Dudes!

We just got done taking a huge bite out of the bug list, because bugs are parts of a balanced breakfast (ew no, they aren't, stop).

Us: 1
Bugs: ∞

So for those of you who enjoy hunting them down I'll be resetting the report thread, or have already, I dunno man, time is a social construct. Link will be below the patch notes.

Thanks a ton for those who contributed, love you to death!



Also, we're on sale for a weekish, so if you were on the fence, now's a good time I'd say!


- Cervul's axes will now always have piercing properties.
- In single player Coop Mode, both characters will now share invincibility timer after taking a hit to prevent double damage if hot-swapping right after being damaged.
- Accessibility Tint cannot be turned up to 100% anymore as it was creating visibility issues and preventing feedback and anticipation blinks from being displayed.
- Players who avoid saving before reaching end credits will now be able to return to title screen if they game over without having to endure the intro boat ride of shame.
- Overhauled Pavise block and reflect behavior regarding diagonal and parabolical projectiles.
- Cervul will now blink when reloading his horizontal weapons.
- Fixed possibility to enter Belphegor's Lair before having broken all orbs.
- Fixed possibility to keep shield tool floor collision line while it is held up under certain conditions.
- Fixed loss of functionality when swapping at the same time as dying in a pit.
- Fixed possibility to switch to Casual Mode when loosing all lives during a Maxime Gunn playthrough.
- Double bird spell will now see both birds attack more efficiently.
- Drain Life will now display blood trails going towards Cervul when he is healed.
- Fixed Overhead Spell/Tool Swap Display not responding to keyboard selection changes.
- Fixed wrong Equipment Icon for Alcedor under certain conditions in Coop Mode.
- Fixed Save Shrine considering teleported out and invisible enemies as being too close to allow activation.
- Fixed possibility for Crypt Skeleton to stay mid-air if killed during jump.
- Fixed a possible wall clip in Castle 6 that would lead to infinitely dying in lava when transitioning to adjacent screen.
- Fixed some corner collisions in Castle 5 that were prone to clipping into death from bottom of the screen with intended navigation pathways.
- Fixed level elements disappearing during Cultist Purge events.
- Fixed Belphegor having trouble targeting heroes when his spear is on the ground and on the opposite side of heroes.
- Fixed Game not remaining paused during Chest Collection Anim if Player Dies right after touching chest.
- Fixed Void Shield charge not resetting after reaching one of the endings.
- Fixed Void Shield charge display remaining active during Belphegor Death scene.
- Fixed multiple localization issues with Port. Brazil. language.
- Fixed possibility to open Pause Menu after Kneel ending but before credits load up.
- Updated Bandage and Potion tool videos that were displaying old values and UI elements.
- Fixed possibility to have Tentacles accumulate during spell cast in Abaddon's fight.
- Fixed being able to poison the non-biological Scorpio enemy.
- Fixed Occuloservitor having problem targeting Baphomet.
- Fixed Collect Item bubble not being aligned with Cervul when buying in shops while Alcedor is dead.
- Fixed poison not carrying over on zombie eating enemy spawner.
- Fixed enemy death animation not taking proper orientation when killed through some means.
- Fixed being able to control Cervul during Skeleton Neighbor Fate Choice.
- Fixed some hero projectiles showing red accessibility tint for a frame.
- Fixed Vile Knights's swords not being reflectable by Pavise.
- Fixed Brutus' melee attack not doing any damage.
- Fixed possibility to duplicate the ram guards in Darsov Cathedral Defense Event.
- Fixed possibility for wrong travel by screen edge position in Team B Mode while controlling the Squire.
- Fixed Swap character action being active when loading a single player file after playing in coop mode.
- Added a Shield Lift platform in Werewolf room to prevent softlock possibility in Team A Mode.
- Added nothing new to the small, hard to reach, platform below Robert's Castle.
- Fixed possibility to trigger Mayor's underground confrontation without having ever met him.
- Fixed Cervul being invincible in the second phase of Protect Darsov event.
- Fixed upward axis control remapping for Keyboard
- Fixed wrong icon displayed for controller control remapping
- Fixed wrong icons displayed for sidekick tools tutorial UI
- Fixed bug that could occur when trying to SkyCall while casting a spell
- Fixed bug where player could get stuck with blue color in some situations while charging
- Fixed bug where you used a Cervul tool while getting a charged attack
- Updated icons and splash screens on some platforms
- Fixed double input using keyboard on controller assignment screen



