Patch notes

Patch notes

Hotfix 4.3

0.3.29366 (8.21.2019 04:18 PM) v1.4.2

• Fixed the brightness slider.
  On new and old saves, you may need to go to the Options menu and readjust your brightness slider.
• Fixed the color vibrancy issue related to the brightness slider.

Known Issue:

• For the Upper Erebus side quest "Expel the Undead," the Animus may spawn outside of the area indicated on the map.

Hotfix 4.2

0.0.00000 (8.19.2019 02:30 PM)

Underworld Ascendant is finally available on Mac and Linux!

• Fixed rare braindead AI issue and improved enemy awareness.
• The map can be freely accessed using the assigned hotkey.
• Includes if the player changed the Map hotkey to a non-default setting.
• Fixed a hitch when selecting water arrows for the first time in a session.
• VSync is now default to ON for new installs.
• Various LOD popping issues fixed.
• The sound effect associated with targeting the Dash skill now ends properly.
• Joystick combo moves should be easier to perform.
• Better-looking spider webs

Feat Fixes:

• You now get credit for “Combo Attack” feat when you land any attacks where you set up with movement and you have the associated skill.
• Fix for axes and maces counting as swords in stat tracking for feats.
• Fix for the Master Archer and Walking Arsenal (advanced version of Weapons Master) feats not being awarded properly.
• Bark & Bite: Better assignment of credit for fire damage

Known Issues:

• Mac: If playing with a controller, a Mac will not recognize controller inputs as activity and may activate screensaver while you’re playing. You may want to disable your screensaver settings while playing on Mac with a controller. This is a Mac OS issue.
• Foamy Shadow Loaves can no longer be made.

Hotfix 4.1

0.0.00000 (7.2.2019 02:30 PM)

We've just released a 1.5GB hotfix for Update 4 on PC!

Here's what changed:

• Reduced the force used to move carried objects against obstructions in some cases that were causing the player to be pushed in the opposite direction (for example, you might have been lifted off the ground while stacking crates).
• Some wooden platforms that were floating are once again grounded.
• Improved reliability of dragging mechanics for dead bodies.
• Helmeted enemies no longer have floating helmets upon death.
• Various lights, bottles and torches no longer disappear based on player distance.
• Various controller fixes related to switching focus during menu navigation and tooltips not appearing for armor slots.
• Fixed issue where the button guide bar did not show up for the Rune Wheel when using a controller.
• Fixed issue where the sound effects for the Dash skill would continuously play.
• Fixed an issue causing a lever in Underswamp to be inaccessible.
• Additional bug fixes.

Thank you everyone for playing!

Update 4

0.0.00000 (6.18.2019 02:06 PM)

Update 4 includes more new content, tuning improvements, and fixes.

We hope you enjoy!

Notes

• This update is about 1.1GB in size.
• Added friendly NPC interactions with a number of new characters, many of whom are locked away behind insidious challenges that can only be accessed by powering a Materia Modus to lower the local water level.

• New main quest to find and free the Outcast Fane, who will provide a hunting guide for the Eidolon and Animus. (He then sets up as a vendor in the Saurian camp, as added in Update 3.)
• New Faction quest to find and free The Shambler Meridian, who will open The Bazaar of The Arcane in Marcaul and offer high level magic items for sale.
• New Faction quest to find and free the Outcast Dahlia, who will teach the player several Rune Formulas.
• New Faction quest to find and free the Deep Elf Severn, who will provide a map location for a hidden area.
• New Faction quest to find and free the Expedition dwarf Quater, who will provide a map location for a hidden area.
• Series’ mainstay Rawstag the Troll -- who really has a lot to say -- has taken up residence in The Bazaar of The Arcane

• Several new enemies added:

• The Bellum, a blind “headless” charger w/ tongue ranged attack
• The deadly Poison Bellum
• The stealthy Shadow Beast

• Combat tuned to be more strategic, with the addition of a shove attack (which can interrupt some enemy attacks or push them off ledges) and fan-requested combat music, which reinforces when enemies are aggroed on you.
• Updated in-world loot pass, added new weapons, armor, and gear items to increase the variety of loot and further reward exploration.
• Added Rune formulas and increased the Runes found in-world to encourage deeper exploration of magic. New Fehu (Beast) Rune added, increasing the number of spells players can craft, such as Create Beast (which spawns a Deep Slug with a flammable trail), Create Bellum, and Harm Beast.
• Improved tutorial sequence and smart hint system to teach elements that players were missing (such as advanced combat attacks and bow zoom) or unclear about (status effects like hunger and exhaustion).
• Updated UI/UX elements, such as:

• Improved map icons and readability.
• More prominent notifications when you unlock a new Rune or enter a new region.
• The Rune Wheel now has additional commentary regarding target and use of the currently-crafted spell, along with UI styling to make it clearer that you can click on spell names in the Spellbook to ready them.
• The tooltip for the Rune Bag now includes the Spellbook name (if available) of the currently-readied spell.
• The Doom Counter now properly shows itself on the HUD when its value changed.
• Tooltips in the Trade screen now show the resale value of items in your inventory, not just those in the “Your Offer” area.
• Improved readability of inventory annotations for stack counts and Rune Formulas.

• Many other improvements, fixes, and additions, such as:

• Improved load time and frame-rate optimization. Try turning up your quality settings!
• Improved controller support.
• The Join a Faction feature now unlocks at gaining 50 Favor, allowing purchase of Faction specialty stock.
• Reduced the strength of the standard stone arrows, but added two new arrow types available from vendors. Steel-tipped arrows are roughly comparable in damage to the prior value for stone arrows. Sniper arrows add a bonus to Adroit damage for those with Stealth skills.
• Enemies will be less inclined to equip bows if the player is close by.
• Reduced the force applied to carried objects (like crates) if the object encounters obstacles. This will make things noticeably more controllable when, for example, holding objects up against doors.
• Reaching the Vault of Nyx will now enable the New Game Plus option in the main menu. As long as you have the autosave file from this point in the game (or any save game made from a “New Game Plus” game afterwards), choosing the “New Game” option at the main menu gives you the option of starting your game already in Marcaul, with a starting allowance of silver, skill points, starting runes and basic gear.
• Fixed the accounting for several Feats that were not being granted properly, such as Firestarter, Meteoric Demise, and Weaponized Slug.
• Nether Caps were not set to be a potential food for Deep Slugs, as intended.
• Aelita will have more cash on hand for making purchases in the late game.
• Rune Formulas branded on wands with the Focus Mastery skill are now preserved in saved games.
• High-level Ehwaz Rune (Movement) spells were knocking creatures down, but not applying forces as intended. Now they can really throw them around.
• In cases where there are no hostile targets available, harmful spells will now target any available non-hostile NPCs in preference to targeting the caster themselves. Remember: be careful what you wish for!
• The 5% speed penalty for the Left-footed Boot was confusing to describe, because it came on top of the 5% penalty all leather boots carry (if you don’t have the Fleet Feet or Unseen Dash skill). Changed it to a flat 10% penalty even if you have skills. That’s what happens when you wear just a Left-footed Boot.
• Chests are now opened and closed by interacting only with their lids, not their whole bodies, to help avoid unintended interactions while gathering loot.
• Fixed a scale error when the interaction outline effect was applied to certain characters, such as The Mana Leech.
• Spectral Knights now sport a variety of fearsome helmets.
• Adjusted damage applied when the player-character falls on enemies; the Pounce skill will now be needed to get really good damage in this case (as intended). Also fixed Pounce skill’s eligibility for bonuses that apply to Adroit damage.
• Many graphical fixes to the environment.
• Various metal doors that were difficult to open have had their hinges oiled.
• Arrow traps now actually hurt.
• Fixed an edge case preventing the completion of side quests that require finding specific items in chests.
• Weapon skills now call out which weapons they apply to.
• Various text fixes.
• Subtitles are now properly spaced over the closing cinematic.
• Pendulum traps now swing smoothly. Tick. Tock.
• Respawn points have been added to Pluto’s Gate and Marcaul so new players don’t have to retrace their steps if experiencing an untimely demise.
• Fixed an issue preventing New Game+ from consistently unlocking for players who complete the game.
• Amount of awarded skill points and silver now grows with subsequent New Game+ playthroughs.
• Enemies should no longer dip through the ground when getting up from a knockdown.
• Players hands no longer jitter when moving on stairs.
• Cabirus’ death mask now appears during the [redacted] ending sequence.
• Quest rewards no longer fall off of their pedestal before the player can claim them.
• The game no longer hitches when the player equips water arrows for the first time.
• Players can now pick up stackable items if that stack isn't full yet while the rest of the player’s inventory slots are full.
• Player hunger state now persists across level and save game loads. Bring a sandwich!
• Arrow traps now cause damage to the player.
• Vases make sounds when smashed.
• Pressing "i" will now open and close your inventory.
• Fixed an issue where if the player saved their game with certain timing they would not receive the Sun Key quest reward. This fix is retroactive, meaning it will fix previous save games with this issue.

