Today’s update brings our first content addition of the UNLEASH THE JAGUAR UPDATES series. Let us introduce you to the lootable Champions' Weapons, dropped by filling mysterious conditions that will only give you a chance to get it...

🍉 = Community additions

New features

• Blood Hunter’s Bloodstake signature Spear can be dropped by the Champion under one special condition: I, the CM, don’t even know what it is. That’s how devilish our Game designer is.
  
• Night Twin’s Moonblade signature Sword can be dropped by the Champion under one special condition: we'll let you figure it out ;)
  
• New relics: Gleaming Sapphire. Relic giving +base damage per 1000 Gold Stack in stock now exists in all rarities. Bonus has been adjusted to +2%/+4%/+6% (up to 100%)
  Design Notes: Increasing damage with Gold is a fun synergy that was only available with a very rare relic and was quickly too powerful. Relic will now present more frequently with more adequate damage increase.

Balancing

• 🍉 All bows raw damage have been increased by ~20%
  Design Notes: Bows compared to pistols were a little low damage-wise, even with their better fire rate. Taking your feedback into consideration, we decided to increase their damage.
  
• Daggers Finishers now deal a regular hit stun rather than a heavy stagger (unless breaking an actual enemy attack)
  Design Notes: Always staggering with dagger finisher could lead to easy combo loops while consuming little stamina. Breaking an enemy attack is still rewarded by a staggering effect, allowing a chain with another combo.
  
• 🍉 Looted Weapons’ VFX are now colored according to their rarity.
  
• 🍉 Items dropped by the Explorer are now less eye-catching to differentiate them from new ones.

• 🍉 Black screen issues linked to DualCore processors have been fixed.
  
• Fixed a bug on Cursed Sword “Abnegation” that was making the Explorer always take passively 100% more damage when having it in hands.

• Always thanks to your feedback, expect more balanced things amongst our “balancing list” of stuff to balance:
  + The overall balance of all the aspect of the game
  + Balancing of Relics and Blessings
  
• Game modes: Hard Difficulty runs to be improved and have stronger differences with Normal Difficulty runs (additional moves or behavior for Elite enemies, Champions and Bosses…)
  
• More diversity in rooms
  
• Check our Roadmap for more!

• Perfomance issues: low FPS in-game
  
• Connectivity problems (PS4 and unbranded pads)
  
• Getting trapped OOB while using Claws or sending foes OOB due to overly skilled players

Notes: Fixing the FPS and Connectivity issues is our priority! Our team is dedicated to finding a solution for players encountering these problems. If you want to help, you can check this post.

We’re extremely lucky to already have some fan arts of Curse of the Dead Gods! If you’d like your fan art featured here each week, send it at contact@passtechgames.com or on our Discord server!


@RogueJustice


@FaervalTV


@Lullu

Curse of the Dead Gods has been acclaimed by players and press alike, with a Steam user review rating of over 87% following its first week in Early Access. Thank you so much everyone, we are all incredibly thrilled! Sylvain Passot, Director of Passtech Games, has this to say:

"The whole studio would like to thank our community of players who helped us bring Curse of the Dead Gods to the top of Steam sales charts for the entire week of its release! We are delighted and will continue to give everything to ensure our game lives up to this initial reception."




After a first patch released last week thanks to your feedback, we are already working on a new update that brings new content, along with further optimization and bug fixes.

The official roadmap is available now on the Steam store page for Curse of the Dead Gods.

Everyone is invited to share their feedback via Steam, the official forums or the {LINK REMOVED}official Discord channel!

For both newcomers and seasoned explorers, we are pleased to share two new videos. The first is aimed at new players looking to get started in Curse of the Dead Gods. The second goes over more advanced techniques for experienced explorers looking to improve their skills and take on the deadly gods of the temple.

https://youtu.be/F7ZEgpL8_Hk
https://youtu.be/ewQKlDoHzWQ

Curse of the Dead Gods is available now in Early Access on Steam.
The game is set to release later on consoles. For more information, visit https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123770/Curse_of_the_Dead_Gods/

Greeting, Explorers!

Thank you for the amazing reception so far! Everyone at PassTech Games is thrilled by the amazing amount of support the Temple was met with at release!

