-- fixed possibly infinte Temple wrath during Cryomance fight
-- fixed algorithm that wasn't removing needless doors
-- added visual telegraph to spike trap that will activate next turn
-- fixed ancient becoming immune if shot with a high enough power automatic weapon
Jupiter Hell
Jupiter Hell 1.5a - hotfix live!
Jupiter Hell 1.5 - Ancient!
Jupiter Hell 1.5 "Ancient" upgrades Io branches and mainline, introduces a boss at Io Gateway, improves fire mechanics and visuals (and Fireangel!), adds more manufacturer perks, adds the Fanatic, improves AI and more!
It's been a year since the official 1.0 release of Jupiter Hell. And there was much rejoicing. Well, let's celebrate with yet another update, and no, we're not slowing down ;)
But first - we're taking the first steps into making Jupiter Hell fully modable - the basic systems are in place, and on the Jupiter Hell Discord (https://discord.gg/jupiterhell) the community is already building and sharing the first mods! If you want to give a shot at modding JH, or take an early shot at trying them out, come and hang out with us!
Let's divide the update into sections - Io, Ancient, Fire, Fanatic and The Rest.
==Io==
NEW #1727 - Black Site branch/special rework!
NEW #1728 - CRI Laboratories branch/special rework!
NEW #1730 - Shadow Halls/Dark Cathedral rework!
NEW #1725 - Europa Ruins/Frozen Temple rework!
NEW #1769 - Warehouse/Infernal Lock revisited!
CHANGE #1770 - improved Io level generators (mostly visual)
CHANGE #1772 - Wealth and Power wishes improvedIo got the same treatment as Callisto and Europa before it. However, when it comes to level mechanics, due to Io being added fairly late in development it already had plenty mechanics of its own - hence we did a bit different approach. The twin paths of Black Site and CRI Armory have a very noticable change - however "fully completing" their branch challenges is MUCH more harder than with the other branches. It's a challenge, not something you're expected to do each game. There are spoilers on the Discord if you're interested ;).
Ruins and Halls got improvements on their twists, and visual, generation, music and especially loot improvements. Definitely a path that is worth revisiting again!
Be on the lookout for new manufacturer perks - word is that they're very spicy!
==Ancient==
NEW #1718 - Io has a brand new boss!With this, our old plan to have a boss on every moon is complete! Mwahhahahaha....
Akhem. This ones a tough SOB. Be prepared to die from time to time. The whole Io Gateway got a makeover and is now an Ancient ruin. There's some more stuff related to the Io Boss that will come in a later version too ;).
==Fire==
NEW #1767 - improved fire visuals and added flame tiles!
NEW #1767 - Fireangel revisited! (burning 3->1 but added area burn!)
CHANGE #1767 - burning status prevents regeneration
CHANGE #1767 - burning limited to 50 stacks
NEW #1765 - AI now actively avoids harmful hazards if possibleFire visuals have been overhauled and the floor can now be set on fire too. Fireangel is now the premium Master Trait for people who "want to set the world on fire". Burning is more useful too as it prevents enemies from regenerating. Well, the player too, but you won't play with matches, won't you? Well if you do, there's a new napalm grenade to be found. Word on the street says it makes short work of the Cryomancer.
These changes required us to improve the AI a bit - it no longer happily punches barrels and walks into environmental hazards!
==Fanatic==
NEW #1600 - new Callisto enemy - fanatic
NEW #1767 - Callisto-only level modifier "Desolation"Callisto did get some "love" this update too! You can now encounter a new enemy, with a very popular game mechanic :P. Also, there's a new level event to be on the lookout, taking advantage of the new fire visuals.
This is not the end of Callisto changes - we are aware that "the beginning is a very delicate time" and strive hard to improve variety in the early game - more improvements coming soon!
==The Rest==
CHANGE #1768 - rotaries have higher chance to hit more targets
CHANGE #1767 - warlocks do less ranged damage but more burn and flame
CHANGE #1767 - visual - Mephitic tier 2 buff has a visual effect
CHANGE #1767 - visual - crater decals no longer are always centered
CHANGE #1767 - Callisto Mines mechanic is displayed as an event
CHANGE #1767 - Endless level variety increased (along with manuf. perks)
CHANGE #1727 - you can now swap places with any friendly AI
CHANGE #1772 - CRI phase devices sample 2x more possibilities
CHANGE #1766 - improved icon visibility (esp on white backgrounds)
FIX #1766 - critical defence (helmets) work against ranged attacks
FIX #1766 - fixed several issues with fx system targetingApart from many unlisted fixes theres some improvements too. Rotaries (the Spin up perk in particular) have an inherent bonus to hitting other targets then the initially targeted one (if they miss, or the enemy dies), which improves their crowd control capabilities. Any non-hostile AI can now be swapped places with using SHIFT move. CRI phase devices sample twice more potential spots, so bigger chance to get you to a really safe spot. Helmets finally work as advertised when it comes to crit damage protection. Finally icons are now more visible, especially on bright floors (thx Deemzul!).
==Full changelog==
Release 1.5 - Ancient - August 15th, 2022
NEW #1718 - Io has a brand new boss!
NEW #1727 - Black Site branch/special rework!
NEW #1728 - CRI Laboratories branch/special rework!
NEW #1730 - Shadow Halls/Dark Cathedral rework!
NEW #1725 - Europa Ruins/Frozen Temple rework!
NEW #1765 - AI now actively avoids harmful hazards if possible
NEW #1767 - improved fire visuals and added flame tiles!
NEW #1767 - Fireangel revisited! (burning 3->1 but added area burn!)
NEW #1767 - Callisto-only level modifier "Desolation"
NEW #1600 - new Callisto enemy - fanatic
NEW #1769 - Warehouse/Infernal Lock revisited!
CHANGE #1768 - rotaries have higher chance to hit more targets
CHANGE #1770 - improved Io level generators (mostly visual)
CHANGE #1767 - burning status prevents regeneration
CHANGE #1767 - warlocks do less ranged damage but more burn and flame
CHANGE #1767 - visual - Mephitic tier 2 buff has a visual effect
CHANGE #1767 - visual - crater decals no longer are always centered
CHANGE #1767 - Callisto Mines mechanic is displayed as an event
CHANGE #1767 - Endless level variety increased (along with manuf. perks)
CHANGE #1727 - you can now swap places with any friendly AI
CHANGE #1772 - CRI phase devices sample 2x more possibilities
CHANGE #1772 - Wealth and Power wishes improved
CHANGE #1767 - burning limited to 50 stacks
CHANGE #1766 - improved icon visibility (esp on white backgrounds)
FIX #1766 - critical defence (helmets) work against ranged attacks
FIX #1766 - fixed several issues with fx system targeting==What's Next==
Well, it's high time to revisit Dante, right? No worries though, the next update will also bring changes to the early game for you ambitious people struggling to get your first win and refusing to play on Easy :P.
And with that, I'll take it Easy for a day or two. And then off to 1.6 and Beyond!
Oh, one more thing before we go - if you're new to Jupiter Hell, but you already own POSTAL: Brain Damaged, you can get Jupiter Hell with a special PBD-owner discount through the following bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26624/Cheesy_OneLiners_Galore
Yours,
POSTAL: Brain Damaged - Connoisseur Edition (OST & Art Book bundle!) + upcoming updates!
Hyperstrange friends, RWS fam!
Hyperstrange-developed POSTAL: Brain Damaged, the action-packed DOOM Eternal-like spin-off of the POSTAL series is finally here, and if you own any of the eligible RWS or Hyperstrange titles, or some other staple throwback-shooters like DUSK, Hedon, or Nightmare Reaper, you can get PBD with an additional discount added on top of -20% release discount via one of the special bundle deals.
Plus, we're happy to report it really SLAPS! With more than 1100 reviews it currently enjoys an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating, with more than 95% players recommending the game.
Yes, Hyperstrange really pulled this one off. The game is good and the release has been relatively bug-free despite the 2-week delay made explicitly to implement some bugs and stay on-brand. But it wouldn't be a POSTAL release if something haven't gone wrong. Many of you were waiting for the release of the POSTAL: Brain Damaged Official Soundtrack. The wait is finally over! The OST has arrived, and you can get it separately or bundled with the official Art Book in the POSTAL: Brain Damaged - Connoisseur Edition.
