Repel The Rifts news & patch notes

Hello Commanders!

In this new update, I've added a new tower, a new game mode and some other miscellaneous fixes and changes. The promised endless changes in the last patch notes are still coming, I just need a bit more time to think about them.

Factory Tower

As teased in the last patch, the new tower is the Factory Tower. Instead of attacking directly, it instead constructs Drones that travel down a path to attack demons in their way. Hopefully this is a fun tower for you all to try out! It isn't associated to any Commander as a starting tower, and can be unlocked in the game during tower unlocks.

Here are it's stats:

Daily Challenge Mode

This mode offers a new way to play. It is locked to Admiral difficulty, and each day features a different combination of Commander, starting towers, and modifiers. I've had a lot of fun testing these daily challenges. Please let me know what you think!

I also tried to address some more feedback and adjusted some things for this update. I'll list them below in the full changelist. Hopefully you enjoy this new update. Feel free to leave me feedback about the game.

If you enjoy the game, please consider leaving a review. I will continue doing my best to build a great game for you all!

RefinedBear

Full Changelist

Additions

• New tower added into the game (Factory Tower). It is a tower that constructs drones to attack demons along its path.

• New game mode: Daily Challenge. Start an expedition with randomized commander, starting towers and modifiers daily.

• The Mechanic's passive is changed to work with all towers rather than just the starting ones. This means all towers used with mechanic can reach level 4.

Bugs

• Fixed the Beam tower's SFX being extremely loud.

Changes

• Tremor and Surge stats have been adjusted.

• Commander energy regeneration upgrades are now limited and reduced to just the uncommon tier.

• Change bomber mechanic to grant 10x damage so that it works in endless mode / daily challenge. Readjusted the stats of the bomber demons pre-endless to account for the change.

• The expedition save format was changed and is incompatible with the prior version, so this update will reset any active expedition sessions (not progression).

Hello Commanders!

New Tower!

In this update, I've included the Beam Tower, a new tower that is designed to take down slow, tanky enemies. It isn't associate to any Commander as a starting tower, and can be unlocked in the game during tower unlocks.

Here are it's stats:

What's Next?

The next thing I'm working on is a bigger update, that will contain, another new tower (Factory), improvements to endless mode and of course more bugfixes and feedback changes.

Here is a sneak peak of the Factory tower in action!

Thanks for all the support, please let me know if you encounter any issues or problems and I'll do my best to get them resolved quickly!

RefinedBear

Full Changelist

Additions

• New tower added into the game (Beam Tower). It is a single target tower that ramps up it's damage over time when hitting the same target.

Bugs

• Fixed the bug when an event that ends in X days ends on the same day as a tower reward or expansion, that day's schedule got overridden,

• Fixed the bug where the artifact, "Old Coin"'s reroll quota gets spent from the auto reroll that occurs when buying all cards in the shop.

• Fixed the bug where the artifact "Old Bandages"'s tracked healed amount didn't reset between sessions.

• Fixed the bug where Crusher's "Gut punch" upgrade's "Crushed" debuff was expiring immediately.

Changes

• Surge's "Arc Stabilizer" card now has a limit of 5, this brings it to 0 damage reduction on bounce. The upgrade worked is now an additive reduction.

• The feedback panel has a small "Thank you!" popup response after clicking submit to show that it was successful.

Hello Commanders!

In this latest update, I've added v1 of the Events system into the game. Optional events will occur on days 8, 14 and 20 and provide some rewards for small challenges. For now I have created 36 event varieties and plan to add more in future updates. Ultimately it doesn't change the game, but I'm hoping it adds another layer that helps add to the replayability of runs. Please let me know what you think!

Along the lines of improving replayability, I've done some more work to improve variety in the waves. For nights 5 - 24, each night will now have 3 options. I've also added in two new Demon mechanics, "Bomber" and "Reflexive Armor". Demons with bomber will explode (and die) when they attack dealing a large amount of damage. Demons with reflexive armor will retaliate when hit, causing a mini stun to the tower that attacks it. To go alongside these changes, there are 5 new sprites (and their recolors).

I also wanted to address some community feedback in this update.

"Some upgrade cards become useless as you max out the stats"

To start addressing this problem, I have made some changes to critical hits and Rate of Fire (RoF) caps.

• Critical hits are now tiered and critical rate is uncapped because of that

  • 0% - 100% critical rate -> regular critical hit

  • 100% - 200% critical rate -> guaranteed regular critical hit and chance for 2x critical hit

  • 200% - 300% critical rate -> guaranteed 2x critical hit and chance for 3x critical hit

  • etc..

• Rate of Fire (RoF) is still capped, however, extra RoF gains convert into damage appropriate to the theoretical DPS gained.

More changes will be made to deal with other upgrade cards that have similar problems in a future update.

"Nights 1-15 feel generally okay, but after that it feels too easy"

To address this, I've reworked the upgrade cards that improve damage and rate of fire to ramp up at a more reasonable rate. I've also rebalanced a lot of the artifacts (though there is more work to do here) to even out the power levels of artifacts in the same tier. There were also balance changes to certain waves to try and smooth things out a bit more.

