TerraTech Legion news & patch notes

Hi Prospectors, 

Big news! We’ve been listening to your feedback and heard some frustration around our current XP system. Sometimes you’re having to play as a character you’re less keen on - and while unlocking a new pilot is cool, it can feel like having to start from scratch. We hear you and have made a major change.  XP is now shared across all characters (XP For All), allowing you to earn XP with one character and spend it on another.

We’ve also updated several Planet Challenges. Some no longer have character requirements, others have been made easier and a few have been completely reworked. More skill and strategy, far less relying on RNG.

To support the hunt for Corrupted Blocks, we’ve added a new temporary buff: Exploration. It zooms out your minimap, highlights all Corrupted Block locations, and provides a small speed boost - making those elusive blocks far more manageable to track down.

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Mikela has also received a small but meaningful boost to improve her viability. She now has an additional skill that adds a repair buff to reroll pickups, giving her some much‑needed staying power.

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We've added an emergency Tech health bar, ensuring that even in the thick of battle you can always see exactly how much health you have left.

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And there’s more on the way. We’re currently investigating solutions for the issues players have been experiencing with Cepheid Swan, as well as the growing problem of the Block pool diluting as more Blocks are unlocked. Stay tuned — more improvements are coming soon.

General

• XP is now shared across all characters. 

  • XP can now be generated by any character and freely spent on whichever character you wish to invest in.

  • Refunding skill tree nodes can now cause you to lose the “skill tier” stars

    • Losing stars won’t re-lock any characters or planets

• Added an “Exploration” temporary buff to help you find enemy bases and Corrupted Blocks.

  • When active, it zooms out the mini map, showing enemy bases and Corrupted Block locations for a short period of time.

  • Also gives a speed and acceleration boost.

• Balanced our i-frame system to be a bit more lenient when you are taking multiple hits. Hopefully, it will address that feeling of dying unfairly.

• Unreal updated to 5.7.

Characters

• New tier 2 skill for Mikela that makes re-roll pickups also count as repair pickups.

• Changed the way the Repair Drop Chance skill works and now increases the chance by 40% per level.

Planets

• Reduced the difficulty of some Planet Challenges.

• Changed some Planet Challenges around specific stat requirements to more straightforward goals.

• Removed character-specific requirements on all Planet Challenges.

• Added increased chance of Corrupted Block locations on Magma Hellscape difficulty 2 and 3

• Changed dangerous Lava and Acid damage from flat damage to maxHealth% damage and ignore armour. This should be less punishing early and more dangerous in the late game.

Blocks

• Crate drops are now influenced from the Blocks you attach to your Tech, not by the ones you pick from a crate. 

• Greatly increased the chances of getting rare Blocks as you get further into a run. 

• Added functionality to Precision Weapon Mounts to prioritise enemies with the Vulnerable status effect.

• Gatchatron is now unique, so you can only have one. Previously, stacking these gave many re-rolls without further penalties.

• Removed the Massive tag from the Massdrive Core, so adding lots of them is less overpowered.

Quality of Life

• Added an ‘Emergency health bar’ above the Tech that only shows when you take damage. 

• Tweaked some of the Tech damage visuals to help notify you when you take big hits / damage in general. 

• Removed red effects from the edge of the screen when on low health; these effects are now only used briefly when you take damage.

• Added visual progress to the Planet Challenges on the pause menu.

Bugs

• Fixed a crash when FSR3 is selected when using Vulkan drivers. 

• Fixed an issue where the Impulse Accumulator buff was visible in the Tech stats UI panel, but hidden when a massive Block was added to the tech.

• Fixed the issue where the Seismic Mine Launcher could sometimes damage your tech. 

• Fixed not being able to skip ‌the win/lose screens on controller.

• Fixed a bug where JP's skill to reduce penalties from wheels and boosters wasn't working on negative flat numbers, only percentages.

• Fixed a bug where Bombsaw Charger enemies could damage Sam while he was phasing.

• Fixed an issue where players could fall off the edge of the map. We have added some rocks to stop you. 

• Fixed an issue where Sam's self-destruct icon was permanently active.

• Fixed being able to be damaged by your own mines in certain situations.

• Fixed some weapons aiming at structures and certain enemies when they’re slightly out of range.

• The Dark Eye in Survive mode was broken - removed temporarily until we can get it working again.

In the run‑up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible, as well as refining the overall game balance.

How to access the Unstable Branch

In the run‑up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible, as well as refining the overall game balance.

How to access the Unstable Branch

In the run‑up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible, as well as refining the overall game balance.

How to access the Unstable Branch

Hi Prospectors,

Our 1.0.6 Update brings fresh Blocks, improvements to Survival Mode, and new ways to finesse your Tech build.  

Firstly, we’ve spent some time creating new Blocks to fill a few gaps we identified in the Corporation Block pools. Our goal is to provide a more rounded offering for each Corporation, covering ranged, impact, and drone Blocks. It also gave us a chance to share some of our…wilder ideas (looking at you, Star Flail).

We’ve also heard that many of you want more ways to build into a particular Tech damage type. Our new crate‑reward flow added to the end of large encounters means you’ll now be able to choose the weapon‑type crate that best suits your Tech.

Beyond this, we’ve made several quality‑of‑life improvements to Survival Mode, with a strong focus on stability. We believe we’ve fixed those run‑ending crashes, though they can be tricky to track down, so please bear with us.

