Get your Digital Rewards!
6 months ago – Sun, Nov 05, 2023 at 11:39:23 PM

Hello everyone!

It is time to claim your Digital Rewards!

We are getting very close to the 1.0 release (November 14th) and today we are starting to deliver the Digital Rewards of Astral Ascent Kickstarter campaign. 

Here is the list of digital rewards you can claim:

• 💾 Digital Copy for Console (PS4/PS5/Switch)
• 📀Digital OST (Steam Key)
• 📘Digital Artbook (Steam Key)
• ⚔️Digital Dark Devotion (Steam Key)
• 🌱 Get your Discord role 
• ⭐️Change your **name in the Credits**, *this option is limited in time to 11/10/2023 and changes will be only applied in first updates of Astral Ascent post-launch, for now it uses the names of your Kickstarter account*.
• 📱HD Wallpapers.

To claim your rewards you will need to go to our Discord Server, there you will have a #kickstarter-rewards channel and you simply have to follow steps there to claim your digital rewards!

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Importants Elements

- Console keys will only be working from November 14th, 2023 5PM CET / 8AM PST

- Steam Keys will not have 1.0 content until November 14th, 2023 5PM CET / 8AM PST

- If you pre-ordered a physical copy, you are eligible to get a free digital copy for Steam (this cannot be another platform), physical copies by Limited Run Games are still planned to be sent Q1 2024 (a survey will be sent at this moment for shipping address & shipping costs)

- If keys are out of stock for a platform, you will receive the key as soon as it's back in stock, it can take up to a few days so we recommend claiming your rewards when possible if you want to play on day 1! This should mainly be a concern for Switch keys, as we have to pay them individually we have to re-order small quantities many times.

- Digital Artbook is a Steam DLC, you access it by accessing your local files on Steam, there will be a PDF file in there with the artbook, it will only appear from November 14th, 2023 5PM CET / 8AM PST

- Digital OST is a Steam Key, once activated it can be listened on Steam directly, there is a HD version (.wav) in local files as Steam requires a smaller (.mp3) to be the default version

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We really hope you will enjoy your rewards and thanks again for supporting us! 

Additionally, later today you will have a surprise release from us on the IGN youtube channel, here is a sneak peek -

Have a fantastic day! 

Louis

Final Release Date Announcement 🔥
6 months ago – Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 08:03:55 AM

Astral Ascent Final Release is coming on November 14th, 2023 (PS4/PS5/Switch/Steam)

We have been working on it for months alongside regular updates and here is what you can expect from this final version -

•  The Master final boss fight
•  3 New Zodiacs: Aries, Cancer & Gemini, including Zodiac Spells, Challenges & Summons
•  17 unique endings 
• Completely reworked tutorial
•  New introduction cinematic 
•  Mid-run saves at start of each room
•  Traditional cinematic when launching the game
• Players stats window
•  Reworked and extended narration for all characters, including new narration places like heroes self-dicussions, heroes to heroes discussions, new dialogs with various characters and Memory Library stories final version
•  Fully voiced dialogs including some characters fully re-voiced like Ayla
•  2 new Star Guardians : Sculptor & Monoceros
•  New Musics including orchestral records and featuring of vocalist Emi Evans
•  Countless polishes, balances & bug-fixes! (more than 400 tasks done on our side)

As you can see, we have invested all our incomes from the Early Access directly into the game to make it the best possible game we could do which means we are going to release with close to no marketing budget and we are counting on you to spread the word about the game!

The more success the game will have, the more updates we will make and we have so many ideas already!

Slight game price adjustment

We did not change game price since its Early Access release but the game is so much bigger than initially planned and we have adjusted the price slightly.

Physical Copies Shipments

We have discussed with our partner Limited Run Games about the physical copies shipments, their philosophy is that the physical games should have as much of the updates as possible when distributed so they would like us to have the first updates released before shipments. 

Therefore, shipments of physical copies is still planned for Q1 2024. Same thing happened for Sea of Stars release and we are going to do as they did: delivering a Steam key to everyone who pre-ordered a physical copy! You will receive a code soon!

Have an excellent day and thank you so much for your support!

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

The Telluric Telescope Update is Live! 🌠
8 months ago – Mon, Aug 28, 2023 at 09:29:40 AM

We went bigger than what we expected for this update, the Update is adding a various range of new elements mainly focused on extending runs variety!

Full Patch-Notes of 0.47

The Telluric Telescope

Sier Bapy has a surprise, he repaired a precious telescope that can absorb cosmic energy.

Everyday you can select 1 bonus among 3 different ones so each run feels even more unique! It can also help you decide which build you will try to do during your run and make you experiment with builds you are not used to!

There is more than 50 different bonuses to choose from : 

• First spell you equip is duplicated and replaces all your spells
• First Aura you find in Yalee Kingdom is Astral
• Increase Damage on full life enemies by 100%
• When starting an escape, gains 5 Critical Stones
• Summoning an Echo gives you a random buff
• Reduces by 30 the life cost of Pavo sacrifices
• etc.

