Enter the Synapse is a completely free, massive update to Rebel Transmute that makes a great Metroidvania even better. I've been working on this update for around 6 months now, and I couldn't be more excited for it to finally be in your hands!

4 new bosses have been added that are harder rematches of existing boss fights, with new movesets and patterns. 5 major bosses have been tweaked, given new movesets, new animations, and new sounds to create more engaging, and fairer fights for their placement in the game.

A new fully optional, completely new weapon has been added to the game. This weapon is long range, deals less damage per shot, and is a lot of fun to use. But be careful, it doesn't collect sparkblood, so you'll have to switch to the short range blaster if you want to collect more to heal with!

In addition, the majority of the rooms along the main path of the game have been retouched to create a more fare and fun experience when traversing Terra 6. This includes removing some enemies from platforming sections, making certain platforming enemies invincible, and adjusting many of the required jumps to feel better. The player also now has more tools to help them platform, including a few seconds after falling off a ledge where they can still jump, and checks to move the player up or down a few pixels if they are about to bonk their head while dashing!

This update has a lot of big changes, and a lot of small ones, so without further ado, here is the full patch list for the update!

• Hover Queen network rematch.
  
• Monstrous Carapace network rematch.
  
• Bloat Specimen network rematch.
  
• Reef Tamer network rematch.

• Added the Recoiler augment. This augment negates knockback from firing your blaster.

• Tired of having to get super close to shoot your enemies or hit a button? Well, now you have a new weapon to play Rebel Transmute with! The long range Particle Blaster is a perfect compliment to the game’s standard short range Planet Cutter.
  
• Switch between weapons on the fly with the press of a button or a flick of the joystick!

• Grey Matter’s health has been lowered to act as a more fair introductory boss.
  
• Hover Queen has new graphics.
  
• Bloat Specimen reworked to be more interesting, difficulty should be around the same or slightly harder.
  
• Reef Tamer has been reworked to be more fair, added new attack animations, changed timing on attacks, and completely changed how the Urchin acts.
  
• Half Eaten Moth has been reworked to be more interesting, and as such has been given a new arena.
  
• Goliath Drill has had some slight tweaks to make timing of attacks more consistent.

• Minor Carapace now has better attack signaling and less frequent attacks.
  
• Flying Transport Bot now has attack signaling.
  
• Leaping Clay now has less frequent attacks, its attack reaches further.
  
• Living Clay now has less frequent attacks.
  
• Exploding Bloats now have a detonation timer, making them more interesting to avoid.
  
• Acid Ballooners and Acid Bouncers (both Overgrowth enemies used as platforms) can no longer be killed.
  
• Many enemies now drop more red matter.

• Changed the Vital Readings augment to cost 0.25 energy, down from 0.5.
  
• Increased blaster range significantly when using the Stabilizer augment.
  
• Moved an Augment Battery item from a later shop to the shop in the Shipyard Commune on the Surface.
  
• Moved an Augment Battery item from a later room in the Reef Set Subways to an easier to find room in the Abandoned Quarry.

• The Humming Symbiote blaster upgrade from defeating the first boss now additionally extends the blaster range and changes its color.
  
• The Main Blaster now deals 25% more damage without upgrades.

• Map visuals reworked to show more at once, and be clearer to navigate.
  
• Number of basic pins that can be placed per color increased from 8 to 12.
  
• Reworked all basic pin sprites to be distinct shapes.
  
• Added 2 new basic pins that you automatically start with.
  
• Added a pin to track NPCs, you can buy this pin from a certain shop.
  
• Now clearer how to pick up placed pins, which current pin is selected, and how many pins of each type are left.
  
• The Welder who upgrades your blaster is now marked on the map after a certain conversation, or after finding a certain computer terminal, or if you’ve already found them.

• Touched up many rooms in the Foray Surface Labs to be less punishing.
  
• Reworked enemy placement.
  
• Extended some platforms to ease platforming difficulty.
  
• Adjusted laser hazards to be easier to read and avoid.
  
• Touched up many rooms in the Abandoned Quarry to be fairer to navigate.
  
• Reworked enemy placement.
  
• Reworked some enemy behavior.
  
• Adjusted platforming sections to have more consistent jump spacing.
  
• Adjusted wave fights to fit the location better.
  
• Removed Fossilized Clay from this area, moved to the Fossil sub area.
  
• Touched up many rooms in the Sparkblood Mines to be more fun to explore.
  
• Reworked enemies.
  
• Added map markers for a certain platforming puzzle.
  
• Adjusted falling lava behavior to be easier to anticipate and dodge.
  
• Touched up a few Coral Fissure and Overgrowth rooms to ease a player’s first time in those areas.
  