Bug report thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/374190/discussions/0/3879347633292136143/

Hey Dudes!

We're really glad to hear that so many people have been having a good time with the co-op update. From getting sweet fan art, to catching some people streaming their way through the game with a friend, it has been a blast to see everyone have a good time with the additions.

As you may imagine, when adding an entirely new playable character to a game released originally as single player, a couple of bugs can sneak in there, and we're aware of them and workin' on it. We regularly monitor the Steam forums for bug reports, as well as our company Discord and social media for reports to add to our tracker to tackle.

We obviously can't promise we'll be able to eradicate everything in a single pass, because game development is wild, but we're gonna do our best to get as many things as possible without somehow creating new bugs.

So if you come across something weird while playing, head over to the forums and let us know about it. The more detailed you can be about what happened and how, the easier it is for us to replicate and hopefully fix. We appreciate everyone who has taken the time so far, we're a small team and your help is invaluable for breaking the game in ways we didn't in testing!

Here's a stickied thread for bug reports, but if you want you can also make your own thread, I'm not your Dad: https://steamcommunity.com/app/374190/discussions/0/6169410450153481815/

We were giving it a little time after the update to let the QA team and Devs rest, and make sure we've gotten as many reports as possible, but we're gonna get in there and get it all sorted.





-Berzerk Team

Hey Dudes!

The wait is over, the Deux or Die update is here in all its 2-player glory, so it’s time to head back to the lands of Upel with your trusty squire to dish out some justice. Since we're assuming you're playing the game on Steam if you're here, good news; Even though the update is couch co-op, it supports remote play through Steam specifically. If you missed the previous posts and want to know all about the way your new companion and second playable character adds to the game go check out: Introducing Cervul pt.1 and Introducing Cervul pt. 2.



If you already own the game, congrats, you own the update. What are you still doing here reading when you could already be playing? If you don’t own the game, now might be a good time to buy it, we even put it on sale to celebrate the update. We love paying rent, and you get to play a sweet game at a discount, that seems win-win.

Thanks a ton for waiting while we worked on this update, it’s taken a lot of effort and time from everyone on the team to add a second player mode. The game was obviously always originally intended as a single-player game, but after launch we knew that adding co-op felt cool and good, so we’ve been toiling away at it since quickly after launch and we hope you have a good time with it.

-The Berzerk Team

PS: For those who want he nitty-gritty, here's some patch-notes:

Coop Update patch notes

Coop Update patch notes:
Co-Op Changes:
- Cervul: new character, Cervul, for couch coop mode with new tools and abilities
- Co-op: In addition to 2-player mode, you can play both characters with 1 player with swap-mode
- Co-op: Game has been rebalanced for co-op mode, enemy behaviors tweaked for multiple targets
- Co-op: Additional dialogues and art to include Cervul
- Co-op: New Inferno Power for finishing a co-op game, as well as new unlock icons for previous Inferno Powers
- Co-op: Gun mode supports co-op
- Major UI overhaul to support co-op
- Defined Harold's paternal legacy
- New achievements: Achievements for co-op modes and easter eggs
- CRT Filter: Custom settings allow you to get the retro look you want
- Improved CPU performance across the board
- Optimized fonts resources

