Empyreal news & patch notes

Hey folks,

We're pleased to announce that Empyreal is now Steam Deck verified!

Mercenaries can now enter the Monolith anytime, anywhere via the handheld gaming device, with the game optimised and fully approved to play on Steam Deck.

The news comes just a few months on from Empyreal's launch across PC and consoles, as well as multiple content updates and performance improvements. There's never been a better time to jump into this challenging, feature-rich action RPG - and via Steam Deck you can do just that, whenever and wherever you want.

The latest update for Empyreal introduced transmogrification, more customisation ability, a mischievous 'Mini-Mage' NPC, and more. Unsure whether to jump in just yet? You can download the free demo right now!

Hey folks,

Empyreal’s newest update is now rolling out for free across most platforms, with PlayStation coming a little later! Amongst plenty more additions and improvements, this update brings a highly requested feature: Transmogrification!

Starting today, the game will also be a massive 67% off on Steam until August 21st, so now is the perfect time to dive into the Monolith, if you haven’t already checked out Empyreal!

Here are the full Patch Notes:

• New Feature: Transmogrification! Armour & Weapons can have their appearance swapped with other Equipment you've obtained

• New Feature: Illusory Orb! During a playthrough, you can re-customize all aspects of your Character in The Hub

• Added a new NPC who offers access to the new features

• Added a new cutscene to introduce the new NPC

• Added a space in The Hub for the new NPC to set up shop

• Added new Shop selling Level 1 Equipment (for unlocking new Transmogs) 

• Knockback Blast damage significantly improved, timing windows made easier, and can now Detonate Status Effects!

• Added Back prompt to all gamepad Control Scheme widgets

• Fix for background select switching the name of the background and the description around when all options are unhovered on mouse and keyboard.

• Negative trust with an NPC now properly increases their prices if they are a Vendor

• Added "Select" and "Back" prompts to the bottom left of the Ability Crafting Screen

• Fixed Matilda's Weapon and Apparel being visible in the pause screen when carrying her

• Fixed a rare issue where the pause menu could lose focus on the Controller if pressing A a split second after pressing pause

• Fixed issue where Modification Success Panel stats could not be scrolled with the mouse

• Sophia now uses the correct Elemental Imbuement Colour on her Weapon Swings

• Abilities with long iFrames (like Feint, Vanish, etc) will now work as intended when evading Explosions

• Equipment slots in Manage Loadout will now update correctly after changing loadout in the Switch Loadout sub-menu 

• Default placeholder images and text will no longer display on the first Loadout when opening the Loadout Screen with M&K

• View Profile prompt will only appear on the currently selected mail rather than all

• Currency amount when sending multiple Mails is now reset to 0 between Mails

• Save Notification now correctly updates when the game is paused

• All Healing Events now correctly display the "Healing Disrupted" Combat Notify when Disrupted

• Fixed issue that caused the Fat Boy to remain in Stasis indefinitely if he was ensnared during his Bombing Run Ability

• Morys can now only use Taunt Totem once in Combat

• Morys will now heal for less when using Taunt Totem

• Cartogram description panels can now be scrolled on the Trading Post Buy, Sell, and My Sales tabs

• Fixed issue where the Quick Equip prompt was always showing default keys instead of the rebound keys on the manage consumable pages

• Fixed issue where the My Sales and Buy tabs of Trading Post would not show the cartogram details of the selected cartogram when switching tabs

• Equipment in Icons are now better framed to be more visible, including adding icons to equipment which previously did not have them.

• Upgrading Raulin's shop will now refresh the shop to have better items.

• To War will no longer negatively impact performance

• After they are adopted/destroyed, the Wasp in Hanwyn's lab will not reappear

Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky, and TikTok.

Hey everyone,

Last week we teased a few things coming to the game in an upcoming update, so here are more details on what's coming to your game on August 7th! 

