Last month, I highlighted Sodaman, a roguelike from indie dev Tape Corps in Early Access — and I loved it. But it was a little rough around the edges in certain aspects. The difficulty spike in the middle of runs would make the game feel more like Vampire Survivors. Once you hit a certain point, it felt like your run met its “natural” conclusion. But with this update, Tape Corps has put Sodaman in a place that makes it play like a traditional roguelike. The Survivors elements are still there, but the game is starting to take shape. Check out the patch notes below.
‘SODAMAN’ Early access UPDATE 3: fIRST rEGULAR uPDATE
We know there’s still plenty to improve, and we’ll make Sodaman better with each update. Based on feedback from the past 10 days, this update focuses on two key areas:
- The game’s difficulty level.
- The lack of meta-progression options.
New ‘sodaman’ Additions
- Weapons can now receive upgrades at the Gunsmith for a fee.
- Addition of button hover animations.
- Addition of a note to indicate that “Final Threat” missions are optional.
- Patch notes are now in the main menu.
- Soda slot names are now visible in the inventory interface on the soda selection screen.
- You can discover collectibles like health, magnets, and movement speed bonuses in supply crates on the map.
- Addition of help texts to the soda and card selection screens.
- Soda slots in the Arsenal interface are now color-coded.
- Addition of warnings to prevent accidental actions, such as removing a soda or exiting before saving a card deck.
Changes
- If the character’s health is 20 or lower, the damage effect will remain on the screen with low transparency.
- Collectibles like health and magnets are now visible on the map.
- Improvements to the soda interface.
- Updates to the magnet and health visuals.
- Adjustments to the Arsenal interface — under the “ALL” category, you can now sort weapons by type.
- Some map object icons have been changed.
‘sodaman’ Balance Updates
- The number of supply crates (previously crystals) has been increased.
- Camera distance has been increased from 6.5 to 7.
- Reload times for all weapons have been reduced by 30%.
- Crystaloid Peon Blue (Fast Dark Blue Creatures): Attack speed has been slowed.
- Crystaloid Edoshi (Hedgehog): Movement speed has been reduced.
- Red Thirst regeneration per stack
Common & Rare: 0.015 → 0.02
Epic & Legendary: 0.025 → 0.03
‘sodaman’ Weapon Updates
Cynosure
- Bonus damage to nearby enemies +50 → +75%
- Summon slot count 1 → 2
- Fire rate 1.4 → 1.6
- Critical damage 2 → 2.5
- Spread 15 → 20
The Power
- Fire rate 11 → 12
- Magazine size 16 → 20
Dragonfurutsu
- +100 → +25%
- Bullet size 1 → 1.2
- Damage 350 → 450
- Fire rate 2.8 → 2.6
- Critical damage 2.5 → 4
Bunjil
- Strike slot count 1 → 2
FACT
- Strike slot count 2 → 3
Celesta
- Spark slot count 1 → 2
- Bonus damage on ricochet +10 → +10%
Kaneda
- Magazine size 7 → 9
- Damage 120 → 180
‘sodaman’ Bug Fixes
- Fixed a loading error caused by old demo save files.
- Resolved hitbox issues with certain map objects.
- Fixed an issue where the Cobra Spit effect lasted longer than intended.
- Fixed a problem where the deployment slot was not visible in the Arsenal interface.
- Various localization fixes.
- Corrections to UI (interface) errors at different resolutions.
- Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor prevented selections in certain situations.
- Fixed malfunctions in some cybernetics.
- Fixes permafrost’s duration increasing with level-up.
- Further performance optimizations.
The post ‘Sodaman’, One of My Favorite Roguelikes This Year, Gets Its First Major Early Access Update appeared first on VICE.