Patch 007

Early Access Patch 007: The CHAOS Update - January 15, 2019

Our first Major Update is here! Your feedback helped us prioritize features that add variety and lasting value, to help keep things fresh as we continue to create more content. Note: We'll likely post several smaller patches after this, then shift focus to next month's big update!

Highlights

 * Primordial Chaos: the ancestor of the gods awaits within Blood Gates! Blessings from Chaos offer powerful benefits, with initial side effects...
 * Pact of Punishment: for those skilled and determined enough to have cleared the game, now even greater trials await through this system.
 * Zag's New & Improved Look: We've retouched thousands of frames of animation to bring our protagonist in line with the game's visual style.
 * New 'Perfect Clear' Encounter: Lord Hades sometimes challenges you to slay your foes without getting hit (and, if you fail...)
 * New Foes: the Skull-Crusher, the Gorgon, & the Megagorgon.
 * New Resource: after unlocking the Pact, look for Heat to power it up.
 * Wretched Broker: exchange resources in the House of Hades.

Balance - Weapons & Powers

 * Dash: now briefly stuns most unarmored foes.
 * Eternal Spear: Special slightly faster; Spin Attack area slightly increased but no longer Backstabs (same as other area attacks).
 * Shield of Chaos: Special returns sooner; slightly reduced Bull Rush recovery time.

Balance - Boons & Upgrades

 * Critical effects have a reduced chance, but deal more damage.
 * Lightning Strike (Zeus): increased damage.
 * Lightning Flourish (Zeus): increased damage.
 * Thunder Dash (Zeus): effect no longer targets invulnerable foes.
 * Divine Flourish (Athena): slightly increased damage; reduced Deflect duration on Special (Blade only).
 * Tidal Strike (Poseidon): slightly increased damage; reduced knockback.
 * Tidal Flourish (Poseidon): increased damage.
 * Sunken Treasure (Poseidon): increased healing and other rewards.
 * Ocean's Bounty (Poseidon): reduced money bonus.
 * Slicing Shot (Ares): increased base damage.
 * Super Nova (Daedalus - Blade): reduced damage and area of effect.
 * Sudden Sunder (Daedalus - Blade): fixed an issue where you could Blink repeatedly.
 * Triple Shot (Daedalus - Bow): widened attack arc.
 * Sudden Rush (Daedalus - Shield): charges even faster.
 * Minotaur Rush (Daedalus - Shield): increased damage.
 * Javelin Throw (Daedalus - Spear): increased damage.
 * Trick Toss (Daedalus - Spear): removed speed bonus (since the base throw now is faster).

Balance - Foes

 * Bloodless: flank you more effectively; slightly delayed attack point.
 * Inferno-bombers: now drop one bomb when slain (instead of three).
 * Skullomat: increased health.
 * Voidstone: increased shielding range; effect ceases once destroyed.
 * Bone Hydra: further tuning to aspects of this encounter.
 * Megaera: slightly reduced health; other misc. fixes and changes.
 * Re-tuned various Asphodel foes to make room for the new varieties.
 * Normalized 'Backstab' areas on various foes.

Balance - Mirror

 * Infernal Soul: reduced max rank (invested Darkness will be refunded).
 * Quick Temper: removed from the game (invested Darkness will be refunded); replaced with...
 * Boiling Blood (NEW!): gives dmg. bonus after hitting foes with Cast.

Balance - Keepsakes & Items

 * All Keepsakes re-scaled; they now rank up through repeated use.
 * You can now switch Keepsakes only once after clearing Tartarus.
 * Black Shawl (Nyx): now restores Health when you earn Darkness.
 * Cosmic Egg (Chaos): added to the game.
 * Daedalus Hammer (Charon): increased shop cost.
 * Boons (Charon): slightly reduced shop cost.
 * Centaur Heart (Charon): slightly reduced shop cost.
 * Eye of Lamia (Well): slightly increased cost.
 * Light of Ixion (Well): no longer sold during early escape attempts.

Level Design & Environments

 * New Chambers: 3 added to Tartarus, 3 added to Asphodel.
 * Adjustments and fixes to various chambers.

Art & Visual FX

 * Artemis: the Goddess of the Hunt shows herself at last…
 * Cast: your Bloodstones have an updated look.
 * Hades Remembrance sequences have a new look.
 * New cosmetic obstacles added to various Chambers.
 * Various other graphical improvements.

Menus & UI

 * Victory Screen: successfully complete a run to see this summary.
 * Screenshot: F11 (default) to take screenshots anywhere in-game.
 * Report Bug: F10 (default) to report a bug anywhere in-game (note this is no longer for misc. feedback; please give feedback in Discord!).
 * Main Menu: improvements, plus Chaos Update presentation.
 * Updated Player Health Bar; more improvements planned.
 * Updated look of Aim Previews for various weapons and abilities.
 * Improved feedback on some button states.
 * Various minor fixes and improvements.

New Settings

 * Show Timer: toggle this to track your best time.
 * Playback Device: set your preferred audio device in-game.
 * Mouse Lock: lock your mouse cursor in windowed display modes.
 * Dead Zone: tune your controller's neutral position.
 * Captions remain visible during scene transitions.
 * Other minor fixes and improvements.

Music & SFX

 * 'Primordial Chaos': added new music track.
 * Added various new SFX.

Voice & Narrative

 * Added voice lines for Chaos, Zagreus, Hades, Achilles, & Hypnos.
 * Added Zagreus voice events for various gameplay contexts.
 * Added several new character events in the House of Hades.
 * Achilles should give the Codex more reliably early on.
 * Added Codex entries for Chaos, new foes, and Heat.
 * Increased max Gift level for Olympians, Nyx, Skelly, and Cerberus.

Miscellaneous

 * Updated descriptions of some Boons, Keepsakes, and Upgrades.
 * Keepsakes re-arranged in the Display Case.
 * Credits: Primordial Chaos added to Voice Cast.
 * Improved feedback when your last Death Defiance is used up.
 * Added feedback if you try using the Codex before it's unlocked.
 * Can no longer buy Life Essence (Well) at full health.
 * Small amounts of Darkness awarded directly instead of in pick-ups.
 * Game pauses automatically if a controller disconnect is detected.
 * Various minor text fixes.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a crash if your character died while viewing the Codex.
 * Fixed an issue where Dusa would vanish rather than fly away.
 * Fixed a visual issue with Boss Health Bars not fully depleting.
 * Various minor fixes.

Quote of the Patch
"Astounding heat seized Chaos: and to see with eyes and to hear the sound with ears it seemed even as if Earth and wide Heaven above came together."

- Theogony (Hesiod; E. Evelyn-White translation)

You should see version V0.12868 In-Game once you have the update