Illusory Orb 

During a playthrough, you will be able to re-customise all aspects of your character at any time in The Hub! Add scars as you venture through the monolith so your character tells a story, or try out different hair colours and styles to switch things up! 

Transmogrification System

Don’t like the look of your high-level Armour? That's not a problem. Now you can keep those stats while rocking a different look! Armour & Weapons can have their appearance swapped with other Equipment you've obtained. 

New Hub Vendor

A Mini-Mage will join you in The Hub to help with all your Transmog needs, providing you with Armour and working his magic to make them appear as desired! The little fella will be available after you complete the first World and Life cartogram!

Alongside these new features, there will also be plenty of bug fixes and other improvements coming on August 7th. We’ll share full patch notes as the update rolls out.

Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky and TikTok.

Hey folks, We’ve got a treat planned for you in the upcoming weeks: a free content update to Empyreal! Here are some key things to look out for in the update, with more details and patch Notes soon.

• New Hub Vendor

• ‘Illusory Orb’ customisation tool 

• Transmog system

• More bug fixes and improvements

We’re super excited to get more player-requested features into the game with this update, alongside further improvements that will help new and existing players get the most out of Empyreal! 

Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky and TikTok.

Bounty - Design a recruitment poster for new Mercenaries

Bounty - Design a new boss enemy (ongoing!)

Hello folks,

We rolled out our first major patch for Empyreal a week-and-a-half ago that addressed quite a lot of things, but our team is keen to add some more improvements! Today's patch is a small one that brings optimisations to some Ultimates, Abilities, and Sets, as well as bug fixes.

Below are the full set of patch notes for this update:

• Final Boss Aerial Abilities now have longer cooldowns (reduces total time he can spend in the air).

• Super Nova (Ultimate) will now pull Enemies to its epicentre with greater effect.

• The projectiles spawned by The God of Death Looks Down (Ultimate) will now auto-target Enemies.

• Flay (Ultimate) initial damage and bonus damage increased significantly.

• New Auto-Save Trigger has been added to collecting Items from the Mailbox.

• Fixed Bug that caused Killing Blow Damage Numbers to fail to display on Final Bosses and NPCs.

• Summons will no longer target "downed" Enemies I.E. in Duels.

• Stat Tooltips added to Modification Screen.

• NPCs defeated with a Coup de Grace during a Duel will now correctly enter their knockdown state.

• Reduced damage of the explosion triggered by Modified Vanish (Depth & Silence Set).

• Vanish cooldown has been moderately increased.

• Drain Essence cooldown has been moderately increased.

• Meteoric Slam damage increased (affects both normal and modified versions).

• Modified Force Punch (Man & Church Set) damage increased significantly.

• Healing & Barrier received via Modified Bubble Shield (Word & Life Set) improved significantly.

• Perfectly timed Modified Bubble Shield (Word & Life Set) now reloads and levels up ALL Ammo.

• The duration of Stasis Chamber is now increased by Player's Debuff Duration Stat.

• Increased Radius of Stasis Chamber, making it easier to ensnare Enemies.

This patch is available now to all players on all platforms. Let us know what you think of the tweaks! 

\Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky and TikTok.

The Good the True and the Beautiful

Immortal Storm of the Empire

Word and Life

Hey everyone,

The latest update for Empyreal is rolling out now across all platforms. Our biggest update since launch in early May focuses on adding community-requested features, balances to improve the early-game experience, and gameplay optimisations across the entire game.

Thank you so much to the Empyreal community for your thoughts and helpful feedback in recent weeks, which has helped shape this key update. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what’s added and changes, so don’t hesitate to join the development team over on Discord, or speak up over on Steam Discussions. 