Let’s dive into the details…

New Corporation Blocks

• GSO

  • Spider GPMG

    • A ballistic weapon with 360 degree firing arc

  • Sliver

    • An impact weapon that fires a sharp metal blade out which returns back, damaging everything in its path

  • Triple Damage Mount

    • A version of the damage mount with more APs for three times the destruction

• GeoCorp 

  • Triple Bolt Driver

    • A spread-firing version of the bolt driver

  • Seismic Charge Launcher

    • Fires seismic charges that do impact damage in a large area

• Hawkeye 

  • D-52 Bomber

    • Calls in a bomber aircraft that leaves a wake of devastation

  • Thunderbolt Ballistic Assist

    • High speed strafing runs from allied aircraft crisscross the battlefield

  • Bot Cutter

    • A super sharp blade that cuts through Legion like butter

  • Sprinkler Autogun

    • This autogun fires in a spray of bullets across a 180 degree arc

• Better Future 

  • Star Flail

    • A giant ball attached to your Tech by an unbreakable energy tether

  • EMP Carbine

    • A ballistic weapon with an electro-stun charge in each bullet

  • Stun Repulsor

    • This energy ram does incredible knockback and stuns enemies, allowing you to slide right by

Location Reward Drop Pod

‎Shape your run with the rewards offered from seeking out and beating Challenges.

New in this version - completing locations on the map (called out with the ‘?’ icon on your screen edge) now provide a reward drop pod instead of random rewards. Trigger the location by driving up onto the landing pad and defeating the big enemy or swarm of enemies to call down a special drop that will allow you to pick the reward crate that best suits your needs.

Choose from:

• Ballistic

• Impact

• Energy

• Drone

• Precision

• Explosive

• Or, if you are feeling lucky, a Wild Card crate.

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Survival Mode

• Added a run timer to the HUD.

• Improved boss health bars so you can track the health of multiple bosses 

• Updated the HUD colours to give Survive its own visual identity. 

• More map Locations, big and small

• Changed end-of-run message so it doesn’t always say you failed

Balance

• Initial Tech wheels no longer show up for other Corporations in crates

• Rerolls now take the rerolled Block into account when determining rarity of rerolled Blocks.

Achievements

• Adjusted the following achievements to make them more achievable:

  • A Good Start - Destroy 500,000 Legion bots of any type

  • A Statistic - Destroy 250,000 Legion bots of any type

UI

• Added an arrow showing your Tech’s facing to the minimap

• Improved edge of screen arrows so they avoid overlapping the minimap

• Hide more of the UI when using the “View Tech” tab on the end-of-run screen

• Allow zooming in a bit closer to big Techs

Steam Community Items

• Added Trading cards

• Added Profile images

• Added Badges

• Added Emoticons

Bug Fixes

• Fixed upgraded versions of weapons not counting towards contracts like “Drill Baby Drill”

• Fixed temporary powerups not always being dropped when you destroy the structure holding them (which made them uncollectable)

• Fixed the enemy buff circle not always being removed when you destroy the corresponding tower

• Fixed temporary powerups expiring whilst in build mode

• Fixed inconsistent blocked angles on the Thunderpop Cannon

• Fixed the Piston Ram and Roadblock Ram not doing any damage despite their descriptions saying they do

• Fixed not being able to upgrade the Plough

• Small fix to collision of the basic Hawkeye cab, which was occupying a bit more space than it looked like

• Fix scrap bar at the bottom of the screen sometimes getting stuck.

• Fix for occasional crash when entering build mode whilst a boss attacks.

• Added some more speculative fixes for long survival mode run crashes. 

• Potential fix for the issue where all the enemies and scenery disappear. 

• Reduced memory usage by around 2GB for the swamp planet, which should fix crashes some players were seeing loading into it.

• Improved performance with very large amounts of scrap on the floor (looking at you, crazy Survive Mode players!).

• Fixed an issue where you could make your Tech’s acceleration go negative effectively swapping forwards and backwards.

• Fixed overflowing numbers in contract tracking, and overflowing score in Survive Mode.

In the run‑up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible, as well as refining the overall game balance.

How to access the Unstable Branch

⚠️Please note: This update is on Steam beta branch unstable - Work-in-progress version and may be unstable in places.

In the run up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible and refining how the game is balanced.

To play the unstable:

• Right click TerraTech Legion in your Steam library, then select the "Properties" option from the drop down list.

• Now select "Betas" and then select the "Beta Participation" drop down box.

• Select the "unstable - work-in-progress version" from the drop down list.

• Your game will now update, and you will be playing on the unstable branch.

To send us your feedback and join the community:

• Join our discord server and select the unstable role via the #role-opt-in! channel. This will add you to the secret unstable channel where you can discuss your feedback/spoilers.

Remember to always back up your save games before switching to the unstable branch.

Bug Fixes

• Added some more speculative fixes for long survival mode run crashes. 

• Potential fix for the issue where all the enemies and scenery disappear. 

• Removed the Dynamic Differential and the Performance Suspension blocks as they need some more time in the oven. 

• Reduced memory usage by around 2GB for the swamp planet, which should fix crashes some players were seeing loading into it.

• Fixed collision on Thunderbolt Ballistic Assist so it doesn’t stop you putting blocks directly above it.

• Improved performance with very large amounts of scrap on the floor (looking at you, crazy Survive Mode players!).

• Fixed an issue where you could make your Tech’s acceleration go negative effectively swapping forwards and backwards.

• Fixed overflowing numbers in contract tracking, and overflowing score in Survive Mode.

• Reverted the new Survival wave designs back to the older versions until we have fixed an issue with XP drop scaling.

Hi Prospectors,

Our 1.0.6 Unstable Update brings fresh Blocks, improvements to Survival Mode and new ways to finesse your Tech build.  

Firstly, we’ve spent some time creating new Blocks to fill a few gaps we identified in the Corporation Block pools. Our goal is to provide a more rounded offering for each Corporation, covering ranged, impact, and drone Blocks. It also gave us a chance to share some of our…wilder ideas (looking at you, Star Flail).

We’ve also heard that many of you want more ways to build into a particular Tech damage type. Our new crate‑reward flow added to the end of large encounters means you’ll now be able to choose the weapon‑type crate that best suits your Tech.