Hotfix 3.01

0.3.28912 (4.10.2019 04:03 PM)

A small update today to address the following items:

• Player may crash upon death from significant fall damage
• Dying during combat after dropping an item from your inventory may crash the game (dropping the femur and light gem are the two only confirmed cases)

Update 3

0.0.00000 (4.10.2019 01:06 PM)

Hi everyone, we’re happy to release Update 3 for Underworld Ascendant. We’ve been listening to your feedback and focused this Update on improving performance, fixing bugs and polishing various aspects of the game. We also added a bunch of fun new things as noted below.

Performance Improvements and New or Updated Features

• Major improvements to frame rate and load times.
• Lighting pass across the game to help players see deeper into the darkest corners of the Abyss.
• Added Saurian Mage allies that have been captured by Typhon’s minions. Once you free these allies, they will aid you in battle against nearby undead.
• Added the Outcast character Fane, an ally who, once freed, becomes a vendor selling adventuring provisions wherever Hapurkala sets up camp.
• Added Talking Skulls (Bart and Bertha) to the Midnight Forum in Marcaul.
• Increased the equipment that drops in the earliest part of the game and added several new types of gear.
• Loot from chests is now placed more intelligently in the chest’s interior, to reduce unintended collisions.
• Added a new, more appropriately-sized model representing smaller equipment items like helmets and boots.
• Added confirmation text when Quick-Saving, including a notification if the player is in a situation where saving is not permitted.
• You can now start climbing ropes and chains from swimming contact, not just jumping. Also, contact with water won’t break you out a rope climb.
• Blast arrows no longer detonate without being fired (like, for example, when they’re sitting in a chest).
• Rune formulas branded on wands with the Focus Mastery skill are now preserved around player respawn.
• Added Goggles of Night-vision as a new item of headgear.
• Added variation of scale colors to Saurians (rather than all defaulting to green).
• Updated Aelita’s vendor tables to offer a greater selection of gear usable with the Ceremonial Garb skill.
• Updated the sfx that plays upon completing a quest.
• Improved performance when things are on fire.

Polish and Bug Fixes

• The confirmation screen when quick-loading (pressing F9) a saved game is no longer blank.
• Fixed an issue where players would be unable to complete a quest if they save after completing the objective but before turning it in.
• The frame rate no longer hitches when the Tab button is pressed.
• Fixed a number of crash bugs.
• Fixed issues related to using a controller to play the game.
• Fixed issue where a dying NPC could send the playing flying upon its death.
• Fixed issue where the player was unable to complete the “Typhon Summons A Lich!” quest if they left Titan's Reach and came back.
• Fixed various Inventory issues related to stacks and arrows.
• Fixed issue where the player’s quest could break if they saved after completing the quest objective but before turning it in.
• The Sword of Regret now restores the intended amount of health to the player.
• The Blade of Bewilderment now gives a small bonus to Adroit damage in addition to its main Confusion ability.
• Fixed an error that prevented unlocking the Vitality II skill. Note: It unlocks after the character performs a quest with the Quick Recovery skill.
• Magically-bound creatures are no longer frictionless when trying to move.
• Improved the consistency damaged received from a fall, depending on the height of the fall.
• The player is no longer immune to falling damage during their melee attacks.
• Eidolons will now raise skeletons as their original type, rather than always as Spectral Knights.
• Fixed a few bugs with combat animations that were moving a player involuntarily.
• Fixed not being able to skip the intro if you hit the ‘no’ button.
• Fixed the Deep Slug not being baited by dropped Ripper Pomes.
• Deleted the obsolete warning that the player needs a bow when scrolling over arrows.
• Fixed a minor exploit where players could load an arrow, drop their arrows, fire the equipped arrow, and pick the bundle of arrows back up with no decrease in quantity held.
• Fixed an issue where lights reflected on water were disappearing at certain camera angles.
• Fixed an issue where a player could hold a dead NPC’s body close and use it to climb up into the sky.
• Fixed some localization issues.
• Fixed an issue where some Tutorial and Quest Popups have no text.
• Fixed clarity of Side Bounty Completion / Failure on Mission Complete Screen that gave the impression that the quest had failed versus the side bounty not being completed
• Fixed issue where player was able to access Inventory and Pause menu during ending credits.
• Fixed issue where Tempus Modus/Doom Counter was located off the Map in Marcaul.
• Fixed a few memora logs that did not have titles.
• Removed mentions of Influence from all quest rewards.
• Fixed issue where the item spawned by the Create Wood wand would not stay in the Player’s grasp.
• Fixed issues where player receives a significant amount of damage by swinging corpse of an enemy around.
• Fixed several visual holes found throughout the game.
• Fixed several issues that caused corpses of enemies to spin

Known Issues

• Rune formulas branded on wands with Focus Mastery will not be saved.
• Some crystal lamps in Marcaul move from their position depending on where the user stands.
• When jumping next to an object, like a crate, a player will sometimes move forward involuntarily.
• Fire bottles make an excessive amount of light when they explode.
• There is no text notification upon freeing Fane.
• Highlight outline for Fane is slightly displaced.
• Wood chunk from Create Plant spell does not have fire VFX when lit.
• Very rarely, a skeleton’s body can stretch after death.
• With the Interaction prompt, some captions and the sneaking UI can overlap over certain menus.
• Pendulum trap can show erratic behavior.
• Hunger continues even when the game is paused.
• UI does not clearly indicate that some skills are locked because insufficient time has passed to unlock them.
• End game subtitles appear as large blocks of text.
• Damage can be unintentionally taken in unusual circumstances (i.e running into doors, opening doors).
• When exiting options menu, screen resolution can be reset to smaller default with no warning.
• Player automatically swings melee weapons when switched to in hotbar.
• Some floating geodes and stones can be found in certain areas.

Hotfix 2.01

0.3.30025(2.22.2019 07:43 PM)

A small update today to address the following items:

• Crash fixes
• Fixed issue where the quest “Repel Typhon's Army” sometimes didn’t spawn enough enemies to complete the quest.
• Fixed issue where the day would advance every time the player returned to Marcaul.
• Fix for loading screen sometimes saying “Input:Interact Next Tip”
• The doors on Hap’s cart now work properly on low quality mode

If your current version of the game is up to date, the download will be 380mb.