Below are the full set of patch notes for this update:

• Implemented Objective Tracker System for the HUB area

• Reduced Enemy Power at Early Levels (1-21)

• Player Stun Duration reduced from three seconds to two seconds

• Added three-second Grace Period after being stunned that prevents being immediately stunned again

• Reduced Stun Build-Up on specific Enemy Abilities

• Reduced the number of Minions summonable by Bosses below Level 15

• Changes made to prevent Players immediately getting hit before they regain control

• Adjusted all character Backgrounds - increased their damage and improved their starting consumables

• Reduced Damage of Consumed from 100% of Player Shields to 60%

• Increased Consumable Slots in Stash from 100 to 400

• Changed Aether Touched additional effect from -30% to one Resistance to +20% to one Resistance

• Limit Broken Equipment now sells for significantly more Silver than normal Equipment

• Modified Summon's Attack Command now triggers on all three Summons

• Fix for Shocked Damage ticks not being triggered by Cannon

• Ensure that Apparitions do not reappear after being interacted with

• Fix for Assassin and Skirmisher activating abilities in mid-air

• Prevented Zosimei's Constructs spawning Projectiles when destroyed

• Edmund's Ultimate Ability will now correctly end when he is defeated

• Fix Arbalest flashing visible prior to intro animation

• Fixed hidden helmets becoming visible when entering Final Boss battle

• Additional Shocked Damage will now apply on Shocked Targets regardless of triggering damage type

• Boss Ability Sacrifice now correctly changes the orb colour of constructs

• Increase chance of Captain / Champion block entering cooldown

• Increase chance of Assassin / Skirmisher Dodge entering cooldown

• Decreased maximum distance of Skirmisher Jumps

• Ensure Skirmisher cancels retreat behaviour when invisibility wears off

• Reduced camera shake and range of Gunner and Wasp projectiles 

• Adjusted Final Boss debuff to make it slightly more forgiving

• Increase Shield Wall damage boost from absorbing enemy attacks

• Adjusted VFX of Ice Barricade to better telegraph element and location of projectiles

• Reduced camera shake of Impact Shield (Fire)

• Fix for mailbox not saving inventory upon sending an item on console versions

• In New Game+ and beyond, Isolda will now correctly engage in combat when she becomes your Ally

• Prevented Story Cartograms from being droppable so they cannot be lost

• Fixed bug that caused valid results to fail to display when Filtering Cartograms for Sets in Player Inventory

• Added Equip prompt to Curio Equip screen

• Adjusted Chthonic Harvest making it much easier to connect with Enemies when used

• Fixed Bug that caused Shield Restore IV to trigger twice when used

• Prevented Credits from playing when exiting "Final Trial - The Empyreal Arena"

• Fixed bug that caused Morys to incorrectly appear in the Firmament under specific 

• Fixed Bug that caused Isolda and Edmund to incorrectly appear in the Firmament under specific circumstances

• Increased healing significantly of Drain Essence Ability

• Reduced Stun and Impact of Hail (Boss Ultimate Ability)

• Significantly improved drop rate of Pure Quartz treasure

• Buffed Summonable Friendly Servitors, increased their damage and improved their behaviour. Additionally, when self-destructing they will now move towards an Enemy before exploding.

• Allowed Weapon Coatings to Limit Break their respective stats temporarily

• Fixed issue causing a soft lock during dialogue when attempting to craft Mind & Truth Ultimate Ability in New Game+ 

• Fixed issue where Enemies became temporarily immune to damage under specific circumstances 

• Ensured that Weapon Specific Ultimate is always auto-equipped from Edmund's dialogue 

• Blacksmith is now accessible from the Anvil as well as the Forge at nighttime

• Ensured Isolda encounters don't trigger after relevant story events have occurred

• Fix for the same secondary stat always showing the same mod options (on the same item) when modifying equipment

• Increased Juggernaut wall impact damage

• Obliterate bonus granted by Invigorating Smash is now correctly enhanced

• Stability Consumable changes: added Fortitude buff, Movespeed debuff lowered, duration increased

• Slightly reduced base damage on all Grenades

• Internal cooldown added to Shocked Damage ticks

• Healing provided by Shield Restore III significantly increased

• Alcohol adjustments: Orden Brown Ale - Increased Ultimate Energy gain; Honey Mead - Lowered Shield Restoration Bonus; Saint Aalis Wine - Increased Elemental Damage Bonus while lowering Elemental Build Up Bonus  

