall Cross-over

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=5E_pDOTqz90;full][/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/

New Roadmap!

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=P8Lv7OfKONM;full][/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

[ 2024-07-29 15:01:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - July 2024 - 1.6.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Playable Hero - Yamat (PAID DLC): 16 new unique spells - summons powerful wild creatures, spinning giant blades and more! Pixel Art hand-drawn cinematic animation! 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 play styles 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, New Papa Yalee Stories - 4 new stories to learn more about the mysterious Yamat 1000+ new lines of dialogue 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! [hr][/hr]
New Playable Hero - Yamat (Free Content): See Yamat hanging out in the Garden Collect and use 2 Yamat Echoes during the runs Fight Yamat's Shadow Clone [hr][/hr]
We now start with 2 base Aura slots instead of 1 with a maximum of 5 instead of 4 with Zim-Zim upgrades to create more synergies [hr][/hr]
Auras: Added 23 new astral auras: - Fire Propellant - Homing Ember - Careless Wispers - Shrineless Flame - Heatseeker Shield - Sickening Spark - Weaponized Conduct - Sleety Cloud - Magnetic field - Power Line - Glacier's Fall - Ice Pick - Snow Day - Cold Sap - Icarus Slime - Icy Shiv - Burn Your Idols - Sparkling Stars - Maddening Darkness - Disorienting Weapon - Bigger Body Initiative - Blade Dance - Cast Off [hr][/hr]
You can now meet up to 4 Zodiacs per run in the Andromeda's Bar, 1 new is added per world there instead of having always 2 Zodiacs there

Small Features

Yalee Kingdom: Increased astral auras spawn chance in Yalee kingdom and added 3 reroll possibilities (unlocked with progression) [hr][/hr]
Echoes island: Yalee for resets allows 3 rerolls instead 1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Effects: Fireshield: If it's already active, creates a pulse that applies 2 Burn Ignition: If the target is already ignited, apply 2 Burn Reduced Combustion damage [hr][/hr]
Icons are displayed previewing the Zodiacs inside Andromeda's bar [hr][/hr]
Added new icons displaying Aura's current, and upgraded version, effect affinities

Balancing

Auras: Spinning Spirit: Reduced Ravaging Spheres CD from 15 to 10 seconds Multi-Purpose Barriere: Reduced CD from 36 to 18 seconds Ring Of Sol: Reduced Fireshield CD from 18 to 10 seconds Incandescent Rain: Reduced CD from 12 to 6 seconds Raw Force: Increased combustion damage from 50% to 75% Piercing Surprise: Reduced Freezing needle CD from 2 to 1 seconds Sudden Frostbyte: Reduced Aqua ball CD from 3 to 1 seconds Snow Amulett: Reduced critical hit from 20% to 10% Ignited Scar I, II and III: Added 6, 5 and 4 seconds on Ignition from critical hits Sorcerer mantle: The effect now only triggers when there are enemies nearby to avoid the mana exploit Blinding Comet: Increased magma number from 3 to 6 Blazing Scars III: Added 100% to regen man but with a 4 seconds of CD [hr][/hr]
Passives weapons: Added mana regen on the weapon passives - 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 Added a reactivation CD for the weapon passives: - Ayla Moonlight blade: Ray of light - Kiran Raging fist: Double tap - Kiran Burning Bo: Magnetic Personality - Octave Exterminatum Exemplaris: Fragor mortis - Improved cast speed for the passive ""Judgment cut"" - Increased damage for the passive ""Santry"" Reduced the unlock condition for the Hunter X Hunger passive from 100% to 75% attack speed Reduced the unlock condition for the ""Homing Spear"" passive from 60% to 45% critical - Octave Priora Signa: orbs spawn closer to the ground to hit more enemies Weapon Passives should not be appearing in special rooms anymore [hr][/hr]
community inspired Thousand Knives spell now attack faster enemies [hr][/hr]
Pisces Clones (Zodiac Spell) now has a bigger hit range [hr][/hr]
Spells: Reality distortion: Increased cast speed Water bubble: Projectiles now only activate if enemies are visible Topaz Gladius - Guardian: Sword now only activate if enemies are visible N686 Hidden Dirks : Projectiles now only activate if enemies are visible Pisces Zodiac spell: Increased clones explosion size and damage [hr][/hr]
Echoes: Zimzim-Laugh: The effect now only triggers when there are enemies nearby to avoid the mana exploit Ayla's Flashing Knives: Projectiles now only activate if enemies are visible Calie's Sigil Weapons: Projectiles now only activate if enemies are visible [hr][/hr]
Shadow clones: Octave: Added a hit cd when he does his spinning attack [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim Laugh echo (infinite mana) now needs a valid enemy in sight to trigger to avoid exploits

Level Design

Shadow clones can no longer spawn in world 1

Music & SFX

Added sounds on missiles effect [hr][/hr]
Increased sound when a passive weapon is equipped

Interface

Added new icons in the glossary for Combustion, Spark and Frostbite [hr][/hr]
You can now see the telescope bonus in the interface [hr][/hr]
Improved texts colors of main menu and options for better readability [hr][/hr]
New ""Additional Content"" for DLCs on Main Menu

Visuals

Better readability on Invincible Clones [hr][/hr]
Added an easter egg in the hub [hr][/hr]
Elliptic Rose and Amethyst shadow colors have been changed to visually fit better with the main color [hr][/hr]
Added effect icons under aura loot for better feedback (colored for current effects and gray for next rarities)

Narrative Design

Name achievement ""Guardian Angel"" renamed to ""Zodiac Angel"" because there was 2 achievements ""Guardian Angel"" [hr][/hr]
community inspired French typos fixed

Bug Fixes

Amount of owned Sun pieces would not display while near a Yalee to reset Echo in the Echo Isles. [hr][/hr]
If you were dashing and launched a spell or signature spell you would still be considered as dashing resulting of being able to go through fire dash portals [hr][/hr]
community inspired Meeting your Zodiac Sign during runs achievement from Sier Bapy was not giving Sun Pieces the first reward [hr][/hr]
You could damage boss before fight starts [hr][/hr]
Some enemies you cannot target could have armor points visible [hr][/hr]
community inspired Calie Spell Deadly Connection would sometimes not work during fps drops [hr][/hr]
Velocity attack speed % was wrongly displayed (no change to the behavior) [hr][/hr]
World 3 water elemental enemy could often get into walls and ground, its behavior has been reworked to fix the issue [hr][/hr]
In co-op, during Scorpio Challenge, Scorpio would sometimes not target the player making the challenge [hr][/hr]
Octave Rocket Launcher target could remain in hub if you select him then select another character [hr][/hr]
Ophiuchus now summons correctly Taurus and Pisces in Phase 2 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Rosewood color was displayed grey on shadow colors [hr][/hr]
community inspired Portraits of Heroes at the Memory Library were not displayed correctly since 1,4 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Ruby Spear - Domination spell could set enemies in walls [hr][/hr]
community inspired Leo could fall out of borders while doing his jump attack with the axe [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to get stuck out of the level screen by spamming inputs at start of some layouts

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-07-29 14:59:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Yalee Plushies Pre-orders!

[previewyoutube=y8h7-Lk1wXY;full][/previewyoutube]

Pre-order yours on Makeship.com!

Hurry up and get yours, before she finds out and takes them back!

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! 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...

Last chance for physical editions!

We would also like to remind you there is only 3 days left (JULY 28, 2024 AT 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME) to pre-order the Limited Run Games Physical editions and the Ayla figure!

----

First DLC Release in 4 days!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3073420/Astral_Ascent__Yamat_the_Breach_Traveler/ You can already wishlist it to be notified when it comes out on July 29th! and it can also help us getting more visibility on launch! Have an excellent day and see you in 4 days for Yamat DLC + 1.6 release! barbecuePog - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-07-25 16:34:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Hero Preview - Yamat

[previewyoutube=S8YslAb-dZU;full][/previewyoutube]

Yamat the Breach Traveler is coming on July 29!

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

YAMAT, THE BREACH TRAVELER -

Play as Yamat, a powerful Breach Traveler who has been wandering through all of the astral prisions created by the Master to challenge the strongest fighters and prove herself. The new prisioner has a very bold personality and carries a lot of mysteries with herself her motivations and personal goals will unravel within each escape attempt.

DLC CONTENT -

16 new unique spells - summons powerful wild creatures, spinning giant blades and more!
Pixel Art hand-drawn cinematic animation!
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,
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!

ADDITION TO THE BASE GAME -

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

1.6 version details

Apart from Yamat, a lot of new changes are coming with this new version! 23 New Astral Auras with specific effects for new builds and many changes such as allowing more rerolls in rooms, finding more Zodiacs in the bar and many other things!

We hope you will love Yamat as much as we do! zagpls Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-06-28 22:48:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Physical Editions and Ayla Figure!

Pre-orders from our partners Limited Run Games are opening from June 28 to July 28 for PS4 / PS5 and Nintendo Switch!
Link for pre-orders It also comes with limited quantity of leftovers Ayla figures from our Kickstarter campaign!
Link for pre-orders Have an excellent day zimzimSmile

[ 2024-06-27 13:14:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Spanish Language is now available!

We are happy to announce that you can now play Astral Ascent in Spanish with the 1.5.1 version! You have asked for this translation a lot so we were happy to deliver it! Muchas gracias, y... divirtanse, gracias. zagpls

[ 2024-06-11 16:53:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.5 Update - Reminiscing Mirror, Destiny Level 100 and more!

Hello everyone! Version 1.5 is out now on Steam! This time again we did not do a simultaneous release on console because we wanted to keep iterating based on our Beta Public feedback, this update adds a variety of small changes and bug fixes. We hope you will enjoy it!

Patch Note

Read the full Patch Notes here https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4174351172249174630

Reminiscing Mirror

We have added a new feature in the Garden, next to Papa Yalee, the Reminiscing Mirror! You can interact with it to see all the Pixel-Art Cinematics, there is 38 cinematics in the 1.5 Update and it will go up to 40 in the 1.6 Yamat DLC.

This should allow you to see what you still have to unlock, in particular for endings and you can see again these cinematics when you want!

A new cinematic has been added in 1.5 linked to another important change.

Destiny Level 100 and Resilience Mode

Destiny Level maximum used to be 54, with a secret hidden at this level. We were surprised and amazed by the quantity of players who cleared the Destiny Level 54 which is incredibly hard! We wanted to add more content for these players, we initially wanted to add a Destiny Level 100 with only Stats increase (more life and damage on enemies) in the 1.4 Update but we listened to feedback and decided to postpone it to 1.5 and make it a bigger than initially planned based on the initial reception of it. We re-balanced the elements that seemed too punishing in Destiny Level 54 to make it less frustrating, for example adding a cooldown when getting hit and losing max hp/mana/quartz. The ghosts spawning have a delay before attacking and the armor on enemies is less frequent. This makes Destiny Level 54 easier so you have more chance to get to see what's next! For 1.5 version we decided to create a new column of 5 elements in the Path of Destiny.

This new column can only be activated if you did beat Destiny Level 54 first. In a similar way of the 6 first Destiny Levels, the 5 last one need to be beaten one by one to get to progress.

Destiny Level 60

The first element is Ophiuchus Giant Swords falling on players during most rooms.

Destiny Level 70

The second element is more Elites which also gives more Stars to also give a bit more power.

Destiny Level 80

The third element is fighting 2 Star Guardians at once, Star Guardians are a place that experienced players defeat easily so it makes the fight more complicated.

You have 2 extra Gambits loots when defeating Star Guardians at this Destiny Level.

Destiny Level 90

The fourth element is even harder as it requires you to fight 2 Zodiacs at once with their improved fighting skills from Destiny Level 6.

You have 2 extra Auras loots when defeating Zodiacs at this Destiny Level.

Destiny Level 100

Finally the last element is making the Ophiuchus fight harder for a final climax. Ophiuchus summons 2 Shadow Clones in Phase 1 instead of 1 ( 1 by 1 ) and he summons 4 Shadow Clones in Phase 2 instead of 2 (2 by 2). Ophiuchus also summons real Zodiacs you have to kill instead of Zodiacs only doing 1 attack. Finally Ophiuchus also gets Elite Aspects that only happen during Shadow Clones and Zodiacs attacks to avoid impossible to dodge attacks during Ophiuchus patterns.

Glory is the main reward of finishing Destiny Level 100 as we already gave a big extra reward at Destiny Level 54 but we still added an extra small ending to express our gratitude to players going this far in the game. Each Destiny Level also adds damage and life to enemies and Zodiacs but the life added is not too high to avoid enemies becoming too tanky.

Resilience Mode

We are also adding an option for players wanting to experiment the game but having a hard time doing it. The Resilience Mode is similar to Hades God Mode, if you activate it, the more you die the more resilient you become so it adapts to you so you can keep going in the game if you are stuck!

Banning Spells

You can now ban spells, 3 per hero and 5 common spells so if you really do not like playing with some spells you can make sure you do not find them again in your runs!

Other smaller changes

Burn Stacks can now go up to more than 10 stacks, if you had more than 10 stacks on an enemy you would lost the extra stacks while now they are kept. Combustions are also triggered faster than before when reaching 10 stacks.

A Yalee in Echoes Island appears once you beat Destiny Level 6 once (like Yalee in Telluric Ruins) and allows you to reset one time the Echoes choice.

Icons of Echoes you get from Void Catalyst and Telescope appear above player in the first room so you don't miss them.

New icons showing spells and gambits elemental affinities. This change is part of more changes coming to the game to better understand the loots affinities and effects. You do not need to open the spells anymore to see their affinity, we know that for gambits the affinities are more obvious but we also wanted to keep a consistency among loots.

Equipping an Aura on the same Aura will increase its quality if Aura can be improved. 2 Common Auras become a Rare Aura and 2 Rares Auras become a Mythic Aura.

Yamat is coming!

The next update will be 5th character, Yamat DLC and we will communicate more about it when possible, target is Summer 2024 but until then you can see her animated portrait!

Have an excellent day everyone! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-05-13 17:11:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - May 2024 - 1.5.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

The Reminiscing Mirror: View all the 38 Pixel Art cinematics from the game in The Garden once you unlocked them [hr][/hr]
Ban Spells: You can now ban heroes and common spells from the Merchant [hr][/hr]
Destiny Level 100: You can now go past Destiny Level 54 with new challenges like fighting 2 Zodiacs at once and more! [hr][/hr]
Resilience Mode: Option in Gameplay similar to Hades God Mode, if you activate it will reduce damage taken by 20% and +2% each time you die for a total of up to 80% and -1% each time you success a run.

Small Features

community inspired Burn Stacks can now exceed 10 stacks and not be lost after a Combustion [hr][/hr]
A Yalee allows you to reset one time the Echoes options in Echoes Island, unlocked once you beat Destiny Level 6 once (like Yalee in Telluric Ruins) [hr][/hr]
community inspired Octave Weapon Passive Coniicio Iocor and Kiran Weapon Passive Santry could spawn out of reach [hr][/hr]
Icons of Echoes you have from Void Catalyst / Telescope are displayed when starting a run so you don't miss them [hr][/hr]
Adjusted the Red feedback for Ice projectile of the Burning Djinn [hr][/hr]
Octave Weapon passive Aura Meridies (lasers in fight rooms) now prevents jumping to avoid interrupting it by jumping [hr][/hr]
Ghost Enemies now cannot attack for the first 0,4 seconds after their apparition to give more to give to see the enemy spawned [hr][/hr]
New icons showing spells and gambits loot affinities [hr][/hr]
Equipping an Aura on the same Aura will increase its quality if Aura can be improved

Balancing

Fire Plasma Aura now add 2 Burn Stacks instead of 5 [hr][/hr]
Killing enemies give a bit more XP points than before [hr][/hr]
Malices from Destiny level : Used Pockets / Life Crusher & Leaking Foes (losing max hp/ mana & quartz when hit) now have a cooldown in case you get hit multiple times quickly [hr][/hr]
community inspired Kiran Weapon passive Flower Power now restores 2 charges instead of 1 when using King Counter [hr][/hr]
Shielded Foes giving Armor Points to enemies in Destiny Levels has been reduced from 50% chances to 30% chances to give armor to enemies [hr][/hr]
Yalee Tickets and Memory Fragments loots are more frequent [hr][/hr]
Thunder Elite Aspect waits a bit longer before hitting for the first time and increased time between each hit + it cannot be too small as it used to be to avoid not seeing it behind an enemy + add of a red feedback visual to better see it + it doesn't hit anymore while fading out [hr][/hr]
Calie Gems Weapons Passive Aerial Strike cooldown from 8 seconds to 7 secs and the area of effect is bigger now [hr][/hr]
Reduced Shadow Clones health amount in World 1 and World 2 [hr][/hr]
Vampiric Foes effect does not work anymore from Elite Aspects, Thorny Foes and Vengeful Foes [hr][/hr]
community inspired The Master Ultimate bar doesn't charge anymore while summoning Heroes Clones

Level Design

Removed an unwanted Fire Portal in an exploration room

Music & SFX

Bigger Sound when deactivating a Weapon Passive in Arsenal to avoid unequip by error

Interface

Apparition of texts in Main Menu is faster now [hr][/hr]
Getting in Gameplay option from ingame would place you on second option instead of first one [hr][/hr]
Reduced brightness on Main Menu characters when changing menu [hr][/hr]
Main Menu options are more to the right and Heroes on Main Menu too to have more space for texts [hr][/hr]
Main Menu options texts is larger and font size is smaller to write more things [hr][/hr]
Reworked some French terms in options Gameplay for better understanding [hr][/hr]
community inspired Quest progress in The Arsenal no longer halts during co-op if a player without the required weapon is hit in a specific room.

Visuals

Burn Effects color is more orange so it's more different from Electrify Effects [hr][/hr]
Kiran Weapon passive Flower Power and Calie Weapon passive Homing Spear now have visual feedback for their charges [hr][/hr]
Elite Aspects elements now spawn behind enemies and players [hr][/hr]
Changed the Fire sprites displayed on ground from Leo's fight and Burning Djinn + added a red feedback behind the fire for these elements [hr][/hr]
Taking damage with Barrier effect on is better feedbacked [hr][/hr]
Taken damage number are visible for longer

Bug Fixes

community inspired Katana Judgment Cut Weapon Passive could aim Ghost enemies [hr][/hr]
community inspired Claws Kusarigama's fury Weapon Passive was not working during Zodiacs encounters [hr][/hr]
community inspired Pressed Cancel on Papa Yalee Character category would not make you go back to Categories [hr][/hr]
community inspired Gems Aerial Strike Weapon Passive was always being thrown from P1 even if P2 was launching it [hr][/hr]
community inspired Healing Shards from Shards Altar spawn faster, they could not spawn before you take the Bar door + only 1 could be saved when changing layout, now working with more than 1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired The progress of some quests from The Arsenal that track spell changes, such as level or affinity, would not update after changing weapons. [hr][/hr]
community inspired The progress of some quests from The Arsenal that track spell changes, such as level or affinity, would not update after changing weapons. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Addressed potential game crash caused by activating certain gambits while pausing. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Prevented accidental selection of an Echo instead of an Aura slot during equipment or upgrade attempts. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Corrected rarity tiers for auras from the Small Astral Dragon during co-op. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Respawning in the Garden was needed to force the unlock of achievement related to getting all colors from The Stylist. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Gemini chain throw scythe between each other attack would hit player with invisible scythe sometimes [hr][/hr]
community inspired Absorbing Barrier from Void Catalyst would not work if you had a Barrier effect activated [hr][/hr]
The Master was never summoning Pisces during the fight [hr][/hr]
community inspired ""Damage dealer"" achievement would not trigger with option to show damage numbers disabled [hr][/hr]
Ghost Effect behind player when doing a fall attack was too present when playing at more than 60 fps [hr][/hr]
Weapon Passives would sometimes keep showing player ghost effect while they were invisible [hr][/hr]
community inspired Basic Attack magnet to close enemies was not activated for Calie and Octave melee weapons [hr][/hr]
community inspired Basic Attack magnet to close enemies was working on Ghosts [hr][/hr]
community inspired Aura ""Catnip III"" third effect triggering lightning strikes on Yalee projectiles was not working [hr][/hr]
community inspired Capricorn Summon would not target the correct enemy when summoned [hr][/hr]
Hitting 2 Jump Crystals with same attack now picks the closest Jump Crystal from the player [hr][/hr]
Hitting a Jump Crystal overlapping an enemy now hits the enemy [hr][/hr]
community inspired A few Auras were displayed with the wrong affinities [hr][/hr]
community inspired Ayla Weapon Passive Ray of Light would not always be triggered if you have a lot of attack speed

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-05-13 17:11:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.4 Update - The Arsenal Update!

Hello everyone! :zimzimSmile: We are very happy to announce that the 1.4 version is out now on Steam! This time we could not do a simultaneous release on console as we had to release the update as soon as possible in order to be able to participate to a Steam festival in May but we will do our best to release it as soon as we can later this month! You can check below our first trailer since 1.0 release to showcase the new changes! [previewyoutube=sLbXoOWWCoU;full][/previewyoutube]

Patch Note

Find the full Patch Notes here - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/4188984694009010708

8 New Weapons

Each hero received 2 new weapons for a total of 12 weapons to play with!

Our goal was to provide more playstyles with the heroes so you should find a weapon you enjoy for your favorite hero! You unlock the Arsenal by meeting at least once with the Master. And you unlock new weapon by defeating the Master at Destiny Level 2 and 4 with each hero. While doing so you can unlock passives for your base weapons!

36 Weapon Passives

Each weapon, including the base weapon, has 3 passives attached, each passive has to be unlocked through a small quest during your runs. Some quests are easy and some are hard but you can complete them at any Destiny Level.

Once unlocked you can directly use the passive during your run at the next Arsenal because you have one Arsenal in each intro room and before the Master if you want to change your playstyle during your run. Showing below one passive per weapon so 1/3 of the passives -

As you can see, the passives are very different from each others giving access to even more playstyles variations and they are meant to be more useful in certain situations than others, up to you to pick what you prefer!

What is next?

The Arsenal was a massive update we really wanted to do to give more variety to the gameplay, we wish to keep adding more polish to the game when possible as we had to focus on the new content for this update. We also want to start working on Yamat, the 5th playable character update as soon as possible. We will hope you will have fun with this update and thanks for supporting us! The Physical editions are nearly ready, it took more time than expected but we will soon have delivered everything to Limited Run Games! One last thing, we saw the community messages and decided to translate the game in Spanish for a future update! Have an excellent week! :taurusSmirk: - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-04-08 22:30:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - April 2024 - 1.4.1

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

The Arsenal : 8 new weapons and 36 passives for weapons unlockable with small quests
AYLA

Lunar daggers (Daggers):
- PARTING GIFT: Killing enemies burst 1 colored dagger out of their remains. It comes back to you after a few moments.
- GLIDING STAR: Dash leaves behind a rotating shuriken that comes back to you after a few seconds. Only one can be out at a time.
- NIGHT VEIL: You gain an extra jump and each Double Jump flings a fan of kunais under you.
Moonlight blade (Katana):
- RAY OF LIGHT: In each room, until you get hit, the last attack of your basic attack combo will launch a wave of light.
- STARFIRE: Dash through enemies while your signature spell is available will mark them. Using your signature spell calls upon a powerful ray of starfire on all of the marked enemies, consuming the mark in the process.
- JUDGEMENT CUT: After a spells_refresh, your next basic attack will be empowered to execute the healthiest enemy. Zodiacs and Star guardians are too powerful to be affected by this ability.
Eclipse shards (Claws):
- KUSARIGAMA'S FURY: On a Fall Attack you grab up to 5 enemies with a chain and pull them to you.
- INNER DEMON: Using your signature spell unleashes a clone in your initial position that flies back to you, shredding all enemies in its path.
- HUNTER X HUNGER: The Hunt is On, you gain hunger stack that gives you 5% attack speed and 10% movespeed (up to 50% Movespeed) when killing enemies. You lose 1 stack every 1.5 seconds.
KIRAN

Raging Fists (Fists):
- DOUBLE TAP: In each room, until you get hit, your basic attack does an extra punch.
- COME AND GET IT: On signature spell, you pull all those cowards right next to you to punch them better.
- FLOWER POWER: In each room, your first 4 basic attack are replaced by a fireball. Each time you use your signature spell you get 1 more fireball to throw.
Burning bo (Bo Staff):
- EXPLOSIVE TEMPER: When you successfully counter an attack with your signatire spell you do A HUGE EXPLOSION!!!!!
- BOGGO STICK: Your double jump becomes an awesome attack that works like a basic attack!
- MAGNETIC PERSONNALITY: In each room, until you get hit, the enemies are captivated by the last attack of your basic attack combo and assemble in front of you to admire it.
Diery falchions (Dual Falchions):
- HIT MARKER: Every 6 seconds, a mark appears on an enemy for a short period. Hitting them with a basic attack makes it explode.
- SANTRY: A floating sword appears periodically. Catch it to earn its loyalty for the next 6 basic attack. After those, it will go back to its family and a new floating sword will appear after 7 seconds.
- SWORD JUGGLING: Every 10 seconds, your next basic attack will launch a rotating fire blade that comes back to you.
CALIE

Polytechnical Gmmes (Gems):
- AERIAL STRIKE: Every 8 seconds, your next double jump will bombard the enemy positions in front of you with 5 feathers. Timeless classic.
- CONDUCTIVE PROPERTY: Using your signatire spell creates an energy orb on each gem and links them together with a damage-dealing energy. Practical.
- FIELD SUPPLIES: A crystal will grow on the ground after 5 seconds. You can destroy it with 3 basic attack to create 5 gems that you can recall with your signature spell. A thrifty solution.
Service Spear (Spear):
- CALL TO ARMS: When using your signature spell, you call forth spears that pierce the enemies around you for 2,2 seconds.
- WOLF HOLE: A mark will appear every 5 seconds on enemies around Calie. Doing a Top Attack will consume the mark and create an area attack around it, knocking the enemies toward Calie's position.
- HOMING SPEAR: In each room, your first 2 basic attack throw a spear that can be called back to you. After a spell refresh you get 1 more spear to throw. Handy.
Unbreakable Rempart (Shield):
- SIEGE BREAKER: A destructible block will appear after 7 seconds. Breaking it will launch 3 damage dealing debris accross the battlefield. Disappointing craft.
- DEFENSIVE MEASURES: Using your signature spell creates a force field around Calie. Each gem recalled will be deflected by it and launched toward a nearby enemy. Impenetrable.
- AVENGING SHIELD: After 5 seconds, the last attack of your basic attack combo will launch a shield that bounces 6 times off enemies. Old efficient trick.
OCTAVE

Pistor Vocatis (Dual pistols):
- ORBUS MINORIS: Every 8 seconds, you summon Pluto, a flying drone that follows you and attack enemies hit with a close-range basic attack. After 5 shots, it disappears. (Sad)
- CONIICIO IOCOR: A bullet appear after 5 seconds. Collecting it replaces your next {basic attack with a laser that ricochets up to 6 times between enemies. (Stylish)
- AUREA MERIDIES: When entering a Fight Room or an Eclipse Room, your first basic attack launch you into a flurry of laser, killing everything in sight. (Awesome!)
Exterminatum Exemplaris (Rocket launcher):
- FRAGOR MORTIS: In each room, until you get hit, the last attack of your basic attack combo will launch 6 grenades around your target. (Radical)
- ORBITUM TERMINUS: Your signature spell calls a devastating strike firing 20 shots from orbit. (Total Annihilation)
- PRIORA SIGNA: An energy orb appears after 5 seconds. Shooting it with a basic attack detonates it, damaging all the enemies in the area.
Magnum Cupitere (Gunblade):
- SECO VERBERA: After a spell refresh, your next basic attack will create an energy orb and split it into a myriad of small projectiles that target nearby enemies.
- MISERIA LABRUM: Your Dash now deals damage and has 30% chances to mark enemies on hit. Hitting marked enemies with a basic attack deals extra damage and consumes the mark. (I hope she'll like it)
- ANIMA VAMPIRIS: After each kill, Octave stores his enemy's power into 1 orb (max 3). Your basic attack consumes 1 orb to release a powerful shot. (Is that what it felt like, Mother?)

Small Features

Better zoomed camera at the statue of prowess world 4 [hr][/hr]
Additional feedback on Path of Destinies menu when activating a Destiny Level 54+ run [hr][/hr]
Ayla 2 daggers animations improved with improved hitbox [hr][/hr]
Main Menu visual now changes depending on the Destiny Level you beat (DL6+ and DL54 versions) [hr][/hr]
Main Menu font change for version number for better lisibility

Balancing

Auras: Snow Amulet: Reduced chance to spawn snowflake from 50% to 20% Sword Fang: Reduced chance to spawn spirit sword from 50% to 30% [hr][/hr]
Balanced some heroes base weapons attack speed and damage

Visuals

Ghost effect behind heroes and enemies is now behind everything for better lisibility

Narrative Design

community inspired Fixed some inconsistencies between voice and text in English [hr][/hr]
Improved translations - hotfix 1.4.1

Bug Fixes

Counter Sound of Kiran Signature Spell would not play if relaunched quickly [hr][/hr]
Game could crash if paused for a long time at a specific frame of Flying Spirit attack animation [hr][/hr]
Passive could be equipped on a weapon that was still locked - hotfix 1.4.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Portuguese language was not working - hotfix 1.4.1

" - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-04-08 22:03:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - March 2024 - 1.3.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

The game now suggests slightly more often loots that could synergize with player's build [hr][/hr]
Players can receive up to 3 accumulated destiny fragments after defeating Zodiacs on DL runs from previous destiny levels not cleared

Small Features

community inspired Reworked the descriptions of Effects in Hints and Glossary to give more details about the stacks, durations of effects, number of hits etc. [hr][/hr]
community inspired After clearing the game, on the menu to pick a specific ending, there's a check mark on the name of characters on which endings have already been seen by the player [hr][/hr]
We replaced the void catalyst perk ""Warrior's Pride"" (+1 damage stone per X enemy defeated until player is hit) for the new perk ""Barbecue's grace"", which provides Barbecue's Echo at start of a run (salvaging an aura for the first time spawns another aura of the same Tier) [hr][/hr]
The small dragon at start of runs gives +1 extra choice for auras [hr][/hr]
We added hint descriptions for specific auras that cast elements based on common spells [hr][/hr]
Added an additional feedback for Aura's rarity on player's inventory [hr][/hr]
Small increase XP gain after opening a Zodiac chest [hr][/hr]
community inspired Mouse cursor is clamped on the app window while it's active

Balancing

community inspired Reduced spark damage by 30% [hr][/hr]
Increased damage of PRCIPITATIO spell [hr][/hr]
Rebalanced stacks (burn, poison etc.) applied by effects (slime, wisp etc.) [hr][/hr]
Increased damage of Frostbite effect [hr][/hr]
We increased by 2 per rank the price of the Void Catalyst perk Zodiac's Emblem (Increase charge hate of Zodiacs summon by 20% per rank)

Interface

Added Frostbite effect to the Glossary [hr][/hr]
Reworked the descriptions of Elite Aspects in Glossary [hr][/hr]
community inspired New option to make the next spell, on the player's spell cycle, to always be visible above the player's sprite [hr][/hr]
New option to make background darker that creates a bigger contrast with game elements, which should hopefully help readability for some players [hr][/hr]
Visual color on Auras in inventory depending of rarity

Bug Fixes

community inspired Inputs on Steamdeck were doubled [hr][/hr]
spell MISERIA explosions on side walls could have wrong direction [hr][/hr]
spell MORBUS projectiles would sometimes bounce instead of exploding when colliding with ground [hr][/hr]
community inspired Enemies Red Feedbacks of attacks would sometimes stay on the screen since 1.2 [hr][/hr]
Damage for ""Calie's lightning combo"" Echo not displayed on damage meter and not calculated correctly during co-op [hr][/hr]
The echo ""Sova's feather tornado"" would not work for player 2 [hr][/hr]
Telescope would not update perks correctly on switch if players opted to hibernate the console instead of closing the game application or turning it off [hr][/hr]
community inspired The guaranteed higher level feather from Pavo's after the third claimed feather would not always have the correct level [hr][/hr]
community inspired The small dragon auras would not upgrade the aura tiers correctly after upgrading it at Zim-Zim on the next run [hr][/hr]
community inspired The average damage from spells was being wrongly calculated while checking the spell thorough player's inventory [hr][/hr]
Fixed cases on where players would not be able to be revived during co-op mode after dying [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed wrong localisation text for some Zodiacs name in damage meter (Russian language)

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-03-14 12:10:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.3 Update - Affinity System, QoL and Arsenal preview!

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

Patch Note

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

Affinity System

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.

Destiny Fragments

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.

Improved Descriptions

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.

Permanent spell icon

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.

Astral Dragons

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.

Darker Background Option

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.

Ultimate Challenge

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=iIxvPwXTaks;full][/previewyoutube]

Arsenal Update Preview

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

[ 2024-03-14 12:09:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.2 Update - PvP Arena, new Spells and more!

Patch Note

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

20 new spells

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=KE00hg5KN44;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=jECeJTK3jxs;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=J-szP78AuBw;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=pp8i5Jj0wVg;full][/previewyoutube]

PvP Arena

[previewyoutube=253ruzlxSQA;full][/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!

Extras

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)

Arsenal Update Preview

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 -

Merch Suggestions event

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

[ 2024-02-12 16:22:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - January 2024 - 1.2.2

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

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

Small Features

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)

Balancing

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

Bug Fixes

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.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-02-12 16:10:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Public Beta Available

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

But we have made a Public Beta version available for you to try right now! barbecuePog

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!

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 -

Major Features

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

Small Features

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

Balancing

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

Bug Fixes

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

[ 2024-01-25 21:46:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

PvP Arena and new spells are coming!

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

PvP Arena and public beta

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=253ruzlxSQA;full][/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!

New Spells

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!

Other Changes Coming

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.

Backerkit Survey

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! zimzimSmile - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2024-01-19 21:57:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Japanese voice-over + Damage Meter Update is Live

Astral Ascent 1.1.0 is live!

Let's dive into the details of what is new in this new update! You can see the complete Patch Notes here https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3900744344840803063

Japanese voice-over

We just loved the community calling us an "anime roguelite" (some of the late-game cinematics are really inspired by some animes!) and we decided to make a Japanese voice-over version of all the dialogs. It was a lot of work with the 7800+ dialog lines and 27 voiced characters but we assembled a great team to deal with this task and we are super happy with the result. Each character has so much personality and it is an always renewed joy to discover all the dialogs in a different language. You can listen to some of these new recordings below - [previewyoutube=sVg9HNcXcv4;full][/previewyoutube] You will have a launching screen to choose the voice-over language one time now, we were afraid all this work would go unnoticed if we did not add a specific screen for it.

Brazilian Portuguese Translation

Having members of our team from Brazil, we are very happy to have the game translated in Brazilian Portuguese!

Small Astral Dragon

We pay a very close attention to the community feedback about the game and one of the most requested change is being able to have more control over the builds we are creating. With this in mind, we added a new Zim-Zim upgrade named "Small Astral Dragon". (also works in co-op!)

At first rank you have the choice between 2 Common Auras and at last rank you have the choice between 2 Mythic Auras. Everytime, Auras have 20% to be of an higher rarity level so you can sometimes start with an Astral Aura. Though we did not want to encourage what we consider being an unfun behavior - relaunching the game many times to get a different Aura - we made the game remember which Aura should appear. We placed this Dragon at the very beginning of the first intro room so you can have an aura before taking the level up statue and have an initial target build to focus on. But do not forget, this is a simple first step into your build, if you started with a poison Aura and only find freeze oriented elements you can switch to it! As Bear Grylls said : Improvise. Adapt. Overcome! As an addition for easier builds, we have added another gambit slot at the merchant in Andromeda's bar. It is not fun to reset many times the choices in order to find the right affinities and it should be a little easier now!

The Telluric Yalee

Another feedback we received was not getting frequently enough the spells you prefer. Instead of garanting certain spells or banning some others, we implemented a Yalee in the Telluric room, this Yalee appears when you defeated the Master once (in Destiny Level 0) and can reset the spells choices for a small amount of Sun Pieces. We kept the amount low so it always feel fine to use and not frustrating.

We have been looking for a moment now on what could we do with extra Sun Pieces collected. It was supposed to be the Small Astral Dragon for a large amount of Sun Pieces but we felt like it was too important to have it unlocked early and to have this starting Aura in all runs so we reworked very recently to implement it as a Zim-Zim upgrade and we will try to find something else to do with the Extra Sun Pieces in the future!

New Explorations Room

We added 10 new exploration rooms level design variations for each world in this update We have made a poll on our Discord Server to know what you would like to see implemented in the game and the results really surprised us!

We created a Roadmap (see below) to take these feedback into consideration.

A - Metaprogression content - making more heroes spells as soon as possible for February 2024 update, we have already created some and we tried to focus on making as many spells as possible focusing on creating gameplay like moving enemies or heroes etc as you feedbacked us.
B - Ingame content - nothing planned for now given the poll results
C - New games modes - PvP is planned for February 2024 and a new very cool mode is coming for Q4 2024, giving it a low priority given this poll
D - Harder challenges - nothing planned for now given the poll results
E - Exploration runs variety - 10 new exploration rooms level design variations available now! We made it a priority due to the poll.
F - Combat runs variety - we planned an altervative world to come alongside Yamat update on Q3 2024!

