Something has cracked open beyond the Gateway, and things are leaking through.

The Fracture Update (v0.5.3) is the biggest update we've shipped since Early Access opened. It brings a brand new kind of game to Solaris, rebuilds Cataclysm's combat from the ground up, and changes how our game servers work behind the scenes so you spend less time waiting in queues. There's a lot here, so let's get into it.

Anomalies

Anomalies are a new type of game on Solaris. They're experimental, limited-time games that slip through the Fracture for a while, so we can try new ideas with real players before deciding what becomes a permanent part of Solaris.

Anomalies aren't always open. When one is running, it'll be announced in the lobby. Jump in while you can, because once it's gone, it's gone until the next time it appears. We'll be watching closely how each one plays and listening to what you think, so tell us in the Discord. Your feedback decides what sticks around.

The First Anomaly: Splatshot

The first game through the Fracture is Splatshot: 4v4 capture the flag, played with Cataclysm's paintball guns.

Splatshot started out as a test bed. We built it to try out the new guns, and to do that we built a brand new bot system: bots that run the flag, escort their carrier, intercept enemies and revive their teammates. It turned out to be a lot of fun to play, so now we want to see how the bots hold up with real players: how they perform, whether they make matches better, and whether they're worth building on. If you enjoy them, we may start bringing bots into other games and modes.

  • The goal: steal the enemy flag from its stand and bring it home. One capture wins the round. If nobody captures within 5 minutes, it's a draw.
  • Grabbing and scoring takes time: hold crouch to grab the flag (4 seconds), score it (6 seconds) or pick up a dropped flag (2 seconds). You take 60% less damage while you're channelling, but you're still out in the open.
  • Dropped flags go back home on their own after 10 seconds.
  • One life per round, with a safety net: lethal damage knocks you down first. A teammate can crouch next to you for 3 seconds to revive you, but if nobody reaches you within 20 seconds, you're out.
  • Kits: pick one of four loadouts before the round: Assault, Marksman, Tactical or Burst. Every kit comes with Legendary guns, bandages, a medkit and overhealth potions, and everyone starts with 10 golden hearts of overhealth.
  • Bots fill empty slots, so a match can start even when the teams aren't full.

Splatshot is an Anomaly, so it's a beta: there are no coins, XP or rank rewards for it yet. When it's open, it'll be announced in the lobby and you can join with /splatshot. Kits, timings and how the bots work are all on the Splatshot page.

More Matches, Less Waiting

Until now, each game server could only run one specific game. If a Dodgeball match was in progress, the Dodgeball queue simply had to wait for it to finish.

That's gone. Every game server can now run any game, and the network picks the most available server each time a match is ready to start. In practice:

  • Several matches can run at once, including two of the same game.
  • Queues no longer pause while a match is in progress. The next match starts on the next free server.
  • If every server really is busy, the queue tells you and starts the moment one frees up.

Queue countdowns also speed up as more people join. Dodgeball and Cataclysm drop to 15 seconds at 4 players, a full Cataclysm queue starts in 10, and if someone leaves, 5 seconds are added back.

Cataclysm: The Gun Rework

Cataclysm's combat has been rebuilt from scratch.

  • Six guns drop from crates: the Pistol, SMG, Assault Rifle, AK-47, FAMAS (3-round burst) and Pump Shotgun.
  • Every gun rolls a rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Destined or Legendary. Higher rarities hit harder and reload faster, and each one has its own outline and sparkle when it's on the ground, so you know what you're looking at.
  • Real gunplay: headshots, damage falloff over distance, and bullet spread (crouch to tighten it up), with floating damage numbers and hit markers.
  • Ammo now comes in Light, Medium and Heavy, and lives in its own slots in the top-left of your inventory.
  • Overhealth: up to 10 golden hearts on top of your normal health.
  • Heal items now take time to use, with a progress bar. You're slowed while healing, and switching items or taking damage cancels it. Bandages, Medkits and Small and Large Overhealth Potions are all in the loot pool.
  • Every crate holds one gun with its ammo and one heal item.
  • The bus now flies a random route across the map every match. Jump off to glide in automatically, then slow-fall to the ground.

Want the numbers? Every gun, rarity and heal item is on the Cataclysm page.

Dodgeball

Every Dodgeball match is now played by two random Solaris teams, and the arena and waiting area are repainted in their colours. Dodgeball music also loops properly for the whole match, and we've removed the red score numbers on the side of the scoreboard.

Teams, Music and Everything Else

  • The eight Solaris teams (Red Racoons, Orange Otters, Fire Foxes, Green Goats, Teal Tigers, Electric Elephants, Purple Puffins and Pink Panthers) are now used across team games, with team-coloured names, team icons, teammates glowing in your team colour, and no friendly fire.
  • Music now loops properly and shows a "Now Playing" pop-up, with tracks for the Lobby, Cataclysm, Dodgeball, Splatshot and Limbo.
  • Two new volume sliders in Music & Sounds: "In-Game Music" for Solaris music and "Solaris Sound Effects" for menu and game sounds.
  • Limbo: if the lobby goes down, you'll wait in the Limbo subway station instead of being disconnected, and you'll be taken back to the lobby automatically as soon as it's back.
  • New match start and "Victory!" / "Game Over" titles in every game.
  • The hunger bar is hidden in every game, because no game uses it.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed trades losing items when you offered several identical stacks. Items that don't fit in your inventory now drop at your feet instead of vanishing.
  • Fixed nametags lagging behind players.
  • Fixed players sometimes being put in Survival mode in the lobby and in games.
  • Fixed a title dupe in Apartments.
  • Fixed the Dodgeball team glow sticking around after leaving a match, and Dodgeball music overlapping itself.
  • Fixed Cataclysm crates sometimes keeping old loot instead of refilling each match.

What's Next

Splatshot is only the first Anomaly. We've got a whole list of ideas waiting on the other side of the Fracture, and what you think of Splatshot will shape how the next ones work.

As always, if you find a bug, report it in the Discord. If you've got ideas, we want to hear them. Thank you for playing Solaris Early Access, and we'll see you in the next Anomaly.