Update #4 - Eye Candy, First Map Balancing, and more - v0.5.6
[h3]Greetings, Loners!
[/h3]While deep in the production of the first Major Update, we are continuing our streak of constant releases with various improvements based on your feedback!
Some highlights are: Revamped visuals with a polished City of Sands, new VFXs, and finalized models for Area Hold and Taka-chan.
We’ve also refined the gameplay experience with quality-of-life upgrades, such as improved curio stat displays, thicker strikethroughs in the UI, and capped size increases for those big Snowbros.
As for gameplay balance, Train Plateau and Twilight Dam feature smarter enemy adjustments, rebalanced objectives, and updated Memento unlock costs for a fairer challenge. Newer players who find the First Map a bit challenging will feel this change the most.
Oh, and placeholder green cubes? They’re officially out. 😉
[h3]What's New
[/h3]Visual Improvements
Old City of Sands

Revamped City of Sands

Balance Updates
We’ve made adjustments to keep gameplay challenging but fair:
Train Plateau:
[h3]Fixes to keep the action flowing[/h3]
Here’s what’s been patched up:
[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
[h3]Director's Note[/h3]
Hey everyone!
We're right in the thick of development for the next Major Update, and it's progressing very nicely! I wanted to come here and tease you a bit of what's to come ;)

I'll leave you all to figure that one out. 😛
See you guys in the next update!
[/h3]While deep in the production of the first Major Update, we are continuing our streak of constant releases with various improvements based on your feedback!
Some highlights are: Revamped visuals with a polished City of Sands, new VFXs, and finalized models for Area Hold and Taka-chan.
We’ve also refined the gameplay experience with quality-of-life upgrades, such as improved curio stat displays, thicker strikethroughs in the UI, and capped size increases for those big Snowbros.
As for gameplay balance, Train Plateau and Twilight Dam feature smarter enemy adjustments, rebalanced objectives, and updated Memento unlock costs for a fairer challenge. Newer players who find the First Map a bit challenging will feel this change the most.
Oh, and placeholder green cubes? They’re officially out. 😉
[h3]What's New
[/h3]Visual Improvements
- Revamped visuals for City of Sands.
Old City of Sands

Revamped City of Sands


- Reduced shine on Icy Orbs when increasing in size.
- New Hani Galvanized (Active Skill buff) Icon.
- Final models for Area Hold and Reward Chest ("Taka-chan").
- New VFX for:
- Bitter Barking Brew safeguard.
- Bonnie's Unstable Debuff.
- Bitter Barking Brew safeguard.
- Removed placeholder green cubes from visuals.
- Polished Loadout UI for a cleaner look.
- XP drop color adjustments for better clarity.
- New animations added to Objectives UI.
- Thicker strikethrough in the UI for improved readability.
- Positive curio stat changes are now displayed on top of negative changes.
- "Alternate Actuality" Snowbro Model now has a capped size increase.
- Although the Area can still increase, Snowbro won't be huge now if you focus your build on Area Size 🤣
- Although the Area can still increase, Snowbro won't be huge now if you focus your build on Area Size 🤣
Balance Updates
We’ve made adjustments to keep gameplay challenging but fair:
- Friaca is slightly nerfed to improve fairness.
- Memento Changes: You now need to unlock Banish and Purify Mementos before use.
- (Previous cost: 470 / 1250 / 2020).
- Banish: 920 / 2010 / 4000.
- Purify: 920 / 2010 / 5000.
- (Previous cost: 470 / 1250 / 2020).
- Every Loner starts somewhere, and now our tutorials make learning the ropes more intuitive
- Devices now reset automatically in learning areas.
- Arrows were added so that paths could be readable better.
- Healing shrines now feature target signs, letting you know they can (and should) be shot for recovery.
- Increased all enemy spawn distances.
- Adjusted miniboss and boss HP for solo play.
- Updated spawn behavior and damage for explosive interactions.
Train Plateau:
- Reduced elite snacks required as objectives (from 4 to 2).
- Replaced snacks with gunners for certain objectives.
- Rebalanced gunners: they now take longer to increase the max number of enemies.
- Swapped gunners for snacks in objectives.
- Balanced snacks to better-fit gameplay.
[h3]Fixes to keep the action flowing[/h3]
Here’s what’s been patched up:
- Resolved Loadout character animation freezes when navigating back from skills.
- Fixed Purify and Banish buttons becoming unresponsive on the first level-up.
- Nightmode Octavio now correctly takes damage when hit in the eye.
- Curios are now only selectable after completing their animations.
- ESC Menu no longer fails to open during Purify/Banish selections.
- Prevented players from walking over water in camp.
- The timer now displays the total run length, including pauses and level-ups.
[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
- Gold Goblin can get stuck in specific places in Twilight Dam
- There are some missing textures on Loner's Camp and Twilight Dam
- The game starts stuttering, freezes, and clients are disconnected
- Dead ally might be invisible to other players
- Safeguard while downed blocks the user from continuing playing
- Inviting through Steam makes friends join random people
- Ash's Ultimate and Gear Dash Combo Allows Unintended High-Flying Out of the Playable Area
- Placeholder Cubes are Being Used as Debuff Indicators
- Incorrect Prompt for Curios Screen: "TouchPad" is Shown Instead of "Share" on the DualSense Controller
- The player can get stuck in a gap and fall out of the map area
- Selecting 'Unlock Skills' on an unlocked character and then switching to a locked one allows purchasing skills for a locked character
- The game starts stuttering during the transition to the Final Boss stage
- Opening Taka-chan and then instantly leveling up might cause the Taka-chan screen to freeze
- Music starts stuttering and stops playing until the game crashes or the user returns to Camp in co-op
[h3]Director's Note[/h3]
Hey everyone!
We're right in the thick of development for the next Major Update, and it's progressing very nicely! I wanted to come here and tease you a bit of what's to come ;)

I'll leave you all to figure that one out. 😛
See you guys in the next update!