HIGH PRIORITY TRANSMISSION INCOMING: This is Commander Jorrell. Your efforts on behalf of our Order have not gone unnoticed. We now have a unique opportunity to infiltrate Reelys Station. Head to the Trade Hub immediately for further instructions...
Yep, it's the full release, featuring the main campaign, steam achievements, controller support and more!
Just remember that due to the scope of the changes, previous saved games may not be supported - if you wish to continue an existing saved game, you should select the 'previous' version from the 'betas' section of the Steam 'properties' menu.
Full Release 19 July 2024
Hi all, that's right - Relic Space is finally ready to transition out of Early Access, with the release date set for 19th July!
Here's a preview of what the full release will include:
Main Story Campaign
This is the big one - a whole new game mode allowing you to continue on from the story-based missions previously available in the tutorial, right through to an epic victory scenario.
We'll avoid going into details to avoid spoilers, but I can say it should take at least 10 hours to complete, and has been designed so that there continues to be an incentive to participate in the random missions already in the Early Access version (adding significantly more hours to a run!).
In addition to the main story missions, the universe of Relic Space will also be fleshed out by numerous brand new dialog options with random NPCs.
And look out for a major new faction - with 5 challenging new ship classes to defeat - that will gradually be encountered as you progress towards the endgame.
Controller and Steam Deck support
This will hopefully be a big plus for those who prefer to use a controller, or steam deck.
Since Relic Space is quite a keyboard-heavy game it's not 'full' controller support, and unlikely to be 'verified' on Steam Deck anytime soon.
However from my own experience during testing, it'll be very possible to do a full playthrough on steam deck if you're willing to make a few compromises - in particular moving your ship using a joystick actually feels better than mouse or keyboard imho!
Steam Achievements
Every game needs them, right? With so many game modes and difficulty levels available - including ironman mode - they might also inspire your next Relic Space challenge.
There are 40 achievements already live on the Steam page - so feel free to check them out! - and potentially more to come.
Balance improvements and bug-fixes
Getting difficulty and balance right is a challenge in a game as big and procedurally generated as Relic Space, and it's been fantastic to get really useful feedback on this area throughout Early Access.
The full release will incorporate numerous tweaks to how enemy ship difficulty changes during progression from early to late game, while at the same time hopefully provided more variety and challenge where needed.
As you'd expect there's also a host of user experience improvements and bugfixes too, Some I particularly like are the ability to highlight Relic missions in the sector map, and that the main equipment status/heat/energy panels stay open after entering and leaving a station.
Join the Discord
As usual to check out the Discord to discuss the game with fellow fans and the developer.
Roadmap Progress Update
Hi all, it's now Month 7 and I want to give you an update on development relative to the roadmap.
EA Plans
As planned, the remaining months of the Early Access revolve around adding the main storyline, and I've been making good progress on this, including new story missions, as well as large amounts of story planning which can't easily be shared in the usual way.
The main story missions will not only bring more handcrafted, lore-filled dialogues, but will also introduce whole new game mechanics. As a simple example (already developed) some missions will now require you to transport NPCs, rather than goods or other items - you can also chat to the NPCs while they are on board your ship!
This is just a simple example - without giving spoilers, the late game missions will bring major new mechanics to help keep things fresh and surprising...
Update Timetable
Adding more story also introduces some complexities about how this fits with the existing roguelike game mode. For example, players might want to be able to play the tutorial missions, but still have random missions rather than the full story (as in the current EA version), and this will require some reorganisation of existing game modes (e.g. a 'random missions' mode separate from an 'enable tutorial' mode).
Also I expect many players will prefer to wait until the full storyline is available before diving in to the story missions (rather than playing only 'chapter 1' say, and then having to wait until full release before seeing the rest of the story).
For these reasons I am proposing to defer further major game updates until the full story is complete in early/mid-2024. Full release is still targeted for Month 13 (May 2024) of the roadmap, but there will likely be beta releases for Discord members before that.
Join the Discord
Finally don't forget you can join the Discord to discuss the game with fellow fans and ask any questions you might have.
