Hello everyone!
Patch 6 for Ary and the Secret of Seasons is now available.ːarysurprisedː
This patch is a bit of archaeology. We restored features that were built but cut before the original release, and content that never quite made it to the finish line.
The biggest change is streaming. Zones now load and unload seamlessly in the background as you move through the world, so there are no more loading screens between regions. This was one of the major systems we always wanted the game to have, and bringing it back required us to revisit a lot of old level structure, transitions, quests, and technical assumptions.
On top of that, we built a brand new cave connecting the Lammastide and Ostara regions. It is the only playable zone in the game where all four seasons are active at once, making it a small but very special addition to the world.
We also kept working through the list of things that still needed fixing, improving combat, traversal, quest stability, Steam support, Steam Deck support, and several long-standing edge cases.
As always, thank you for your support, your patience, and all the feedback you have sent us ːarycorkː.
Patch 5 was about finally being able to update the game again. Patch 6 is about restoring more of what Ary was meant to be. Patch 7 will be about refactoring the save system.
Here are the detailed change logs:
New Content:
Added a new cave connecting the Lammastide and Ostara regions. It is the only playable zone in the game where all four seasons are active at once.
Redesigned the Pegasus Temple exit to work with the new streaming system.
Redesigned the Ostara city entrance and exit for streaming.
The raccoon now has a new ability: it can cast a magic barrier during the fight.
Slimes have a new spike attack that triggers based on a hit counter.
Slimes can now be parried.
Added a new black armoured sheep.
Improved narration with new environmental storytelling before the mine.
NPCs can now follow you in certain zones.
Added new teleporters inside the Spring, Autumn, and Winter Temples.
Gameplay:
Enabled seamless zone streaming across all regions.
Added a roll-on-landing cancel. Pressing roll just before hitting the ground cancels fall damage.
Improved ledge grab detection during falls.
Added combat auto-aim for the slingshot against hard-locked enemies.
Added a parry fail animation with a short cooldown penalty for mistimed parries.
Increased the minimum slope angle that causes sliding.
Slopes now slow Ary down when moving uphill and speed her up when going downhill.
Added depth-based speed reduction in shallow water.
Jumping in shallow water no longer gets cut short.
Improved ice block pushing and fixed slime state transitions.
Theme transitions between biome states now blend smoothly instead of snapping.
Life Tree fruit now drops in every season except Winter.
Rebalanced sword damage values.
Rebalanced sheep and goat health and damage values.
Modified the camera during the mine chase sequence.
Graphics:
Updated skybox textures.
Health pickups and interactable fruit now glow more intensely when Ary is at critically low health.
Platform:
Added Steam Rich Presence. Your current in-game activity is now visible to friends on Steam.
Fixed the Steam client sometimes remaining stuck on "Stopping" after the game exits.
Steam Deck: the HUD size is now detected and set automatically on first launch when running on Steam Deck hardware.
Bugfixes:
Fixed the Sensei shop showing locked progression upgrades as "Sold Out" instead of hiding them. Items are only shown as sold out once you have already purchased them.
Fixed the regeneration augment restoring health too aggressively when starting from critically low HP. It now heals at a consistent rate rather than snapping to full health.
Fixed the save game screen staying open after a successful save.
Fixed a crash that could occur when loading a shop with incomplete item configuration.
Fixed the Ronin quest scene not unloading after the Pegasus Boots quest is completed.
Fixed lock-on, enemy damage, and hazard zones failing to work correctly while in Season None.
Fixed the hero taking damage from already-dead enemies.
Fixed character floating on level load when the falling gravity feel option was active.
Fixed the falling gravity feel not applying correctly when loading into a mid-air state.
Technical:
Migrated platform abstraction from USAFU to USAFU v2.