Talking a bit more about the future below.

Damage Meter System

This is the most biggest change of this update, it registers all the damage you input to any enemies for your current room and globally (also works in co-op). You can pause the game to open the "Damage Meter" option in the menu to see this -

There is also an overlay option that is "Off" by default and you can activate it to show the top 5 elements of either the global damage of your run or of the current room and it looks like this -

For those worried, it's not overlapping with much elements from the interface, we limited it to 5 elements showcased at once. This new system is inspired by mmorpg addons making it possible to see what causes damage at any time in your build. Our goal is to make you fully understand your build, how it works, how it synergies and what deals damage in it. We think that's not something very common but we have a lot of synergizing elements that we think it's really important in our game. Even if we made our very best during the development, this new tool is probably going to show a lot of unbalanced elements so you can expect changes based on our observations in the coming months.

Lisibility and Readability

Among the reported feedback from the community, lisibility is something that we see a lot, we made so many changes regarding this during the development but we are still not there yet. Most of games similar to Astral Ascent use a dark background because it makes everything stands out instantly but we really wanted the game to be colorful, it is definitively more work though! In this update we increased lisibility again, we reduce some visuals FX, we set as many as possible behind everything, add some transparency on elements and so on. We have also added an option to remove Damage Numbers if you don't want them being visible on the screen.

What is next ?

We hope we will enjoy this update, as a reminder here is our 2024 Roadmap if you missed it -

We are going to take a well deserved break for the holidays season! Things have been really intense during 2023 with frequent major updates. You can check this link to see all the newsletters we released on Steam since 2020 to see how much the game evolved and how much we progressed as a team! For now the game keeps selling well and for now it gives a nice future for the game and for our studio and we really appreciate players following us as developers and not just for a specific game, that goes right to our hearts! That's the last news of this very intense year, 2024 should be easier for us. I will sound like a broken record but thanks again for following us, sharing and caring about Astral Ascent and we will keep you updated about what is next for the game in January! Have an excellent holiday season everyone and thanks again! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-12-21 15:57:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - December 2023 - 1.1.2

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Damage Meter System: See each element dealing damage in real time for current room and for your whole escape attempt [hr][/hr]
New Exploration Rooms: 10 new Rooms to find in each world [hr][/hr]
New Zim-Zim ability: Small Astral Dragon: You will be able to interact with the Small Astral Dragon in first room and start your run with one of 2 auras (rarity increases with each tier at Zim-Zim) [hr][/hr]
Telluric Yalee: If you defeated the Master the first time, you will be able to interact with the Telluric Yalee in the Telluric Ruins, you can reset your starting spells choices if you want to with sun pieces [hr][/hr]
Japanese Voices: Full implementation of Japanese Voice Over [hr][/hr]
Implementation of Backup system to prevent losing saves if game quits at a very bad moment [hr][/hr]
New Translation: Game translated in Brazilian/Portuguese

Small Features

Merchants now have 4 gambits altar instead of 3 to make finding your build easier [hr][/hr]
Ayla's signature spell now deals instant damage to avoid canceling by mistake if the player moves

Balancing

Balanced Armor Stones/Drinks drop chances [hr][/hr]
Echoes: Increased cooldown of multiple Echoes: - Sova feather tornado - Ikki Regeneration Pack - Oloon Secret Recipe - Yalee's Warm Aura - Poetic Pedler's chance: Increased required quartz [hr][/hr]
Auras: Reduced armor on certain auras: - Igneous Shield II-III - Scale Armor I-II-III - Iron Armor I-II-III - Cetus Secret - Pink Pulsar - Seal of the Storm Lord: Reduced damage for all nimbus active by 20% to 10% [hr][/hr]
Effects: Nimbus: Slight damage reduction [hr][/hr]
Spells: Kiran: - Twin Dragon Uppercut: Increased damage Ayla: - Unrelenting Tornado: Increased damage and increased movespeed during the spell - Astral Powder: Mana now costs 2 instead of 1 but damage is significantly increased Calie: - Topaz Gladius - Onslaught: Increased movespeed during the spell [hr][/hr]
Void Catalyst: Zodiac's Embleme: Reduced % of charge per tier [hr][/hr]
Prowess: Weakening symbol: reduced damage on the Ayla mark [hr][/hr]
Bapy Achievements: Guardian Angel: The number of encounters with the chosen sign has been reduced [hr][/hr]
Increased the spawn rate for encounter the chosen sign [hr][/hr]
Stars balancing: astral spirit 4 -> 3 shadow clones 6 -> 0 minibosses 8 -> 4 zodiacs - w1 10 -> 8 - w2 12 -> 10 - w3 14 -> 12 - w4 24 -> 18 aura salvage - common 4 -> 3 - rare 5 -> 4 - mythic 6 -> 5 - astral 12 -> 6 [hr][/hr]
Stars balancing: aura salvage - astral 6 -> 10 - hotfix 1.1.0.2 [hr][/hr]
Armor Drinks/Stones: Spawn chances for drink/stones armor back to values from 1.0 release - hotfix 1.1.0.2

Level Design

You fall from less high in the Elite Rooms

Music & SFX

Fire Geysers in the Red Barrens volumes is a bit lower now

Interface

Increased width of many titles (for example it was too small in French for Pavo's title) [hr][/hr]
Added a new settings choice under gameplay option to disable damage texts [hr][/hr]
community inspired In Destiny Levels 1 or more, you now have a display of current Destiny Level on interface [hr][/hr]
New launch screen asking you to choose the voice-over language you want - can always be changed in options

Visuals

Reduced brightness when hitting enemies and reduced opacity of visual FX when hitting enemies for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Death visual FX on enemies is now behind everything for better lisibility and has some random colors [hr][/hr]
Reduced some spells/ visuals to make them more visible [hr][/hr]
Gambits altars at merchants now show their elemental affinity instead of their rarity to make finding the right elements to build easier and faster [hr][/hr]
Reduced visuals intensity of Ignition on enemies for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: - Lightspeed Fist: Visuals have been reduced for better lisibility Common spells: -Quicksiler: Visuals have been reduced for better lisibility Zodiacs summons: Virgo: Visuals have been reduced and improved for better lisibility on players basic attacks Effects: Thunder dash: Visuals have been reduced for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Combustions explosion visuals have been reduced for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Poison ticks on enemies visuals have been improved and are better for lisibility [hr][/hr]
Particles on spells for : lifesteal / burn / poison / electrify / pacification and vulnerability have been visually improved and are now always behind everything for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Color of critical drink on Andromeda's bar color has been improved [hr][/hr]
Increased transparency for the all Hit Fx to improve lisibility [hr][/hr]
Visuals change in the background of ""outline choice"" layout

Narrative Design

community inspired Many differences between text and dialogs fixed [hr][/hr]
community inspired Many typos fixed [hr][/hr]
community inspired Improvement of Simplified and Traditional Chinese translations

Bug Fixes

In Coop, player 1 would always have priority when being over stone altars [hr][/hr]
In Coop, player 2 interacting with a stone altar while player 1 was also on stone altar would equip the stone to player 1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Softlock possible when double interact on Papa Yalee's interface [hr][/hr]
community inspired You could get stuck by dashing at the beginning of an Elite Room [hr][/hr]
community inspired Void Catalyst descriptions had codes elements in Russian [hr][/hr]
community inspired Lava Scorpios in the red barrens red feedback would not disappear if they were interrupted before launching their attacks [hr][/hr]
community inspired Aries could get stuck in the ceiling if player was too high during her grab attack [hr][/hr]
community inspired Brazilian/Portuguese didn't have last version update - hotfix 1.1.0.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Re-increased Armor Stones/Drinks chances a little - hotfix 1.1.0.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Using the Small Astral Dragon could make you loose all your Sun Pieces - hotfix 1.1.0.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Removed Sun Pieces counter when being near Small Astral Dragon - hotfix 1.1.0.1

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-12-21 15:56:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

2024 Roadmap + December Update

Hello everyone! Today we celebrate our 1 month anniversary since the 1.0 release zimzimSmile We are still overwhelmed by all the positive feedback we receive, thanks so much for that! This reception motivated us to keep improving Astral Ascent so we decided to publish our 2024 Roadmap that was influenced by the answers we received from a poll we made on our Discord server.
The Roadmap can still change but will remain similar to this. But before all this new content we would like to focus a bit more on what is coming up next week, on December 21st - the Damage Meter Update!

A new Damage Meter system so you will know exactly what deals what damage at anytime.
Full Japanese Voice-Over, "anime roguelite" is becoming real
Translation of the game in PT/BR
10 new exploration rooms per worlds
A mini dragon in first Intro Room giving an Aura choice right away to orient your build (Zim-Zim upgrade)
Possibility to reset Telluric Ruins spells with Sun Pieces
A lot of debug and balancing

Complete damage meter menu

Small damage overlay of either global damage / current room damage or turned off. [hr][/hr] We think this system is something very interesting to implement for people enjoying making builds. We are having tons of fun playing with it to see what is making damage and how synergies/builds work together but of course this is also going to show what is too weak or too strong so you can expect a lot of balancing to happen after this update! We are reading all your feedback about the game, we saw a lot of feedback about lisibility and we improved a lot of things regarding it (including a new option to turn off the damage numbers) and the difficulty to create coherent builds (we added some elements above but we have also added one more gambit altar at the Merchant for example) [hr][/hr] Thanks a lot and have a fantastic day! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-12-14 15:25:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.0.15

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

Added brief tutorial explaining the intent of Gemini challenge [hr][/hr]
Tutorial loot spell cannot have a gambit anymore now

Balancing

Gemini time between attack has been slightly increased [hr][/hr]
Heroes dialogs played while sitting on a bench are triggered more often

Music & SFX

Reduce Spirit Sword spawn sound [hr][/hr]
Shadow Clones death SFX was saturated

Interface

Increased window size for Key Chests

Visuals

Gemini falling clones attack visual for the right clone has been increased

Narrative Design

Typo of ""damages"" instead of ""damage"" fixed in several cases [hr][/hr]
""Shooting Star"" at Aura Refiner was not translated in several languages

Miscellaneous

Wrong description for steam achievement ""Beyond Horizon - Success an escape at Destiny Level 15+"" [hr][/hr]
Japanese is now displayed instead of in Main Menu [hr][/hr]
Updated Credits for backers names

Bug Fixes

Steam achievement ""Multi-Classed"" would not trigger correctly when buying Andromeda's drinks [hr][/hr]
Aquarius hit ground fury attack FX were not well positioned [hr][/hr]
Bellators would incorrectly target Ophiuchus during their special attack [hr][/hr]
During specific actions players could get locked outside of the fight arena in the last boss fight [hr][/hr]
Octave's shadow clone Bellator could follow the player during Andromeda's challenge. [hr][/hr]
Kiran's ""Double Whammy!"" perk, which cause it's counter to play twice, would trigger the effect incorrectly when being casted as player 2 during co-op [hr][/hr]
Steam achievement ""Pushing Limits"" would not unlock after upgrading a spell to level 15.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-11-21 17:40:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - 1.0.14

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

Added ambient SFX on The Void room [hr][/hr]
Readjusted tutorial about NG+ content to hint the player what should be done after finishing a run [hr][/hr]
Increased number of Auras loot in Exploration Rooms [hr][/hr]
Removed Steam Achievement : Stubborn Prisoner because it was forcing to play not in Destiny Levels to get it and was unfair for good players

Balancing

Auras balancing: Guardian Shield I: Reduced duration of shield by 3 to 2 seconds and increased CD by 17 to 25 seconds Guardian Shield II: Reduced duration of shield by 3 to 2 seconds and increased CD by 15 to 23 seconds Guardian Shield III: Reduced duration of shield by 3 to 2 seconds and increased CD by 12 to 20 seconds Advanced Wizardry III: Reduced Attack speed buff by 6 to 4 seconds Nimbus Revenge III: Reduced Attack speed buff for each Nimbus by 5 to 3% [hr][/hr]
Increased HP for Astral Spirits [hr][/hr]
community inspired Wooden Guardian in World 1 can spawn maximum 2 Black Seeds (instead of 3 maximum) when launching crystals while in Destiny Level 1+ [hr][/hr]
Cancer has now 2 invulnerability moments and recharge his Ultimate faster from 55 seconds to 45 seconds [hr][/hr]
Balanced Sculptor that was too hard compared to other Star Guardians

Level Design

Modified Level Design in end of Areas [hr][/hr]
community inspired Modified level design of one Exploration Room where you could get stuck when spawning and dashing very fast.

Music & SFX

Balanced sound volume for ""Thousand Knives"" and some Taurus attacks [hr][/hr]
Oloon first dialog with Kiran had an unmixed line of dialog [hr][/hr]
Polished sound of Heroes Clones defeat

Interface

Polish of some Auras descriptions

Narrative Design

community inspired Aries had sentences not matching voice acting

Bug Fixes

Following Steam Achievements were not unlocking correctly: Guardian Angel, Maximized Friendship and Perseverance. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Several texts fixed in Simplified Chinese [hr][/hr]
Game could mistakenly save multiple times in Andromeda's bar while entering and exiting the interior multiple times [hr][/hr]
Libra challenge would not work correctly while playing as Player 2

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-11-18 12:33:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.0 is Out Now!

After more than 4.5 years of work with 18 months of Early Access, we are very proud to share with you all the 1.0 version of Astral Ascent! We gave our very best during the whole development and you witnessed the evolution of the game that changed so much from Kickstarter demo to 1.0! We truly hope you will enjoy this version as much as we do (we play the game a lot as we are having so much fun on it!). The more success the game will have the more updates we will make (we have many ideas already!) so do not hesitate to share the game around if you enjoy it! We also want to take this opportunity to tell you once more how important was all your support during the Early Access, it gave us a lot of motivation and inspiration, thanks for that <3 You can see below the Launch Trailer to celebrate the Release on PC / PS4 / PS5 and Nintendo Switch! [previewyoutube=wV9Q3xnRaq8;full][/previewyoutube]

Main Game + OST + Artbook Bundle

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36431/Astral_Ascent__OST__Artbook_Bundle/

Original Soundtrack

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2455290/Astral_Ascent_Original_Game_Soundtrack/

Digital Artbook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2633220/Astral_Ascent_Artbook/ If you were already playing the game on Early Access, the 1.0 comes with a lot of changes! More than 1000 lines of change to read in our 1.0 Patch Notes. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3776891376332040308

The Master

You will finally be able to face The Master, a final confrontation to escape from the astral prison! We do not want to spoil anything about it but there is a lot about this final boss, it took us as much time as the 3 other Zodiacs combined.

Beating The Master will also lead you to the 17 different Endings of the game!

Aries

Aries is super friendly but she will not hold her attacks on you!

Cancer

Cancer is the leader of the Orphnes family, he fights with a bird named Basileus.

Gemini

Gemini are special, expect an intense fight facing multiple threats!

Star Guardians - Monoceros and Sculptor

Monoceros and Sculptor are joining Pegasus, Lupus, Draco and Hydra as minibosses you can encounter during your escape attempts! We think it's important for these Fights to not feel too repetitive. You can only face 3 of them maximum per escape attempt. They hit hard but we want you to pick these fights only if you feel comfortable during your run!

Monoceros is based on ice attacks!

Sculptor creates weapons to attack you!

Animated Cinematic

We now have a traditional cinematic introduction when launching the game, giving a mood and first impression we absolutely love. The animations of Tokkun Studio fit perfectly the music of Dale North for an epic introduction to the Astral Ascent universe.

Reworked Introduction and Tutorial

We think the game introduction was not exposing the story and universe enough, we have created a new introduction cinematic! It is also an introduction to Ayla who did not have a proper pixel-art cinematic yet, it comes with a complete change of Ayla personality and backstory!

For the tutorial itself, we thought the previous one was too static and frustrating because we created a game focused on aerial movement and the tutorial was forcing you to not move much. The new tutorial gives you a total control over your movements from the very start now!

Event Horizon

You will not be automatically killed when accessing the Event Horizon (5th world), instead you will have many elements to prepare before the final confrontation!

Mid-run Saves

This might be the most requested features from the 18 months of Early Access, everytime the icon below appears, you can open your options and safely quit to main menu and resume later.

Combined to Steam cloud you can even do a run on your PC and continue your run on your Steamdeck for example! [previewyoutube=yM7mlYQ5Cr0;full][/previewyoutube]

Beyond level 8

Maximum level you can reach per escape attempt is 12, once level 8 reached you have 4 perks for your Signature spell and 4 for your Basic attacks but now each level above level 8 allows you to replace one perk to optimize your build even more at the end of your runs.

Stats Window

It was not easy to know how your current build is impacting your base stats, now you will be able to see the stats anytime when opening your inventory or all the time by activating an option in the Gameplay menu.

Itinerant Peddlers

We have made the itinerant peddlers much more interesting. As the spells did not have much and no gambits on them, in late-game it felt not right to pick new spells. Now prices are much more varied and spells can have gambits on them, impacting their prices up to 2000+ Quartz a spell. You can also find and buy astral Gambits there making Quartz currency much more interesting that it was! We have also changed the altars to see the elements of spells and the rarity of gambits for a better lisibility.

Storytelling Elements

Narration has been extended and reworked a lot, there is a lot of changed dialogs and many new types of dialogues. For example you can now have self conversations on benches and heroes talk to each others.

Most Memory Fragment have been modified too to give a more complete story of every characters.

Co-op icons

We have given a lot of attention to co-op, one example is these icons that have been requested a lot by the community! But there is many other changes making the co-op experience more enjoyable!

If you want to interact with the community, report bugs or make suggestions, you can join our Discord Server!

Thanks for supporting us through this journey and have fun playing the 1.0 version of the game! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-11-14 15:56:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - 1.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Final Boss: Face the Master in an epic boss fight! [hr][/hr]
Mid-run Saves: You can save and resume your runs at the start of any rooms. [hr][/hr]
Traditional Cinematic Introduction: Fully traditional hand animated cinematic when launching the game! [hr][/hr]
New tutorial: - New introduction cinematic explaining the world when launching a game. - New dynamic tutorial replacing the old one in the hub. - Reworked dialogues and storyline of the introdctuion. [hr][/hr]
17 Unique Endings: Ending for each hero and each Zodiac if you have them as summons for a total of 17 endings with narrated stories with pixel art animated screen for each of them. [hr][/hr]
Complete Voice Acting: Extended and completed voice acting with over 7800+ lines of dialogues for 27 different characters. [hr][/hr]
New Storytelling Elements: - Benches dialogues progression, heroes thoughts. - Dialogues between heroes. - Many extended dialogues types, each NPC from the Garden has things to say and a lot of dialogues are longer than before. - Extended and reworked Memory Library entries for final background story of all characters. (104 stories) [hr][/hr]
Event Horizon: This room now has many things to do in it before the final confrontation. [hr][/hr]
Beyond level 8: When you are level 9 or more (maximum 12) you can now replace perks you already have, one perk replacement per level. We think this is useful because first perks we take might not fit our end build so it is one more option to make the best possible build. [hr][/hr]
Current Stats Window: You can now display your current stats (Strength/Critic/Mana/Life/Armor/Attack speed) by opening your inventory. It allows you to have a better understanding of your build and it can also be visible permanently by activating an option. [hr][/hr]
Aries, Cancer & Gemini: - 3 new Zodiac fights with their animated pixel-art introduction. - 3 new Zodiac spells: Aries Fire Trails, Cancer's Tsunami & Gemini's Scythe. - 3 new Challenges and summons. [hr][/hr]
5 New Musics: Discover complete OST with many orchestral versions and featuring vocalist Emi Evans for the Master songs. [hr][/hr]
New Star Guardians: Monoceros and Sculptor join Pegasus, Lupus, Draco & Hydra for a total of 6 minibosses and 13 main bosses.

Small Features

Taurus Challenge: - Dummies now have more life and their life depends of current world instead of behind the same in each world. - Fixed bug where effects (wisps, spirit swords, nimbus etc.) could hit targets before the challenge started and prevent from finishing it. [hr][/hr]
Virgo Challenge: - Dummies now have more life and their life depends of current world instead of behind the same in each world. - Instead of dealing same amount of damage, Virgo damages to dummies now depends of world and she also focus . [hr][/hr]
Pisces Challenge: - Reduced time and number of notes to collect. - Added sound when you hit a red note. - Sentence clarification for the objective. [hr][/hr]
Leo Challenge: - Balanced damage of Leo per world and dummy can accumulate more maximum damage so it's not a last minute rush anymore. [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius Challenge: - Increased the number of arrow that Sagittarius can shoot. - Added sound when the players get hit by the the arrows. [hr][/hr]
community inspired In Coop, P1 and P2 icons above head to differenciate each other. [hr][/hr]
Scorpio Challenge: - Added red feedback on Scorpio spears. - Added more time for the challenge. - Reduced the time before the challenge starts. - Added sound when the players get hit by a spear. - Added visual assets to show in which direction you have to go to reach the end of the level as it could confusing sometimes. [hr][/hr]
Libra Challenge: - Improved visuals and sound on player and Libra attacks. - The camera is more zoomed and centered to better see the action and inputs. - The player now uses now different animations. [hr][/hr]
Zodiac spells affinity: Zodiac spells can also be of neutral elemental affinity now. [hr][/hr]
326 Aura: Ignition poison is now purple. [hr][/hr]
334 Aura: Plasma of fire are now red. [hr][/hr]
Astral Auras rarity symbol is now on both sides of title everywhere. [hr][/hr]
New Achievements for Sier Bapy: -Clumsy: Enemies defeated using Claw traps -Laserified: Enemies defeated by giant lasers -Practice Makes Perfect: Used Signature spell -Stones of Power: Equipped stones from Staone Altar -Optimal Affinity: Spells completed with Gambit affinity -Ultimate Assassin: Reach maximum level with Ayla -Strongestest Fist: Reach maximum level with Kiran -Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold: Reach maximum level with Octave -Perfect Gems: Reach maximum level with Calie -Wish Maker: Auras equipped -Aura Mythic Wish: Aura mythic equipped -Aura Astral Luck: Aura Astral equipped -Friends Forever: Echoes following you -Benched: Bench stories heard -Water Companion: Visit Cetus -Blood Pact: Life sacrified to Pavo -Guardian Angel: Met your Zodiac sign -Stars Vanquisher: Defeated Star Guardians in The void -Bapy achievement for memory fragments up to max (104 stories) [hr][/hr]
All spells previews videos in the Merchant and Loots have been recaptured and improved. [hr][/hr]
Improved Merchant in Andromeda's Bar: - Global visual improved - All prices rebalanced - Merchants can now sell Astral Gambits and spells equipped with random between 1 to 4 Gambits (including astral gambits) and random between 2 to 4 slot unlocked - Spell altars now indicate the spell element - Gambit altars now indicate the rarity - Gambit altars can now loot Astral gambits - Standing on altars of Itinerant Merchant makes UI appear faster [hr][/hr]
community inspired The moon room now can appear at the side of exploration or fight rooms, not anymore with other special rooms. [hr][/hr]
In Moon Room, you can now choose from 4 spells instead of 2. [hr][/hr]
community inspired In Moon Room, if playing co-op, both players can take a reward now. [hr][/hr]
Players can now move during certain spells for better fluidity: AYLA: - Metal Star - Toxic Bomb - Electric Scalpels - Paper Bomb KIRAN: - Lightspeed Fist - Energy Projectiles - Twin Dragon Uppercut - Tiger Roundabout - Windturner Up-Smash - Cutting Kick - Retentless Fury - Fiery Dragon Punch - Void Punch - Helping Hands (Got It?) - Flamin' Hot Strike CALIE: - Deadly Connection - Shimmering Ascent - Prismatic Beam - Azurite Falchions - Topaz Gladius - Ruby Spear - Legion - Ruby Spear - Swarm - Kunzite Scythe OCTAVE: - Laceratio [hr][/hr]
The pause after the taurus summon is longer so that the player regains control better. [hr][/hr]
Shadow Clones now have a small taunt animation when spawning to give you more reaction time. [hr][/hr]
Added a delay before spawning second Shadow Clone when you have 2 Shadow Clones at once. [hr][/hr]
Spirit Friends (from Void Catalyst), all summons are now in the random pool. [hr][/hr]
Sixth Sense (from Void Catalyst), Reduced Critical hit damage by 20 to 10% per tier. [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs spells can now have neutral affinity. [hr][/hr]
Astral Spirits waves can now appear sometimes in fight rooms. [hr][/hr]
Andromeda's Challenges are now unlocked after several discussions with Andromeda. [hr][/hr]
Reactivation of the Astral Trees, now it is not linked to Zim-Zim upgrade but activated by default. [hr][/hr]
The Star Guardians are now invincible during their ultimate attack. [hr][/hr]
Several Zodiacs attacks are now making Zodiacs not blocking the players when moving on them. [hr][/hr]
You can now skip Zodiacs intro videos by pressing an input. [hr][/hr]
Papa Yalee: - The memories are now unlocked in correct order and only for characters you already encountered [hr][/hr]
community inspired We can now view the equipped summon in the inventory. [hr][/hr]
Improved Quartz loot performances. [hr][/hr]
A lot of vibrations have been added to Zodiacs fights. [hr][/hr]
Improvement and polish for respawn in the Hub. [hr][/hr]
Taurus is the first boss to defeat just on time, not for each hero anymore. [hr][/hr]
Zodiac bar no longer resets when you change in the bar. [hr][/hr]
New introduction of Kiran character. [hr][/hr]
Armor on enemies are visible from the beginning, instead of being visible only after first hit. [hr][/hr]
Removed possibility to talk to Itinerant Peddlers (merchants in Andromeda's Bar). [hr][/hr]
Added pointer to Telescope in the hub when you didn't select your bonus of the day yet. [hr][/hr]
The Jukebox is now unlock once you defeat The Master. [hr][/hr]
The Jukebox is now outside the bar so you can enjoy it longer. [hr][/hr]
The affinity of Zodiacs cannot rise above 80% in the bar (except it's is your Zodiac affinity) [hr][/hr]
All mana and life orb go on the player on zodiacs chest and elite fight room (no need to go to collect them, you can simply move forward). [hr][/hr]
Slight performance increase by removing unused colliders on some enemies. [hr][/hr]
Room Progression UI updates better, in particular when being in Zodiac rooms and it adapts when you are over a next room portal or not. [hr][/hr]
No More Yalee Tickets if you have all colors unlocked, it will avoid having the "something new is available in the garden" at every end game run. [hr][/hr]
Some spells could focus Elites clones (black shadow Aspect) [hr][/hr]
Added descriptions for Zodiacs in the interior bar in order to know the behavior of their summons. [hr][/hr]
Shadow Clones are now correctly displayed on Death Recap. [hr][/hr]
Changing character is now much faster. [hr][/hr]
Leaving the game right after the tutorial now saves progression.

Balancing

Auras Balancing - Astral: - Saplings Wrath: ""Casts Poisonous Vortex"" Cooldown reduced by 20 to 10 sapling created - Magnifying Snowflake: ""On Snowflake hit, casts 2 Frost Mines"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 1 seconds - Sanitized Water: ""On Slime hit, casts Aqua Ball"" Cooldown reduced by 4 to 2 seconds - Radiactive Impact: ""On Meteor hit, cast Dark Burst"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 2 meteor created - Spicy drugs: ""When life is restored, casts 2 Surrounding Spheres"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 1 seconds - Toxic Chain: ""On hitting enemies with Poison, casts 2 Thorns Chains"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 2 seconds - Chasing Sparkle: ""On Spark hit, casts Quicksilver"" Cooldown reduced by 4 to 2 seconds - Spinning Spirit: ""Casts Ravaging Spheres"" Cooldown reduced by 20 to 15 seconds - Think Yalee: ""Create 1 Thick Yalee falling on nearby enemies"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 5 yalee created - Blade Storm: "" When dashing through enemies, casts Slashing Squall"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 7 seconds - Missile overload: ""Casts Corrupted Typhoon"" Cooldown reduced by 20 to 15 missile created - Chain Reaction: ""On Toxic Gas hit, casts Demonic Explosion"" Cooldown reduced by 4 to 3 seconds - Thunderwalk: ""Casts Eye Of Jugement"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 5 Thunder strike created - Raging Lightning: ""Casts Thunder Orb"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 5 Lightning orb created - Frozen Overpower: ""Casts Cold-Steel-Sword"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 5 Ice sword created - Piercing Surprise: ""On Ice Idole disappearance, casts 6 Freezing Needles"" Cooldown reduced by 4 to 2 seconds - Sudden Frostbyte: ""On enemy with Freeze death, casts Aqua Ball"" Cooldown reduced by 5 to 3 seconds - Bubling Projectiles: ""On Frostbite enemy, casts 5 Water Bubbles"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 1 seconds - Blinding comets: ""On Combustion, casts 3 Magma Comets"" Cooldown reduced by 2 to 1 seconds - Incandescent Rain: ""On enemies with Burn, casts Fire Rain"" Cooldown reduced by 15 to 12 seconds - Living Rocks: ""On Meteor hit, summons 1 sapling"" Summons Sapling increased by 1 to 2 - Crown Of Goo: ""Creates 1 Giant Slime"" Cooldown reduced by 30 to 20 Slime created - Rustling Fall: ""On fall attack, creates 5 Ice Fragment"" Ice fragment reduced by 5 to 4 and Ice fragment damage reduced by 100% to 75% [hr][/hr]
Auras Balancing - Common / Rare / Mythic: - Crystal Screen II: ""On Shield disappearance, creates an explosion dealing 40% of Max Life as damage"" Shield explosion increased by 40% to 60% - Crystal Screen III: ""On Shield disappearance, creates an explosion dealing 60% of Max Life as damage"" Shield explosion increased by 60% to 100% - Scale Armor II: ""When hero is hit, creates 1 Ice Sword"" Ice sword created increased by 1 to 2 - Scale Armor III: ""When hero is hit, creates 2 Ice Sword"" Ice sword created increased by 2 to 3 - Eye Of The Eagle II: ""On Critical hit, creates 2 Missiles"" Cooldown increased by 3 to 6 seconds - Eye Of The Eagle III: ""On Critical hit, creates 4 Missiles"" Cooldown increased by 3 to 6 seconds - Iceberg I: ""When hero is hit, creates 4 Ice Fragment"" Ice fragment reduced by 4 to 3 - Iceberg II: ""When hero is hit, creates 6 Ice Fragment"" Ice fragment reduced by 6 to 4 - Iceberg III: ""When hero is hit, creates 8 Ice Fragment"" Ice fragment reduced by 8 to 5 - Ice Blow III: ""On Frostbite enemy, creates 8 Ice fragment"" Ice fragment reduced by 8 to 5 - Iron Armor III: ""When hero is hit, creates 1 Pulse applying 1 Random Effect"" Increase stack of random effect by 1 to 3 - Piercing Light I: ""Summons 1 nimbus"" Cooldown reduced by 15 to 10 Mana spent - Piercing Light II: ""Summons 1 nimbus"" Cooldown reduced by 12 to 9 Mana spent - Piercing Light III: ""Summons 1 nimbus"" Cooldown reduced by 10 to 8 Mana spent and increased number of Nimbus by 1 to 2 - Magic Weapon II: ""Increases Strengh by 2% by Max Mana"" Strengh reduced by 2 to 1% - Magic Weapon III: ""Increases Strengh by 3% by Max Mana"" Strengh reduced by 3 to 2%" [hr][/hr]
Calie balancing: -Basic attack speed has been increased -Basic attack damage has been increased [hr][/hr]
Sier Bapy's Life Boon: "Sier Bapy appears and gifts you 3 Healing shards" Cooldown increased by 20 > 40 enemies death [hr][/hr]
Casting speed of some heroes spells has been improved: AYLA: - Toxic Bomb KIRAN: - Cutting Kicks - Helping Hands (Got It?) CALIE: - Wall Of Arrows - Stone Of The Ancients - Azurite Falchions - Emerald Bow - Ruby Spear - Topaz Gladius - Ruby Spear - Swarm - Kunzite Scythe OCTAVE: - Laceratio - Gravitas [hr][/hr]
The casting speed of common spells has been improved. [hr][/hr]
Common Spells increased damage: -Sphere Aqua: Damage increased -Shooting stars: Damage increased -Shattering stars: Damage increased -Frost Mines: Damage increased -Magma Comets: Damage increased -Dark Burst: Damage increased -Ki Blast: Damage increased -Ice Thrower: Damage increased -Cold Steel Sword: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Zodiac Spells increased damage: - Taurus Double slash - Capricorn's Meteor strikes - Virgo Light Swords - Sagittarius Chakrams - Libra Light - Aqurius Flow - Scorpio's Trident - Pisces Clones - Leo's Axe Slash [hr][/hr]
Moon Room Price changes: The price of the moon room has been adjusted depending on the world because their damage has been improved and they are more interesting - - World 1: 125 life - World 2: 150 life - World 3: 175 life - World 4: 200 life [hr][/hr]
Balancing time of dodge for certain spells: - Astral Powder: The dodge effect begins when the attack leaves, not before - Lightning Speed: The dodge effect stops when Ayla hits the ground - Ground Pound: The dodge effect is removed when Kiran jumps but he is present while he falls - Way Of The Wind: Reduced time of dodge effect - Shimmering Ascent: Deleted dodge effect - Celeritas: Reduced time of dodge effect [hr][/hr]
Balanced Perks: AYLA: - Eagle instinct: ""Increases signature Spell cooldown by 3 seconds"" Cooldown deleted KIRAN: - Perfect punch: ""Adds 100% Critical hit chance to Signature Spell"" Cooldown deleted - Double Whammy: ""Increases Signature Spell cooldown by 2 seconds"" Cooldown reduced by 5 to 2 s - Freezing fists: ""On King Counter hit, applies 10 Freeze"" Cooldown reduced by 6 to 1 s - Crazy Pumping Fist: ""Increases Signature Spells damage by 75%"" Increase damage by 75% to 100% - Power shift: ""Increases signature Spell cooldown by 3 seconds"" Cooldown reduced by 3 to 1 s OCTAVE: - Ballista MK1: ""Increases Signature Spell cooldown by 20 seconds"" Cooldown reduced 20 to 3 s - Perk n186 throw 5 ice grenade but explode the opposite of where the drone explodes, it never hits because of it CALIE: - Goldsmith: ""Increases Signature Spell cooldown by 4 seconds"" Cooldown reduced by 4 to 1 s - Crystal Maker: ""Increases Signature Spell cooldown by 6 seconds""Cd reduced 6 to 1 s" [hr][/hr]
Spells balancing: Ayla: - Electric scalpels: now move up and down when on moving platforms Kiran: - Ground Pound: kiran now hits while falling and it has a better hitbox Octave: - Incendium: Damage increased and mana cost reduced by 2 to 1 - Ballista: Mana cost reduced by 2 to 1 - Hasta: Damage increased Common spells global balancing [hr][/hr]
Telescope effects balancing: - The Ember Eye: ember spawn from 1 to 2 - The Electrical Eye: spark from 1 to 2 - The Slimey Eye: slime spawn from 1 to 2 - The Frigid Eye: ice fragment spawn from 1 to 2 [hr][/hr]
Global effects balancing: - Meteor deal less damage - Ice sword deal more damage - Snowflakes deal more damage - Toxique gas deal less damage - Plasma deal more damage - Poison effect deal more damage - Ignition deal more damage - Nimbus attack speed improved - Nimbus deal more damage [hr][/hr]
Chamaeleon Lottery: - Increased the number of Quartz that can be earned - Increased the number of Keys that can be earned - Increased the number of Stars that can be earned [hr][/hr]
Rebalanced damage from Zodiac summons. [hr][/hr]
Path of Destinies: - Thorny Foes: Improved visual feedback to better understand hitting area and see better the enemies sprite - Leaking Foes: Reduced loses mana from 2 to 1 per tier when the player is hit - Mark of doom: The Mark of Doom he no longer appears in boss rooms - Used Pockets: Reduced loses Quartz by 10 to 5 per tier when the player is hit - The life of the Zodiacs has been readjusted [hr][/hr]
community inspired Enemies Adds during Boss Fights (from Path of Destinies) cannot have armor. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Added a cooldown to Vampiric Foes (from Path of Destinies). [hr][/hr]
Higher chances to get +2 and +5 Feathers in Pavo's Ruins. [hr][/hr]
Increased damage of world 3 Medusa level design element. [hr][/hr]
Zodiac chests now give Stars currency. [hr][/hr]
Increased Zodiac Affinity chances to appear in rooms. [hr][/hr]
Quartz spots in Exploration rooms now scale per world. [hr][/hr]
Pegasus Thunder attack is faster. [hr][/hr]
Hydra Fire Tornadoes attack is faster. [hr][/hr]
Star Guardians damage global balancing. [hr][/hr]
Taurus Fight: -Taurus Invincibility is longer at the start of his ultimate attack. [hr][/hr]
Leo Fight: - Leo invincible until he reaches ground at the start of his ultimate attack. [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius Fight: - fire explosions attack - now hit much higher, a single jump would make you safe during this attack. - fire tentacles attack - mixed patterns + reversed patters in destiny level6+ - ultimate - now follows player more smoothly before giant explosion, 2 explosions in destiny level 6+ [hr][/hr]
Scorpio Fight: - dash in all directions attack - only 1 time and 2 times in DL6+ instead of 3 times everytime [hr][/hr]
Many Sier bapy achievements and rewards balancing [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim: - More levels of Reroll Perks

Level Design

Change of place/removal of Jump Bumpers in certain exploration rooms which could interfere during combat. [hr][/hr]
A dozen new Fight rooms. [hr][/hr]
Improved many Exploration Rooms level design. [hr][/hr]
All Rooms starting direction is now to the right for better fluidity. [hr][/hr]
Added new asset in background on fight/exploration room/hub. [hr][/hr]
Added magical animals in Andromeda's Bar. [hr][/hr]
Added 1 new exploration treasure room. [hr][/hr]
Fixed and improved some climbing walls in Fight Rooms so they do not become an issue fights. [hr][/hr]
Moved some clouds on top of rooms as they could hide Astral Chest texts. [hr][/hr]
Fixed places where wrong collisions in the levels. [hr][/hr]
One fighting room could be escaped by climbing the wall on side of it. [hr][/hr]
Some Fight rooms fight could be completely avoided by chain dashing and attacking.

