v1.1.1.1 (0856) Unity CVE patched (2025-10-13)

Reality Break hotfix v1.1.1.1has gone live.
Stability

Addressed a save/load stability issue with certain pre-v1.1 metagame profile saves. (dev note: this could, for example, prevent Playing a newly-created pilot) Quality of Life

Prime Unique items dropped in space now show a unique label and visual effect. Bug fixes

fixed guaranteed affixes on Epic+ items not benefiting from Prime Unique's affix range increase and range compression

fixed "hold to delete profile" showing incorrect glyph on gamepad

fixed loadout stat boost being cleared from a secondary loadout item if dragging and dropping an item to equip it over that secondary item

fixed item Affix Type rewrite options starting with the second one not upgrading in value when the item's rarity was rewritten

fixed low-level unique items sometimes generating certain affixes with zero affix value, such as Siphon Energy

fixed Hyper Mode Duration affix

fixed Rarity rewrite often not granting additional rewrite paths

fixed rewriting Rarity to a unique item not granting additional random affixes, only defined ones

fixed broken values for Unique Modifier rewrite paths after rewriting the Rarity of a unique item

fixed Affix Operator rewrite path values not updating on Rarity rewrite

fixed Rarity rewrite not improving the item's Crafting Budget

fixed Survival missions not playing the map music

fixed regression with Epic Swarmer weapon Salvo no longer homing toward locked-on targets
v1.1.1 (0839) Unity CVE patched (2025-10-07)

I have uploaded a patched build 0839 that addresses the recently announced Unity vulnerability. Reality Break wasn't launching via custom URI, and Windows Defender has already been updated, so this is out of an abundance of caution.

patched UnityPlayer.dll in build 0839 for CVE-2025-59489 (more details here: https://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01)
v1.1.1 (0839) (2025-09-15)

Reality Break Patch 3has gone live as version 1.1.1!
Performance

Substantially improved performance of Swarmer weapon projectiles, especially at high rates of fire or in high density combat situations.

Improved performance of projectiles expiring and spawning their death fx.
Content

New automatic Talents have been added to the Ascended Form, conferring AP bonuses and quality of life improvements.
Balance

Fate Villain (assault and random) now slows down while channeling Focus Ability.

Increased damage of Fate Villain (random) Focus Ability.

Weapon effects that increase effect radius over time now reduce their physics impulse strength at a distance.

Improved loot drops from various boss drops to make rewards from all boss side missions consistent and guarantee at least one Epic+ item.

Stratified loot drop rates for the Shaper of Knowledge talent by rarity.
Quality of Life

Improved multiple aspects of gamepad virtual cursor handling for Crafting rewrites.
Bug fixes

fixed items dropping at Epic+ rarity without becoming unique (e.g., Salvage mission target items)

fixed items awarded through a reward instead of as a drop not being flagged as New

fixed some unique Sensors and CPUs not dropping with crit chance and crit damage, respectively

fixed weapons below level 3 being prevented from rolling affixes if they're Epic or better

fixed Void Striker's Blink Strike ability sometimes detaching it from the nav mesh

fixed lock-on reticle being unclear on certain enemy ships

fixed physics impulse resist buff not stacking properly on enemies hit by knockback effects

fixed weapon effects that have expanding effect distance over time, such as Novas, frequently applying physics impulses multiple times per activation

fixed asteroids and other entities that can be affected by knockback not using the same rules and constraints as enemy ships

fixed loot drops ejected from destroyed fast-moving ships having an overly high velocity

fixed homing projectiles sometimes not acquiring targets correctly if Attack Chain was available

fixed Ship Dialog Stat Details panel stat tooltips not remaining visible

fixed Warship+ items sometimes getting a bonus rewrite path

fixed Timespace Cache subtalents allowing for infinitely stacking affix upgrades when combined with Affix Extraction

fixed Timespace Cache subtalent Infused Favor boosting item level by more than intended at high enough Break RP levels

fixed Shaper of Knowledge bonus not dropping Anchored items at the correct minimum rarity

fixed Analysis being made inoperable when an item being Analyzed was Extracted

fixed enemy waves that had a spawn delay timer incorrectly being cleared on death in several story missions, interfering with mission objectives or expert goals

fixed Fate Echo launcher missile debuff never going away

fixed Story Skip becoming enabled before seeing the True Ending if the profile was broken after starting the final story mission

fixed the Permissive Conduit talent reducing stats when interacting with multiplier affixes below x2 and being underpowered in other scenarios

fixed item Rarity rewrite to Epic+ rarity clearing all existing Rewrite Paths

fixed Clairvoyance subtalent Guided Leniency randomly re-triggering each time a Rewrite Path's costs were refreshed

fixed Survival mission objective timer counting down while player ship is in the miasma

fixed delayed map load on warp if the Pilot dialog was opened while the camera was fading to black

fixed Shaper of Knowledge talent bonus not updating for existing enemies when a new set is Anchored

fixed being able to Anchor sets without having the Shaper of Knowledge talent unlocked

fixed Spectral Understanding subtalent Wide Aperture not requiring any items of the higher rarity to have been collected

fixed mission items and non-equipment items being valid Prime Unique targets
v1.1.0.1 (0816) (2025-08-07)

Reality Breakhotfix v1.1.0.1has gone live.