Beyond this, we’ve made several quality‑of‑life improvements to Survival Mode, with a strong focus on stability. We believe we’ve fixed those run‑ending crashes, though they can be tricky to track down, so please bear with us.

Let’s dive into the details…

⚠️Please note: This update is on Steam beta branch unstable - Work-in-progress version and may be unstable in places.

In the run up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible and refining how the game is balanced.

To play the unstable:

• Right click TerraTech Legion in your Steam library, then select the "Properties" option from the drop down list.

• Now select "Betas" and then select the "Beta Participation" drop down box.

• Select the "unstable - work-in-progress version" from the drop down list.

• Your game will now update, and you will be playing on the unstable branch.

To send us your feedback and join the community:

• Join our discord server and select the unstable role via the #role-opt-in! channel. This will add you to the secret unstable channel where you can discuss your feedback/spoilers.

Remember to always back up your save games before switching to the unstable branch.

New Corporation Blocks

• GSO

  • Spider GPMG

    • A ballistic weapon with 360 degree firing arc

  • Sliver

    • A impact weapon that fires a sharp metal blade out which returns back, damaging everything in its path

  • Performance Suspension

    • A wheel mount that boosts stats

  • Triple Damage Mount

    • A version of the damage mount with more APs for three times the destruction

• GeoCorp 

  • Triple Bolt Driver

    • A spread firing version of the bolt driver

  • Seismic Charge Launcher

    • Fires seismic charges that do impact damage in a large area

  • Dynamic Differential

    • A wheel mount that empowers any Grip attached

• Hawkeye 

  • D-52 Bomber

    • Calls in a bomber aircraft that leaves a wake of devastation

  • Thunderbolt Ballistic Assist

    • High speed strafing runs from allied aircraft crisscross the battlefield

  • Bot Cutter

    • A super sharp blade that cuts through Legion like butter

  • Sprinkler Autogun

    • This autogun fires in a spray of bullets across a 180 degree arc

• BetterFuture 

  • Star Flail

    • A giant ball attached to your Tech by an unbreakable energy tether

  • EMP Carbine

    • A ballistic weapon with an electro-stun charge in each bullet

  • Stun Repulsor

    • This energy ram does incredible knockback and stuns enemies, allowing you to slide right by

Location Reward Drop Pod

‎Shape your run with the rewards offered from seeking out and beating Challenges.

New in this version - completing locations on the map (called out with the ‘?’ icon on your screen edge) now provide a reward drop pod instead of random rewards. Trigger the location by driving up onto the landing pad and defeat the big enemy or swarm of enemies to call down a special drop that will allow you to pick the reward crate that best suits your needs.

Choose from:

• Ballistic

• Impact

• Energy

• Drone

• Precision

• Explosive

• Or, if you are feeling lucky, a Wild Card crate.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Survival Mode

• Created some new waves with new formations and enemy types

• Added a run timer to the HUD.

• Improved boss health bars so you can track the health of multiple bosses 

• Updated the HUD colours to give Survive its own visual identity. 

• More map Locations, big and small

• Changed end-of-run message so it doesn’t always say you failed

Balance

• Initial Tech wheels no longer show up for other Corporations in crates

• Rerolls now take the rerolled Block into account when determining rarity of rerolled Blocks.

UI

• Added an arrow showing your Tech’s facing to the minimap

• Improved edge of screen arrows so they avoid overlapping the minimap

• Hide more of the UI when using the “View Tech” tab on the end-of-run screen

• Allow zooming in a bit closer to big Techs

Bug Fixes

• Fixed upgraded versions of weapons not counting towards contracts like “Drill Baby Drill”

• Fixed temporary powerups not always being dropped when you destroy the structure holding them (which made them uncollectable)

• Fixed enemy buff circle not always being removed when you destroy the corresponding tower

• Fixed temporary powerups expiring whilst in build mode

• Fixed inconsistent blocked angles on the Thunderpop Cannon

• Fixed the Piston Ram and Roadblock Ram not doing any damage despite their descriptions saying they do

• Fixed not being able to upgrade the Plough

• Small fix to collision of the basic Hawkeye cab, which was occupying a bit more space than it looked like

Hi Prospectors, 

We suspect this is an update many of you have been waiting for - Block Banning and Block Recycling have now been added to the game! We’ll go into more detail below on how each system works, but the headline is that together, they give you two powerful new tools to help refine and optimise your builds.

Thank you again for all your feedback and bug reports. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been able to fix a good number of issues. If we haven’t quite reached the ones at the top of your list yet, don’t worry, 1.0.6 is already in the works with plenty more improvements on the way.

Without further ado, let's get in to the detail:

Block Recycling

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Unwanted Blocks can now be recycled from the Drop Pod build menu. Recycled Blocks provide rerolls based on the Block’s characteristics and rarity. Structure Blocks provide only a fraction of a reroll, requiring multiple to be recycled, while a Legendary Block provides many when recycled.

Progress towards a reroll is kept throughout your run, so you can now freely get rid of unwanted Structure Blocks and keep that progression towards a new reroll. To help you track your rerolls, you can now check your count and max on the build menu - making it far clearer to know when to recycle.. All these extra rerolls will be useful as part of the new banning system!

How to recycle in 3 easy steps:

Hi Prospectors,

We’re excited to share that TerraTech Legion is now Steam Deck Verified.

Everyone at Payload Studios and Mythwright is a huge fan of the Steam Deck. And from day one, we set out to earn that green tick for TerraTech Legion.

So if you’ve been waiting to dive in on the Steam Deck, now’s the perfect time to jump in and give it a spin.

Have a great weekend,

Team Legion

Hi Prospectors, 

Thanks for your feedback and bug reports. We’ve got another update to the 1.0.5 unstable branch for you to sink your teeth into, and we’re feeling close to pushing this release to main. We’re especially keen to hear your thoughts on the changes we’ve made to the Triarch Warden. 

