Arcade Mode has arrived! If you are up for a new challenge you should try it. In this mode you will see the most monsters, magic, and mayhem the game has to offer. Arcade mode is tough, with many enemies spawning: you’ll be knee-deep in their dead. To compensate there is also a lot of magic loot. In fact, all character classes start with an extra boost to help deal with the hordes that populate the Dungeon of Doom in this mode.

UI Changes
This update also introduces two important UI changes. One change is purely visual, the UI now looks like it is made out of stone: it adds a little detail and changes the colors slightly. If you don’t like the stone look you can always switch back to a ‘classic’ neutral look, or a mahony look if you prefer. You can do this by going to the options/graphics menu from the title (the option will not be available from in the game).

The other change is with the way items are picked up. Picking up an item now brings up a small window showing the items lying on the ground at your location. Picking up from the ground now closely resembles picking up items from a container. This will give you much more control over what you pick up, and makes going through a chamber full of dropped loot a lot easier. Although it might be a little trickier to pick up items in the heat of combat.

Optimization
We’ve also made an optimization to the content generation which should make it less memory intensive. At this stage it is still a little unclear how effective it was; the effects are very likely different on each individual system.

Looking Ahead
All good things must end and we are nearing the limits of how long we can keep improving the game. We will never stop supporting Unexplored: we will keep fixing bugs and adding the last of the planned content, we will launch a Mac build, Linux build, and one more DLC. But, opportunities have arisen that we cannot let pass. We’ll be making more detailed announcement shortly (contracts need to be signed first…), but we can already tell you that these will involve more platforms for Unexplored, and… the sequel(!).

In the short term you will notice that the frequency of updates will go down. Starting this week as holidays are coming and team-members are taking well deserved breaks over the course of the next couple of weeks.

It’s been almost a year Unexplored first came out in Early Access, during that time a truly wonderful community has sprung up around the game. More and more people are helping new players feel welcome and making excellent suggestions. We are very proud of this little community, so please do not stop. We’ll still be listening, and definitely plan to add more content whenever we can.

New Features:
- Adds arcade mode.
- Changes the way items are picked up.
- Adds two alternative and optional UI themes.
- Visually improves and distinguished cauldrons and braziers.
- Adds a button to start without equipment.
- Scrollbars in journal and release notes can be dragged with mouse and controlled with a gamepad.

Game Balance:
- Silver keys and ornate keys count as treasure and are not destroyed when they opened all their locks.
- Adds extra identification scrolls to the Mithril Run and the Ripley Run.
- Increases chance of spawning a Pistol or Musket.
- Reduces the number of doors closing behind you.
- Rings of parrying can be forged onto shields.
- Rings of Parrying are sold by ring vendors.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixes a generation error involving guns and causing plans to be regenerated.
- Fixes issue with the silver key not spawning.
- Fixes crashes when hit by lightning in myst.
- Fixes at one cause of the poorly generated shops.
- Fixes issue with scroll of pain not working correctly close to chests and doors.
- Fixes recharge behavior if Water rune armors.
- Fixes issue with enchanting negative items and then crafting them.
- Fixes issue with books about staff of blinking and grapple not spawning on the correct level.
- Fixes rounding issue with the sliders in the options menu.
- Fixes issue with swing weapons being 'stuck' after being hit whilst swinging.
- Fixes issue that cause a lot of big wooden tables to spawn.

So we still like to hear your feedback, even though it is getting more and more likely we will apply it to the sequel ;)