Music & SFX

Added new sound on challenge Zodiacs chest. [hr][/hr]
Added sound on Draco attacks (giant Shuriken attack). [hr][/hr]
Many various audio mixing updates. [hr][/hr]
Many sounds volumes readjusted. [hr][/hr]
Music volumes readjusted. [hr][/hr]
All background ambiant musics of worlds have been slightly modified. [hr][/hr]
Virgo had no sound during her teleportation of dash attack (challenge / boss fight). [hr][/hr]
Improved audio feedback of Taurus swords in air attack. [hr][/hr]
Major issue causing a lot of sounds to not play the first time they happened in a room has been fixed. Happened when equipping first Feather, when looting spells and so on. [hr][/hr]
Major issue causing a lot of simultaneously played sounds to not play has been fixed. It would happen for world 2 fire lasers for example. [hr][/hr]
The Sound listener has been reworked, distance of sounds heard is now a bit further (in case of unzoomed screen some sounds would not played if positioned on sides of the screen) and cleaner than before. [hr][/hr]
Changed hurt / spell cast voice sound of all heroes and added more variations. [hr][/hr]
More variations have been added to many existing sounds. [hr][/hr]
Modified sound when reappearing in the Garden. [hr][/hr]
Increased volume of Bosses context dialogues so we can hear them better. [hr][/hr]
Wall Grab and end of run animation SFX were missing on Ayla [hr][/hr]
Reduced volume when picking up stones in stones altar as picking up several could be saturating.

Interface

Move boss lifebar + changed position of elements there + visual modifications because of new windows stats addition. [hr][/hr]
Added Element type in gambits titles to understand each type of gambits. [hr][/hr]
Improved of "Conditions" descriptions for gambit/auras/prowess (example: On hit > On each hit). [hr][/hr]
Next spell icon is now higher so it does not overlap too much with effects. [hr][/hr]
Interface is now hidden during Andromeda's challenges to better see the challenges. [hr][/hr]
The icon when all content has been unlocked with the experience bar has been removed. [hr][/hr]
Bilinear added on most UI elements. [hr][/hr]
Background of hints now fit correctly the texts (could lead to many hints out of screen before). [hr][/hr]
NPC Pointers was laggy in hub, performances have been largely improved. [hr][/hr]
Improved Life bar and animated portrait in game UI [hr][/hr]
Added a lock icon next to icons not remappable in Options [hr][/hr]
Added UI to elements related to UI in the Menu [hr][/hr]
Improved display of cooldowns in Inventory [hr][/hr]
Reroll perk icon are visible all the time in Prowess tree even if player have not unlocked the perk at Zim-zim [hr][/hr]
Switch perk icon are visible all the time in Prowess tree. [hr][/hr]
Armor is written 3% instead of 3 on the stones/drinks. [hr][/hr]
Added English name of all languages next to their localized names. [hr][/hr]
The hints of Stone Altar appear faster. [hr][/hr]
Description of Merchants spells is bigger. [hr][/hr]
Navigating in Merchant UI does not show the spells if you don't stop moving. [hr][/hr]
Opening UIs of NPCs in the hub is much faster. [hr][/hr]
Path of Destinies and Void Catalyst UI description was flickering when moving from to another. [hr][/hr]
No More Progression bar in World 5 / Event Horizon [hr][/hr]
The Void Catalyst: - Text window and text is bigger there - Increase slightly tier/preset text size [hr][/hr]
Changed Star icon on quests/challenges UI [hr][/hr]
Death Recap XP decount speed is faster and now has a time maximum limit. [hr][/hr]
Slots save selection had red bars showcasing input. [hr][/hr]
Glossary/Path of Destinies main menu UI are now smoother to navigate. [hr][/hr]
Simplified UI and reworked some elements in Constellations menu (removed tween effects, wrong fonts, change dispositions) [hr][/hr]
Constellations display position have been re-adjusted to be more centered and not overlap UI. [hr][/hr]
Removed text "Skill unlocked" title appearing at the merchant in the hub when buying a new skill. [hr][/hr]
All LDI titles are now uppercase and bold (healing shards, stone altar etc) [hr][/hr]
Skip Credits is now on left for more consistency and changed input name for more consistency too [hr][/hr]
Removed [ ] around the continue in Dialogues system [hr][/hr]
In coop, Merchant's UI is now displayed on the left if player 2 opens it for better lisiblity. [hr][/hr]
Bapy's UI had many titles regular and description bold while it was supposed to be the opposite. [hr][/hr]
Sun Rooms titles were not centered. [hr][/hr]
Wrong fonts were used on Death Recap screen. [hr][/hr]
Xp points on death recap are smaller now to fit the size of the trails. [hr][/hr]
Color of experience bar have changed. [hr][/hr]
Reduced flash intensity in Death Recap. [hr][/hr]
Wrong font displayed when Heroes captured Astral Spirits. [hr][/hr]
Enemies displayed on Death Recap now take more width so we see them better. [hr][/hr]
Re-activating all characters on main menu screen (it was always Calie since world 4 update) [hr][/hr]
Modified displays of SL and SR buttons for Nintendo Switch inputs icons. [hr][/hr]
We can now modify options by pressing button or moving directional keys. [hr][/hr]
Destiny Fragments were not updating during the runs. [hr][/hr]
Drinks description does not overlap anymore when 2 players check drinks.

Part2 of Patch Notes below

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3776891376332040609

[ 2023-11-09 10:35:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - 1.0-2

This is Part2 of 1.0 Patch Notes visible below

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3776891376332040308

Visuals

Wolfs are more transparency on Ikki summons to improve readability. [hr][/hr]
The daggers of Ayla are now yellow on all animations. [hr][/hr]
Some Zodiacs intro videos had white fade out. [hr][/hr]
All Zodiacs intro videos quality has been improved. [hr][/hr]
All basic attack icons have been reworked. [hr][/hr]
Ayla shadow mark on enemies is now more visible. [hr][/hr]
Added many prisons in worlds background to understand better how it works. [hr][/hr]
The "dodge" effect is more bigger and more visible. [hr][/hr]
Spirit Sword are more transparent to improve readability. [hr][/hr]
Removed Shockwaves effect on Ice idols for better readability. [hr][/hr]
Improved visual of shield on Capricorn summon. [hr][/hr]
Fishes are more transparenct on Pisces summons to improve readability. [hr][/hr]
Text multiplicator is now in the middle for clearer visibility in Path of Destiny selection. [hr][/hr]
Improved visuals of Red Lasers in world 4 and in Andromeda's Challenges. [hr][/hr]
Increased size and improved visuals of Crystal Jump elements. [hr][/hr]
Improved/Added Red feedback for enemies attacks: W1 - Wild grass both attack Black seed attack Fungal being explosion + bigger hitbox Logbear both attacks W2 - Lava Scorpio attack Infernal wings melee attack Wrath Spirit one attack Fire Naga both attacks Fire Golem fall attacl W3 - Giant snake red feedback more visible W4 - Electric seed vertical flare when attacking Thunder cycles 3 attacks red feedbacks Blade Storm red feedback on dash attack [hr][/hr]
Lupus and Draco ultimates could not be their first attack when their ultimate bar is full. [hr][/hr]
Improved visual feedback for Lupus and Draco. [hr][/hr]
Better Feedback on Invincibile Star Guardian Attacks. [hr][/hr]
Changed position of effects, Ayla mark and Octave target on Star Guardians and Zodiacs. [hr][/hr]
Taurus Fight: - swords in air attack - Many improvement on feedback - dash attack - bigger smoke FX when dashing + more visible ghost effect and changed color to blue - dash attack - reduced time when hitting side wall - waves attack - vertical flare when swords hit ground + rocks particles - waves attack - slashes with glow - waves attack - ghost effect more visible and additive - waves attack - added red feedback - slashes attack - added red feedback - slashes attack - flare on sword - slashes attack - very small duration ghost duration - melee attack - smoke every slash wrong side and change anim + go slightly further - ultimate - flare vertical when preparing attack - ultimate - make heatwave more visible [hr][/hr]
Virgo Fight: - reduced brightness on most attacks - electric spheres - random color on projectiles - electric spheres - smoke fx on each side of Virgo when creating spheres - electric spheres - trail of projectiles should depend of projectiels sizes - light swords attack - red feedback appear faster, stay longer (until projectiles start) + random color on projectiles + red feedback round around each sword about to explode + removed invincibility - double dash attack - brightness + red feedback more visible + behind everything + flare vertical - double dash attack - crawling energy + progressively spawning swords when reaching the ground - ultimate - removed ghost effect when Virgo moves up - ultimate - circles + smoke on ground + shakescreen + shockwave when Virgo transforms - ultimate - random color on explosions - ultimate - bigger smoke explosion - ultimate - patterns were not centered with the middle of the arena - explosion attacl - progressive color change + hit box hit for several frames instead of 1 frame [hr][/hr]
Capricorn Fight: - Added feedback on projectiles - Destiny level 6 attack - red feedback more visible [hr][/hr]
Leo Fight: - Giant rocks attack - more visible feedback - less brightness on Leo - rocks and vertical flare when starting anim - ghost on giants rocks path - Jump melee attack - higher red feedback - Throw Axe attack - reduced brightness + improved opacity red feedback - Throw Axe attack - ghost effect when he teleports - Throw Axe attack - glow on axe + ghost effect more visible on it [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius Fight: - base attack - red circle feedback - fire explosions attack - trail polish visuals and projectiles visual polish - fire explosions attack - random color on projectiles/explosions - fire tentacles attack - smoke behind her when she shoots, and get the shuriken back at the end, ghost effect when she teleports is on wrong side, ghost effect more visible but for less time - fire tentacles attack - heatwave behind+darker background - fire tentacles attack - bigger smoke fx on ground when she prepares - fire tentacles attack - red feathers when she prepares at the beggining! - fire tentacles attack - less brightness on Sagittarius + jump visual effect + progressive color changes on the projectiles - ultimate - improved trails of arrow shoots +more transparent + random colors + reduced brightness for more lisibility - ultimate - we could see the top of main explosion [hr][/hr]
Pisces Fight: - Ice clones attack - Camera does not follow Pisces in this attack so camera does not move all around. - most feedback more visibles [hr][/hr]
Scorpio Fight: - Surf attack - Reduced brightness on red feedbacks - spears diagonal attack - added a vertical flare in diagonal when launching first spear + ghost effect when spear fall vertical - spears on ground attack - red feedback of spear on ground + better visual feedback - ultimate - particles converging at start, horizontal flare of weapon angle, reduced brightnes, red feedback following player at each attack, Scorpio jumped off his spear too early after the final dash to ground attack [hr][/hr]
Most flashes during fight should now be behind players/enemies instead of in front for better lisibility. [hr][/hr]
Visual feedback addition on Zodiacs, Star Guardians & enemies invincibility, replaced old ethereal effects on first world Zodiacs. [hr][/hr]
Papa Yalee: - Added portrait in background - Portraits and names are hidden if you didn't meet the character yet - Increased font size of text - Improved visuals overall - Global rewriting of texts - Player 2 opening UI has a better position to read texts [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim: - If player 2 opens UI, descriptions now displays on the left - UI global polish [hr][/hr]
Global improvement of readability of characters with background by making all background a bit less satured and a bit less luminous [hr][/hr]
Improved max level color when level 12 [hr][/hr]
Polish intro of Octave And Calie [hr][/hr]
Changed font for the all numbers [hr][/hr]
Many elements in exploration/fight levels were misplaced. [hr][/hr]
Merchant has the good colors now on spell rarity, same for spells loot [hr][/hr]
Added "dodge feedback" visual on Kiran Counter. [hr][/hr]
The aura upgrader icon was not properly aligned and added bilinear on it. [hr][/hr]
The Cetus Category titles was not properly aligned. [hr][/hr]
Removed some outlines in different places, mainly for elements visible enough where outlines was not improving lisibility. [hr][/hr]
Made Save icon more visible. [hr][/hr]
Moved most shockwaves effect behind characters to improve lisibility. [hr][/hr]
The "shadow mark" of Ayla is better placed on enemies overall. [hr][/hr]
Improvement of elite Aspects with better feedback. [hr][/hr]
Camera improvement when the player sits on benches. [hr][/hr]
Added visual of Ordan giving us first sun pieces batch when unlocking Zim-Zim. [hr][/hr]
Changed Starfield effect when DL6+ in Path of Destiny selection. [hr][/hr]
Arrow feedbacking when bar is open in Andromeda's bar. [hr][/hr]
Added more visual godrays in Cetus' Cavern. [hr][/hr]
Added vertical rays of color to show categories in Cetus' Cavern. [hr][/hr]
Added vertical rays of color to show categories in Sun Room. [hr][/hr]
Cetus was too often active when not above a category loot. [hr][/hr]
Pavo's Ruins had birds while it was not supposed to. [hr][/hr]
Yalee kingdom placement of yalee on rocks is more natural now. [hr][/hr]
Bar door was not centered. [hr][/hr]
Plushies added back in bar. [hr][/hr]
Sova Echo visual had no glow, reimported with glow. [hr][/hr]
Better visibility of incoming danger from world 2 sand Shark. [hr][/hr]
Radial Blur effects has been visually improved. [hr][/hr]
Outline effect has been visually improved to work with objects having glow. [hr][/hr]
Some flickering could be seen on portraits / trees due to compression.

Narrative Design

Improvement on Echoes descriptions and inventory loots. [hr][/hr]
NPCs dialogues now prioritize Zodiacs related dialogue if they have other less important dialogues to display. [hr][/hr]
Major review of all texts in all languages, in particular for Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese & Traditional Chinese [hr][/hr]
Bar "Talk to" -> "Invite to join" is clearer to invite Zodiacs to join. [hr][/hr]
Signature spells were still referred as "Utility Spell" in the options. [hr][/hr]
Many elements were too long in french so we reduced some texts length. [hr][/hr]
Fixed many places where the texts was not displaying what the Voice dialogues were saying. [hr][/hr]
Prevented Contextual dialogues to be displayed too small if text was too large. Now window adapts to the text not the opposite. [hr][/hr]
Added Context Dialogues: - Fighting Shadow Clones of your hero - Fighting Shadow Clones of other heroes - Defeating Shadow Clones of your hero - Defeating Shadow Clones of other heroes - Seeing Elites - Defeating Elites - Entering Echo Isles - Entering Eclipse Room - Defeating Eclise Room - Added context dialogue on void catalyst and Telescope - Enter The Forge - Activate Void Catalyst abilities - Entering Event Horizon - Selecting Telescope element - Extended found Gambits - Found Mythic gambits - Found Astral gambits - Different sentences depending of spells quantities - Extended out of Mana texts - Contexts for each type of stones (life / strength / attack speed / max mana / armor / critic chances) and global random ones - Equipping Auras more variations - Find Feathers more variations - Pick Feathers more variations - Reset Merchant choices - Buy from Merchant more variations - More variations when making a very high quantity of damage - Low life more variations - Finishing Fight Rooms more variations - Starting Fight Rooms more variations - Entering The Void more variations - A lot more variations when entering first room of world 1 / 2 / 3 /4 - Cetus' Cavern more variations - Pavo's Ruins more variations - Sacrificing HP at Pavo's Ruins more variations - Win Lottery more variations - Buying drinks at Andromeda's more variations - New context when special drinks of Andromeda's - More variations when no healing crystals available - Perfect Fight Rooms more variations - More variations when healing - A lot more variations when entering Zodiacs rooms - More variations when defeating Star Guardians - More variations when reaching end of Explo/Fight Rooms - More variations randomly when entering Explo rooms - More variations when taking Yalee Tickets - More variations when taking Memory Fragments - A lot more variations when sitting on benches - More variations when seeing Chamaeleon - More variations when picking an Echo - More variations when entering Sun/Moon Rooms - More variations when summoning Echoes for some cases - Zim-Zim more variations when buying elements - Sova dialogues when starting an escape - Merchant more variations when unlocking elements - Oloon more variations when unlocking elements - Andromeda greeting players entering the room, more variations - Andromeda saying good bye more variations - Andromeda commenting our drinks more variations - All Zodiacs now sometimes taunt heroes during fight - All Zodiacs now have a special sentence if they defeat you [hr][/hr]
Calie and Ayla dialogues have been fully re-recorded (by same voice actors) for a small change of personality [hr][/hr]
All NPCs voice lines have been fully re-recorded for consistency of records and Sova + Merchants voice slightly changed [hr][/hr]
Fully re-voiced Taurus for voice consistency and fully re-voiced Aquarius to make sentences faster [hr][/hr]
Added Narration Elements: - Dialogues with Zodiacs are often 4 dialogues instead of 3 - Dialogues with Zodiacs are often 4 dialogues instead of 3 - New dialogues progression when sitting on Benches for each hero - Oloon new progression of dialogues about gossips of other NPCs - Ordan now talks about Zodiacs instead of Ikki - Bapy now has progression dialogues about heroes feelings - Progression dialogues with Andromeda for each hero - Global progression dialogues with Andromeda - Heroes can now talk between each others depending of progression [hr][/hr]
Many reworked elements of dialogues / context for consistency and update of the lore

Miscellaneous

Changing languages is only possible in Main Menu now [hr][/hr]
Modified/improved default keyboard inputs [hr][/hr]
Removed Banner for updates on Main Menu [hr][/hr]
Credits have been updated [hr][/hr]
Removed Banner for updates on Main Menu [hr][/hr]
Removed Yamat character icons on Merchant and Memory library (will be re-added later when DLC is released) [hr][/hr]
Removed "Dev Message" when the game launches. [hr][/hr]
Added a pop-up to warn Early Access players that it is adviced to start a new save. [hr][/hr]
Updated musics for Jukebox

Bug Fixes

The auras with condtion ""X created"" the cooldown is updated when the effects are created, not at the same time (which prevented the same effect from being activated several times in a row) for following Auras: - Frozen Overpower - Saplings Wrath - Missiles Overload - Thick Yalee [hr][/hr]
Aura "Catnip II and Catnip III" the descriptions of the rare and mythic version were not in the correct order. [hr][/hr]
Aura Electrifying Touch III- Now works correctly. [hr][/hr]
Sova's benediction did not increase the level of the feather in "Pavo's room". [hr][/hr]
Bapy summon stars only gave stars 1 time per world. [hr][/hr]
Forbidden Knowledge perk of Ayla was not working. [hr][/hr]
The perk "double mox" of Calie didn't work. [hr][/hr]
Coop - Octaves "Pluvia" shoots out of the coop partner instead of the player using it. [hr][/hr]
The fireshield effect was not DT proof. [hr][/hr]
Nimbus shoot SFX were missing. [hr][/hr]
Frostbyte FX on enemies would go in front of players. [hr][/hr]
Summons Zodiacs: - Fixed bug when on some summons that made players go behind bosses and enemies after being summoned - Fixed bug on Leo summon that created Embers instead of ignition - Fixed bug on Sagittarius summon which was not targeting enemies - Fixed bug on many zodiacs summon not targeting enemies correctly - Zodiac summon in air would not always reach targets on ground [hr][/hr]
The Quartz reward of Chamaeleon Lottery no longer gives the maximum amount of quartz each time. [hr][/hr]
Fixed issue on Chamaeleon altar when taking a 5 keys chests. [hr][/hr]
Shadow Clones didn't have collisions with players. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Ikki echo from Void Catalyst would give a Zim-Zim echo. [hr][/hr]
Fixed World 3 puddles that could appear outside of the ground (ceiling, walls etc). [hr][/hr]
Fixed World 4 rain drops that could appear outside of the ground (ceiling, walls etc). [hr][/hr]
Fixed Astral Spirits that could appear outside of the ground (ceiling, walls etc). [hr][/hr]
Fixed Elite Aspect Thunder that could appear outside of the ground (ceiling, walls etc). [hr][/hr]
World 3 Medusa element spawned Slimes on hits. [hr][/hr]
Using Ayla's signature spell on Taurus during his ultimate would make Ayla go below ground. [hr][/hr]
Aquarius Fight: - DL6+ attack loop sound design would remain all the time if Aquarius was defeated during the attack. [hr][/hr]
Visual effects could remain on bosses when teleporting (example freeze FX). [hr][/hr]
community inspired Leo and Pisces could become endlessly invincible if they reached their ultimate before launching their first attacks. [hr][/hr]
Camera was not following correctly players and bosses during Zodiac fights (not unzooming if Zodiac was far). [hr][/hr]
Camera was moving a bit higher when Zodiacs were not on screen. [hr][/hr]
Everytime you relaunch merchants choices the loot FX would cumulate. [hr][/hr]
We could access inventory during Zodiac summons. [hr][/hr]
Some Texts could be cut in Bapy's achievement UI. [hr][/hr]
Input to get all loots in Bapy's and Papa Yalee's could be changed by changing inputs leading to inputs issues unwanted [hr][/hr]
Dialogue contexts could happen twice in a row. [hr][/hr]
The timer during challenges was not paused when opening menu or summoning Zodiacs. [hr][/hr]
"Embers" hint was not displayed in English language. [hr][/hr]
In Sun Room ans Cetus room, the "toxic gas" effect Hint was not displayed. [hr][/hr]
Optimization/fixed issue for elements happening "every X second". [hr][/hr]
"Best client" achievement of Bapy was not working. [hr][/hr]
Spread ice auras was not working in Coop mode. [hr][/hr]
community inspired In fight room in Coop mode, the P2 could be stuck in a wall at the start of a room [hr][/hr]
community inspired Possible hardlock in coop at the perks statue fixed. [hr][/hr]
The Echoes icons on UI would flash when being hit. [hr][/hr]
Pavo could break the perk "Warrior's pride" and achievements "perfect" on bapy (like "kill X enemies without getting hit etc...) [hr][/hr]
community inspired The calculation of damage/crits/full life damage has been fixed. [hr][/hr]
Fixed many code apparition in dialogues. [hr][/hr]
Fixed bug on Kiran counter perk that could create too many effect in one time. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed music in Elite fight room that was too loud if coming from the Forge room. [hr][/hr]
In the Merchant, price icon brightness could remain very high if spell changed while brightness is high. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Visual feedback could remain after defeating Capricorn. [hr][/hr]
Words were cut in Prowess Tree UI. [hr][/hr]
Auto attack icon was not grayed out when the inventory is opened. [hr][/hr]
Signature spell icon was gray when you pass over it in inventory. [hr][/hr]
Visual warning could remain visible after defeating Calie's Shadow Clone. [hr][/hr]
Some sentences from Ordan were missing. [hr][/hr]
community inspired In co-op, if both players would enter a boss fight at the same frame, the interface would no longer reappears. [hr][/hr]
When starting Fight Rooms, the background clouds would teleport instantly everytime. [hr][/hr]
Leaving a room was making uncollected keys/quartz to disappear. [hr][/hr]
Some enemies could follow players in Andromeda's Challenges if they had teleport skills. [hr][/hr]
Fixed bug on texts that were cut in Japanese and Chinese language [hr][/hr]
Fixed a lot of places where behaviors would be different depending of current FPS. [hr][/hr]
The Piercing Shark enemy attack in DL6+ could hit 3 times if overlapping enemy during the attack. [hr][/hr]
World 3 Toad Enemy could not be blocked by Kiran's counter. [hr][/hr]
At 165+ fps, the character would fall faster when keep attacking in air. [hr][/hr]
Prevented Characters from moving when swapping characters in hub. [hr][/hr]
Leveling up could make your HP bar go beyond maximum. [hr][/hr]
Some Enemies elite width was too small when launching specific attacks. [hr][/hr]
Jukebox inputs applied to game inputs (LB to skip song also changed spell order) [hr][/hr]
Jukebox title would remain if you dashed out of the jukebox while changing music. [hr][/hr]
Some elements were not accepting increased damage per world like Kiran summon and Thunder Dash. [hr][/hr]
Merchant, if swapping hero while "not enough money feedback" background would remain red. [hr][/hr]
Cetus, gold coins were jumping at the wrong place when walking on ground gold coins. [hr][/hr]
Fungal being smoke fx was not displayed since some patchs. [hr][/hr]
Wild Grass (Spinning world 1 enemy) teleport hitbox was not horizontally centered. [hr][/hr]
Navigation bar would appear and blink everytime we change menu in Bapy/Papa Yalee menus [hr][/hr]
Player could Over-heal when using life restoring gambits (more than their max HP). [hr][/hr]
"Practice makes perfect" Bapy achievement did not work. [hr][/hr]
Background clouds in Capricorn Challenge were cut out. [hr][/hr]
The sky in world 1 had some horizontal lines visible. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed Performance issue in Yalee kingdom and Cetus. [hr][/hr]
Some Auras Descriptions in Barbecue were displaying way too small in certain languages due to a bug. [hr][/hr]
Zim Zim's laugh did not trigger under certain conditions [hr][/hr]
Eclipse room had noticeable fps and sound stutter [hr][/hr]
Coop - When P2 interacted with Zim-Zim, only P1 could navigate through the menu [hr][/hr]
In Coop, players catching the Astral Spirit could show the wrong name. [hr][/hr]
Pink Dandelions would continue their reset animation when game is paused and they could become giant. [hr][/hr]
Feathers could be equiped or salvaged while being in the menu. [hr][/hr]
Trails had a different behavior depending of game fps. [hr][/hr]
Weather effects appeared in Echo Isles while it was not supposed to. [hr][/hr]
Some effects during Aquarius ultimate would still move while game is paused. [hr][/hr]
Explorer's curse was not working properly [hr][/hr]
Dialogues portraits could overlap each other if big enough. [hr][/hr]
Pausing the game during cinematic was not pausing the videos. [hr][/hr]
Spell preview videos were not leoping at Merchant. [hr][/hr]
Missiles trails were not connected to the missiles. [hr][/hr]
Blue disappearing platforms collisions are not there anymore when they are invisible. [hr][/hr]
Papa Yalee pointer in hub was sometimes bugging. [hr][/hr]
Chamaeleon in The Forge would appear in a strange way, changed his position. [hr][/hr]
Taurus Zodiac Affinity had a missing dialogue. [hr][/hr]
Virgo could remain invisible after being defeated during 2 specific attacks. [hr][/hr]
Sometimes wrong spells could be bought in Andromeda's bar (standing on a specific altar and buying another altar). [hr][/hr]
Ayla's Flash Step spell would move camera even during bosses. [hr][/hr]
Many objects could keep spawning during pauses like Leo's ground pound axe attack. If you paused the game during this attack, elements would keep spawning forever leading to losing FPS. [hr][/hr]
Libra's Light spell did not track invincible enemies which felt weird. [hr][/hr]
Yalees in Yalee kingdom could be in front of Auras descriptions. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Decimals in Sun Pieces multiplayers could go wrong like x1,7000000000 instead of 1,7 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Sova Summon giving Pavo's Feather +2 was not working for player 2 in coop. [hr][/hr]
Aquarius ultimate was taking too much performances leading to FPS drops. [hr][/hr]
Entering a new layout and pausing (for example in the Pantheon) would feel like game is frozen because it pauses the transition. [hr][/hr]
community inspired You could get locked inside Andromeda's bar if pressing exit button too fast. [hr][/hr]
Failing Andromeda's Challenges while auto climbing a wall would teleport player back inside the challenge and leave them stuck there. [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs could be half visible if defeated during their teleports.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-11-09 10:35:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Official Animated Trailer

[previewyoutube=-tMwDmc8ah0;full][/previewyoutube] Here is our Cinematic Trailer that will be displayed when you launch the game in 1.0, we have worked hard on it! We are also running a Giveaway for Steam / Console keys on our twitter account, feel free to join and good luck! 8 days left before 1.0, we hope you are as excited as we are! Aries cannot wait to face you!

Have a fantastic evening, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-11-06 16:41:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.0 Release Date Announcement

[previewyoutube=fkYM-9iaBYc;full][/previewyoutube]

Astral Ascent Final Release is coming on November 14th, 2023

[quote=author] We have been working on it for months alongside regular updates and here is what you can expect from this final version -

The Master final boss fight
3 New Zodiacs: Aries, Cancer & Gemini, including Zodiac Spells, Challenges & Summons
17 unique endings
Completely reworked tutorial
New introduction cinematic
Mid-run saves at start of each room
Traditional cinematic when launching the game
Players stats window
Reworked and extended narration for all characters, including new narration places like heroes self-dicussions, heroes to heroes discussions, new dialogs with various characters and Memory Library stories final version
Fully voiced dialogs including some characters fully re-voiced like Ayla
2 new Star Guardians : Sculptor & Monoceros
New Musics including orchestral records and featuring of vocalist Emi Evans
Countless polishes, balances & bug-fixes! (more than 400 tasks done on our side)

[/quote] As you can see, we have invested all our incomes from the Early Access directly into the game to make it the best possible game we could do which means we are going to release with close to no marketing budget and we are counting on you to spread the word about the game! [hr][/hr] The more success the game will have, the more updates we will make and we have so many ideas already!

Slight game price adjustment

We did not change game price since its Early Access release but the game is so much bigger than initially planned and we have adjusted the price slightly. Have an excellent day and thank you so much for your support! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-10-16 15:04:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Telluric Telescope Update is Live!

We went bigger than what we expected for this update, the Update is adding a various range of new elements mainly focused on extending runs variety! Full Patch-Notes of 0.47 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3690190742433248908

The Telluric Telescope

Sier Bapy has a surprise, he repaired a precious telescope that can absorb cosmic energy.

Everyday you can select 1 bonus among 3 different ones so each run feels even more unique! It can also help you decide which build you will try to do during your run and make you experiment with builds you are not used to! There is more than 50 different bonuses to choose from :

First spell you equip is duplicated and replaces all your spells
First Aura you find in Yalee Kingdom is Astral
Increase Damage on full life enemies by 100%
When starting an escape, gains 5 Critical Stones
Summoning an Echo gives you a random buff
Reduces by 30 the life cost of Pavo sacrifices
etc.

Once equiped, your bonus will be displayed on your portrait -

Echoes Extension

We have improved Echoes and extended their number, from 15 Echoes to 31! We have also reworked their preview visuals to better represation of what they are about and to better distinguish each one.

In order to keep finding the Echoes you like more frequently we have increased the options pool from 3 to 4!

Preview of some of the new Echoes -

Elemental Summons

All Zodiac Summons are now linked to an effect, same for Echoes. Together Zodiacs and Echoes summons cover all existing effects in the game.

Taurus will now give 4 Spirit Swords

Pisces now spawn Ice Swords on hit

Capricorn summon will also create Meteors during its summon. We have also improved interface visuals of Zodiacs summon chests -

New Void boss - Hydra

Hydra is joining Pegasus, Lupus & Draco as Void Bosses, 2 new ones will come for Final Release. Hydra manipulates the elements and is a dangerous foe, be careful!

Andromeda's Trials

We have reworked some existing Trials that were too easy, we think it is fine for Trials to be a bit hard because you have no punishment for failing them. We have also created many new Trials, from 8 to 17. Here are some new ones -

Oops we did it again... 84 new auras!

So... yes we have added 84 new Auras to the game with a lot of new Astral ones. To better enjoy them we have also increased the drop chances of Astral Auras because we think they were too rare and that it's fun to be able to build around them from early game. We tried to create fun Astral Auras, we re-used some effects from Common Spells for a few Astral Auras making you build chain-reaction builds with impressive visuals! These new Auras greatly increase build potentials and most of them require you to create builds around them and do not work by themselves which works perfectly with the increased drop chances.

We are also making a lot of progress on Final Release and we are going super big for it, we cannot wait to show you all surprises we are working on! As always we hope you enjoy this update, if you do don't hesitate to leave us a Steam review, we are getting very close of the 1000 reviews which was our objective before Final Release! Have a great day and upcoming week-end, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-08-28 16:37:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - August 2023 - 0.47

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Telluric Telescope: You can choose 1 bonus among 3 bonuses (from 50+ ) everyday [hr][/hr]
Hydra Void Boss: Hydra joins Pegasus, Lupus & Draco [hr][/hr]
84 new Auras: All already unlocked, mainly Astral ones adding more variations to runs [hr][/hr]
Echoes addition: 16 new Echoes have been added (from 15 to 31) [hr][/hr]
Andromeda's Trials: Added 9 Andromeda's Trials, from 8 to 17

Small Features

Pool change for Echoes from 3 to 4 [hr][/hr]
Improved many Echoes like Zim-Zim Summons [hr][/hr]
Improved Zodiac Summons & Echoes, effects have been added to have more impact in builds

Balancing

Increase of Astral Auras drop rate for more build diversity [hr][/hr]
Increased pace and difficulty of some existing Andromeda's Trials [hr][/hr]
Spells balancing: Increased damage of following spells Kiran - Fiery dragon punch Ayla - Doppleganger - Paper bomb Common spells - Surrounding spheres [hr][/hr]
Balancing of multiple auras [hr][/hr]
Andromeda's challenge can only appear maximum of 2 times per run

Level Design

Changed location or removal traps in some exploratory rooms

Visuals

Improved lisibility and descriptions of Zodiac Summon texts

Narrative Design

Correction of typos, re-worded elements [hr][/hr]
Implementation of many texts variations in preparation of final release voice re-record

Bug Fixes

Fights Rooms barriers could bug and be misplaced [hr][/hr]
One mushroom wasn't bouncing correctly in an Andromeda's Trial [hr][/hr]
Destiny Level sun pisces multiplicator was bugged at lvl 7,14,19 [hr][/hr]
Players could die in Andromeda's Trials [hr][/hr]
Enemies could spawn outside of Fight Rooms / Elite Fight Rooms [hr][/hr]
Players could skip fights rooms with aerial tricks [hr][/hr]
Main Menu had visual bugs leading to blank and unresponsive UI [hr][/hr]
Auras with ""if enemy is full life"" could trigger multiple times for enemies with armor or enemies spawn from elite modifiers [hr][/hr]
It was possible to re-use the aura refiner multiple times in Andromeda's bar by entering and then exiting the bar interior [hr][/hr]
Fixed volume issues on music played in Eclipse room

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-08-28 16:27:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ayla Figure + Next Update Sneak Peek

Hello everyone! Last month we released the Path of Destinies Update which received such a great reception, so many of you kept playing the game much more than any previous updates! About previous Update, community member Andreiyutzzzz already beat Destiny Level 45 which we thought would take much longer to happen. We are sure DL 54 will fall at some point! Next Update will be coming late August and it will be about Summons and other things. But First --

Ayla Figure & Backer Statues

We received our first Ayla Figure figures from Limited Run Games and they are absolutely splendid! It was a real challenge with Key Art by Boell Oyino, sculpting by Graphigaut and manufacturing by Limited Run Games. We are really happy about how it turned out! Here are pictures, a 360 video and a video showing the box that you will receive!

[previewyoutube=1s2TxyikNlI;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=oJm8v70NquY;full][/previewyoutube] We will soon close our Backerkit Store where you can pre-order the figure so hurry up if you want one! Backers statues are going to disappear even sooner from the Backerkit Store, so if you want your portrait in the Pantheon, this is last call!

Next Update Preview

One of the main elements of next Update is the summons. We are going to add effects to summons so they can be part of your builds -

Taurus - Spirit Swords
Pisces - Ice Swords
Kiran - Embers
Calie - Plasma Portals
etc.

We are also going to add many new Echoes, from 15 to 31 and most of them are super fun to use!

We have also changed the preview of Echoes so you can identify them faster in the Echo Isles and went from a choice among 3 Echoes to a choice among 4 Echoes so you are more likely to find what you are looking for.

We have more things planned for this incoming Update, including adding the system linked to the Telescop you may have noticed in the Garden. On the other hand we are working on the final release version and it is going to be worth the wait! We really went as big as possible for the final boss! Narration is also a very big topic for us for the final release, we want to find nice endings for each stories and we have changed some elements, added variations, created new types of conversations (for example heroes now have discussions with other heroes but there is many other new things). Finally we have also started reworking game introduction and creating a new tutorial for the game. These elements should only be available for final release but at least you know a bit more what is going on behind the scene. Oh and we received Steamdeck compatible verification!