Gameplay changes:
- Bird Familiar AI has been revamped to make them more reliable, especially at coin-gathering
- Alcedor can now block projectiles during invincibility frames across all modes
- Teleporting enemies' logic has been revamped to account for second player before choosing a spawn location, and should be more generous in their spacing and vulnerable frame overall
- Stranger's Melee weapon range will now be longer with each Weapon Level
- Fixed Stranger not crouching properly when holding diagonal-down
- Faceless One has received a health buff to balance the fight difficulty relative to the average time it is encountered during play.
- Fixed Belphegor targeting Issues during Fireball attacks if his weapon is on the ground
- Fixed issue with chainsaw mode in the future
- Fixed issue with charged attacks and the shotgun
- Fixed issue with empty player names
- Fixed issue with crouched shotgun aiming with Stranger
- Fixed issue with Mayor confrontation event
- Fixed various issues with time of day changing during quest events
- Fixed visual issue with some Stranger animations
- Fixed issue with Stranger shotgun knockback inside houses
- Fixed localization issue with 'Hold to skip'
- Fixed crash that could occur during Horseman fight
- Fixed collision issues in Dream level
- Fixed issue with big knight charge attacks
- Fixed Axcedor name not appearing in dialogues during Battle of Darsov
- Fixed Demonology entry for Scorpion, now includes the guards
- Fixed Thorn Shield hitting bosses multiple times per frame
- Fixed Softlock possibility with Mayor Quest
- Fixed progression issue with "Spy on the Cult" quest if "Destroy the Cult" is active
- Fixed issues with Mammon's health bar display
- Fixed various gameplay visual artifacts that could remain active during cutscenes
- Fixed possibility for Morality to not be awarded properly if exiting to title at specific points during various quest events
- Fixed Evil Shield Spell reseting from Day Time Swap
- Fixed Various Performance Issues
- Fixed other various Localization Issues

Hey Dudes,

If you haven't heard it already, you'll hear it hear first, the Deux or Die update goes live on April 5th. Not too much longer until you can go scour the lands of Upel from all evil... or not. Which brings me to today's post. Here it is, the second half of introductions for our newest adventurer, though maybe for this one we'll call him Alcedor's partner in crime.



...Ok now that anyone who needed to bail has bailed, let's talk Evil Cervul. You even get GIFs of the abilities this time, because we like you so much, and definitely not because it was a pain to try to explain the evil skills with just screenshots.





The first thing you'll notice when you decide to embrace the darkness with Cervul in tow is that he now wields thrown Firepots. One change is that the Firepot will explode on contact with any platform. What you get in exchange is that the firepot deals a fair bit more damage.





Evil Cervul has access to the Void Shield, where he holds before himself a tear in the fabric of reality itself, and uses it as a shield. Neat. The void shield absorbs incoming projectiles instead of deflecting them, and in the process charges itself. Once ready, Cervul can use the charged Void Shield to shoot an energy back at enemies.





Evil Cervul's direct-forward attack are an arsenal of poisoned daggers. One thing to keep in mind is that there's a limited number of daggers available at a time. This means you have an increased potential rate of fire, but need to watch your ammo. Enemies hit by a poisoned dagger are dealt damage over time that stacks with any other incoming damage, making them a very powerful addition to a fight.





If having Alcedor to back you up isn't enough, how about a floating eye-demon from the pits of hell named Glex'tar that will summon explosive floating eye minions? If you're playing Evil Cervul, good news, that's an option. As you upgrade the Occuloservitor the eye-minions that are summoned become more aggressive and effective.




Don't ask what's in it, but it'll heal you. Just you though. The Ichor Potions are just for Cervul, but they heal your entire healthbar with each use. Also at higher levels you're able to carry quite a few of them, which can be a real asset for survivability.


We're so excited for you to get a chance to play through what we've cooked up for you. The update is a lot of fun, and we hope you have a great time with it.

Take it easy,
Berzerk Team

Hey dudes,

When we announced the update, we said we’d be back to talk about Cervul’s deal, and because time marches on beyond the control of mortal men, that time has come. In an attempt to keep this from turning into an insanely long post, we’re going to break it in half and cover the first set of tools Cervul has at his disposal. The next post will break down what Cervul can do if you decide to walk a darker path.