We are also aware of several recurring issues affecting some players ingame. We are currently working on it. If you happen to have issues when playing, please read this post and hit us up if this still doesn’t help out for you: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1123770/discussions/0/1747898619769977404/

If you want to discuss directly with the Curse Of The Dead Gods team, join our discord here: {LINK REMOVED}http://bit.ly/cotdg-discord-invite

You can share your feedback, suggestions, and interact with the rest of the community in our private Temple!





Are you having trouble fully understanding how to defeat the Temple? Looking for tips on the game? Want to know what is a "curse"?

Watch our Behind The Scenes and learn all about our Temple:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9wXTTvgz-U&list=PLjbma_6dYNT0VJV7j6w75tsrf5wakQ2C6


Stay tuned for more content and updates in the next few weeks!
And remember: Greed will save you...But it will also kill you!

Curse of the Dead Gods is finally here, and we hope your journey in the Temple goes well.

This dark place can be challenging, with monsters and deadly traps waiting to kill you at every corner. If you're to take down the many foes that stand in your path and amass treasures, we've assembled a handy list of 7 helpful tips that will make that journey into the Temple that little bit easier.

Be sure to check the Steam page of the game to check all the new update on the Early Access, share your feedback and we’ll see you in the next video.
https://youtu.be/ewQKlDoHzWQ
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123770/Curse_of_the_Dead_Gods/

Hello everyone,

Thanks tremendously for your feedback and support regarding Curse of the Dead Gods Early Access release!

We are aware that some players encounter FPS, black screens, and connectivity for controllers issues while playing our game. We're working towards finding a solution for everyone!

In the meantime, we created a fix for people having low FPS issues. If you're affected by these issues, this should improve your game experience.

Please note that if your issue is still not resolved, we are actively trying to fix it. Check our Steam page or Discord server to get regular updates about the situation. You can also try these few steps to help us gather some data about your issue.

:: HOTFIXES ::

• Fixed some FPS issues.

-------

If the patch somehow made things worse for you, you can revert to the EA_Launch_version by following these steps:
→ Open your Steam account, go to your library.
→ In your Steam Library, right-click on Curse of the Dead Gods and go to Properties.
→ Go to the BETAS tab and select this branch: EA_Launch_version
→ Confirm and click on PLAY to update your game (you might need to restart Steam to see the update).
→ Once the game is updated, you have access to the game!

We are delighted to deliver a demanding and satisfying game that will lead you to the door of a seemingly infinite Temple filled with monsters, traps, and riches to amass.

Catch a glimpse of the Temple’s threats in the new Early Access Launch Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpuGUyeO-KE
Early Access launches with a ton of content. The Jaguar section of the Temple complete with unique traps and game mechanics, 10+ regular Curses, 30+ rooms with their own variations, 9 fighting styles, 40+ relics to build synergies with, and much more to discover.

Our roadmap showcased at the top of the Steam page is jam-packed with more content, including new sections of the Temple, weapons, blessings, monsters, bosses, and much more – all developed with the help of the Steam Early Access community.

Curse of the Dead Gods is now available on Steam Early Access and will be released in the future on consoles.
For more information, visit https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123770/Curse_of_the_Dead_Gods/



Curse of the Dead Gods is out in Early Access on Steam! We are so excited to finally share this game and we truly hope you'll enjoy it. Our goal is to keep the game updated quite regularly, thanks to your feedback and our Roadmap of the game (you can check it on our Steam page).

We also have a Discord server for our community! Join us to chat with other players and dev members: https://discord.gg/kKsJ3Rx

So, what does this Early Access has to offer?

• 3 Jaguar tiers, each with a distinct environmental and visual flair
  
• 4 Jaguar Game modes acting as difficulty levels and game modifiers

• 9 Weapon Fighting Styles
  
• 40+ Relics

• 10+ Curses
  
• 20+ Blessings available in the Underworld progression

• 6 Enemies, each with their Elite version
  
• 2 Champions
  
• 1 Final Boss

We've got a ton of content coming up in future updates! In the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy Curse of the Dead Gods!

To celebrate the launch of Curse of the Dead Gods on Steam Early Access on March 3rd, we are proud to present our Gameplay Overview Trailer.

https://youtu.be/TlixBMpv-R8

This trailer details the atmosphere, many dangers, and mechanics in the Temple, giving you a rundown of everything from lore to how best to fight your enemies, using traps to your advantage and facing the effects of terrible curses.



