Hello everyone! ːtaurusSmirkː

Astral Ascent is free to play on Steam until May 18th! ːbarbecuePogː If someone in your circle has been on the fence about the game, this is the window. The base game and all DLCs are also on sale during the event. If you want to grab everything at once, the complete bundle gets you an additional 10% off. Cherry on top? The game will be 60% off until May 28th!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/53467/Game__All_DLC/

Meet Arven and Kat

Arven is a Ranger of relentless determination who heard of a group of heroes trapped within the Astral Prison. Fighting alongside Kat, his wolf companion, he had no other choice but to lend his blade to those fighting for their survival.

Arven is the only character in the game who is never alone. Kat follows him through every room, every fight, every attempt. She is not a summon, not a cooldown ability. She is just there, fighting alongside you the entire run. And as you progress, Arven's specializations will make Kat stronger too. Kat is also compatible with the Celestial Haven DLC, so you can take on the Astral Prison with both your favorite pet and Kat by your side.

Their Signature Spell lets you throw a grappling hook at an enemy and dash toward them while Kat rushes in to assist. Three specializations let you shape how that dynamic plays out:

• Quaking Roar: at the end of Kat's dash, she lets out an Enraged Roar that damages surrounding enemies and pushes them back.

• Swift Execution: in the seconds following the Signature Spell, basic attacks have a chance to summon Rapid Claws that strike nearby enemies.

• Ethereal Rampage: the Signature Spell unleashes a Savage Hurricane around Arven, dealing damage to every enemy in range.

The DLC includes:

• 25 new unique spells

• 2 weapon types: the Alpha Sword for close-to-mid range combat, and Ethereal Missiles for long-range magical attacks

• 6 weapon passives (3 per weapon)

• Full voice acting in English and Japanese by Ben Starr and Tagui Omi

• 4 new Papa Yalee stories covering Arven and Kat's origins

• New cinematics and ending screens

Don't own the DLC? You'll still see Arven in the Garden, collect and use 2 of his Echoes during your runs, and face his Shadow Clone as a new boss encounter.

Arven, The Wolf Blade is available on Steam. Arven is also the main character of Fallen Fates, Hibernian Workshop's upcoming action RPG. If you back the Fallen Fates Kickstarter at the Loner tier or above, you get the DLC for free.

Note that key delivery may take up to 24 hours after backing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4499280/Astral_Ascent__Arven_the_Wolf_Blade/

With this update, we completely reworked how Prowesses work for every character. At the first statue, you now choose one of three specializations specific to your hero. From there, every next statue only offers passives tied to the specialization you picked. No more dead options, no more passives that don't fit your build. More control, more consistency, more build identity.

In total, this update adds 166 new Prowesses to the game, bringing the full Prowesses pool to 211 across the entire roster. Every character in the roster now has three new specializations. Here is what each one brings.

Ayla's shadow mark now splits into three specializations.

• Phantom Daggers: hitting a marked enemy with a basic attack has a chance to drop a phantom dagger on the field. Pick it up to launch a blade at the nearest enemy, which explodes on impact.

• Shadow Clone: when the shadow mark fades, a clone materializes on the enemy and dashes through random targets.

• Spinning Daggers: periodically spawns a spinning blade on every marked enemy, dealing damage in a loop for as long as the mark holds.

Kiran's counter game now runs three different ways.

• Solar Fist: the first enemy hit by a counter triggers a Radiant Flare that bounces between enemies, dealing damage with each jump.

• Can't Touch This: landing a successful counter wraps Kiran in a Psychic Barrier that reduces incoming damage for a short time.

• Full of Spirit: while your Signature Spell is on cooldown, a spirit orb spawns every second, orbiting Kiran and dealing damage before vanishing on contact with an enemy.

Calie now wields sculptures, each one a new way to shape your run.

• Unchained Fen-dweller: summons a Fenrir sculpture, on ability use, that attacks enemies in an AoE zone around it.

• Fiery Familiar: summons a Phoenix sculpture that follows Calie and shoots projectiles at nearby enemies every second.