UPCOMING UPDATES
The Hyperstrange Dev team is very grateful for the amazing reception of PBD. This gives them even more motivation to improve and expand the game post-release. Here's what to expect soon:
- Post-release fix - an update taking care of the known issues reported by the players, that slipped into the full release (ETA: One week)
- Balancing update - some players, as well as some internet micro-celebrities, have brought to our attention that the game offers way to much ammo if you explore the levels 'Quake-style', and far too little if you prefer to push on 'Doom Eternal-style'. The update will take care of that issue, allowing everyone to enjoy the game in their preferred playstyle. The update will also reconfigure some of the enemy positioning, spawns, and behavior. (ETA: One month)
- New playmodes - With that taken care of, the dev team will proceed to expanding the game itself, introducing an oft-requested horde mode, as well as another playmode offering a new, and replayable PBD experience. (ETA: This summer)
- More to be announced!
Hyperstrange and RWS are both extremely pleased with the reception of POSTAL: Brain Damaged. We're as excited as you are, to see what the future will bring to this explosive and twisted spin-off.
Your true friends and family,
Hyperstrange & RWS
Jupiter Hell 1.4.0 - Chaos!
Jupiter Hell 1.4 "Chaos" brings the Valhalla flavored upgrades to Europa branches and mainline, introduces a boss at Europa Central Dig, improves level generation (especially of cave/basalt generators), adds more manufacturer perks, several balance changes, buffs to many exotics and uniques and a SHIFT move to instantly swap places with that friendly bot!
But first, a word from our sponsor, Raid Sha.... oh wait. I mean from Hyperstrange! The good folks there released POSTAL: Brain Damage to rave reviews (I can't believe I'm writing that about a Postal game...!), whereas their Dude can give the JupeGuy a run for his money in one-liners, I've also spotted a call-out to Jupiter Hell?
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26624/Cheesy_OneLiners_Galore/
Aaaanyway, back to the update! Let's split this into sections to make the "wall of text" more approachable :P
EUROPA
Just as "Valhalla" overhauled Callisto, "Chaos" does the same for Europa (guess I won't be able to hide what the next release will be about, eh).
== Branch reworks ==
NEW #1732 - Conamara Chaos branch/special rework!
NEW #1713 - Dig Zone branch/special rework!
NEW #1731 - Asterius branch/special rework!
NEW #1750 - Refueling Base/The Pit reworked
CHANGE #1737 - improved Europa level generators (mostly visual)
Three of the four branches have been given dedicated mechanics and a added reward at the end (Ruins will be overhauled with Io), the level generation has been more or less updated in each branch, although it will mostly be visible in the cave/basalt branches. Improvements have been also made to the mainline and mainline special levels. All special levels have improved rewards. All branches have their own new Manufacturer perk. You might even hear a new tune somewhere!
== Ice Cold Boss ==
NEW #1712 - Europa has a boss too!
An old favorite got a new job! However brand new mechanics are present, and you might consider getting some cold resistance for this particular fight!
== Caves & Cliffs ==
CHANGE #1714 - improved cave/basalt level visuals
CHANGE #1714 - improved cave/basalt level generators
All of the cave and basalt levels got a visual upgrade, and most also got a architectural update for more variety. We'll be revisiting other generators in the next updates too!
== Visuals ==
NEW #1709 - Callisto security visual improvements finished
NEW #1745 - Europa security visual improvements
We started the Callisto security visual upgrade in the Valhalla release, but now it's complete - human enemies should be much better visible in the dark (insert snarky comment about wanting to get shot here), and Europa security got a similar visibility bump. Some of the enemies look really disturbing, but fear not - you'll never see that 'cause the models are so small ;)
== A taste of Io ==
NEW #1721 - Mephitic Mines branch/special rework!
CHANGE #1695 - CRI weapon prefix is a manufacturer now
CHANGE #1695 - CRI manufacturer present on alive CRI soldiers/branch
CHANGE #1695 - CRI sword/CRI blaster always roll with CRI manufacturer
As we left out an Europa branch for the Io update, it was only fair to pick a Io branch to update in this release - Mephitic Mines was chosen as it goes well with our visual basalt generator improvements!
Also take careful note on the CRI Manufacturer perk, as it gives a whopping +25% damage against ALL demons, which is a significant buff to all Io weaponry!
== Redacted! ==
NEW #1551 - [REDACTED]
[REDACTED] (there's a new secret in this release, not as huge and not community driven like the last one, but close and personal ;)
GAMEPLAY
It was time for another larger balance pass. Our main objectives were to make the mid-late game a bit harder, make mid-late game loot a bit stronger and more interesting, especially uniques and exotics, and rebalance a bit the master perks.
== Enemies ==
CHANGE #1749 - balance - base/exalt reavers have lower melee dmg/acc
CHANGE #1749 - balance - exalted reavers don't get +10% speed
CHANGE #1729 - balance - fiend/kerberi/reaver status higher, lower base
CHANGE #1729 - balance - sentinels proc cold effects
FIX #1746 - fixed rare in-your-face spawns (mostly in mini-levels)
Friendly Neighbourhood Reaver was a meme in the community since Early Access, and I though that I dealt with the most annoying cases of this syndrome, but alas some more nerfing is needed. Especially due to a bug in the enemy safe placement system, that if after several attempts it couldn't place the enemy in a requested safe distance... placed them happily on top of you. Now it reduces the attempted range instead of just giving up. Both reavers and exalted reavers were nerfed in their melee oppressiveness.
Enemy status effects have been increased to make resistances more worthwhile and change up the gameplay depending what resistances you carry. To offset that, base damage has been lowered.
== Masters ==
CHANGE #1729 - Vampyre - melee restore 8%/12%/20%
CHANGE #1729 - Vampyre - grants overhealth
CHANGE #1729 - Sharpshooter - resets skill cooldown on kill
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - only in opt_range, removed dodge penalties
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - single target dual shots from L2
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - critical damage bonus based on proximity
CHANGE #1729 - Survivor - no in-combat regeneration, 5/5/10 crit
CHANGE #1729 - Ghost - L2/L3 swapped, L3 Stealth cost is 12
CHANGE #1729 - Wizard - smoke cooldown up to 25
Let's get the painful info out of the way - Survivor, Ghost and Wizard are OP, and needed a nerf (the alternative was to rebalance the whole game and all the rest of the traits around them, which would have taken the better part of this year). That said, at the moments the nerfs are slight, and hopefully the buffs to the other Masters will bring them closer in line.
Vampyre now grants overhealth (and better melee restore numbers) and Sharpshooter resets cooldowns on kill (for Headshot synergy).
Gun Kata got more significant changes - it somehow totally missed the initial idea of getting in between enemies and shooting like mad, and instead became a "snipe from the edge of vision" trait. Worse, due to often missing from that range it became very ammo inefficient and not a great Master at higher difficulties at all. So the plan was simple - make it more Mid-range focused, while making it much stronger to compensate. All dodge penalties have been remove (you even get a +10% extra dodge per shot), firing both pistols at a single target is at L2, and L3 gets a critical damage bonus depending on range (closer = higher) on top of it!
Take them out for a spin and tell us what you think!
== Weaponry ==
CHANGE #1729 - balance - 40mm drum launcher - 32 damage/6 capacity
CHANGE #1729 - balance - plasma launcher - +10 damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - level the same way regardless of tier
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Scrapgun and Void get +1 base damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Firestorm deals more fire damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Carnage - +1 opt, +4 clip
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Monster and Bloodletter - +20 damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Overlord works on Guardians/Sentinels
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - AWP and CRI blaster +5 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - nailgun/super nailgun +2 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - micro launcher/power saw +20 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - toxin rifle +2 damage
Bad things out of the way - it took a NetHack speedrunner to show us how ridiculously overpowered the 40mm drum launcher was, so it (and only it) needed a slight nerf in power. Plasma launchers needed some love. All post-Callisto Uniques got a blanket buff - they level up much quicker now. Apart from that a lot of exotics and uniques got straight-up damage buffs. Oh, and Overlord will now work on Guardians/Sentinels. Take that, Alighieri!
== UI/UX/Other stuff ==
We're constantly dedicated to improving the UI and ease of gameplay, here are the recent changes in that field.
== UI/UX ==
CHANGE #1744 - UI/UX - mouse path uses icons instead of highlights
CHANGE #1748 - UI/UX - modded items don't display text description
CHANGE #1747 - UI/UX - elevator, term/box/station reveal on clear
Mouse mode now has nice visuals indicating the target path, not ugly highlights. Modded items will no longer display the description to give some real estate for mod descriptions (a full blown item view is coming too). Elevators and other items of interest will reveal on level clear, so you won't have to wonder where that *&^(*@) exit is.
