- Closed Beta Sign-up is OPEN! - 12 September 2026
Astral Arena Closed Beta Sign-Ups Are Open!I’m looking for players to help test the next version of Astral Arena before it goes publicThe Closed Beta will focus on testing combat, progression, balance, bugs, and the overall experience. Feedback from testers will directly help shape the game!If you’d like to take part, fill out the sign-up form below:https://forms.gle/gGAswFywhgNLKQpn9Places are limited, and selected testers will be contacted with further details.Thanks to everyone who applies!
- Monster Taming Direct 2026 featuring Astral Arena - 7 September 2026
Astral Arena is appearing in Gym Leader Ed's Monster Taming Direct again this year! We'll be sharing some fresh footage during the showcase, and making a little announcement ! When? - Saturday - 12 September - 1PM EDT Where? - Gym Leader Ed's YouTube channel You can watch the event trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_PWbmT9Ys If you want to support the showcase, give the trailer a like and comment what monster-taming games you're looking forward to seeing featured alongside Astral Arena!
- Dev Update - May 2026 - 12 May 2026
Dev UpdateIt’s been a little while since the last update. I had to step away for personal family reasons, but development has been continuing slowly in the background, and i will be getting back to full speed in the coming months. Thank you all for your patience and support. A Short Update todayNEW Astrals can be Nicknamed! NEW Astrals Follow you around!NEW Skills can now be named!CHANGE Movement traits are no longer a thing on skills; skills now only have 4 parts: Form, Type, Effect, and Technique. This makes it simpler, but dont worry the movement traits are not gone, they've been moved to the new ability system!NEW Astrals now have customisable Abilities! You can win and buy Astral Traits and equip them in combinations to your team! Some are simple stat modifications (eg +10 to Defense) but others are more interesting abilities such as starting a fight with Buffs, hurting enemies whe…
- Newsletter February 2026 - 2 March 2026
February 2026February was focused on finishing off the new skill trait content & giving it all VFXTL;DR80 skill traits done + VFX1M+ possible skill combosUI is placeholder (missing icons) until full UI reworkNEW Skills currently auto-named; custom naming coming soonNEW Progression rebalanced; enemies now generate strategy-based skill setsNEXT: ~1 week in-house QA/playtest, then playable build to limited playtesters (via Discord)NEXT: skill naming + Astral nicknames, then Astral Abilities The UpdateSkill traits are now complete & have VFX! With a final total of 80 traits! Thats enough to create well over 1 million combinations! February started half way through the new Skill Trait update, now it’s finally feature complete and rocking some tasty VFX to boot! Once the in house QA & Playtesting is done in the next week or so, I'll be rolling out a playable build to playtesters to let them p…
- Newsletter January 2026 - 31 January 2026
Hello, it’s been a while!Since the last update I’ve had my head down working on a lot of different things. I now plan on doing a monthly Newsletter (you’re reading the first one now 😯) to try and balance the actual game work with keeping you all informed about development.Quick end of 2025 recapNEW Rank trials loop: ~5 fights then a boss fight to gain a rank, 5 ranks to climbNEW Lobby area: Shops, Healer, NPCs, & Astral Creation areaNEW Buy stuff with Gold: buy Astral Cores, consumables, skill traits and moreNEW Combat clarity: combat log with details on buffs etc, team preview, improved HUD, autopauseNEW Behaviour system: In combat set your Astrals to “Stay Close” to their target, or “Keep Away”, and other options.January 2026January was focused on expanding the available skill trait options for the module skill builder systemTL;DRNEW: Planned 75 new Skill Traits for more variety and…
- 🌟The v0.5 Update is finally here!🌟 - 18 June 2025
This update has been a long time in the works, art takes a long time, but we finally present big updates to the Visual Effect and Sound Effects in combat, AND all Astrals are now fully animated! No more placeholder Astrals! This marks a major milestone in visual and audio polish—every combat action now feels more impactful and dynamic. There's a new Rank system, difficulty options, tutorial, and the demo actually has an end now :O We've also added the ability to manually override the Engage & Disengage, giving you more control of positioning and timing! This adds greater tactical depth and flexibility in combat.This and more !Try the updated demo today and let us know what you think download for Free !!Change Log -🆕 New Features and Additions🆕 Manual override for Engage/Disengage mechanics, tell your Astrals to get close or stay back, manually dodge or apply pressure up close!🆕 New R…
- 🦥 Spoth joins Astral Arena! 🕷️ - 4 April 2025
An unlikely combination of Sloth & Spider
- ☁️ Drizzlet joins Astral Arena! ☁️ - 31 March 2025
The grumpy cloud Astral is one of our 3 non-animal Astrals
- 🐌 Snoad joins Astral Arena! 🐸 - 21 March 2025
- 🐚Squich joins Astral Arena!🐚 - 14 March 2025
This one has a special place in my heart as its the spiritual successor to a fakemon i designed as a child ❤️ Which 2 animals is it a combination of?