• Adjusted platforming sections on the main path to be more forgiving.
  
• Replaced a very hard to find hidden room with an Augment Battery reward with an easier to find platforming challenge room with the same reward.
  
• Changed the way bomb blocks work, they now respawn upon re-entering a room, as opposed to staying destroyed forever.
  
• Removed some hidden blocks / a hidden path that was necessary to find and complete the subsystem in the Mines, the path is now visible and easier to find by default.
  
• Added a new repair station at the second entrance to the Arboretum, also much closer to the Devouring Worm boss fight.
  
• Added a new repair station in the top room of the Sparkblood Mines Tower, much closer to the Cerebellum boss fight.
  
• Added a warning when entering the Subway area to let the player know it is fine to come back to that area later.
  
• Added a new room in the overgrowth! Go find it near the entrance for a powerful new ability.

• Recovering a lost core from a Repair Station now only costs 35 red matter, down from 50.
  
• Dying without any auxiliary cores only loses you 30% of your current red matter, down from 50%.

• Added a 4th extra health as an option to the already existing 3 extra health.

• Added new sound effects for the Half Eaten Moth boss.
  
• Added new sound effects for the Flying Transport Bot enemy.
  
• Falling lava has had a graphical update and has new sound effects.
  
• Vines have a new sprite that is more clearly in the background / not interactable.
  
• Dried vine platforms have a new sprite to be more clearly in the foreground / interactable.
  
• Added a new item to coincide with an important plot point.
  
• Made looking up or down with the camera trigger faster.
  
• Looking up or down uses a dedicated button / joystick movement. If you’d like to look using the movement keys or joystick, that option can now be found under Accessibility options.
  
• Water boosting now slows time, allowing for players to control the player even when traveling at high speeds.
  
• Cutscenes now visually show you new map markers when you acquire them.
  
• Added another fuse to the Surface Scavenger shop’s inventory.

• Made the ‘interact’ and the new ‘change weapon’ buttons rebindable on keyboard and controller.
  
• The rebind page for controller now shows all used controls in the game.
  
• The rebind pages now grey out controls that can’t yet be rebound.
  
• Interact has moved from the d-pad to the right analog stick (up).
  
• The look ahead / peak feature is now exclusively bound to right analog stick (up/down).

• Fixed ‘Force Respawn’ not working if inside a Network room.
  
• Updated the way leaving Network rooms is handled, which should make behavior when leaving a room more reliable.
  
• Fixed a bug with ‘Force Respawn’ confirmation text not disappearing when it should.
  
• Made some short, more gameplay focused cutscenes unskippable.
  
• Fixed a bug where the ‘Skip Cutscene’ text would pop up at the start of every cutscene unprompted.
  
• Fixed the last 2 map pins placed of each color not showing up correctly.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Goliath Drill boss could get stuck during a few of their attacks.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Particles on / off option in the menu didn’t do anything. Particles can now be set to ‘Few’ or ‘Many’.
  
• Fixed an animation for an object or enemy being shot but not damage only playing partially.
  
• Fixed lost cores showing on the map in the map square you died, not the map square they dropped.

Fixed a bug that led to many augments in the game being rewarded to the player incorrectly. If players spent money on these incorrect augments, they will now be properly refunded when they first launch the game, and the shops will restock on the appropriate augments.

Boss Rematches!
- Enter the Synaptic Network and battle smarter, faster, and more dangerous versions of your favorite bosses!
- Earn the ability to turn repair (save) stations into teleport destinations!

Updated Boss Fights!
- Most bosses in the games have had a giant heaping of balance, new moves, added animations to make them feel more alive and to telegraph moves better, added sound effects, and adjusted to lessen wild difficulty spikes. (But have no worry, because the rematch versions are even harder than the old base versions!!)

New Augments, New Weapon!
- Equip the new 'Recoiler' augment to completely negate getting knocked backwards from shooting an enemy or wall.
- Find the 'Particle Coil' item to unlock the ability to switch weapons! Swap on the fly between the standard, short-range beam attack and the new, long-range particle blaster attack!

Better World Design, Platforming Changes!
- Better overall world progression, with a mindfulness towards how open the game can be, ensuring most players won't end up completely lost, stuck, or in a place they shouldn't be in yet!
- Harder areas are more clearly marked, so you know what you're getting yourself into!
- Many areas on the main path of the game have been completely re-balanced, annoying enemies redesigned, excessive enemies removed from platforming sections, and fairer platforming challenges that are more fun to complete!

Updated Map Tools!
- More custom map makers! The limit for each color has been upped, and 2 new colors added. Mark important NPCs and Synaptic Network entrances!

Look for the update out January 6th, and for a full detailed patch notes to drop alongside it! There are way too many small changes to list out here!