With fast-paced and tactical combat with satisfying executions, this Rogue-lite will plunge you into an ever-changing maze where your greed will be put to the test. Pierce the darkness with your trusty torch and defeat the false deities to amass gold, new weapons, and mighty relics. Whether you want more power or riches, you’ll always find meaningful choices to make here.



Curse of the Dead Gods is a modular game with a lot of replayability, perfectly suited for the quick and responsive updates of an Early Access model. We will already have a lot of content for you when the Early access launches, but we also plan to add content on a regular basis based on community feedback.

Curse of the Dead Gods releases March 3rd on Steam Early Access. The game will also be showcased at PAX East 2020 from February 27th to March 1st at the Focus Home Interactive booth (n°29017).
Join us on February 27 at 5 pm CET for an exclusive game presentation with the studio on our official Twitch channel.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123770/Curse_of_the_Dead_Gods/

Welcome to our brand new devblog! We’re unveiling details about the making of Curse of the Dead Gods, the new roguelite by Passtech Games coming to Steam Early Access on March 3. Today, we’re excited to share more info about its unique art direction!

In order to get exclusive info, we met up with Passtech Games’ Art Director Valentin André-Terramors to discuss challenges and creative vision.



Our aim was always to find a recognizable aesthetic for Curse of The Dead Gods. Passtech Games is a small indie studio and we had to be crafty and ingenuous as a team to reach our goal. Everyone at Passtech is motivated and wants to create a unique looking video game.

I am fond of 2D aesthetics and everything with a hand-drawn feel, even when the product itself is a 3D game. This naturally led me to exploring this during Curse of The Dead Gods’ development.



Light and shadows are at the core of the experience in Curse of The Dead Gods and they were also one of the first concepts introduced at the beginning of the creative process. The image of a lone explorer, equipped only with his torch to navigate an ancient temple - this is what inspired the whole team both for game design and art direction.

Choosing to accentuate the shadows by giving them sharp edges was a big decision and big change for the art direction. From that point on, everything away from the light in-game was pitch-black and therefore full of mysteries, treasures and potential foes. Those big inked shadows gave a distinct dark art fantasy and comic book aesthetic to the game.



When Passtech Games started working on Curse of The Dead Gods, the temple was supposed to be a mysterious lost city where explorers, from various time periods, would succeed each other. The player would then meet fantastic mythological beasts linked to major civilizations. This initial idea was really interesting and opened a world of possibilities but also made everything more complicated for a unified Art Direction. Should the lost city be close to Egyptian architecture with some Angkor touches or should it look like a Greek Atlantis?

Adrien (Lead Designer), Sylvain (Lead Programmer and CEO of Passtech Games), and I talked and finally settled on depicting one architectural style and one civilization. At that point, the studio had already worked out the game mechanic that enables the player to sacrifice gold or blood. This seemed fitting for a South American culture (human sacrifice, El Dorado myth). Unlike other exploration games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted, the team’s goal was to create a dark fantasy universe and distance the game from realism.



The Mayan civilization is enigmatic and still not very well understood. Its mythology evolved over time, making it a perfect setting for a mysterious, forgotten temple.

Visually, a lost temple is a very interesting setting: we try to bring thousand-year-old architectural art to life through colors and gilding. The amount of ornaments and sculptures is perfect for a game where shadows and lights are so present. Mayan and Aztec civilizations open a range of possibilities regarding typical enemies and bosses.



PassTech Games was inspired by various works to render a unique aesthetic. During development the team used to call the game a “3D Darkest Dungeon”, itself inspired by comic artists such as Mike Mignola. The comic Long John Silver was one of my main references for its dark ambiance and a storytelling about a lost Maya temple.

We also got inspired by other materials such as The Lost City of Z (for its greedy explorers and their obsessions), Apocalypto (for its archeological reconstructions), the Road to El Dorado (for its amazing scenery).


screenshot from The Road to El Dorado (2000) by DreamWorks Pictures.