- 🌡️ Scalizab joins the Astral Arena! 🌡️ - 7 March 2025
🤔 Which 2 creatures were combined to create it?
- 🍃PAPIRAI joins the Astral Arena!🍃 - 28 February 2025
This Air Astral comes in 3 varieties: Plant (as seen here), Voltage & Light types! Papirai will be available in the next update!
- ⚡HIVOLT joins the Astral Arena!⚡ - 22 February 2025
⚡HIVOLT joins the Astral Arena!⚡ This Voltage Astral comes in 3 varieties: Sound (as seen here), Acid & Fungus types!
- 🌟Astral Arena Alpha - v0.4🌟 - 7 February 2025
This update brings big changes to skills and combat: gone are the premade skills of old, in their place an exciting new SKILL CUSTOMISATION system allows you to add modules to skills, making them adaptive and varied! We've also added Engage & Disengage to how Astrals move in combat, which can be customised per skill! This and more ! Check out the full list below, and download for FREE over on itch! Change Log 🆕 New Features and Additions 🆕 The Skill Builder: Win modules to buff, boost and build your own custom skills! Adjust things like, Astral movement, multiple shots at once or in sequence, add buffs, debuffs and status effects, and there MAY be lasers! 🆕 New Classic Roguelike Reward System: Rewards have been reworked to be more meaningful, choose from a selection of 3 rewards after each Challenger, and at the start of a new run you'll get to recover some lost items! 🎮 Gameplay Ch…
- 🌟Astral Arena Alpha - v0.0.3🌟 - 8 November 2024
Our Third Public Astral Arena Alpha Update is Here! This update brings big changes to deepen progression, refine gameplay, and add new strategic options. With 3 new types, expanded Astrals, and a fresh unlock system, there’s plenty to explore. We’ve also added NPCs like the Skill Master and Alchemist, who allow you to buy and upgrade skills and items, adding a new layer to your runs. Plus, with reworked Astral stats and persistent upgrades, every run is more rewarding and consistent. Check out the full list below, and download for FREE! Change Log 🆕 New Features and Additions 🆕 Astralog: Introducing the Astralog, a comprehensive Dex that tracks each Astral you've encountered, including combat stats and player-specific stats like how many times you've defeated it. 🆕 Skill Master, Core Master, and Alchemist NPCs: New NPCs for skill and item purchases to deepen progression. 🆕 3 New Typ…
- 🌟Astral Arena Alpha Demo - v0.2🌟 - 17 August 2024
Our second public Astral Arena Alpha update is now live! Thanks to everyone who played the previous builds! Your feedback is what drives our development! We've mostly been working on improving the game progression systems so that the game has a better sense of advancement and to stop players getting overwhelmed by the amount of information the previous build would just toss at them from the get go - that no longer is the case! Additionally we've made a bunch of QoL improvements and bug fixes, added in save/load, as well as implementing the first stage of our own shiny system! The shinies themselves are all placeholder as they are just hue-shifted from the original colors, but we plan on being much more deliberate with them in future! You can download the update over on Itch We're incredibly grateful for your ongoing feedback and support! Keep it coming—we’re listening! 🎧 Change Log 🆕…
- 🌟 Astral Arena Alpha Demo - Update #1🌟 - 22 June 2024
Hello! We took some time off after making the initial demo, but we've been busy beez for the last month or so working to improve the demo on the back end as well as bringing new features and Quality of Life ! You can download the update over on Itch https://thegamegarden.itch.io/astral-arena-demo Change Log Visuals 🐶New animations for all Astrals (ranged & melee skills, strafing, and retreating). 🖼️ Items now have images! ✨More visuals for status effects! General Improvements ⚖️ Item drops rebalanced to appear earlier. 💪 Items buffed; all consumables now heal. 🕹️ New control remapping system - customize controls for keyboard and controller! Share your preferred setup to help us establish a good default. 🔧 Refactored UI & input systems for increased flexibility and robustness. This took a long time! 😅 🚫 Tutorial disabled - was always a temporary feature. Removed due to UI and inpu…