== Hacking ==
NEW #1739 - use SHIFT-move to swap position with friendlies
CHANGE #1738 - improved friendly pathfinding (esp. for Hunt)
It was pretty annoying to move around with an army of bots, now you can quickly swap positions with them using SHIFT! As a bonus, friendly pathfinding got a significant improvement - Hunt commands will be much more reliable now!
== Other stuff ==
CHANGE #1743 - Purgatory - Cathedral hint leads to Inferno unlock
CHANGE #1742 - Callisto Mines - 5 turn warning countdown for summon
The path to finding the Valhalla release secret has been glorious! You can find information on it in the Wiki (https://jupiterhell.fandom.com/wiki/Purgatory) but to ease access to the Inferno difficulty we made it so that the Cathedral secret leads to the unlock bossfight (this all makes sense in context, I promise).
Also those summoned reavers were really annoying in Callisto Mines, so we gave them a countdown warning timer.
== Bugfixes ==
FIX #1729 - stimpacks properly reset Headshot
FIX #1733 - status effect text for Freeze/Chilled fixed
Several bugfixes and typos have been fixed in addition to the two above.
== Full Changelog ==
Release 1.4 - Chaos - June 13th, 2022
NEW #1712 - Europa has a boss too!
NEW #1732 - Conamara Chaos branch/special rework!
NEW #1713 - Dig Zone branch/special rework!
NEW #1731 - Asterius branch/special rework!
NEW #1721 - Mephitic Mines branch/special rework!
NEW #1750 - Refueling Base/The Pit reworked
NEW #1709 - Callisto security visual improvements finished
NEW #1745 - Europa security visual improvements
NEW #1739 - use SHIFT-move to swap position with friendlies
NEW #1551 - [REDACTED]
CHANGE #1737 - improved Europa level generators (mostly visual)
CHANGE #1714 - improved cave/basalt level visuals
CHANGE #1714 - improved cave/basalt level generators
CHANGE #1738 - improved friendly pathfinding (esp. for Hunt)
CHANGE #1695 - CRI weapon prefix is a manufacturer now
CHANGE #1695 - CRI manufacturer present on alive CRI soldiers/branch
CHANGE #1695 - CRI sword/CRI blaster always roll with CRI manufacturer
CHANGE #1749 - balance - base/exalt reavers have lower melee dmg/acc
CHANGE #1749 - balance - exalted reavers don't get +10% speed
CHANGE #1729 - balance - fiend/kerberi/reaver status higher, lower base
CHANGE #1729 - balance - sentinels proc cold effects
CHANGE #1729 - balance - 40mm drum launcher - 32 damage/6 capacity
CHANGE #1729 - balance - plasma launcher - +10 damage
CHANGE #1729 - Vampyre - melee restore 8%/12%/20%
CHANGE #1729 - Vampyre - grants overhealth
CHANGE #1729 - Sharpshooter - resets skill cooldown on kill
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - only in opt_range, removed dodge penalties
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - single target dual shots from L2
CHANGE #1729 - Gun Kata - critical damage bonus based on proximity
CHANGE #1729 - Survivor - no in-combat regeneration, 5/5/10 crit
CHANGE #1729 - Ghost - L2/L3 swapped, L3 Stealth cost is 12
CHANGE #1729 - Wizard - smoke cooldown up to 25
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - level the same way regardless of tier
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Scrapgun and Void get +1 base damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Firestorm deals more fire damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Carnage - +1 opt, +4 clip
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Monster and Bloodletter - +20 damage
CHANGE #1740 - unique buffs - Overlord works on Guardians/Sentinels
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - AWP and CRI blaster +5 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - nailgun/super nailgun +2 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - micro launcher/power saw +20 damage
CHANGE #1740 - exotic buffs - toxin rifle +2 damage
CHANGE #1744 - UI/UX - mouse path uses icons instead of highlights
CHANGE #1748 - UI/UX - modded items don't display text description
CHANGE #1747 - UI/UX - elevator, term/box/station reveal on clear
CHANGE #1743 - Purgatory - Cathedral hint leads to Inferno unlock
CHANGE #1742 - Callisto Mines - 5 turn warning countdown for summon
FIX #1746 - fixed rare in-your-face spawns (mostly in minilevels)
FIX #1729 - stimpacks properly reset Headshot
FIX #1733 - status effect text for Freeze/Chilled fixed== What's next ==
It doesn't take an oracle to foresee that the next update will be all about Io! We do plan some additional more early-game improvements for it too, so stay tuned even if you constantly die on Europa :P. Jupiter Hell 1.5 "Ancient" is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of August to celebrate a year since Jupiter Hell got a full release!
That's all for today folks, and now time for some really really needed rest. I'll give myself a few hours, maybe even a full day! xD
Yours,
Jupiter Hell 1.3.0 - Valhalla!
Jupiter Hell 1.3 "Valhalla" brings an overhaul to Callisto branches and mainline, a new boss at Valhalla Spaceport, level generation improvements, manufacturer perks, slowing smoke, experimental localization (Polish and German for now) and secrets!
[previewyoutube="8vzw5q9DEII;full"]
There's one big secret in the game, for which you won't find spoilers anywhere, but hopefully the search for it will stir the community - jump by the Jupiter Hell discord if you want to take part in the hunt! https://discord.gg/jupiterhell
Read down below for details! But first...
== Special Offer ==
The Valhalla update calls for a special 30% discount - the biggest one yet! - and for something more... Viking-ish to add to the mix. If you like tactics, chances are you also like strategy. If you enjoy traditional roguelikes, you may get a kick out of discovering modern RTS games. If you love to control every careful step of a bad-ass space-marine, you may also like ordering around hosts of broad-shouldered Vikings. Yeah... I've got nothing. It's a low-fantasy RTS bundled with a horror/Sci-Fi roguelike. Because after all, why wouldn't you want to try something different?
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25281/
Frozenheim is a serene Norse city builder with elaborate management gameplay and RTS tactical combat. Lead your Viking clan through hardships of the frozen north, season by season, year after year. Build and survive. Set sail, explore and conquer. Win Odin’s favor and secure your place in Valhalla!
If you already own one, you can get the other at an extra 10% discount (on top of any other discounts that might be active at the time). Enjoy! And now... back to our regular schedule.
== Valhalla Spaceport ==
Spaceport, the final Callisto level, got a rework! Not only is the level generator significantly improved, the mechanics and visuals improved, but there's a new boss that guards the path to the Europa Dropship! All praise the Callisto Warden, and be carful not to damage him too much at once ;).
== Callisto Rework ==
All of Callisto special levels and level generators have been revisited. Each branch has now it's own special mechanic that affects the final special level, and sometimes the rest of Callisto or even the rest of the game!
Level generators both in the branches as well as in the mainline have been improved and the two special levels accessible from mainline also got reward, generator and mechanical improvements!
Each branch also has a manufacturer perk - EVERY non-Unique and non-ADV weapon (exotics ARE included) that spawns there will have an extra free perk that is dependent on the branch! Currently there are three manufacturers with three separate effects - JS (JoviSec), VS (ValSec) and MDF (Mimir Defence Force). The effects are minor but if modded (or on an exotic) can really push the capabilities of the weapon!
== Gameplay Changes ==
This release we focused on what you explore and not who you are, but one big mechanical change has snuck in - Smoke (but not gas!) now slows movement of anyone standing in it. However, the technician, master of smoke, is immune to this effect! Not only does this increase the utility of smoke grenades, but also improves the disengage mechanics of the tech, and provides more utility to non-Toxicologist builds!
There are some slight buffs to a few post-Callisto enemies - the Callisto loot is now much better, so we wanted to keep the difficulty curve consistent. More of such changes will come with 1.4.
As Callisto L2 was always the most boring level that stood between you and the game getting interesting, we made it so that it generates at 2/3 size and 2/3 enemies so you can get to the mid-game quicker :P.
Cover tiles are no longer made of paper, duh.
== Visual Improvements ==
Each generator that we revisited has been enhanced with more visual details, as well as we finally added tech that allows for decals to be placed on generation - Callisto levels now have a bit of blood scattered in them, and we'll use this tech for further improvements down the line!
You'll also notice that we also implemented lighting/state control - this can be currently observed by the effect you get on Lockdown events - more is yet to come!
Lighting and particle effects have been slightly improved in many places, and more light sources placed in Callisto levels (it was f*&*^ng dark there -_-).
