Welcome back Star Knights!

Some exciting news today for everyone who has been wanting to get their hands on the new update. The Blackstar Castle update is finally available in the beta stage for anyone who wants to play and test the new content. Of course, since this is still in the beta stage, there are likely to be bugs and balance issues that will need to be hammered out, so if you want to experience the new content at its best, it might be better to wait until the full update release.

If you are interested in playing the new update early, but don't know how to access the beta branch, check out this link here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2462090/view/7374170303759278373

And of course, if you are interested in testing and want to provide feedback or report bugs, make sure to join the Star Knight discord! When you open the game, there is a link to the discord on the lower right corner of the main menu.

Besides being a beta announcement, I also want to give everyone a devlog of what's changed since the most recent Steam devlog in January, which you can read here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2462090/view/512946415975007356

One of the changes that comes with this update is the ability to reset your save file. Since pretty much every aspect of the game has been changed since the last update, I added the ability to start a fresh save for those who have already beaten the game and want to check out all the new progression from scratch. To start a new save, go to the Codex tab in the main menu, go to the Stats tab in the Codex, and click on the New Save button on the bottom left. For any beta testers, this would also be extremely helpful to test the balancing of the new progression, particularly the difficulty.

Full Changelog

Added

• New attachments
• Forlorn Hope
• Parasitic Dart
• New art for the Technician and Priest
• Added 4th Area Boss
• Synergy bonuses for Volatile class
• 3rd synergy tier for all classes
• Added new info to Codex
• Added rotation to Volatile Sling projectiles
• Added icons for new attachments
• Added Sprites for new enemies
• Added a new credit type that gives +2 in later areas
• Added 6th enemy for stage 4
• 2 new music tracks
• Area 4 music
• Boss 4 music
• New ship: Shortsword - Assault Craft
• 35 new relics
• 15 new common
• 15 new rare
• 5 new legendary
• 3 new settings which allow for
• Outlining the player ship
• Turning off the background stars
• Turning off the background spacedust
• Pause menu changes
• Added more info to the pause menu
• Information is now tabbed/organized
• Difficulty overhaul
• Changes to nearly every void crystal
• Early crystals are mostly unchanged
• Most void crystals now have 2 curses
• Last 4 void crystals have 3 curses
• Extra attacks for two demon enemies
• Sell button now displays how many credits
• Ability to restart save file
• Unique challenge level for Blackstar Castle
• Total damage dealt as a tracked stat within runs
• Enemy spawns for minefield challenge
• Ability to unselect a crew slot

Changed

• 2nd Repair synergy decreased from 5 -> 3 extra health
• 2nd Summoner synergy decreased from 33% -> 25% damage
• Updated Stage 4 enemy sprites to improve visual clarity
• Shop attachment chance rework
• Already owned attachments are now weighted based on affordability
• Upgrades you can afford are more likely to appear in the shop
• Overhauled Credit Locator Alt Path
• No longer AOE
• Time between credits increased
• Credit value increased 1 -> 2
• Overhauled Energy Rings
• Rather than spinning rings, is now an aura around the player
• Alt path reduces enemy contact damage
• Useful for aggressive playstyles or enemies that get too close
• Massively buffed contact damage to enemies
• Base contact damage increased from 100 to 500
• Battering ram contact damage: 1000
• Serpent contact damage: 250
• Dinghy contact damage: 1
• Increased Swarm launcher health: 600 -> 800
• Decreased Swarm Spitter health: 850 -> 600
• Demon enemies now drop +2 credits
• Later demon enemies health increased
• Demon boss health increased
• Various minor UI improvements
• Rebalanced unlock requirements of some crew
• Arms Dealer: 300 -> 500 credits
• Vampire: 400 kills -> 1.5 million damage
• Pacifist: 2000 -> 2500 total kills
• Collector: 8 -> 9 relics
• Lone Wolf: Void Crystal 3 -> 7
• Genomancer: 1000 -> 1500 damage taken
• Improved Projektia attack
• Serpent rebalance
• Added attachment slot: 2 -> 3
• Decreased damage mult: 125% -> 100%
• Decreased health: 100 -> 75
• Removed alt attack from Poison Spitter
• Added alt attack to Swarm Spitter
• Nerfed Repair Droid
• Rebalanced Siphon Droid:
• Doubled bullet speed
• Increased base damage
• Heals health by a set amount rather than damage %
• Decreased spawn rate of Brood Mother
• Tweaked enemy spawn rates
• Broodmother health: 2000 -> 1500
• Added enemies to Minefield challenge
• Decreased Volatile Beam crit damage
• Increased enemies per wave in first 2 demon levels
• 3 -> 4
• Rebalanced Maverick
• Boost cooldown: 75% -> 50%
• I-frame decrease: 50% -> 25%

Fixed

• Fixed Healing Aura not giving Merchant synergy for alt path
• 4th boss not able to be poisoned
• Poison dart not affected by poison damage multiplier
• Updated various incorrect/outdated codex info
• Text appearing too small in the pause menu
• Crew is no longer reset when changing ships or void crystal
• Issues that appeared if enemy firerate was too high
• Corrected burst spitter firerate from 1s -> 2s
• Contact damage is now shown
• Caustic Coating instakilling bosses
• Deadly hull instakilling bosses
• Tempest having incorrect health (75 -> 100)
• Cleaned up relic text formatting
• Incorrect enemy spawning for Void Crystal 12
• Some enemies not exploding into bullets correctly