Update 2

0.3.23299 (2.13.2019 12:56 PM)

Thank you for your continued support of Underworld Ascendant!

We have been hard at work on Update 2 and have focused our efforts on the overall structure of the Abyss, the player journey, AI and other gameplay improvements. We believe these changes will significantly improve the overall player experience, especially when starting a new game.

We hope you enjoy this update and please continue to provide your feedback.

The Stygian Abyss renovated

• The world is now a series of interconnected levels, accessible through The Grand Staircase. Updated quest flow now focuses on important narrative quests that highlight both new and refined story and content, while allowing the player to freely explore the environment and optional side-quests.
• As a result of this major change, we highly recommend that you start a new game to experience it. That said, if you want to start from where you left off, your old save games will still work and you will start at a roughly similar place in the new story progression.

Player experience improvements highlights

• Updated enemy patrol paths and lighting pass in all levels to enhance tactical stealth gameplay, and enemy population overhaul/refinements on all main quests.
• New and streamlined story elements along main critical path, with supplemental story elements moved to explorable space.
• The Vault of Nyx, the final level encounter, gameplay and clarity improvements.

Meta Game updates

• The Doom Counter has been refined to better ramp the type and difficulty of creatures that appear, and now allows players to complete the game without having to set it back more than once in an average playthrough.
• Players no longer need to gain Faction Favor or Influence to trigger the final encounter of the game, though Faction Favor still provides benefits in trade.
• New games can now choose a difficulty level. All old save games will be treated as “Normal” difficulty.

Save Game System
We made some additional enhancements and refinements to the save game system based on your feedback:

• Players can now use F5 to quick save and F9 to quick load said quick save.
• Players are now asked for confirmation if they are about to overwrite an existing save.
• Clarity pass on the text in the Save menu to improve usability.
• Also a load game panel clarity pass. It will also now show difficulty of each save game.

AI

• Updated enemy patrol paths and AI behavior models to improve their reaction to player actions
• Enemies will no longer do more than one in-combat emote in a row, which makes them much more aggressive.
• Enemies will flee less often than before.
• Animuses now alert all nearby undead when they are being attacked.
• Lizardmen casters will no longer cast while on the ground or getting up.
• Lizardmen will now be more aggressive.
• Better wandering for deep slugs and rats.
• Skeletons will no longer attack torches that damage them. Also reduced torch damage radius for when creatures walk by them.
• Enemies now have more personality in their idle time.

Loot and Items

• Standard trunks are now smaller to reflect that they don’t hold treasure on the level of the mighty Typhon chests. Removed the sparkly “treasure” effect when you open a trunk. Celebrations are for actual treasure chests.
• Trunks that are too low-level to hold much loot will now (rather than being so empty) have more filler items such as pots, which will sometimes contain coins.
• Clarity pass on item descriptions to make it easier to understand what they do.
• Magical items now have a different color name so they stand out more in your inventory.
• Player’s speed percentage is now listed in the inventory screen so you can tell if items you have equipped are slowing you down (or speeding you up).
• Item tooltips for equipment that improves the wearer’s armor percentage now include a notation about that.
• Updated Aelita’s trade menu to make it easier to understand how much silver you will get for a trade, and how much silver Aelita has available to trade.
• When you mouse over an item, it will be compared to the same type of item you have equipped, if any.
• Right clicking on items in your inventory behaves the same as double clicking. This also applies to trade where it will move it to/from the offer table.
• When moving a stack of items within their inventory, the player is no longer prompted to pick how many they like to move. To see that pop up, hold down shift and click on the stack of items.

Gameplay Including Movement, Combat, Stealth, Magic and More

• Additional refinements to combat feel and responsiveness, including removing an animation step so that players aren’t moving forward after an attack ends, which tended to interrupt combat flow.
• Creatures may be knocked down during combat and get back up to continue the fight. Make sure to finish your foes!
• Several creature types now have small weaknesses to extended melee combat. This will make encounters a bit more eventful in cases where the player’s attacks are underpowered for their foe.
• Chains and ropes will be much easier to swing on.
• Fixed issue where you would get stuck on chains in certain situations.
• Removed some lights that didn’t have an extinguishable source and were making stealth difficult in spots.
• Further refinement of player movement
• If the player walks into a heavy object (like a table) it no longer knocks over. Instead the player will step on top of it. This also applies to crates! Running into stuff will still knock it over, of course.
• There are more mana motes in the world. Use the Mana Sight skill to spot them and keep your supply full!
• Player’s maximum mana is increased.
• Fixed the Blink spell getting stuck on light obstructions (e.g. crates), and made it more reliable in general. Adjusted it to Level 3 instead of Level 2.
• Fixed the Magic Fist spell’s collision with physics objects to apply forces as intended.
• Fixed Outcasts’ fleeing behavior so they don’t smoke bomb away from the player if they are allies (as with summoned or charmed Outcasts).
• Fixed long-press of the interact button on doors (as if you were trying to pick the door up), to lock or unlock them.
• Friendly lizardmen now show up on the map. You will also get a warning saying “Saurians are your allies!” if you accidentally hit one.
• General pass on tooltips to ensure they appear where expected and make sense.

Levels and Quests

• Players will be able to reach the lower depths of the Abyss more quickly in the game’s overall progression, if they choose to do so.
• Removed the intro sequence with Cabirus so players can get to the action faster.
• Implemented subtitles for the ending cinematics.
• A lighting pass across the entire game to better support gameplay.
• More improvements to the main quest line to make sure there are no dry spots.
• Narrative and clarity pass on the Vault of Nyx so players can better understand what needs to be done to complete the final mission in the game.
• Players who miss the “Cautious First Steps” feat in Pluto's Gate can still qualify for it by running any subsequent quest undetected.
• Removed the “Weaponless” Side Bounty from the rotation as it’s not applicable to the new Quest flow.
• New challenges and rewards to discover in all levels!
• Lots more holes filled!

Skills

• Fixed the Haste skill so only characters with the skill get its benefit.
• Some special attacks now knock the targeted enemy back.
• Skill Points are now called Skill Points on the Skills screen, (not Memora).
• Clarity pass on skill descriptions to make it easier to understand what each skill does and how to use them.
• Known issue: the Mighty Blow, Cleave, and Fists of Iron skill chain descriptions sometimes leave out that they apply to axes & maces, swords, and unarmed attacks respectively.
• Added a reminder on the Skills screen that the player needs to perform Feats (found in the Compendium) to earn skill points.
• Fixed the Unseen Dash and Dash Farther skills’ handling of rough terrain. Unseen Dash should skim over terrain, while Dash Farther will hop over gaps entirely.
• Increased the bonus to mantel height granted by the Athletic Ascent skill.
• Improved clarity for skill descriptions and skill panel.

Misc

• General performance improvements to improve load times, increase FPS and reduce hitching.
• Players can now cycle through hints on loading screens by hitting the E button.
• Brightness bar on character creation extended so you can make the game even brighter.
• A Compendium now appears in the Tab menu. The Hints and Secrets tabs have been folded into the Compendium. In addition, one section lists all the available Feats in the game and tracks which feats have been completed. Another section will track all of the foods the player has eaten and their effects.
• New VFX on Memora.
• New VFX on Animus Hearts.
• Players will no longer sound like they are plunging deep beneath the water when they splash through a puddle.
• Fix for “Bark & Bite” achievement not firing right (the Ripper was getting the achievement instead).
• (Trade) Fix for splitting stacks during trade destroying stacks.

External Playtest

0.3.3193 (2.11.2019 01:46 AM)

These builds were released for External Playtest Round 6, running February 5 - February 15, 2019.