Thanks again for your continuous support! Have a great day and see you next month for the Update! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-07-23 13:45:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - June 2023 - 0.46

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

community inspired Pavo's Feathers from Void Catalyst improvement are now further in Intro Rooms so you don't miss them [hr][/hr]
community inspired Andromeda's Challenges now give drink for both players in co-op [hr][/hr]
Life Crusher - Does not decrease player max life when taking damage on Pavo's ruins anymore. [hr][/hr]
We added back the Sun pieces multiplier triggered by increasing Destiny Level in NG+ runs. [hr][/hr]
World 2 Magma Golem Destiny Level explosion attack would keep hitting after a long time preventing player to go back hitting the golem

Balancing

Curse of the Blacksmith - Negative Gambits on spells went from -50% to -30% damage and from 50% chances per tier to 25% chances per tier [hr][/hr]
Used Pockets - from -10 quartz per tier to -5 [hr][/hr]
Inflation : from +25% per tier of Itinerant Peddler items prices to +15% per tier [hr][/hr]
Shield Foes - Enemies now have 50% chances to have Armor instead of 100% and Spawned monsters by Wooden Guardian and Giant Snake can never have armor points [hr][/hr]
Wooden Guardian laser shoots delay is slightly more important in Destiny Level 1+ [hr][/hr]
Harassing Foes - From 30% chances per tier to 8% chances per tier and duration from 8 secs to 6 secs [hr][/hr]
Vampiric Foes - from 20% per tier for regular enemies to 10% [hr][/hr]
Thorny Foes - From 10% per tier to 2% and timer between Thorns on enemies from 3 secs to 6 secs [hr][/hr]
Vengeful Foes - From 10% per tier to 2% and timer between Dark Missiles on enemies from 3 secs to 6 secs [hr][/hr]
Increase all heroes basic attacks base damage and fall attack base damage for better scaling [hr][/hr]
Spirit friends - Added one more stack to enable 1 additional Echo on start of a run and balanced prices. This ability should also assign different echo for players during co-op. [hr][/hr]
community inspired It's possible to salvage loots from Yalee Kingdom now [hr][/hr]
Random Echos in Void Catalyst from 1 tier at 30 to 2 tiers at 10 and 20 [hr][/hr]
First Strike from Void Catalyst from +200% dmg to full life enemies to +300% [hr][/hr]
community inspired Added a bit more time for Sagittarius to attack after her DL 6 attack [hr][/hr]
community inspired Leo DL6 Spin Attack jump jump height has been reduced and now requires players to be further than before [hr][/hr]
Sixth Sense - from +50% to +100% to Critical Damage [hr][/hr]
Shadow Clones - This malice should not cause spawn of clones too on early in runs or worlds.

Level Design

Removed 2 jumping crystals from an Exploration room that were conflicting with fights [hr][/hr]
Removed a spawn area that conflicted with jump crystals

Interface

Changed ""Activate"" to ""Beat"" in Path of Destinies interface for locked elements for less confusion [hr][/hr]
Smoothed some Void Catalyst text descriptions [hr][/hr]
Barbecue UI description would become invisible if you move to right while on most right element (same for all directions) [hr][/hr]
There is now a input to completely reset all currencies committed in the Void Catalyst.

Bug Fixes

community inspired Oloon Shield had a typo [hr][/hr]
community inspired Removed FX from Void Catalyst that could be causing FPS drop for some players [hr][/hr]
community inspired Being hit while being invincible (shield for example) during a Zodiac fight will consider you did not perfect the boss and deny the achievement [hr][/hr]
Apparition Sound of Shadow Clones was not playing

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-07-05 21:18:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Path of Destinies Update is Live!

This new Update is a game changer for late game experience and we are super excited to finally make it available for everyone to play! Full Patch-Notes of 0.45 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3681178469567255745 This Update adds more than 150h to the game for those wanting more challenges and it keeps the progression you made in previous Early Access version! There is a lot to share and won't be able to cover everything in this News post but here are the main things you may want to know -

Path of Destinies

We released Astral Ascent in Early Access back in April 2022 (feels like forever ago...) with a system named the Path of Destinies allowing you to keep playing the game with an increasing difficulty. Everytime you would defeat a Zodiac in a difficulty you didn't defeat them in yet, you would receive a Destiny Fragment, an unique currency that would not allow you to buy anything and the maximum Destiny Level was 12, at each level you would need to select from 1 to 3 maluses and keep going as much as you could. Basically only a few very talented players succeed to beat Destiny Level 12 with only motivation to overcome a very hard difficulty (and to get a bit more Sun Pieces to spend in Zim-Zim shop).
Path of Destinies rework main objectives were :

Interesting - each element has to have an interesting effect
Easy to understand
Accessible start
Hard end

You now have 54 Destiny Levels instead of 12, you need to success (beat Libra or Aquarius for now) the 6 first Destiny Level to progress to next one. The 6 first ones being :

Destiny Level 1 -
Destiny Level 2 -
Destiny Level 3 -
Destiny Level 4 -
Destiny Level 5 -
Destiny Level 6 -

Once you suceed to beat Destiny Level 6, you can freely increase the Destiny Level as much as you want up to Level 54 (Do not worry, you can lower your Destiny Level anytime!) with many elements to choose from -

This is how Destiny Fragments loot works, each Zodiac owns 1 Destiny Fragment per Destiny Level, Master of the prison owns 3 per Destiny Level (available on final release).

With the 54 Destiny Levels it means you can find 810 Destiny Fragments(12*54 + 3*54) and we offer an additional 10 when you success a run for the first time so, on final version you could get a total of 820 Destiny Fragments, maximum 486 on current version. The way it works is that if you beat a Zodiac at a Destiny Level, you will unlock their Destiny Fragment of the the lowest Destiny Level available. For example, you are Destiny Level 10 and you already have collected 4 Taurus Destiny Fragments - you could beat Taurus 6 times at Destiny Level 10 and still get new Destiny Fragments but then it would stop. Also, if you have Zodiacs that have no Destiny Fragments available for you, game in Destiny Levels will always prioritize making you face Zodiacs you can get Destiny Fragments from. We would still recommend to increase slowly Destiny Level so you can collect Destiny Fragments and improve your Void Catalyst (explained lower). Additionally, in the top part of the Path of Destinies, you can see this -

Each Destiny Level increase the Damage, Max HP of Enemies and Zodiacs. At NG+6 they reach +30%, including the +20% of NG+4. From then it will keep increasing faster, at NG+54 you will have:

Enemies +150% Damage
Enemies +200% Max Life
Zodiacs +300% Damage
Zodiacs +300% Max Life

It looks really hard (even more with all additional maluses) and you may not really be sure of the point of putting yourself in such a bad situation but do not worry, both of these questions get answers in a brand new major system you can see below!

Void Catalyst

This system is completely new and it will allow you to use the Destiny Fragments you collect during your Destiny Levels runs. This system is mainly linked to Final Boss - the Master of the Prison but for now we made it spoiler-free and you only need to defeat Libra or Aquarius once to trigger a quest to activate it.

The way we see it is really : Path of Destinies starts the Chapter 2 of the game, everything will be more intense, you will unlock many things and narrative true endings will also happen during higher Destiny Levels through the Master of the Prison final confrontations. Once activated you can open the Void Catalyst interface, you start with 10 Destiny Fragments and you will need the 820 fragments to have everything maxed out and these upgrades are going to make you so much more powerful and make you change your playstyle too - you can even have different playstyle registered as presets! In final version the Master of the Prison will give you 3 Destiny Fragment per level so a succesful run will give you 7 fragments while you will only get 4 for now, it may feel like the Void Catalyst progression to be a bit slower in this version for now. When you start only one row is available and the more you progress in Destiny Levels the more rows you unlock and you can freely reset your points and attribute them again.

You have a lot of elements you can improve and you can check all of your improvements from Void Catalyst anytime in a new menu from from pause menu, it also displays the Destiny Levels and elements you selected from Path of Destinies -

You can choose from 24 different bonuses to upgrade in the Void Catalyst, we cannot show all of them here so let us show you a few interesting ones -

One goal we had in mind for the Void Catalyst was giving you some elements to fluidity/smooth your runs, that is the case for extra damage on full life enemies but also the possibility to reset Itinerant Merchant choises, increase the number of use of the Aura Upgrader or even get keys by defeating Zodiacs for example.

Zim-Zim rework

Last but not least, Zim-Zim has been reworked too. She now has more upgrades and a few old ones were removed.

Let's focus on a few of the new elements -

Other Elements

We have also improved a lot of things all around like UI elements in the Prowess Tree.

We have also re-activated the Spell Altar by popular request.

Created new Altar for Gambits.

That's it for this update, whole team has so much fun playing this update and we hope you will also have fun doing so and we are genuinely curious of how high you will be able to go in the Destiny Levels! We are sure there is balancing left to do so we would be very happy to have your feedback about it too. Next Update should be mid August and it should add more content to the game and polish many systems that are still requiring our attention. As always, thanks so much for following us and do not hesitate to share the game if you like it! Have a great day and upcoming week-end, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-06-29 17:00:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - June 2023 - 0.45

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Botanist abilities: Reworked and added new abilities for The botanist: - Magical gift: Increase spell choices by the intro room and telluric ruins by +1 per tier. - Expert breaker: Increase Quartz gained by salvaging a spell or gambit by +10% per tier. - Star breaker: Increase Stars gained by salvaging an aura by +1 per tier. - Feather leftovers: When Salvaging a spell, you have 5% chances per tier to make a pavo's feather appear. you also gain an additional +5% to proc this effect for each gambit applied to the salvaged spell. - Gambit Rarity up: Increase chances to transform common gambit into rare gambits by +5% per tier. - Aura Rarity up: increase chances to transform common aura into rare aura by +5% per tier. [hr][/hr]
The Void Catalyst: We added a new system linked to Path of Destinies that will enable players to unlock new abilities at exchange of destiny fragments. [hr][/hr]
Path of Destinies: Reworked the Path of Destinies system, starting by revamping the UI for better user experience. We added new game modifiers and removed some old ones. The game has now 54 extra levels of difficulty and defeating Zodiacs on high Destiny Level will reward the players with Destiny Fragments, which can be used in the Void Catalyst to unlock new abilities. here are the first 6 new challenges you'll have to face in Destiny Level: - Enemies all gain new or improved attack patterns (Except for Zodiacs). - Increase the minimum difficulty of rooms by +2 stars. - New Shadow Clones enemies will start appearing during your journey. - All enemies and Zodiacs gain +20% Health and damages. - Increase Elite enemies spawning chances by 100%. - Zodiacs release their full potential, gaining improved and new attacks patterns, the challenge begins here. [hr][/hr]
Added a new option in the pause menu that can be accessed after unlocking Path of Destinies which has info about active Path of Destinies modifiers (current destiny level and difficulty modifiers) and active abilities from Void Catalyst. [hr][/hr]
Armor Points: They are now absorbing 3% damage per stone up to 70% maximum (instead of reducing damage received by 1 per stone)

Small Features

Polished the spawn of destiny fragments after defeating Zodiacs, they do not prevent Zodiac Chests to spawn and they will follow you faster [hr][/hr]
community inspired Spell and Gambit altars: We re-enabled spell altars and added a new gambit altar. These should make finding spell and spell modifiers more common during runs. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Adjusted zoom level on sun/moon room to make loot description better to read. [hr][/hr]
Changed some rooms progress/unlock condition [hr][/hr]
Kiran basic attack range and visual improvement [hr][/hr]
Increased spawn speed of Zodiac chests [hr][/hr]
Changed color order of Spells loot, highest rarity is now pink as it is for Gambits and Auras (Astral) [hr][/hr]
""Absorbed"" was sometimes wrongly display, for example when being killed after Libra/Aquarius [hr][/hr]
Octave drone shoots faster its first missiles [hr][/hr]
World 4 shielded enemy is not invincible anymore during its attack [hr][/hr]
World 4 flying enemy projectile does not follow player anymore while not in Destiny Level [hr][/hr]
Many small changes of Zodiacs patterns

Balancing

Spells speed cast improvement: Increased Spell cast of following spells Kiran - Ultra Loaded Knuckles - Energy Projectiles - Windturner Up Slash - Void Punch Calie - Stone of the Ancients - Prismatic Beam - Azurite Falchion Octave - Sol - Sagitta - Fax [hr][/hr]
Balanced Elite Aspects number per world [hr][/hr]
Buffed Aquarius summon damage

Level Design

Playing the game on Path of Destinies adds subtle visual changes in the game levels. [hr][/hr]
Removed some jump crystals conflicting with fight areas

Music & SFX

Added Sound for Destiny Fragment [hr][/hr]
Added Sound for Taurus summon slash

Interface

Darker Pause menu background [hr][/hr]
Talent tree UI visuals improvement [hr][/hr]
Improved Achievement message UI [hr][/hr]
Improved Sier Bapy and Papa Yalee UI clarity [hr][/hr]
Improved display of damage from level and affinity on spells [hr][/hr]
Added bilinear on some UI icons [hr][/hr]
Sier Bapy completed achievement have a different background now [hr][/hr]
Prevented pausing the game during Menus,Talent tree and similar situations [hr][/hr]
Pavo's Feathers mentioned Gambits when equipping them [hr][/hr]
Spell affinity to Neutral for Elemental Gambits description improvement [hr][/hr]
Updated Dev Message

Visuals

Improved rarity icon and added on common rarity [hr][/hr]
Improvement of many text fonts for clarity, mainly for numbers [hr][/hr]
Improved most loots UI display, changing colors for different loots, increase spaces etc [hr][/hr]
Added Echoes icon when interface picking them up [hr][/hr]
Uniformized many titles and text displays [hr][/hr]
Reduced many flash intensity, for example when picking a Memory Fragment [hr][/hr]
Improved font readability and size of damage to enemies and received

Narrative Design

Oloon shield description was using wrong term [hr][/hr]
community inspired Octave text would mention {oloon} [hr][/hr]
Yalee Madness description was not mentioning amount of Yalees spawned

Bug Fixes

community inspired Aquarius could catch player while being revived by Ikki [hr][/hr]
Critic icon next to critic hit text now always stays, it used to disappear very fast [hr][/hr]
community inspired Poison chain from Astral Aura could focus invincible ghosts [hr][/hr]
Elite lifebar would remain visible after failing a Zodiac challenge fight [hr][/hr]
Caedes spell of Octave was hitting only 1 time instead of 3 [hr][/hr]
Clones spawned by Elite Aspect would have aggro and could, for Wild Grass for example, teleport on you from the start of a room [hr][/hr]
community inspired Capricorn's books could spawn Thorns from Path of Destinies while being destroyed

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-06-29 16:45:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Update Preview - Smell what we are cooking

Hello everyone! We released Colors & Elite Update on May 1st and next Major Update will be released at the end of June and today we want to share with you what this Update is going to be about.

Path of Destinies Rework

As you probably already know, we like to re-work things and this time it is turn for the Path of Destinies (New Game + System). CURRENT SYSTEM

Current System required you to collect Destiny Fragments by defeating Zodiacs and you needed a certain amount of Destiny Fragment to get to next Destiny Level. You could only take one Malus per row then you would automatically to next row so it was always picking among few Maluses, there was a total of 12 Destiny levels and no purpose to collect Destiny Fragments except making the game more difficult if you want challenges. ------------------------------------------------------------ NEW SYSTEM

mockup, still in progress New System is a simplified version of existing system, base is the same - defeat Zodiacs to collect Destiny Fragments (you will still have Destiny Fragments you collected before the Update) but now the Destiny Levels are fix from 1 to 6, you do not have to choose your Maluses until Destiny Level 7 because the 6 first Destiny Levels will be enabling a renewed game experience, a phase 2 of the game.

Enemies will have new or improved attacks
Bosses will have new or improved attacks
And other things...

These elements will mainly increase and change experience of the 2 first worlds that you know just too well at this point but all worlds/zodiacs will be affected. We want Path of Destinies experience to make first worlds as interesting as last ones. Before Destiny Level 7 you will need to unlock Destiny Levels one by one by finishing the game but from Destiny Level 7 or more you can pick as many Maluses as you want in any order and some Maluses will have several levels for a total of more than 50 Destiny Levels. It will be up to you to decide in which order and how many maluses you want, we would recommend optimizing the Destiny Fragments gain and here is why -

Void Catalyst

A new piece of the story named the Void Catalyst will now be in the Garden, it will only be accessible once you defeat Libra (for now).

When using it you will access the system below -

mockup, still in progress From there you will really be entering phase 2 of the game as your new goal will to collect as many Destiny Fragments as possible by defeating Zodiacs in higher and higher Destiny Levels to get really big power boosts, there is 24 power-ups to discover with from 1 to 5 levels each and you unlock them with more Destiny Fragments collected! Some elements from Void Catalyst -

Start runs with Ikki Summon
First Andromeda's drink is free
Increase your Healing Shards power
Start with base Armor
etc.

So, even if you feel stuck at one Destiny Level you will keep collecting Destiny Fragments on Zodiacs and keep getting stronger. This is made to encourage you going into harder difficulties, in particular Destiny Level 6 because that's when you will reach True End once we reach 1.0 release. The Void Catalyst also comes with Presets so you can create several builds that are saved and you can reset it at any time for free. All of these systems are already implemented but it will take a lot of time to playtest and balance. We do not want things to be too complicated too quickly or to feel discouraging. ------------------------------------------------------------ At the same time we are making progress on Final Boss encounter and it is going to be by far our biggest work in the game, we want to the Master of the Prison to be a memorable game boss. We hope you are as excited as we are for this upcoming Update that will be completely renewing end-game experience. Have a great day and upcoming week-end, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-05-25 09:27:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Colors & Elites Update is live!

New Update available!

So... last time we announced this Update to be ready by May 15 but we are actually ahead of our plannings so the Update is live... now for you to play! Including - 0.44 Steam Patch Notes - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3699187161343049277

Elites rework

We have reworked all existing elite modifiers and added many new ones for a total of 13 Elite modifiers now including passive elements like Armor and Regeneration too.

Among the reworked elements we improved the rotating lasers as we knew many of you had issues with them and we completely removed the modifiers making nearby enemies invincible.

There are even 2 modifiers happening on Death of enemies so be careful about icons! (Do not worry we made sure these elements could not happen in Eclipse Room so you can enjoy you Eclipse Room victories peacefully!) The spawn rates and amount of modifiers has changed a little and we hope you will enjoy these new encounters!

New room type - Eclipse Room

Talking about Elites, we created a new room dedicated to them : the Eclipse Room, this room gives you more Keys & more Stars than any Fight Room but it is also a much harder battle.

These rooms have 3 waves and at least 3 Elites in them, they also have traps. It can be very dangerous but you can also take advantage of it by exposing enemies to the traps!

As Eclipse Room is for experienced players, you will need to defeat a world 4 boss (Libra or Aquarius) before being able to get them in your runs.

Oloon extended

As you saw, Oloon is the face of this new update and we made quite a lot of changes there! It used to be very complicated to have style with old colors, they were too flashy, complicated to match and there was not enough of them. That's why we added many new colors AND a new category of colors.

Ayla pants
Kiran shoes & belt
Octave boots & belt
Calie pants

New colors are way more natural and allow for much more variations. Oloon is pleased of your style and we hope you will be too! It will now require 144 Yalee tickets to get all colors!

Sun Room Rework

Another major rework from this update is about Sun Room. When you arrive you will be asked to choose among all elemental affinities we have in the game.

Then one gambit for each sub category of the elemental affinity will be spawned. These gambits are special, we have created a new type of gambit named Elemental Gambit that allows you to change a spell affinity to the affinity of this gambit.

To sum up how things work : when you go to the Sun room you are guaranteed to have any sub-category Gambit you could want as Myhic quality. If you want to build Sapling you can get a Mythic Sapling gambit there and this gambit will also change your spell affinity to Poison. What it means is that you can find nice Fire gambits and start equiping them on a spell that is not of Fire affinity and then later change the affinity of this spell to Fire in the Sun room.

Regarding the elemental affinities we have also made a change, Neutrals affinity used to work with any types of gambits but they are now only working with gambits that are not from the 4 main elements. The bonus damage for having 4 of the same gambits in the right affinity spell has also changed from +100% to +50%.

Many new Perks for heroes

With all the new effects we introduced in last update we did not have time to add perks related to all of them (Ice Swords, Meteors etc).

By adding these new perks we have also reworked and added some other perks for this update. For example, Octave can now summon several Bellators at once but they will be on self-destruction mode.

Heroes Signature Spells should now be a more reliable way to trigger synergies by equipping perks.

Debug and QoL changes

We have also addressed many bugs reports and added some quality of life changes that you requested such as being able to preview Auras upgrade anytime from loots and from inventory.

What is coming with next update?

This update is smaller than Auras update but it is also smaller than next update that will be about Zim-Zim and NG+! We are going to fully rework the NG+ system, adding way more elements and a different progression system making Destiny Levels a part of global runs experience and giving real incentives to collect Destiny Fragments from Zodiacs.

Everything is designed but there is a lot to do, you can expect this Update to release in second part of June! As always, thanks a lot for supporting us through this journey and let us know if you enjoy this update or if you want to share the best Oloon color changes outfit you made! Have a great week, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-05-01 16:54:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - May 2023 - 0.44

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New room type - Eclipse Room: We added a brand new room type that should make runs more challenging. Eclipse Rooms are a harder version of fight rooms with extra obstacles, but it'll offer big rewards for the risk taken [hr][/hr]
Reworked room - The Sun: The Sun room content has been reworked. It now offers a pick for a new loot added in game, Elemental Gambits. This is a rare room that should show as a option alongside other bonus rooms [hr][/hr]
New loot - Elemental Gambits: New type of Gambit that can be equipped into spells to change their elemental affinity. You should be able to find this new loot in the reworked Sun room [hr][/hr]
Rework spell Neutral element: Spells with neutral element type should get a damage boost from equipping only neutral gambits. It should make neutral spells work in the same way as other elemental spells, instead of receiving a smaller damage boost for any gambit [hr][/hr]
community inspired Added/Reworked elite enemy modifiers: We reworked the enemy elite modifiers system polishing old modifiers, removing some of them and adding new ones. You should be able to look into the reworked effects accessing the in-game glossary [hr][/hr]
Added/Rework perks for heroes: We reworked and added some perks for each playable character to follow up the recent updates that added new auras and effects in the game. The heroes Signature Move should now be a more reliable way to trigger synergies by equipping perks into it [hr][/hr]
community inspired Kiran's Signature Move balance and fixes: Reduced cooldown Increased range of the hit area to trigger the counter Fixed a bug that could cause the counter not to trigger after defending a attack [hr][/hr]
Oloon new category & new colors: One new color type at Oloon's and many new colors, update Bapy's achievement accordingly

Small Features

Players are briefly invulnerable right after finishing a fight room [hr][/hr]
Camera changes for better lisibility in Yalee Kingdom, Sun & Moon rooms [hr][/hr]
Common spells are now linked to their affinity (example, fireball will always have fire affinity), on the opposite all hero spells can now have any affinity so they can all work with your target builds

Balancing

Balanced the spell damage boost gained from elemental affinity of equipped gambits [hr][/hr]
Re-balanced several Auras [hr][/hr]
Complete re-balance of all spells depending of their mana cost and number of hits [hr][/hr]
Calie base attack speed has been slightly increased

Interface

Added a option to preview upgraded versions of auras. This should be possible to do either in player's inventory and on Aura's altar [hr][/hr]
Reworked all Perks, Gambits and most Auras descriptions to be clearer

Visuals

Sylvanian thorn attack feedbacks are now behind players [hr][/hr]
Improved feedback of NG+ missile

Bug Fixes

community inspired Triggering an action that could heal player while it was dead could cause gameover not to trigger, resulting in a softlock [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to kill the dummy in Leo's challenge if you dealt enough damage [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to exploit unfinish refresh of itinerant merchant altars on andromeda's bar by entering and leaving the bar's inside [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to spawn multiple of the same aura in Yalee's kingdom room [hr][/hr]
Fixed a small glitch that could happen with camera when finishing a fight room while too close to camera limit borders [hr][/hr]
The text from equipped stats stones could display with the wrong color [hr][/hr]
Enemies could prevent you from climbing small walls by pushing out while you climb [hr][/hr]
Ice spell 38 was sometimes dealing twice its damage [hr][/hr]
Octave base spell could hit NG+ phantom enemies [hr][/hr]
Some enemies attack were not reduced by Pacification

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-05-01 16:32:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

One Year Anniversary!

Time flies! That's right, we released Astral Ascent exactly 365 days ago! So, as Kiran says, it's our One Year Anniversary! [previewyoutube=ejNipcSNlRg;full][/previewyoutube] Yes, Kiran & Ayla will have an introduction cinematic as we did for Octave & Calie! First thing first, I would really like to fully appreciate how much the game changed since April 12 2022, the amount of changes is really big including -

2 new worlds
2 new playable heroes
Many new rooms
Major reworks like Auras' one
Countless iterations and polish all around

All these changes contributed making the game much better than it used to be and, honestly, much better than what we imagined! We hope it's better thanks to all the great feedback we receive daily but also because everyone in the team is having so much fun playing Astral Ascent. All the updates we made improved the game and even if we initially announced a final release to be Q3-Q4 2023, we think we should aim a Q1 2024 final release in order to have enough time to properly polish every elements. We hope you will understand this change of plans but be sure that this is for the best of the game. Whole team is working their absolutely best to deliver the best possible game but we are a small team and we do not want to compromise game's quality or push ourselves too hard to release later this year. This is actually great news because it will allow us to improve everything you are waiting for and even more. So, what is next? Next month - May 15 - we will be releasing an update including -

Rework of Sun Room - you will be able to change your spells affinity there now
Re-balancing of spells and new Perks
Bug Fixing
Elite modifiers polish
Red Fight Rooms - a new type of challenges during runs
Oloon will have one more category and many new colors for better customisation

Then the next month - end of June - we will be releasing a major Update, this one will be focused on NG+ and Zim-Zim experience. We do not want to spoil too much but Zim-Zim should have a second version where you will be able to pay new upgrades with Destiny Fragments so farming NG+ will now have a purpose and you will also become stronger by farming NG+. Each level of NG+ will now be unlocked by completing the previous one instead of having to collect enough Destiny fragments and we will change NG+ structure, levels and elements. We have many more things planned but we prefer not giving a too precise roadmap and being able to adjust things if needed but you will have an update every 1.5 months approximatively. And we also have really exciting plans for post 1.0 Updates! Thanks again for supporting us in this amazing journey and have a great day! - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-04-12 12:22:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - March 2023 - 0.43

Changes inspired by our community!

Balancing

community inspired Ice fragments: Balanced ice fragments so it can bounce less times on screen before vanishing. Also nerfed some auras and perks that spawn it [hr][/hr]
community inspired Dash attack exploit: We noticed it was possible to spam dash and attack on enemies quickly to reset dash cooldown. Chain repeating this action would cause players to be invulnerable for unintended long period of time and delivering basic attack to enemies very fast would cause mana recovery to be too high. We made changes to try to mitigate the powerful results from these actions, while still keeping the behavior around. Starting from this patch, If players interrupts a dash with a basic attack the game now removes the brief post-dash iframes. The iframes are still kept if the dash finishes normally or is canceled by other actions. We also added a spam counter to the dash action and a small delay to the basic attack is progressively added as long as dash attacking enemies keeps being spammed. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Aura Adjustment: We nerfed some of the auras using the following effects: Wisp, Fireshield, Ice fragments, Ice sword, Spark, nimbus, thunder strike, slime, meteor, max mana, missiles, spirit sword [hr][/hr]
community inspired Gambit Adjustment: We nerfed some of the gambits using the following effects: Slime, Ember, Wisp, Nimbus, Ice Fragment, Missiles, Spirit sword, Yalee [hr][/hr]
community inspired Ayla perks: Nerfing some ayla perks that could trigger undesired big amount of elements based on hitting enemies with the assassin's mark [hr][/hr]
Slot unlocker price: Slot unlocker price on itinerant merchant now increases as game progress

Bug Fixes

community inspired Scorpio could launch multiple different attacks when starting a fight, causing weird behaviors [hr][/hr]
Scorpio's Zodiac spell, found on moon room, would not carry effects from equipped gambits

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-03-29 19:33:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Spells & Synergies Update is live!

First of all, thanks for the great reception of the World 4 Update! It has been by far the most appreciated of our updates since we launched Early Access back in April 2022. Everyone has enjoyed playing Calie, fighting the new Zodiacs and the new direction for game progression that felt more coherent and less chaotic. It feels like everything is nicely coming together but we are not done yet! Today we release a new update, one of many planned before the Final Release of the game anticipated to be Q4 2023. These upcoming updates, as well as today's one, are focusing on what is feeling to be the most urgent elements to work on at a specific state of the game. In this case we received a lot of feedback about how complicated it felt to make meaningful & varied builds in the game, so let's discover together what are the changes we made to improve this. Complete Patch Notes to read - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3691300790688811125

Aura System major changes

We have added a rarity system for Auras, similar to what is already in place for Gambits. We made it so you will find rarer Auras in each new world, this way you always improve your build through the runs instead of having always the same possible elements in each worlds.

There are 4 rarities for the Auras -

Common - white
Rare - blue
Mythic - orange
Astral - purple

Common, Rare and Mythics exist with better and additional effects depending of their rarities.

On the other side Astral Auras are extremeley rare but have very unique effects that can litteraly change your runs. You can even find them in World 1 if you are lucky but your chances increase when you go to next worlds.

The Common and Rare auras can be upgraded through a new system called the Aura Upgrader.

This new element allows you to upgrade -

a Common aura into a Rare aura
a Rare aura into a Mythic aura

It does not pick a random higher rarity Aura, it is the same Aura that evolves into a better version. It is free to use in Andromeda's bar but you can only use it 2 times in a run (or 4 times in co-oop). We did that so when you find a Common aura that you like in World 1, you are guaranteed to be able to have its Mythic version at the end of your run and be able to build around it if you wish to. But you are also free to keep it to upgrade new ones later or even salvage it to get a drink from Andromeda. In addition to that, we have created more effects for each elemental families -

Poison Meteors
Poison Explosions
Ice Swords
Lightning Strike
Fire Shield

There is also some new non-elemental effects unique to certain Astral Auras.

We have also improved existing ones visually and on their gameplay. Most of them now have possible new synergies like an Aura spawning Ice Sword when breaking Targets or the possibility to create Fire slimes or Giant slimes (or both!)

We had about 40 Auras that had little to no synergy with other elements, we removed most of them to create 250 new Auras. They are meant to create fun builds that will use your gambits & prowesses as much as possible. To us, this is the progression element that was missing to link every systems together in a coherent way!

Oh and yes we have made new Gambits for all the new effects that we implemented! Speaking of gambits we have made their icons and spells icons visible even when they are closed so you can know about them even before opening them, it made building much faster and game needed to be faster now that you need time to think to make your builds.

37 new hero Spells

We have increased the number of spells to 20 unique spells per hero, Kiran & Ayla in particular really deserved more attention as their spells were created a long time ago.

We kept as much as possible what makes each hero unique -

Ayla low mana costs spells & high mobility,
Kiran's raw power,
Octave's mobility, long range & speed
Calie's versatility

That being said, we have tried to give a bit of everything to each hero!

These new spells make us reach more than 130 spells in the game right now as you can see with the icons -

Progressions changes

A lot of things have changed in the progression as you can see right there!

That's right, merchants will now be in Andromeda's bar! Why? Because it allows you to build all at once and it prevents breaking the flow of the run when starting a new world. It also allows you to better prepare for boss fights! (They are no longer there at the start of each new world) Removing one room per world allows us to have 2 special rooms per world instead of one (Cetus, Pavo, Yalee Kingdom, Forge etc.) so you will now meet more special rooms. Speaking of special rooms, the Echo Isles (where you get NPC summons) are no longer linked to Minibosses rooms because it was complicated to understand and many players would not do these fights and miss the Echo Isles room that is crucial for progression. The new synergies and more special rooms make you stronger than before and we had to increase enemies health points to balance the game - Building is now an important part of the game progression so we expect players to feel weak if they did not build correctly or on the opposite strong if they found good synergies! Additionally, Gambits and Auras now become rarer with each new world and the rarest can be found in Minibosses instead of Zodiacs as Zodiacs will now give a choice of rarer Auras.

What is next?

We hope you will enjoy all this new content coming for Astral Ascent, there is still a lot more that we would like to take time to improve before final release including Zim-Zim, Minibosses, Echoes, Elites, Andromeda challenges and much more! The very next update might be lighter than this one because we also need to make progress on the final release content including missing Zodiacs, final boss and reworked narration (a lot of changes are moving for narration!) We hope you will have fun in the game with this update and as always do not hesitate to share the game if you like it, it is extremely appreciated! Have a great day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-03-16 17:02:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - March 2023 - 0.42

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Hero Spells: 37 new hero spells for a total of 20 per hero [hr][/hr]
Auras upgrade: Some auras can now be upgraded to a rarer tier version of itself through a new special loot added to the game [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs reward: Changed loots given on big chest from Zodiac reward. Now it spawns a pool of different auras to choose from [hr][/hr]
New Effects added: We added several new effects to the game: Meteor(Poison), Toxic explosion(Poison), Ice sword(Ice), Thunder strike(Electric), Fireshield(Fire) [hr][/hr]
Gambit Addition: We created several new gambits using the new effects [hr][/hr]
Gambit Rework: We reworked the older gambits to have different triggers and % chances, overall all gambit have been buffed from their previous version [hr][/hr]
Co-op Loots: Balanced the amount of loot given during single player and co-op mode in multiple places - 2 npc summons, 2 auras in yalee kingdom, 2 loots for exploration rooms/boss/minibosses, merchant cost less quartz in co-op too [hr][/hr]
New auras: More than 240 new auras added to the game. This is accompanied by other major rework from auras system and it should enable players to experiment with a big amount of build varieties [hr][/hr]
New unlock order: Reorganizing of unlocking new elements with XP points on death recap

Small Features

Applying ignition to a enemy now refresh the effect duration instead of triggering the effect again [hr][/hr]
Combustion, and Spark doesn't add burn and electrify effects when hitting enemies [hr][/hr]
Fight and Exploration room have cooldown after picked a certain amount of times to prevent often picking the same room types [hr][/hr]
Cetus gambits categories have changed and the rarities of spawned gambits now depends of current world [hr][/hr]
Changed the order of unlock for some NPCs on hub [hr][/hr]
Declining a Zodiac challenge on Challenge room doesn't make Zodiac leave the room anymore [hr][/hr]
Changed Ayla's signature spell trigger for NPC summon effects (Summoning Kiran, Octave or Calie) so the summon happens after the teleports [hr][/hr]
During co-op, players shouldn't be able to interact with Aura altars and other loots such as Gambit or Spell at the same time [hr][/hr]
You can now see the spells & gambits icon before opening the loots [hr][/hr]
If you have found all memory fragments in your run, a small chest appears with currencies instead of nothing [hr][/hr]
Improved Barbecue UI to better fit the new quantity of Auras [hr][/hr]
Ice Fragments now go through enemies by default [hr][/hr]
Spirit Swords now work with number of hits instead of time and we have removed the Spirit Sword spell to keep it as a neutral effect [hr][/hr]
The ability from Zim-Zim that can make spells spawn with higher levels doesn't work on itinerant merchant spells anymore. This is so it doesn't affect intended prices for spells sold there [hr][/hr]
Spells & Gambits icons are now visible even when they are closed [hr][/hr]
More death recap levels: Added new unlock levels to a max of 114 (previously 38)

Balancing

Loot scaling: Auras and gambits quality scale with world progression [hr][/hr]
Mini-boss loot change: With the Echos isles change, the loot of mini-boss has been adjusted as follow: 1 slot unlocker and 1 gambit between 3 gambits The quality of those gambits is improved compared to regular gambits loot [hr][/hr]
Effects that deal damage over time (poison, ignition and frostbite) can't trigger critical hits or prevent enemies to finish their movements [hr][/hr]
Increased the amount of destiny fragments needed to unlock a destiny level in NG+ [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim healing summon now heals more [hr][/hr]
Co-op revive now grants more HP to revived player [hr][/hr]
Co-op revive time is smaller, its increase between death is smaller and the increase per death is reset at the start of each room [hr][/hr]
Lot of changes on spells damage [hr][/hr]
Various changes of HP on Zodiacs, Minibosses & enemies

Level Design

Andromeda fusion with merchant: Andromeda room now welcomes a merchant at the end and merchant room has been removed from the regular room pool (Andromeda room will still appear 1 room before bosses) [hr][/hr]
Echos isles join the regular pool: Echos isles will no longer only be accessible after defeating a mini-boss but instead will appear randomly like other special rooms

Music & SFX

Saplings now do sound design only if enemies around

Interface

Improved all Perks texts [hr][/hr]
Improved all glossaries texts

Visuals

Shockwave at the end of levels (portals spawning) are now looking better [hr][/hr]
Visuals polish on most game effects - Combustion, Saplings, Freeze, etc [hr][/hr]
Changed order of display of most effects in the game, now most visual FX are behind enemies/players for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Removed a visual particles on slimes that was never destroyed [hr][/hr]
Improved visuals loots on gambits

Bug Fixes

Fixed some glitches that could make a move from Scorpio not work correctly during the boss fight [hr][/hr]
Added a behavior that should make it harder to have player stuck in solids [hr][/hr]
Leo jump attack could not show red feedback on ground if he was back to a side wall [hr][/hr]
Spell preview for itinerant merchant altar would not be auto-disabled after releasing the previous input [hr][/hr]
community inspired Max waits crash reported [hr][/hr]
Minibosses HP were not impacted by NG+ and Co-op HP increases [hr][/hr]
community inspired Wrong sign when using Aquarius spell & challenge room [hr][/hr]
Quests could activate before the end of a dialog (during game tutorial) [hr][/hr]
community inspired Aquarius challenge used to crash the game [hr][/hr]
Aquarius summon would leave rocks particles on field [hr][/hr]
Pufferfish would never look left [hr][/hr]
community inspired Dev message layout was glitching on large width screens [hr][/hr]
Trails following projectiles were sometimes too big [hr][/hr]
Challenge room Zodiacs icons were too big compared to normal [hr][/hr]
community inspired Octave and Calie were sliding on ground when picked in main Hub [hr][/hr]
NPCs could have icons saying they have an important dialog while they did not [hr][/hr]
community inspired Some weird events could appear very randomly like Andromeda challenge being completed [hr][/hr]
It was possible for some skill unlocks to get skipped during death recap - hotfix 0.42.1 [hr][/hr]
Calie basic spell could wrongly spawn as a new spell during runs - hotfix 0.42.1 [hr][/hr]
Purchase value of spells could have wrong numbers on itinerant merchant [hr][/hr]
Andromeda could wrongly repeat the ""refresh drinks"" animation if player go far away and then near her again [hr][/hr]
community inspired Coop lifesteal going to player dying would make dead player stuck

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-03-16 16:49:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Crimson Highlands Update is Live!