Courtney's notes: As usual, thank you for posting your thoughts and sending bug reports. Close to 100% of this hotfix is based on player feedback. There's more to do, but we wanted to get an updated build out there asap.
Stability

Addressed an instability when opening Ascension dialog while there is an Aptitude upgrade or unlock queued up to display in the Reality Stream.

Bulletproofed against the Overlord Mission Type rewrite sometimes causing loss of profile progress if it failed to match the specific map index.
Balance

Substantially increased the Ascension Point gains from banked Reality Points and from a full Reality Stream.

Rebalanced the Reality Stream to make Talent levels more consistent and to fix Tier levels not reaching exactly 100 with a full set of Talents.

Substantially reduced the cost scaling curve for standard Ascension.

Reduced the unlock thresholds for Reality Stream subtalents and tier unlocks to compensate for the revised Talent maximum values.

Massively buffed the damage output of Ultimate rarity Drone and Armor item procs.

Reduced the damage output of the Ultimate Superlaser special proc.

Increased health, shields, and damage output of random boss mission version of Raider Factory.

Added enemy spawns to Raider Factory boss random mission.

Gave Ultimate Superlaser item proc a small initial and recurring cooldown.
Polish

Expanded the description for the Prime Uniques talent to include all of its bonuses.
Bug fixes

fixed Ship dialog Stat Details panel overflowing if it had too many stats to show

fixed rewriting Unique Mod Type on certain unique items not updating various stats until unequip/re-equip or going to a different map

fixed multiple bugs with the Confiscation Flow Bonus: it was not applying to the player's ship, the effect's value did not match the display string, and the display string listed Siphon Energy instead of Energy on Hit

fixed problems arising from Extracting an affix with no remaining room in the inventory (such as extracting an equipped item with a full inventory, or extracting an inventory item with a full inventory and the Extraction Echo talent)

fixed Unique Mod Type rewritable entry display string

fixed Intrusion Coder buff calculation not incorporating Unique Mod Type rewrite

fixed missing icon for Energy Weapon Power rewritable affix type

fixed rewriting to Overlord Mission Type sometimes causing loss of profile progress if it failed to match the specific map index

fixed certain ship destruction fragments not using gravity on relevant maps (e.g., Syndicate Enforcer on Cloud City), like particles already did

fixed Uncatalogued Space boss debuff fx going away even if the debuff's duration was extended by destroying its sub-structures

fixed a certain Boss Remnant sometimes not dropping at the correct item level

fixed front end music taking too long to fade out when Ascending

fixed certain Fate Council ships not using their secondary weapons

fixed Ultimate Armor item proc not working after warping into a sector without re-equipping it

fixed extraneous items getting Preserved via Multiversal Cache talent

fixed Extinguished characters being broken and "reset" during Pure Ascension

fixed Favored Favorites that have been Preserved into ship inventory after a manual break not being preserved during a Pure Ascension break

fixed missing visual effects if performing two standard Ascensions without leaving the front end menu

fixed mission CL rewrite Experience display being clamped to unsigned int range for display

fixed Compromising Field subtalent of Foe Undermine not having any effect

fixed Foe Undermine talent not working on entities spawned via a specific delayed registration mechanism in the game
v1.1.0 (0806) (2025-07-28)Today, I’m delighted to release the Ascension Update!!

Ever since Reality Break launched in February, players have suggested dozens of cool ideas that I have wished to include if given the opportunity, including new progression systems as well as expansions to existing gameplay mechanics. I have already included a few of those in the two Patches and ten Hotfixes released so far. But now, thanks to all of your support for Reality Break, many more of those wishes have become reality!

In the Ascension Update, you'll find a True Ending progression path that unlocks the all new Ultimate item tier, a system for Endless Progression, unique new Rewrite types, the ability to Preserve more unlocks across Profile Breaks, and much more! See below for more details.
But first...