Update 1

0.0.0000 (12.20.2018 00:00 PM)

Hi folks, we're deploying Update 1 to Steam now. It should be available shortly if not already. Below are more detailed notes about the changes, fixes and improvements we've made to UA for this update. Please note, as we mentioned in the other thread about our ongoing dev plan, this is a good step forward and we have a lot more work in the plan. Please do give us feedback on this Update, particularly if you find bugs or if things are not behaving as we described they should behave. Thank you!

Save Game System
We completely overhauled Underworld Ascendant’s save game system based on player feedback. This new system saves the following:

• World State

• Enemies, chests, doors, levers, chandeliers, torches, sconces, braziers, and water level will save their states and location
• All spawned items (e.g., weapons, food, etc.) including location and position
• Silver Sapling location and status
• Enemy Health
• Enemy status effect with durations
• Door damage
• Combustibles will remain lit
• Gate / Portcullis state (up / down / in transit)

• Quest State

• The new system will save and restore the current state of the quest, including the required items and enemies as necessary. If a player saves after finishing objectives, this objective will be saved.

• Player State

• Position, rotation, crouching
• Current health/damage
• Current Mana
• Status effects
• Inventory
• Hotbar
• Stash
• Known spells
• Faction Favor
• Influence
• Completed quests
• Skills
• Held items
• Player session stats associated with level progress (e.g., enemies killed)
• Existing player stats associated with prior level progress

• A few things are not saved:

• Arrows that are not at rest
• Spells in the middle of being cast

• Important Note: Saving is disabled when the player is off the ground or within 15 meters of enemies

Combat
We made many updates to Combat in Underworld Ascendant as further outlined below. We also made a few improvements to AI and have plans for more enhancements to AI in the next update.

• Directional attacks are available at level zero without their status effects and they do the same amount of damage as a heavy attack. We’ve revised the previous skills granting directional attacks as follows (Swords / Axes and Maces / Unarmed):

• Blade Master / Mighty Blows / Fists of Iron - heavy left and right attacks now stagger enemies (LMB + Left and LMB + Right)
• Fighter's Fury / Bloody Barrage / Fists of Fury - heavy forward attacks now stun, and heavy back attacks knock enemies down (LMB + W and LMB + S)
• Deft Maneuvers / Savage Maneuvers / Shielded Strike - holding heavy attacks longer charges up the attack and does a bleeding over time extra damage (hold LMB longer)

• Light attacks do a bit more damage (20% more)
• Light attacks if spammed have a reminder tooltip every 10 swings explaining the difference between light swings (tapping LMB) and heavy swings (holding and releasing LMB)
• Unskilled Heavy attacks no longer stagger opponents
• Pluto's Gate received a combat tuning update: Spectral Knights (skeletons in chainmail) have been replaced by Spectral Warriors (skeletons with sickles and bows, who are now slightly weaker and do less damage) and some Spectral Warriors have been replaced by Spectral Thugs (headless skeletons, who are now weaker and unable to block).
• Combat VFX are now more visible: VFX Blood is brighter and VFX Collision FX are bigger – this goes for Stone, Wood and Bone impacts.
• Short swords have a bit larger attack colliders so they will connect hits more reliably
• We made tweaks to enemy stagger behavior during combat so they don’t get stuck on the defensive all the time
• Physics damage has been increased, making throwing objects at enemies a good strategy.
• Enemies now react better when they are hit with a thrown object
• Arrows should now working correctly in The Underswamp
• Outcasts teleport less often in and out in combat and have better flee point checking.
• Spectral Warriors no longer attack inanimate objects (like torches and doors) when damaged by them.

Quests and Levels
We made updates and improvements to the levels and quests in the game as follows:

• Removed many immersion-breaking holes and seams in the world
• AI population pass on all levels to better balance encounters and provide more and more varied creatures to fight.
• Later levels are now accessible earlier in the game due to changes we made to the doom counter.
• More to do and see on the first two main quests
• LODs adjusted to reduce graphical popping on higher end machines
• Gather quest items now have a map region highlighted
• Many enhancements to Upper Erebus

Items

• Weapon wear update:

• Weapon wear is visible on the weapon model, and weapons at their lowest condition appear broken
• Added sound for weapon breakage
• Weapons degrade more slowly

• Loot drop update:

• Better selection of weapons available in the shop
• Weapons are now easier to find in the world

• Updated some weapon models
• Brighter handheld light gem
• New health potion added to the game as a clear, available option for healing

Player Movement
Player movement is now more responsive and fluid

• For Hotfix 1.03 (released 11/29) included improvements to player movement in and out of water, added swimming, and reduced keyboard and mouse input lag.

Player Growth
We’ve made some changes to player growth and to improve communication of skill availability

• When a spell fails for lack of an eligible target, it no longer costs mana. This should help you experiment more freely with new rune formulas.
• Resherak can now be found in Pluto's Gate; visit him to train new skills earlier than ever before.
• New Feats are available in Pluto’s Gate to give players more Memora for their first encounter with Resherak.
• The Skills panel now grays out skills that are not yet unlocked, so you can tell the difference between them and skills whose precursors in the tree you just haven’t got yet. (Remember: you’ll be notified when returning to Marcaul if new Skills have been unlocked.)

Other

• The game now remembers your key binding preferences (one of the top requested fixes from the community)
• Hint text now stays longer on the screen
• Players can now brighten the overall game more using the slider found during new game creation and in the options menu
• Players can now read and listen to the Memora that they find as quest goals
• New option to disable mouse smoothing
• Disabled WASD movement key while in the character naming box. It’s now easier to have a name with an “s” in it, for example.
• Edits to English VO for length
• Full German VO now in game
• General audio balance tweaks
• Somewhat better performance

Understanding Weapon Wear
To help you understand how weapon wear works in the game, and how the different states of wear compare to each other, please see the below chart. Note: Magical items do not wear down.

Weapon durability is as follows:

• Pristine 80% and above
• Excellent 60-80%
• Serviceable 40-60%
• Worn 20-40%
• Broken 0-20%

Damage degrades from weapon. At 50%, “Serviceable,” a weapon will do 75% of its damage. For example, a sword that had a base damage of 33, would now do 24.75 points of damage per heavy swing. At the absolute lowest, a “Broken” weapon with 0 points of durability will do half of its damage.

Weapon and Armor Types
To help you make decisions about what weapons and armor to chose, here is some more information about how those items work in game. There is a baseline ‘par’ damage number per weapon type as follows:

• One handed sword – 33 points.
• One handed Axes and maces and bones – 35 points
• One handed dagger – 15 points
• Unarmed – 10 points

Armor from worst to best is as follows:

• Cloth/Robes
• Leather
• Chain
• Heavy (Plate/Splint)

Known Issues

• There are still some holes in levels -- we will continue to fix them.
• A small handful of memora logs have no proper title text or text for the audio. These will be found in some Intrigue faction quests. The quests are still completable and will count towards your memora log count.
• There’s an occasional bug with the quest Secrets of the Stygian Abyss where the required Memora item spawns in an inaccessible place (the inside of a Stone Bridge). If you cannot find that item, the current workaround is to abandon the quest and restart it. We are working on a fix for this issue.
• "You have learned a spell!" text appears with no context when you head toward The Moat of Khnum in Upper Erebus.
• Some DLC items do not appear in the Midnight Forum stash unless the player starts a new game.
• After reloading a save, some items, like water bottles, may not return to exactly where they were when you last saved.
• Sometimes jumping into physics objects like tables, crates, or chests, can sometimes hurt you and sometimes gravely hurt you!
• The Dash skill isn’t as reliable over rough terrain as we’d like it to be.
• Climbing a chain while swimming can result in getting stuck on the chain.
• Steam cloud saves are not yet working correctly.
• You cannot scroll through the backpack with scrollbar when in trade UI.
• You can occasionally lose a stack of items when you move it in a container (backpack or stash).
• As you acquire more valuable items, typically in later stages of the game, Aelita can run out of money.
• The Mana Brain / Mana Leech companion creatures have duplicated, large highlighting.