== Other Stuff ==
The big thing is probably experimental localization support - we start off with Polish and German, but more languages will come! The localization is against the last update, so new stuff will appear in English, we'll patch that soon :). Please report any misaligned strings though, and any potential crashes (hopefully none!)!
Several minor changes have been done, and a regular batch of bugfixes (see details below).
== Raw Changelog ==
Release 1.3 - Valhalla - March 14th, 2022
NEW #1684 - welcome the CalSec Warden, the new boss of Callisto!
NEW #1662 - Valhalla Terminal branch/special rework!
NEW #1666 - Mimir Habitat branch/special rework!
NEW #1664 - Callisto Rift branch/special rework!
NEW #1665 - Callisto Mines branch/special rework!
NEW #1696 - regular/exotic weapons can have a manufacturer perk!
NEW #1704 - smoke causes Slow -25%, techs are immune to this
NEW #1680 - [REDACTED]
CHANGE #1697 - improved Barracks/Docks and their rewards
CHANGE #1684 - Valhalla Spaceport got a facelift and mechanics
CHANGE #1702 - Callisto L2 is 2/3 size (and enemy count)
CHANGE #1604 - Callisto L1-L3 generators improved
CHANGE #1709 - improved Callisto security textures for visibility
CHANGE #1604 - improved lighting in all Callisto levels
CHANGE #1604 - added random decals (mostly blood) in Callisto
CHANGE #0416 - destroyed doors will lose their icons
CHANGE #0416 - minor changes to door icons and icon color
CHANGE #1670 - Gunrunner reloads both weapons on move if dualwield
CHANGE #1668 - all ravagers get +20 health
CHANGE #1668 - guardian shell back to 80%
CHANGE #1700 - increased cover health
CHANGE #1661 - target reticule on big enemies is expanded
CHANGE #1682 - big enemies are visible as long as any tile is
CHANGE #1683 - every big enemy tile can be targeted
CHANGE #1688 - friendly units wont attack disabled enemies
CHANGE #1688 - Shutdown CalSec gives XP at level enter, not instant
CHANGE #1696 - JS revolver renamed to ".44 HE revolver"
CHANGE #1702 - The Pit has a safe zone around elevator
CHANGE #1604 - bumping vending machines drops their content
CHANGE #1672 - Endless L1 will never generate events
CHANGE #1702 - L2 infestations are smaller
CHANGE #1674 - several minor lighting sources have been adjusted
CHANGE #1674 - several particle sources have been adjusted
FIX #1693 - Toxicologist L2 converts smoke 'nades (was L3)
FIX #1671 - medusa's Slithering shows percentage again
FIX #0416 - you can no longer close the destroyed half of a door== What's Next? ==
Next up is 1.4 "Chaos", taking its name from "Conamara Chaos" - which will do for Europa and Io the same that Valhalla did for Callisto :). The update should land in about two months - hope you're excited as we are!
This is the end of the official patch notes, read further only if you want Callisto spoilers!
== Spoilers ==
These are just hints to get started:
* Valhalla Terminal - there's a new option on the terminal in each Terminal level...
* Mimir Habitat - there's a MDF drone on each level...
* Callisto Rift - I wonder what that valve on each level does...
* Callisto Mines - there's a point on the minimap when you enter...
If you want full spoilers, a dev interview was done on this version by BlindiRL which has a lot of details - [previewyoutube="veFTz6rF2Xw;full"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFTz6rF2Xw[/previewyoutube]
Good luck RNG!
Yours,
Blood West - our immersive stealth shooter is live on Steam. Special offer for ELDERBORN owners!
Hyperstrange friends!
We're proud to present our second full-scaled original title, Blood West, an immersive stealth shooter inspired by such classics as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Thief, System Shock, Deus Ex, or Blood, but also hugely influenced by Crytek's excellent online title - Hunt: Showdown, while being a strictly single-player experience itself. There's a lot of ways to describe it, but it is best that you see for yourself - here's a chunky, 25-minute developer-gameplay, going through one of the first quests and showcasing some basic, and more advanced mechanics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO6UmF0-9FU
To sum up the Blood West experience in a few bulletpoints:
- Blood West is not a non-stop action-focused velocity shooter. It's best taken slow, and thoughtfully, with sneaking, surveying the surroundings, planning your attacks, and going head-first into combat only when you're sure you're at an advantage.
- Combat mechanics in Blood West are more complex than you might expect. Enemies have weak spots (usually the head), and can take a lot of damage before dying, unless you use their vulnerabilities.
- Weapons have different stats, and usually guns that you loot from the enemies or find discarded somewhere, are old and rusty, and won't perform great. There are also different types of ammo, and some are more effective against certain enemy types than the others.
- Your character - the Revenant Gunslinger - gains experience, and levels up. When that happens, you get some skill points to distribute unlocking very useful perks in the character screen. Different perk+weapon combinations allow for very different approaches to the game. Try different playstyles!
We hope you'll enjoy our newest game, a true labor of love.
Special offer for ELDERBORN players
The Hyperstrange Originals Bundle is our way to once again say thank you to all the Steam players who purchased the Hyperstrange debut title, ELDERBORN. It put us on the map and allowed us to grow, following our ambitions as a indie dev studio. Blood West is one of the effects of this pursuit. We'd like to offer all of our past supporters to check it out with a special 20% discount, that stacks with any other active discounts that may be in place.
Keep on rockin!
Jupiter Hell 1.2.0 - Varia!
Exactly 5 years ago, Jupiter Hell has been funded on Kickstarter, let's celebrate that with a release, shall we? Brace yourselves, as this is - once again - a lengthy post and changelog!
Jupiter Hell 1.2 "Varia" brings a variety of changes, and changes that bring variety (see what we did there? :P). We have the player requested Mouse support (although it should be considered experimental still), a ton of new Callisto exotics, plasma SMGs (and unique SMGs!), new weapon perks, a big variety improvement of the traits (including master traits), a rework of damage type resistances (and affinities and vulnerabilities) and minor Callisto and Europa reward improvements.
It's a lot to go over so lets split our changelog into sections - raw changelog is at the end as usual!
Be sure to drop by the Jupiter Hell Discord (https://discord.gg/jupiterhell) if you have any questions - it's the best place to find help, discuss strategies, share mortems or videos of Jupiter Hell. The devs are very active there too!
== Mouse support! ==
While we still believe that Jupiter Hell is best played with a keyboard or gamepad only, we agree that an option for mouse control is great as an accessability feature, and probably also will be the prefered way to play by some people.
JH 1.2 introduces experimental Mouse support. It's experimental in the sense that we didn't have enough time testing it, so there still might be bugs, and it isn't fully integrated into the game (no mouse tooltips, no tutorial support and the only source of help is in the help menu). That said, ALL the functionality (apart from name entry) is in the game, so it can be fully played without touching the gamepad or the keyboard :P.
Enable mouse support in Settings/Input Settings by switching Mouse Support to "Active", and definitely read the Mouse and Mouse UI section in Help to get started!
Feedback on mouse control needed and very welcome!
- NEW #1174 - Mouse support (experimental)
== New gear! ==
Early game exotics
As a part of our long standing goal of early game improvement we noticed that the variety of exotic loot in Callisto is very lacking (I mean, who gets excited at the 121st 9mm calibrated to drop?). This update introduces 13 (!!) new exotic weapons that can drop in Callisto, each with a unique perk, many designed to be strong in the earlier part of the game helping to transition into mid and late game gear. 2 armors, 2 visors, and 9 weapons have been added to the loot pool, each of them dropping from at latest depth 3!
- NEW #1591 - 13 new early game exotics!
Plasma SMGs
SMG builds didn't have a late game version of their favored weapon, so we fixed that. At the same time we fixed the horrible oversight of SMGs not having Unique's to be found! Plasma SMGs come with ADV variants, and 3 new Uniques in the loot pool.
- NEW #1591 - plasma SMG added (and ADV variants)
- NEW #1584 - 3 unique SMGs added! (early, mid and late)
New weapon perks
We took a critical look at the weapon ADV perk pool, decided to remove the unpopular and usually worthless Finisher perk, and instead introduced 6 new perks to spice up the variety of ADV weapons found.
I'll use this section to also mention that CRI rail rifles got scopes that they were missing due to an oversight, and we buffed 7.62 snipers by a bit too!