I am also thrilled to announce today that @sarahelementgames has joined forces with me at Element Games! She is a brilliant, insightful game dev who has helped a ton with this update as well as helping me with the game's launch this past February, and I can't wait to see what we can accomplish together. After 11+ years of solo indie dev, it will be a nice change of pace... not to mention how incredible it will be to work on games with her!!
Features

Here's a partial list of what you can expect in this update:
New Progression Path

Once you've achieved the game's True Ending, a new Talent progression path becomes available in the Reality Stream. This uses a new currency and enables some of the most powerful upgrades the game has seen!
Ultimate Items

Some items cannot be found. They must be created. In the Ascension Update, you will be able to break the limitations of item rarity itself!
Endless Progression

Unlock the option to continue increasing your Tier bonuses directly... and permanently.
And Lots More!

Preserve your Specialist Upgrades across Breaks, analyze items multiple times, and occasionally Extract multiple Affix Fragments. You will also be able to challenge Bosses as often as you wish via repeatable Boss Random Missions, with a new custom Boss Health UI!
Ongoing Updates

This update represents the continuation of my incorporating player feedback in shaping where I take the game. As before, I will hotfix issues as they come up.
Daily Deal! Special Bundles! More Cool Games!

In celebration of the update, starting at 10AM PST on 7/28/2025 we're running a Daily Deal with our highest ever discount of 20%. Not only that, we've also teamed up with a few of our friends to hold a special "Four Galaxies" sci-fi extravaganza! We're bundling with three other sci-fi games that have major releases today: Star Valor with its new Base Building DLC, Astronomics with its Better Bots Update, and last but not least, Star Vortex which is launching today into Early Access! All games are available bundled with each other for extra discounts, so there's a ton of cool new stuff for you to check out!!
Feedback

The best way to give feedback is to email me at courtney@elementgamesonline.com or to join the official Element Games discord! This is especially helpful if you encounter something that breaks the game for you or prevents progress in some way - go to your %localappdata%low\Element Games\Reality Break folder and email me all of your .sav and .log files along with a description of the issue you're experiencing. This will help me fix things much faster.
Enjoy!

Oh but, one more thing: as you can probably tell from the above, it took a lot of effort to synchronize this Four Galaxies event, months in the making for all four of us to hit this singular date! That does mean that a few things didn't quite make the deadline... but, as an extra little surprise, stay tuned for a few small goodies coming to Reality Break over the next few weeks that were scheduled for the Ascension Update ;)

That's enough from me - much love, and happy breaking! <3

~Courtney

Reality Breakfull version build v1.1has gone live!
Performance

Addressed an issue with the Recursion skill effect not being cleaned up correctly, which was causing it to stack to ridiculously high spawn counts and bogging down performance after long play sessions.
Quality of Life

Implemented first pass at support for ultrawide aspect ratios, defaulting UI elements on the left and right sides to the edges of the game window. (Courtney's note: The previous behavior that placed the main ingame UI in a virtual 16:9 rectangle can be restored in the Options dialog for those players who requested it)

Implemented Story Dialogue Auto-Skip option, allowing you to choose whether it automatically skips all dialogue or only fast forwards what you've previously seen.

Show confirmation dialog when resetting a Subtalent in the Reality Stream.

Display a more prominent centered flyout visual when completing a mission and gaining its rewards.

Loot drops are now spawned into the world more quickly, speeding up gameplay when destroying elites, warships, and other difficult enemies that drop many items at once. You can adjust this in GameSettings.xml via WorldDropSpawnIntervalSeconds and WorldDropMaxSpawnsPerUpdate.

Duluh'a now drops her loot near your ship and does it much sooner instead of waiting 9 seconds for full despawn.

The Storage dialog UI now slides over to the side anytime the Rewrite dialog is visible.

Item tooltips now always show the item's sell value.

Moved the colossus interior map from Colossus Demolition side missions into Excursion, Elimination, and Salvage.
Content

Added new Talent progression tier, available when the game's True Ending has been achieved.

Added new Ultimate item rarity. Ultimate items are created in a unique way, described when you unlock this feature ingame.

Added Boss Side Missions. (Courtney's note: Renamed the Demolition mission type to Disruption, since Demolition is now the broader category of boss takedown missions)

Implemented the Bonus Resources rewrite type for treasure crates. (Courtney's note: yay Calcium!)
Balance

Improved the Precision Guide talent to grant a flat bonus to crit chance instead of boosting the current crit chance by a percentage.

Increased the chance that treasure crates are rewritable.

Prevented Affix Value rewrites from generating for defined item guaranteed affixes. (Courtney's note: this created outlandish balance problems, much like when other affix rewrite types could hit them)

Increased Reality Point gain from equipped Epic items by 100%.

Adjusted difficulty curve of Story Campaign missions as well as enemy power scaling from Challenge Level and Omen. (Courtney's note: Patch 2's balance rework needed some TLC)

Changed the Tier 3 bonus to Fate Ward, which increases Ship Armor.