Month 4 Roadmap Update
Hi all, the Month 4 Update is here, right on schedule for the Early Access roadmap:
Here's the lowdown on what's new:
Full Pilot Skill Tree
The Pilot Skill tree has been completed and refreshed, and now includes 18 brand new pilot skills (taking the total to 32 - not including up to 3 skill levels for each skill). New skills include
'Commandeer' - allowing you to capture and fly enemy ships
'Drone Pilot' - allowing you to deploy combat drones (new 'utility' equipment)
New maneuvres: 'Strafe' and 'Reverse thrusters'
In addition, skills have been rebalanced (particularly cooldown times); some new skill levels have been added to existing skills; new upgrade paths have been introduced; and it is now also possible to manually or automatically reorder skills in the hotbar.
Improvements to wreck exploration and mining
As suggested by players (including Splattercat in his great stream) Wreck exploration and mining have been made more interesting by the addition of success rolls, which can be boosted by pilot skills, and new 'Create-your-own-adventure' micronarratives when exploring wrecks.
A new 'endless' game mode
Another addition drive by player feedback, the new 'endless' game mode lets you to switch off the main victory-point based win condition, allowing for more open and less time-pressured gameplay.
Fast travel mechanics
Some stations now have transport hubs - a brand new station module allowing you to 'fast travel' to distant sectors.
UI improvements and bug-fixes
Beyond the features already mentioned, this update also includes a host of more minor UI improvements and bug-fixes (over 50 distinct changes in total) including:
'Continue game' button in splash screen
Auto-scaling of font-sizes for equipment names
Ability to highlight mission targets for a specific mission
Ship speed and cargo information added to main UI
Numerous improvements to tooltip info
Join the Discord
As mentioned in the last update, some of the above changes have already been made accessible to players via the Discord Beta branch. Do check in there to get access to bleeding edge builds as well as to discuss the game with fellow fans and the developer.
Roadmap Progress Update
Hi all, just a quick progress update on the Early Access Roadmap!
We're currently midway between Month 1 and Month 4, and I'm happy to report that the core new features scheduled for the Month 4 update are essentially complete.
These include
A big update to pilot skills
Improvements to wreck exploration and mining
A new 'endless' game mode allowing for more open gameplay
Fast travel mechanics
In addition there's been some important planning regarding the lore and storyline.
It's always the little things - like fixing bugs, UI enhancements, performance issues - that take up an unexpectedly large portion of development time. So we're not really ahead of schedule - the time between now and Month 4 (July) will be taken up with these minor improvements and bugfixes.
But if you can't wait to try the new features above you can join the Relic Space Discord to access the Beta branch, which has already been updated, as well as discussing the game with fellow fans and the developer.
Hotfix v1.14
FIX: bug where Naveen stations fail to spawn across the system when playing in tutorial mission mode FIX: incorrect tooltip for fuel indicator in system map MOD: removed 'new mission targets' messages
Hotfix v1.13
FIX: bug where lights indicating whether wrecks have been explored do not deactivate after wreck is explored FIX: bug causing fewer ships than intended (particularly for main factions) to appear in early sectors NEW: added fuel and credits info to system map screen NEW: add 'v' to cycle to bottom text MOD: visual improvements to lights indicating wheher wrecks have been explored
Month 1 Roadmap Update
It’s almost exactly a month after the Early Access Roadmap was published, and the first major update is now live!
As planned, the focus of this update is on responding to the most urgent issues and feature requests raised in feedback from players following the Early Access launch. (Future Roadmap updates, by contrast, will focus more on adding new game content.)
These fall into 3 main areas which I’ll dive into below (major UI improvements, difficulty and balance, and bug fixes) along with some additional bonus features I’ll cover at the end.
One of the most frequently requested changes from Early Access players so far has been improvements to the system map, to make it easier to locate missions available from specific factions as well as the specific goods that are needed for some mission types. I could see that this would be a big step forward in terms of user friendliness, so this was a priority for the month 1 update.