From the very beginning of planning for Deux or Die we knew that we didn’t want to do something like create a copy of Alcedor, change the colors, and call it a day. The idea of making a second character with his own set of skills, abilities, and challenges was the first thing that we wanted to be a big part of the update. So we settled into giving Cervul not just his own attack style, but changing all of the secondary abilities like spells into something different and interesting for Cervul.



The differences in play style start right off the bat with an entirely different basic attack style. Where Alcedor has a shield and mace always at the ready, allowing him to go toe to toe with foes, Cervul has a more indirect ranged attack that requires more careful distance placement, and works great in addition to Alcedor’s more up front attack style. You can control the arc of Cervul’s attack to some degree by crouching, pressing forward, etc. The skilled player will be rewarded for practice, as there’s a lot of versatility in the way the Axes are used.



Cervul doesn’t get access to spells and potions throughout the game, and instead is equipped with an arsenal of tools that unlock abilities that help both players on their quest. Though all of Cervul’s tools have a benefit for him directly, their true power comes from the fact that they can provide utility for both players at the same time, and careful combination of their abilities can give you the edge in tough fights and to deal with the difficulty of the game that’s been rebalanced to challenge two players.



A smart person explained that this is, in fact, a shield. A very big shield actually. It’s large enough that Cervul carries it with both hands, which means he can’t attack while carrying it, but it’s tall enough to block both high and low attacks at the same time, unlike Alcedor’s shield which needs to be positioned properly. In addition to being carried, the Pavise can be placed on the ground to provide a persistent barrier to attacks that Cervul can attack over, and can shield both players from incoming projectiles. One of the interesting upgrades allows Cervul to hold the Pavise overhead, not just blocking downward projectiles but also serving as a platform for Alcedor.



The crossbow is a ranged attack that can be used over and over, needing only to be reloaded momentarily. It allows Cervul to attack directly forward in addition to providing support fire to Alcedor. The upgrades to the Crossbow increase its range, damage, and turn it into a formidable weapon for Cervul’s arsenal.



It’s actually illegal to make a game with a squire and knight without including a banner. They’ll send you a sternly worded letter, it’s a whole thing. The banner is a held item that provides a speed and attack speed buff to both players in an area of effect. When upgraded the banner itself can be used as a short range melee attack while being held by Cervul. Where the banner gets interesting is that like the Pavise, it can be placed on the ground to continue providing an effect while Cervul is free to attack or use his crossbow.



You’ll never be able to guess what these do. Just kidding, they’re bandages, they heal you. But the bandages not only heal Cervul, but they can be used to heal Alcedor as well. The upgrades allow each bandage to heal more when used, as well as increasing the total number of bandages that Cervul can carry at a time. Since options to heal are quite limited on longer dungeon runs, they make a welcome addition to survivability for the more difficult sections of the game. The bandages automatically refill any time Cervul is near a save shrine, or sleeps at an inn.

Well hopefully Pt. 1 of the rundown of the plucky new squire has you excited to return to Upel and crack some demon skulls. We’ll follow up with the next installment soon that’ll cover Evil Cervul’s abilities.

Take it easy,
Berzerk Team

Greetings Dudes,

The time foretold is finally upon us, we can tell you what we’ve been working on! We’d actually started the process of this new update before even starting the Halloween update last year, because as it turns out, video games take time to make, and major updates take longer.

So here it is, our upcoming update to the game: Infernax: Deux Or Die.




This Spring, return to the lands of Upel as the Duke Alcedor, this time joined by your trusty squire Cervul as you attempt to regain control from the forces that plague your dutchy. The new mode is playable as a standard 2-player local co-op (with support for Steam remote play) or as one player hot-swap mode that allows a single person to control both characters by switching on the fly.