Hotfix 1.02

0.3.26819 (11.16.2018 02:53 PM)

Today’s hotfix addresses a number of quick fixes for reported bugs and localization issues. It also adds logging to help us track down crashes. Your 21:9 support is here too!

We will continue to work on the top community issues that will take a bit more time to address (save games, AI, saving option settings, art glitches, crashes, player movement and performance, etc.).

FYI - If you are experiencing crashes, please make sure your drivers are all up to date AND verify your files via steam.
Go to the game in your Library > RIGHT CLICK > Properties > local Files Tab > Verify Integrity of Game Files

You can see the entire list of today’s changes below.

BUILD NOTES
- Russian text previously displayed missing text as blocks. This has been fixed.
- Subtitles were added in the intro sequence for certain languages (French, Chinese, etc).
- Partial French VO has been removed.
- Faction Influences have been adjusted so more is gained from Side Bounties and the total required to unite the factions is lower.
- Item names and descriptions have been updated in Japanese.
- Additional monitor aspect ratio support added, like 21:9 (note that the UI may stretch in certain areas).
- Player spellbook entries are preserved between levels.
- Fixed issue where a pile of items incorrectly spawned at the start of some levels.
- Player sound effects removed between loading screens.
- In-Game Language choice preserved between play sessions. (Note that the Graffiti on walls will remain in the original language until you enter a new level).
- MAGIC FIST spell now visibly causes an impact reaction on enemies.
- Added more logging to help gather data on crash bugs

Other:
Does this game support 21:9 or ultrawide monitors?
We just added a patch for this! If this isn’t working for you yet, here’s a hotfix:

-Go to C:\Users[user]\AppData\LocalLow\OtherSide Entertainment\Underworld Ascendant
-Edit settings.xml (with notepad)
-Search <resolutionWidth>1920</resolutionWidth>
<resolutionHeight>1080</resolutionHeight>

Change to <resolutionWidth>2560</resolutionWidth>
<resolutionHeight>1080</resolutionHeight>

The image is at the right ratio, set your FOV
The HUD is zoomed

Release

0.3.12309 (11.15.2018 06:50 AM)

Greetings, Underworld Ascendant players. Welcome to The Stygian Abyss!

Underworld Ascendant is now live. We are so excited to reach this momentous occasion and to share Underworld Ascendant with the world. We look forward to seeing how each of you approaches the many enemies and obstacles that stand in your way.

Here’s everything you need to know before heading into the Abyss:

BUILD NOTES
– Please note that you cannot “save your game” while in the Abyss. It only preserves your inventory, skills, and day progression. You can only “hard save” in Marcaul / the hub. The Silver Sapling is used as a respawn point within a level.

– PENDING: reported crashes when loading into Pluto's Gate.
– PENDING: add option to remove or reduce mouse smoothing.
– Changing the graphics settings during a mission will reset you back to Marcaul (the hub) and progress the day by 1.
– Dead NPCs may tug into the wall when you are a certain distance away.
– Player Hunger level can increase when game is paused.
– Some metal doors can get stuck in their frame when opened.
– Some audio might overlap when you play a Memora log during narration.
– Highlighting over the companion mind crippler shows additional outlines. This creature still behaves per normal.
– There are rare areas where a skeleton would spawn in an unexpected area and not react to players.
– Character punches the air after casting a spell with a wand.
– Selecting sounds in the character customizer does not show box around the selected option.
– If character falls into Valley in Titan's Reach and has all the movement skills unlocked, they can survive the fall and become stuck.
– In Tyball's Folly, falling into water in the Necromanteion region causes players to be stuck.
– Playing on the computer with a controller, exiting the game, rebooting the computer and starting up the game causes the game to be locked to playing a controller. You will need to replug the controller and reset the controls.
– Corpses of Deep Slugs occasionally distort after reloading a level.
– Thrown objects will pass through Aelita.
– In one room in Murgo's Prison some items will disappear after turning off a trap.
– If you are climbing a chain while being hit by a Ripper, you are unable to get off the chain.
– Some chains move on their own.
– If an additional game is loaded while in-game, the faction favor could display inaccurate information.
– Wooden chairs can sink in water.
– Some items might be hard to see if they drop on soil.
– Faction bonus popups add an extra “the” in front of the faction’s name.
– Splashing into shallow water sounds like splashing into deep pools of water.
– URUZ rune icon is different in spellwheel than in spellbook. This is a font issue.
– Using Controller on OPTIONS menus that scroll, you need to use the right stick to scroll the menus.
– There are some holes in the environments that are being addressed.
– Formatting issues with some text with the quest tab, reward screen and subtitles.
– Some fighting animations with a sword can miss collision with Rogue Outcast.
– Text Formatting with Hints is inconsistent.
– Changing Language settings does not adjust Graffiti text’s language.

GENERAL INFO
Week 1 Bonus Items and Launch Discount
Purchase the game week 1 to receive In-Game Bonus Items as well as 15% off of the retail price for the game. Offer expires 21 November, 2018 (9:59am PST).

Bonus Items:
2 quest companion creatures: Vorpa + Mana Leech
Downloadable map of The Stygian Abyss

Accessing Bonus Items:
Retrieve the quest companions through the “Player Stash” in the Midnight Forum (near Aelita) in Marcaul. The Player Stash has a map icon to help you find it. When you open your stash, you get an auxiliary inventory UI and you will see the items in there. You can drag them to your regular inventory and equip them from there (there’s 1 special slot for equipping a companion, just like armor, etc.). Note: every new character the player creates will have those items sitting in their stash.

The map will be downloaded to a DLC Extras folder in your Underworld Ascendant Steam folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Underworld Ascendant\DLC Extras

You will also be able to access the folder from via the Steam library by right clicking the game, selecting Properties, Local Files tab, then select the Browse Local Files button.

FOR NEW PLAYERS
Do I need to know anything about the games this is based on?
Nope! There’s a couple of throwbacks which veterans will catch, but the game itself is pretty contained. Keep an eye out for secrets…

This game seems… really hard… I can’t kill anything!
First and foremost, this is a Looking Glass-style game. Here’s a couple of pointers:

If you spam light attacks too often, enemies will start to block more often. You need to vary your attacks.

Your weapons have durability, and not just from attacking! Defending / parrying too many shots can weaken your gear.

Exploration is key to survival. As you traverse deeper into the Abyss, you’ll notice there are a lot of enemies crawling around. Be sure to know your surroundings and use whatever you can to your advantage. (Ledges, traps, cliffs, etc)

Peek at the skill tree and play around with different setups! If you want to be more mobile, you may want to invest in the “Fighter” tree just for some mobility options. If you want to utilize more magic to give yourself more options, try out the “Magic” tree. And of course, if you’d like to go FULL “Garrett,” there’s always the “Stealth” tree.

COMMUNITY:
Be sure to join the Steam Discussions or Discord to share your experiences!

FOR KICKSTARTER BACKERS:

I’m a Kickstarter Backer! How do I redeem my Steam key?
You must log onto your BackerKit to access your final game key. Please log into BackerKit here with your Kickstarter login credentials, navigate to the Underworld Ascendant project, and then click on the Digital Downloads tab. From there, you should see your key to be redeemed on Steam. See below for DRM-Free info

NOTE: Whether you selected Steam or DRM-free for your final game key, ALL backers are receiving a Steam key. The game is still DRM-free (you can play offline or without launching the Steam client). We are still looking into non-Steam platform alternatives such as on itch.io / GOG .