"Endless is too long, speed + aegis is an instant death"

The prices in the market now scale exponentially with the current day. Stats also scale differently with a much slower ramp up on the speed scaling. I plan on releasing more changes around endless mode to make it less stale, but I didn't want to delay this update too much.

Lastly I've also made some changes to several towers to strengthen their identity.

Unrelated to this patch, I've released extended versions of the soundtrack of the game as a free DLC for players who've asked.

For the next update, I will be working on a new tower, updating endless mode and adding in a new custom commander mode as well as other requested updates and fixes.

RefinedBear

Full changelist

New Additions

• Added Events - on days 8/14/20 you will encounter an optional event. There are 36 varieties at the moment - with more to come in the future.

• Two new demon mechanics

  • Bomber: Demon explodes on attack, causing large amounts of damage

  • Reflexive Armor: Demon mini-stuns the attacker when hit

• Nights 5 to 24 will have 3 variations each, instead of 2

• 5 New Demon sprites

• 4 new Anomaly types

Changes

• Critical hits are now tiered and critical rate is uncapped because of that

• Extra RoF gains, beyond the cap, converts into damage appropriate to the theoretical DPS gained.

• Cryo Tower now does less damage, but has much greater slowing capabilities

• Blockade Tower can now respawn the barricade during the night (with a cooldown)

• Ionizer Tower can now apply more stacks of Ionized, with each stack being less effective. The net effect at max stacks is improved from before.

• Crusher Tower AoE upgrade (Explosive Fist) has been replaced by a new upgrade card that does AoE damage with respect to Overkill (damage dealt in excess to the Demon's HP)

• Tech points can be unassigned individually

• Range indicators added for Commanders

• Rebalanced values of some artifacts

• Rebalanced the endless mode wave generation

• Pricing of upgrades in endless mode now increase exponentially

• Demon's stats for nights 15 - 25 have been adjusted

• Costs and values of upgrades adjusted

• Various bugfixes

Happy New Year, Commanders!

I wanted to provide a quick update and a sneak peek at what’s currently in development.

The Events System

The next major update focuses on the Events system. Events are optional challenges players can tackle for extra rewards, occurring on Days 8, 14, and 20.

The core system is largely complete, and I am now focused on creating unique rewards and expanding the event pool. I’m aiming to launch with 40–50 different events to ensure every run feels distinct.

Example Events

Wave Variety & New Threats

To keep the pre-endless game fresh, I’m increasing wave variety. Currently, there are two variations of waves per night (after Night 5); I am increasing this to three variations. Combined with the new Events, this will hopefully improve the replayability and unpredictability of each run.

Of course, more variety requires more threats. I’m introducing new demon types with unique mechanics:

• Reflexive Armor: Any attack dealt to this demon causes a mini-stun to the attacker.

• Bomber: Attacks once for massive damage and perishes on impact.

Experimental to Main Branch

In addition to these new features, all balance adjustments and Quality of Life (QoL) improvements currently in the Experimental Branch will be merged into the Main Branch with this update.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I’m looking forward to getting these changes into your hands soon!

RefinedBear

Hi Commanders! Sorry for the wait, but as promised, this is another patch to help fix the bugs and Quality of Life issues you all have reported. This doesn't encompass everything that has reported, so if you have mentioned an issue and don't see a fix here, its most likely going to be in a future update!

Besides bugs and QoL changes, you all have given me feedback related to the balancing and feel of the game. To address that there is an experimental branch that can be accessed on Steam in the Beta Participation section. To read more about this branch and the changes I've made, you can check out this Steam discussion post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/3686580/discussions/0/690868861351893565/

In the past week, I've started to work on the Events system. This is a system meant to add a bit of player directed challenge during the main phase of the game, and in endless a way to customize the challenge to increase the variety of the runs. Artifacts and upgrades that are found in through events will be unique to the system, which means I can add more powerful effects without worrying about overall balance. I'm looking forward to posting some previews soon!

Lastly, I have more piece of news to share, Repel the Rifts is now Steam Deck verified! Thank you to all players who reported controller and Steam Deck related issues.

As always thank you all for the support and love, it means a lot to me and I'll continue working hard to improve the game!

RefinedBear

Full Patchnotes

QoL Improvements

• Update the artifact selection UI to show the rarity of the artifacts

• Added a button to view the battlefield from the game results screen

• Added the game’s seed to the game results screen

• Added a button in the market to show the rates of each rarity of upgrade card

• Added a delay before artifacts in the artifact selection UI can be clicked, preventing misclicks

• Added a delay before towers in the tower selection UI can be clicked, preventing misclicks

Bug Fixes

• Fixed not being able to aim “Gravity Amplifier” artifact deployment area while using controller

• Fixed crash when viewing POLY tower info UI when it has too many “Effect-on-Hit” effects

• Fixed having to redo the entire tutorial if the player clicks on the tutorial, exits, then tries to start a regular run. (assuming the player has already finished the tutorial once)

• Fixed “Strange Paperclip” artifact not correctly resetting it’s state

• Fixed Lancer’s projectile collision box size

• Fixed game window resizing and recentering when loading between the main menu and the game