[previewyoutube=ywKI4kS0HEU;full][/previewyoutube] For saves issues - if you experiment saves issues because you did not play for a long time, please check our guide about how to get back your saves. We had some saves lost when changing the way we store the saves + when integrating Cloud saves, thanks for your understanding! That's it, the fourth and final world of Astral Ascent is available right now, here is a list of what to expect -

New Hero - Calie the Geomancer

This new playable Hero is coming with an unique narration and gameplay!

She fights with Gems that she can shape into anything she wants. That's right, she can create a massive 2 hands sword then a long range bow!

Her Basic attacks are mid-range AOE hitting Gems so she is very good at cleaning pack of enemies very quickly!

When her Signature Spell is ready, her Basic Attacks leave crystals on the battlefield. Then, she can recall them by using her Signature Spell, dealing damage to enemies in between and gaining mana points like a regular attack. Be strategic and aware of your crystals placement to maximize your damage and mana for better spell rotations!

Her Perks are focused on the Crystals she leaves on the battlefield, her crystals can have effects when recalled or change shape to trigger an effect like fire crystals creating combustion as below.

The Crimson Highlands

The Crimson Highlands is the last world of your Astral Ascent runs and it is also the most dangerous one.

The enemies there won't be forgiving any mistakes and you better be ready for what is coming!

2 New Zodiacs : Libra & Aquarius

The Crimson Highlands is also the land of the 3 most dangerous Zodiacs - Aquarius, Libra & Gemini and you can now face 2 of them, Libra & Aquarius.

Libra is one of the most dangerous being in the Universe and she will be testing your agility and reflexes.

On the other end, Aquarius is a bit special, they are a golem and a child bound together, they will be testing your stamina & concentration.

New Zodiacs also mean new challenges, new summons & new zodiac spells! Getting them by your side can be a precious help as you can see with Libra summoning below.

Fifth world

If you success to defeat Libra or Aquarius, you will have a teasing of the final boss, the Master of the Prison and you will be able to fight him in the Final Release. Based on this world and statue you might be able to guess who he is! Also, in the final release, before the final boss you will be able to spend your last quartz, stars & everything to be as prepared as possible for the fight!

Run progressions change + Telluric Ruins

We have changed a lot of things regarding the progression of your runs, from your feedback and our own experience we thought we had too much of everything and it made runs and building confusing. What we did is first is creating rules for the special rooms so they cannot appear randomly anywhere in order to have a better control on the runs. We have also greatly reduced the amount of Spells, Gambits and Slot unlockers that you drop but made the merchant much more central in the game experience.

The Minibosses are not always there.
The Echo Islands are now a reward for defeating minibosses and do not require keys to get there anymore.
Exploration rooms rewards are now Quartz, Auras & Gambit and you cannot have multiple auras or gambit at once.
Merchants are always there in first room of worlds.
Astral Key chests are now limited to one per exploration but they have been reworked (see below).
Andromeda's drinks are not increasing anymore so you are not too penalized if you are taking a healing room before a boss.
Healing rooms can now spawn more frequently depending of your current HP.
Healing Altars now use stars instead of Quartz so you can still create your build at the merchant.
Salvaging Auras now grant 4 stars so you get Andromeda drinks if you are unhappy with your dropped Aura.
The new forge Room is not in world 1 but there is a special room to get an extra spell from the beginning there now - The Telluric Ruins

There are more change to come obviously, we want to make the Auras much more central, be able to get rarities on them and to make them synergize better with our builds.

The Forge - a new room Type

A new addition to this update is the Forge, a room that let you choose one of these bonuses - +1 to all your spells level Pick one new spell among 3 choices Unlock a locked gambit slot on all of your spells Given the progression changes we made, this room gives you more control on your builds and became very important!

New Gambit rewards

Zodiacs rewards has been changed and they now only drop gambits, mythic ones! But this update introduces a new rarity for gambits - The Astral Gambits.

They are very rare drops that can only be dropped by Zodiacs and they can completely change your builds as they are really powerful. For example one of them create several saplings on each hit as you can see below.

Chamaeleon's Lottery

Lottery has also been changed, our point of view is that too many systems were facing each others instead of working together. The lottery that used to work with Stars was preventing you from using the stars at Andromeda's bar and some players would only use it or always ignore it. So we decided for the Lottery to be a free bonus appearing randomly once in a run in an intro room giving you some currency. We might change his position later!

Stone Altars & Key Chests rework

First thing first, we decided to change the Key Chests reward. They used to ask you for 1 key (few quartz + a bit of heal/mana) or 3 keys (to randomly get a Stone Altar or an Aura). We thought it felt bad to sometimes have unwanted Auras and sometimes have unwanted Stone Altars so Auras are now Exploration rooms rewards and Key Chests are now randomly Pavo Feathers or Stone Altars chest, then you select if you want to use 3 or 5 keys in it.

Using 3 keys will give you access to 1 Stone or a Pavo Feather +1 (level one of your spell, each level adds 20% damage to your spell).
Using 5 keys will give you access to 2 Stones or a Pavo Feather +2.

Also, to give you more choices when selecting stones, the Stones Altar will now have 6 choices instead of 3, the 3 new choices are -

Armor points, each of them reduce the damage taken by 2
Critical hits, each of them increase all your crit chances by 2
Mana Max, each of them increase your max mana by 1

Same applies to Andromeda's bar and both drinks are reset when one is selected.

These change allow you to have a better control of the reward you select and a more steady progression on your spells level. It also removes the randomness of the reward as you know what is the reward before using your keys.

Co-op Balancing Changes

Co-op players have been requesting for a long time for a better co-op experience loots and progression. Here is a list of what we changed -

Explorations rooms now give twice the rewards in co-op
Forge & Telluric Ruins give twice their bonus in co-op
Echo Island allows you to take 2 Echoes in co-op
Merchant quartz price is reduced by 40% in co-op so you can buy more elements
Minibosses & Zodiacs rewards are doubled in co-op

We hope these changes will make your runs more enjoyable!

What is next?

So that is it for this Update, at least for the main elements, you can check the Patch-Notes of version 0.41 for more details - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3672157322349859720 Now that we have our 4 main worlds it becomes much easier to balance the global experience and we know a lot of things still require our attention on the coming months. We are still planning a Q3 2023 release for the final version (to be confirmed) so we will use this time to do frequent smaller updates, some of the things we would like to improve/expand before final release -

Minibosses fights and number
Elites modificators
Zim-Zim improvements
New Game Plus System (giving the Moon Currency a purpose)
Rework and improve Auras system
Improve Heroes perks building

And many more things! Thanks again to everyone following us during this journey and thanks for your support which means everything to our small self-publishing team! Hoping you enjoy this update and have a great day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-01-30 18:13:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - January 2023 - 0.41.2

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New player stats: Stone altars and Andromeda's can now provide new player effects: Armor, Critical hit chance and mana. [hr][/hr]
Big rework on the room spawn options you get after finishing a room. Prepare for very different progression now! [hr][/hr]
New rooms type: Two new rooms type added: The Forge and Telluric ruins. They should give options to make your spells stronger or new spells to pick [hr][/hr]
Chameleon: Chameleon has been reworked and now. They're found in intro rooms and offers a option to pick between random quantities of different free loot [hr][/hr]
New world and Zodiacs: Players can now progress untill reaching the new 4th world, Crimson Highlands! They can also find two band new Zodiacs waiting to be faced there: Libra and Aquarius [hr][/hr]
New playable character: Calie: Players can unlock now Calie, the Architect! She can shapes her Gems into dangerous weapons. Her basic attacks leave precious stones on the battleground. She can call back the stones with her signature move dealing even more damage!

Small Features

Achievements appear in Death Recap if occured during the run [hr][/hr]
Astral Spirits are slower, bigger, have a better hitbox but they have more HP and drop more elements [hr][/hr]
Only one achievement can appear at a time [hr][/hr]
Easier to open Zodiac chests [hr][/hr]
Signature Spells damage increase with characters levels now [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs always look toward players once defeated [hr][/hr]
Added crystal jumps in the hub [hr][/hr]
Added explication about Kiran signature spell when unlocking him [hr][/hr]
Re-enabled Fire Rain spell after its fix [hr][/hr]
Kiran Giant Fists spell collider is a bit more generous [hr][/hr]
Freeze effect now deals damage when reaching 10 stacks [hr][/hr]
Ayla signature spell cannot target elite minions anymore [hr][/hr]
Added new text hints for some effects, and changed the name of some old ones [hr][/hr]
Changed conditions for Zodiacs spawn inside Andromeda's bar [hr][/hr]
Some currencies like Quartz and Keys are automatically picked after leaving a room [hr][/hr]
Portals rewards: Some room portals can offer different rewards (like Auras) and some of them can have cooldown to avoid same reward picks too often [hr][/hr]
New super powerfull gambit tier added, Astral Gambits! They can be found after beating Zodiacs... If you're luck [hr][/hr]
Amount of life restore by crystal shards is now subtly feedback on life bar [hr][/hr]
Removed ability from Zim-zim that added aditional loot for rewards found, as most rewards have multiple choices by defaultt now. This ability will be replaced by a new one in future patches [hr][/hr]
community inspired Crystal shards can't be used if player is full life [hr][/hr]
More elements have been added to the glossary [hr][/hr]
Hidden Chamaeleon was missing in Telluric Ruins & The Forge - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
Aquarius pattern with many projectiles now prevents bullets hit before they are launched - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
When your Armor absorbs completely an enemy attack, it now displays ""Absorbed"" and your hurt animation is not triggered - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
World 4 flying enemy launching 2 projectiles has been made clearer to read - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
World 4 flying enemy electricy wyrm patterns have been improved - hotfix 0.41.2

Balancing

Merchant itinerant altars are not reset if already bought [hr][/hr]
Merchant itinerant now have 7 slots [hr][/hr]
Balanced quartz per exploration room [hr][/hr]
Increased a bit XP gained by defeating enemies [hr][/hr]
Invincibility after dash from 0.1 to 0.06 seconds [hr][/hr]
More HP per Rest Room depending of the world [hr][/hr]
Increased most enemies/bosses HP [hr][/hr]
Quartz and experience given by most places [hr][/hr]
Buffed damage dealt by Combustion effect explosions [hr][/hr]
Pavo sacrifice cost is higher now [hr][/hr]
Enemies keep aggro for longer [hr][/hr]
Salvaging an aura is now worth 4 stars [hr][/hr]
Reduced Chamaeleon fight room summon rewards [hr][/hr]
Adjustments made on the following effects : ignition, thunder orb, ice fragments, wisp [hr][/hr]
Some effects like NPCs/Zodiacs summons and LDI elements like world 1 bouncing mushrooms are not affected by damage buffs anymore [hr][/hr]
Reduced Ayla's invencibility time after using signature move [hr][/hr]
Loot found during co-op mode should be more fairly balanced [hr][/hr]
Kiran's signature move trigger a smaller cooldonwn if he doesn't sucessfully trigger a counter [hr][/hr]
Decreased Armor stat from 2 to 1 per point - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
Minibosses give 10 more quartz everytime - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs now give a Slot Unlocker - hotfix 0.41.2

Level Design

New Treasure room available [hr][/hr]
Increased Pavo's room width

Music & SFX

Captured yalee now have sound design [hr][/hr]
various enemy sfx and mix update [hr][/hr]
worlds ambiance sfx update [hr][/hr]
Zodiac intros do not interrupt sound as abruptly as before [hr][/hr]
Replaced SFX for World 3 enemies

Visuals

Merchant itinerant altars visual improvement [hr][/hr]
Removed Andromeda visual asset when a puzzle wasn't available in an exploration room [hr][/hr]
Feedback improved [hr][/hr]
Improved NPC cooldown font [hr][/hr]
Meteors in the void room will not dissapears and flicker anymore [hr][/hr]
Embers now spawn with the right angle [hr][/hr]
Improved rarity feedback on gambits

Bug Fixes

community inspired Bapy / Main Menu escape attempts could not be the same [hr][/hr]
Zodiac summon icon would disappear for current room after summon zodiac tutorial [hr][/hr]
Bosses & World 2 golem could become invisible in some circumstances [hr][/hr]
Zodiac Chest input was very big at the start [hr][/hr]
Yalees in treasure rooms had some gray parts [hr][/hr]
Cryogenic Sword could explain in side walls or ceiling [hr][/hr]
Chamaeleon could have wrong cloak colors [hr][/hr]
Enemies killed without being hit achievement is not reset anymore when loosing an Andromeda's trial [hr][/hr]
Scorpio could hit 2 times during his ultimate and purple patterns [hr][/hr]
community inspired Invisible platforms in Virgo challenge [hr][/hr]
Fix an issue where changing window with shortcuts made the game window become black and resulted in softlock [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to get a softlock after getting a Zodiac summon from the bar and triggering it's first time tutorial [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible for the game to wrongly trigger timers that could cause unexpected behaviors such as teleporting player outside of game area or spawning Scorpio Zodiac in impossible scenarios. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Healing shards feedback for amount of life restored, on player inventory, could wrongly display float values [hr][/hr]
community inspired Sometimes in coop, spell used to stay open and never close resulting in the player not being able to interact with it anymore [hr][/hr]
Octave's perks that affected his summon duration could not work correctly [hr][/hr]
It was possible to get FPS drops after leaving game paused in certain parts of the game [hr][/hr]
Cooldown from enemies hitting player could not trigger properlly in some situations [hr][/hr]
Sidescreen tips were not being destroyed after opening the Prowess menu with player 2 [hr][/hr]
Ayla's perk ""Yalee Disciple"" didn't stack correctly [hr][/hr]
Kiran's counter colider, from his signature spell, could wrongly keep attached to the sprite if the attack animation was canceled [hr][/hr]
The knockback caused on enemies after a attack could push them to the wrong side [hr][/hr]
Ayla's signature move could teleport player outside of game area [hr][/hr]
Wooden Guardian minions could sometimes not be instantly killed when Wooden Guardian is killed [hr][/hr]
Water snakes could get stuck when launching their attacks near walls [hr][/hr]
Octave revive particles were wrongly placed [hr][/hr]
Fixing reward loots spawning position in some cases - hotfix 0.41.1 [hr][/hr]
Perk UI in player inventory for player 2 had texts seted in wrong position - hotfix 0.41.1 [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim could wrongly display icon notifying new unlocked abilities, even if there were none - hotfix 0.41.1 [hr][/hr]
Hidden Chamaeleon was badly placed in Challenge room - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed a bug that could cause portal choices not to spawn at end of a level - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Sometimes portals portals choices for next world could take a unusual long time to spawn - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
Fixed wrong icons for Zodiacs summon rewards in challenge room portals - hotfix 0.41.2 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Leo could be stuck in air during his fight - hotfix 0.41.2

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-01-30 17:56:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - January 2023 - 0.40.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

Octave's signature spell drone is a bit more agressive, but stays in battle for less time [hr][/hr]
It's easier to trigger jump crystals with Octave [hr][/hr]
community inspired Player can't trigger healing shards while character HP is full anymore [hr][/hr]
community inspired If you have enough healing shards to trigger healing, the player HP bar now shows a feedback of how much HP would be restored [hr][/hr]
Zim-zim ability to re-roll Prowess now gives all re-roll credits on world 1 [hr][/hr]
Glossary can be navigated using mouse scroll [hr][/hr]
Kiran's counter hit has bigger coliders now [hr][/hr]
Ayla's signature spell now target any enemy inside the screen (that can be seen by her) [hr][/hr]
Ayla is briefly invincible after triggering her signature spell [hr][/hr]
Camera movement after Zodiac intros is faster [hr][/hr]
Yalees in Yalee kingdom are now unlocked in a random order within their world [hr][/hr]
Yalees prisoners of Elites are now always there when you meet elites, except if you already saved/saw one in the same room [hr][/hr]
Sun & Moon rooms entrance is paid with HP instead of max HP and costs have been changed

Balancing

Increase Dash invincibility by 0.1sec [hr][/hr]
Changed merchant random spells levels

Level Design

Layouts for Saggitarius and Scorpion challenge have been reworked

Visuals

Telescop in hub: Preparing future feature [hr][/hr]
Coral Archipelago particles were missing in boss room [hr][/hr]
Yalees prisoners of Elites had parts with no colors (gray) [hr][/hr]
Visual asset changed for all Zodiac challenges

Bug Fixes

community inspired Sometimes when missing text for certain languages, the game would mistakenly not use the available english text in it's place [hr][/hr]
community inspired It was possible to sometimes spawn in hub with some summon elements triggered by auras [hr][/hr]
It was possible to wrongly get Astral Tree fruits buffs when entering a room [hr][/hr]
Players signature spell UI icon could sometimes wrongly display as unable to active [hr][/hr]
Game light effects from sun could be active on layouts that didn't use it, consuming unecessary CPU [hr][/hr]
Player's ""magnect auto attacks"" behavior doesn't target invisible enemies anymore [hr][/hr]
Ayla's signature spell sometimes wouldn't trigger a hit correctly when using many times in a row [hr][/hr]
It was possible to target enemies through walls with ayla's signature spell, wich could result in case on where Ayla could teleport and get stuck inside walls [hr][/hr]
Removing ""FIre Rain"" spell for now as we are investigating why it does not do damages

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-01-10 09:52:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Next Update Sneak Peak - New World, New Hero & Libra

Hello everyone, Whole Hibernian Workshop team is wishing you a great 2023 ahead! We are back from holidays and are ready to do our best for this coming year! On our side 2023 is very promising & exciting, we will have the final release of Astral Ascent with physical and console editions, the 12 Zodiacs & the final boss, Calie, Yamat & even more things coming! We wish Astral Ascent to be one of the best roguelites experience of 2023, count on us to do our absolute best to reach your expectations for the game! While we released the exporter update in December 2022, we also made great progresses on the World 4 update - The Crimson Highlands, please check below some of the exciting new features coming very soon!

Calie the geomancer!

Calie is the last of the heroes to be released for Final Release and she is coming very soon. She fights with stones that she can shapes into very varied weapons. As Octave she fights from a longer range but her attacks go through all enemies leaving stones there. Her utility spell, calls back the stones to her dealing extra damage and effects on the way back.

We personally really love her gameplay and wish you will like her as much as we do!

The Crimson Highlands

This is the final world of the game, the wind world and the closest to the final boss. The Zodiacs there (Libra, Aquarius & Gemini) are the most dangerous of all. The enemies are also more dangerous and more intense as you can see below -

New traps & new enemies

Deadly Enemy

Libra, the deadliest of all

We are sure you are impatient to fight against Libra, one of the 2 bosses from next Update, we have to tell you she is extremely strong right now and she will be your toughest challenge in the game so far.

This was a quick sneak peak update, this update will be released Q1 2023, hopefully very soon. Also, we wanted to tell you that we are aware of some elements that need polish in the game right now, there is so many things that we want to improve but we decided to start with the world 4 update and do a lot of polish between world 4 and final release. Having the whole game experience will make things much easier for us to balance the game and have the most appropriate design changes. Have a great day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2023-01-02 10:42:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - December 2022 - 0.39.0

Happy holidays everyone!

Surprise update 0.39 to celebrate holidays season, we hope you like our little gifts! taffy

13 New Common Spells

[hr][/hr] All elementals, all nice to use and satisfying! More Signature Spells will be added before final release!

New Visual Area for Zim-Zim

[hr][/hr] She deserves a nice and cozy place, we hope you like it as much as we do!

Visuals Improvements of some Signature spells from Ayla & Kiran

[hr][/hr] GROUND POUND

Before

After N249 UNRELENTING TORNADO

Before

After ENERGY PROJECTILES

Before

After

Game is now playable on MacOS & Linux!

[hr][/hr] This includes Steamdeck with very stable performances, first loading can take a while and you should not use Proton Experimental for now. That's it for the 2022 updates, we have a lot of very exciting updates coming for 2023, thanks so much for the great reception of the game! zagpls You can check the more detailed version of the update below - [hr][/hr] Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Linux & MacOs: Game is now available for Linux & MacOS [hr][/hr]
New Common Spells!: 13 New spells already unlocked for you to play with!

Small Features

Itinerant Merchant: Itinerant merchant resets now also reset already bought slots [hr][/hr]
Itinerant Merchant: Itinerant merchant resets are now possible when all elements have been bought [hr][/hr]
Players will now dodge damages when autoclimbing for 0.3sec [hr][/hr]
Some of Kiran & Ayla signature spells behavior changed a bit

Balancing

Kiran Signature spell Buff: Buffed Kiran Signature spell damage and Reduced its cooldown [hr][/hr]
Fire Portals: Now instantly reset your dash for better mobility [hr][/hr]
Octave small drone spell: Drone is now more aggressive, attacks more frequently and from longer ranger [hr][/hr]
Spells level: Random spells in worlds start level 0 instead of level 1 [hr][/hr]
Spells level: Sun Room spells are 1 level higher [hr][/hr]
Itinerant Merchant: Itinerant merchant reset cost slightly more than before [hr][/hr]
Itinerant Merchant: Itinerant merchant spells are of higher quality [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius giant boomerang attack has more cooldown between hits on players

Level Design

Removed the W4 LDI that appeared in some exploration room when they were not supposed to.

Visuals

Pisces summon visual polish [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim new Area: New botanist area in the Garden [hr][/hr]
Improved visual feedback of flying world 2 enemy [hr][/hr]
Reduced particles quantity in Pantheon for performances [hr][/hr]
More yalees in the hub! [hr][/hr]
Updated spells previews for previous spells [hr][/hr]
Some of Kiran & Ayla signature spells have been visually improved

Bug Fixes

Wrong ground visuals in certain special Rooms [hr][/hr]
Random Damages of enemies were not counted in some cases [hr][/hr]
Spells level was incorrect [hr][/hr]
Flying world 2 enemy would rarely launch melee attack if player was on ground [hr][/hr]
In Andromeda's Trials, sometimes there was undesired lasers between laser sources [hr][/hr]
Fixed an issue with small chest not opening in one of the secret rooms.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-12-23 23:34:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - December 2022 - 0.38.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Sun/Moon room cost adjustement: We changed the way sun and moon rooms work, now both the Sun and the Moon room will cost you MAX HP to enter, the only difference between the two rooms will be the spell pool. In future updates, we intend to split the zodiac spells pool in two to have some zodiac spells exclusive to sun room and the others exclusive to moon room. We also adjusted the cost to enter the moon room from 100 in every world to: -50 HP in World 1 -75 HP in World 2 -100 HP inWorld 3 [hr][/hr]
Signature spells - Replace the Utility spells: Each hero will now start the game with a unique Signature spell, this system completely replace the old utility spell system that we removed from the game. [hr][/hr]
Level Up system: This new system will allow you to make use of the XP gained during a run, it will now improve your character, every level granting an additional 20 HP and 15% more damage on your basics attacks. Every level will also give you a new perk choice that will improve your basic attacks and signature spell giving it new unique properties. [hr][/hr]
Andromeda's trials - New puzzle rooms!: Added new Andromeda's trials, they are unique puzzle room focus entirely on platforming skills instead of combat as it was something missing in the game until now! Completing those trials will grant you one of the famous rainbow drinks from Andromeda!

Small Features

Affinty gambit context tutorial: Added a small tutorial the first time you equip a gambit with an affinity. [hr][/hr]
Ayla/Kiran summon trigger on Signature spell cast: With the new signature spell system, we made it so Ayla and Kiran summon are triggered on signature spell cast like Octave summon. [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim ability change: We removed the Zim-Zim ""Bonus loot on intro room"" ability and replaced it with a new ability that gives you reroll possibility for the new level up perks! [hr][/hr]
community inspired Sounds now work for the second player in Remote play together.

Balancing

Enemies Power and HP balancing: The power of and HP of Enemies of the red barrens and the coral archipelago have been readjusted to overal be weaker. [hr][/hr]
XP Gain from enemies has been buffed: You will now gain more Xp from defeating enemies overall, this change was made to make the progression of the new level up system smoother [hr][/hr]
XP required to level up Hub levels has been adjusted: The price per level has been adjusted, you will now need more XP BUT Xp gain in run has been improved so overall progression shouldn't feel too different than before. [hr][/hr]
Nerf damage output of Octave spell ""Laceratio"". [hr][/hr]
Reduced Capricorn ultimate Cooldown time to 40 seconds instead of 60. [hr][/hr]
Life stone nerf: Reduce Max HP given by lifestone to 15 instead of 25. [hr][/hr]
Life Boost aura nerf: Reduce mMax HP given by the life boost aura from 100 to 50. [hr][/hr]
Virgo summon nerf: Nerfed the damage output of Virgo summon to match the rest of the Zodiacs summon [hr][/hr]
Reduced the chances for elites to get the gravity orb effect as it is quiet deadly compared to other effects. [hr][/hr]
Sun/Moon room spawn rate changes: We made it so every run you'll get at least 1 Sun or Moon room spawn to give you a better access to the unique zodiacs spells. [hr][/hr]
Overall effects nerf: We nerfed the overall effects in the game, they won't always add 1 stack of a set effect on hit but instead has a % chance to add the stack on hit. [hr][/hr]
Nerfed damages of several Zodiac spells: -Capricorn meteor rain -Virgo light sword -Scorpio trident

Level Design

Special exploration room visual reworks: We reworked the visuals of the special exploration rooms to instead look like Yalee nomad villages, enjoy your yalee friends company!

Music & SFX

Unique SFX plays when you equip a gambit on a spell with the same affinity.

Visuals

Added an additional feedback to pegasus bubble attack. [hr][/hr]
Removed the Legacy portraits: We decided to remove the legacy portrait as it became an hindrance for the future character visuals yet to be done and we will now fully commit to pixel art portrait instead. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed Hint text in merchant room. - hotfix 0.38.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed some of the % text displaying incoherent values in some cases. - hotfix 0.38.1 [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed the issue with the new zim-zim perks where the title wasn't fully displaying. - hotfix 0.38.1 [hr][/hr]
Fixed a small artefact issue in the hub. - hotfix 0.38.1

Narrative Design

community inspired Fixed Ayla and Kiran Echo description to fit their new effect.

Bug Fixes

community inspired Softlock coop revive: Fixed an issue where if one player died the moment another was revived, the other player would losce control of it's character resulting in softlock. [hr][/hr]
Fixed an issue with the order of display of Player 2 aura that sometimes appeared behind the aura background. [hr][/hr]
Fixed several issues where some of the auras didn't work for Player 2. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Scorpio start of combat bug: Fixed the issue where Scorpio would sometime start the combat by doing 2 attack at once resulting in a very weird behavior where he'd be flying in the air. [hr][/hr]
Capricorn Ulimate bug: Fixed an issue where Capricorn could still launch his ultimate when he was killed while casting it. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where ordan summon could go the wrong way if player is not facing the target direction. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue in coop play where Player 2 get stucks in the vine spawning in fights rooms. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where Ikki summon could create softlock during boss fights. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where frame rate would drop whenever you interact with an NPC. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where you could change the animation of your character when defeated and waiting to be revived. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where it would display NaN when you try to buy an upgrade. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where Player 2 could trigger basic attacks aura of Player 1 instead of the one he got. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Fixed an issue where you could enter the 4th world wich is not yet suppose to be available.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-12-07 18:57:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Exporter Update & Andromeda's Trials!

Hello everyone! After the launch of the Coral Archipelago Update we immediatly started working on the next major one: the Crimson Highlands Update. This upcoming one will make possible to visit the 4th world with the most dangerous Zodiacs as long as playing Calie, the Geomancer. We have already made great progress on this update and we should be able to release it early Q1 2023. But do not worry, we will take our time to polish it as much as we did for all previous updates. We will share more about the Crimson Highlands Update in next newsletter as we have exciting news to share in this one!

New Exporter & new Systems available!

Once again we had ambitious & promising new features ideas for the next upate but instead of releasing everything at once as we did for the Coral Archipelago Update, we decided to release part of it for you to play right now on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3651886500302273659 Game should display version 0.38.0 or higher on main menu, you can relaunch Steam if it's not. This new content is getting available alongside the long awaited New Exporter version provided by our partner MP2 Games and we would like to thank them again for the tremendous work porting the whole Astral Ascent game from our game engine to C++ for the best possible performances! This new exporter fixes a lot of crashes and issues (like Steam Remote sound issue) & massively improves FPS allowing you to play at constant frame rate with almost no loadtimes. This new version will change your game experience by making it much more comfortable and fluid, in particular for smaller settings. The game is also now playable for Steamdeck with very stable 60fps, you can even do Remote Play co-op with 2 Steamdecks without issues.

However expect some inconsistencies (badly oriented elements, small visual glitches etc.) as this build is very close but is not yet the same as the main build, we are still working on it! If you see anything wrong please let us know on our Discord Server in the #bugs-report channel.

Level up system is the answer!

Basic attacks issue - Basic attacks do not become more powerful with time unlike your spells with levels & gambits so the more you progress the weaker your basic attacks feel and are. Also, getting Auras for your basic attacks was preventing you to have Auras for other purposes so you would sometimes sacrifice interesting builds to get them.
Utility Spells issue - Utility spells were very inconsistent as it was rare (and occasionally too frequent) to get one. Sometimes they were strong, sometimes they were too weak and it was easy to forget to use them as they were not really part of our build.

From these questions emerged new systems

Signature spells - They completely replace the Utility Spells that we removed from the game, they are new and unique spells based on cooldown different for each Hero. You will have many synergies to discover and play with from one run to another as you can improve them with the Level up system!
Kiran signature spell is "Parry then Punch!", making you temporary invincible!
Level up system - Defeating enemies will now grant you experience points, filling an experience bar above your HP, when it reaches a certain threshold, your character will level up gaining maximum Health, Basic attacks damage and the possibility to claim a Prowess.
Octave, level 7 with 9/40 xp points to level 8
The Prowesses - They are a set of passive skills that can be claimed in intro rooms of each world, including first world, when interacting with the giants there. Every level, you will be able to claim 1 additional prowess to a max of 8 in a run. These prowesses are of two kinds: Basic attack (right) & Signature Spell (left)

[previewyoutube=G8rzcxeMjWs;full][/previewyoutube] The Prowesses for Signature spells are unique to each hero, there is a lot to try out! Also, Zim-Zim now has an ability to make you reset the choices of Prowesses.

Ayla's signature spell "Shadow Mark" (teleports behind enemies) with reset on kill Prowess

Andromeda's trials!

Another fun addition to the game are the Andromeda's trials! In the exploration rooms, sometimes you will find a purple altar, interacting with them will teleport you to a new room where you will have to face a platforming challenge without being hit to get one of the famous rainbow drinks poured by Andromeda herself! Do not worry, if you get hit you are simply teleported outside but you will not lose HP so feel free to try them as many times as you want! We personally love them and we hope you will too! [previewyoutube=lYw_qrMIdhg;full][/previewyoutube]

Discord trading card game!

A smaller addition has been made to the Discord server, the Astral Ascent Digital Trading Card game! Every day Barbecue offers you a new card from his fine collection! You can trade them with everyone or merge them to gain rarer cards (4 rarities for the 39 existing cards) and get the greatest collection!

Hop on our discord to get a card whenever you want! There was no newsletter last month but be sure we are working our hardest to make the game the best it can be and we are still active on the Discord Server for any of your suggestions and feedback! Oh, and here are some extra elements!

We added a Glossary that you can check anytime while ingame!

Merchants culture is ancient and not very well known but they remember it through these statues

Oloon wanted her place to feel more precious as you can imagine More improvements are coming later! Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game! Have an excellent week ahead and next time we will share about the upcoming world 4! The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-12-07 18:56:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - September 2022 - 0.37.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

Spells on sun room can have a minimum of 2 gambits on it [hr][/hr]
Octave unlocking condition: Octave is unlocked after meeting with any world 2 zodiac instead of beating them. [hr][/hr]
Voice Over: Integrating missing lines of Sagittarius [hr][/hr]
The Garden: Adding a teleporter to navigate faster in the hub [hr][/hr]
Enemies: W3 small snake attack feedback improved [hr][/hr]
community inspired It's not possible anymore to start runs through NG+ menu by pressing ""down"" when the start button is selected.

Interface

LB/RB Navigation in menus of hub [hr][/hr]
Changed Collect All input for Achievement UI [hr][/hr]
Added a Collect ALl input for Papa Yalee UI

Narrative Design

Typos fixed [hr][/hr]
Extended translations for Russian & Korean

Bug Fixes

Malice that spawn extra enemies on zodiacs fight wasn't working in world 3 [hr][/hr]
It was possible to unlock memory fragments of undefeated zodiacs [hr][/hr]
Old save files would get player to be stuck into the loading screen [hr][/hr]
Name of worlds could be wrongly displayed in the level progress UI [hr][/hr]
During coop mode it was necessary to press inputs twice to move through relics in the inventory

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-09-20 20:49:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Coral Archipelago Update is OUT NOW!

Play a new Character, explore a new World, fight new Zodiacs and much more!