Video games also heavily contributed to our inspirations with Diablo 3, and Gauntlet (2014) for top-down classics or Hades as an unrivalled example of development and polish since its announcement.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also a great inspiration for cel shading and VFX effects. This type of cel shading makes the character’s movement more fluid and easier to spot. Both readability and movement are essential to a game with a top-down camera where the character is only taking up a small portion of the screen.

Curse of the Dead Gods launches in Early Access on Steam on March 3rd, 2020: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com
The game will also be showcased at PAX East 2020 from February 27th to March 1st at the Focus Home Interactive booth (n°29017)!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1123770/Curse_of_the_Dead_Gods/

We are pleased to announce that Curse of the Dead Gods, the demanding Rogue-Lite that dives you into the heart of a labyrinthine temple infested with monsters and deadly traps, releases in Early Access on Steam on March 3rd 2020!

Curse of the Dead Gods is a project close to our hearts, with many opportunities and possibilities for development. We would like to gather feedback and opinions from the community on the best route to take! Curse of the Dead Gods is a modular game with great replayability, and we believe that Early Access will make the most of it.

Get a first look at Curse of the Dead Gods’ challenging gameplay and unique setting in our Reveal Trailer:
https://youtu.be/57tvlAQ36hE
Guided by your lust for power and wealth, prepare to face terrible curses that will constantly alter your gameplay experience. Using the abilities of a vast arsenal of weapons and the powers of mighty relics, make your way through the shadows to confront the God of Death himself and break the cycle of resurrection.

Available for Early Access on March 3rd, Curse of the Dead Gods offers an adventure full of content, with a demanding learning curve, intense combat, dozens of weapons, relics, curses, traps, and much more to discover.



This Early Access release marks the launch of a roadmap of updates to come over the next few months. New Temples to explore, each with their own universe, unique traps and enemies. New game mechanics are also planned, with new weapons for your arsenal, new curses and relics. Also on the way are new game modes, along with many more features and improvements based on community feedback.



Curse of the Dead Gods launches in Early Access on Steam on March 3rd, 2020.

Come and meet us at PAX East 2020 from February 27th to March 1st at the Focus Home Interactive booth (n°29017)!

Curse of the Dead Gods is available for play in Alpha! This is the LAST WEEK we'll accept new Alpha Testers as we have reached our goal. Register now before it's too late!

To start playing, register for the Alpha: https://curse-of-the-dead-gods.com/first-explorer/
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qFrSrV4

• New enemy: Blood Priest
  + Heal other enemies. Can spawn enemies.
  Design notes: FX on the Blood Priest are WIP

Not on my watch!

• New Weapon: Evisceration Claws
  + Critical Hits to enemies with less than 50% Health remaining.

• Curse Removal
  + Choose the Curse you want to be relieved of.

• Random Enemies
  + Enemies are now more randomly chosen to create unexpected combinations and new fights. Note this is a first iteration, expect to meet (too) many Virgins.

• Settings
  + New “System” category in the Options menu: Lets you erase a save.

• New SFX all around!

• Shields
  + Reduced Parry Frames to 10 (from 12)
  + Increased Base Damage of all Shields by ~15%
  Design notes: The extended parry window for Shields was a bit too much exploitable, the bonus is reduced from +4 frames to +2 frames compared to other weapons. On the other hand, shields were a little low on damage considering they only deal single hits.

• Dark Fire Curse
  + Dark braziers now emit an aura that puts off fire and your torch.

Day. Night. Day. Night. Day...

• Stats cost
  + Statistic Buffs' Gold Cost for two statistics at once are now computed at the sum of the two multiplied by 1.5 (from 2).
  Design notes: Double Stats Gold Cost had a tendency to increase too quickly, making them less profitable even when players had enough Gold to spend.

• Timed Challenge Rooms
  + Initial Amount of Gold in the pot is now 2000 (from 1500). Time for emptying has been increased by 10 seconds for Tier 2 and 20 seconds for Tier 3.
  Design notes: Compared to the standard Gold Room, Treasure Rooms require completing a hard challenge to get full value from them. Increasing Gold Gain potential makes them more appealing to get a massive boost of Gold.

Evisceration Claws in action

• Fix for the rollback hammer: you’re no longer teleported at the starting room when using a heavy two-handed weapon.
  
• Fix for collision issues: you no longer go through walls or objects when dodging or using certain types of weapons (ie. claws)