- NEW #1652 - 5 new perks for ADV weapons added
- CHANGE #1625 - removed Finisher weapon perk, added Ambush perk
- CHANGE #1603 - CRI rail rifle comes with a scope
- CHANGE #1603 - 7.62 sniper damage 24 -> 25
-
== Trait changes! ==
Following further with the goal of improving early game, we also decided that it will be more beneficial for the game if picking early traits doesn't railroad characters into specific builds. We started those changes in 1.1, but only now can these changes truly shine.
We took a deep look at every class in the game, with the goal of improving build variety, making traits have more character and opening up interesting new builds!
Marine trait changes
With Marine we wanted to have more gameplay around the Fury mechanic, and wanted to decouple the melee only traits into something that might be useful in non-melee builds in some edge cases.
Vampyre now has a weaker effect if using non-melee weapons opening up for hybrid builds, Rip and Tear grants fury for non-melee kills and Furious grants a straight damage bonus on Adrenaline use.
Army of Darkness was in a relatively good spot, but we wanted to give it some flavor. It now gives bonus to chainsaw damage and grants zero-time melee weapon swap to open up some proper hybrid gameplay options. If you know why a chainsaw specifically, then you had a groovy childhood like we did!
Tough as Nails needed some love and gets a pain penalty removal functionality - without removing the pain status, so Adrenaline still works fully! Field Medic additionally grants faster medkit/stim use.
- CHANGE #1602 - Vampyre works with non-melee weapons (but weaker)
- CHANGE #1627 - Rip and Tear grants Fury for non-melee kills also
- CHANGE #1627 - Furious loses fury generation on gibbing
- CHANGE #1627 - Furious grants damage bonus when using Adrenaline
- CHANGE #1627 - Marine Skilled increases Tenacity heal by 10%/lvl
- CHANGE #1602 - Army of Darkness gains zero melee weapon swap time
- CHANGE #1602 - Army of Darkness gains chainsaw damage bonus
- CHANGE #1603 - TaN L2 provides -50% pain penalty, L3 removes it
- CHANGE #1603 - Field Medic L2+ adds small medkit/stim use time bonus
- CHANGE #1603 - Field Medic requires only one level of Ironman
Scout trait changes
Scout needed mostly a specific buff to the Assassinate master, and especially the hybrid Swashbuckler/Assassinate build. The former, while owning easier difficulties was definitely too dangerous for higher challenges, so we rebuild it with a charge mechanic that prevents it from going off the rails on Easy, but added crit chance bonuses and auto-hit so it can shine even in higher difficulties.
Swashbuckler has been straight up buffed with the damage bonus now slowly degrading instead of being removed after using the other weapon group. Fairly casual gameplay with swapping between guns and melee will now fairly steadily maintain a +50% damage bonus.
Speaking of melee, Gunrunner now works with melee, adding a third pure melee master option after Assassinate and Ghost builds, and even more opening up Scout to hybrid gameplay!
Skilled has been buffed to provide an additional benefit of increasing energy, while Eagle Eye at level 3 now halves enemy cover. Speaking of Eagle Eye, Whizkid, Ghost and Gunrunner no longer require it, not to penalize pure melee builds.
- CHANGE #1603 - Assassinate uses charges mechanic
- CHANGE #1603 - Assassinate always hits, +50/100 crit chance at L1/L2
- CHANGE #1603 - Swashbuckler bonus now degrades instead of removed
- CHANGE #1603 - Gunrunner works with melee
- CHANGE #1603 - Scout Skilled L1 and L3 increase Energy by 10
- CHANGE #1603 - Eagle Eye L3 halves enemy cover
- CHANGE #1603 - Whizkid and Ghost require Hacking L1 instead of EE L1
- CHANGE #1603 - Gunrunner requires Son of a Gun L1 instead of EE L1
Technician trait changes
With Tech we really wanted to make him more unique by digging into status effects (which got big changes, see below) and grenades.
Fireangel has it's namesake effect kick in from Level 1, and gives a bonus to ALL burning damage that you deal. Find a suitable relic or a nice Molten weapon? You'll be much more effective with it than a regular marine ;).
Similarly Toxicologist got a blanket toxin damage buff at L1, and does smoke nade conversion at L2. This ties directly to the next buff, Grenadier L1 and L2 give a grenade damage boost (and they now crit if you have skills or items that increase general crit chance!).
- CHANGE #1603 - Fireangel sets things on fire since L1
- CHANGE #1587 - Fireangel L2/L3 grants +50%/+100% to ALL Burning
- CHANGE #1587 - Toxicologist L2 - smoke nades, L3 +50% ALL toxin procs
- CHANGE #1637 - Grenadier L1/L2 - +25%/+50% nade damage, no gib bonus
- FIX #1636 - grenades can now crit and use other character buffs
- FIX #1602 - Sharpshooter didn't increase auto/semi max range
Other trait changes
We cleaned up the trait descriptions to a pleasing universal format, and did two changes to the more general traits.
While Ironman health bonus has been nerfed from +20% to +10% (giving an option for the health stations to shine more) this is because it also grants the important bleed resistance, giving it a wider desirability.
Son of a Gun got a buff back to it's roots - while it stays weapon agnostic (did you know it works with melee and 'nades?), ADDITIONALLY it adds pistol/revolver range bonuses, to strengthen the early game of those pistol builds that we love. Gun Kata is once again, a bloodbath without incident :P
- CHANGE #1603 - Ironman adds only +10% HP, but also bleed resistance
- CHANGE #1628 - Son of a Gun adds pistol only range bonuses
- CHANGE #1627 - trait descriptions cleanup
== Other changes! ==
Damage types and status effects
In spirit of enabling more fun synergies and combinations we decided to do a deeper dive into damage types and status effects. Apart from resistances now the game has negative resistances (vulnerability) and affinities (bonus to all damage done with a damage type/status).
We added vulnerabilities to many relics (instead of the boring damage debuff) for more interesting gameplay and also status affinities to several ones too (and some traits as you might have read already above).
There are also more interesting interactions between damage types - for example burning damage now cauterizes bleeding effect.
More useful though is that bleeding prevents regeneration effects. This is only a slight problem for the player (if using a regeneration relic, Heart buff or Survivor), but is very useful against some enemies - regenerating exalted or enemies under the warlock aura! Speaking of which we removed the bleed resistance from Warlocks and enemies under their aura to emphasize and encourage this counterplay. Oh, and frag grenades now cause bleeding - finally having a use late-game and providing a cheap source of bleed at the same time!
EMP had only limited (but powerful) use - now however it will also affect semi-mechanical enemies (think which demons have grafted metal/armor) damaging them partially and slowing them down (but never disabling). To make things interesting, the boss stages 1 and 2 are now considered semi-mechanical too.
Having access to the vulnerability mechanic, we could not resist making some enemies vulnerable, and hence fire fiends have cold vulnerability, while ice fiends, cyroberi and cryoreavers - fire vulnerability.
- CHANGE #1631 - several minor relics grant status effect buffs
- CHANGE #1631 - minor fire/ice relics -100% resist instead of -damage
- CHANGE #1633 - bleeding now prevents regeneration
- CHANGE #1633 - Burning damage cauterizes Bleeding
- CHANGE #1633 - frag grenades cause bleeding
- CHANGE #1633 - Warlock aura no longer grants +50% bleed resistance
- CHANGE #1633 - Warlocks no longer have bleed resistance (Archs 50%)
- CHANGE #1587 - resistances are displayed uncapped
- CHANGE #1587 - fire fiends have cold vulnerability
- CHANGE #1587 - ice fiends, cryoberi and cryoreavers- fire vulnerab.
- CHANGE #1587 - bots now have only 50% fire resistance
- CHANGE #1630 - semi-mechanicals can be harmed with emp damage (50%)
- CHANGE #1630 - boss stage 1 and 2 is semi-mechanical
- CHANGE #1587 - emp and toxin resistances displayed on bots and bio
- CHANGE #1587 - slash/impact/pierce resistances (with display)
- FIX #1611 - Acid status shows damage amount
- FIX #1587 - fixed some edge cases with wrong damage value display
Level generation changes
Preparing for the big Callisto changes coming in the next update (1.3) we decided to make the current special levels a bit more visit-worthy - Anomaly, Rift and Barracks rewards have been improved.
We also noticed that Europa Ruins and Shadow Halls duo had a way lower amount of chests than intended - this has been significantlt improved. Frozen Temple is easier to open on Nightmare+, while Cathedral has a small added secret interaction - no hints are provided :P
- CHANGE #1642 - improved Anomaly, Rift and Military Barracks rewards
- CHANGE #1643 - Europa Ruins/Shadow Halls have a guaranteed box count
- CHANGE #1643 - on N!+ Frozen Temple also opens after 125% kills
- CHANGE #1578 - new small Cathedral secret added
- FIX #1617 - CalSec shutdown will properly disable Rift enemies
== Bugfixes! ==
And finally there' the usual splatter of bugfixes!