When I load up Underworld Ascendant, it doesn’t play, and I was able to play the Backer Pre-Alpha / Alpha / Beta just fine!
Make sure to delete your save files from the previous builds before playing Underworld Ascendant. You can find your save files under My Documents/My Games/Underworld Ascendant.

I received an email from BackerKit that my address was needed to complete my order, but I only have digital rewards.
You can ignore this email! This is usually if you ordered Prototype Access and BackerKit assigned you a second pledge and it notices your address was left empty. Your launch key and rewards will NOT affected.

Other:
My game crashed! How do I send you a bug report?
Please send us the output_log.txt, which can be found here: C:\Users\[Your Name]\AppData\LocalLow\OtherSide Entertainment\Underworld Ascendant

I’m waiting for my / Mac / Linux key. When should I expect it?
We expect the Mac and Linux builds to be finished after launch. We will continue to update you on our progress as we work on these versions of the game.

DRM-Free Version of Game for Backers
For the DRM-free version of the game, we are still searching for a vendor. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you would like to use your Steam key in the meantime, it is is DRM-free and can be played completely offline and without launching Steam. We will update everyone when we have our DRM-Free distribution channel finalized.

Beta

0.3.31882 (10/11/2018 06:41 PM)

This build includes:

PLUTO’S GATE

THE SAURIAN’S CHALLENGE

MARCAUL

UPPER EREBUS

UNDERSWAMP

TITAN’S REACH

SKILLS

Note: You can only exchange your Memora for skills with Resherak in Marcaul (or if you find him in the Abyss). All skills are currently available in the build.

ITEMS

• Armor (Basic)

• Note that most of these will equip automatically if they are better than your current armor

• Weapons

• Jewel of Befuddlement – Throw this at an enemy and they will be temporarily stunned and forget they saw you.
• Flint Arrows
• Bow
• Water Arrows – Does not deal damage to enemies. Can put out fires.
• Blast Arrows – Deals minor damage. On collision, a blast of air will be released.
• Tripwire – Anything that walks into a tripwire will receive damage, including yourself! Select the tripwire and click Left Mouse to have the placement indicator appear. Move against a vertical surface where the placement indicator is tinted white and click again to place it. If the placement indicator is tinted red, that means an opposing surface is not close enough, and the trap can’t be placed there.

• Memora – A magical means for capturing memories. Raw Memora is used as currency. Memora containing key information or survival skills is greatly valued. (A Memora containing secrets is a quest item in the Upper Erebus mission)
• Silver Sapling – Plant it anywhere in dirt. You will always respawn at the Silver Sapling. It can only be in one place at any one time, so be mindful of where you re-plant it!
• Food

• Be sure to eat food ingame to learn their effects!

• Wands

• Move Wood – Cast once to bring a wooden object towards you.
• Bind Spirit – Charms living creatures and shackles the Undead to the ground for a short period of time.
• Bind Wood – Immobilizes wooden objects in place for a short time.
• Move Fire – creates a throw-able orb of fire
• Be sure to pay attention to rune combinations and write down your own!

CREATURES

• Tier 1, 2, and 3 Skeletons
• ??? Skeletons (beware Skeletons whose eyes glow red…)
• Rippers
• Lich
• Eidolon (Note: cannot be damaged directly)
• Animus
• Deep Slugs
• Outcasts
• Chthonians
• Saurians
• Wisps

GAMEPLAY AND BUILD NOTES:

Item interaction – when you grab an object, we display an indicator line that shows where you are holding that object. That anchor point can impact how and where you can place the object. Sometimes it’s easier to “push” objects than “pull” them.

Item Highlighting – we’re investigating being able to turn off the object highlighting for those that wish to do so. The option is not in this build.

Reward Screen – We welcome your feedback on how well the stats listed here reflect your playthrough, as well as your understanding of how you’re being rewarded.

Narrative and Quests – Most of the beginning narrative is revealed in this build. Play at your own risk! Certain narrative spoilers have been omitted until final release.

Save System – This is currently undergoing work. Note that the Silver Sapling acts as a RESPAWN point within a level and not a SAVE POINT.

KNOWN ISSUES – there are many more, these are the more likely you’ll encounter:

• FOR ALIENWARE USERS: The game may crash if you do not delete the file “AlienFXManagedWrapper3.5.dll” in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Underworld Ascendant Betas\UA_Data\Managed (or wherever you have their games stored)
• There are some occlusion issues in Pluto's Gate, Marcaul, and Titan's Reach.
• There is a floor texture that has some issues in Pluto’s Gate.
• “Added to Backpack” is triggered when you first load into Marcaul, even though you haven’t picked up anything. This is handling your unarmed slot as “an object” you picked up, even though it isn’t.
• Picking up items tooltip appears before player is able to pick up any items.
• Some water bottles bounce off of torches.
• Some graffiti is blocky due to font issues.
• Fog might show some rectangle shapes when observing it from a distance.
• V/O can sometimes stack in Marcaul.
• Player is unable to skip/exit the credits.
• Players can set their names to names with over 50+ characters.
• Some chests appear open. Upon selecting them, loot magically appears.
• The Trade UI has some issues with dragging items from one faction to another, stacking on top of other items. The system is currently being worked on and improved on.
• Dragging items and stacking them onto of other items in the hotbar/inventory causes them to vanish.
• Selecting Social in Options After Closing Options Shows Blank Panel.
• Caching video for unlocking feats/imprinting memora is on by default in the Options.

BUG SUBMISSION

If you encounter bugs, please follow these steps:

• Open the PAUSE MENU
• Select the “BUGS” option, which will open a new tab with a menu.
• Enter the title of the bug and basic description. Push SEND.

External Playtest

0.3.3287 (10.17.2018 01:49 AM)

These builds were released for External Playtest Round 5, running October 22 - November 5, 2018.

0.3.3348 (9.27.2018 01:51 AM)

This build was released for External Playtest Round 4, running September 21 - October 5, 2018.

0.3.20580 (8.21.2018 11:26 AM)

This build was released for External Playtest Round 3, running August 22 - September 5, 2018.

0.3.32550 (7.31.2018 06:05 PM)

This build was released for External Playtest Round 2, running August 1 - August 15, 2018.

0.3.24716 (7.13.2018 01:43 PM)

This build was released for External Playtest Round 1, running July 14 - July 27, 2018.

Alpha

0.3.-30955 (6.25.2018 07:12 PM)

This build includes:

PLUTO’S GATE – this is our post-intro “un-training level,” designed by Cabirus to ease your entrance to The Stygian Abyss. This is an updated and revised version of the area played at PAX East.

UPPER EREBUS – this is a level from later in the game with a variety of enemies and challenges. This is an updated version of the area that was playable at E3.

SKILLS

Note: When you are placed in Upper Erebus, you will receive a large number of skills as if you have completed a number of hours of gameplay. Skill descriptions are available in game and in some cases noted below. This is a powerful kit. You will be able to move faster and withstand much more damage than what you have in Pluto’s Gate. But this will help you test a variety of skills for us and give us feedback on them.

• Combat

• Haste
• Sword Mastery
• Parry
• Sprint
• Pitch of the Pedro – Handheld objects can be thrown quicker to deal more damage.
• Lift
• Avatar Smash
• Jump
• Feather Fall
• Wall Run

• Magic

• Mage Sight – Allows you to see mana motes.
• Casting Boost 1-3
• Mana Boost 1-5
• Mana Attractor – Automatically brings mana motes within a visible radius to you.

