Hello Pond Residents,

Let’s wrap up 2023 with a bang!

Our second new content update, “Relics and Runs,” is now live! This update introduces a new biome, more enemies, adorable axolittles, and exciting items (relics)—all about that sweet variety! And, of course, we’ve brought in one of roguelite’s essentials: Daily Runs.

This marks our final update for 2023. After a rejuvenating holiday break, we’ll dive back in, charged up and ready to conquer 2024 with more exciting updates.

Oh, and if you’ve been eyeing AK-xolotl, or want to gift it for the holidays, now’s the time! We’re part of the Steam Winter Sale starting from December 21st, with a 30% off discount.

Now, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty details of this update. Here’s a rundown of all the new content awaiting your exploration:

• New Biome: welcome to “The Cave”! A new alternate biome 2 is now available and you will be able to decide which path to take. And of course, a new biome also means a new boss fight and new enemies. Have fun exploring and beware, the floor is lava!
• New Boss: alongside our new biome, you will be able to face a brand new boss, the Tea Rex! Prepared to get the par-tea started, this tea-riffic opponent awaits. We hope you bring your quali-tea plays to this encounter and that you’re skilled at multi-tea-tasking… yes, we could keep the tea puns pouring in!

  

• New Axolittles: reports tell us that new axolittles have been spotted in the wild, time to hatch ‘em all!
• New Items: 17 new items have entered the Pond, time for yet more crazy combinations!
• New Elite Enemy: Croco Papa is the latest addition to our elite enemy pool. He’s the living embodiment of the saying “Don’t smile at a crocodile.”
• Daily Runs: take on a new seeded run every day, but be warned, only the best will make it to the top! Every player will start with the same randomized character and a set of 2 starter items and be offered the same choices throughout the run. Will you be able to make it until the end? Compete for glory and try to get the highest score on the online leaderboard. Good luck, Pond Residents!

  

As usual, we have also introduced some new balance changes and bug fixes to further enhance your gameplay experience.

Also, in case you have missed the patch notes of our previous updates, you can check them out here:

• Quality of Life Update #1
• Quality of Life Update #2
• Quality of Life Update #3
• New Content Update #1 – Chaos Unleashed
• Extra Update #1 – Run Modifiers

And finally, here’s the rundown of of other changes and improvements included in this update:

• Star item now also destroys pink bullets
• The Cancel ability is now destroying Rabies Shotgoon bullets
• Mine Gast and Fish and Chipzs are now using the correct song tracks
• Fixed issue with achievements not unlocking or unlocking when performing the wrong conditions
• Fixed the issue with the “pet” action positioning the hand in the wrong place in adult axolotls (now you pet the correct head, haha)
• Crababy now receives damage from Toadally Tosser weapon ground poison
• Fixed the issue with rockets exploding when deployed near a wall
• Fixed the Big Fungus aiming
• Rolling into Mine Gast bullets will now cause you to go through them

• Decoy invulnerability time reduced from 1.25 to 0.5 for each damage taken
• Removed the damage nerf from Cowboy Hat
• Removed the speed nerf from Glutton Rounds
• Removed the speed nerf from Magnet

Improved the description of items to properly disclaim the values:

• Menacing Mask
• Artifact