The system map screen has now been enhanced to include filters for both factions and goods types, and more detail on available goods is also available via tooltips.
Other UI improvements include UI scaling (another roadmap feature) and a new timeline graph display for energy and heat.
There is also a brand new map view, making it easier to get a quick overview of key locations, stations and mission targets in a sector.
Difficulty and Balance
Another consistent bit of feedback from players has been that the game is a little too hard overall, and that ‘adventure’ difficulty in particular should be made easier compared to ‘tactical’.
Like many turn-based tactics fans, I think it is very important to offer enough of a challenge so that a wide range of tactical choices are required. At the same time it is important to offer players a choice of difficulty levels to suit different play styles, and the changes in this version contribute to that goal.
These changes should have the overall effect of making ‘adventure’ mode significantly easier; ‘tactical’ mode should also be a little easier than previously, especially at the start of the game; while ‘extinction’ difficulty remains as a challenging difficulty mode for hardcore players.
Aside from the big changes affecting overall difficulty there are some smaller balance changes as well, such as changes to reputation requirements for some high level ships, and a personal favourite of mine: if you capture a holoship projector from a Maker ship you can now use it yourself to generate a friendly holoship that will support you in combat.
Bug Fixes
Aside from the usual range of bugs, Early Access players discovered some creative exploits allowing them, among other things to:
Generate infinite relics and sell them to get rich quick!
Complete goods delivery missions quickly by delivering goods, buying them back and reselling them
Achieve permanent ‘cloaked’ status by unequipping a cloaking device while cloaked
These exploits have been quashed, along with a range of other bugs, making for a more balanced and consistent experience.
Bonus Features
As mentioned, new game content and mechanics are not the focus of this update, but there are still a few fun additions to look out for.
A brand new utility item, the 'Shield Modder' (short for 'modulator') helps protect your shields against weapons that would otherwise overload them.
Cargo management is now easier and more forgiving, as 'cargo pods' are now generated when jettisoning goods, meaning you'll no longer lose out on trade goods due to your cargo bay being full.
While some wider changes addressing balance issues to do with fuel management did not make it into this update, one change that has been made is that fuel can now be found as loot in debris, making it just a bit easier to keep your ship from running out of fuel.
There are also some new 'strobe-light' visual effects indicating whether wrecks have been fully explored or not.
Join the Community
Finally, don't forget you can keep up to date on the very latest in Relic Space's development, you can join the Relic Space Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
Hotfix v1.05
Bug fixes:
FIX: stubborn soft-lock that occurs when saving and loading in the middle of an 'emergency transmission' mission, while not in 'random missions' mode. FIX: various issues that occur when a relic ship mission unit follows a distress call mission unit FIX: bug where relic ships do not immediately appear in station shipyards after completing a relic ship mission
Quality of Life:
MOD: game no longer pauses audio when changing focus to other windows applications (useful for streamers)
Textual fixes:
FIX: text overflow when credits go into six digits FIX: skill description text error when using level 2 repair FIX: an issue with the mission text for relic ship missions
Roadmap for Early Access
With the frenzy of Early Access launch now behind us, now seems a good time to look ahead and discuss what's still to come during the Early Access period itself.
Below is the current roadmap.
So the first priority - with a timescale of approximately 1 month - is to push out a major update that fixes the most significant remaining bugs and balance issues and adds the most requested UI features. Some issues may also be addressed by further hotfixes.
This will be followed by major quarterly updates, focussing first on pilot skills, and then on developing the main storyline, the associated Intelligence faction, and more random mission types.
In general I take a flexible approach to development, and this roadmap is subject to change in response to both player feedback and new ideas on my part.
So if you have any suggestions or comments on the roadmap please let me know either right here on Steam, or in the game's Discord.
I'll share updates or proposed changes to the roadmap as and when required.
Join the Community
To keep up to date on the very latest in Relic Space's development, and take part in exclusive in-game challenges, you can join the Relic Space Discord. During Early Access you'll also be the first to gain access to bleeding edge builds, and of course will be able to discuss the game with fellow fans as well as the developer.
