Onboarding Improvements - Demo Update - March 19th, 2026

Thanks for being patient while I worked on this patch. The main focus here is onboarding, which required a lot of things to be adjusted & reworked under the hood. That stuff being in-progress also meant that I couldn't really push bug fixes out as quickly as usual, which is not my favorite. I'm really looking for feedback on this update, especially on balance and how easy it is for you to figure the game out, so please let me know your thoughts! I also especially want to know if there are any other questions you still have- even if certain things don't come up during the tutorials I'm working on fleshing out the pilot manual so it can be a super helpful reference.

Additionally, if you've looked at the Steam page, you'll notice that the release month has changed from April to May. Basically, I took a week off of work (day job) to try and get all of the remaining content added to the game so that I could focus on polish/translation/steam integration/etc until release. Unfortunately, I got sick early in the week and lost a ton of valuable work time. I'm not exactly sure what the release timing looks like at the moment but I will let you all know as soon as I know.

Also, yes, you heard that right: translation. If your native language isn't English and you'd like to help proofread the game's text, please join the game's Discord and check out the rig-riot-localization channel. Not all the text for the game has been written yet, but I'm hoping that the text needed for the demo is at least nearing completion.

Thanks for trying my small, weird game. I've still got a lot to learn so your feedback truly means the world. Thanks for being part of this project.

• Sage

Features/Content

• Added an Introductory Raid to provide a better explanation of the game's mechanics

• Added a new "Mission" game mode which does not include respawning Patrol enemies and scales based on how many objectives you've completed instead of based on how much time has passed

• Added new pop-ups to the Gameplay Tutorial to explain the function of each element of the HUD

• Added some other new tutorials to the Pilot Manual

Changes

• For Package Retrieval objectives the objective marker now appears near the package

Note: Seemed like this was causing some difficulties for a few folks so I've removed the "searching" portion of the task. Once you know where to look it usually stops mattering anyway

• Added a way to proc status effects for all Volatile Mods that previously did nothing without some other source of status effect damage

• Tripled the power of downward dash boosts

• Upgrade rerolls now prevent the three current options from reappearing, unless there are no additional options

• Augment rerolls now prevent the three current options from reappearing

• Reduced length of objective indicator beacon to alleviate confusion when objective is on a lower platform

• The objective indicator icon now appears on the edge of your screen if the objective's location is not in the direction you're looking

• The "damaged taken" screen effect now takes longer to fade away

• Removed the tiny weapon render in the background of weapon stat displays

• Increased height of Firing Range

• Adjusted lighting for Firing Range and Tutorial

• Increased size of damage type icons shown when dealing damage of a Special type

• Updated achievements to specify actual names of required duelists

• Enemies spawned as part of Objectives are now also subject to "Earliest Possible Spawn Time"-like checks. This should result in a more gradual difficulty ramp as you complete more objectives

• Increased loot pickup radius and reduced horizontal velocity applied upon spawning loot

• Added a visual effect that appears in loot chests when loot appears so that there is still some visual if the loot is picked up instantly

• Added a way to directly navigate to settlement upgrades from the part menu

• Added an "are you sure?" check when attempting to leave the Personalization menu without saving

• Added input device detection to menu screens

• Added keybinds for next/previous navigation when viewing a tutorial pop-up

• Adjusted some default settings

Balance

• Increased player upgrade acquisition rate overall

• Increased time between patrol enemy spawns (3s -> 6s)

• Slight reduction to enemy base health scaling

• Reduced enemy max health scaling (10 -> 9)

• Increased health restored by Recycler (1% -> 3%)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the virtual keyboard

• Fixed secondary objectives required per major objective not functioning as intended

• Fixed several mod effects failing when attempting to use the wrong projectile pool

• Fixed defeated enemies often not showing death explosion effects

• Changing your weapon now correctly marks your RIG as having changes that need to be saved

• Added an "are you sure?" check when attempting to leave the personalization screen without saving