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Steam News17 April 20262mo ago

Big Update: Layers, Tutorial, Trader, and More

A new gameplay loop: Layers The single flat run is gone. You now descend through Layers, each with its own difficulty, crystal mix, and rewards.

Full notes

Full Shard Cycle update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes3 additions12 changes0 removals
  • Events
  • Gameplay
  • UI and audio
  • Balance
  • Performance
addedA new gameplay loop: LayersThe single flat run is gone. You now descend through Layers, each with its own difficulty, crystal mix, and rewards. Unlock Layer 2 by destroying enough crystals on Layer 1, and onwards from there. Pick your destination from the new Layer Select panel before every session. The change makes run to run variety feel meaningful instead of interchangeable.
changedSession visuals and effectsA lot of polish across the core gameplay view:
changedSession visuals and effectsFloating damage numbers are cleaner and better timed.
changedSession visuals and effectsHit effects on crystal damage feel punchier.
changedSession visuals and effectsCritical hits now trigger a short screen shake.
changedSession visuals and effectsLevel lighting reworked for better mood and contrast.

A new gameplay loop: Layers

The single flat run is gone. You now descend through Layers, each with its own difficulty, crystal mix, and rewards. Unlock Layer 2 by destroying enough crystals on Layer 1, and onwards from there. Pick your destination from the new Layer Select panel before every session. The change makes run to run variety feel meaningful instead of interchangeable.

Session visuals and effects

A lot of polish across the core gameplay view:

  • Crystals got a visual pass.

  • Floating damage numbers are cleaner and better timed.

  • Hit effects on crystal damage feel punchier.

  • Critical hits now trigger a short screen shake.

  • Chunks are more glowing and bright, so loot reads at a glance.

  • Ambient scene work: slow moving blue clouds drift across the background, and a floating ember particle system gives the level the depth it was missing.

  • Level lighting reworked for better mood and contrast.

Tutorial

First time players get a guided walkthrough of the core loop now: destroying crystals, buying upgrades, hitting your first prestige. Sequences are skippable individually, and the whole tutorial can be toggled off in Settings for replay runs.

Prestige rewards and upgrades

The prestige tree and main upgrade list both got rebalanced:

  • New wall chain upgrades drive the difficulty curve more predictably.

  • Chunk Amount and Bonus Chunk are the key progression gates. Each prestige tier unlocks further multipliers.

  • Ability crystal unlocks (Sparkquartz to Arc Kracker, Amberit to Shard Tornado) moved into the prestige flow for a cleaner unlock arc.

  • Interstellar Visa payouts reworked so each prestige feels meaningfully stronger than the last, not just "the numbers go up."

Trader animations (Attachments)

The Trader, where you draw and equip Attachments with Spalls, is no longer a static panel. New draw animations, hover states, and equip flourishes make opening and slotting Attachments feel like an actual event instead of a menu tick. Small thing, big felt difference.

Bug fixes, save migration, and a performance pass round out the update.

Let us know what works and what doesn't. Feedback shapes the next patch.

Source

Steam News / 17 April 2026

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