• Stealth

• Stealth Sense – While crouching, the UI element will indicate how visible you are. (“Open eyeball” is highly visible, “closed eyeball” is undetected”)
• Concealment
• Climb/Mantle – You will automatically mantle over small ledges and objects while moving forward (e.g., holding down “w”)
• Climb Ropes
• Dash
• Dash 2 – While crouching, hold left shift to view where you can dash towards. Release shift to dash. Can leap across gaps. You WILL collide with anything in the way.
• Backstab – While crouching behind an enemy undetected, striking with a sharp object (sword, dagger, etc) will do bonus damage.
• Pounce – Attacking an enemy while undetected will do bonus damage.
• Lucky Shot – While you’re aiming with a bow and arrow, you can time the release when the little arrow indicator is in the center of the bar to receive a damage boost.
• Sniping – Headshots while concealed deal double damage. Can one-shot Tier 1 Skeletons.

ITEMS

• Armor (Basic)

• Masterwork Platemail
• Boots
• Helmets

• Weapons

• Jewel of Befuddlement – Throw this at an enemy and they will be temporarily stunned and forget they saw you.
• Flint Arrows
• Bow
• Water Arrows – Does not deal damage to enemies. Can put out fires.
• Blast Arrows – Deals minor damage. On collision, a blast of air will be released.
• Tripwire – Anything that walks into a tripwire will receive damage, including yourself! Select the tripwire and click Left Mouse to have the placement indicator appear. Move against a vertical surface where the placement indicator is tinted white and click again to place it. If the placement indicator is tinted red, that means an opposing surface is not close enough, and the trap can’t be placed there.

• Memora – A magical means for capturing memories. Raw Memora is used as currency. Memora containing key information or survival skills is greatly valued. (A Memora containing secrets is a quest item in the Upper Erebus mission)
• Silver Sapling – Plant it anywhere in dirt. You will always respawn at the Silver Sapling. It can only be in one place at any one time, so be mindful of where you re-plant it!
• Food

• Fromage du Propre
• Eyeless Nether Fish – Don’t ask, don’t tell.
• Corn of the Erinyes

• Wands

• Move Plant – Cast once to bring a wooden object towards you. On the same wooden object, casting again will push the wooden object away from you.
• Bind Spirit – Charms living creatures and shackles the Undead to the ground for a short period of time.
• Bind Plant – Immobilizes wooden objects in place for a short time.

CREATURES

• Tier 1 & Tier 2 Skeletons
• Rippers
• Eidolon (Note, cannot be damaged directly)
• Wisps

GAMEPLAY AND BUILD NOTES:

A note on what’s in and not in the build: you are seeing a small slice of the game overall, consisting of a training level as well as part of another level. You’re also seeing only a portion of the skills and abilities the game will ship with, particularly only a small amount of magic spells and runes. We’re also deliberately not including much of the narrative and additional quests, primarily to reduce spoilers.

Item interaction – when you grab an object, we display an indicator line that shows where you are hold that object. That anchor point can impact how and where you can place the object. Sometimes it’s easier to “push” objects than “pull” them.

Item Highlighting – we’re investigating being able to turn off the object highlighting for those that wish to do so. The option is not in this build.

Reward Screen – this is still a work-in-progress and we welcome your feedback on it as well as on the kinds of things you would want to show

Narrative and Quests – we are not exposing much of it at this time to avoid or minimize spoilers

KNOWN ISSUES – there are many more, these are the more likely you’ll encounter:

• Flaming arrows don’t set doors on fire – known bug
• “Combat and Movement feels clunky” – we’re actively working to refine combat and related systems. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
• “Stealth Light sensor doesn’t work on Mac+Linux” – it will act as full bright for this build pending a Unity engine update
• “Spell X is difficult to use or understand how it is supposed to work” – we’re updating the usability as well as the in-game messaging to address this, but please do still tell us how you think they should work
• “Loading Times are very long” – We’ll be addressing this issue in the coming weeks
• “Is it Localized?” – Localization has not been fully implemented yet, there are dropdowns in the options but most of the languages are currently empty or have default google translations.
• Object interaction – currently the players’ hands continue to appear when carrying an item, that will be fixed so that the hands will not show
• Object interaction – pressing E to drop an item while having the mouse over another object will cause you to drop the first object and pick up the second. That is not the intended behavior and a fix is in the works
• Object interaction – when holding an object, you can hold the right mouse button down to rotate it and use the mouse wheel to move the object closer or farther away from you
• Items – Not all food will heal you and we will be getting better messaging in the game about what the different foods will do for you
• Items – the Silver Sapling won’t plant in various places that look like dirt. We’re aware and working on a fix
• Items – I keep getting the same loot. Not all loot is enabled in this build, there will be more!
• Map – the in-game map is not updating correctly so it’s showing, e.g., the end of Pluto’s Gate, not the beginning. We have fixed this already in the main game branch
• Enemies – Occasionally AI does not initialize in certain parts of a level so that the enemies are standing around doing nothing
• Graphics – The game is really dark – try turning the Brightness up in the Graphics settings
• Loading – There’s a long hitch at the beginning of Upper Eberus – this is related to navmesh (AI) loading, we’re aware and fixing
• Audio – there’s an issue where the volume of audio in menus and the interlude in Pluto’s Gate is much louder than the rest of the game sounds. That is being fixed.
• Mac – occasionally the level will end on a black screen.Reward screen – not all calculations are 100% accurate
• Mac – The build may fail to load on OSX 10.13.5.
• Mac / Linux – Enemy perception is currently very low, an update from Unity should fix that
• Mac / Linux – You may see some rendering bugs related to item highlighting and torch shadows
• Mac / Linux – Performance is currently not to part with the Windows version and we will be addressing that as we continue with development
• Mac / Linux – Some particle systems and surfaces may be black or pink.
• Rare Crash – Interacting with the lever in the physics room of Pluto’s Gate may crash the build.
• Rare Crash – Unity’s crash reporting has a rare crash that is ‘most likely’ fixed with the next release.
• Rare Crash – Using video caching (Social Tab in options) on Windows 10 machines can sometimes cause a crash several minutes into gameplay

BUG SUBMISSION

If you encounter bugs, please follow these steps:

• Open the PAUSE MENU
• Select the “BUGS” option, which will open a new tab with a
• Enter the title of the bug and basic description. Push SEND.
• If you encounter a bug in a specific area, you can take a screenshot that attached the coordinates of the location: Ctrl+F12

• send this to us at support@otherside-e.com with a basic description of your bug

Prototype

0.1.5849.001

Today, we’ve uploaded our new PRE-ALPHA PROTOTYPE for you to test out!

In it, you’re tasked with discovering what led an Underworld settlement to become overrun by undead. Four story tablets detailing the events are hidden in randomized locations throughout the level, such as inside chests, in sarcophagi, on raised platforms, or behind objects. Runestones (a required component in formulas for spells) and bonus gold bar collectables can also be found, sometimes in spots that require careful thought and skill to reach.

This area is infested with a band of fierce skeleton warriors, who you can battle with a longsword, stealthily evade, or devise other clever ways to deal with them. (Hint: Many objects in the world react to fire, air, earth, and plant spells, allowing for fun experimentation.)

While previous maps features blank, featureless walls and floors, the PRE-ALPHA PROTOTYPE shows progress on the game’s “Authored Look,” which attempts to recreate the look and feel of hand-sculpted fantasy miniatures and tabletop boards.

