THE ANOMALY ON MARS 0.71.7 brings a new way to explore your upgrades, a rank board that follows more of the enemies you fight, and a complete fresh start for progression and competition.
The Upgrade Canvas is the centre of this release. You can grab it, move across it, follow its connections, and read an upgrade before spending anything. Alongside that change, everyone's progression starts from the same empty slate. Previous leaderboard results are kept as history, while the active boards begin again.
A fresh start for every pilot
This release resets player progression completely. That includes your Glimmering Ore and HQ Salvage balances, purchased ships and cosmetics, achievements, upgrade purchases, rank progress, and available upgrade and rank points. Career totals, difficulty unlocks, and Daily progress also start over.
Your pilot identity, Discord link, settings, and Custom maps remain. You can keep your controls, return to a map you made, and continue using the same account. What you earn from this point belongs to the new progression slate.
The global leaderboard follows the same change: the active competition starts empty. Previous results are archived for history rather than carried into the new rankings. You can still browse earlier runs through the website's Players page and pilot dossiers. Your old local score records are archived too, so they do not fill the new local board with scores from before the reset.
This is an intentional reset for the new progression system and a fresh round of competition. Everyone gets to choose their opening route through the Upgrade Canvas again, earn the expanded ranks from the beginning, and establish new scores together.
An older copy of your progress cannot bring back your former balances or purchases after the reset. Previously claimed one-time rewards also stay claimed; the fresh start does not turn them into another payout. Expect an empty progression slate when you return, then build from what you earn in the new one.
Grab the Upgrade Canvas
The connected web introduced in 0.71.6 gave upgrades a shape. This release makes that shape easier to explore. There is one canvas, with an inspector beside it, and you control where you look.
Hold the middle mouse button and drag to move across the canvas in either direction. Use the mouse wheel to zoom towards the point under your cursor. You can follow a path sideways, move between branches, or pull back to see how your next choice connects to everything around it.
A left click selects an upgrade. Its explanation appears in the inspector, while your position and zoom stay where you left them. Clicking a node does not buy it. You have room to read, compare, and decide.
The controls below the canvas give you three clear actions:
- FIT WEB pulls back to show the connected web together.
- CENTER SELECTED brings the upgrade you are inspecting into the middle of the view.
- BUY RANK purchases the next rank of that selected upgrade when its connection and point requirements are met.
Keyboard and controller navigation are supported too. Move between upgrades with the arrows or stick, inspect your selection, and choose the purchase action when you are ready. Exploring the web and spending points are separate decisions whichever controls you use.
Pictures that explain the path
The Upgrade Canvas now has animated illustrations for its nodes. Ships move, rounds travel, salvage drops, and warp charges build towards a jump. These small scenes give each upgrade a recognisable subject beside its name and description.
Connections carry moving highlights when they are active or relevant to your selection. Bought ranks have gold pips and a tick, locked upgrades carry a lock, and fully purchased upgrades show MAX. Available purchases have their own signal, and buying a rank gives the selected node a brief flash.
The inspector keeps the details at reading size, including the effect that works in every run and any extra benefit tied to a mutator. Those distinctions matter when you are choosing a route: a mutator upgrade can still contribute to your core build, with its additional trick coming into play under the matching rules.
More enemies, and boss ranks of their own
The rank board now covers 17 enemy ladders, including the newer Fusejack, Spine, and Harrow. It also has separate ladders for the five arena bosses: Warden, Lance, Chorus, Prism, and Hive.
Enemies and bosses have their own sections, so you can see what you are working towards without mixing every target into one list. Each earnable ladder has three tiers. Their rewards are one, two, and three rank points, giving you another reason to pay attention to which fights you are finishing.
The boss ladders recognise repeated victories against each boss. Their milestones are your first victory, ten victories, and fifty victories over that boss. A Warden victory advances Warden's ladder; defeating a different boss advances its own. You can work across the roster and choose which milestones to pursue next.
Achievement goals earn upgrade points, while combat ranks pay rank points. The canvas inspector tells you which pool a purchase needs, so you can plan around the points you have.
The board also shows a separate practice roster for Infected and the Conveyor bosses. These fights do not pay rank points. Boss Lab and Sandbox practice stay practice, so placing enemies in a Custom map is not a shortcut to combat rank rewards.
Points should not hide in your profile
When you have upgrade points or rank points available, the main menu now shows a reminder with both counts. Select it and you go straight to the Upgrade Canvas.
That makes the next choice easier to notice after a run: check what you have earned, follow the path you were considering, and buy its next rank if it suits your build. The reminder updates with your available points and disappears when both pools are empty.
The title screen also loses the “A GAME BY” line while keeping the Nith studio mark. It is a smaller change, but part of making the front door cleaner and giving useful information more room.
Your first run on the new slate
Start by opening your profile and taking a look at the Upgrade Canvas and rank board. Use FIT WEB to get your bearings, then zoom towards the branch you want to explore. Read its effects and connected paths before you make your first purchase.
Then head back into the arena and begin earning the new slate's progress. Your next enemy ranks, boss milestones, and scores will be new records, built alongside everyone else's.
The recent combat cards and upgrade effects announced in 0.71.6 provide the context for these choices. With 0.71.7, you have a clearer place to make them, more targets to rank against, and an empty board waiting for the next good run.
Download 0.71.7, or accept the update from the title screen. Update before starting your next run on the new slate.