Once equiped, your bonus will be displayed on your portrait -

Echoes Extension

We have improved Echoes and extended their number, from 15 Echoes to 31! We have also reworked their preview visuals to better represation of what they are about and to better distinguish each one.

In order to keep finding the Echoes you like more frequently we have increased the options pool from 3 to 4!

Preview of some of the new Echoes -

Elemental Summons 

All Zodiac Summons are now linked to an effect, same for Echoes. Together Zodiacs and Echoes summons cover all existing effects in the game.

 Taurus will now give 4 Spirit Swords

 Pisces now spawn Ice Swords on hit

 Capricorn summon will also create Meteors during its summon.

We have also improved interface visuals of Zodiacs summon chests -

 New Void boss - Hydra

Hydra is joining Pegasus, Lupus & Draco as Void Bosses, 2 new ones will come for Final Release. Hydra manipulates the elements and is a dangerous foe, be careful! 

Andromeda's Trials

We have reworked some existing Trials that were too easy, we think it is fine for Trials to be a bit hard because you have no punishment for failing them. We have also created many new Trials, from 8 to 17.

Here are some new ones -

Oops we did it again... 84 new auras!

So... yes we have added 84 new Auras to the game with a lot of new Astral ones. To better enjoy them we have also increased the drop chances of Astral Auras because we think they were too rare and that it's fun to be able to build around them from early game.

We tried to create fun Astral Auras, we re-used some effects from Common Spells for a few Astral Auras making you build chain-reaction builds with impressive visuals!

These new Auras greatly increase build potentials and most of them require you to create builds around them and do not work by themselves which works perfectly with the increased drop chances.

We are also making a lot of progress on Final Release and we are going super big for it, we cannot wait to show you all surprises we are working on!

As always we hope you enjoy this update, if you do don't hesitate to leave us a Steam review, we are getting very close of the 1000 reviews which was our objective before Final Release! ✨

Have a great day and upcoming week-end,

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

Ayla Statue + Next Update Preview
9 months ago – Sun, Jul 23, 2023 at 06:14:56 AM

Hello everyone!

Last month we released the Path of Destinies Update which received such a great reception, so many of you kept playing the game much more than any previous updates! 

About previous Update, community member Andreiyutzzzz already beat Destiny Level 45 which we thought would take much longer to happen. We are sure DL 54 will fall at some point!

Next Update will be coming late August and it will be about Summons and other things.

But First -- 

Ayla Figure & Backer Statues

We received our first Ayla Figure figures from Limited Run Games and they are absolutely splendid! It was a real challenge with Key Art by Boell Oyino, sculpting by Graphigaut and manifacturing by Limited Run Games. We are really happy about how it turned out! 

Here are pictures,  a 360 video and a video showing the box that you will receive!

as Kickstarter backers you will receive a survey asking if you want to add something to your initial back at this time. 

Backers statues is going to be disappearing soon, we will close it very soon so if you want your portrait in the Pantheon, this is last call!

Next Update Preview

One of the main elements of next Update is the summons. We are going to add effects to summons so they can be part of your builds -

• Taurus - Spirit Swords
• Pisces - Ice Swords
• Kiran - Embers
• Calie - Plasma Portals
• etc.

We are also going to add many new Echoes, from 15 to 31 and most of them are super fun to use!

We have also changed the preview of Echoes so you can identify them faster in the Echo Isles and went from a choice among 3 Echoes to a choice among 4 Echoes so you are more likely to find what you are looking for.

We have more things planned for this incoming Update, including adding the system linked to the Telescop you may have noticed in the Garden.

On the other hand we are working on the final release version and it is going to be worth the wait! We really went as big as possible for the final boss! 

Narration is also a very big topic for us for the final release, we want to find nice endings for each stories and we have changed some elements, added variations, created new types of conversations (for example heroes now have discussions with other heroes but there is many other new things).

Finally we have also started reworking game introduction and creating a new tutorial for the game.

These elements should only be available for final release but at least you know a bit more what is going on behind the scene.

Thanks again for your continuous support!

Have a great day and see you next month for the Update!

- The Hibernian Workshop Team

Path of Destinies Update is Live! 🌠
10 months ago – Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 09:52:28 AM

This new Update is a game changer for late game experience and we are super excited to finally make it available for everyone to play! 

Full Patch-Notes of 0.45

This Update adds more than 150h to the game for those wanting more challenges and it keeps the progression you made in previous Early Access version! There is a lot to share and won't be able to cover everything in this News post but here are the main things you may want to know -

Path of Destinies

We released Astral Ascent in Early Access back in April 2022 (feels like forever ago...) with a system named the Path of Destinies allowing you to keep playing the game with an increasing difficulty. Everytime you would defeat a Zodiac in a difficulty you didn't defeat them in yet, you would receive a Destiny Fragment, an unique currency that would not allow you to buy anything and the maximum Destiny Level was 12, at each level you would need to select from 1 to 3 maluses and keep going as much as you could.