⚠️Please note: This update is on Steam beta branch unstable - Work-in-progress version and may be unstable in places.

In the run up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible and refining how the game is balanced.

To play the unstable:

• Right click TerraTech Legion in your Steam library, then select the "Properties" option from the drop down list.

• Now select "Betas" and then select the "Beta Participation" drop down box.

• Select the "unstable - work-in-progress version" from the drop down list.

• Your game will now update, and you will be playing on the unstable branch.

To send us your feedback and join the community:

• Join our discord server and select the unstable role via the #role-opt-in! channel. This will add you to the secret unstable channel where you can discuss your feedback/spoilers.

Remember to always back up your save games before switching to the unstable branch.

Balance

• Armoured bots now apply a stronger push force, helping them shove other bots aside rather than being pushed around.

• Triarch Warden adjustments:

  • Added longer delays between actions to give you more openings to deal damage

  • Prevented it from walking into you during the laser phase

  • Reduced laser damage by 30%

  • Increased laser warm‑up time by roughly 20%, giving you more time to react before things get melty

• Increased reroll drop chance across all planets. 

Blocks

• Updated stats for the GSO Stabiliser Wheel - it was previously identical to the Hawkeye Inline Raptor Wheel. It now has increased grip and improved turning speed

• Set the new GEO Minelayer back to prototype status (not ready for release yet)

• Added the new Salvage Optimiser block

  • 10% increased scrap

Bugs

• Fixed a rare crash that could occur during Survival Mode

• Fixed layout issues in the Graphics Settings menu

Hi Prospectors, For players who are new to Payload Studios and our games, we sometimes run an unstable branch before launching the full version for everyone. It’s a chance for us to identify any bugs or balance issues, and it’s also an opportunity for you to feedback and discuss your thoughts on our Discord server.

Whenever a new unstable version is available, we’ll make it clear by including “Unstable” in the title of the Steam blog post, as well as in the information box below.

⚠️Please note: This update is on Steam beta branch unstable - Work-in-progress version and may be unstable in places.

In the run up to promoting the latest unstable update to the default version of TerraTech Legion, we want to improve the quality of the build by finding and fixing as many bugs as possible and refining how the game is balanced.

To play the unstable:

• Right click TerraTech Legion in your Steam library, then select the "Properties" option from the drop down list.

• Now select "Betas" and then select the "Beta Participation" drop down box.

• Select the "unstable - work-in-progress version" from the drop down list.

• Your game will now update, and you will be playing on the unstable branch.

To send us your feedback and join the community:

• Join our discord server and select the unstable role via the #role-opt-in! channel. This will add you to the secret unstable channel where you can discuss your feedback/spoilers.

Remember to always back up your save games before switching to the unstable branch.

I suspect this is an update many of you have been waiting for. Block Banning and Block Recycling have now been added to the game. We go into more detail below on how each system works, but together they give you two powerful new tools to help refine and optimise your builds.

Thank you again for all your feedback and bug reports. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been able to fix a good number of issues. And if we haven’t quite reached the ones at the top of your list yet, don’t worry, 1.0.6 is already in the works, with plenty more improvements on the way.

Without further ado, let's get in to the detail:

Block Recycling

Unwanted blocks can now be recycled during the Drop Pod build menu. Recycled blocks provide rerolls based on the block and rarity. Structure blocks only provide a fraction of a reroll, requiring multiple to be recycled, while a legendary block provides many rerolls when recycled. Progress towards a reroll is kept throughout a run, so you can freely get rid of unwanted structure blocks now, and keep the progression towards a new reroll. To help you track your rerolls we are now showing your count and max on the build menu so you know when to recycle and when to hold off because you are full up. All these extra rerolls will be quite useful as part of the new banning system, below! How to Recycle in 3 easy steps:

Hi Prospectors, 

Before launch, we were working on a handful of improvements that unfortunately didn’t make the cut in time. These include a set of quality‑of‑life updates aimed at smoothing out some of Legion’s rougher edges. We’ve also taken a broader look at Corrupted Blocks and made a range of refinements, fixing issues, and adding a bit of extra polish.

Finally, don’t worry: block banning and block scrapping are both on the way in the next update (1.0.5).

Changes

Corrupted Blocks:

• We have added new corruption visuals when you attach a corrupted block to your Tech. 

• We have updated the aesthetics of the blocks to make them look more corrupted. 

• Gotta Go Fast

  • Changed boost recharge from -75% to +10%

  • There’s now a warning as the boost bar nears maximum

  • Now gives you a couple of seconds grace period when coming out of a drop pod before it can trigger

• Repair Rush Changes

  • This was a bit underwhelming, so there’s been a big increase to its repair amount (+30), and the rate at which it starts damaging you (-12).

• The Juggernaught 

  • Now reduces boost power (-30%)

  • Recharge speed increased to +200% 

  • Boost damage increased to +300%

  • Added some screen shake while boosting

• Flux Converters

  • These now have an armour debuff (-50)

• Point and Shoot 

  • Made this easier to use. The requirement to stop has a bit more leeway, and you’re allowed to turn on the spot without being considered to be moving.

• Triple Trouble

  • Now slightly smaller, but has connections on all sides

  • The fire rate buff now applies to all weapons attached to it, not just projectile weapons

• Tunnel Vision 

  • Now locks off the outer barrels of triple autoguns

  • Added 20% range buff

• Grond

  • Increased knockback

  • Fixed stun

Options and Graphics Settings:

• We have added graphic profiles to allow you to quickly swap between settings.

• Added a dedicated Steam Deck graphical profile. 

• Added a cursor sensitivity slider for the controller, and added a touch of acceleration to make small movements easier.