[previewyoutube=yDI7BKN4YGQ;full][/previewyoutube] Thanks a lot everyone for your patience regarding this Update, we created so much more elements than we originally anticipated in order to create the best and most complete experience possible for this first Major Update (several more to come!). This version sadly does not contain the new exporter that will solve many crashes and increase performances by a lot (if you have performances issue, don't hesitate to check this guide). We have made huge progress on it but this new exporter still contains issues so we thought it would be better to release it once it is totally ready but you can expect it to be released Q4 2022, take a look at our Roadmap iff you want more precisions about it. This version also does not have a complete localization to supported languages yet, when translations are missing it should be replaced by English for now, we will update when we have receive the texts. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/3328745165985235930 For the next weeks we will be working on solving the main bugs/balancing issues that you will encounter so do not hesitate to report these on our Discord Server where we have dedicated channels for that. We will also start preparing the mid W3-W4 Update. If you want a complete list of what is new, here is our complete Patch Notes link and the main features listed below - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/5009714462577553599

Major Features

New Playable Character - Octave: New range hero with 11 unique spells to unlock [hr][/hr]
New World to Explore - The Coral Archipelago: New assets, new traps and new enemies [hr][/hr]
New Zodiacs Battles: Scorpio & Pisces. Face these 2 members of the Orphne family [hr][/hr]
Scorpio & Pisces challenges: Get their summons through their challenges [hr][/hr]
Sun Room: Exchange your quartz to access powerful spells [hr][/hr]
Moon Room: Exchange your maximum life to access Zodiac unique powers [hr][/hr]
Zodiac Spells: Find and use 7 news powerful zodiac spells: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Leo, Pisces and Scorpio [hr][/hr]
Echo Isles Room & Summon your Friends: Pick among 15 different summons of your friends so they can help you during your run [hr][/hr]
New Miniboss - Draco: Fight a dangerous new Miniboss [hr][/hr]
community inspired Andromeda's bar interior: Visit the Zodiacs there and the more victory you have against them, the more likely they are to join you [hr][/hr]
Affinity Zodiac: Your Constellation sign can now randomly help you (once you met at least once) and will more easily join you in Andromeda's bar [hr][/hr]
community inspired Pixel Art Animated Portraits: Legacy Portraits will still be accessible through game options but default portraits will now be Pixel Art and hand-animated [hr][/hr]
Fight Rooms Rework: Complete rework in order to have waves / difficulty depending of level of the room [hr][/hr]
New Affinity System: Spells now have elemental affinities (fire/ice/thunder/poison and neutral) and they gain power with related elemental gambits attached (up to 100% bonus damage) [hr][/hr]
New Synergy System: Rework - Many Auras has been reworked and a DOZEN additional new auras have been added [hr][/hr]
New Synergy System: Rework - Many Gambits has been reworked and a THIRTY additional new Gambits have been added

We would also like to thank our community and Play Testers for the great support provided to our small team, we are doing our absolute best to create this game we love. - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-09-19 17:03:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - September 2022 - 0.36.6

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Playable Character - Octave: New range hero with 11 unique spells to unlock [hr][/hr]
New World to Explore - The Coral Archipelago: New assets, new traps and new enemies [hr][/hr]
New Zodiacs Battles: Scorpio & Pisces. Face these 2 members of the Orphne family [hr][/hr]
Scorpio & Pisces challenges: Get their summons through their challenges [hr][/hr]
Sun Room: Exchange your quartz to access powerful spells [hr][/hr]
Moon Room: Exchange your maximum life to access Zodiac unique powers [hr][/hr]
Zodiac Spells: Find and use 7 news powerful zodiac spells: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Leo, Pisces and Scorpio [hr][/hr]
Echo Isles Room & Summon your Friends: Pick among 15 different summons of your friends so they can help you during your run [hr][/hr]
New Miniboss - Draco: Fight a dangerous new Miniboss [hr][/hr]
community inspired Andromeda's bar interior: Visit the Zodiacs there and the more victory you have against them, the more likely they are to join you [hr][/hr]
Affinity Zodiac: Your Constellation sign can now randomly help you (once you met at least once) and will more easily join you in Andromeda's bar [hr][/hr]
community inspired Pixel Art Animated Portraits: Legacy Portraits will still be accessible through game options but default portraits will now be Pixel Art and hand-animated [hr][/hr]
Fight Rooms Rework: Complete rework in order to have waves / difficulty depending of level of the room [hr][/hr]
New Affinity System: Spells now have elemental affinities (fire/ice/thunder/poison and neutral) and they gain power with related elemental gambits attached (up to 100% bonus damage) [hr][/hr]
New Synergy System: Rework - Many Auras have been reworked and a dozen additional new auras have been added [hr][/hr]
New Synergy System: Rework - Many Gambits have been reworked and a thirty additional new Gambits have been added

Small Features

New effect: Ignition: Burns enemies over time and inflicts burn stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Fire Wisp: Summons a fire whisp that follows the hero, shoots enemies and inflicts burn stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Sapling: Summons a small sprout that runs, explodes against enemies and inflicts poison stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Slime: Summon slime that bounces and inflicts poison stacks [hr][/hr]
New Effect: Plasma: Create a lightning laser that pierces enemies and inflicts lightning stacks [hr][/hr]
New Effect: Cumulonimbus: Summons a cloud of lightning that blasts enemies and inflicts lightning stacks [hr][/hr]
New Effect: Thunder Orb: Create a lightning orb that persists on the field and inflicts lightning stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Snowflake: Create a snowflake around the hero and inflicts freezes stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Ice Idol: Create an ice idol that hits enemies and inflicts freezes stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Stalactite: Sends ice spikes bouncing off walls and inflicts freezes stacks [hr][/hr]
New effect: Critical: % chance to inflict a critical hit [hr][/hr]
Summon Zodiac: (Rework) Taurus: Now deals immense damage to all enemies on screen [hr][/hr]
Summon Zodiac: (Rework) Virgo: Now deals damage to enemies and has a % chance to spawn when hitting enemies during the hero's basic attacks [hr][/hr]
Summon Zodiac: (Rework) Sagittarius: Now follow the players by shooting arrows continuously and end up with a strong attack [hr][/hr]
Pantheon Room: Backers statues Room in now accessible in the Garden [hr][/hr]
Spells Reworks: We removed some of the beacon utility spells [hr][/hr]
Spells Reworks: Some common & specific spells have been visually and gameplay reworked [hr][/hr]
Spells Reworks: Dodge effect has been added to several spells, when a spell has it you are invincible during certain frames of the spell [hr][/hr]
Voices feedback: When being hurt and when casting spells [hr][/hr]
Camera: In several places we improved camera [hr][/hr]
Camera: Camera movement when Zodiacs do their ultimates [hr][/hr]
Camera: Camera is less zoomed by default [hr][/hr]
Camera: Challenge Sagittarius: Camera is more dezoomed [hr][/hr]
Cetus Room improvement: Better descriptions of the gambits, new categories of gambit and third random loot is more frequent and can only be a slot unlocker [hr][/hr]
Elites visual rework: Elites have been visually reworked a lot [hr][/hr]
Lupus Miniboss: During ultimate, a magnet effect affects player [hr][/hr]
Spells altar: New category of altar you can find during your runs where you can choose between 2 spells [hr][/hr]
Memory Fragments: You can now only get Memory Fragments from characters you already crossed [hr][/hr]
NG +: Thorn feedback improvement [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Improved behavior placement for many enemies [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Stacks effects above enemies visual rework [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Enemies placements have been globally improved [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Improvements of movement behavior for some enemies [hr][/hr]
NPC: Oloon - UI opens on last unlocked element [hr][/hr]
NPC: Poetic Peddler UI does not show locked characters spells anymore [hr][/hr]
Special rooms cannot appear twice in a row anymore [hr][/hr]
Faster end of levels & appearing in levels [hr][/hr]
Accelerated Aura pick-up [hr][/hr]
Accelerated Spells/gambits pick-up [hr][/hr]
Enemies projectiles improvements (visuals & behavior) [hr][/hr]
Yalees summon improved (visual and gameplay) [hr][/hr]
Game now playable with dpad of controller (game and interface) [hr][/hr]
Jump crystals lisibility has been improved [hr][/hr]
Spell order is reseted when coming back to the hub [hr][/hr]
UI is not removed when staying IDLE [hr][/hr]
You can now rush in Healing rooms and still get the heal/mana orbs

Balancing

Ayla Spells: Mana costs have been reduced [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n428 Metal Star: Visual improvement. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n 17 Toxic Bomb: Visual improvement. Improved area of effect. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n 249 Unrelenting Tornado: Visual improvement. Improved area of effect. Damage increased. Go through enemies without making them move. [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n 888 Fatal Dash: Much faster to use. Deal multiple hits. Damage increased. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n 086 Lighning Speed: Damage increased. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n12 Electric Scalpels: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n840 Doppelgenger: Improved area of effect. Damage increased. Deal multiple hits. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n+675 Moon Arch: Damage increased. Deal multiple hits. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Ayla Spells: n005 Astral Powder: Damage increased. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Mana costs have been balanced [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Lightspeed Fist: Damage increased. Do not hit multiple targets anymore [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Ground Pound: Damage increased. Deal multiple hits. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Ultra Loaded Knucles: Damage increased. Deal multiple hits. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Energy Projectiles: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Windturner Up-smash:Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Cutting Kick: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Rententless Fury: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Helping Hands (Got It?): Damage increased. Deal multiple hits [hr][/hr]
Kiran Spells: Flamins Slide: Damage increased. Added ""dodge"" effect [hr][/hr]
Spells & Gambits: Spells level change is bigger between worlds and balancing of empty slots on looted spells [hr][/hr]
Spells & Gambits: Number of Gambits on spells by default has been greatly reduced [hr][/hr]
Spells & Gambits: Slot unlocker price has been increased [hr][/hr]
Spells & Gambits: Spells have minimum 2 unlocked slots and the slots probabilities have been reduced [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Fireballs: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Thunder Orb: Visual improvement. Improved area of effect. Higher damage rate. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Spirit Sword: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Magic Cyclone: Spell is slower. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Surrounding Spheres: Summons 5 orbs instead of 3. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Shooting Star: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Ravaging Spheres: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Glacial Spikes: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Ice thrower: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Frost Splinters: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Dark Outbreak: Damage reduced [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Electrospheres: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Shattering Stars: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Magma comets: Visual improvement. Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Ki Blast: Damage increased. Deal multiple hits [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Dark Burst: Damage increased. Deal multiple hits [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Aqua Ball: Damage increased. [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Thorns Chains: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Meteor Blades: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Common Spells: Slashing Squall: Damage increased [hr][/hr]
Utility Spells: Fire Spreader: Visual improvement. Improved area of effect. Stack numbers reduced. Cooldown reduced [hr][/hr]
Utility Spells: Ice Column: Stack numbers reduced. Cooldown reduced [hr][/hr]
Utility Spells: Thunder Strike: Stack numbers reduced. Cooldown reduced [hr][/hr]
Utility Spells: Utility spells are now anymore a possible rewars at the end of rooms / bosses [hr][/hr]
Effect: Target: 100% chance to inflict a critical hit [hr][/hr]
Effect: Vulnerability is 5% per stack instead of 3% per stack now [hr][/hr]
Effect: Freeze slows now the enemies based on stack count and the stacks are reset once the enemy comes out of the freeze [hr][/hr]
Effect: Bosses can no longer be slowed by freeze but can trigger freeze related effects [hr][/hr]
Pavo Feathers: Feathers of +2 and +5 are less frequent [hr][/hr]
Minibosses: Health / damages balancing [hr][/hr]
Minibosses: Lupus Miniboss fall attack is faster [hr][/hr]
community inspired Minibosses: Lupus dash attack has a more forgiveable collider [hr][/hr]
Bosses: Zodiacs remove their stacks more often when teleporting [hr][/hr]
Bosses: Zodiacs are now invulnerables in more attacks [hr][/hr]
Bosses: Taurus Bull charges fire no longer hits behind him and Taurus no longer hits after he hit the wall [hr][/hr]
Bosses: Leo's ultimate starts at 50% and now remains in his ultimate [hr][/hr]
Bosses: Top attack laser of Capricorn is a bit higher now [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Sylvanian Protector enemy in world 1 is much faster now [hr][/hr]
Enemies: HP balancing [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Lava Spider W2 enemy attacks from distance only and has an improved behavior [hr][/hr]
Enemies: Elites HP balancing [hr][/hr]
NPC: Zim-Zim Weakness Exploit reduction [hr][/hr]
NPC: Itinerant merchant reset price changes with world [hr][/hr]
NPC: Itinerant merchant altar slots are not re-filled after reseted [hr][/hr]
NPC: Itinerant merchant altars are now always 2 spells, 1 utility spell, 2 gambits [hr][/hr]
Global HP of Heroes have been reduced [hr][/hr]
Fight rooms keys are now 3 by default then 4 with difficulty 4, 5 with difficulty 5 and 6 when difficulty 6 [hr][/hr]
Mushroom trap in world one only throws one pack of mushroom [hr][/hr]
Traps do more damages to enemies [hr][/hr]
Quartz level ingredient now breaks in less hits [hr][/hr]
Special rooms probabilities have been changed [hr][/hr]
Mana Tree ""unlimited mana"" buff duration nerfed

Level Design

New exploration rooms [hr][/hr]
New fight rooms [hr][/hr]
Enemies spawn areas have been improved (placements, size) in exploration rooms [hr][/hr]
Climbing walls are less present near fighting rooms to avoid auto-climbs [hr][/hr]
Improvement of placement of traps [hr][/hr]
Filled up empty spaces [hr][/hr]
Clouds are at a more similar height when escaping rooms [hr][/hr]
Fight rooms have been reworked to improve fight experience [hr][/hr]
Spaces for end level portals are bigger

Music & SFX

Add SFX feedback in many places [hr][/hr]
Adjusted volumes of several elements [hr][/hr]
Add many contextuals dialogs for heroes/npc/zodiacs [hr][/hr]
Added a sound when the hero takes a hit when he has the Shield effect [hr][/hr]
Removed Bird ambiance from Cetus' room [hr][/hr]
Added a voice when the hero takes a hit [hr][/hr]
Added a voice when the hero launches a spell

Interface

End of levels selection visual rework [hr][/hr]
New hurt feedback on UI [hr][/hr]
Changed wording for many interface interactions for more coherence [hr][/hr]
Improved ergonomy for merchant's interfaces [hr][/hr]
Ergonomy improvements for Path of Destinies [hr][/hr]
Sidescreen re-order in many cases for more coherence [hr][/hr]
Coherence improvements for texts colors [hr][/hr]
Many Auras now have a system of Cooldown [hr][/hr]
Interface appears much faster when fight starts against Zodiacs [hr][/hr]
Spells now have different interface backgrounds depending on the affinity of the gambits equipped on them [hr][/hr]
Removed hint hiding option in menu [hr][/hr]
Empty Auras slots do not show cooldown anymore [hr][/hr]
New option to change portraits style from Pixel Art to Legacy

Visuals

New transition screen [hr][/hr]
Reworked icons for Auras (including elemental distinctions) [hr][/hr]
Reworked icons for Gambits (including elemental distinctions) [hr][/hr]
Reworked Credits Menu [hr][/hr]
Enemies fire sprites are on a different color now [hr][/hr]
Improved outline selection when option is activated [hr][/hr]
Improved lisibility for many trails of projectiles [hr][/hr]
Pegasus Miniboss visual rework of water attack [hr][/hr]
A lot of Fx are faster and are now behind enemies for better lisibility [hr][/hr]
Improved ""ghost effect"" in many places [hr][/hr]
The sun effect has been improved [hr][/hr]
The screen becomes darker when the Zodiacs do their ultimates [hr][/hr]
Removed a lot of flashes on screen [hr][/hr]
Ingame clouds have changed [hr][/hr]
Sun has been added in Andromeda's room [hr][/hr]
W2 Djinn feedback improvement [hr][/hr]
Changed Poison color from green to purple [hr][/hr]
White outline removed on spells icons [hr][/hr]
Visually improved Poetic Peddler interface [hr][/hr]
Poetic Peddler UI opens on your current characters [hr][/hr]
Rewards icons in Death Recap are now similar [hr][/hr]
Generic dialogs icon above NPCs is a lot less visible [hr][/hr]
Outline on NPCs in Death Recap has been removed [hr][/hr]
Spells icons do not change their angles anymore, it was breaking the pixel art [hr][/hr]
Visual improvement of Oloon's assistant UI [hr][/hr]
Octave is always present on Main Menu for this update [hr][/hr]
Visuals improvement in inventory when equiping a gambit [hr][/hr]
New character unlock visual improvement

Narrative Design

New stories for Papa Yalee and rework of some existing ones [hr][/hr]
Memory fragments are now unlocked only once concerned NPC/Zodiac has been met at least once [hr][/hr]
Many typos fixed [hr][/hr]
More generic variations on some NPCs [hr][/hr]
More generic variations on Heroes

Miscellaneous

Updated spell previews for outdated spells [hr][/hr]
Untranslated elements are now english instead of empty [hr][/hr]
Keyboard summon default input has been changed

Bug Fixes

community inspired Coop - Enemies could keep focusing dead players [hr][/hr]
community inspired Coop - Reviving a partner at same frame than dying would cause both players to remain stuck [hr][/hr]
Coop - Player 2 could go through end level portal sometimes [hr][/hr]
Some sound designs were not played for the first time, some have been fixed [hr][/hr]
Summoned Zodiacs could focus invincible NG+ ghosts [hr][/hr]
Dev message ambiance song would keep playing if skipped too fast [hr][/hr]
It was possible to meet a Zodiac in a challenge room AND in a boss room in same world [hr][/hr]
Oloon UI could bug if opened during Assistant's tutorial [hr][/hr]
community inspired Clouds spawn faster in first intro room [hr][/hr]
community inspired Some Fire portals in W2 would only go in one direction [hr][/hr]
Jump crystals would sometimes get in front of enemies/players [hr][/hr]
Sometimes big enemies would spawn in low difficulty rooms [hr][/hr]
Context dialogs could occur during a dialog [hr][/hr]
When starting the game, a pointer could appear for Barbecue while not unlocked yet [hr][/hr]
Save icons could never disappear while NG+ [hr][/hr]
Ordan could overlap Kiran and create issues [hr][/hr]
community inspired Left side of the main hub shows cut-off clouds [hr][/hr]
community inspired Right side of Pavo's ruins shows cut-off clouds [hr][/hr]
NPC Dialog pop-up was missing sometimes [hr][/hr]
Input of Zodiac summon could remain when swapping Zodiac while summon bar full [hr][/hr]
Freeze effect was wrongly placed on most bosses [hr][/hr]
Dummies could be killed [hr][/hr]
Open NPC's UI would make player behind other playable characters [hr][/hr]
community inspired Bosses would become invisible if killed by another Zodiac summon [hr][/hr]
community inspired Wooden Guardian could remain on battlefield if killed at same frame than creating the laser [hr][/hr]
Leo particles could remain on ground when defeated [hr][/hr]
Gambits equip texts could overlap if quickly pressed [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius could launch several times her fire attack [hr][/hr]
When climbing sides, flying enemies launching attacks could go very high [hr][/hr]
Barbecue Auras description would resize wrongly [hr][/hr]
Removed a yellow square when opening Death Recap [hr][/hr]
Ordan was sometimes at a wrong place when swapping character

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-09-19 16:59:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Coral Archipelago Update is coming on September 19!

Our first major Update on Astral Ascent will be available Monday 19 September, 7pm CEST! New playable character, new world, new Zodiacs and so much more! [previewyoutube=McVLj8b5pkk;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2022-09-16 16:01:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Follow our journey: here is our roadmap!

Let us introduce: The Astral Ascent Roadmap!

We thought you might be interested in the timeline planned until the release of the Yamat DLC! We'll update it as the adventure goes on! New character, new Zodiacs, new challenges and contents coming soon!

[ 2022-09-08 15:29:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral News - August 2022

September it is!

We have a release date for the World 3 update named "The Coral Archipelago Update", this release date is in September 2022, which means we are only a few weeks away from releasing a game changer update for Astral Ascent. We know this update has been very long to release but we added much more than we anticipated to the game. A world update is supposed to contain -

A new playable character (Octave for this one that comes with 11 unique spells)
A new world to explore (+ 8 new enemies and 4 level design elements)
2 new Zodiacs + their challenges and summons
World 4 Zodiac blocking your path

In addition to that we added -

Zodiacs Spells system (it means 7 of them already)
Reworked some existing Zodiac summons
Sun & Moon new room type
New mini-boss - Draco (whose fighting style might remind you of someone!)
Kinship System & Echoes Room, you can have up to 4 friends to summon by your side from a total of 15 possible summons (Zim-Zim, Oloon, Ikki, Ordan, the Heroes and much more)
Pantheon room accessible for those who paid an ingame statue of themselves (with or without their pets)
Andromeda's bar interior with new friendship system with the Zodiacs that will make chosing your constellation meaningful (this is not final yet but close to what we had in mind)
Major synergy rework that will make your runs much more interesting with many new or reworked auras, gambits, effects
One more complicated and very requested element is still unannounced

But that's not all as we have also improved so many small details all around, from small UI improvement, to enemies AI and balancing, about everything has been closely looked and observed to be improved (even the Credits screen has been reworked!), at least we did our very best given the small team that we are. That being said, there is one major element for this update that we took the decision to postpone. It is the New Exporter named "Chowdren" version. The game is already playable on this version but there is many small elements that are not as polished as they are on the regular version. It is really sad for us to delay this version as it changes about everything -

Game is running incredibly faster
Many crashes are solved
Remote Play Together sound problem should be solved too
Loading times are feeling inexistant (as you can see on below video)

[previewyoutube=gudI_-Dc6mM;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=zQcjvT_MatM;full][/previewyoutube] But Astral Ascent is a massive project and it takes time for our partner to solve all the small issues and we currently do not know when exactly this new version will be ready and instead of keep delaying the world 3 update we decided to delay the Chowdren version and make it live as soon as it will be as good as the main version of the game so you can expect a small update between world 3 and world 4 updates with this optimized version and hopefully some more exciting elements (we already have some ideas). Our goal is to avoid impacting too much the world 4 release period that should take less time for the world 3 one. Rest assured that our porting partner is doing an incredible job and the project could not be in better hands, new version will be worth the wait!

Affinity system!

Continuing with the new effects and synergies that we created for this update, we added a final touch - The Affinity System. This system will give you a way to make you spells even stronger by having certains type of gambits on it corresponding to the element of the spell. When you equip a gambit on a spell with an elemental affinity that is the same as the gambit, the spell will gain an increased percentage of bonus damage dealt on hit.

Spell with fire affinity + fire gambits However even if that is very clear that Magma Comets have a fire affinity, some spells do not seem to match a specific affinity like the Spirit Sword below, but don't worry! These spells are considered to have a neutral affinity, instead of having no affinity they actually have an affinity with every gambits but with a lesser increased bonus damage percentage. To make things more open we have decided to make specific spells like Fireballs to be randomly neutral and for some spells like Ayla's shuriken to randomly have any affinity type. We think that is yet another very exciting change to the synergy system as it creates even more strategy when equiping spells & gambits.

Spell with neutral affinity + any gambit

New zodiacs challenges!

Expect new challenges to come with this update! 2 new challenges made for Scorpio & Pisces, the new Zodiacs. Even if Scorpio is really mean, he would be a very powerful ally to have by your side to escape the Garden! [previewyoutube=1sSivCGw0Zg;full][/previewyoutube]

Kinship system is done!

The new kinship system is finally done! Your friends from The Garden will now be able to help you in your journey. You can find exclusive "Echoes" in the Echoes Room that will grant you an unique ability related to one of your friends. Enjoy some of those new summons effects! [previewyoutube=ruCJyyw72uM;full][/previewyoutube] Ikki can save you once per world! [previewyoutube=-6eb2R1yVLA;full][/previewyoutube] Ordan will give a piece of her mind to the Zodiacs you will face. [previewyoutube=-tN_Xy6HyyY;full][/previewyoutube] Other heroes like Kiran will also come to your help!

Old visual effects rework!

With all the polish going on, we took time to redo some of the older visual effects of the game to make them look even cooler and cleaner than before. Have a glimpse! [previewyoutube=-NMBhZvTpTk;full][/previewyoutube] We have very excited to release the update, see you in September! Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Hardworking team Have a nice week! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-08-30 14:41:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're part of the Tiny Teams Festival!

We're happy to announce that we are part of the Tiny Teams Festival!

For this special occasion, Astral Ascent will be played on Yogcast's channel on August 7! As good news never comes alone, you can get Astral Ascent on Steam with a 10% discount from August 1 to 8!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280930/Astral_Ascent/

[ 2022-08-01 17:08:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral News - July 2022

This entire month has been dedicated to finishing all the ongoing features. This is a very ambitious update that we are working on, here are some recent news about it.

New Effects, Gambits and Auras: the Synergy rework

We were not entirely satisfied with the Gambits, Effects and Auras that we had in the game. We knew the system was very interesting but when creating builds we felt it always lacked - Synergy. What we call Synergy is the possible combinaisons between the different playable elements that you can find in the game - Spells, Gambits, Auras, Effects. We had the feeling that very few synergies existed and it was mainly about multi-hit spells and mono-hit spells. After a lot of design talks, we improved the system and made many changes to improve it and make it more central to the game progression. - First, we removed many of the Auras and Gambits that were not very interesting to play with, for example the ones dealing more damages if enemy health is full or depending of number of effects affecting the enemies. - Second, we added several new unique effects to create more synergies opportunities between your spells, auras and gambits! What we call Effects are elements negatively affecting enemies, we have also reworked the way Effects stacks are displayed above enemies as you can see below. [previewyoutube=xd_7BqI8avM;full][/previewyoutube] We also added some new summons that will trigger Effects, here are some for you to enjoy! [previewyoutube=YlSIfAjjl3Q;full][/previewyoutube] A feeling that we had in game for a while was the feeling of not really choosing your build regarding the gambits you equip on your spell, here are some balancing changes according to this. Spells will now always come with at least 2 gambit slot available minimum. Gambit slot unlocker cost has been reduced from 200 to 75 quartz to be a lot more affordable. - Finally we also reworked all the Gambits icons and Aura icons to have a more distinct personality and be much more clearer.

Some of the new gambits icons

Some of the new Auras Icons

The coral archieplago progress

The coral archipelago content is now complete! All the new enemies have been done and will now enter polish phase. Here's a quick tease of what you'll be facing in the world. [previewyoutube=t79yTlufYuQ;full][/previewyoutube] Dale has also came through this month with the new great theme of the 3rd world, enjoy a glimpse! [previewyoutube=x8iUxL7dwSU;full][/previewyoutube]

Andromeda's bar interior progress

Now that the bar interior is open, you will be able to meet the zodiac there in a more peaceful context, discussing with them and if you're lucky they might even consider joining you in battle!

Taurus agrees to help you! A Jukebox is also available inside for you to enjoy the game ost! [previewyoutube=lJ0AfeB0ZMI;full][/previewyoutube]

Elites visual rework

Another system that got a visual rework are the elites enemies. They now have an all new color palette applied to them to really feel like different enemies! We also reworked the UI to have icons above their head instead of a text for a better visibility.

Elite Wooden Guardian

Finally a small gameplay glimpse of Octave

Keeping you updated with Octave, here's a small gameplay clip of some possible combos between his spells, enjoy! [previewyoutube=k2slCavtN20;full][/previewyoutube] We are entering a critical phase for the next update, for now we prefer to not give a precise release date for this update as we do not want to compromise on quality. Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game! Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game! Hard working team Have a great day and week! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-07-29 14:40:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Be part of our "Octave's thoughts" event!

Dear Astral Ascent players, We're happy to announce our first community event on our Discord server! Check out the #octave-thoughts channel if you want to participate. Suggest what you imagine Octave is thinking about and vote for your favorite line. The 2 most popular suggestions will be implemented in the game in the next major update!
Who is Octave? He is a confident boy. A bit arrogant, he's not very cautious about his word and he doesn't let people push him around. Octave broke into the garden to avenge his mother. Octave will be the third character playable, you'll be able to fight with him in the next major update.

[ 2022-07-04 14:35:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - June 2022

Happy to report this month the team has made huge progress on all the new content for the next update and soon all that will be left to do is polish and playtest! So, without further ado, here is our progress report -

Welcome to the Coral Archipelago!

The next world is here! The islands are waiting for you to cross them and meet the marine fauna! But be careful, this world is the home of the dangerous Noble Zodiacs, fierce enemies that will never allow you to pass without an intense fight!

The coral archipelago

The Pantheon and Ayla figure

The Pantheon is a new place accessible from the main hub of the game. When used, the floating orb will teleport you into a place where we immortalized some of our backers as golden statues.

You can access the pantheon from the village

The Pantheon We initially wanted to have these statues randomly spawning at the merchant's room but this way anyone can witness them directly from the main hub. If you also want to have a statue of yourself (it can be with your pet) and your name appears when standing next to the statue, you can still order it on our Backerkit store.

We also have great news regarding the Ayla figure (also available on the Backerkit store), Limited Run Games manufacturer produced an example version that suits our vision and we really love it - we hope you will like it as much as we do!

Kinship system

A completely new system has been added to the game, the kinship system! In your runs, you will now have access to a new special room inside wich you'll get a new kind of item: the souvenirs. Souvenirs will grant you the power of one (or more) of your friend(s) from the Garden! Each character has their own unique power that will surely help you through your journey! The intent of this system was to make the characters you meet and love a bigger part of your escape attempts and feel a deeper connection to them when they join your adventure!

Work in progress room

If your health is low, Zim-Zim will come to your help! Look forward to getting the souvenir as they will surely prove useful in your quest.

Octave combo attack

Zodiac summons rework

Another accomplishment from this month was the rework of several of our Zodiac summons! Most of the old summon either didn't fit the zodiac or were lacking in juice! So we decided to rework most of them to become truly impressive attacks!

Virgo new summon But that's not all we also made summons for the next two A Zodiacs of the Coral Archipelago, enjoy a sneak peek!

Scorpio summon

New spells - the Zodiacs spells

We added a new kind of spell to the game, the Zodiac spells! They'll give you the ability to use some of the zodiacs signature attacks as your own. Don't expect to find them like others spells! They will only be accessible in a special place, but we'll let you find out for yourselves.

Capricorn zodiac spell

Andromeda's bar

The door to the interior of the Andromeda's bar is now open, in here you'll be able to meet the zodiacs and talk with them in a peaceful environment. Get insight about the world by the mouth of your enemies, learn more about them and if you're lucky, they might even join you directly in your journey!

Interior of Andromeda's bar

Discord new emotes! Join us!

We also did something for our lovely discord community. New Astral Ascent emotes have been added to the server for you to express yourself there or on any other place if you have Discord Nitro! We hope you'll enjoy them as much as we do!

This month has been a great month of progress and we cannot wait to let you play with all of this new content! Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game! Hard working team Have a great day and week! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-06-28 15:01:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - June 2022 - 0.34.1

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Language: Japanese has been added in the game. [hr][/hr]
Sand Shark trap: World 2 now has a new trap that replaces the original firing projectiles statues.

Small Features

Carnivorous Plants: They deactivate less frequently in order to be less visually noisy. [hr][/hr]
Implementation of new context dialogs. [hr][/hr]
Octave and Calie disappeared from the Hub in preparation for their release. [hr][/hr]
Armor spike goes away faster becomes darker when it does not hit anymore. [hr][/hr]
Trees could hide the next level difficulty information in Andromeda's bar. [hr][/hr]
Auto guided spells will not target invincible enemies anymore. [hr][/hr]
Thunder sparks crawl on ground further than before. [hr][/hr]
Level progress UI doesn't open automatically after equiping a new spell

Bug Fixes

Capricorn books trail would sometime be in front of Capricorn. [hr][/hr]
Sova was not appearing when saving player in hub.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-06-03 14:56:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - May 2022

First of all, we want to thank everyone for making this Early Access launch so succesful! We loved watching your reactions, reading your theories and your suggestions - one major of these suggestions is being developed. Also, if you have the occasion to leave a review on Steam, it helps us gain visibility and it is much appreciated! All the team is thrilled for what's coming next and eager to give you the great experience you are looking for!

We started working on Octave!

You are all waiting for it and, as promised, we are working on implementing a new playable character: Octave the gunslinger! As the name suggest, he will fight at a distance using two guns and bring ethereal weapons to the battle! We hope you'll have fun playing around with him once the update will be out!

Octave the gunslinger

New bosses in the work!

We also made a lot of progress on the next bosses for the coral archipelago. Scorpio beat you up again and again stopping you from going through the third world but soon you'll be able to take your revenge! However, don't expect an easy battle, Scorpio may be arrogant but he has the power to back it up!

Scorpio won't give you any slack! A new star guardian also joined the frey: Draco! A mysterious and blazing warrior capable of incredible martial feats!

Draco is a fierce enemy!

New Traps and Props!

We are working hard on the coral archiepelago world and while we don't have suitable visuals to share for now, we worked on some new traps and props for this specific world inspired by the marine life. We hope they'll be of good use in your next adventures!

Jelly Fish We also made a big change from the W2 traps, we decided to remove the statue trap that we considered not being a good trap and replaced it by this new sand shark trap! Watch where you are walking!

Beware of the sand sharks!

New NPC and room: The Sun and The Moon

Lastly for the content update, we are working on additional rooms to the game inspired by the sun and the moon. These new unique rooms will ONLY be accessible by activating a new rare altar in exploration rooms and will contain the most powerful of spell you ever saw in the game. In the sun room, you'll have access to 3 altars selling you powerful spell for a great amount of different resources like Quartz, Stars and Keys.

The sun room In the moon room, you'll also have access to 3 altars selling even more powerful spell than in the sun room however you'll have to bargain with your max health to obtain them so don't get too greedy!

Moon room We're again thankful to everyone who made our Early access launch a success and we hope you are thrilled to see what's waiting for you in the next update that is targeted to release for mid August! Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Hard working team Have a wonderful day, -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-05-26 18:51:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Ascent - Some news from the Hibernian Workshop

Dear Astral Ascent players, First of all, we wanted to thank you for the support and the love you've sent us since the release of the Early Access. It's a huge step for us after over 3 years of work on the game and we're so happy to see how many players enjoy playing Astral Ascent. We have received some feedbacks about crashes and bugs related to performance issues. We are really sorry about that, we know that's is a major problem right now and we are working hard to fix this: for the next major update, the game will be ported with a new game exporter, much more optimized than the one we're using today. This change should solve most of the issues encountered and the game should run way smoother across the board. While waiting for this update, we suggest you to take a look at our common issues guide. You'll find some temporary solutions to avoid crashes. This guide is updated each time a new solution is discovered. For example, recently, some players noticed a major performance boost by installing the game on a SSD. It turns out it helps a lot of players who had performance issues. So feel free to add a comment if it doesn't work or if you find a new solution. If you encounter any more issues, you can join our Discord server and send a message in the #bug-report channel or in the thread of the common issues guide. In the meantime, we are working on a small update that should come in the next few weeks. Some minor changes will be made there and you'll be able to play Astral Ascent in Japanese! Thank you for everything and have a wonderful day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-05-18 15:54:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - April 2022 - 0.33.7

[hr][/hr]

When summoning Taurus as player 2, in co-op mode, the summon buff targeted player 1 [hr][/hr]

Sagittarius summon didn't trigger it effect when summoned by player 2 [hr][/hr]

There's now a cooldown for meeting a Zodiac in a boss room after defeating the Zodiac there (1 run cooldown) [hr][/hr]

community inspired Crystals currency are now auto-collected by player, as long as it enters on player sight at least once [hr][/hr]

The subtitle for NPC/PC real time dialog could disapear before it's audio finished [hr][/hr]

community inspired Players fall attack (pressing down+jump while in air) now recover one mana piece (just like any other basic attack) [hr][/hr]

community inspired It's not possible to find spells with gambits placed on "locked gambit slots". This is to avoid confusion as if the gambit is working under this condition or not [hr][/hr]

At start of the game, players are now hinted about the possibility to play the game with a outline on some game related objects. This is a option intended to improve readibility wich might be prefered by some players. [hr][/hr]

The volume of the music played in the hub area could change value incorrectly after opening the poetic peddler menu [hr][/hr]

Text tips we're lost after changing game language (until game was restarted) [hr][/hr]

Sometimes the text tips for effects could display hints wrongly (hints displayed for effects not presented in the spell/gambit/relic) [hr][/hr]

community inspired It was possible to randomly be spawned in a gray screen when starting a new run, forcing player to restart the game [hr][/hr]

Going back to main menu during a zodiac challenge could trigger wierd behaviors when going back to the game hub [hr][/hr]

Small buff on HP drop from enemies and HP found on quiet room [hr][/hr]

Sagittarius challenge Timer changed from 45 to 35 seconds [hr][/hr]

NG+ random debuff: movevement speed debuff have been nerfed [hr][/hr]

Ice shards aura: Nerfed to spawn have more cooldown between ice orb spawn [hr][/hr]

Poison / Explosion won't trigger the NG+ missile and NG+ thorn armor when they hit enemies as it could create chaos/ felt unfair. [hr][/hr]

More updates targeting better game performance

- The Hibernian Workshop Team Discord Server Twitter Account Official Store

[ 2022-04-29 17:03:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

0.32.2

Changes inspired by our community!

Small Features

community inspired Carnivorous Plants in World 1 does not attack you while looting anymore. [hr][/hr]
Deactivated World 2 fire statue while searching for replacements. [hr][/hr]
Performances improvements when hitting enemies.

Balancing

Enter room heal Aura: The Hp given back by this aura effect has been changed from 10 hp per room to 5% Hp per room [hr][/hr]
Missile on cast Aura: Behavior has been changed to spawn 2 missiles after casting a spell everytime. Cumulating this aura will also augment the number of missiles spawned [hr][/hr]
Yalee Revenge Aura: This aura will now spawn +1 Yalee per time you have it equiped (to a maximum of 4 yalee at once) [hr][/hr]
Yalee on spell refresh Aura: This aura will now spawn +1 Yalee per time you have it equiped (to a maximum of 4 yalee at once)

Level Design

Removed some Flame geyser in the special trap exploration room of World 2. [hr][/hr]
Removed some pirannah plants in the special trap exploration room of Wolrd 1.

Interface

community inspired Next spells mana cost are now displayed in red if not enough mana to cast them. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Added spell ID number and gambits icons next to each spell, including above player's head.

Bug Fixes

""New"" icon above NPCs would disappear weirdly but moving up. [hr][/hr]
French translations typos. [hr][/hr]
Preview spell would trigger even if pressing once instead of holding. [hr][/hr]
Sometimes it was possible for enemies to be hited even if player was not attacking it [hr][/hr]
URL links from the game main menu was not working properlly (social media links and patch notes)

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-22 16:41:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - April 2022 - 0.31.3

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

community inspired New Resolution Quality graphic option: It's possible now to reduce resolution quality through the game graphic options. This should help players with weaker graphic boards to player the game with better FPS

Small Features

Change the description of Summon Yalee Gambits, they will now display the number of Yalee that will be summoned at once. [hr][/hr]
Change the description of ""Elite or Higher"" gambits to ""Elite or boss"" [hr][/hr]
Disabled the context dialog of getting a spell in intro room. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Healing shards now restore 10 hp to players if they are full of shards when collecting it.

