Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris had a new live stream on September 19 featuring Producer Yousuke Futami and official Medina cosplayer Sayuki. Producer Yousuke Futami most notably revealed Alicization Lycoris actually has a secret Medina route and "Lycoris ending", and how only one player in the world managed to unlock it. (They monitor players' data). The secret ending is actually in the game since release, and wasn't added via one of the numerous patches and updates. There were no direct hints to finding the route, so players needed to figure it out themselves.

Starting the newly recently patch, version 1.09, the hidden Medina route and Lycoris Ending is now easily obtainable by anyone.

The secret ending also features an English version of Scar/let, the Alicization Lycoris opening theme song by ReoNa. The English version is now officially available on stores starting September 19 too. ReoNa recorded a short video message for the occasion:

All the details regarding the Version 1.09 update of Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris are in English on the game's Steam page. In particular, the update brings highly awaited improvements to the framerate, camera, and loading times. The whole game and the battle system have been re-balanced as well. The Integrity Knights battles in Chapter 1 have been nerfed. All Sword Skills for all weapon types got various changes and buffs.

Unlockable character Wayfarer ReoNa also got her own Finish Arts now.

Last but not least, Lightplay Mode and Semi-auto mode were added. Lightplay Mode unlocks at the beginning of Chapter 2, and lets you cruise through the chapter. It's for those who already saw the SAO anime or read the novel and thus already know the story. That way you can reach the original story part faster.

Semi-auto mode is for those who want to focus on the story and get a simplified battle system.

A short gameplay trailer featuring all the changes that were added with version 1.09 was also shown on stream. You can find it at 30:51 the timestamp linked below:

Producer Yousuke Futami said while the game now is "enjoyable for everyone", further improvements are still planned, alongside new content update. There's also paid DLC content coming in the long run.

Read more on Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris with our past coverage. I personally recommend our translation of the interview with Yousuke Futami and Kawahara Reki chatting about the game here and here. You can check out our review as well.

Tokyo Game Show 2020 will also feature an SAO event with Rina Hidaka (Silica) and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito). Read more details here.