• FSR3 now uses the standard names for its quality options.

Skills: 

• Cepheid’s “Fire and Forget” skill has been buffed so new drones now launch as soon as the old ones explode. This applies to the “Drone Exit Strategy” block too.

Build Screen:

• Added WSAD button prompts the controller bar to remind you that you can use them to rotate blocks.

• Weapon upgrades will now highlight all the blocks that can be upgraded.

Level Select:

• The game will now remember the last planet you played and the last difficulty level. 

Bugs:

• Fixed a performance stutter when the contract completion toast is triggered on screen.

• We have fixed an issue where the “WheelE” super elite (miniboss) was dropping a little too much XP. 

• Fixed a crash pressing undo as soon as a Corrupted block is attached to a Tech, and a similar crash when pressing undo while holding a Weapon Upgrade over a weapon.

• Fixed a couple of rare random crashes.

• Fixed a few blocks which were never appearing.

• Fixed incorrect “new” indicator on “Play” button that never went away.

• Fixed some side mounted weapons having inconsistent firing arcs depending which side they were on.

Next update (1.0.5)

New features: 

• Block banning. 

• Block scrapping/recycling (we are still working on the name). 

Balance:

• Reduced luck needed for Good Luck objective on Icebound hollow medium from 100 to 80.

Bug fixes: 

• Fixed the Bastion Tracks Contract so it’s easier to complete.

• More fixes for issues as we/you find them.

Hello Prospectors,

Thank you once again for the incredible support you have been giving TerraTech Legion since launch - we’re thrilled to see so many of you enjoying the game. We are listening closely to all of your valuable feedback and are hard at work fixing the edge cases and a few pesky launch day bugs you’ve flagged to us

Our next update (1.0.4) contains some improvements to Corrupted Blocks, graphical profiles (one for Steam Deck) and tackles some critical bug fixes. We have also reduced the Star requirement to unlock Rotwater Basin. 

We’re also deep into our follow-up update (1.0.5), which includes more bug fixes and by far your most requested feature: Block Banning. This will empower you to veto Blocks from the Block pool, giving you more control over how you fine tune your Tech builds. We’ll share full details when the update goes live, but we wanted to let you know it’s in progress.

Here are some of the other improvements in the pipeline:

Features:

• The Block Scrapper/Recycler (we are still working on the name)

  • More uses for unwanted Blocks.

• UI improvements to highlight and guide payers through the Star unlock progression.

Bugs:

• Fix for the contract that wants “+50% grip on Sam”.

Other improvements:

• Improving the overall controller experience. We hear you!

• Improving collision on bosses and environmental objects.

• Improving the Triarch Warden boss fight. 

To all who have launched into the frontier and taken the fight to Legion, we salute you!. We look forward to hearing more of your crucial feedback as we continue to shape the future of TerraTech Legion together.

Team Legion

Hi Prospectors,

Thank you so much for the incredible reception to Legion’s launch yesterday. We’ve loved watching you dive in, and the feedback you’ve been sending our way has already helped us build a solid list of fixes and improvements.

On that note, we’ve spotted an issue with the Triarch Warden and wanted to get a fix out before the weekend.

Gameplay

• The Triarch Warden’s laser attack now works as intended. It was hitting you even if you had avoided it.

Hello Prospectors,

We’re delighted to share that TerraTech Legion is out now! Whether you’re fresh to the Frontier or a veteran Tech tuner, you can dive in with a 10% launch discount - with even more savings to be had with our exclusive bundles.

A huge thank you to all of our dedicated Demo players for your valuable feedback. If you jumped in after the 23 April update, you can get straight back into the fray with your progress carried over. If you missed the news, then be sure to join us on our Payload Studios Discord, where you’ll get all Legion news. For now, prepare for bullet heaven survival…

https://discord.gg/G5pZqM6hW2

Confront the Legion threat

Crazed AI has unleashed a ferocious army of robotic foes upon the frontier, infecting and consuming everything in its path. Known simply as ‘Legion’, its neural network is ravenous for resources, corrupting once peaceful colonies into techo-organic nightmares.

From frontline fodder to Super Elite units, Legion forces have evolved a formidable array of enemies to enforce their senseless spread. Rumours abound of vicious robotic variants, brutal boss mechs and corrupted outposts brimming with precious loot for those brave enough to seek their fortune.

The Galactic Survey Organisation (GSO) has dispatched its nearest Cannon-ship to confront this existential threat. Only you, a maverick Tech jockey, stands between planetary peace and total annihilation.

It’s time to build the ultimate battle vehicle and rage against the machines.

Upgrade, augment, advance

Launch your Tech into mechanical combat against Legion forces, hand-crafted to your strategic specifications. Founded on signature TerraTech vehicle customization, there are over 200 unique blocks to turn the tide on the battlefield, from terrain-tackling wheels to orbital lasers and chainsaws that slice vicious robots into scrap metal. More construction means more destruction.

The TerraTech Corporations are on-hand to supply game-changing gear with blocks to suit every Tech tactic…for a price. Scavenge from defeated enemies, fight to secure valuable crates and plunder fallen colonies to fund your dream upgrades. Do you dare unleash the power of the corrupted blocks..? Every precious resource recovered fuels the fury of your next run.

Play your way with four enhanceable characters

Bring the carnage to Legion with four fearless characters to unlock, each with their own Techs, abilities, boosts and skilltrees to modify and master…

• Mikela Craft - Start as the nimble GSO Pathfinder who makes her own luck. Powered by her agile Tech Ranger 1, her iconic ‘stun and run’ style fuses rapid-fire attacks with death-defying dashes from danger.

• Jean-Pierre Grandier - Armour-clad ‘JP’ lives for close-quarters chaos. With his Dirt Runner Tech laden with customizable shells and industrial-grade GeoCorp weaponry, he confronts Legion Bots with pure heavy metal mayhem.