• Emerald Protector: while her Signature Spell is on cooldown, each basic attack has a chance to summon a Tarasque sculpture. The more sculptures on the field, the higher her armor.

Octave's Bellator drone now has three new modules to equip.

• Detonation Module: Bellator releases Explosive Bombs that detonate on contact, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

• Energy Field Module: Bellator emits an Energy Field around him that damages any enemy that enters it.

• Directed Energy Module: Bellator continuously fires a laser beneath him, dealing damage to every enemy it passes through.

Yamat's draconic arsenal now channels three distinct powers.

• Way of Fire: at the end of her Signature Spell, Yamat launches Draconic Flames below her, projectiles that explode on contact and spread flames along the ground and walls.

• One with the Shadows: summons a Draconic Shadow that teleports across the battlefield and attacks enemies.

• Warrior of Darkness: at the start of her Signature Spell, Draconic Swords materialize around Yamat and slash at enemies on each basic attack.

Also included in the free update: a new Sun Pieces Bonus system. In the Hub, one character will be highlighted with a Sun Pieces icon. Run with that character and you'll earn a bonus on your Sun Pieces at the end of the run.

Three years of updates and today still feels like a big one. Thank you for sticking with us.
Stay tuned, we'll have more to share about the Steam Workshop very soon.

See you in the Garden! :zimzimSmile:

The Hibernian Workshop Team

Complete patch-notes:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1280930/view/663861210724173327

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• New Prowess System: Signature Spell Prowesses have been reworked for all characters, ALL element-based (burn, freeze, poison, electric, neutral and their sub-effects except mana recovery, damage increase and critical rate) prowesses will not be available anymore - if you have a mid-run save from the previous version, you might encounter a bug where your Prowess choices will be empty, affecting the run. The issue will not carry over to further runs.
  New Signature Spell Specialization System is introduced: one extra slot for Signature Spell Prowesses is available, the first choice will be among 3 Specializations, affecting the Prowess Pool options in subsequent level-ups at the Guardian Statues. Each Specialization will give access to 6 sub-prowesses related to the main one.
  The player will not be able to use their rerolls on the Specialization choice, since it is fixed to only these 3 choices, and it would waste the rerolls for the run. Additionally, due to the addition of the extra slot for Signature Spell Prowesses, the Prowess replacement at Levels 9 to 12 will only allow the player to replace 1 Signature Spell Prowess, while the replacement for the Basic Attack Prowesses remains at 2.
  To compromise, the player will now be able to pick a Prowess or re-roll first before choosing which Prowess to replace. Additionally, they can choose to cancel and keep the chosen Prowess instead of being forced to replace it with an undesired one.
  

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• Added a new Shadow Clone enemy based on Arven. You can fight him in exploration rooms or when he is summoned by The Master, even if you do not own the Arven DLC.

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• The order and conditions for unlocking Characters and NPCs in the garden have been improved for a smoother experience both to players who own the Yamat or Arven DLC and those who don't
  

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• Added a new bonus mechanic for Sun Pieces: after every run, one of the playable characters will have an orange outline and a Sun Piece icon above their head, playing this character on the next run will add 1 to the Sun Pieces multiplier, speeding up metaprogression in early game and providing more resources for rerolling in runs.

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• Aura Adjustments: The Aura ""Brittle Ice III"" was incorrectly spawning 6 Ice Fragments instead of 5 when an enemy is inflicted with Frostbite, it did not match the spawn values of ""Icy Blow III"" which has the same effect.
  The Aura ""Heatseeker Shield"" was applying Fire Shield for 5 seconds, which did not match the duration of 6 seconds on other Fire Shield Astral Auras
  

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• community inspired ⭐ Added invincibility to Kiran's Spell ""Twin Dragon Uppercut"" on the first uppercut
  