Balancing

Sagittarius summon nerf: Nerfed the duration of Sagittarius summon from 20 to 16 seconds. [hr][/hr]
Change fight room timer duration: Change the timer to 45 seconds instead of 30, this should make them a lot more doable while still being challenging. [hr][/hr]
NERF - SPIRIT SWORD: Duration of the spell has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Ai and damage is unchanged. [hr][/hr]
NERF - RAVAGING SPHERES: Damage output of the spell has been slightly reduced [hr][/hr]
BUFF - GLACIAL SPIKES: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
NERF - SHATTERING STARS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
NERF - MAGMA COMETS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
BUFF - KI BLAST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
BUFF - DARK BURST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
NERF - N012 ELECTRIC SCALPELS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
NERF - LIGHTSPEED FIST: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
Minibosses and Zodiacs now spawn one spell / one gambit and one slot unlocker. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Carnivorous Plants collider hitbox has been improved. [hr][/hr]
Reduced heals from Resting Rooms, from Zodiacs bosses rewards, and crystal healing shards are less frequents on enemies. [hr][/hr]
Common Spells are more frequent now.

Level Design

Removed some of the W2 geyser trap in the special exploration room so they don't bother you when trying to equip newly acquired loot.

Interface

community inspired Dialogues are now skippable with ""enter"" and mouse inputs [hr][/hr]
community inspired When leaving a run, warning message about losing current progression has been added.

Narrative Design

Fixed a minor issue with a french dialog displayed while being in english in the settings.

Bug Fixes

Game would bug after trying to unlock the last 3 colors of the Stylist NPC [hr][/hr]
Lottery could have chest stacking giving way too many rewards. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Zodiacs not attacking from times to times. [hr][/hr]
community inspired One color from Oloon was not unlockable. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Gambits affecting ""elites or higher"" were not affecting minibosses. [hr][/hr]
Astral Spirits now runaway when being hit once. [hr][/hr]
community inspired ""NaN"" displayed on Botanist interface. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Spells/Gambits could spawn inside walls.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-20 20:48:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

0.31.3

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

community inspired New Resolution Quality graphic option: It's possible now to reduce resolution quality through the game graphic options. This should help players with weaker graphic boards to player the game with better FPS

Small Features

Change the description of Summon Yalee Gambits, they will now display the number of Yalee that will be summoned at once. [hr][/hr]
Change the description of ""Elite or Higher"" gambits to ""Elite or boss"" [hr][/hr]
Disabled the context dialog of getting a spell in intro room. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Healing shards now restore 10 hp to players if they are full of shards when collecting it.

Balancing

Sagittarius summon nerf: Nerfed the duration of Sagittarius summon from 20 to 16 seconds. [hr][/hr]
Change fight room timer duration: Change the timer to 45 seconds instead of 30, this should make them a lot more doable while still being challenging. [hr][/hr]
NERF - SPIRIT SWORD: Duration of the spell has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Ai and damage is unchanged. [hr][/hr]
NERF - RAVAGING SPHERES: Damage output of the spell has been slightly reduced [hr][/hr]
BUFF - GLACIAL SPIKES: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
NERF - SHATTERING STARS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
NERF - MAGMA COMETS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
BUFF - KI BLAST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
BUFF - DARK BURST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented. [hr][/hr]
NERF - N012 ELECTRIC SCALPELS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
NERF - LIGHTSPEED FIST: Damage output of the spell has been reduced. [hr][/hr]
Minibosses and Zodiacs now spawn one spell / one gambit and one slot unlocker. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Carnivorous Plants collider hitbox has been improved. [hr][/hr]
Reduced heals from Resting Rooms, from Zodiacs bosses rewards, and crystal healing shards are less frequents on enemies. [hr][/hr]
Common Spells are more frequent now.

Level Design

Removed some of the W2 geyser trap in the special exploration room so they don't bother you when trying to equip newly acquired loot.

Interface

community inspired Dialogues are now skippable with ""enter"" and mouse inputs [hr][/hr]
community inspired When leaving a run, warning message about losing current progression has been added.

Narrative Design

Fixed a minor issue with a french dialog displayed while being in english in the settings.

Bug Fixes

Game would bug after trying to unlock the last 3 colors of the Stylist NPC [hr][/hr]
Lottery could have chest stacking giving way too many rewards. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Zodiacs not attacking from times to times. [hr][/hr]
community inspired One color from Oloon was not unlockable. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Gambits affecting ""elites or higher"" were not affecting minibosses. [hr][/hr]
Astral Spirits now runaway when being hit once. [hr][/hr]
community inspired ""NaN"" displayed on Botanist interface. [hr][/hr]
community inspired Spells/Gambits could spawn inside walls.

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-20 20:47:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - April 2022 - 0.30.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Added an option to reduce fullscreen quality for low settings [hr][/hr]
Dedicated Graphic Card picking: It was possible that for some users for their dedicated graphic card to not get picked to run the game in previous versions. Now the game should prioritize using the computer didicated graphic card

Small Features

Performances improvements on effects on enemies [hr][/hr]
Performances improvements on World 2 level design elements [hr][/hr]
Performances improvements on Falling Leaves

Interface

Hidden mouse cursor when playing with a controller

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-15 18:37:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - April 2022

Astral Ascent is now available on Steam Early Access!

[previewyoutube=PLVr-p3Hmx0;full][/previewyoutube] Let your friends and favorite content creators know about the game and don't hesitate to review the game on Steam! As we are self-publishing, we are even more counting on you! The whole team has worked hard to deliver the best possible 2D Rogue-lite we could create, here is what you can expect -

2 out of the 5 playable characters
5 out of the 12 Zodiacs bosses
2 out of the 4 Worlds to explore
2 minibosses
Fully Voiced dialogs
New Game Plus feature
Local co-op

And this is not the end, we will provide updates through the Early Access with new worlds, new Zodiacs, new playable characters and more! We will also try to provide assistance on bugs and polishing. Also, we have decided to only focus on Windows during Early Access but you can expect the game to be on Mac and Linux at the final release.

EARLY ACCESS KEYS

All Early Access keys have been sent by email to backers who either selected the Early Access pledge level or added a Steam Key as add-on to their pledges. Important note - Please check your Spams if you didn't receive your key yet, we still have more than 500 of you who received the email but did not open it, the email is named Astral Ascent - Early Access Steam Key - Kickstarter Reward.

Hard working team As always, have a wonderful day and great fun on the game! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-12 15:03:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - April 2022 - 0.29.5

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

The path of destinies (NG+): The New Game + challenges have been completely redone to be much more meaningful adding unique challenge to your future runs! [hr][/hr]
Add of French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean & Russian to the game [hr][/hr]
Added Zodiacs videos intro for each boss [hr][/hr]
Added a lot of new Malices for Destiny Path system (and removed some old ones) [hr][/hr]
Bonus damage from multiple sources could sometimes not trigger and stack correctly (leading to wrong result on total damage output)

Small Features

Added new contextual dialogs.(Chameleon and sitting on a bench) [hr][/hr]
Addition of a Sun pieces multiplier by progressing in the New Game + challenges. (from x1.25 to x3) [hr][/hr]
Added new rare specials exploration room. [hr][/hr]
Base pool of spells changes: The default pool of available spells have been changed with the recent addition of several new spells to the game. [hr][/hr]
Pacification displayed 1% per stack while it was 5% [hr][/hr]
Overall polish of languages displayed text [hr][/hr]
NG+ features improved [hr][/hr]
Price cost to active a Malice is down to 2 destiny fragment [hr][/hr]
Zim-Zim does not sell world 3 and world 4 updates anymore for now [hr][/hr]
Cetus is not dancing anymore when we are checking spells to equip [hr][/hr]
Optimisation on Andromeda's room [hr][/hr]
Added a lot of new Malices for Destiny Path system (and removed some old ones) [hr][/hr]
Several objects had too much radial blur, we could see sprites borders [hr][/hr]
NG+ Random Malus are better displayed when several of them on screen and last longer so we can read them [hr][/hr]
Better lisibility on Ghost enemies from NG+ [hr][/hr]
Added bilinear to NG+ UI [hr][/hr]
Added NG+ icons to the NG+ menu [hr][/hr]
Changed camera behavior in most specific rooms [hr][/hr]
Added multiplier for Sun Pieces during runs for NG+ [hr][/hr]
Chamaeleon unlock now triggers an achievement [hr][/hr]
When equipping a spell, spell on ground is now closed [hr][/hr]
Optimization in Pavo's room

Balancing

Virog summon damage have been slightly nerfed. [hr][/hr]
Faster level ups: The required XP points to level up have been reduced overall to make progression and unlocks faster. [hr][/hr]
Damage dealt by Fire portals in World 2 have been buffed. [hr][/hr]
Bonus damage buff have been nerfed to +50% instead of +100% damage. [hr][/hr]
Poison stacks damage have been slightly nerfed. [hr][/hr]
Reduced NG+ heal reduction from -40% to -30% [hr][/hr]
Mushroom spawner in world 1 have a bigger cooldown between spawn of fungal beings. [hr][/hr]
""Luck"" from Zim-Zim now gives 25% chances per level instead of 10% [hr][/hr]
Lava Spiders projeciles speed is divided by 2 when bouncing on solids

Level Design

Level design global polish [hr][/hr]
Improved some visual glitches in special rooms

Music & SFX

Added SFX to 28 spells and NG+ features

Interface

Vertical navigation in main menu is more precise with left stick [hr][/hr]
Unusable options in menus are now darker instead of invisible [hr][/hr]
Global polish on main menu interface [hr][/hr]
Return option on main menu adapts color to background color [hr][/hr]
Aura interface was displaying ""already unlocked"" on locked spells sometimes [hr][/hr]
P2 input sidescreen was hidden if sidescreen text was too long [hr][/hr]
Constellation UI now loops [hr][/hr]
If not enough tickets with Oloon, sun pieces counter would become red [hr][/hr]
New Input for Sire Bapy to collect all rewards at once [hr][/hr]
Player 2 can now move in Main Menu

Bug Fixes

Quartz were giving x3 for each quartz [hr][/hr]
Elite Shields were getting bigger with time + made sizes more accurate [hr][/hr]
Leo had broken SFX when being summoned [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius weapon could sometimes end up in front of her when you summoned another Zodiac against her [hr][/hr]
Healing orbs could heal dead players in co-op [hr][/hr]
Contextual dialog about having a lot of money and low life were playing at start of each new room [hr][/hr]
Sometimes players could get stuck with slodown buffer from enemy elite modificators [hr][/hr]
SFX was not displayed anymore on -> collecting aura effect -> spawning bosses chests (boss disappears) -> receiving bosses summon [hr][/hr]
Some spells were targetting NG+ ghosts like Magma Comet [hr][/hr]
Magma Comet and Shattering Stars spells were not spawning in the loot pool [hr][/hr]
Pointers to NPCs on hub could not display correctly at times that NPC had new upgrades for player [hr][/hr]
Player inventory could suddenly disapear in some ocaions during co-op mode [hr][/hr]
Challenge UI could display failed challenge objectives on top of each other [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius fire tentacles attack had no cooldown [hr][/hr]
Run progress UI (displayed when near portals) could display wrong info about current/next world [hr][/hr]
Destiny Path info on pause menu (displayed during runs) could sometimes behave wierdly (not showing up or overlaping other menu objects) [hr][/hr]
NPCs could sometimes move position in front of player when re-rolling dialogs [hr][/hr]
NPCs could sometimes move position in front of player when re-rolling dialogs [hr][/hr]
Contextual text about ""feeling better"" everytime we used crystal shards [hr][/hr]
Mana points were hidden behind the Fireballs spells after tutorial [hr][/hr]
Level design ingredients descriptions banners could be below other level design ingredients [hr][/hr]
Spawned missiles around players would grab any close particles spawned [hr][/hr]
NG+ sun pieces multiplicator could give float sun pieces to player [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs defeated while invisible would remain invisible [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs defeated while frozen would be invisible [hr][/hr]
If Leo was defeated during his spin attack, the associated SFX would never end [hr][/hr]
Lupus ultimate projectiles could spin forever [hr][/hr]
Removed collision with NG+ ghosts [hr][/hr]
Sidescreens could bug when moving from Sova to Kiran [hr][/hr]
Dialog icons in hub were often behind NPCs [hr][/hr]
Vulnerability was displaying 5% per stack while it was 3%

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-04-12 09:39:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - March 2022

Announcement video

[previewyoutube=DbPahcF2jnY;full][/previewyoutube]

Astral Ascent is coming to Steam Early Access on April 12!

The whole team would like to thank you for the great support you have given us since the Kickstarter campaign started, we are now days away from releasing our first self-published game and it means a lot to us so thank you again for making this possible.

Fully voiced

We are so happy to tell you that we will have every dialogs voiced (English) for the Early Access release. We have worked with insanely talented voice actors, they gave life to each character and we absolutely love the result. [previewyoutube=epzfgcQy2k4;full][/previewyoutube]

New Game Plus

We have been hard working on the NG+ elements for some time and we were not really happy with what we had because we used to have small changes for each level. We changed that to focus on 12 levels of NG+ and each level makes a real change by making the game more fun & challenging. You will find elements such as :

Dead enemies can revive as zombies
Bosses now have elite modificators
Elites are much more frequent and dangerous
and much more...

It can quickly become very hard to deal with and we cannot wait to see how far you will be able to go with this system! This system will evolve with time as we do not have all the Zodiacs in the game yet.

Have a wonderful day and see you for the release date! -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-03-31 14:50:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - March 2022 - 0.25.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Lottery Rework: Improved visuals for the lottery coming with a new and mysterious NPC that you will meet in various places [hr][/hr]
New Spells: Many new spells to try and experiment [hr][/hr]
Added a new intro cutscene before intro tutorial, when starting a new game

Small Features

Rework Introduction room: Visual and level design changes [hr][/hr]
We removed the bestiary feature from hub [hr][/hr]
Fixed exploit from Pavo's room (invincibility spell, dashing & barrier spell) [hr][/hr]
Increased performances in Death Recap's room [hr][/hr]
Dummies move less when being hit [hr][/hr]
Default keyboard controls have been changed [hr][/hr]
Staying idle too long in Andromeda's bar would unselect potions to buy [hr][/hr]
Feathers use are better explained [hr][/hr]
Barbecue was wrongly placed in Death Recap reward phase [hr][/hr]
Capricorn destroyed book are better feedbacked [hr][/hr]
End of level rewards are now only in co-op [hr][/hr]
Black Seeds enemies now predict better players movement to attack in advance [hr][/hr]
Taurus ultimate in co-op now has 2 jumps use per crystal in co-op [hr][/hr]
Player now dashes to the direction pressed in game pad over priority of direction that player sprite is facing [hr][/hr]
Game language is selected automatically depending on your steam settings [hr][/hr]
All the spells on inventory are better hightlighted when inventory is open (to hint that they can be selected to swap spells and equip gambits or feather)

Balancing

Removed the linked spells in intro room (with botanist upgrade)

Music & SFX

Added SFX on Scorpio meeting / Taurus Challenge and Leo Challenge [hr][/hr]
Added SFX when receiving currency from interface [hr][/hr]
New musics and improvements added for various places

Interface

Windowed options are now unavailable while fullscreen [hr][/hr]
You can now confirm category on merchant interface to get to latest element to buy [hr][/hr]
Empty utility spell (from inventory) were displaying a N/A icon [hr][/hr]
Wrong player icons in coop during Death Recap [hr][/hr]
Input changed for co-op revive

Visuals

Polished some special hub animations [hr][/hr]
World 2 statue projectile trail is now smootherly destroyed [hr][/hr]
Polished feathers spawning and visuals [hr][/hr]
Spell level icon was pixelated on interface

Bug Fixes

community inspired You could farm highest damage achievements on Dummies [hr][/hr]
You could get stuck on Death Recap if you killed an enemy with XP point at the same frame [hr][/hr]
Icons above player head gameplay option was not working [hr][/hr]
Visual glitch on top left of the screen when entering controls menu [hr][/hr]
Flying platforms had a visual glitch when being activated [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius fire attack had no cooldown [hr][/hr]
World 2 golem flying rocks could not be destroyed [hr][/hr]
World 2 statues projectiles could be below level elements [hr][/hr]
Lupus projectiles could spin forever [hr][/hr]
Some achievements could not be validated (keys/stars use) [hr][/hr]
Andromeda dialog icon was in front of potions description [hr][/hr]
Sova saving player achievement was not working [hr][/hr]
community inspired You could fall from a platform in the hub [hr][/hr]
We could see a lock icon behind the feathers loot [hr][/hr]
Pavo would only sacrifice player 1 health even if player 2 does the input [hr][/hr]
In ""better performance"" a lot of particles were never destroyed [hr][/hr]
Fixed some bugs related to music system (music could start in the wrong moments, or not fade out correctly) [hr][/hr]
Player now dashes to the direction pressed in game pad over priority of direction that player sprite is facing [hr][/hr]
Game language is selected automatically depending on your steam settings [hr][/hr]
Fixed godrays (from sun object) being broken under some circunstances [hr][/hr]
Collecting stars curency after entering portal could retrieve wrong amount of stars [hr][/hr]
community inspired Game could behave wierdly when trying to switch between playable characters too fast [hr][/hr]
Aura descriptions in the Dragon npc could have broken text references

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-03-26 08:23:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - February 2022

First of all, we want to left you know that we are getting closer and closer to the Early Access release date, it's no longer a matter of years or months but it's a matter of weeks! Yes, we are that close and we will keep you updated about it.

New Playtest version!

This month update makes no exception, we have made many new changes into the game but the good news is that you can play right now with the Playtest version (dedicated patch-note of this version here) ! Do not hesitate to share your feedback about the game either here or on our Discord Server, this is truly helping us making the best possible game as we are currently looking for bugs, balancing and polish in order to be ready for the Early Access release.

Extra NPCs Animations

You might remember our last Stretch Goal from the Kickstarter campaign, we were so close to get it that we decided we would work on it anyway in order to thank you for the great success of this campaign.

We have already added a lot of new animations for the Garden folks, Papa Yalee even has new visuals.

Papa Yalee likes his new cat basket

Little Yalees studying potions

The peddler is working on some poetry These new animations make the Garden even more lively!

Spell level up!

We added a new progression system: the spell level system! Spells will now have a level going from 0 to 10. Each level will give the spell a bonus % damage, giving you the opportunity to make your favorite spells even stronger and also to make it interesting to change your builds more regularly as the loot rarity increases with your run worlds progression. We had this idea to solve the lack of incentives to change spells once you had 4 different spells, it makes things much more dynamic and interesting in the long run.

Leveling up a spell. This system introduces a new kind of loot: the peacock feather! This is used to gain spell levels and make them more powerful, it is a new room reward with gambits/spells and crystals. They come in several rarities giving from +1 or +2 levels to a whooping +5 for the legendary gold feather!

2 New Constellations NPCs and rooms: Cetus and Pavo

In our research of more runs variety and adding more unique Constellations NPCs (as we did with Andromeda before) we worked on 2 Constellations NPCs that come with two new rooms with unique mechanics: 1 - the Cetus room: A mysterious cave containing lots of treasures and baubles and waiting inside is not a fierce dragon but a giant whale, Cetus! This friendly creature will give you a choice between several categories of gambits and will give you 2 (or sometime 3) gambits of the specified kind. Don't forget to thank the creature on your way out!

Cetus in the cave. 2 - the Pavo room: A gorgeous sky structure that seems to be located in an entirely different world. Here, Pavo the peacock will granting you a feather to gain power from (increase spell level). If you feel greedy, you can also ask Pavo for more feather but everytime, you will need to sacrifice healthpoints to do so.

Pavo in his ruins. We hope you'll have fun discovering them in your next escape attempts!

Context dialog system!

We worked on a new system merging narration and gameplay and come up with what we call the context dialog system! This system is simple, in certain contexts when you go through the game, characters will start talking giving you sometimes advices on what's happening or simply greeting you! The heroes also react dynamically in a lot of situations making the global experience more dynamic.

context dialogs For now the voices are made with an AI but we are actively working on making quality voice-overs with great actors for the game.

Overall bosses rework!

We spent time to rework every bosses in the game, we've made the decision to make them faster and thus harder but we reworked visual feedbacks a lot to make them more readable and also changed some of their attacks. Also, even if they are harder now, you will always have an healing room option before bosses so you do not start a boss fight with no chances or no possibility to better understand the patterns. Zodiacs want fair fights and so do we but prepare for intense fights against those mighty warriors!

Be ready! We really hope you will appreciate all this new content we added, do not hesitate to send us feedback about it. Also, unlisted youtube videos with commented gameplay are extremely appreciated to help us understand better your reactions to the different situations. (the team speaks english, french & portuguese) Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Hard working team Have a wonderful day, -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-02-28 15:55:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - February 2022 - 0.24.0

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Room Types: The Cetus cave and the Pavo's ruins. [hr][/hr]
Botanist: Some abilities from botanist has been completely reworked [hr][/hr]
New level spell system: Spells can now have a lvl between 0 to 10. The bigger the spell level is, the more damage it'll deal [hr][/hr]
New loot type - Pavo's feather: Added a new loot type that player can be equiped into a spell to increase its spell level

Small Features

Player should have more control over character after dashing [hr][/hr]
It's possible to change player direction mid spell casting, before spell commit frame [hr][/hr]
Relic 55 (poison orb) icon integrated [hr][/hr]
Improved new char unlock screen [hr][/hr]
Some enemies are not backstable anymore [hr][/hr]
Sylvanian thorns are now instantly destroyed when the monster is killed [hr][/hr]
Money counters now reach final amount much faster (it could be annoying when collecting large amounts of Sun Pieces) [hr][/hr]
community inspired Life orbs from life trees are not collected automatically anymore [hr][/hr]
Spell UI on inventory now matches the UI for spell on loots [hr][/hr]
Some player spells makes player invincible during casting animation [hr][/hr]
Virgo: Rework of Virgo attacks and patterns [hr][/hr]
Leo : Improvement of Leo patterns [hr][/hr]
Pegasus and Lupus (mini bosses): Improvement of patterns and attacks [hr][/hr]
New Botanist perks : Elemental blessings, Weakness exploit and Extra choice [hr][/hr]
Removed botanist perks: Backstab [hr][/hr]
Carnivorous plant now have a bigger hitbox [hr][/hr]
Uspell 17 - Poisons Chains: The chains now break when enemy becomes invisible (like Virgo) [hr][/hr]
Papa Yalee was overlapping his own interface [hr][/hr]
Achievements are now displayed at the bottom of the screen [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius: Ultimate arrows deal less damage now [hr][/hr]
NPCs dialog bubbles are always showing above npc sprite now [hr][/hr]
In Co-op, two players cannot inspect at the same time a loot anymore to avoid overlapping interfaces [hr][/hr]
World 2 flying enemy has its meteor destroyed when killed [hr][/hr]
It's possible to get the chance to buy a ""super drink"" from andromeda bar. Super drinks increase all stats at once #REF! #REF! [hr][/hr]
Added a small intro scene with Ayla talking, played before intro tutorial

Balancing

Nerfed Pegasus and Lupus HP value overall [hr][/hr]
More chances to find the andromeda's room

Narrative Design

Context dialog system with placeholder voices

Bug Fixes

Player movement speed could sometimes not get back to normal after certain action [hr][/hr]
community inspired Spirit Swords could attack bosses before the fight starts [hr][/hr]
Elites modificators were stuck on only one modificator type (Toxic Vines) [hr][/hr]
Capricorn meteor feedback would never disappear if killed during the attack [hr][/hr]
The icon that hints the ""continue"" input for dialogs was sometimes not displaying correctly [hr][/hr]
Game could freeze for a few seconds after entering merchant room [hr][/hr]
Aggro management in Co-op would keep increasing during pauses [hr][/hr]
community inspired During Taurus' boss fight, swords could focus a dead player in co-op [hr][/hr]
Sagittarius: Ultimate arrows could hit even when player was dashing [hr][/hr]
World 2 fire nagas could hit multiple times very fast when charging + some particles were sometimes not destroyed [hr][/hr]
Spell 102 - Poison Tornado: Player could remain stuck after dashing during this spell [hr][/hr]
Elite modificator slowing enemies was remaining on player in some occasions [hr][/hr]
World 1 Wooden Guardian laser feedback could remain on ground when killed at a specific moment [hr][/hr]
It was possible to have a fight room with no enemies spawn [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs could sometimes not correct disappear after being interacted with in fight rooms [hr][/hr]
HUB npcs have a pointer to it's position in case they have something new unlocked for player

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-02-28 14:45:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - January 2022 - 0.23.1

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Stone altar rework: Mana stone has been replaced for brand new ""Attack speed stone"". Values for ""Life stone"" and ""Damage stone"" has been balanced

Small Features

More Narration: Added narration and extended french translation [hr][/hr]
Added better feedback on ""side screen tip"" for the multiplayer revive input [hr][/hr]
Carnivorous plant from W1 is easier to dodge now [hr][/hr]
Enemies and some other objects can be spawned facing diferent directions [hr][/hr]
Some drops (crystal, life/mana orbs) are now able to be collected faster [hr][/hr]
Keys spawned from little chest are placed higher [hr][/hr]
Achievements pop-up now display progression [hr][/hr]
Enemies affected by ""Electrify"" effect can also get ministunned [hr][/hr]
""Freeze"" effect last longer on enemies [hr][/hr]
Little chest found on exploration runs doesn't contain heal and mana anymore. Instead it can have different type of currencies. [hr][/hr]
Life tree: A new ""Life tree"" object can be found during exploration rooms. This is the new source of small amount of heals during runs. [hr][/hr]
During runs, there will always be a ""Quiet room"" option to pick between portals before a ""Boss room"". [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs can now be frozen when reaching 10 freeze stacks, but they break out of it instantly [hr][/hr]
Text of damage dealt on enemies are displayed differently. No more multiple text object spawned in short period of times, damage count is stacked in one singe text object instead [hr][/hr]
New visual asset for Zodiac challenges chests [hr][/hr]
Elites modificators: 4 new elites modificators have been added + improved all the existing ones [hr][/hr]
Increased lisibility by making a lot of visual FX much faster and added opacity on some of them [hr][/hr]
We could not reset merchant options if every options were bought already. [hr][/hr]
Spells Behavior: Improved gamefeel of a lot of spells [hr][/hr]
Hub NPCs: Improved navigation for most of NPCs interfaces [hr][/hr]
Taurus: Attacks are a bit faster & improvement of one attack [hr][/hr]
Capricorn: Polish of existing attacks and feedbacks [hr][/hr]
Virgo: Start of polishing, still patterns to be improved [hr][/hr]
Increased players base movement speed

Balancing

Keys reward for Fight rooms are capped at minimum 2 keys and maximum 4 keys [hr][/hr]
Buffed damage on Ayla signatures spells: - Explosive clone - Moon arch [hr][/hr]
Buffed damage on Kiran signatures spells: - Angry fist - Heartbreaking uppercut [hr][/hr]
Nerfed damage on Kiran and Ayla basic spells [hr][/hr]
Adjusted cooldown values for several of the new auras: -Orbitting shields (1 spawn every 5 seconds instead of 7) -Frost daggers (1 spawn every 1.5 seconds instead of 3) -Fiery dash (1 spawn every 1.5 seconds instead of 3) [hr][/hr]
Zodiacs: Zodiacs are now attacking more often and have less idle phases.

Level Design

New placement for flame geysers in world 2

Miscellaneous

Polish on Slot Saving UI [hr][/hr]
Added fade in and reduced volume of music in first layouts (data gathering and devs message) [hr][/hr]
When arriving on Main Menu while playing with controller, cursor would not be on ""Play"" requiring an extra move to get where the cursor is [hr][/hr]
Constellation selection polish [hr][/hr]
Patch note display on Main Menu is better feedbacked

Bug Fixes

Relic altar could bug after opening player inventory, equiping unwanted relics [hr][/hr]
Fixed dialog in bar room where lines didn't display correct character that was speaking [hr][/hr]
Players had no animation while collecting Zodiac summon chest [hr][/hr]
Relic NPC appearing animation is displayed before triggering dialog, during first meet event [hr][/hr]
Some sounds were not being triggered correctly [hr][/hr]
Relic that spawned ice projectiles was spawning wrong projectiles amount [hr][/hr]
Fix Saggitarius Arrow / Missiles and Yalee projectiles behaviour. They won't be targetting Capricorn books anymore [hr][/hr]
It was possible for some dialogs to not trigger correctly [hr][/hr]
Challenge music added in Capricorn and Sagittarius challenge room [hr][/hr]
New character unlock display is now preloaded - hotfix 0.23.1

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-01-28 18:39:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - January 2021

Welcome to 2022

We hope you spent a good time during the holidays! On our side, the studio members took a well deserved holiday break and had a great time. We feel reinvigorated and we are very motivated for this upcoming exciting year to work on Astral Ascent!

New playtest version is here!

How to better start the year than with a brand new Playtest version? We have been delaying this new version as we wanted to do a major update with polished content before collecting your thoughts about it, this new version includes:

the Red barrens (second world of the game) with new enemies / challenges
5 new bosses to face (Virgo, Leo, Sagittarius, Lupus & Pegasus)
3 new room types to discover
2 new hub NPCs to meet with new progression systems
10+ new Auras
13 new spells to use
and plenty more...

You can check the dedicated patch-note here, it is probably not complete as the update was so massive but we tried to be exhaustive.

Virgo, Sagittarius and Leo

How to participate?

You need to have the Playtest app unlocked on your Steam account, if you already have it the new version will update automatically, if you do not have it already:

Join our Discord Server and follow our Kickstarter Assistant instructions in the #kickstarter-rewards channel to get your backer Discord role.
React in the #playtests-register channel to get the Playtester role.
Welcome to the #playtests channel where you can ask for a key.
Use the key in Steam.

Can I keep my saves from previous Playtest?

Your last playtest saves will be saved if they were from 0.21.10 or more, if you lost your saves you can now press LB and RB while launching the game to skip the intro tutorial.

Can I help you or share my thoughts?

We have created a new survey here to collect your thoughts about this new version. We have improved the game a lot thanks to your previous feedbacks so thank you if you take the time to answer it this time again. You can also create suggestions tickets in the #suggestions channel of the Discord Server. Unlisted commented Youtube videos (without comments is fine too) are extremely appreciated so we can better see how you react to the game elements.

New level elements - the Red barrens is complete!

The second world of the game is now content complete, we have recently added new traps that will appear on the explorations room to make those rooms more dangerous and lively. We did not want to add traps at the beginning of the development but we love how it turned out. You'll see that they also are tools to deal damages to your enemies.

Fire geysers

Fire Statue We have also added new traps in the Fragmented Plains (first world), these elements only appear in the Exploration rooms to make them feel more unique and more rhythmed.

Carnivorous Plant

New unique auras - new gimmick effects

For some time, we felt that Auras lacked funny and gameplay-changing elements, we decided to work on this giving unique gimmicks to work with and create combo with other effects! There is plenty of new Auras to discover and new interesting combos between the Auras or between Auras and Gambits, we hope you'll like them as much as we do!

Aura combo explosive dash + fire projectiles

Achievements and Auras NPCs

We have also added new content to the main hub: Two new NPCs have joined the cast! The first one is a familiar face, Sieur Bapy from the Kickstarter stretch goals has finally arrived at the hub and will now keep track of your achievements and even giving you extra rewards to help you during your journey.

Sieur Bapy Achievement menu The second one is a mysterious and ancient being that everyone named Dragon for obvious reasons. You will now be able to get access to new auras to unlock during your next adventures!

Aura NPC

World balancing changes and Salvage mechanic

One of the main changes we have made since the previous version is changing the structure of the runs:

Fight rooms will now exclusively give keys - merchants became much more important
Higher tier loots are rarer than before - collecting gambits became more interesting
Exploration rooms have been shortened - experience is more dynamic all around

Those changes implied a lot of changes on progression during runs and, if you try the new version, you will see that it's quite different from what we had before, all of your feedbacks regarding thoses changes are welcomed! Among the progression changes, we decided to add a salvage mechanic to the game, giving you the possibility to salvage unwanted spells/gambits and tranform them into quartz to use in the next shop, you can also salvage Auras into difficulty stars. It is now always exciting to find these rewards because if they are not fitting your current build you will still get currency to invest in something you need for your build at next merchant.

We really hope you will appreciate all this new content as much as we do. Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Hard working team Have a wonderful day, -The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-01-14 18:16:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - January 2022

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

New Zodiac - VIRGO: Added Virgo as a new boss to battle in world 1 [hr][/hr]
New Zodiac - LEO: Added Leo as a new boss to battle in world 2 [hr][/hr]
New Zodiac - SAGITTARIUS: Added Sagittarius as a new boss to battle in world 2 [hr][/hr]
New challenge - TAURUS: Acquire Taurus summon in an agilibity challenge [hr][/hr]
New challenge - CAPRICORN: Acquire Capricon summon in an mental challenge [hr][/hr]
New challenge - LEO: Acquire Leo summon in a strength challenge [hr][/hr]
New challenge - SAGITTARIUS: Acquire Sagittarius summon in a speed challenge [hr][/hr]
RED BARRENS are open!: 8 new enemies to fight and a whole new world to explore [hr][/hr]
New Level Design ingredients: World 2 level design ingredients [hr][/hr]
New common spells: Unlock and fight with unique new spells! [hr][/hr]
New room type - mini bosses: Fight 2 new Zodiacs as mini bosses [hr][/hr]
New room type - Andromeda's bar: Want to take a rest, visit Andromeda in this new room type [hr][/hr]
New room type - Hidden Yalee Kingdom: Free yalees and get bonuses in the hidden Yalee kingdom new room type [hr][/hr]
New NPC - Auras NPC: Unlock new Auras with your progression [hr][/hr]
New NPC - Achievements NPC: Get rewards for special achievements in hub [hr][/hr]
Bestiary feature in hub: Get more details of the enemies you meet with this new element in hub [hr][/hr]
NG+ system: Once you finished the challenges, discover a progressively more difficult experience [hr][/hr]
New Level Design traps: New traps will appear in exploration rooms for world 1 and world 2

Small Features

Taurus boss fight now has a dark background during Ultimate [hr][/hr]
New visual FX when we hit with Ayla & Kiran [hr][/hr]
Updated VFX when an enemy appears [hr][/hr]
Rework spell 37 - Glacial Spikes: Spell is easier to use now [hr][/hr]
New signature spells: Fight with 5 new spells for Ayla and 5 new spells for Kiran [hr][/hr]
Added a small feedback when buying spell at merchant [hr][/hr]
Hitting ground with fast fall attack resets dash timer [hr][/hr]
Wooden Guardian and Elites minions do not appear anymore in Death Recap [hr][/hr]
NPC in hub have a clearer feedback when something is new [hr][/hr]
Exploding Mushroom cannot be elites anymore [hr][/hr]
Potion use is now instant and anim is triggered only if no other anim [hr][/hr]
New auras: 10 new auras to discover [hr][/hr]
community inspired Salvage mechanic: Spells, gambits and auras can be salvaged to gain a good amount of quartz [hr][/hr]
Co-op revive: Reworked and improved the Co-op revive mechanic [hr][/hr]
Co-op now has its own tutorial

Balancing

Non elites enemies do not loot spells/gambits anymore [hr][/hr]
Zodiac damage changes: damage inflicted by Taurus and Capricorn have been adjusted

Miscellaneous

UI display for new playable characters

Bug Fixes

Level design elements could make sun color glitch [hr][/hr]
Game saves are lost everytime we launch the game - hotfix 0.22.1 [hr][/hr]
Lupus AI was disabled - hotfix 0.22.2 [hr][/hr]
Disabled W2 Geyser looping SFX as sometimes it would never stop - hotfix 0.22.2

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2022-01-14 10:19:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - September 2021

Painted figure preview

During last update, we made a poll to get your opinion about having Ayla fully painted (for no extra cost) and making it available on our Backerkit store to cover the additional costs from manufacturer. You were 98.2% voting yes! So the figure is available again on the store. We also received the first pictures, not final, from Limited Run Games manufacturer painted version and we love it!

preview of Ayla painted figure (21cm height), not final!

New Playtest version is here - 0.21.0

Thanks so much to everyone who joined our Playtests sessions on our Discord Server. We registered 171 unique testers and 56 of you took time to answer our gameplay survey. This helped us a lot! Playstests allow us to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the game and a lot of changes were made according to the feedbacks we received. Seeing many people sharing an opinion confirms that something needs to be changed on a specific feature. An example of that is that several players reported utility spells were slow to use so we made them instant and you can now do it while performing any other animation and it is much better!

Kiran performing teleport utility spell during one of his attacks

0.21.0 is here! We have just launched 0.21.0 on Steam Playtests branch (visible on game main menu). It also comes with a new survey if you have the time to fill it after playing it would be very nice. To keep track of all the changes that we do, we decided to create Patch notes for each updates that we make. You can see the Patch notes dedicated to this new update here. This version should be the one used for Steam Next Festival starting October 1st. These Playtests sessions are like a pre early access as we are able to collect many meaningful feedbacks and we are training to make frequent and stables updates so we can keep a similar rhythm during Early Access. If you have not joined the Playtests yet and want to, please check our previous update to see the steps to join.

