This update was actually 4 updates but each one broke something else that required another rework and more months to fix. Collectively, this is the 3rd update on our Dev Roadmap to Launch!
Neon Enemies (again)
Since the world and game color overhaul, the enemies didn't match the rest of the game's visuals. This required a lot of work to replace each enemy's texture with crisper neon lines that matched their silhouettes and allowed better color control. This gave them more readable outlines and makes their movement easier to predict. Plus, now they actually match the colors of their servers. You can see the full list of new enemy visuals here!
This created an opportunity to give the Bufferfish a new, incredibly huggable face that will align with its lore in an upcoming mission. The spider eggs, which new players didn't realize were eggs without lots of on-screen prompting, have been given an entirely new model. Now you can see the spider floating inside the egg and it's much clearer that they will hatch spiders.
Character Creation
Replacing the main menu also meant replacing the character creation & selection. Now you can see which character is selected, where you're about to spawn, and how long since you last played. The full character list shows the same info to make it easier to tell each character apart and pick the right one.
The character creation screen shows you what your character looks like and added a few hundred more RNG names for your new hacker. Not only can you set your logo and visuals from the start, but it's easier to edit them in the Options menu. Each character's visuals save separately to help you tell them apart.
Main & Options Menus
While applying the new UI elements and colors to the main menu, there was an opportunity to improve the functionality and fix some old bugs. By adding dropdowns and new sliders, it's easier for mouse/keyboard and controller to navigate the menu choices.
The Options menu also got an overhaul, simplifying the choices and removing options that no longer did anything. New quality presets make it easy to reset to defaults if your tinkering ruins performance. Plus, there's an easy way to adjust the settings when you switch between desktop, laptop, and Steam Deck.
Arcade Minigames
Some of the Arcade minigames were broken and none had final exterior visuals. This update pushes them closer to completion and fixes the gameplay and rewards for all but the Console Cowboy Quickdraw shooting gallery. If you encounter any other bugs with the minigames, please post in Bug Reports or message us on Discord.
Fixes & Performance
I discovered and fixed a few major bugs from the last update. I apologize those bugs were live for so long! One caused loading to freeze for some character saves, blocking progress. Another would reset story progress back to the tutorial. The last was briefly live this week during testing and caused enemies to break in the volcano.
Since these bugs were live longer than I'd like without anyone reporting them, I added better error handling that will take you back to the main menu and help you send me an email with the save files so I can test and fix. I will try to add more error handling and reporting in future updates.
I tried to do some performance profiling and improve the framerate for a few players. Unfortunately, the CPU and GPU profiling didn't reveal any single, large performance issues. Instead, there are dozens of small performance issues. Each one I attempted to fix only caused negligible improvements of a few FPS. I will keep trying to target the worst offenders in each patch.
This patch mainly focused on Arcade shader performance for when you're looking toward the center of the world, which currently drops your framerate. It also enabled me to replace them with static visuals in Photosensitive Mode. These fixes didn't yield much FPS improvement, but I have a few ideas for future work, such as removing the expensive Voronoi calculation from the Arcade lights and replacing with a simple texture.
Remaining Known Issues
Still some menus not working properly on controller... will fix ASAP!
Console Cowboy Quickdraw shooting gallery not working properly
More performance improvements needed for Arcade and lava shaders
Speed boost paths in the Arcade aren't working
Lag when entering the Transportation area under Oshiro
0.9.227 - Neon Swarms (7/11/26) Full Patch Notes
Replaced all enemy textures for crisp neon lines, better visibility, and more expressive features.
Replaced spider eggs with a model that shows the spider inside.
Gave Bufferfish a smile.
Replaced main menu, character select, character creation, and multiplayer screens for better user experience.
Added error handling if a character fails to load and a prompt to email your save file to me!
Updated the button colors in all the in-game menus from the last couple patches.
Replaced Options menu with better control over visual elements (especially when using controller).
Adjusted Options ranges so it's harder for players to make the game look worse.
Added 5 quality presets to make it easier to set visuals that match your hardware.
Improved the booth exteriors for Test Your Might, Professor Barbarossa's Mindgames, the Dunk Tank, Console Cowboy Quickdraw, and the Airgap Challenge. Fixed some of their gameplay and systems performance.
Added new terrain to the Arcade for better navigation.
Fixed some enemies stuck in volcano walls.
Improved various holographic logos around the world.
Split up UI canvases based on their update frequency to try to improve UI performance.
Removed some continuously looping logic that ran on each of the game's 600 corporate servers = performance improved.
Added hundreds of new hacker names to the Character Creator.
Streamlined loading screen messages and synced colors with new palette.
Removed virtual cursor from Main & Options menus.
Edited all the Arcade shaders to try to improve color balance and performance.
- Nonadecimal & superdupergc