We've beefed up the forces of evil that plague the land to give an appropriate amount of challenge for a team, as well as integrating Cervul into the story of the game. We've modified the castles to provide additional challenge as well, so that returning players and first-time players will both find something interesting waiting for them. (By interesting, we mean very deadly.) Of course, like all other updates to Infernax we've released, this will be available free to all owners of the game, and included in all future purchases.




Cervul is so much more than a copy of Alcedor, in fact he plays entirely different. Unlike the straight-forward mace and shield that Alcedor carries, Cervul is equipped with thrown weapons that give him the ability to be a great support in fights, as well as allowing him to attack in ways Alcedor can’t. Though he has abilities that allow him to attack directly forward, Cervul will find it challenging to go it alone, so teamwork is essential to success.




Unlike the spells and potions that Alcedor unlocks throughout the game, Cervul has an extensive set of tools that expand his capabilities. In fact there are two sets of both tools and basic attacks for Cervul, depending on which morality path you follow in a playthrough. In a future post we will break down Cervul’s abilities to give you an even better idea of what kind of gameplay the squire brings to Infernax.



We hope you’re as stoked as we are to expand Infernax not just with a new way for anyone to play, but as a game that you can enjoy playing with a friend (or foe, we don’t judge) just like the good old days. You might want to make sure you don’t give player 2 your s#!%&y loaner controller though, you’ll need them in tip-top form.

Take it easy, and we'll be back soon with more details!
-Berzerk Team

Happy Infernax Day. Nothing else going on today, just us.

Can you believe it’s been a year already? I sure as hell can’t. Feels like just yesterday we were trying to figure out how to make a pixel RPG in Flash, and now you’re trying to tell me that it’s already been out for a year now?

I refuse to believe it, because that would make me ten… eleven years older and that’s not happening. I am a spry young man not a day older than 25…

Alright, maybe not 25. Maybe it HAS actually been out for a year, but I don’t have to like it.



It took us ten whole years to make Infernax the game we wanted it to be, and while that might seem like a long time to make a video game, watching people’s reactions and reading their comments made it all worth it; so much so that we decided to spend another year post-launch to create more content, and the biggest chunk of it has yet to come.

Stay tuned for more Infernax news, sooner than later too.

Again, Happy Infernax day, may you find someone who loves you the way Harold loves his job.

-Your pals, the Berzerk team (but specifically Mike this time)

Someone dragged us out of our cave, and after being horrified at the brightness of true sunlight, we realized the Steam Awards are here and don’t you know, we want one.

“Which one?” you, the reader of this blog post hypothetically ask in the scenario I’m creating; let's call you Steve.

Why “The Best Game You Suck At” award of course dear Steve. We’re not greedy, we know what we made. If you want to nominate us for Game of the Year, or Outstanding Story-Rich game, legally we can’t stop you, but again we know a lot of people died endlessly beating the game, so it just makes sense.



So all we’re asking of you, our hypothetical Steve, is to throw us a nomination if you have a chance. It’ll make our publisher happy, and then we won’t have to fight them in a one-on-one deathmatch to prove our prowess as game developers. Our contract is wild, don’t worry about it.

Thanks for the support, we’re looking forward to sharing more Infernax next year with y’all. Once we have a firmer idea on dates we’ll let you know, but stay tuned because we think it’s going to have been worth the wait.

-Your pals, the Berzerk Team

Because the team was feelin’ spooky, we added a new playable character to the game for Halloween. Now you can cruise through the benighted lands of Upel as The Stranger, shrouded in mystery and carrying a concerning amount of ammo.

Is that a Trick… or a treat? That sort of depends on how you feel about fighting evil with a shotgun.

Personally, we’re fans.



The Stranger is a variant character not just visually, but in playstyle too. Anyone who liked any of the other alternate play-modes that require a different style than Alcedor’s normal technique will find a lot to like in The Stranger’s high knockback/low damage melee combined with the high-powered shotgun. It requires you to learn how to smoothly one-two combo your way through enemies, which is a rad new way to slay.