When crafting an item from a Chassis, the resulting item's rarity is no longer decreased to the lowest slotted Affix Fragment rarity.

Buffed the Concentration pilot skill from +100% to +400%.

Improved the Fate Council boss fight: they have a lower chance to use propulsion and a longer propulsion cooldown, they receive a speed and damage vulnerability debuff after using propulsion, and the game camera is zoomed out during this fight.

Improved the Fate Villain boss fight: they can now use their own Focus Ability, and have nearly complete immunity to knockback.

Improved the Expanse boss fight: destroying the outer structures now grants it a far more substantial buff that improves its Haste when spawning various adds and hazards, and its hazard spawns deal additional damage.

Adjusted Uncatalogued Space boss: reduced the strength of the damage vulnerability debuff when its panels are destroyed.
Polish

Added unique UI for visualizing Boss health and shields.

Improved tooltip scaling at high resolutions so they aren't so tiny.
Modding

Mission specs (such as Elimination, which corresponds to specific missions) are no longer hard-coded, and can be used by multiple CMissionProto XML definitions.
Bug fixes

fixed tiny scale for Choose Aptitude dialog and various other UIs at very high resolutions

fixed Aggression Boon talent not displaying percentages correctly

fixed tooltips not being constrained by the top edge of the game window or screen

fixed side missions sometimes rolling higher rarity than intended

fixed some random missions still defaulting to the current Omen level when generated

fixed various talent and tier fx not getting cleaned up when closing and reopening Reality Stream

fixed default binding for Reset Talent being the same as the binding for Cycle Tier

fixed Accumulated Brilliance talent multiplier applying twice when Breaking a profile

fixed Scionic Boom talent bonus not displaying in Break Profile tooltip

fixed Nexus capital ship only having a warship-sized health pool

fixed rewriting Unique Mod Value not propagating to Unique Mod Type rewrite on the same item

fixed various affix rewrites, such as weapon damage benefit and pilot skill benefit, not scaling up when the item's rarity was rewritten

fixed Damage Flyouts radio buttons not initializing properly in Options dialog

fixed Through The Looking Glass clone not having extra drone equip slots

fixed various unique items no longer working properly after swapping loadouts

fixed Chaos Vortex lightning fx and prologue explosion fx not despawning properly on scene transition

fixed mission objective flyout showing Next Objective section before showing the next objective

fixed certain mechanics, such as the Home Turf unique affix, not getting cleared properly when out of range

fixed Fate Council not being able to use their Secondary Weapons
v1.00.2.2 (0752) (2025-05-20)

Reality Break Patch 2has gone live as version 1.00.2.

*Courtney's notes: By far the most substantial upgrade in this patch is for object spawning performance. It necessitated a comprehensive pass over the entire game's spawning pipelines for gameplay visuals and UI elements. This will especially help players using HDDs, but it also helps heavy combat run much faster on SSDs, including on my nine year old PC with a 970GTX.

In addition, I have adjusted the balance for analysis, crafting, unique item drop rates, and more to address player feedback directly, as well as making chassis items drop from destroyed enemy ships.

I've included another set of improvements to quality of life, such as the frequently requested Story Skip option for players who have unlocked the true ending.

Players who wished for the "forced story breaks" to work differently - I have heard you, I understand, and I agree that these could feel unnecessarily punitive. I have addressed this in a way that preserves my vision for the surprise factor. When the timeline ruptures, you can now continue playing in a Severed Timeline for as long as you like. When you're ready to continue the storyline, you can enter the Chaos Vortex and resume the campaign. I hope this feels better, and I appreciate those who left this helpful feedback.

In addition, I have been thrilled to see some players take on the mantle of investigating modding the game (including a couple of super cool test mods already released in the discord, as well as a modding tool and a save file editor). I have added a small first pass at a modding section to these patch notes to reflect my continuing work to support that aspect of the game.

Finally, I am pleased to reveal a brief roadmap indicating where the game will likely go. Even though Reality Break isn't a live service game, I love working on this game and I love the community that has coalesced around it, so I want to keep expanding it.*

Free Content Roadmap
Performance

Implemented a massive overhaul to the game's handling of visual object spawning so that the vast majority of game visuals are now automatically pooled for faster creation. (dev note: I've been testing this extensively over the past week, but please keep an eye out for visuals that don't spawn correctly or that persist for too long and let me know)

Greatly improved CPU and GPU memory usage across the board, with an emphasis on particle and UI texture memory.

Greatly improved performance of Hurricane elite affix on planet-based maps.

Improved performance of picking up world drops, especially Resource drops.
Stability

Added proper handling to prevent certain rare game crashes.
Quality of Life

If you have completed the Story Campaign and reached the True Ending, you can now skip all story content when creating a new pilot or breaking an existing one.