Basically only a few very talented players succeed to beat Destiny Level 12 with only motivation to overcome a very hard difficulty (and to get a bit more Sun Pieces to spend in Zim-Zim shop).

Path of Destinies rework main objectives were :

• Interesting - each element has to have an interesting effect
   
• Easy to understand
   
• Accessible start
   
• Hard end
   

You now have 54 Destiny Levels instead of 12, you need to success (beat Libra or Aquarius for now) the 6 first Destiny Level to progress to next one. The 6 first ones being :  

Destiny Level 1 -     

Destiny Level 2 -   

Destiny Level 3 -    

Destiny Level 4 -   

Destiny Level 5 -   

Destiny Level 6 -     

 Once you suceed to beat Destiny Level 6, you can freely increase the Destiny Level as much as you want up to Level 54 (Do not worry, you can lower your Destiny Level anytime!) with many elements to choose from -   

This is how Destiny Fragments loot works, each Zodiac owns 1 Destiny Fragment per Destiny Level, Master of the prison owns 3 per Destiny Level (available on final release).

With the 54 Destiny Levels it means you can find 810 Destiny Fragments(12*54 + 3*54) and we offer an additional 10 when you success a run for the first time so, on final version you could get a total of 820 Destiny Fragments, maximum 486 on current version. The way it works is that if you beat a Zodiac at a Destiny Level, you will unlock their Destiny Fragment of the the lowest Destiny Level available. 

For example, you are Destiny Level 10 and you already have collected 4 Taurus Destiny Fragments - you could beat Taurus 6 times at Destiny Level 10 and still get new Destiny Fragments but then it would stop. Also, if you have Zodiacs that have no Destiny Fragments available for you, game in Destiny Levels will always prioritize making you face Zodiacs you can get Destiny Fragments from.

  We would still recommend to increase slowly Destiny Level so you can collect Destiny Fragments and improve your Void Catalyst (explained lower).  

Additionally, in the top part of the Path of Destinies, you can see this -   

Each Destiny Level increase the Damage, Max HP of Enemies and Zodiacs. At NG+6 they reach +30%, including the +20% of NG+4. From then it will keep increasing faster, at NG+54 you will have:

• Enemies +150% Damage
   
• Enemies +200% Max Life
   
• Zodiacs +300% Damage
   
• Zodiacs +300% Max Life
   

It looks really hard (even more with all additional maluses) and you may not really be sure of the point of putting yourself in such a bad situation but do not worry, both of these questions get answers in a brand new major system you can see below!    

Void Catalyst   

This system is completely new and it will allow you to use the Destiny Fragments you collect during your Destiny Levels runs.   This system is mainly linked to Final Boss - the Master of the Prison but for now we made it spoiler-free and you only need to defeat Libra or Aquarius once to trigger a quest to activate it. 

The way we see it is really : Path of Destinies starts the Chapter 2 of the game, everything will be more intense, you will unlock many things and narrative true endings will also happen during higher Destiny Levels through the Master of the Prison final confrontations.

Once activated you can open the Void Catalyst interface, you start with 10 Destiny Fragments and you will need the 820 fragments to have everything maxed out and these upgrades are going to make you so much more powerful and make you change your playstyle too - you can even have different playstyle registered as presets! 

In final version the Master of the Prison will give you 3 Destiny Fragment per level so a succesful run will give you 7 fragments while you will only get 4 for now, it may feel like the Void Catalyst progression to be a bit slower in this version for now.

When you start only one row is available and the more you progress in Destiny Levels the more rows you unlock and you can freely reset your points and attribute them again.

You have a lot of elements you can improve and you can check all of your improvements from Void Catalyst anytime in a new menu from from pause menu, it also displays the Destiny Levels and elements you selected from Path of Destinies -

You can choose from 24 different bonuses to upgrade in the Void Catalyst, we cannot show all of them here so let us show you a few interesting ones -

One goal we had in mind for the Void Catalyst was giving you some elements to fluidity/smooth your runs, that is the case for extra damage on full life enemies but also the possibility to reset Itinerant Merchant choises, increase the number of use of the Aura Upgrader or even get keys by defeating Zodiacs for example.

Zim-Zim rework

Last but not least, Zim-Zim has been reworked too. She now has more upgrades and a few old ones were removed.

Let's focus on a few of the new elements - 

Other Elements

We have also improved a lot of things all around like UI elements in the Prowess Tree.

We have also re-activated the Spell Altar by popular request.

Created new Altar for Gambits.

That's it for this update, whole team has so much fun playing this update and we hope you will also have fun doing so and we are genuinely curious of how high you will be able to go in the Destiny Levels! We are sure there is balancing left to do so we would be very happy to have your feedback about it too.

Next Update should be mid August and it should add more content to the game and polish many systems that are still requiring our attention.

As always, thanks so much for following us and do not hesitate to share the game if you like it!

Have a great day and upcoming week-end,

- The Hibernian Workshop Team