Alpha v0.18.0

What's New

• Wraith - EMP Blast replaces Phase Dash — a shockwave bursts out from your ship, stunning and shoving back every enemy it sweeps over.
• Wraith - Overclock replaces Smoke Veil — a brief wind-up tagged with an overhead label, then your whole team's cooldowns tick faster and everyone moves a little quicker for a few seconds.
• UI - A debug console for editing your Inventory on the fly — backtick opens a command box with inline autocomplete, and the grid updates live as you type.

What's Changed

• Gameplay - Stunned enemies aren't frozen anymore — they crawl forward and turn at a fraction of their usual pace. The shutdown still reads cleanly, without the unnatural full stop.
• Gameplay - Knockback eases out instead of teleporting. Hit enemies are shoved fast in the first heartbeat, then drift to a stop.

A Class for the Team

Wraith's old kit leaned selfish — a personal dash, a personal cloak. The new pair points outward. EMP Blast locks down a swarm so every teammate gets a clean window to push or breathe. Overclock skips the caster entirely on its 2-second wind-up, then drops a buff on every living teammate at once, no matter where they are on the map. The Wraith pays the energy; the team gets the payoff.

That's the shape we want for class abilities going forward — your role on the team. The selfish power fantasy moves to Upgrades, where your build expresses how you want to play. More on that next release.

Stuns That Read Right

A frozen enemy looked like the game had paused them. The new behavior keeps them visibly trying — still drifting toward you, still turning to track, just at a crawl. The control feels just as strong because they can't catch you, but the world keeps moving. Bosses honor the slow too, though their telegraphed AoE attacks still detonate on schedule — committed timers don't pause.

A Tester's Console

Hit backtick on the play page and a command box drops into the bottom-left. inventory add <name>, inventory remove <name>, and inventory clear let you stage the exact Inventory you want without grinding bosses for the Upgrade you're trying to try out. Autocomplete suggests as you type — Tab accepts, Enter submits, Esc closes.

This is the first piece of a tester toolbox. Force-spawning bosses mid-match is next on the list.