---Introduction---
Huh. Never thought I'd still be working on this project long enough to see the year in the date go up. Regardless, happy new year, everyone! I hope all your festivities went well.

...Now that the obligatory introduction is out of the way, now to get into Deltexperiment news.

---Alternate Route 2---
After months of being in development stasis, the second planned alternate route for the game, the American Route, has finally released! There was a pretty prevalent bug with a certain slime that kept this from releasing, but now that it's fixed, the route can now be played publicly! In order to unlock it, type the name "American" as your vessel, then go through the dialogue accordingly. You're... definitely in for a surprise.

---Balance Changes---
Along with the route release, there was a big balance change that dropped along with the update, mainly with the starting items. Before this update, some items just had higher stats than others, leading to a more difficult runthrough depending on your item of choice. However, each item now has it's own distinct advantages, which will be elaborated on in the v2.2.0 changelog. Speaking of which...

---v2.2.0 Updates---
While most of the changes in this update were for game balancing with the stats, there were a couple of other updates too, so let's get into 'em.

Additions:
-Added Check and Act text for the Mad Dummy battle.
-Added a new enemy exclusively for the Penilla Guard fight: Penilla Guard. They are identical to a normal Penilla, other than a few differences. They are slightly more bulky, give a little more Gold & EXP, are unsparable, and are guaranteed to drop a Pencil when killed.

Area changes:
-Changed the BGM for the credits.
-Added leaves to the bowl room above the leaf piles.
-Added an extra Annihilation Route cutscene in the room where you fight Napstablook after paying for the vine segway as a failsafe. 
-Added extra dialogue for the gray door in Division 1 as a sign for failed/aborted Annihilation.
-Changed the red stars in Division 2 to only appear when 7 enemies or fewer remains instead of 10 or fewer.

Dialogue changes:
-Added dialogue from Flowey to prevent players from being forced into the Flowey fight.
-Added text for when obtaining abandoned items from the shop Loox in Division 2.

Stat/Item changes:
-Changed the description for Friendliness Pellets.
-Lowered Migospel’s HP.
-Increased Decibat’s HP, TP & EXP when killed.
-Increased Decibat’s likelihood of attacking normally from Turn 6 & onwards.
-Lowered Dalv’s HP.
-Lowered Stick’s ATK.
-Increased Ballet Shoes, Burnt Pan, Whip, & Toy Gun’s ATK.
-Increased Glasses’ MDEF.
-Ballet Shoes & Tutu now increase Agility.
-Notebook & Apron now increase Intelligence.
-Burnt Pan & Glasses now increase Dexterity.
-Whip & Bandanna now increase Strength.
-Heal Prayer has higher variance.

Misc. changes:
-The ferry Loox now faces the player before their Annihilation fight.
-Added a sound effect for when the Elusive One teleports away in Hard Mode.
-Lowered the amount of turns needed to end the Mad Dummy fight.

Bug fixes:
-Fixed a bug where the Moldsmal in the room with the leaf piles didn't accurately add to the Ruins kill count.
-Fixed a bug where the Flier + Penilla encounter could be encountered up to four times instead of two.
-Fixed a bug in the Double Flier battle where the right Flier would be selected first instead of the left Flier.
-Fixed a bug where the Penilla Guard battle could be encountered infinitely.

---Conclusion---
...and that's it! I'm still working on Sections 3 & 4 aplenty, but I'm also going to try and push out an update that will hopefully smooth some battles over, introducing a new mechanic in the process! Said update will most likely end up being 2.3.0, so be ready for that, I suppose. And, since I got nothing else to say, see you all in the next update.