• Sam Ashida - Elusive, devious, deadly. A Hawkeye mercenary, he prefers to weaken enemies before striking with devastating precision - using the phase-shifting Tech Zipper to thin Legion hordes with explosive consequences.

• Cepheid Swan - Delivering luxurious robotic destruction with the elegance you’d expect from the Better Future Corporation. Her Hover Tech Artemis V melts Legion foes with plasma before deftly strafing to safety.

Every bout against Legion strengthens your operatives, earning XP to improve your character and customize your powers for the fight ahead.. A vast skilltree empowers you to push your boosters, weaponry, resistance and more to the very limit to create the ultimate Tech.

And for the truly brave (or those with a deathwish), there are Contracts to take on, rewarding deeds of daring with new and improved blocks.

More planets, more danger

Four perilous planets await, teeming with unique challenges…

• Dust Bowl - Beneath swirling sands, the Legion threat awakens. Lightly infested, it’s the perfect place to begin the fightback.

• Rotwater Basin - Don’t be fooled by its idyllic appearance - these lush landscapes are corrupted with bubbling pools of hazardous, corrosive liquid.

• Icebound Hollow - A world of fire and ice, with glistening snowscapes hiding explosive local flora, lying in wait to pick off unwary explorers.

• Magma Hellscape - As dangerous as it sounds. This young, extremely active, planet is coated in blistering lava and a formidable breed of Legion gaining a foothold where humans fear to tread. For only the most intrepid, gun-ho Tech jockeys.

Tackle the Legion threat on each planet to unlock lethal new difficulty settings to truly challenge your bot slaying skills.

The war never ends in Survival Mode

You versus the full force of Legion. Resist wave upon wave of increasingly fiendish enemies as you strive for high scores and planetary survival. Every run is different, pushing your Tech building and piloting skills to the very limit.

Rage against the machines!

We can’t wait for you to dive into TerraTech Legion. To be the first to hear about updates and our future plans for mechanical mayhem, be sure to follow Payload Studios on Youtube, X, Bluesky and Instagram, and let us know your tales from the frontier!

Good luck, Prospectors.

Hi, Prospectors!

We’re running a TerraTech Legion design AMA on our new Discord server at 3pm - 4pm BST on Wednesday, 29th of April. Ask every question you have about the design of TerraTech Legion, and we’ll answer.

Join our new Discord server below, and be sure to grab the TerraTech Legion role to open the AMA chat!

https://discord.gg/G5pZqM6hW2

We hope to see you there Prospectors,

- Payload Studios

Hi, Prospectors!

Legion is releasing next week, and we’re so excited that we’re updating the demo to give you all a taste of what we’ve been up to since the demo last year!

What’s Included in this Demo?

There will be things you are familiar with in the demo like the Dustbowl planet, Mikela, and some enemies, but you’ll notice that there’s a lot that’s changed since the demo last year, so let’s unpack that a bit.

First thing’s first, the progress you make in this updated demo will transfer over to the full game, so all of your hard work crushing Legion in the demo won’t go to waste!

During your first run, if you explore enough, you might find some Legion bases; you’ll be able to find lots of different rewards from these in the form of buffs and pickups, and defeating larger bases can provide rewards that will carry you all the way to the end of the run.

Expect hordes of new enemies, from the lowly Legion fodder, to Super Elite infantry with special attacks, and even a brand new boss to test your skill against.

Once you finish your first run, you’ll be able to spend the XP that you’ve gathered on different upgrades for Mikela’s tech, making it faster, stronger, and more versatile.

We’ve made many other tweaks that would be far too long a list to go into here, like: weapon arcs, control improvements, many more blocks, visual improvements, game-balance – so you’ll have to discover the rest for yourself.

So what are you waiting for?! Check out the updated demo and support us by wish-listing the game here:

FAQ

In the meantime, we’re here to give some answers to questions that’ve been floating around the Steam forums, and our shiny new Payload Studios Discord server - which you can join here: https://discord.gg/G5pZqM6hW2

How much will TerraTech Legion cost? $9.99 / £8.99 / €9.99 - with a discount at launch.

Which platforms is TerraTech Legion launching on? TerraTech Legion is launching on Steam, Epic, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox Windows.

Will TerraTech Legion run on the Steamdeck?

Yes. We all love our Steam Decks at Payload. 

Is TerraTech Legion launching into Early Access?

No early access this time around. The game will be releasing as a v.1

Do you have a release date for TerraTech Legion?

Yes! It’s launching on the 30th of April, 2026! Check out our Steam news post about it!

Until next time, Prospectors

- Payload Studios

Hello, Prospectors!

We’re extremely excited to announce that the wait is nearly over. TerraTech Legion is releasing on the 30th of April, 2026!

If you haven’t popped it on your wishlist yet, then you can do so here:

And you should take a look at our official release date trailer that reveals our third playable character in TerraTech Legion — Sam Ashida:

Sam Ashida

Sam is a mercenary for the Hawkeye Private Military Corporation who prefers to use accuracy and careful planning to take down his enemies. Sam takes the meat-head destruction of Hawkeye and refines it down to a precise shot to eliminate ten Legionites with one stone.

Sam uses powerful tech upgrades to rush his foes, weaken them, then uses high-tech weaponry to exploit that weakness. Sam is elusive and only strikes when the moment is right.

Critical Hits

Our precise pilot lives and breathes accuracy! Precision weapons are Sam’s specialty — they fire very slowly, but make a huge impact when they hit; they also have a high critical hit rate and oftentimes pierce through enemies, so you can hit a large group of them at once.

Speaking of groups of enemies, boosting into an enemy as Sam will make them vulnerable for a short time and cause the next damage they take to be critical damage, which pairs nicely with the piercing-shot precision weapons.