Gameplay bugfixes
- FIX #1636 - fixed chainfire weapons that didn't stop when dead
- FIX #1587 - Firecrown properly awards experience on kills
- FIX #1618 - Journal entries will not archive entering minilevels
- FIX #1625 - TAINTED properly shows up in enemy view
- FIX #1639 - zero-time action will always be queued next
- FIX #1638 - fixed status update on zero-time weapon swaps
- FIX #1611 - stage 1 of the boss properly has size 1 melee-wise
- FIX #1611 - boss conversion will not misplace player visually
- FIX #1654 - fixed manufacture hint about perks for stock items
- FIX #1641 - weapons with 100+ mag will display correctly
Engine bugfixes
- FIX #1644 - proper stretch of low-health overlay on widescreen
- FIX #1644 - fixed low-health overlay on some systems
- FIX #1619 - opt outline will no longer disappear on fullbody FX
- FIX #1653 - fixed Discord activity always showing "MED" diff
That's all the details you need - now let's sum this all up in the usual...
== Raw Changelog! ==
Release 1.2 - Varia - December 13th, 2021
NEW #1174 - Mouse support (experimental)
NEW #1591 - 13 new early game exotics!
NEW #1591 - plasma SMG added (and ADV variants)
NEW #1584 - 3 unique SMGs added! (early, mid and late)
NEW #1652 - 5 new perks for ADV weapons added
CHANGE #1602 - Vampyre works with non-melee weapons (but weaker)
CHANGE #1602 - Army of Darkness gains zero melee weapon swap time
CHANGE #1602 - Army of Darkness gains chainsaw damage bonus
CHANGE #1627 - Rip and Tear grants Fury for non-melee kills also
CHANGE #1603 - Ironman adds only +10% HP, but also bleed resistance
CHANGE #1603 - TaN L2 provides -50% pain penalty, L3 removes it
CHANGE #1603 - Field Medic L2+ adds small medkit/stim use time bonus
CHANGE #1603 - Field Medic requires only one level of Ironman
CHANGE #1627 - Furious loses fury generation on gibbing
CHANGE #1627 - Furious grants damage bonus when using Adrenaline
CHANGE #1627 - Marine Skilled increases Tenacity heal by 10%/lvl
CHANGE #1628 - Son of a Gun adds pistol only range bonuses
CHANGE #1603 - Assassinate uses charges mechanic
CHANGE #1603 - Assassinate always hits, +50/100 crit chance at L1/L2
CHANGE #1603 - Scout Skilled L1 and L3 increase Energy by 10
CHANGE #1603 - Swashbuckler bonus now degrades instead of removed
CHANGE #1603 - Eagle Eye L3 halves enemy cover
CHANGE #1603 - Whizkid and Ghost require Hacking L1 instead of EE L1
CHANGE #1603 - Gunrunner requires Son of a Gun L1 instead of EE L1
CHANGE #1603 - Gunrunner works with melee
CHANGE #1603 - Fireangel sets things on fire since L1
CHANGE #1587 - Fireangel L2/L3 grants +50%/+100% to ALL Burning
CHANGE #1587 - Toxicologist L2 - smoke nades, L3 +50% ALL toxin procs
CHANGE #1637 - Grenadier L1/L2 - +25%/+50% nade damage, no gib bonus
CHANGE #1627 - trait descriptions cleanup
CHANGE #1603 - 7.62 sniper damage 24 -> 25
CHANGE #1603 - CRI rail rifle comes with a scope
CHANGE #1631 - several minor relics grant status effect buffs
CHANGE #1631 - minor fire/ice relics -100% resist instead of -damage
CHANGE #1633 - bleeding now prevents regeneration
CHANGE #1633 - Burning damage cauterizes Bleeding
CHANGE #1633 - frag grenades cause bleeding
CHANGE #1587 - fire fiends have cold vulnerability
CHANGE #1587 - ice fiends, cryoberi and cryoreavers- fire vulnerab.
CHANGE #1587 - bots now have only 50% fire resistance
CHANGE #1630 - semi-mechanicals can be harmed with emp damage (50%)
CHANGE #1630 - boss stage 1 and 2 is semi-mechanical
CHANGE #1587 - resistances are displayed uncapped
CHANGE #1587 - emp and toxin resistances displayed on bots and bio
CHANGE #1587 - slash/impact/pierce resistances (with display)
CHANGE #1633 - Warlock aura no longer grants +50% bleed resistance
CHANGE #1633 - Warlocks no longer have bleed resistance (Archs 50%)
CHANGE #1625 - removed Finisher weapon perk, added Ambush perk
CHANGE #1642 - improved Anomaly, Rift and Military Barracks rewards
CHANGE #1643 - Europa Ruins/Shadow Halls have a guaranteed box count
CHANGE #1643 - on N!+ Frozen Temple also opens after 125% kills
CHANGE #1578 - new small Cathedral secret added
FIX #1611 - Acid status shows damage amount
FIX #1636 - grenades can now crit and use other character buffs
FIX #1636 - fixed chainfire weapons that didn't stop when dead
FIX #1602 - Sharpshooter didn't increase auto/semi max range
FIX #1587 - fixed some edge cases with wrong damage value display
FIX #1587 - Firecrown properly awards experience on kills
FIX #1617 - CalSec shutdown will properly disable Rift enemies
FIX #1618 - Journal entries will not archive entering minilevels
FIX #1625 - TAINTED properly shows up in enemy view
FIX #1639 - zero-time action will always be queued next
FIX #1638 - fixed status update on zero-time weapon swaps
FIX #1611 - stage 1 of the boss properly has size 1 melee-wise
FIX #1611 - boss conversion will not misplace player visually
FIX #1641 - weapons with 100+ mag will display correctly
FIX #1644 - proper stretch of low-health overlay on widescreen
FIX #1644 - fixed low-health overlay on some systems
FIX #1619 - opt outline will no longer disappear on fullbody FX
FIX #1653 - fixed Discord activity always showing "MED" diff
FIX #1654 - fixed manufacture hint about perks for stock items== What's next! ==
Jupier Hell 1.3, currently codenamed "Valhalla", will be out between February/March, and will feature an overhaul to the Callisto zone, including several additions that will make the first half hour of a run more interesting and prettier! It will be either accompanied or preceded by a language update, bringing German, Russian, and Polish translations to Jupiter Hell.
As this is the last mainline release of 2021 we wanted to wish you Happy Holidays and an excellent New Year! We're sure to do our part so that Jupiter Hell can still deliver new experiences and joy throughout 2022 :D
Yours,
Jupiter Hell 1.1a (hotfix)
Hotfix 1.1a - Exordium - November 2nd, 2021
CHANGE #1612 - hidden AWP fire time penalty removed
FIX #1612 - fixed a critical bug between Reloader and Hellrunner
FIX #1612 - swap time displayed for mortar weapons
FIX #1612 - Hubristic Bronze Badge lists Dante properly
FIX #1612 - several typos
FIX #1612 - "... and more" properly displays on Security
FIX #1612 - Shotgun focus mode perk fixed
FIX #1626 - Reloader L1 works even if not aiming
FIX #1623 - fixed slot string display in mortem
FIX #1622 - lower reload/swap speeds will be colored properly Jupiter Hell 1.1.0 - Exordium! + Week-long promo
Once again thank you for the terrific reception of Jupiter Hell full release! It's time for the new beginning, kicking off post-release updates with Jupiter Hell 1.1 Exordium! The update release is accompanied by a week-long promo, so if you were holding off to see how the game is going to fare after the release, you can grab it now, 20% off.
This is a variety update, including UI/UX improvements, new early game enemy and weapons, and a huge improvement in character build variety! Many of which features will be continued in 1.2 - we decided to bring you the first set of them early, and you can read all about them below!
Both 1.1 and 1.2 (which will hopefully land this year), are targeted at improving three main areas of the game - UI/UX and gameplay information, trait changes and build variety and early game improvements. We decided to split the update information (and changelog!) into these three sections.
Wanna know all the details? Grab something to drink, this will take a while.