• Adjusted Sound Effects to several interactables: Voice in the Darkness Apparitions, Boss Teleporters, Cartogram Machine, Aether Tear, Chests and more

• Added new detonated Sound Effects to Elemental detonations

• Updated multiple material instances to produce improved SFX

• Adjusted non-player character voiceover volume

• New SFX when receiving an item based on item rarity

• Improved SFX for several Boss Abilities

• Added new or improved existing SFX for multiple player/enemy Combat Abilities/Effects

• Boosted Player Light in Word & Life and Mind & Truth

• Fixed a bug that prevented Area of Effect Abilities from displaying properly in the Empyreal Arena 

• Fixed several instances of specific equipment clipping into the character or other equipment

• Fixed instances where the player could get stuck in specific locations

• New animation for Hanwyn when he uses his Ultimate Ability in combat

• Made it easier to spot Skirmishers and Assassins while they are invisible

• Increased duration of Defence Down Debuff from stun on enemies (allowing the Coup de Grace to take advantage of the lowered defences)

• Prevented the Final Boss from attacking the moment the player steps into the Arena

• Made Elemental Mine Charges infinite while under the effects of Energy Overload

• Using an Ultimate will now completely prevent any Enemy Movement for the duration of the camera cut

• Compartmentalise will no longer target invalid entities

• Adjusted Enemy Attack Tracking to be significantly less aggressive; enemies are more likely to miss if the player moves

• Improved VFX for multiple Enemy Abilities

• Assigned correct rarity colour to the pickups for Man & Church and Mind & Truth Curios

• Fatboys now remain Stunned for longer after dropping their Nuke

• Fixed incorrect damage calculation on Shocked Tick Damage that resulted in unexpectedly large numbers

• Unity will now refresh its duration when used while effect is already active

• Multiple Curios that didn't have special effects now do: John's Requests, Isolda's Relics, John's Schematics and the Unidentified Cartogram now all provide bonuses when Equipped

• Prevented Cartograms with 0 Uses Remaining for a specific player from being visible by that player in the Trading Post

• Fixed issue where Weapons generated from Cartogram Loot Tables or the Aether were always using their default models

For a deeper look at some of these changes, check out this video from the Silent Games team.

Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky, and TikTok.

Hey folks,

Thank you to everyone in the Empyreal community who has shared their thoughts in reviews, Steam discussions, and our Discord since the game’s launch! We’ve been reading it all and we’re using this feedback to focus on what changes to make in the game’s first post-launch update, which is set to arrive on all platforms on June 19.

There are a lot of fixes coming in this patch - almost 100 individual changes in all - but particular focuses were around addressing player feedback on enemy difficulty, and finding Characters/Objectives in The Hub . Here are some of the key changes to expect:

1. Enemies from Levels 1-21 have had their overall power reduced.

2. An Objective Tracker for The Hub has been added so you’ll never lose track of where you’re going next.

3. We’ve made some changes to Stun:

• Player Stun Duration reduced from three seconds to two seconds.

• Added three second Grace Period after being stunned that prevents being immediately stunned again.

• Reduced Stun Build-Up on specific Enemy Abilities.

4. The damage of Consumed after being Smogged has be taken down a notch from 100% to 60%.

For the second point, here’s a little visual preview of what this objective tracker will look like: 

We’ll share full patch notes outlining all the changes when this update rolls out on June 19, and we look forward to hearing what you think about these community-driven tweaks!

Stay up to date with the latest Empyreal news and be the first to know about updates by joining our Discord, following us on X, Bluesky and TikTok.

• Hammer & Anvil allows you to leap through the air and plant the shield in the ground, striking it with your mace for a shockwave area of effect blast. This is a chargeable attack where the damage scales with perfect timing.
• Charge at enemies with your shield, using it as a battering ram. This is a chargeable attack where damage multiplies with timing.
• To War (Ultimate Ability) summons an elementally imbued sphere that automatically fires energy blasts at all nearby enemies.