Phasing Through Enemies

Sam Ashida has a knack of escaping tricky situations; caught surrounded with his back against the wall — no problem. When Sam boosts, his tech becomes intangible, allowing him to phase through any enemies. You can use this ability to escape danger; it also works perfectly to set yourself up in the perfect position, or to collect an important pickup in the centre of a group of strong enemies.

Chain Reaction

Sam Ashida has many powerful upgrades, and one of the strongest upgrades is Detonator. Boosting through enemies already makes them vulnerable, but if Sam has the Detonator upgrade, then they also gain the self-destruct status which makes them explode when they are destroyed, damaging other Legionites in the vicinity. This can deal massive damage to a large group of Legion, or have many smaller Legionites explode and deal lots of damage to a large Legionite.

Sam’s tech starts thin, like an arrow, but as you build wider and line lots of precision weapons up, you can boost through a huge group of enemies, then spin and watch as your arsenal unleashes destruction upon Legion in one fell swoop.

Thanks for supporting us, and we hope you’re as excited about TerraTech Legion releasing as we are! If you haven’t already, then don’t forget to add TerraTech Legion to your wishlist to support us, and prepare for the Legion invasion!

Until next time, Prospectors

- Payload Studios

Hello, Prospectors. We’re expanding our playtest to a further 200 participants! We were blown away with the overwhelming response, and want to give more of you the chance to play and give feedback.

It Continues…

Same deal as before. You’ll be able to sign up tomorrow, the 12th of March at 4:30PM GMT on our Steam store page; the first 200 people will be entered into the playtest, so warm up your refresh button, spaces filled in just a few minutes during the first round of sign ups!

Don’t forget to leave feedback by using the survey linked in-game; that’ll allow us to use your feedback to improve the game.

Thank you for all of your support, and we can’t wait for you to try out what we’ve been working on.

Until next time, Prospectors

- Payload Studios

Hello, Prospectors. We are pleased to let you know that we’re having a second closed-playtest for TerraTech Legion!

Last year, we had a small closed-playtest for TerraTech Legion, and it went over brilliantly; it was fantastic to get all of your feedback, and take this onboard for the continued development of the game!

So we’d like to do it again, but this time at a larger scale!

All in Working Order

• So you know what you’re signing up for, here’s how the playtest works;

• We are looking for around 100 players to join this playtest, sign-ups will go live from March 9th.

• The first 100 players will be able to join the playtest for 7 days, from March 9th 5:30pm GMT - March 16th 5:30pm GMT.

• Ideally we’d like to get as much feedback as possible, so if you have time to play everyday and fill out the feedback survey this would be ideal!

• You’ll be one of the first people to see what we’ve been working on and feedback so we can continue to improve and develop the game 🙌

It Begins…

You’ll be able to sign up on Monday, March 9th at 5:30pm on our Steam store page, so mark the date!

Thank you for all of your support, and we can’t wait for you to try out what we’ve been working on.

Until next time, Prospectors

- Payload Studios

Defence Shells

Armoured Onslaught

Heavy Hitter

Hi Prospectors! We’re back to show off a very fundamental part of TerraTech Legion that isn’t so common in the bullet-heaven genre – Building! We’re going to speak through a few fundamentals of our building system, and we’ll highlight some cool additions we’ve made since the demo. As always, our game is in development, and is subject to change. Let’s get into it!

Tech Building

The Basics

Blocks have attach points (APs) that form the connections between blocks. You can rotate or flip blocks, using the WASD and F keys respectively, to position them how you’d like. You can manually pick blocks back up from your Tech and place them into the inventory or use the handy-dandy Shift+Click shortcut to remove them from your Tech quickly. Leaving a block with an improper connection will cause it to hang – hanging blocks will fall off the next time you attach a block without connecting the hanging block. If you aren’t sure about a change, you can use the Z shortcut to undo and the Y shortcut to redo your change. You can quickly reference these shortcuts on the control ribbon at the bottom of the screen.

Block Info

You’ll make lots of decisions when building your Tech, and there’s a lot of information that you’ll become accustomed to when making these decisions – luckily, there are accessible ways to access this information quickly. Hovering over a block will show you its info panel, which will show you its different attributes, its description, and other information about special blocks – holding Shift will expand this info panel. Hovering over a weapon block will show you its firing arc in addition to its info panel. The firing arc shows where the weapon will fire; other blocks will disrupt this firing arc, so it’s important to check firing arcs when your Tech is packed full of blocks. Lastly, there are blocks that we call modifier blocks - or mod blocks - these blocks will adjust the attributes of other blocks on your Tech, and if you hover over a mod block, the blocks affected by the mod block will highlight and pulse.

Putting it to Action

Now that we’ve explained the basic and advanced fundamentals of building in TerraTech Legion, we will teach you some ways to put these tips and tricks into action. Using weapon mounts is a good way to buff your weapons and give them a clear firing arc at the same time! The block categories in the buff table often helps focus on the strongest attributes of your Tech, and can help highlight its shortcomings. Lastly, you can flip blocks to cleverly place them on your Tech in obscure places that help use all the space on your Tech effectively.

That’s it for today, Prospectors. Thanks for reading our fundamentals on building, if you’d like a deeper dive on our design principles of building in a roguelite bullet-heaven, then please let us know. Don’t forget to wishlist TerraTech Legion if you’re as excited for it to release as we are. Until next time, Prospectors! - Team Legion

LADY LUCK

BOOST JUICE

ALL ROUNDER

Hi Prospectors, 

We’re back! We've been working hard on a bunch of shiny new things and it’s time to fill you in on what we’ve been up to. 

Meta Progression

In the previous post we mentioned that every character is going to have a skill tree with lots of things to upgrade. Well, we’ve finished the one for Mikela Craft (GSO) and you can take a sneak peek below.