== UI/UX and gameplay information ==
Multiple save slots
A highly requested QOL feature has been added - you can now have multiple saved games running in parallel (no longer will that Endless run lock you out of enjoying the rest of the game :P). Moreover, the game will detect if you have saves from a previous version, and mark and store them for you - if you accidentally update and have an old save game lying around - no worries! You can switch to "previous" branch with the previous version, finish your run, and update back to mainline from Steam beta branch functionality :).
Character and enemy information
The character screen ("c" or navigating left/right from inventory/equipment), has received an overhaul - you have descriptions of what the current status effects mean, information on your current speed, detailed resistances information and more.
Arguably more important, you have a similar screen for enemies (press h when targeting an enemy, or Right Trigger + Left Stick on the pad) - including precise health, description of all its status effects, detailed armor and weapon stats.
Other UI/UX improvements
There's a new Settings option for remembering your last entered name, even between sessions. You can pair it up with disabling name entry after a run to permanently set the name of the character.
There's a new Setting for enabling constant outlines for enemies and the players for better visibility.
Target reticule color is based on hit chance. When aiming manually, the squares are colored according to range (red is beyond max, green is within optimal, yellow is either below minimum or above optimal). Key repeat works in UI menus, there's no VO quip when topping off ammo with full inventory, and there's an alert on armor/headgear destruction.
More status effects have their time left to end displayed in the status bar.
Bottom right corner has a mini-display of how long your last action took in in-game seconds.
Related Changelog entries
NEW #0694 - support for multiple save slots!
NEW #1545 - constant outline option in Settings/Display
NEW #1595 - new character information screen! (c)
NEW #1593 - new enemy information screen! (h when targeting)
NEW #1547 - "Remember last name" option in Settings
CHANGE #1543 - key repeat works for UI menus
CHANGE #1595 - last action time displayed on UI
CHANGE #1585 - you can only target in vision range
CHANGE #1408 - incompatible saves will no longer be removed
CHANGE #1558 - target reticule color based on hit chance
CHANGE #1558 - manual targeting highlight by range
CHANGE #1577 - no voice when topping off ammo
CHANGE #1573 - alert messages on armor/headgear destruction
CHANGE #1343 - resistances are percentage based
CHANGE #1595 - removed "enemies left" information (metagaming)
CHANGE #1568 - stimmed, juiced, adrenaline have turns left in UIFurther work
The character/enemy information is step 1 on the path to a full Hellpedia - expect it soon, along with enemy flavor descriptions and such! Also in progress is full mouse support that should make it into 1.2 also. We're also considering a detail screen for items too.
== Trait changes and build variety ==
The 1.0 traits, apart from a few exceptions, railroaded the player build into specific weapon groups. Sometimes the choice for a weapon group for the run had to be made very early, making finding nice exotics or uniques feel quite painful if they didn't fit your build. As part of improving early game, we decided to lift many restrictions to traits to allow broader build variety and broader weapon usability withing a given build.
Basic traits
Sustained fire and Son of a Gun have been reworked - and they now work with all ranged weapons.
Masters
Masters are now available earlier (L6), further levels available every 4 levels, and have less prerequisites in general. This should provide for more build variety and more options within a given build.
Bulletstorm now works with auto's - granting them additionally +1 shot at L2. Sharpshooter works with auto's and semis, while Sniper works with ALL ranged weapons.
Balance
As Son of a Gun lost its range benefits, Gunslinger opt-range penalty has been reduced, and Headshot has received a massive accuracy bonus.
Entrenchment was a bit too dangerous to use, so now it grants resistances when used. Vampyre needed a bit of love, heals 5/7.5/10 of both armor and health depending on target. Survivor was the only Master we deemed in need of a nerf - the damage bonus only is applied when below the regeneration gate, but is much stronger to further flesh out its risky playstyle.
The increased usage possibility of auto weapons meant they needed a slight range nerf not to overshadow dedicated long and short range weapons for their respective traits.
Related Changelog entries
CHANGE #1571 - Master traits require level 6, less prereqs
CHANGE #1569 - Vampyre buff - 5/7.5/10 for both armor and health
CHANGE #1569 - Entrenchment additionally grants all resistances
CHANGE #1569 - Bulletstorm works with auto's - +1 shot at L2
CHANGE #1569 - Sniper works with all ranged weapons
CHANGE #1569 - Sharpshooter works with auto's and semi's
CHANGE #1586 - Sustained fire is weapon agnostic
CHANGE #1586 - Son of a Gun is weapon agnostic, no range bonuses
CHANGE #1586 - Gunslinger opt-range penalty reduced by 1
CHANGE #1586 - Headshot grants accuracy bonus
CHANGE #1569 - Survivor crit bonus counted from below 25%
CHANGE #1569 - Survivor crit bonus increases with level
CHANGE #1589 - nerf - auto range 2/3/8->7, assault 2/4->3/8Further work
Apart from balance changes (more below), some traits still are too restricted and should open up for more weapons. While there are a few Masters that are "signature" (Gun Kata with pistols/SMGs, Blademaster with blades, etc) we generally want to have Masters and traits that still leave some choice in the weapon department.
== Early game improvements ==
Grenadiers and grenade launchers
Starting out we have a new enemy, the grenadier, which is designed to break the movement and engagement patterns in the early game. He also brings the new grenade launcher (with dedicated 40mm grenade ammo) which is a great early game swap weapon for crowd control.
Grenade launchers also have their ADV variants added, and there's a new exotic grenade launcher to be found.
Level generation
We also started a long term revamp of level generation and improvements. Some early changes should already be noticable in the early Callisto level generators. We also are improving the lighting situation - Callisto was way too dark!
Early game gameplay
Melee fans will enjoy the fact that knives know come with intristic Resilient perk. Early game ADV rolls (9mm pistol, auto, SMG and shotgun) can now roll with higher perk values.
Related Changelog entries
NEW #1597 - new early game weapon type - grenade launchers!
NEW #1598 - new humanoid enemy - grenadiers!
CHANGE #1569 - knives have intristic resilent perk
CHANGE #1597 - ADV grenade and rocket added to manuf. stations
CHANGE #1572 - improved lighting on several Callisto levels
CHANGE #1572 - improves some visuals and levgen on Callisto
CHANGE #1589 - early game weapons can have better AV valuesFurther work
This is just the beginning of several early game improvements we have planned. We are aware that early game is currently the weakest and most repetetive part of the experience. Along with trait changes providing more options in the early game, we plan to add more early game enemies, more encounters, more level variety and level features. We're also considering some changes to character creation too - stay tuned!
== The rest ==
New stuff
3 new unique weapons have been added (1 auto, 2 rotary), so there's now 3 of each - auto and rotary weapons, one early, one mid and one late game. New windchill event is added to Europa levels.
Enviropacks and large and small combat packs have been added to the consumable department. The former provide a huge and fairly long resistance boost to allow exploring status heavy areas even for players without the proper resists (or survive tough fights), while the latter are a regeneration alternative to medkits - possible to pop BEFORE a hard engagement.
Balance
Event XP has been halved as it was often a make or break thing for early game - the general amount of XP available on every level has been increased to compensate. CalSec and Valhalla shutdown XP is unchanged.
Plasma weapons have been buffed to be a more viable switch possibility even if you have good early game gear.
Nightmare respawn has been modified. We intended to have the respawn be a clock that keeps the player on the move. Instead Nightmare and above became a gate that allows only gib-heavy builds. Hence, gibbing no longer prevents respawn, only makes it take longer, to open up more build variety. We also didn't want fighting respawns to be the meat of the N!+ experience, so the respawn timers have been increased.
Oh, and Molten wont appear on AV weapons anymore, no reason to burn yourself :P
Bugfixes
The regular supply of bugfixes also got in. Several enemies got missing resistances, exalted kerberi will properly appear in mortem files, Radeon users will see the low health screen effect and micro launchers will now appear as often as they were meant to.
Related Changelog entries
NEW #1583 - 3 new unique weapons (1 auto, 2 rotary)!
NEW #1568 - added enviropack, combat pack (large and small)
NEW #1576 - new windchill level event
CHANGE #1567 - negative healing mods affect large med/stimpacks
CHANGE #1581 - halved XP gained from events
CHANGE #1581 - increased per-level XP spawn size to compensate
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma rifle damage 12->15
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma pistol damage 22->25
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma shotgun damage 50->60
CHANGE #1610 - N+ - gib doubles respawn time instead of prevent
CHANGE #1610 - N+ - respawn timers made longer
CHANGE #1589 - Molten will no longer appear on AV melee weapons
FIX #1597 - fixed micro launcher exotic generation chance
FIX #1557 - low health overlay works on Radeon cards now
FIX #1343 - toxiberi are immune to poison
FIX #1343 - cryoberi and cryoreavers are immune to cold
FIX #1609 - exalted kerberi appear in kill counts properly== Full Changelog ==
.../breaths in...
