Underworld Ascendant Update 3 Live

The developers over at Otherside Entertainment have put together a brand new update for their dungeon crawling immersive sim Underworld Ascendant. The update is now live on Steam. It mainly improves the game’s performance, but also fixes some bugs and introduces a number of new features. Here are the patch notes:

Hi everyone, we’re happy to release Update 3 for Underworld Ascendant. We’ve been listening to your feedback and focused this Update on improving performance, fixing bugs and polishing various aspects of the game. We also added a bunch of fun new things as noted below.

Performance Improvements and New or Updated Features

• Major improvements to frame rate and load times.
• Lighting pass across the game to help players see deeper into the darkest corners of the Abyss.
• Added Saurian Mage allies that have been captured by Typhon’s minions. Once you free these allies, they will aid you in battle against nearby undead.
• Added the Outcast character Fane, an ally who, once freed, becomes a vendor selling adventuring provisions wherever Hapurkala sets up camp.
• Added Talking Skulls (Bart and Bertha) to the Midnight Forum in Marcaul.
• Increased the equipment that drops in the earliest part of the game and added several new types of gear.
• Loot from chests is now placed more intelligently in the chest’s interior, to reduce unintended collisions.
• Added a new, more appropriately-sized model representing smaller equipment items like helmets and boots.
• Added confirmation text when Quick-Saving, including a notification if the player is in a situation where saving is not permitted.
• You can now start climbing ropes and chains from swimming contact, not just jumping. Also, contact with water won’t break you out a rope climb.
• Blast arrows no longer detonate without being fired (like, for example, when they’re sitting in a chest).
• Rune formulas branded on wands with the Focus Mastery skill are now preserved around player respawn.
• Added Goggles of Night-vision as a new item of headgear.
• Added variation of scale colors to Saurians (rather than all defaulting to green).
• Updated Aelita’s vendor tables to offer a greater selection of gear usable with the Ceremonial Garb skill.
• Updated the sfx that plays upon completing a quest.
• Improved performance when things are on fire.

Polish and Bug Fixes

• The confirmation screen when quick-loading (pressing F9) a saved game is no longer blank.
• Fixed an issue where players would be unable to complete a quest if they save after completing the objective but before turning it in.
• The frame rate no longer hitches when the Tab button is pressed.
• Fixed a number of crash bugs.
• Fixed issues related to using a controller to play the game.
• Fixed issue where a dying NPC could send the playing flying upon its death.
• Fixed issue where the player was unable to complete the “Typhon Summons a Lich!” quest if they left Titan’s Reach and came back.
• Fixed various Inventory issues related to stacks and arrows.
• Fixed issue where the player’s quest could break if they saved after completing the quest objective but before turning it in.
• The Sword of Regret now restores the intended amount of health to the player.
• The Blade of Bewilderment now gives a small bonus to Adroit damage in addition to its main Confusion ability.
• Fixed an error that prevented unlocking the Vitality II skill. Note: It unlocks after the character performs a quest with the Quick Recovery skill.
• Magically-bound creatures are no longer frictionless when trying to move.
• Improved the consistency damaged received from a fall, depending on the height of the fall.
• The player is no longer immune to falling damage during their melee attacks.
• Eidolons will now raise skeletons as their original type, rather than always as Spectral Knights.
• Fixed a few bugs with combat animations that were moving a player involuntarily.
• Fixed not being able to skip the intro if you hit the ‘no’ button.
• Fixed the Deep Slug not being baited by dropped Ripper Pomes.
• Deleted the obsolete warning that the player needs a bow when scrolling over arrows.
• Fixed a minor exploit where players could load an arrow, drop their arrows, fire the equipped arrow, and pick the bundle of arrows back up with no decrease in quantity held.
• Fixed an issue where lights reflected on water were disappearing at certain camera angles.
• Fixed an issue where a player could hold a dead NPC’s body close and use it to climb up into the sky.
• Fixed some localization issues.
• Fixed an issue where some Tutorial and Quest Popups have no text.
• Fixed clarity of Side Bounty Completion / Failure on Mission Complete Screen that gave the impression that the quest had failed versus the side bounty not being completed
• Fixed issue where player was able to access Inventory and Pause menu during ending credits.
• Fixed issue where Tempus Modus/Doom Counter was located off the Map in Marcaul.
• Fixed a few memora logs that did not have titles.
• Removed mentions of Influence from all quest rewards.
• Fixed issue where the item spawned by the Create Wood wand would not stay in the Player’s grasp.
• Fixed issues where player receives a significant amount of damage by swinging corpse of an enemy around.
• Fixed several visual holes found throughout the game.
• Fixed several issues that caused corpses of enemies to spin

Known Issues

• Rune formulas branded on wands with Focus Mastery will not be saved.
• Some crystal lamps in Marcaul move from their position depending on where the user stands.
• When jumping next to an object, like a crate, a player will sometimes move forward involuntarily.
• Fire bottles make an excessive amount of light when they explode.
• There is no text notification upon freeing Fane.
• Highlight outline for Fane is slightly displaced.
• Wood chunk from Create Plant spell does not have fire VFX when lit.
• Very rarely, a skeleton’s body can stretch after death.
• With the Interaction prompt, some captions and the sneaking UI can overlap over certain menus.
• Pendulum trap can show erratic behavior.
• Hunger continues even when the game is paused.
• UI does not clearly indicate that some skills are locked because insufficient time has passed to unlock them.
• End game subtitles appear as large blocks of text.
• Damage can be unintentionally taken in unusual circumstances (i.e running into doors, opening doors).
• When exiting options menu, screen resolution can be reset to smaller default with no warning.
• Player automatically swings melee weapons when switched to in hotbar.
• Some floating geodes and stones can be found in certain areas.