• Fixed excavatables being tinted after a survey

• Fixed timeline day icons not showing the regular day icons properly

• Fixed timeline day icons in endless mode

• Fixed “Keys to the VECTR” artifact not appropriately updating the timeline after a survey

• Fixed Overwatch “Marked” debuff not showing the correct text

• Fixed energy bar being unreadable when rapidly gaining energy

• Fixed Cryo Lv4 not showing the correct sprites

• Fixed buff icons not being able to display 4 digit numbers

• Fixed “Pylon” enemy not displaying a HP bar correctly

• Fixed “Brass Lamp” artifact causing the skip button to be hidden when viewing excavated artifacts

• Fixed issue of overlapping world chunk visuals during survey when using the controller

• Fixed map generation issue that could lead to a soft lock

• Fixed “Frozen Assets” artifact having incorrect tuning values

• Fixed barricade information being incorrectly shown in reward selection UI card

• Fixed various controller related UX visual issues

• Fixed font spacing issues on UI

• Fixed camera panning issue during expansion location selection when using the controller

• Fixed exiting the tech tree not correctly focusing the tech tree button

• Fixed hiding the tech tree notification icon if all tech nodes were already assigned

• Fixed Sentinel’s concussive shot icon in the tower UI

Update v0.13.28 Patchnote

• Fixed being able to interact with the main menu while in the credits page using a controller.
• Fixed input scheme automatically being changed to Keyboard and Mouse while using a controller.
• Fixed controller button icons showing up when using Keyboard and Mouse.
• Fixed the HP bar of the “Prism” demon not being shown.
• Fixed the settings menu title being misaligned
• Fixed “Strength in Numbers” artifact not having the correct values and causing negative bonuses.
• Fixed “Power in Progress” artifact not having the correct values and causing negative bonuses.
• Fixed the Pathfinder’s “Snipe” skill not correctly applying critical hit damage.
• Fixed “Spinning Top” artifact not affecting the Pathfinder.
• Fixed certain artifacts not resetting their values correctly and carrying over incorrect values into the next run.
• Added support when using controllers to view Tower and Commander Info UI hoverables.
• Swapped left and right joystick behavior on controllers. Left joystick now pans, right joystick controls the cursor.

Update v0.13.27 Patchnote

• Fixed the Brass Lamp artifact creating a softlock
• Fixed a crash related to clicking on an expansion zone
• Fixed missing DoT icon on Flux Generator upgrade
• Fixed double artifacts spawning
• Fixed newsletter button not being accessible via controller
• Fixed Spellcaster's Ring not actually reducing the cost
• Fixed Pathfinder passive description cutting off the decimal part of the multiplier
• Fixed Pathfinder’s passive description (Chinese)
• Fixed values for “Strength in numbers” and “Power in progress” artifacts after starting a new run
• Fixed Pathfinder’s Gravity Field not deducting energy
• Fixed user defined seed not being passed into the game correctly
• Fixed Mechanic’s death animation being in the wrong direction
• Fixed crash during the bubble shield flow
• Added Barricade stats to the Blockade’s information in the tower reward UI

Hi Commanders!

I wanted to give a big thank you to everyone!

Your support and love means so much to me. I've been working on this game as a solo developer for close to 2 years now, and seeing players enjoying the game has been an incredible feeling.

I've been reading everyone's posts, feedback responses (from inside the game) and discord messages. I'm working on a quick update to resolve some of the bugs and issues that have been raised and I hope to get an update out later this week or early next week.

RefinedBear

Repel the Rifts is OUT NOW in Early Access!

With a 25% launch discount. 👀

About The Game

Repel the Rifts is a roguelite tower defense game set on an alien world. As a Commander of a mining expedition gone awry, you must defend against relentless waves of inter-dimensional creatures emerging from mysterious rifts. Survive the nights, survey further into the unknown and track down the source of these rifts.

• Survey the unknown to expand the map.

• Purchase tower upgrades from a market that strengthen your towers and can even grant new effects.

• Collect powerful artifacts to augment your defense.

• Choose from different commanders, each with their own three starting towers, abilities and passive.

• Survive 25 nights and enter Endless mode.

Early Access Roadmap

We’ve got quite a lot cooking, and we made a little roadmap for you so you can get a better overview of the plan for the upcoming months.

We can’t wait to get your feedback along the way, as we’ll take it into consideration moving forward. But for today, we truly hope you enjoy the Early Access version!

If so, please consider leaving a positive review on Steam!

If you want to stay updated on anything new regarding Repel the Rifts, you can subscribe to this newsletter.

To share your feedback, please do so here on Steam or by joining our Discord server.

Many thanks in advance for your support!

Hi everyone,

We're glad to let you know we have a release date for Repel the Rifts: November 24th! 🥳

We’ve decided to launch an Early Access version to push the game even further before the full 1.0 release in Q2 2026. Here’s what’s included compared to the demo:

• Endless Mode

• 4 Commanders

• More artifacts

• Full access to the mastery tree

We can't wait to show you what we've cooked up throughout Early Access, but in the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy this Early Access version, which comes with a big discount for early adopters. 👀

Make sure to wishlist the game to be notified at launch!