Release 1.1 - Exordium - October 11th, 2021
NEW #0694 - support for multiple save slots!
NEW #1597 - new early game weapon type - grenade launchers!
NEW #1598 - new humanoid enemy - grenadiers!
NEW #1583 - 3 new unique weapons (1 auto, 2 rotary)!
NEW #1545 - constant outline option in Settings/Display
NEW #1568 - added enviropack, combat pack (large and small)
NEW #1576 - new windchill level event
NEW #1595 - new character information screen! (c)
NEW #1593 - new enemy information screen! (h when targeting)
NEW #1547 - "Remember last name" option in Settings
CHANGE #1543 - key repeat works for UI menus
CHANGE #1595 - last action time displayed on UI
CHANGE #1585 - you can only target in vision range
CHANGE #1408 - incompatible saves will no longer be removed
CHANGE #1558 - target reticule color based on hit chance
CHANGE #1558 - manual targeting highlight by range
CHANGE #1577 - no voice when topping off ammo
CHANGE #1573 - alert messages on armor/headhear destruction
CHANGE #1597 - ADV grenade and rocket added to manuf. stations
CHANGE #1572 - improved lighting on several Callisto levels
CHANGE #1572 - improves some visuals and levgen on Callisto
CHANGE #1571 - Master traits require level 6, less prereqs
CHANGE #1569 - Survivor crit bonus counted from below 25%
CHANGE #1569 - Survivor crit bonus increases with level
CHANGE #1569 - Vampyre buff - 5/7.5/10 for both armor and health
CHANGE #1569 - Entrenchment additionally grants all resistances
CHANGE #1569 - Bulletstorm works with auto's - +1 shot at L2
CHANGE #1569 - Sniper works with all ranged weapons
CHANGE #1569 - Sharpshooter works with auto's and semi's
CHANGE #1586 - Sustained fire is weapon agnostic
CHANGE #1586 - Son of a Gun is weapon agnostic, no range bonuses
CHANGE #1586 - Gunslinger opt-range penalty reduced by 1
CHANGE #1586 - Headshot grants accuracy bonus
CHANGE #1569 - knives have intristic resilent perk
CHANGE #1567 - negative healing mods affect large med/stimpacks
CHANGE #1568 - stimmed, juiced, adrenaline have turns left in UI
CHANGE #1343 - resistances are percentage based
CHANGE #1581 - halved XP gained from events
CHANGE #1581 - increased per-level XP spawn size to compensate
CHANGE #1595 - removed "enemies left" information (metagaming)
CHANGE #1589 - early game weapons can have better AV values
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma rifle damage 12->15
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma pistol damage 22->25
CHANGE #1589 - buff - plasma shotgun damage 50->60
CHANGE #1589 - nerf - auto range 2/3/8->7, assault 2/4->3/8
CHANGE #1610 - N+ - gib doubles respawn time instead of prevent
CHANGE #1610 - N+ - respawn timers made longer
CHANGE #1589 - Molten will no longer appear on AV melee weapons
FIX #1597 - fixed micro launcher exotic generation chance
FIX #1557 - low health overlay works on Radeon cards now
FIX #1343 - toxiberi are immune to poison
FIX #1343 - cryoberi and cryoreavers are immune to cold
FIX #1609 - exalted kerberi appear in kill counts properly== What's Next ==
There are several features we planned for 1.1 but decided not to keep it in development for too long - these will land in 1.2! This includes full mouse support, German, Russian, and Polish text localisation, browsable Hellpedia and Help improvement, and more revamps of the early game (including two more early game enemies) and more changes to the trait system to make it more flexible. We hope to ship 1.2 before the year ends, so stay tuned!
Yours,
Thank you for an amazing Steam Next Fest 2021, folks! We're keeping all the demos for you to play longer!
As Steam Next Fest draws to a conclusion we want to thank everyone for stopping by and trying out our demos. We've had tens of thousands people playing the featured games, hundreds joining our community Discord to offer feedback, and posting on social media!
Many of you have been asking "will I be able to keep playing the demo after Next Fest ends"? Steam suggests all Next Fest demos should be timed, to create a sense of urgency and make sure the players wishlist the game. But this is simply not the Hyperstrange way. We're old enough (well, some of us) to remember shareware times, when demos came on floppies and lasted forever (well, some of them). Cutting to the chase: the demos stay, at least until their respective games get released. Here's what you can play, in case you missed some of them:
RAYZE
[previewyoutube="lsYO7QOS6aE;full"]
RAYZE is a genre-defying hyper-paced music-filled first-person AIM RACER. Hit a target to accelerate. Miss and you slow down. Hit a wall and die. Find the fastest route. Get to the finish line. Simple? Yes. Easy? Hell no. Who said training to be your own aim-bot can't be fun? Welcome to your new casually hardcore obsession!
The DEMO consists of the entire first sector of the game, that's 5 tracks for you to figure out and master, one bite-size FPS speedrun at a time. Achievements to unlock, global leaderboards to compete with friends and strangers... Just two more weeks until full release! Ready? 3... 2... 1... Let's RAYZE!
Blood West
[previewyoutube="hnr5wWsnJ6w;full"]
BLOOD WEST, an immersive Wild West FPS where a revenant desperado takes on the twisted demons and eldritch horros in a cursed, desolate mining town. Hell is empty and all the devils are here! Plan your steps, be stealthy, gain advantage, manage your resources, and paint the world dark red! Blood West was the second most-played Hyperstrange demo in Steam Fest, and there's already many players telling us they cannot wait for the release, despite the game being brutally hard! If you missed the DEMO, you can still try, and if you like the experience of being the Revenant desperado, please remember to add the game to your wishlist!
Supplice
[previewyoutube="03gC5zFgKk0;full"]
Supplice is a stylish throwback shooter that made a lot of people happy during the Steam Next Fest. inspired by the mid-90s FPS glory days and the legendary Doom modding community. Mixing the retro stylings of 90s era shooters with colorful graphics and frantic gameplay, it creates an experience that's ever so familiar but also exciting and fresh. The team behind the game is a real hot pot of Doom modding and FPS development legends, starting from Brett 'Mechadon' Harrell, the project founder, through Aleksander 'Cage' Kowalczyk, the lead artist also known for his work with Ion Fury, to James 'Jimmy' Paddock, the lead composer, known from his midi soundtracks to Sigil, Prodeus, and many other talents. Please check out the DEMO and follow & add the game to your wishlist if you want to stay up to date with its development.
Skullstone
[previewyoutube="ias1aZwsHRU;full"]
Skullstone is a true to its form dungeon crawler with grid-based movement, real-time tactics combat, and first-person view. Lead a party of adventurers into the under-realm, looking for glory, gold, and a solution to the ancient evil plaguing the town above. A real stand-out in the FPS action-focused Hyperstrange catalog - why not give it some appreciation by playing the DEMO and wishlisting this pure-blooded classic RPG.
POSTAL: Brain Damaged
[previewyoutube="aSEnsSkkRRs;full"]
Last, but in no way the least in our Steam Next Fest lineup, POSTAL: Brain Damaged dominated the First-Person Shooter category, reaping the most wishlists and getting over 20 000 demo downloads. If by some strange twist of fate you're here but you don't know what is POSTAL: Brain Damaged... it's a spin-off of the Running With Scissors cult series, firmly rooted in the POSTALVERSE, but taking more gameplay cues from modern shooters such as the latest DOOM, than the fan-acclaimed POSTAL 4, the latest entry in the main series. This time around the story follows POSTAL DUDE on a journey through the dark and bizarre landscape of his own mind, which gives the developer a chance to explore new depths of weirdness, madness, and gore. The gloves are off! See for yourself - play the DEMO and make sure to hit that wishlist button hard! (Please note that as we focus on developing the game, we won't be able to update the demo, so it will reflect the state of development in September 2021, even if you play it in May 2022, when the game is getting released. Expect improvements and changes!)
As we wrap-up the event, we feel immensely grateful to the wonderful Steam player community who show us so much appreciation. Please keep your feedback coming - if you have any to offer, please join our community Discord. We strive to make your live stranger and filled to the brim with good old action, and it's such a rush to see that you enjoy what we bring to your screens. That is it for today, be excellent to each other!
Yours truly,