At the same time, it is an early work-in-progress. The visuals and audio will continue to improve steadily over the balance of this year. Current placeholder elements -- such as the player model, the user interface for spell casting, and spell effects -- will be greatly refined.

Its look and quality are in no way representative of the final game, so expect to see a few rough edges, but we hope you’ll like the direction it’s headed.

Play Notes

SWINGING A SWORD & CASTING SPELLS

To swing a sword:

• Draw back to prepare a blow (hold down the Left Mouse button or Right Trigger for at least a beat), then release when you want to make the attack. If you hold down too briefly your attack will be aborted.
• Holding longer produces a more powerful chop.
• Swinging while backing up produces a stab.

To cast a spell:

• Hit Tab or Back to bring up the Rune Menu
• Enter in a spell formula
• Hit Tab or Back to exit the Rune Menu
• Cast the spell by hitting the Left Mouse Button or Right Trigger

A few useful spell formulas:

• MOVE AIR (Ehwaz Hagalaz): Creates a blast of air
• MOVE EARTH (Ehwaz Eiwaz): Levitates stone objects
• MOVE PLANT (Ehwaz Jera): Levitates wooden objects
• CREATE PLANT (Berkanon Jera) (while aimed at a ceiling): Produces a climbable vine
• CREATE FIRE (Berkanon Kenaz): Lights wooden objects on fire

To switch back and forth between Spells and Swords, press 1 and 2 or Y.

Object Interaction

• To interact with an object, tap E or X.
• To grab an object, hold E or X. Then, to drop, hold E or X again.
• Many doors are locked, but since they’re made out of wood can be chopped down, burnt down by spreading fire (by holding a barrel up to a torch, then holding it against the door), or burnt down using a CREATE FIRE (Berkanon Kenaz) spell.
• Stone coffin lids are very heavy, but the player can open them by either:

• Grabbing and pulling up, over, and down. (Note: This is intentionally tough.)
• Casting a MOVE EARTH (Ehwaz Eiwaz) spell on them to make a lid levitate.

• Objects suspended by rope can be dropped by setting the rope on fire.

Controls

GAME CONTROLLER

• Look – Right stick
• Move – Left stick
• A – Jump
• B – Crouch/Uncrouch
• Left shoulder – Hold to sprint

• X – Interact (Tap to frob. Hold to grab or drop.)
• Start – Pause menu
• Y - Switch between Spells & Sword

• SWORD

• Right trigger – Attack
• Hold to prepare an attack. Release to attack.
• Hold longer to ready a chop.
• Hold while retreating to stab.

• SPELLS

• Back - Access menu to enter rune formula
• Right trigger - Cast selected spell

KEYBOARD

• WASD – Move
• Mouse - Look
• Space bar - Jump
• Ctrl - Crouch/Uncrouch
• Shift – Hold to sprint

• E – Interact (Tap to frob. Hold to grab.)
• Escape – Pause menu
• 1 - Select Spells
• 2 - Select Sword

• SWORD

• L-Mouse – Attack
• Hold to prepare an attack. Release to attack.
• Hold longer to ready a chop.
• Hold while retreating to stab.

• SPELLS

• Tab - Access menu to enter rune formula
• L-Mouse - Cast selected spell

In this work-in-progress prototype, you may encounter a number of known issues, including, but not limited to:

• Fire cannot be transferred to crates and lava currently does not set objects on fire.
• Missing audio for opening chests, rune pick-up, and player footsteps.
• Placeholder character model.
• Early pass at vfx for spells and fire.
• Missing or placeholder destruction state for objects like crates and barrels.
• Occasional pathing issues for skeletons.

0.1.5835.001

Patch for prototype on February 12, 2016:

• A skill panel! Skills are placeholder and by no means final, or even close to the order they will be in. Really, it's just a panel to select skills at the moment.

• Double Jump. Like the name says, air control with it is pretty awesome too. I'm able to jump around corners using it.
• Lift object. Limit right now is around 80kg. You can pick up and throw a body easily. Now you can clean up after killing enemies in the combat pit and put them in the dumpster where they belong.
• Better Jump Skill - you jump with more power.
• Climb rope Skill - you climb faster.

Note: basic climb of a rope is now slower.

• Sprint Skill- Beep Beep. You sprint faster than a normal human. Also added a speedometer. -- it comes out to around 15/16 mph top tier athlete, but not Usain Bolt.
• Invincibility - not final name. A chance of returning to life with half your health.
• DASH! A dash ability that acts like the teleport from Dishonored.

• Bug fixes!

• Fix to the IK climbing ropes
• Fix to prefabs and their meshes not being shared causing performance issues.
• Fix to wallrunning -easier to execute
• Fix to wall sliding is also easier now.

0.1.5822.001

Patch for prototype on February 2, 2016:

• Our lead designer Tim and engineer Will have fashioned the bones we can build upon for a robust movement system. They’ve decided – at least, for the moment – to have full body awareness. That means that the body of the player is visible and reacts like any other physical object in the world. Momentum matters. Run faster? You jump further. Chain jumps together and you keep your momentum going. Stop for a second and your momentum is lost. If you pause while jumping wall-to-wall, you start sliding down the side of the wall. Sliding down a slope is fast and running up a slope is slower than on a flat plane.
• Secondly, we’ve stood up the beginnings of combat. There are three attacks so far: a light swing, an overhead swing, and a stab. There’s a bad guy wandering around the space who’s just itching to be hit.
• That’s the feeling we’re going after – but with more robust tactics, movement, and better use of the 3D space than was technically possible in the original games. Enemies with have ‘tells’ so the player can learn to react to them properly. We’re still looking at other complexities like locational damage, status effects, dodging, and blocking. How complex we push the AI in combat is being experimented with, but we expect them to have far more options than “ARRGH kill the player!” and “Oh, no! I’m hurt! Run away!” If they have spells, they’ll use them. If they’re carrying a magic weapon, you can be sure it’ll be equipped.

0.1.5817.001

Patch for prototype on December 21, 2015:

• The last few weeks we've mostly been working on other features, but it has received some love in the form of bugfixing and a new movement ability: wall-running.
• To Wall-run simply sprint forward (Shift + W) at about a 30 degree angle from a wall and jump into it.
• Also, you can jump off the wall if you hit space while wall-running.
• You can also enter a wall-run by swinging off a rope and jumping into a wall at a good angle.

0.1.5816.266

Patch for prototype on December 4, 2015:

• jumping and ropes improvements
• Improvements to the mantle-er
• lights performance
• ground slide has a proper animation tied to it now
• you can ground slide by landing and holding crouch on an angled surface!
• getting out of the jumping state no longer sets your velocity to zero (this was killing your momentum when jumping onto ropes, and when landing on staircases, boxes, etc)
• detecting ropes is a little bigger/easier as well as more refined (if part of the rope is bent and part isn't you will grab the one that isn't. Before it would fail early if any part was bent past 45 degrees)
• bug fix: landing would sometimes make your guys arms hold up forever.
• pressing crouch to fall off a rope will no longer have you in 'crouch toggled on' mode when you land
• faster jump/land animation speeds
• ground slide physics is now an editable asset (instead of instancing one)
• basketball now has bouncy physics that make sense (yes, the NBA has regulations on it)
• bowling pin now has proper physics as well
• Removing the 'glint' intractable on objects.It was an interesting experiment, but feedback proved it wasn't good
• Grab objects is now faster.
• picking up objects now shows a different (heavy) icon for objects that you can't "lift" (anything over 20kg)
• move+bind plant now attach the marionette to the object's center of mass instead of its transform position (the explosive barrel and some other things would have a strange looking offset)

0.1.5805.3091

Initial playable prototype provided to Lore Seeker backers and above on November 24, 2015