v0.5.3 is a big one. There's a brand new limited-time mode, Cataclysm's guns have been rebuilt from scratch, and a lot of work has gone into the stuff you notice between games: queues, music, the friends list and what happens when a server restarts. Here's everything that changed, in plain English.

New limited-time mode: Splatshot (Beta)

Splatshot is 4v4 capture the flag played with Cataclysm's guns. If there aren't enough players, bots fill the empty slots so a match can always start.

  • One capture wins the match, and every match has a 5 minute limit.
  • Teammates can revive you, so going down isn't the end of your round.
  • Pick a kit: Assault, Marksman, Tactical or Burst.

It's a limited-time mode, so it won't always be in the rotation. Jump in while it's here and tell us what you think.

Cataclysm: guns reworked

  • 6 guns, 5 rarities, from Common up to Legendary.
  • Headshots, damage falloff, spread and hit markers, so aim matters and you can tell when you've landed a shot.
  • Ammo is split into Light, Medium and Heavy slots. There's also overhealth and heal items that work over time.
  • The bus takes a random route every match.

Smoother between games

  • More than one match can run at once, even of the same game, so you wait less.
  • Queues keep going during a match and count down faster when more players join.
  • Limbo: if the lobby goes down, you'll wait in Limbo instead of being kicked off the server.
  • A smaller resource pack, sent when you join. Type /pack to download it again.
  • New sound settings: separate "In-Game Music" and "Solaris Sound Effects" sliders.
  • Music now loops, with a "Now Playing" pop-up when a track starts.
  • Team games use the 8 Destiny Games teams, with team colours and a glow on your teammates.
  • The hunger bar is hidden in every game.
  • Boss bars and in-game game announcements have been redesigned.

Friends and profiles

  • The friends list now shows each friend's rank or title icon, banner, name colour and when they were last online.
  • The "seen" section on player profiles works now and shows whether that player is online.
  • /seen has been reworked to tell you how long a player has been offline.
  • Trading is safer: we added checks for duplicated and invalid cosmetics.

Apartments

  • Ratings are here. Rate someone's apartment from 1 to 5 by typing /rate <1-5> in chat.
  • Apartments have their own scoreboard, which shows the apartment's rating.
  • When you browse apartments, the descriptions now show each one's rarity and how many players are inside.
  • The Wrench: Creative Mode has a new Wrench tool for moving cosmetics and furniture around. Crouch to change how far away the item you're moving sits.

Package Delivery and Dodgeball

  • Package Delivery: there's no longer a limit on how many packages you can deliver.
  • Dodgeball: each match uses two random Solaris teams, and the arena is recoloured to match.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed trades losing items when both stacks were identical.
  • Fixed laggy nametags.
  • Fixed players being put into Survival mode.
  • Fixed a way to duplicate Apartments titles.
  • Fixed Dodgeball glow and music bugs.
  • Fixed Cataclysm crates not refilling.
  • Fixed an extra space between a player's banner and their name.
  • Fixed chats in different places syncing with each other when they shouldn't.
  • Fixed players taking fire damage in the lobby.

Tell us what you think

Found a bug? Report it in the bug reports channel on our Discord. Got an idea? We're always taking suggestions in the suggestions channel there too.

Thanks for helping us make Solaris better during Early Access. <3

Lutraa & Skye