As you spend points in the tree, you’ll also unlock new Tech upgrades, which will add more attach points to your starter Tech. So over time (and lots of Legion destruction), your Tech will get bigger and more impressive.

Characters

We’ve also been working on new characters from some of your favourite TerraTech corporations. You have already seen Jean Pierre Grandier from GeoCorp. We have two new ones that will be available from launch, but we think we'll save those for another update.

We also mentioned previously that every character will have a signature boost. We’re still dialling them in to make sure they’re unique and worth the time investment, but you can see the boosts for Mikela and Jean Pierre below.

More Blocks

We’ve been working on tons of new blocks (as you would expect). We think we’re in the hundreds at this point, but we’ve a lot more still left to do.

Mini Map

Finally, you will also notice we’ve added a mini map in the top left corner. This tracks collectable items and locations you can visit.

Until next time, Prospectors!

- Team Legion

Hi there Prospectors, 

We thought we'd update you on what we've been up to since we released the demo. First of all, we've been reading everyone's feedback and watching all the streams. It helps us understand how you've been getting on with the demo, the issues you've encountered and the strategies you've been using. This in turn helps us focus our attention on the things that need changing or improving… but you all know this stuff.

The following is definitely subject to change so don’t judge us too harshly if some of this doesn’t get into the final release.

The Meta Game

So this month our main focus has been clarifying and implementing the meta game. But "how is it going to work?" we hear you cry! Well good question and the first place to start would be with the playable characters. 

Characters, Skill Trees and Unique Boosts

The TerraTech universe now has characters which we are really excited about and have been wanting to do for a while. Each character represents a corporation from the TerraTech universe. They can earn Block Bucks (BB) during a run by collecting resources and cashing them in at the end. BB can then be used to invest in your character's skill tree. Each of the character skill trees has some really fun buffs and abilities that are thematically linked to their corporation. They also have a unique boost ability that will change up how you play. 

This month we've been working on our second character, who some of you managed to play with by taking advantage of a naughty little bug. Here's a sneak preview for the players that didn’t:

Jean Pierre’s Tech is slower due to its heavy armour, large crushing treads and spikes that can damage anything that gets close. His character speciality means blocks are heavy and affect Tech performance by reducing boost power, but increase impact damage scaling. The more massive blocks a Tech has means it doesn't boost up to high speeds, but when it does boost, it does more damage to the things it hits. His unique boost ability activates a damage reduction bonus, allowing you to refine your impact damage build.

New maps, enemies, bosses, blocks and points of interest

We've continued to improve the "Dust Bowl" map with new scenery, terrain and foliage. We've also been working on our next map called "Magma Hellscape." You unlock maps by defeating the end boss of the previous map.

New bosses have been added to the rotation. We've been focusing on bosses with melee attacks to make the boss gameplay more varied. Below is a boss with a big fist attack and another with a spinny drill attack.

We've been beavering away making lots and lots of new locations. We have a whole bunch of them now with different interactions and challenges you need to overcome to access your reward. As you can see from below some of the corporations have even had their buildings corrupted by the Legion A.I.!

There is also a new member of the Legion horde:

Finally we've continued to create loads of new blocks:

Steam Deck

We've made some good optimisations on large packs of enemies. You can now select their detail level and reduce it if you have a less beefy computer. We've also added AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution and selectable Vulkan drivers which should also improve the performance on the Steam Deck (and other PCs).

Until next time, Prospectors!

- Team Legion 

From everybody here at Payload Studios we would like to say a big thank you to all the players who have downloaded the TerraTech Legion demo over the last few weeks. Over 50k players have jumped in and played the demo and we have been blown away by the reception (it has received over 40k wishlists). We also truly appreciate the reviews, good and constructive, as well as the feedback you have been leaving on Discord and Steam. 

We have some good news. We won’t be removing the demo and you will be able to play it all the way up to release (we may even update it with some shiny new things in the coming months). Here is a little taste of what we are planning for the full release:

• More blocks

• More levels 

• More bosses

• More characters 

• A fully implemented meta game

And much more!!!

If you would like to share your feedback and stay up to date on the latest news then you should join our Discord server. 

Until next time, Prospectors!

- The whole of Payload Studios 

Hello there prospectors, 

Firstly, we want to say a massive thank you for all your feedback and reviews. We are really excited so many of you are playing and enjoying the demo!

We thought that you might like some more legendary weapons to play with. They will be a definite drop in the new legion location we have added as well (if you can find it). We have also fixed a few bugs and made some balance changes. We’ve also added an FAQ as we’ve seen a bunch of questions from our community over the last few days, you can read this here.

We’ve been loving seeing all of your builds and creations, please keep sharing them! If you haven’t already, join our Discord!

Until next time,

-Team Legion

Blocks

• We have added some fun new legendary blocks:

  • Tenderiser

  • Hammer Time

  • Skewer

  • ZPK 16

• Polished the Orbital Laser model

Pickups

• All pick ups now appear over your tech for a brief moment so you don’t miss when you pick something up. 

Locations

• We have added a new legion themed location where you can get a guaranteed legendary weapon drop. 

Balance

• We have reduced the chance of getting the same legendary in a single run. 

Bugs

• Fixed an issue where some of the mines wouldn't trigger when near a legion bot. 

• Fixed an issue where some 1x1 blocks couldn’t be replaced (like for like) with the same size block. 

• Blaster Cannon damage is now an explosive damage type to match its icon (it was Projectile previously). 

TerraTech Legion has just been revealed at PC Gaming Show 2025, check out our announcement trailer below. 

Using TerraTechs modular building mechanics you're tasked with battling an onslaught of AI bots rampaging across the galaxy under threat from Legion. As a maverick Tech jockey with nerves of steel, it's up to you to clean up the carnage. 

You can jump into the Demo right now!

See you on the battlefield Prospectors 🫡