Demo Update v1.2.0

The primary goals of this patch were to improve the pace of the early game and make boss encounters more memorable.

The demo takes place in the first level of the game, which is intentionally designed to give players room to learn the fundamentals of movement, dashing, aiming, and grenade usage. While it succeeded in introducing those core mechanics, progression felt slower than intended and the impact of upgrades wasn't always apparent.

To address this, we've revisited the entire level, adjusting enemy composition, progression pacing, upgrade values, and bruiser balance to create a clearer sense of escalating danger and player power. We've also significantly updated the boss encounters, introducing new mechanics, attacks, and behaviors to make them more engaging and distinct.

The result is a faster-paced experience with more meaningful progression, greater combat intensity, and more memorable boss fights.

WEAPONS

Pistol

The Pistol was simply too weak. As the starter weapon, it should be less powerful than later options, but it slowed the pace of the game too much and felt tedious during early runs.

• Fire Rate: 3 → 4

• Reload Time: 2.5 → 2

• New Mini Mechanic – One in the Chamber: Dashing fires a special auto-targeting shot that deals 3× weapon damage.

Rifle

Updated burst-fire audio to fix a voice-limit issue that could mute game sounds.

DASHES

Vorpal

Vorpal is intended to be a high-skill dash modifier, but its recast cooldown was too punishing.

• Recast Cooldown: 8 s → 4 s

Frost Rider

Surfing is cool. Ice surfing is cooler. Surf more often.

• Cooldown: 8 s → 6 s

UPGRADES

Upgrades now provide more impact and better reward combining your various abilities and tools.

Shattering Rounds (Weapon Upgrade)

• Weapon crit chance per Level: +2.5% → +4%

Bigger Boom (Grenade Upgrade)

• Grenade damage per Level: +10% → +15%

RESOURCES

Keeping with speeding up the progress of the game, we doubled the amount of resources gained from a single run. So you can expect to unlock weapons, grenades, ultimates and talents faster.

MONSTERS

New Stage Mechanic: Respawn

To increase on-screen chaos, some stages now feature mob respawns. This mechanic is used selectively in areas that felt too empty, but were never intended as player breathing spaces. Dedicated downtime areas still exist, allowing players to farm experience before destroying the final mound and progressing.

New Monster: Tinypede (Mob)

Tinypedes are a new enemy type and serve as a precursor to the Minipede, formerly the game's first enemy. They spawn from their own visually distinct mound. Like Minipedes, they are only truly dangerous in large numbers.

Centipede (Bruiser)

Known by players as the "red-horned bulls," Centipedes are the first bruiser-type enemies players encounter. Bruisers are designed as individual threats that force prioritization, positioning, and effective use of crowd control.

We felt Centipedes created too large a difficulty spike given the tools currently available, so their health has been reduced.

• Health: 2000 → 1250

Fly Swarms (Bruiser)

Individual flies in a swarm had too much health. Combined with their speed, regeneration, and retreat/re-engage behavior, they were often frustrating to deal with. A well-placed Frag Grenade should now be more rewarding.

We've also standardized their projectile fire rate and removed the swarm-size scaling mechanic to make their behavior more predictable.

• Health (per Fly): 150 → 100

• Fire Rate: 8–5 → 6

• Removed: Dynamic projectile fire rate based on swarm size

Chilomor (Boss)

Chilomor now puts up more of a fight, charging more frequently, and has a dangerous new surprise waiting in its final phase.

Rework: Malzura (Boss)

While we liked the original concept for Malzura, the Master of Flies, the encounter proved more oppressive in practice than intended.

We aim to design our boss encounters like a dance: moments where players defend themselves through movement or crowd control, and moments where they can safely engage the boss. Previously, Malzura was constantly applying pressure, leaving little room for that rhythm to emerge.

The rework introduces two entirely new attacks, two reworked attacks, and updated behavior to better capture that design goal.

She packs a punch, so bring an extra-large swatter.

OTHER

• Improved stage intro, outro, and level load music transition to be smoother.

• Updated several upgrade descriptions.

• Added Chinese language support.