Tutorial progress is now saved in the Reality Stream rather than per-Pilot, which means new Pilots created to try different Aptitudes or to restart Ironman runs will no longer be repeatedly taught the basics.

Added a flyout when auto-looting a resource drop to make it more obvious it happened.

Increased the default Resource stack size by 100%, and doubled all of the stack size Specialist Upgrades as well.

When using Retrieve on an item in the Quantum Frame, automatically equip it if there's an empty equip slot.

Added an indicator to show that the recurring villain had been defeated during the current cycle.

Added gamepad cursor teleport when opening the side mission Challenge Level rewrite UI.

Added Stash cursor sweep, allowing you to hold down the stash/retrieve input while sweeping across ship inventory items do move them in bulk.

Reworked the story campaign flow so that, after the prologue, profile breaks are no longer forced by the story. Instead, you may continue playing indefinitely until you choose to go into the Chaos Vortex and continue the campaign.

Demo profiles are now immediately imported into the full version without requiring Story Campaign completion.
Content

Chassis items of all rarities can now randomly drop from enemies once crafting has been unlocked. (dev note: until I add this to the loot filter UI, it can be disabled by setting LootFilterAllowChassisDrops in UserConfig.xml to false)

Added a tutorial popup that explains how the recurring villain works.

The Voi'ner capital ship now spawns on side missions located in Voi'ner Shipyards.
Balance

Increased the drop rate of Epic rarity items by 100%, and increased the drop rate of other unique items by 400%.

Greatly reduced Crafting cost scaling with item level and affix category when applying affix fragments.

Added item level scaling to Crafting budgets, increasing them beyond previous caps.

Rebalanced Analysis: durations have been slashed by around 10x, Credit costs have been upped by the inverse. (dev note: This will serve as a better foundation for future changes, provide a Credit sink and make targeting currency gains worthwhile, and facilitate far more Discoveries. As usual, I'll be monitoring feedback.)

Specialist Upgrade Resource costs are now also reduced by the Aetheric Negotiation talent. (dev note: Credit cost reductions are fixed as well.)

Extracted affix fragments that were already boosted via the Vibrant Formulation talent now cost +100% to apply to new items.

Map enemy levels are now either the story mission level or the side mission Challenge Level. Enemies are then also upgraded based on the selected Omen level. Reward scaling has been adjusted.

Station and trader inventory item levels are now increased to the last completed side mission Challenge Level.

Shielded enemy ships now scale their shielding with Omen level.

Affixes that are guaranteed on unique items, such as Engine Thrust on most Propulsion and Stabilizer items, can no longer gain an Affix Type rewrite or the bonus from the A Beautiful Cortex talent

Reduced chassis bonus budget multiplier from 2 to 1.5, and added a cap that scales by +3 with item rarity.

Haste scales less strongly with item level and more strongly with rarity

The aptitude trait Exponential Programming has been reduced from +20 item level to +8, and the Accessory Overlord trait has been increased from +100% to +400%.
Polish

Improved the description string for the Multiplex Analysis talent to clarify that its effect is automatic.

Improved multiple description strings for the Timespace Cache talent to clarify its restrictions.
Modding

Added various crafting variables to ScientistSettings.xml: CraftingBaseBudget, CraftingBudgetFromRarity, CraftingBudgetItemLevelScalar, CraftingBudgetChassisMultiplier, CraftingFragmentPrimaryAffixCost, CraftingFragmentFateAffixCost, CraftingFragmentItemLevelCostScalar

Data-driving for item definition XMLs: BaseAnalysisCostLevelExponent, BaseAnalysisCostRarityExponent

Custom defined items can now point to existing icons using IconName in their XML definition.

Added fallback display for defined item's UniqueDescription if there isn't an entry in the string table.

Neutral Propulsion inputs also trigger abilities on the player ship's equipped items.
Bug fixes

fixed certain translated strings not using the correct formatting, leading to improper display in East Asian languages (dev note: This included over a hundred instances of improperly formatted strings, mostly in Japanese, but across all East Asia languages. My apologies for not catching these sooner. I have implemented automated error detection so that future problems will be caught immediately.)