• Riposte allows you to deflect incoming attacks for a small window by spinning your Glaive. If an incoming attack is successfully blocked, you’ll gain the ability to do a powerful follow-up attack.
• Energy Wave fires a blast of energy forward, striking all enemies on its path and detonating status effects on those hit. It can also be used to evade attacks, weakening enemy resistance in the process.
• Elemental Devastation (Ultimate Ability) thrusts the Glaive into the ground, creating a colossal area of effect blast radius that emanates out from the player. The detonation type will depend on your weapon imbuement. If none exists, the attack will stun enemies in range.

• Protective Screen creates a large barrier that blocks enemy projectile-based attacks. At the end of its active duration, it will grant you a barrier shield based on how much damage it has absorbed. Passing through the screen yourself while active will grant a damage buff at the cost of damage absorption.
• Orbital Laser fires down a stream of sustained laser fire on a specific location. Holding down the ability and releasing it at the correct time will greatly improve the potency of the attack.
• Elemental Shot fires a single, high-powered shot that will detonate and apply a status effect, based on the imbuement of your weapon (or an existing status effect if no imbuement exists).
• Supernova (Ultimate Ability) pulls enemies towards the epicentre of your charged attack before exploding outward with enormous damage potential.

What is Empyreal?

Trading and the Mailbox

Reviving

Into the Aether

Hanwyn Dryden

Linet Radclyffe

Isolda

John Kent

Raulin Yates

Maria Thornton

Morys Lovell

Edmund Reyne

Gnat

Skirmisher

Champion

Welcome to Just Empyreal

Rewards:

• Enabled inverted mouse & controller controls
• Fixed circumstances where the Glaive could detach when holstering and clip through the player

• Morys Lovell - The head of the ill-fated expedition. He can provide you with additional background on the hub’s inhabitants and the expedition’s goals. He can be found in the office above the command centre.
• Edmund Reyne - The commander of the original expedition’s armed forces detachment… or rather, what’s left of them. He can be found in the command centre opposite the forge.
• Linet Radclyffe - A civilian archaeologist, keen to unearth the secrets of the past. She can be found behind the mess hall to the right of Hanwyn’s tent.
• Dr Maria Thornton - An expert physicist who has been invaluable at reverse-engineering the ancient technology recovered in and around the monolith. She can be found in the lab next to the portal.
• Porhan - A small lizard keeping an eye on Isolda’s stall. Reclaim loot left behind in previous Cartogram runs for a fee. They can be found on the merchant’s stall opposite the forge.
• Hanwyn Dryden - An emissary of The Crown, sent to represent the King’s interests and keep a close eye on The Company expedition. He can be found in the tent to the left of the mess hall.
• John Kent - An expert craftsman who can reveal the properties of recovered loot and make it usable to the player. He can be found at the forge.
• The Quartermaster - Raulin Yates - Provides the player with a place to buy and sell consumables, items, and other loot. He can be found in the mess hall.
• Rohini Varma - The sole survivor and all that is left of the expedition’s once sizeable military force. She can be found in the command centre with Edmund.

• Glaive - Immortal Storm of the Empire - This set modifies the Riposte ability which can be triggered when you do a perfect block/parry, allowing the ability to be infinitely chained. This will require additional inputs and requires perfect timing, but executing a long chain is definitely satisfying!
• Mace & Shield - Depth & Silence - This set modifies the Vanish and Drain Essence abilities. Vanish will now create a delayed explosion after perfectly avoiding an enemy attack. Drain Essence will reduce both enemy HP and their resistances. Combining both together can allow you to fell bosses quickly.
• Cannon - Weapons of the Kyrios Front - This set modifies both the Orbital Laser and Elemental Shot abilities and causes them to build up ALL status effects. Elemental Shot will also detonate ALL statuses.