Endless Mode is no longer the tail end of a Classic run. At launch it is a proper separate mode with its own settings that you enter deliberately, and it no longer starts automatically when you finish a Classic run. That rewrite is also the fix for the frame-rate collapse players reported around wave 38 to 40 — the developers traced that slowdown to Endless Mode's balance rather than to the engine.

Hull Rupture Endless Mode became a separate mode

The practical difference for a player is small in words and large in practice:

  • An Endless run no longer begins automatically after you complete a Classic run.
  • You enter it as its own mode from the mode list.
  • It no longer shares Classic Mode's tuning, so it can be balanced and optimized separately.

The game modes guide places it against the other five modes in the launch line-up.

Why it was rewritten

Endless Mode was the single most criticised system in the playtest, and the developers singled it out for a rewrite. When the playtest closed they said so plainly: yes, Endless Mode has its problems. At one point they even had to wipe the leaderboard because some players had evolved from "resourceful survivors" into "min-maxing interstellar tyrants".

The scope of the rewrite was the entire late-game flow, not just wave balance. The September demo tuning was mostly about making sure you could not break it, and the developers were aware players were shouting "Is that a challenge?"

The late-game slowdown was an Endless problem

Players reported the frame rate collapsing around wave 38 and again around wave 40, with some runs becoming unplayable. The developers' explanation is that they did not expect so many players to get that far, and that they had missed the mark with the Endless Mode balance again.

So that collapse was an Endless Mode balance problem rather than a general engine problem, and it is addressed by Endless Mode no longer being a continuation of Classic Mode. The performance guide separates that cause from the other two.

What to expect from it

Because it no longer shares Classic Mode's tuning, the waves you survived in Classic are not a guide to what Endless will throw at you, and the developers themselves said they had missed the mark with the balance again before shipping it as its own mode. Treat it as a separate ladder with its own settings rather than as wave 21 and beyond.