fixed Skills flagged to scale with total ship damage output double-dipping into critical damage

fixed possibility of applying both Compressed Fabrication and Vibrant Formulation subtalents of the advanced crafting talent Diversified Assembly on the same item by backing out to the main menu between acquiring a chassis and applying fragments (dev note: if an existing item has enough unapplied fragments to reduce the remaining budget below 0, it will not be possible to apply fragments to that item until enough have been removed to bring it within budget; previously unapplied crafting budgets will be reinitialized using the new math)

fixed showing Equip Boost line on item tooltips before it was unlocked on that character

fixed Favored Affix multiplier display string causing color bleed to subsequent affix strings

fixed ship rotation for tank controls not respecting delta time

fixed Favored Stat bonus not being updated after rewriting an Affix Type to/from the relevant affix, or if the relevant affix was added due to rewriting an item's rarity

fixed certain buffs from equipped items not hiding correctly when the player ship is warping through a jump gate

fixed cost discount from Aetheric Negotiation talent not working on Specialist Upgrades

fixed items like Resources and Affix Fragments having higher priority than Equipment items when sorting various inventories

fixed untranslated character dialogue text appearing in speech bubbles after the player has unlocked the Booming Reformulation talent later in the game

fixed being unable to cycle loadouts while the cursor was hovering an item

fixed weapons and drones occasionally not firing if multiple ones of the same type were simultaneously equipped and the frame rate was lower than their adjusted cooldown rate

fixed missing icons for Max Shields and Blast Radius affix types

fixed certain indicator icons on Rewrite Dialog being clickable

fixed various layout issues with Aptitude selection UI

fixed incorrect formatting in Skill tooltip when displaying an altered maximum level cap

fixed needing to restart the game before an unlockable Aptitude's modification to Skill cooldowns took effect

fixed text label for credits gained from selling scrap potentially overflowing the station dialog UI

fixed Asteroid Barrage entities not playing destruction fx when they expire

fixed being unable to chain-cast Negate Existence and Asteroid Barrage with fast enough Skill cooldowns

fixed improper visual scale for pooled ability effects that modulate their visual size with ability level, stats such as Blast Radius, and other multipliers

fixed a certain Aptitude being able to chain-cast Ship Regeneration for free

fixed Vibrant Formulation talent granting a 200% boost to Fate Affixes instead of 100% (dev note: it always said "up to 200%" but was granting 200% no matter what)

fixed certain entities still appearing on radar even if their root visual was hidden

fixed beam type weapons spawning their beam fx visuals in the wrong direction if overlapping a collision trigger, such as for a interactive object

fixed shields up effect playing when player ship was hidden while jumping in after death and respawn

fixed sorting of inventory item UI scrap and locked indicators

fixed text outline coloring on Codex set names

fixed speech bubble dialog being locked at a high scale factor no matter the screen setup

fixed more visual effects not being hidden when player ship is hidden, such as when jumping to a different map

fixed mission CL rewrite cost displaying incorrectly when first shown

fixed codex set bonus name outline coloration by rarity

fixed rewritten UI fx interaction with pooling

fixed current side mission not auto-abandoning when beginning the story-mode fracture mission

fixed input bug if abandoning the fracture side mission before the waves had begun spawning

fixed always skipping story on broken profiles

fixed completed mission objective text locking to incorrect scale

fixed speech bubble dialog being locked at a high scale factor no matter the screen setup

fixed enemy health bars occasionally getting stuck on-screen without being anchored to anything

fixed the Foe Undermine talent applying twice

fixed Through The Looking Glass skill not incorporating Tactician bonus

fixed astronomical collision damage inflicted on the player's ship at higher map levels

fixed Superheated preventing pickup of world drops while afterburning

fixed Voltaic Fortifier unique description string not dynamically changing when Unique Mod Type was rewritten

Reality Break Hotfix v1.00.2.1is also live.
Bug fixes

fixed Hurricane elite affix blocking projectiles

fixed pooling for skill tier unlocked fx

fixed Asteroid Barrage fracture debris occasionally happening near player ship

fixed and improved handling of Stash/retrieve for stackable items

fixed Voltaic Fortifier unique modifier type rewrite not working with certain stats

fixed low-health warning triggering in certain circumstances when equipping or unequipped items

fixed Rarity rewrite allowing items to go above the item level limit

fixed regression with visual effects for selling and analyzing items cleaning up too aggressively

Reality Break Hotfix v1.00.2.2is live as well.
Bug fixes

fixed a certain Fate Core rarity rewrite bonus sometimes not applying by making it apply on the next rarity rewrite as well as being fixed up on load

fixed various UI bugs with inventory management of items that are larger than 1x1

fixed various codepaths that could cause instability when rewriting the Fate Core's rarity

fixed loss of inventory items if dragging and dropping an equipped item onto them with non-matching equipment types

fixed gamepad cursor no longer auto-warping to item when retrieving that item from the Analysis slot

fixed regression with resources occasionally being picked up into empty inventory slots even if they could stack with existing resources in inventory
v1.00.1 (0679) - GOG (2025-03-17)

Reality Break Patch 1has gone live as version 1.00.1.

*Courtney's notes: This is the first Patch for Reality Break. The distinction between this patch and the hotfixes I released previously isn't black and white, but mainly: I will use hotfixes if something needs an urgent fix, and stick to a somewhat regular patching schedule for other improvements to the game.

