Hey, it’s Adam from Cosmocat here with some details about the upcoming content update for Astral Flux: the Artifact Hunter update! This update adds several new mechanics to the game, the most notable of which is the artifact system. The artifact system consists of multiple parts. Firstly are the actual artifacts: these mysterious objects are found during your run (at most: one per world) but can’t actually be used until you bring them back to your ship to decipher them. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41290233/6fd92b293711a900eb6f8ef4591d4bdafebbf395.gif[/img] To facilitate that, you’ll now start your run in your ship, where you’ll have access to a (comically large) computer that is able to analyze the artifacts to determine their effects. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41290233/de4178eb39f71e65d9182005518f91081d0f0701.gif[/img] The artifact effects available in this update are: enemy spawn rate, enemy health, item spawn rate, starting oxygen, aggro probability and world destroyer spawn rate. (More on those last two in a minute.) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41290233/b1a5d8f51bbbea83bb172e9a6b0b856408bf4aa4.gif[/img] Artifacts can provide either a buff, a debuff, or a combined buff/debuff. You read that right: some artifacts will buff your oxygen (and quite significantly). Hopefully this will help alleviate some stress for the players who expressed their dislike of the oxygen system. 😉 Naturally, there’s a new achievement to go along with this, appropriately dubbed “Artifact Hunter”. To help you make better decisions during your run, we’ve also added a new stats UI and map display screen. This screen will show you the currently active artifacts, along with your stats (rate of fire, damage, etc.), and an enlarged version of the map. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41290233/4a03cf884011a19f889ba60a71605ac745862176.jpg[/img] Last but not least, we’ve added a couple new mechanics to keep you on your toes. Enemies now have a chance of spawning in an aggro state. Moreover, when you attack them, they will automatically aggro. (Previously enemies only aggroed during the escape segment.) Additionally, we’ve added a new hazard during the escape segment: world destroyers! These anomalies will spawn randomly around you, doing damage as well as what their name implies: literally destroying the world. In fact, this can be both a hindrance, and a benefit, as you can use them to carve a path out of the temple. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41290233/720cdf94edd908f8e273eda93571c66269388b9e.gif[/img] As noted above, both the aggro probability and the world destroyer spawn rate can be affected by artifacts. We’re looking forward to sharing the update with you! If you’re keen to check it out now, we’ve uploaded a preview build to the beta branch. Feel free to comment here or on the Cosmocat Discord with your thoughts. You can expect the official release within the next few weeks. (It's a brand new branch; you might need to restart Steam for it to appear) If you’re curious about what’s coming next, some ideas we’ve been kicking around for our final two content updates include: new worlds (including new enemies, bosses, etc.) via branching paths, new upgrades, and new weapons. What do you think? Are there things you’d like to see more of? We’d love to hear from you! Until next time, Adam