Now the debate is still open to who exactly The Stranger is. Is he Alcedor's descendent back from the future to create a really confusing timeline paradox? Is he actually Harold, who has been a time traveler this whole time? Is he just a cool dude with a mask who fell through a time hole? Is there a legal limit on sequential questions?



The Inferno Power for The Stranger will auto-unlock when you open the game after updating, so you're ready to play right away. Start a new file with the name "Stranger" and you're ready to mow down foes.

As far as more updates (we know you’re gonna ask!) Yes, we’re working on a more substantial addition to the game that comes out [this part redacted for Mike’s Sanity]. It’s a lot more to add than the Halloween Update, so it takes more time y’know?

We hope you enjoy the update, and appreciate all the support from y’all. Let us know if you have fun playing as The Stranger, it was a lot of fun making him.

-Your pals, the Berzerk Team


(For those who just GOTTA KNOW the nitty gritty, here's the Patch Notes for the Update v.1.03.XXX)
Halloween Update Patch Notes:
- New playable character: The Stranger! Shotgun action! No potions!
- Fixed 'Trouble at the cathedral' quest not triggering if time of day changed
- Fixed bug where you could literally kill Tancred with the Bike, getting stuck in the fight
- Fixed crash if charging with the bike during 'Protect Darsov' quest
- Fixed memory leak in overworld with struggles between soldiers and enemies
- Fixed wrong tint applied to some soldiers during 'Protect Darsov' event
- Fixed bug when setting 'Camera shakes' to 'Minimal', it should apply the change in the current scene
- Fixed performance issue at starting Cathedral scene in the rain
- When eating Wall chicken it should display the current Hero portrait if Axcedor, Gardakan or Stranger
- Fixed bug when falling in the water near a water wheel, you could get dragged lower and trigger a
scene change
- Fixed input management issue with popup displayed when changing monitor index

Hey Dudes!

We didn’t make a big post about it because we didn’t have anything new to show to anyone who’d already played Infernax, but a couple of the team headed to PAX West this year to set up the ol’ living room and drink some Capri Suns.

It was only the second time we’d really had a chance to talk to anyone in person since the game launched in February, so a big thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by to tell us about their experiences playing the game, and to everyone who came and checked out the demo for the first time. Getting to talk to people about our games in person is one of the highlights of making games at all honestly.



So onto the content of the post: Right before PAX we added a new branch option for Infernax on Steam. It’s basically a time-capsule of the game at v1.01.011, before we launched the last major update with all the bug-fixes and accessibility options. We realized it would be nice to make it easily available for anyone who (for whatever reason) preferred the old build, but also for those who invested the time into learning that version for Speedrunning.

One of the things we were really surprised by after the launch of the game was the support of the speedrunning community, and we’re super grateful that anyone liked our game enough to spend a truly impressive amount of time playing and analyzing to optimize their runs. We figured the least we could do was make it possible for anyone who didn’t want to learn the post-updated version’s new quirks be able to stick to the older version they prefer.


If you don’t know how to activate a beta branch on steam, here’s a quick, handy, "high-quality" visual guide:



1. Right click on Infernax in your games list to open the game properties.
2. Once the window pops up, head to the the option marked "Betas" in the left-hand list.
[REMBEMBER TO READ THE NOTE ABOUT SAVE FILES FIRST]
3. In the drop down menu, select "backup" to swap over to the older branch.
4. Infernax.


Speaking of speedrunning, if you missed it, there was a great run of Infernax during this year’s Summer Games Done Quick by DantheVIP, with really awesome commentary from SaberaMesia. The whole team had a good time watching someone do things to our game we didn’t intend and could not have foreseen, all in the service of the almighty speedrun.




If you want to attempt to use the time capsule branch to try your hand at a run, it looks like Dan did it in 51:52, so get to it.

We’ll have some news coming up fairly soon about content updates, we’re still working away over here so we will keep you looped in once we’re able to talk about it!

Take It Easy,
-Berzerk Team