I'm excited to announce that Reality Break got the official Steam Deck Verified badge from Valve! My work on performance and UI legibility isn't done, but at the very least the game now has a solid foundation for handheld play. Thank you to everyone who sent feedback! Please keep it coming.

I've also overhauled the Mission Challenge Level rewrite UX to address multiple areas of confusion and to improve clarity via layout and tooltips. Hopefully this will improve the experience for players, especially those who didn't realize there was a dropdown there in the first place or that challenge levels could be increased past CL11.

Performance is now better in heavy combat scenarios due to configurable per-object caps on visual effects for various abilities. This patch also includes four unique new items, including a Shields item to help complete an item set as well as three Epic drone items. And, I've done another pass on reducing the large size of certain UI elements after the recent legibility pass, and revamped the Aptitudes dialog UI to improve legibility on handheld devices.

I'm still diagnosing an issue experienced by a few players that can cause save file corruption on system power loss. Until I find out what's happening, I've implemented two different kinds of profile backups. They are described in the Stability section below.

One last thing of note: I've included some catch-up patch notes for improvements and fixes that weren't listed in the notes for prior hotfixes. These are listed in a separate section at the bottom.

I love working on this game, so thank you all so much for making my dream a reality! A reality break, if you will!*
Performance

Note: the UserConfig.xml file referenced below can be found in the game's installed files under your Steam root game directory at Reality Break\Reality Break_Data\StreamingAssets\Config\UserConfig.xml, where you can also find additional instructions for each setting.

spawning of auto-pooled visual effects is now capped per effect, configurable in UserConfig.xml via AutoPoolingPerObjectMaximum(dev note: for example, projectile launch and impact effects)

filling the object pools can either be done over time or all at once, configurable in UserConfig.xml via FillObjectPoolsOverTime(dev note: this is mainly for players on HDDs who want to let the game load more up front rather than have it stutter while filling the pools over time after startup)

added an [u]experimental[/u] setting that turns on auto-pooling for almost all ability effect objects, which you can enable in UserConfig.xml via EXPERIMENTAL_AutoPoolAllAbilityEffects

added an [u]experimental[/u] setting that decreases the chance an auto-pooled object will spawn if the current proportion of spawned objects relative to the hard limit exceeds the EXPERIMENTAL_ReducePooledSpawnChanceThresholdsetting in UserConfig.xml (dev note: (this means objects with capped pools will gradually decrease their spawn rate by default as they approach their hard cap rather than just shutting off when the limit is reached)
Stability

the game now creates a backup of the current pilot save file before it proceeds with a profile save

in addition, the game creates session backups the first time the Reality Stream or any pilot are loaded successfully after a fresh launch of the game (dev note: if something happens to your profile, you can check %localappdata%low\Element Games\Reality Break for save file backups)

fixed game getting into a bad state if it tried to import a demo profile but a demo folder did not exist

fixed instability if an Analysis timer was reduced below the minimum possible value for DateTime via Inspection Point rewards for already-completed analysis
Quality of Life

the Mission Challenge Level rewrite UI has been revamped to make it more obvious that different levels can be selected by the player as well as to teach various additional concepts via layout and tooltips, including showing the enemy difficulty increase as well as the improved rewards from higher CLs
Content

added "Premium Cycler" unique Shields item, Screen specialization

added "Sudden Followthrough" unique Drone item, Targeter specialization

added "Evasion Protocol" unique Drone item, Orbiter specialization

added "Voltaic Fortifier" unique Drone item, Transformer specialization

improved legibility of Aptitudes dialog on handheld devices
Balance

the Sublimation affix has been adjusted: its baseline potency, minimum increment, and scaling with item level, rarity, and ship class have been reduced (dev note: this affix was an extreme power level outlier, contributing in large part to some players being able to trivialize CL99 enemies and even the Overlord; I will be doing an Aptitude balance pass in the future that will aim to bring everything closer together, at which point this and other unique affixes will be adjusted further)

the Ambush affix has been adjusted: its scaling with rarity has been increased

the Devastator affix has been adjusted: its minimum increment and scaling with rarity and ship class have been reduced

