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