Hi everyone- This patch is broken into two parts- there’s a retweak of playable characters and run difficulty overall, and then a sizable amount of QOL changes + bugfixes. Most of these are reported from Discord and Steam forums!

In other news, did you know we have a Wiki? We are currently in the process of adding to it- here’s the link if you want to visit or help fill it out: Asterogues Official Wiki

The main goal for balance changes is to make the game more fun rather than to make all the characters equally strong. The idea behind nerfs is to remove situations where the character is so strong that it no longer interacts with the game.

Pluto is getting some changes to feel more fair. He gets punished heavily for getting hit and some players feel like he doesn’t catch every bullet in his orbit. Pluto only catches bullets that spend enough time near him, so it was possible for fast bullets to quickly pass through without being caught in orbit.

• Pluto only drops half of orbiting bullets when hit.
• Pluto orbit mechanics updated to catch bullets that pass through orbit range too quickly.

Void is going to do slightly less damage while also having a slightly tighter cone, just so it’s slightly less destructive in basic rooms and also can hit bosses a tiny bit better.

• Void pulse cone angle reduced by 20%.
• Void bullet damage from 1.8 to 1.6.
• Void boss hp reduction multiplier from 0.7x to 0.85x (bosses have more hp vs void).

Hydra is going to shred bosses a bit less quickly while also having to get a tiny bit closer to infest enemies. In the last patch Hydra’s damage was boosted by crits being fixed on it, so this evens it out. Hydra also got a new method of recovering shields when fighting bosses but was taking little to no damage in return, so this was fixed.

• Hydra boss hp reduction multiplier from 0.65x to 0.9x (bosses have more hp vs hydra).
• Hydra infest range from 3 to 2.6 (break range remains the same).
• Hydra now takes the right amount of damage from bosses.

Braniac was trivializing his own mechanics when finding certain items that changed his bullets, so these items are going to be less effective on him.

• Braniac now has a 15% proc chance for bullet-changing items (Bouncy Bullets, Goldeneye etc.) and a 3% proc chance on Space Freezer.
• Laser Lasso no longer drops for Braniac.

The strongest enemies are getting a slight tweak to be more manageable.

• Frostar only fires one bomb at a time.
• Helmetrunts don’t jump all the time, and walk for a little bit between jumps.
• Harder minibosses now drop less/no additional enemies when they spawn.
• Phobos and Mars shields now have 8HP and can be destroyed.

Freeze was leaving the player without much to do when freezing the source of bullets, so you can now melee frozen enemies for big damage. Freeze might be damage-tweaked later since it now works fine against planets.

• Frozen enemies now take 4x melee damage.

Sun Amulet radius increased from 5.8 to 6.8.

Controller auto-aim has been updated to choose between nearby enemies better, and also comes with a strength slider in the settings menu. It will now also track jumping enemies or enemies with a displaced hitbox (such as enemies with a jetpack) better.

Window Settings:

• Cursor now can’t leave the game window when the game is unpaused.
• Game doesn’t continue to play while not focused on the window.

• Hearts and Starshards should now always drop inside the room when dropped by a miniboss outside of a room.
• Bosses no longer attack after being defeated or before finishing dialogue.
• Small enemies no longer drop after bosses are defeated or before finished dialogue (Hydra).
• During the escort mission, players will go to the areas where they need to complete the quest instead of random zones.
• When fighting Jupiter, camera no longer follows Jupiter awkwardly.
• When you enter a portal, bullets get cleared (should mean not getting hit in the next room from slow moving bullets).
• 3000 coins achievement has been dropped to 2500- something more manageable after coin drops were reduced.

• Hearts can no longer be grabbed by two players at the same time.
• Fixed music overlap/incorrect music in later zones after boss fights.
• Fixed Mars visual error on freeze.
• Lil Favor rocket should now wait until bosses finish their dialogue.
• Sheriff should no longer create chains after death.
• Settings sliders will no longer show the wrong value on start.
• Frozen planets now take damage correctly.
• Fixed Jupiter shaking the screen after death.
• Fixed main menu disappearing when using Escape button from the settings menu.

• Rock obstacles no longer appear on the end screen when completing a run.
• Added missing Sheriff death explosion.
• Black bars no longer should cover dialogue in widescreen.
• Planet introduction bar should now strength to fit widescreen.
• Pets no longer listed as active items when appearing in chests.
• Fixed missing indicator on sub-menus (“Would you like to quit current run?”).
• Fixed text shadow error on sub-menu (“Would you like to quit current run?”).

I’m trying to make sure I see all the suggestions wherever they’re posted, but the best place to talk directly to me and either report bugs or give suggestions is the Discord! I am starting to work on new zones so it’s a great time to suggest new enemies and items!

Mark

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