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• The following Balance Adjustments have been made for the old Signature Spell Prowesses that are retained, both to provide stronger synergies with the new Prowesses, and to bring the characters closer in strength to each other:
  - The impact of Prowesses on the loot affinity system has been reduced significantly, as the new Prowesses introduced in this update are not element-based
  - The overall spawn rates of available Prowesses have been slightly adjusted to fit with the new pool size of each character
  - Ayla's ""Eagle Instinct"" Critical chance on Signature Spell: 20% => 50%
  - Ayla's ""Weakening Symbol"" Damage boost on Shadow Marked enemies: 10% => 25%
  - Ayla's ""Wind Symbol"" Velocity on Signature Spell duration: 3 seconds => 4 seconds
  - Kiran's ""Really Long Fist!"" Counter Range Increase: 50% => 60%
  - Kiran's ""Crazy Pumping Fist!"" Counter Range Decrease: 50% => 40%
  - Kiran's ""Power Shift"" Removed the Signature Spell Cooldown Increase
  - Kiran will always have a 1 second Cooldown on Signature Spell Failure regardless of increase/decrease through Prowesses (those will only apply to the Cooldown on success)
  - Octave's Bellator self-destruct damage has been buffed
  - Octave's ""Mana Module"" Mana Recovery on Signature Spell: 3 => 1 mana (due to the higher spawn rate of the Prowess ""Myriad"" and its synergy with this Prowess, this one had to be nerfed)
  - Calie's ""Shapes of Magic"" Mana Recovery chance on Gem hit: 5% => 10% (due to Calie losing most of her options that grant extra Max Gems on the field, this buff will allow her to regenerate mana more consistently)
  

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• Signature Spells were erroneously being counted as Basic Attacks on hit, triggering Basic Attack prowesses. This was fixed for Octave, Calie and Yamat, as their Signature Spells can do a large number of hits, giving them very unbalanced strength. For Ayla and Kiran, it was retained as their Signature Spells are single physical hits, this provides them with small boosts to mobility in tight situations, allows them to occasionally trigger Basic Attack Prowesses on Signature Hit, and does not create any major balance issues.
  

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• Calie and Yamat's fall attack damage would mistakenly do more damage than intended, they now do the same damage as everyone else. Additionally, small adjustments were made to everyone's fall attacks to make their hit behavior more consistent
  

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• The Cursed Telescope Buff ""The Time Bender"" chance to reset Signature Spell Cooldown has been reduced from 50% to 30% to accomodate the increased strength of Signature Spells with the new Prowess system
  

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• Hero Echoes were doing damage that did not match with the balancing of the spells they are based on.
  

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• Echo Adjustments: - Lucy's Cyclone damage was slightly reduced as it was an extreme outlier in terms of damage.
  - Beowulf's Dragon Flight was hitting a lot and very quickly, causing frame drops. The hit cooldown has been increased, and to compensate, the damage and application of Burn stacks has also been increased.
  Added Elemental Effects to the 3 Hero Echoes that were missing them.
  - Kiran's Water Dragons now summons 6 Snow Flakes
  - Octave's Star-Killer Shot now summons 2 Nimbus
  - Yamat's Dance of Contempt now summons 6 Ice Swords (additionally, Cooldown for this Echo was increased to 35 to balance its power)
  Two new Echoes available to everyone featuring Arven have been added to the game:
  - Arven's Eclipse Smash: Creates a growing sphere of flames and grants the player Fire Shield for 6 seconds
  - Arven's Shocking Combo: Summons a clone that attacks enemies then creates a temporary Electric Hexagon around the player. both have a 30% chance to apply Lightning Orb on hit.
  

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• Weapon Passive Adjustments: The following Weapon Passives have been adjusted to provide them extra strength so they don't feel bad compared to other passives:
  -Ayla's ""Tri-Fang Assault"" (Throwing Knife): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit (does not regenerate Mana)
  - Kiran's ""Hit Marker"" (Fiery Falchions): Now can regenerate Mana on hit.
  - Kiran's ""Explosive Temper"" (Burning Bo): the explosion now counts as a Signature Spell hit.
  - Calie's ""Call to Arms"" (Service Spear): increased the duration frrom 2.2 to 3 seconds.
  - Calie's ""Avenging Shield"" (Unbreakable Rempart): Now can regenerate Mana on hit.
  - Octave's ""Orbus Minoris"" (Pistor Vocatis): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit (does not regenerate Mana).
  - Octave's ""Fragor Mortis"" (Exterminatum Exemplaris): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit (does not regenerate Mana).
  - Octave's ""Ictus Tempestas"" (Wrenching Whip): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit and can regenerate Mana on hit.
  - Yamat's ""Obsidian Wyrm"" (Fighting Spirit): Now can regenerate Mana on hit. Damage was also slightly increased.
  - Yamat's ""Art of War"" (Oblivion Greatsword): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit (does not regenerate Mana).
  - Yamat's ""Meteor Volley"" (Stellar Chord): Now counts as a Basic Attack hit (does not regenerate Mana).
  - Yamat's ""Sonic Boom"" (Stellar Chord): Increased the amount of charges gained on Spell Refresh by 1.