Affix Fragments are no longer blocked from installation by matching affixes on the target item, except for a craftedfragment with a matching affix that is already installed in that item

reduced damage output of Federation Destroyer by 60%
Bug fixes

fixed various affix and stat calculation inconsistencies by removing order dependencies (dev note: among other things, this fixes interactions between affix multipliers and other bonuses based on the order in which items were equipped)

fixed the Aptitude dialog showing portions of UI for undiscovered Aptitudes

fixed certain labels not using localized strings on Aptitude dialog

fixed Superlaser weapons not being flagged as Beam weapons

fixed rewriting Unique Modifier Type not updating the item's internal UniqueModifier for later use

fixed certain Affix values being applied both to the additive and multiplicative components of the bonus calculation

fixed being unable to scroll certain lists by grabbing and dragging their scrollbar handles

fixed being able to equip drones into phantom slots after using alt compare on a drone tooltip and then switching to a pilot without as many slots unlocked

fixed being able to extract an Affix Fragment from the Fate Core

fixed mission rewards showing CL 106 as required for next Aptitude rank

fixed regression with camera shake and screen edge effects option toggles no longer functioning

fixed overly small labels on pilot profile UI

fixed visual effects being offset and scaled after antialiasing was turned off, until a game restart

Previously

clarified the Unique Bonus description for Epic Gatling weapon The Shredder to make it obvious that its projectile damage boost degrades in flight

toned down flashbang of Nexus capital ship destroyed debris

toned down flashbang brightness on one of the Epic Gatling weapon's unique bonus visual effects

Reinforced Coffers are now guaranteed to drop at least an Epic item

treasure crates with additional Bonus Equipment now get extra loot quality and drop at least Rares, but cost 3x

fixed Rewrite dialog background sorting against bright Navigation map mission node UIs

fixed Rewrite dialog not making its rewrite entries operable if fate pulses were picked up while it was open

fixed Codex dialog being partly cut off at certain screen aspect ratios

fixed Nucleic Injector projectiles not spawning their impact fx on collision

fixed Haste region mod entries not displaying as percentage

fixed inventory sort not segregating different item types correctly, such as Equipment vs Resources

Armor value on ship dialog UI now uses large number formatting if necessary

reduced the delay before you can skip the first line of dialogue in a story conversation from 900ms to 300ms (dev note: it's there so players don't accidentally miss the first line if clicking rapidly; for advanced users, it is configurable in Reality Break\Reality Break_Data\StreamingAssets\Proto\Settings\GameSettings.xml via InputCooldownForFirstStoryIndex)

reduced the delay before you can dismiss a tutorial popup from 900ms to 500ms (dev note: confgurable in GameSettings.xml via DefaultTutorialDismissDelay)

renamed Shield Capacitor to Factory Capacitor so that it matches the match Expert Goal's naming

fixed miscellaneous bug with Rare set item names not matching the item that was acquired for that set item slot
v1.00.0 (0659) - GOG (2025-02-24)

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 5has gone live.

*Courtney's notes: More performance fixes along with progression and gameplay blockers are included in this hotfix.

A note about balance: I am continuing to evaluate this with the community. Once the overall landscape reaches a more stable state, I will evaluate whether more sweeping changes are warranted. Thank you for continuing to post balance feedback.

Also, this hotfix reworks the penultimate mission so that players who defeat the recurring antagonist during the first cycle that's possible don't miss critical story exposition that explains much of the game's plot, and so that they don't the final rank for one of the main Story Talents. In addition, this enables the final two mission skips that those players were missing, including by far the largest skip in the launch version of the game.

The launch for Reality Break exceeded my expectations, and I will continue improving the game over the coming weeks and months. Thank you all again for joining me on this journey!*
Performance

substantially improved the performance of the game's asteroids, including updating, damaging, and destroying them

improved the performance of spawning impact/hit fx caused by standard attack abilities as well as beam type abilities
Progression

story campaign mission The Reality of the Situation now includes additional exposition dialogue from a separate timeline branch if the player arrives at that mission after having defeated the recurring antagonist during the first cycle that's possible to do; this also makes sure to upgrade the relevant Story Talent to its maximum rank, and unlocks two more mission skips
Quality of Life

show oversized item Ship Class rewrites differently depending on whether the player can afford them, and show "Fighter" as the ship's label in the ship dialog UI header (dev note: this is to increase tutorialization for the Ship Class rewrite feature since it continues to be missed by many players)
Balance

Region Mod Type and Region Mod Value mission rewrites now generate more reasonable values that scale with mission Challenge Level
Bug fixes

fixed Backup Plan item regression alternating its shots instead of firing both simultaneously

fixed Negatron Collider item cooldown reduction bonus not working

fixed homing weapon projectiles not tracking Hazards or Structures, such as Launcher missiles not acquiring lock on Volatile Anomalies and Colossus Pulsers

fixed remaining Analysis time getting stuck at 0 seconds if the analysis was completed via the bonus from the Multiplex Analysis talent

fixed various visual and calculation problems with the Region Mod Type and Region Mod Value mission rewrite

fixed campaign story missions locking their level at 1 for newly-created pilots when other pilots have already completed other timelines for the Reality Stream

fixed Talent Tier 2 bonus to Loot Quality not applying