History

This article provides a curated summary of major releases to Spiral Knights since its launch. For the purpose of this article, major releases are those that introduce new game play or significantly alter game features.

For more detail, see the Announcements forum and Release/all. Note well that the latter has not been updated since 2016-05-18.

2017

2017-09-08: Buffs to shard bombs and tortofist handguns.

2017-05-11: Starlight Cradle update, including new sleep-themed armor, bomb, monsters, and levels. Amputator sword introduced.

2017-04-25: Removal of Spiral Knights from the Kongregate and ArmorGames platforms.

2017-01-20: Hardcore Mode Activated event introduced (no auto-targeting in Lockdown).

2016

2016-05-24: Introduction of Golden Slime Casinos.

2016-04-06: Transfer of Spiral Knights ownership from Sega to Grey Havens. Support for German and French ends.

2015

2015-05-13: New missions for Rank 10-2, including a place to farm Radiant Fire Crystals.

2015-02-11: New missions for Rank 10-1.

2014

2014-12-03: Gunner update, including new gunner armor, tweaks to guns, and new versions of guns.

(!!By 2014-08-29 the Overcharged Mixmaster has been introduced.)

2014-07-16: Tortofist guns introduced (during the second March of the Tortodrones event).

2014-04-02: Missions tweaked to enhance plot.

2014-04-02: Statue of Nick installed in Haven's Town Square. New user interface to toggle map. Tickets to recover accessories introduced.

2014-02-26: An error causes the price of Prismatic Bolted Vees to plummet to zero.

2014-02-26: March of the Tortodrone event introduced. New tortodrone shields (but not yet tortofist guns).

2014-02-26: Drop rate for Radiant Fire Crystals increased. (Sometime during the fall it had been severely decreased without any announcement.)

2014-01-16: Nick Popovich, the principal creator of Spiral Knights, leaves the development team.

2013

2013-12-11: Attack, defense, and speed boosters (temporary bonuses dropped by monsters) introduced.

2013-10-23: Shroud of the Apocrea event introduced. New obsidian sword, handgun, and bomb. Acheron buffed.

2013-10-16: Arcade Redux Phase 1, including the following. Minerals are no longer deposited into Arcade gates. Instead, gates are generated randomly. User interface changes, including interfaces to help knights find materials. New pickups including barriers, artillery strike, ranger signal flare, and auto turret kit. Guild and knight names can now be changed.

2013-09-25: Operation: Crimson Hammer can now be purchased using energy rather than just real-world money.

2013-07-30: Battle sprites, Lab section of Haven, and three difficulty levels introduced. Sparks of Life replace the old reviving system. Altered recipes and mission rewards. New materials. Changes to how parties pick up loot. Overhaul of the game economy, including removal of mist energy and elevator fees and introduction of Orbs of Alchemy and the Forge. User interface changes.

2013-05-22: Dash and shield bash actions introduced.

2013-05-01: Gorgo monsters introduced. Greavers buffed.

2013-04-10: Compound levels introduced.

2013-04-03: User interface revamped. Devilites nerfed.

2013-01-30: Kataclysmic Confrontation event introduced. Moorcroft Manor level changed. New kat-themed armor. Book of Dark Rituals and Black Kat Cowl only hinted at. Chaos armor buffed. Guild hall themes and environments introduced.

2012

2012-11-14: Guild halls now customizable. Homecoming Celebration includes free sword, shield, and furniture. Garrison section of Haven introduced.

2012-09-12: Ghosts in the Machine danger mission introduced. Spectator mode for player-vs-player introduced.

2012-08-08: Shard bombs revamped and new shard bombs introduced. Tweaks to other bombs.

2012-08-01: Heart of Ice danger mission introduced.

2012-06-19: Compound 42 danger mission introduced.

2012-06-28: Danger missions introduced with Legion of Almire.

2012-06-19: Party Finder introduced.

2012-05-09: New early-game missions. Damage buffs to all handguns and bombs. Tweaks to swords, handguns, bombs, and some armor. Tweaks to monsters, payouts, levels, lighting.

2012-04-25: Process for creating new knights improved. Unique variants can now be locked at Punch.

2012-04-18: Height and eye modifiers introduced. Graphical optimizations.

2012-04-10: Prestige badges introduced.

2012-04-04: Anniversary event introduced.

2012-03-22: Many armors buffed, including Chaos. (Earlier that month, Volcanic Demo Suit buffed.) Sword attacks tweaked.

2012-03-07: New rank missions introduced, though Vanguard rank. Dark Retribution-line bombs nerfed. Operation: Crimson Hammer tweaked.

2012-02-29: Operation: Crimson Hammer mission introduced. New sword, bomb, and armor.

2012-02-22: Missions and Supply Depot introduced. Gremlin Grounds levels and little gremlin monsters introduced. Changes to handguns, including damage types on Antigua-line guns.

2012-01-04: Wolvers, zombies, and retrodes nerfed.

2011

2011-12-19: Drone monsters (wisps and shankles) introduced.

2011-12-12: Winterfest event, Event Hub user interface, European servers, scenario rooms, craftable heart pendant trinkets introduced.

2011-11-30: Featured Auctions, Auction House item preview, and personal color change introduced.

2011-11-17: Three Rings acquired by Sega.

2011-11-16: Arsenal stations introduced, so that knights can change equipment at the start of each level, rather than just at the start of each stratum.

2011-10-21: Divine Avenger charge attack changed, so that it fails when the knight's back is against a wall.

2011-10-19: Shadow Lairs introduced. New armor. Royal Jelly fight changed. Dark Harvest Festival event introduced.

2011-10-05: Accessories, lockboxes, Prize Wheel, and Boost merchant introduced.

2011-09-14: Lockdown player-vs-player game and loadouts introduced.

2011-09-02: Candlestick Keep levels introduced. Danger rooms changed.

2011-08-22: Polyp and howlitzer monsters introduced.

2011-08-02: Player-vs-player introduced with Blast Network game. New swords, handguns, bombs, and trinkets. Recipe tweaks.

2011-07-20: Punch (buying unique variants) and Vise (unbinding items) merchants introduced. Crafting can give up to three unique variants. Tweaks to some levels.

2011-07-06: Ironclaw Munitions Factory levels introduced. New armor, handguns, and bombs. Tweaks to swords, handguns, and bombs.

2011-06-14: Spiral Knights becomes available through the Steam platform. (The exact date is hard to pin down, but 2011-06-14 is the first mention of Steam in the release notes and the Announcements forum.) There is a huge influx of new players.

2011-06-09: Miscellaneous tweaks, including the canonization of which damage types are inflicted by which monster families. Blackened Crest shield now available from Brinks.

2011-06-02: Gloaming Wildwoods levels introduced. New sword, bomb, and shield.

2011-05-26: Achievements introduced.

2011-05-17: Auction House and Advanced Training Hall introduced. Crafting costs increase and recipe costs decrease. Upgrading a bound item produces a bound item, altering the economy for pre-crafted items.

2011-04-27: Piercing swords and high-star Brandishes introduced.

2011-04-04: Spiral Knights official launch. Over the next few months, bug fixes and tweaks too numerous to be catalogued here.