More news

We have created many things for 0.21.0 like new level design elements that will give more variety to the fights and exploration as you can see below: [previewyoutube=YU1Mj5Eb1fY;full][/previewyoutube]

Exploding Dandelion weaken the enemies defenses We have also created a new gambit type that allows you to unlock a gambit slot on a spell. This will be very useful for long runs to create the best possible builds.

Past months were mostly focused on improve the existing content of the game but we think we have recently reached (with 0.21.0 update) the level of quality we wanted to have in the game. Early Access is our next milestone and will now put all our efforts toward it with new summoning, new challenges, world 2 integration and new bosses fight for Virgo, Leo and Sagittarius.

Finally we would like to let you know that we absolutely love how the game is shaping up and your recent feedbacks were very good and motivating too. Don't forget about our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to discuss about the game development, Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-11-25 16:12:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - September 2021

Painted figure preview

preview of Ayla painted figure (21cm height), not final!

New Playtest version is here - 0.21.0

Kiran performing teleport utility spell during one of his attacks

More news

[ 2021-10-26 07:50:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Ascent - Stream (Oct 1st)

Team members of Hibernian Workshop will be there to answer your questions on our LIVE page featuring our brand new demo of Astral Ascent while great streamers will be playing the game! Starting 8PM PST on October 1st https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280930/Astral_Ascent/

[ 2021-10-01 07:14:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - September 2021

Painted figure preview

preview of Ayla painted figure (21cm height), not final!

New Playtest version is here - 0.21.0

Kiran performing teleport utility spell during one of his attacks

More news

[ 2021-09-22 17:56:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes - September 2021

Changes inspired by our community!

Major Features

Added new GAMBIY SLOT UNLOCKER: New loot type that can be used to unlock a locked gambit spell slot

Small Features

New icon for intro rooms [hr][/hr]
Crystal shard altar in merchant room and astral chest + difficulty points altar in rest room [hr][/hr]
New visual assets in the Garden [hr][/hr]
No more stuck on loading screen if player has outdated data [hr][/hr]
community inspired Changed dialog characters brightness to be smoother [hr][/hr]
Utility spells do not have animations anymore [hr][/hr]
Capricorn books should be easier to hit now [hr][/hr]
community inspired Magnect attack revamp: Players have more control towards targets of magnect attacks. Flying enemies should also be easier to hit now. [hr][/hr]
New level progress icons for intro world rooms [hr][/hr]
Change of camera movement when falling and jumping to be smoother [hr][/hr]
Players can move during first frames of all common spells and some signature spells [hr][/hr]
When hurt in air, hurt animation is one frame smaller to feel smoother [hr][/hr]
Spells icons are better displayed when inspecting spell at merchant [hr][/hr]
New animations for botanist [hr][/hr]
Small yalees randomly spawning in the hub [hr][/hr]
Yalee tickets are found only after unlocking Papa Yalee NPC [hr][/hr]
Astral Chest: Spawned only if player has at least one key in inventory; Reworked the smaller reward [hr][/hr]
New animation on characters for certain common spells [hr][/hr]
New UI tutorial for first time aquiring a Zodiac summon [hr][/hr]
Summon Zodiac: Summon ready is not displayed at each new room anymore [hr][/hr]
Tweaked readibility for uSpell cooldown [hr][/hr]
Better lisibility on merchant assistant feedback when reseting spells [hr][/hr]
Improved lisibility for spell loot descriptions [hr][/hr]
New UI tutorial for helping changing body part colors using the Stylist [hr][/hr]
Improved quality of icons at the botanist [hr][/hr]
Improved visual feedback of Sylvanian Protector melee attack [hr][/hr]
Added white outline of fireballs spell in tutorial [hr][/hr]
Utility spell loots also have an outline like other spells so they are more visible [hr][/hr]
Small improviments on intro tutorial [hr][/hr]
Fight room portals now have feedback about how many key rewards will be received in the room [hr][/hr]
Botanist ability rework - ""Pocket Money EXTRA!!"": Now player gains a % of current crystal as bonus after picking a new room [hr][/hr]
Changed formula to calculate rarity tier of a spell [hr][/hr]
Added feedback to modificator description and loot depending on its rarity [hr][/hr]
Mana & Health orbs are now more visible and more spaced when displayed on ground [hr][/hr]
Now possible to preview spells sold by itnerant merchant [hr][/hr]
Healing shards loot are now more visible [hr][/hr]
Improved UI healing shard icon lisibility [hr][/hr]
Crystal currency is now easier to pick up when in air after defeating an enemy [hr][/hr]
Jump Crystal LD ingredient: Added a period of no auto-attack after hitting a crystal and it now requires you to face the crystal or be close enough of it to trigger it [hr][/hr]
Taurus should now always be the first boss you meet in world 1 [hr][/hr]
New menu option to enable or disable data collection from players [hr][/hr]
Crystal spot altars now disappear [hr][/hr]
Started adding vibrations for controllers to the game [hr][/hr]
New feedback on UI when equipping a spell to try to make it more clear

Balancing

Enemies groups that spawn in battle room have been balanced [hr][/hr]
Big mushroom enemy health has been reduced [hr][/hr]
Improved cast time of Toxic Bomb spell [hr][/hr]
Capricorn is now more aggressive and a bit more dangerous [hr][/hr]
Healing shards altar now cost a bit more but gives 5 healing shards everytime [hr][/hr]
Made gambits on spells less frequent and unlocked gambit slots more frequent

Level Design

18 new exploration rooms have been added! [hr][/hr]
Bouncing mushroom will now appear in rooms. [hr][/hr]
Astro fruit will now appear in rooms. [hr][/hr]
Explosive dandelion will now appear in rooms. [hr][/hr]
Older exploration rooms have been reworked

Music & SFX

Various additions to SFX for common & utility spells [hr][/hr]
Each character has specific sound designs when hitting enemies with basic attacks [hr][/hr]
Added sound designs on Taurus fight

Narrative Design

Most dialogs reworked and new dialogs added [hr][/hr]
Replaced name of Relics by Auras in the game

Miscellaneous

Made save progression icon more visible [hr][/hr]
community inspired Constellation UI: Now explains what are the changes to be expected when picking a constellation [hr][/hr]
Swapped LT (utility spell) & RT (healing shards) on default controls [hr][/hr]
Added a warning to not quit while save progress icon is displayed. [hr][/hr]
Changed order of constellations on the dedicated interface [hr][/hr]
Changed default summoning input from L3 to R3

Bug Fixes

Missing platform in a specific room [hr][/hr]
community inspired Spells preview of boss spells would appear behind boss asset [hr][/hr]
community inspired Various small places with collision missing [hr][/hr]
Utility spells preview were overlapped by players [hr][/hr]
community inspired We could get stuck on death recap screen if an XP point was stuck in loop [hr][/hr]
community inspired Kiran ground fist attack could make player stuck in ceiling [hr][/hr]
Tips from some uSpells could show out of game camera view [hr][/hr]
Wooden guardian laser enemies should less often be stuck in platforms [hr][/hr]
Virgo challenge could trigger incorrectly in wrong layouts [hr][/hr]
Crystals loot from enemies could sometimes go through ceiling [hr][/hr]
Possible glitch that could make intro tutorial play all intro events at once [hr][/hr]
community inspired When a spell was above a gambit loot, the gambit loot was impossible to open [hr][/hr]
Added an invisible wall in the garden to avoid out of border situations [hr][/hr]
Background could remain dark if you killed Capricorn at the very start of his ultimate [hr][/hr]
Last element unlocked through Death Recap was not being unlocked correctly leading to Botanist ability impossible to unlock [hr][/hr]
Merchant spells descriptions texts could be cut if description was too long [hr][/hr]
Many utility spells could target invisible or inactive enemies and target effect would remain on these enemies [hr][/hr]
Unneeded elements were spawned with ingame texts leading to performance used for nothing [hr][/hr]
Relic about attack speed was displaying a wrong hint [hr][/hr]
Game could freeze during dialog choices [hr][/hr]
Game could start lag after interacting with spell loot [hr][/hr]
When two Wooden Guardian were firing lasers, only one laser would be visible [hr][/hr]
Wildgrass could remain stuck in infinite spinning [hr][/hr]
Sylvanian protector thorn attack was using too much ressources [hr][/hr]
Interface opacity was stuttering when fading out before a boss fight [hr][/hr]
Player Effects would be there forever if you go to next room before it fades out [hr][/hr]
Fixed some small bugs during navigation of main menu

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-09-22 10:27:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - August 2021

Last month we shared many design updates and a lot of changes all around the place and this month makes no exception: we did it again! And what better way to discover last changes than to discover them yourselves?

Playtests are open!

It is now possible for you to play the game right now through our Playtest versions of the game on Steam. We are making it available for backers and playtesters only (if you are not a backer yet you can pre-order on our Backerkit shop then contact us on our Discord Server) to get your feedback on the new mechanics and how you feel about the game even if it has a lot of work-in-progress elements. For now it is focused on an improved version of our demo but we hope to maintain these Playtests open during the coming months to share with you more content and get your feedback about it.

Embark now for playtests! HOW TO PARTICIPATE First, join our Discord Server. Once you claimed your backer role, you can see #playtests-register channel and get a special playtester role there that gives you access to private #playtests channel where you will be guided and receive a Steam Playtest key.

Iterating is key for rogue-lites!

We are now working on Astral Ascent for more than 2 years and it became clear to us that rogue-lites fun comes from the variety of situations you can find and this variety comes from iterations. We keep improving every aspect of the game and it turns out absolutely great! Most team members are playing the game on their free time because they are loving the how the game evolves so we think we are on the right track. Here is a selection of our recent work: Virgo animations are complete, she will be a very fast boss, be prepared!

Virgo - one of the 12 Zodiacs! We have reworked the hub currency, it is now called "Sun Pieces" as we thought it would be easier to talk about it if it has a name and an unique shape and color. It comes with a new currency named Yalee Tickets for the stylist. As the stylist upgrades are only visuals it felt weird to use the same currency than the one that improves your gameplay. Yalee tickets can be found during your runs!

Debug to test new currencies Stress-test of the reworked version of the freeze effect. It is now slowing down enemies before reaching the 10 stacks to freeze!

Burn effects now set stacks on nearby enemies when exploding and it can become very devastating!

We have also created balloons for merchants as it felt like a perfect way of locomotion in this aerial world (and also because we thought it was cool!).

We did not remember this narrative piece and even our Narrative designer did not remember it writing it but who wants to play Chesskers?

We are on all fronts as we now have all enemies from worlds 4 designed and all enemies from world 3 coded. We think that we will need to work on a lot of different matters once we release the game in early access and we want to deliver frequent updates with new content so it is important to us to start making this content before the early access release.

Concept of world 4 enemy We have created a lot of new effects to add the variety we talked about earlier. Here are 3 of these new effects : [olist]

yalee madness: every spell launched spawns a yalee for a short period of time

transe: spells cost no mana for a short period of time

movespeed: player moves faster for a short period of time [/olist] There is more effects and the most interesting part is of course the combinaison and builds you can create by mixing them!

New work-in-progress elements for The Garden

Papa Yalee new background

This is secret for now! We hope you like these monthly updates! On our side it is always great to look behind and see all the progress that has been made recently. Don't forget about our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to discuss about the game development, Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-08-27 15:33:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Difficulty rework, improvements and opening playtest sessions

Last month we mainly focused on new enemies and a new boss fight but this month contains a wide range of improvements, this bouncing toad fellow is very excited:
We really love this world 3 enemy, it has became one of our mascot!

New mechanics

We have added a giant crystal you can destroy to gain crystals money, it feels very satisfying to do.

We have also reworked the Shards Altar. Old behavior: it used to give you 1 shard for free 3 times when holding button. It took a lot of time and it was slowing run pace. New behavior: you only need to interact once to get the 3 shards but they now cost you crystals to get. You can purchase as many as you want but these altars share a crystal counter price that increases for your whole run!

The altar also has a new look that we did not implement yet One more mechanic we added is related to Fight Rooms (waves of enemies) where Zodiacs can appear and give you extra challenges (more elites enemies, don't get hit during the fight etc). If you success you will get even more rewards but if you fail you won't get anything so be careful! Finally, we added a new enemy that will try to run away and escape, if you can capture it, you will get special rewards!

Difficulty rework & key currency

We have done an important rework with difficulty points. We wanted to have it in our Kickstarter demo but had not enough time to implement it. First thing is that difficulty points that used to be red skulls in the demo are now blue stars and instead of being limited from 1 to 3 points they are now from 1 to 6 and display the actual difficulty of the room instead of a difficulty based on current progression like it used to be. (it was confusing because a first room difficulty 3 was much easier than a last level difficulty 1)

These difficulty points can be used in dedicated altars that can give you crystals or astral keys (we explain keys very soon). You can find these altars in merchant rooms and in first rooms of each new worlds.

You can also unlock the astral keys when defeating fight rooms:

But what to do with these keys? At specific moments you will be able to spend either one key to have a small reward or three keys to have a stone altar or relic altar.

This looks a bit complicated on paper but it plays really well! The design decision behind this change comes from our will to create a link between different room types. We want main rewards to be in Exploration Rooms but we think Fight Rooms (waves of enemies) are really fun too so now to maximize your explorations you need keys that you can find in the other room type. It makes room choices even more strategic too.

More elements

Our art team thinks that world 1 is visually outdated in comparison with next worlds (all worlds are nearly complete) so we started to improve the first assets. Constance, our first intern since the creation of the studio, is making great work about it:

We are also working on "defensive spells", we had gravity ball & 2 more in the Kickstarter demo but they were not good enough but really few people used them so we are completely reworking them. First spell we made is a teleport:

We call them defensive because they do not deal damage to enemies but it can be movement spells, adding effects stacks to enemies and even more: anything that does not deal damage. Also they use cooldown instead of mana points. If you have any suggestions for these spells we would be really happy to know about it in our #suggestions channel on our Discord Server. We are also making a lot of new gambits and relics for Early Access, we know some were not good enough on Kickstarter demo so we removed them and we are working on new ones like these auto-target missiles:

Last small element we added is a "snap-jump" when jumping on platforms: you will get on it much easier.

We aim to have most of these new mechanics in our new demo of the game that should be up around October 2021. Your feedback were very useful during the Kickstarter demo and we really value having your opinion on the game so we created a new channel on our Discord Server. Once you claimed your backer role (directly contact an admin to get it if you backed on Backerkit shop), you can see #playtests-register channel and get a special playtester role there that gives you access to private #playtests channel where we will ask people to join exclusive playtests sessions during the coming months. Don't forget about our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to discuss about the game development, Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-07-15 12:47:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Enemies Reveal and Leo boss fight

Time for a new update, we will trying to keep the pace of a new update every month to keep sharing with you what is happening on our side for Astral Ascent.

Enemies update

This is it, all Red Barrens (world 2) enemies are implemented and they are amazing! We learned so much since the Fragmented Plains (world 1) and made enemies with better patterns and better feelings as you can see below:

Be careful of his fire spear, it does not only hit once.

Complete rework of the Wrath Spirit It took us time and dedication to reach the level of quality we wanted to have and we think it was really worth it when we see the results and how fun and clear these enemies fights are. It is obviously a great news but it made us go back to first world to improve the existing enemies. We mostly did visual improvements but not only as we even reworked a complete enemy as you can see below:

We improved a lot the visual elements on the projectile and the enemy for the Log-bear.

Wooden Guardian now spawns several Black Seeds at once but has a limit of simultaneously controlled minions. Also, his laser timing remains the same but the visual feedback appears a bit before and follows you for better comprehension.

We reworked 2 of the 3 attacks of the Sylvanian Protector as we felt his attacks were as good as they should be. He is a bit more dangerous than he was and he is better feedbacked. As we said in previous update, we are currently aiming to produce a lot of content very fast before polishing everything at once before the Early Access release so it means new worlds, new enemies, new bosses and new features. For example, we have already all our enemies concepts for World 3, you can see 2 examples below:

These new enemies are very nice and we have great mechanics ideas for them, we cannot wait to show more as we are going to code them in the coming weeks! World 3 is also our most beautiful world to date and we are going to work back on first world to improve it so it can be as beautiful as we initially wanted. This water world makes us experimenting new things such as dynamic water and water reflection for background elements.

Water reflection concept

Dynamic water concept

Leo - The Unbreakable

Apart from his giant axe, the most disturbing thing when fighting Leo is how much he is enjoying it.

Leo attack animation

Same attack implemented But take care, if he starts taking the fight seriously well... there won't be much you can do to survive.

Leo ultimate animation As we still very much ahead of our planning, we are making exciting new features and improvements all around the game. We have so much more to show for next updates.

Don't forget about our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to discuss about the game development, Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-06-16 16:27:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Self publishing + Core improvements + Creating The Red Barrens ( world)

First of all we have a big announcement to make: we have been in contact with a lot of publishers for Astral Ascent because of the obvious potential of the game. Some of them were major indie publishers with very nice offers and we took time to think about these offers. With time and reflexion we declined all the offers as it became clear to us that we wanted Astral Ascent to be our first self-published game. At this point the project has been funded by French public help, our previous game revenues and of course your incredible support so this is a great opportunity to release the game by ourselves! It will make development a bit more complicated as publishers provide things such as porting, localization, marketing and financial support but we are very confident about our capacity to overcome these challenges! From sharing the word to making suggestions or reporting bugs, your support has already been precious and will be even more precious in the months to come so thanks again! This support already gave us extra energy and we have made great progress since the end of the campaign as you can see below:

Global improvements

The playable demo was a great time to see you play (Youtube/Twitch) and collect your suggestions on our Discord Server. It was a fire trial for most of our design ideas and an opportunity to see how solid they were. What we saw was very promising and hopefully we still have room for improvements so here is a list of things we have already added:

Jump attack: Similar to Dead Cells one (jump + down input), this was highly requested to increase global movement, we made sure that it has a recovery time and moderate damages as it is more a movement action than a direct attack.
Dash momentum: When you finish a dash your movement speed was resetted to 0, your speed is now set to maximum after a dash if you are pressing a directional input.
Skip to next spell button: By far the most requested by community feature. Our Spell system allows you to have 4 different spells at the same time but sometimes you may end up forced to use a spell you don't really want to use or that will be very unefficient in the current situation in order to get the next spell. We thought about having a skip to next spell button for a long time but we thought it would lead to have players optimizing one of their spells (and use skip spell button to only use this spell) and letting down the others which would break the spell-building system we are aiming for. Hopefully we found what we believe is an elegant and great design solution to this problem! You now have the skip to next spell button and you can use it as much as you want without cooldown or restrictions BUT you need to use the 4 spells once to make them available again, this way we make sure you still need to use all your spells but you decide the orders depending of the situation, for example skip your single target spell when you are fighting 5 enemies at once (of course this is optional and you can totally play the game without it).
Spell swap in inventory: We wanted to add this since the beginning but you can now swap your spells from inventory very easily if you ever want to change your spells basic order (You used to need a spell on the ground to do so).
Spell not consumed if cancelled: During the demo your spell was consumed (rotate to next spell + mana used) if you were hit by enemies, dashed or jumped before the spell actually launched: it felt unfair and frustrating. We made changes and spells are not consumed until they are launched now and it feels much better: you can cancel your spell before it's launched and not loose anything.
Spell Rarity System: Looting spells feels good but our community thought it would add spices if spells have different levels of rarity and we could not agree more! We spent time to rework our spell loots and now instead of having a fixed list of gambits and locked/unlocked slot on spells we have a list of potential gambits and each gambit now has a value depending of its power, then each spell has randomness on the locked/unlocked slots. Mixing the total value of gambits and slots give us a rarity score to attribute to the spell. We created 4 rarities: common/rare/epic/legendary and it adds a new flavor to each of your drops!
Magnet attacks: By watching you play the game, we noticed it was sometimes hard to hit enemies (in particular the flying ones). We play the game everyday and did not realize that until now. We have added a "magnet" to closest enemies when auto-attacking. This way it becomes impossible to miss if you were very close to be in range of your auto-attack. This feature is only working if you are pressing directional input toward the enemy and if you are already pretty close to it. It is a bit complicated to explain with words but it feels very good and do not worry, it does not make the game too easy it simply makes you focus on more important things than trying to know if your basic attack is pixel-perfect.
Astral Keys: Finally, this is something we did not have time to implement in our demo but a very important feature. It is the only feature not done yet but we are currently actively working on it. It will be a new currency that will balance fight and explorations room by connecting them together. This new currency will also add choice and strategy during your runs. But don't worry we will also improve the existing Crystals currency which is not exploited enough in the current version of the game. As we are still working on the Key system we will wait before explaining everything about it but it will be an important and nice change to the dynamic of your runs progression.

Jump Attack

Skip to next spell Button

Spell rarity system (common/rare/epic)

Magnet Attacks

Astral Keys - Work-in-progress feature From our point of view, game is feeling and playing so much better with all these recent changes. We took opportunity to have fresh feedback to make the changes and we could not be more happy about it. We will try to add these changes when demo is available again (we do not know when yet).

The Red Barrens ( world)

You could see a quick preview of The Red Barrens in our game demo but this was simply a placeholder scene with temporary assets. Creating our 2D worlds require a lot of efforts and various elements:

Tilemap: A tilemap is the asset pack of all blocks to create a level, it has to handle a lot of different cases of transitions between ground and walls types. It must include seamless variations and in addition to the technical complexity to create it must also take in consideration the lisibility with characters and enemies.
Assets: We can create the architecture of levels with tilemap but levels would be empty so we need to add different elements on the ground (in addition to nature).
Backgroud: Finally we need to have backgrounds with variations so it does not feel too repetitive.

The Red Barrens - tilemap

The Red Barrens - lisibility test for enemies

The Red Barrens - Asset list

The Red Barrens - Background example Once you have all these elements together it creates lively world to explore:

The Red Barrens - Preview We have also created and integrated 6 (nearly 7) of our 8 new enemies for world 2 and they are so cool to fight! We want to show you 2 of our favorites so far:

This enemy throws red and blue fire balls with different patterns

Work in progress - this enemy will move toward you while making its fire spear rotate around We want to keep some surprises for later but the world 2 is already a bigger challenge than world 1 for sure! Enemies are more agressive and deal more damages, you will need to improve your builds and character stats during your run to defeat the challenges ahead!

Planning update & Early Access poll

Right now we are developping the game at a really good pace (it will obviously be slower when we will enter the debugging/polish phase) and, to be transparent with you, we want to start world 3 and 4 as soon as possible. The goal is to have a very basic complete game with the 4 worlds in order to balance things with the complete game in mind and not having to re-balance everything at each new world addition. Building structure of world 3 and 4 now does not change our announced plan of releasing game in Early Access on Steam early 2022 with complete world 1 and 2 available but we would like to have your opinions on what we features you look the most forward for the Early Access release. If you have some minutes to spare (2-3mins) we made a poll to collect your opinion about the features you want the most in the Early Access: https://forms.gle/o7GBMHCshc1iHPFdA Be sure that this does not change the final game content knowing better your expectations will also us to focus more on what you want to have specifically for Early Access release.

Don't forget about our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server, Have an excellent day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-05-24 17:08:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Grab your physical copy & play the demo (48h left)!

Last 48h to grab your physical copy & support us & to try our free demo if you did not already!

Click here to know more

If you play the demo, don't hesitate to come on our Discord Server to share what your thoughts about it. Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2021-04-27 10:29:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Capricorn Update - Last days to play the demo!

Adds

[ADD] Capricorn boss fight
[ADD] Kiran & Ayla can now use normal attacks targeting up or down
[ADD] Player can now cancel auto-attacks with spells
[ADD] A new NPC has arrived in the Garden

Changes

[CHANGE] Game is now saved after completing hub events or closing menu from garden NPCs
[CHANGE] Light effects are a bit more optimized now
[CHANGE] Its now possible to use spells mid basic animation attack
[CHANGE] Avoid damage challenge, from intro tutorial, is easier (less enemy spawned)
[CHANGE] Gamepad used for players are detected in a smarter way now, this should make setuping multiplayer mode (and Steam Remote Play Together) easier
[CHANGE] When player is teleported, he is aiming above the ground to be correctly teleported and not have fall animation
[CHANGE] Spell 36 (Ravaging sphere) now deals damage a bit less frequently
[CHANGE] Spell 32 (Spirit Sword) attacks more often and costs 2 instead of 3 mana points
[CHANGE] Improved feedbacks on Yalee unlocking new colors for Stylist

Fixes

[FIX] It was possible to get stuck on Death Recap screen if there were experience points in the screen that was not collected by players
[FIX] Player skins could end up distorted if moving during player respawn
[FIX] Capricorn trap not removing buff effect on enemies when out of range
[FIX] It was possible to get stuck with inventory open if damaged by enemies while equipping a new gambit
[FIX] Enemies sometimes could be spawned inside walls
[FIX] Player showed instead of character name on end of demo dialog
[FIX] Button Keep Playing, from options menu, did not work as intended
[FIX] Astral Trail particles used to have a messy behavior if lagging or too long distance between points
[FIX] Spell 36 (Ravaging sphere) skill was not affected by pauses
[FIX] Stunning Wave does not affect Zodiacs anymore
[FIX] Taurus could not release his ultimate when his ultimate bar was full
[FIX] Player could jump out of border in the Garden

These are the last days to play our demo, please have a look and come on our Discord server to talk about it. - The Hibernian Workshop Team

[ 2021-04-21 13:58:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Event Trailer + Big Event + Free Demo!

Hello everyone, Time has come, we can finally share with you the Event Trailer for Astral Ascent! [previewyoutube=_4Dhr8nY9x0;full][/previewyoutube] Click here to know more about Astral Ascent's Big Event! To celebrate the event, we released an exclusive FREE DEMO for you to try the game including co-op mode (PC / MAC) on Steam. Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2021-03-29 11:54:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - February 2021

Hello everyone, We hope you are all well and safe, we have so many things to show you this month!

10 days

That is the time that separates us from the release of Astral Ascent demo. You will be able to play solo or co-op for a few hours to discover its amazing fluid gameplay and beautiful art! Don't miss it by wishlisting the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280930/Astral_Ascent/

Exclusive physical rewards

You will be able very soon to grab exclusive physical elements of the game for a limited period of time. This is by far our biggest event yet, please learn about the event

Zodiac reveal

You already know Taurus , who is waiting to fight you in the demo

It is time to reveal you another of the 12 Zodiacs of Astral Ascent : Virgo

She is as dangerous as she looks, she is very quick and will be a though challenge in the game! Oh and you will be able to meet her in the demo!

Gambits

As developers this is one of the most challenging mechanic we made, as players we think it is awesome! Gambits are elements you place in your spells to add new elements to them.

For example here we equipped a fire effect modificator to a basic shuriken spell which adds explosions to enemies.

With several gambits any spell can become deadly! We worked hard so every spell having a gambit will display particles showing what gambit is attached As you can imagine there is plenty of combinations to try to find powerful combos and to fit your playstyle.

Support us

If you want to talk about these news with community, you are more than welcomed to join our kind community on our Discord server. If you have not already, you can wishlist & follow the game on our Steam page.

Wishlists give us more visibility and help the game get known
Follow notifies you when we release updates and news for the game

As a small indie team that wants to self-publish, this help is very appreciated, thanks a lot! Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2021-03-19 12:54:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Reveal Trailer

Hello everyone, Time has come, we can finally share with you the Reveal Trailer of the game! [previewyoutube=GKuCy4Uga8I;full][/previewyoutube] We have recently worked hard to prepare the big event ahead of us and we really hope you are as excited as we are. To celebrate we will have a FREE DEMO for you to try the game (PC / MAC) on Steam. You will be able to play online or with a friend in local co-op if you want to. We will be showing a lot of development elements during the coming weeks, until then, see you next month for Astral Ascent's FREE DEMO! Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2021-02-23 14:31:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - January 2021

Hello everyone, This is our first update of 2021 so all the team joins me to wish you a very happy new year! We are very excited of what is going to happen, it is going to be the year of Astral Ascent ! Our team new year resolutions:

Resolution 1 - improve our Steam Page

Maybe we did it again and improved once more everything up visually, we are now very happy about the quality level and decided it was time to show it on our Steam Page that had very old graphics on it.
Resolution 2 - improving playtests

We started a new playtest routine by making new version of the game every friday to make a playtest session with the team. It is very important to make we keep an eye on the game quality and to train ourselves making frequent updates when needed! Playtest sessions are captured to be sure we have all bugs recorded and ready to be eradicated! It is also a great opportunity to witness the progress we make and capture gifs and screens!
Resolution 3 - have a great logo

How to start better new year than with an updated logo? It has been a collaborative and iterative effort in the team before everyone agreed on this version. It really reflects a lot about the game and its intention and a few secrets are hidden inside. We will use it more and more in our communication.
Resolution 4 - make intense teasing

So... we clearly have big news on the way for Astral Ascent and we cannot wait to share them with you but we still need to wait a bit, we promise that you will not wait too long!

Support us

Wishlists give us more visibility and help the game get known
Follow notifies you when we release updates and news for the game

As a small indie team that wants to self-publish, this help is very appreciated, thanks a lot! Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2021-01-14 16:03:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - November 2020

Hello everyone and let's see what are the most recent news on Astral Ascent !

What is new?

Development goes well and our team is more motivated than ever mainly because we can see the potential of the game and we actually have ton of fun playing the current prototypes. Also, we now have a good idea of every game mechanics we want to have in the game, it means that our game vision is strong and that we know toward what kind of content we want to aim. This seems like something basic but it actually takes a lot of time before finding all the puzzle pieces and the right way to assemble them together to make a coherent and innovative game.

The spells system

In the game you will be able to collect a vast variety of spells, we actually aim to have a hundred spells! The different types of spells are:

Defensive spells:

you can only have one at a time that works with cooldown without using mana

Example of defensive spell that groups all enemies together

Classic spells:

You will always have 4 at the same type but you will be able to find a lot of different ones while exploring during your runs. It will be your job to find the best synergies between all the different spells to create the most efficient combos. Spells are either common to all characters

Ayla launches a classic spell: 8 fireballs that explode at impact! This Or they are linked to a specific character (in that case, only him/her can equip it but do not worry you won't find spells of characters that are not playing, even in coop!)

Kiran specific spell: lighting punch!

Ayla specific spell: ethereal knives go directly to nearest enemy in range!

Graphical Reworks

It is a long progress to find the final artistic direction for a game, even if we now have a bit of experience after releasing Dark Devotion, it remains a very time consuming task. It takes effort from the artists and the developers that integrate the art to confirm it is looking as desired. Some elements are good on first time and some other need a lot of iterations before being at the standard of quality we expect for the game.

OLD TREES of the game, made by Alexandre!

NEW TREES of the game, also made by Alexandre! It has also been the case with our background assets that evolved a lot since we started it

Mixed assets of the game, made by Gal! These new assets with our new light system are trully awesome, you can see it there. But this rule also applies to more generic systems, in particular progression for design and interface for art so when you mix both for our hub ( The Garden ) you have some of the most spectacular iterations progress we have done since the start.

OLD MERCHANT INTERFACE to unlock skills.

NEW MERCHANT INTERFACE to unlock skills. And it's even more impressive once in movement but we cannot unlock too big gifs there and let's keep some secrets for now! Even if some things still have room for some extra polish we currently pushed every aspects of the game to reach this new level of quality that we aim to get for the game release.

Musical sneak peak

As previously announced, we are collaborating with the talented Dale North for the musics of the game and we have received some of the musics and they are absolutely perfectly our aerial, fantastic, nature oriented game vision! If you want to listen to a sneak peak of our hub ( The Garden ) you can listen it here! We also have another surprise with the great Romain Rope, our sound designer on the project, that started to give life to our enemies and playable characters: things are shaping up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoKLQAHiVC4

Can you guess?

There is obviously a LOT of things that we are not showing because we want to keep as much surprise as possible on some key features but I could not resist sharing this:

Can some of you guess what is the purpose of this? I am very curious of your ideas!

Support us

If you want to talk about these news with community, you are more than welcomed to join our kind community on our Discord server.

If you have not already, you can wishlist & follow the game on our Steam page.

Wishlists give us more visibility and help the game get known
Follow notifies you when we release updates and news for the game

As a small indie team that wants to self-publish, this help is very appreciated, thanks a lot!

Thanks for being part of this journey and have a great day Louis

[ 2020-11-28 18:20:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Astral Update - October 2020

Hello everyone and welcome! This is our first news post for our new game project named Astral Ascent which we are really excited about! If you are not familiar with the game or our team we made an introduction newsletter that you can find here. Don't hesitate to register to our monthly newsletter to get more frequent news about the project. Or visit our Discord server to see the newsletter-archive and be part of our lovely community!

What is new?

Things are moving really fast recently and we are really happy about it. We finished a long pre-production phase and a slow start as we were building our main systems and polishing our art style and direction but now we reached an higher velocity with a better synergy within the team. This news will highly focus on our first world visuals and artistic direction.

Basic combo execution for Kiran attacks

Earth World - Environment

The 12 Zodiacs you will face are splitted among 4 different worlds :

Earth

Fire

Water

Wind

We decided to start our adventure with Earth world as it gives a really positive and fantastic tone to the game. You can see Earth World concepts made by Gal below :

Earth world concepts by Gal We made a collective effort to have a very natural and aerial first world to explore. The concepts made by Gal were really fitting our common vision of this fantastic world we had in mind.

Alexandre improved our art direction with more detailed assets

Gal created more props for the game for special rooms(old trees before rework there)

Relixes took time to implement more natural grass movements when walking over

The Garden peddler provides new spells to unlock for your characters

Earth World - Enemies

You will face many dangers during your astral journey and you should never let your guard off because even basic enemies can decrease your health and get you closer to death.

Wildgrass teleport animation by Alexandre

Wildgrass teleports when far away and performs an attack

Bonus gifs

Sometimes things to show do not really fit any categories so here are some bonus gifs below:

Created level design ingredients such as this timer platform

Looting a lot of crystals to verify collisions with walls & ground

The Garden peddler has acolytes you will be able to meet during your ascension If you want to talk about these news with community or with the devs, feel free to join our Discord server. Have a great day Louis

[ 2020-10-15 16:51:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Be part of our community by joining our dedicated Discord server!

Astral Ascent is a 2D platformer rogue-lite set in a modern fantasy world. As one of 4 Heroes with very different personalities, you must escape from the Garden, an astral prison guarded by 12 powerful and vicious bosses, the Zodiacs.

FIGHT YOUR WAY

Unlock dozens of unique spells for your 4 distinct characters. Optimize your own build or try out a new one to take down 12 powerful bosses. Get stronger with time to match up with your foes. Each run will test your skills and your reactivity.

DON'T GO ALONE

The weight of destiny is too heavy to carry by yourself? Don’t worry and bring a friend to play in our two player co-op mode. Fight and crush your enemies together in local co-op or online using the Steam's Remote Play Together feature.

AN ASTRAL THREAT

The Zodiacs are 12 experienced guardians dispatched over 4 gorgeous worlds. They’ll bring to the battlefield unique attacks, abilities, and patterns, backstories to uncover, and reasons to be fighting you. Get yourself warned!

NARRATION THROUGH REPLAYABILITY

Astral Ascent is a rogue-lite infused with narration. Replayability is part of our story which will be unravelled piece of piece. As you get stronger, you will discover more about the characters, their motivations, and the secrets of the world they’re trapped in.

A BEAUTIFUL MODERN FANTASY WORLD

Dash across gigantic landscapes. Explore original and hand-crafted areas. Discover the world created by our artists, with a gorgeous art and frame-by-frame animation.

4 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS

Unique characters. Unique weapons. Unique ways to play.

Ayla: The sole survivor of her guild of assassins, she uses her twin daggers to eliminate her enemies before they can react. Her speed and profenciency are unmatched.
Kiran: This orphan learned life the hard way. He uses his strength to deliver attacks powerful enough to create shockwaves. Brutal.
Calie: This talented sculptor wants her freedom back. She will use her magical gemstones to pierce enemy defenses and shred them to bits. She is unforgiving.
Octave: Trained by a powerful witch, this young fighter summons ethereal guns to attack his foes. When needed, he can conjure bigger weapons as well. Lethal in all cases.

A COALITION FOR HOPE

You can count on faithful allies to help you find your way out

The Merchant: This mysterious figure has the power to unveil your true potential through rememoring forgotten skills. Careful… it won’t be free.
Zim-Zim: Her greenhouse hides magical plants which can increase your abilities. If you can bear her whimiscal and frankly immature behavior.
Oloon: The best stylist in the known universe is right here and available. Want to change the color of your clothes? Dye your hair? She has everything you need!
Papa Yalee: This old cat—he is almost 20!—will always have a good story about the foes you’ll encounter and your runs. The good news is that… most of them are true.
Sova: Once a powerful sorceress, Sova was cursed and must now serve the Garden. Her past is a burden of shame she carries in silence.
Ordan: De facto leader of the Garden, this fierce warrior helps the Heroes in their quest. Her might is legendary.
Ikki: Ordan’s ex-husband and a powerful warrior on his own, he is in charge of training Heroes. His knowledge of the art of war is endless.