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• Small adjustments were made for the newer Level Designs to avoid interactables (such as jumping crystals or dash portals) from interfering with the player engaged in combat with enemies

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• New menu option named ""Visuals"" added, seperating some of the ""Gameplay"" options into this new option
  

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• The sidescreen's input guides are now always displayed in the same order to make it easier to read
  

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• Onboarding: Several new tutorial hints have been added to the intro tutorial and NPCs in the Garden Hub to provide better information for new players
  Various options in the Options Menu now have extra details explaining what each option does for new players. Some option titles were changed to be more clear and account for the detailed explanations
  

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• Text Color Coding: - Unified the color of texts and terms related to Yamat. Previously they would have one of two colors (blue or purple), now they are all the same color as her name appears in all instances.
  - Unified the color of all Prowess titles to match the color of the associated character's name
  - Most description texts (Prowesses, Imprints...etc.) are now colored a slight grey color, and important terms that are not associated with elemental effects will be white in color and in bold text.
  - Ensured all terms related to elemental effects are now colored the same as the associated element,
  - Terms related to Heroes' Signature Spells (e.g. King Counter, Draconic Missiles, Gems, Shadow Mark...etc.) will have the same color as their associated Signature Spell.
  

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• When selecting a spell to upgrade with a Pavo's Feather, the UI will present the level and damage change for a smoother experience
  

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• Fixed the sidescreen UI saying ""Buy"" in the Telluric Ruins, since the spells are supposed to be free
  

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• The Run Summary screen, Inventory UI and Guardians Prowess UI have been updated to feature the Specialization Prowess slot next to the Signature Spell Icon.
  
  

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• The second Weapon Slot is now invisible in the inventory UI until the player has unlocked the Arsenal.

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• Fixed some typos in the Portuguese translation causing the text to appear wrong
  

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• fixed small typos in the Sandman's dialogue text
  

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• Added the missing translations for Spanish and Portuguese (Brazil) - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1

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• Language Options: - Voice Language can now be changed during runs
  - Text language can now be changed during runs, but will only apply once the player enters the next room
  

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• 4 New Memory Fragments centered around Arven and Kat's backstory have been added to Papa Yalee.

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• Kiran's spell ""Ground Pound"" could explode in ceilings
  

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• community inspired ⭐ Spells with invincibility could keep invincibility forever if the player jumps at the same frame the invincibility is set
  

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• Yamat Echoes were displayed in the Damage Meter as Yamat Spells, not as Echo Damage.
  

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• Arsenal had a sidescreen input still visible if closed while swap weapon was visible
  

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• Ayla's Signature Spell Prowess ""Contagious Mark"" was spreading the Shadow Mark to enemies far away off-screen, which was not intended.
  

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• Arven's Spell ""Pack Leader"" could be canceled before it spent the mana, allowing it to be used infinitely for 0 mana cost and dealing damage to enemies. - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1
  

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• Kat would sometimes be stuck behind barriers in the Void room - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1
  

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• Spell Loots were showing their affinity bonus incorrectly if they had gambits equipped. - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1
  

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• Fixed some of Kat's behavior issues in certain terrains causing her to move weird. - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1
  

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• Kat will now not stand in front of loots like gambits, drinks, auras...etc. in rooms and in the bar. - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1
  

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• The 4th choice icon in the Prowess selection UI would sometimes not appear - ☄️ hotfix 2.6.1

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