We're happy to announce that Lichdom: Battlemage has entered the BETA phase of Early Access! Below you will find the Build Notes for this version of the game.

For more details & discussion, please visit the official forum thread.

NOTE: This update will invalidate save data from all previous builds. You must start a new game. Sorry!


New Feature: New Game Plus
The game doesn’t stop when you defeat the last boss. Unlock New Game Plus mode and play on as long as you like. Tackle challenging new objectives and earn new tiers of loot to craft the most powerful spells ever.

New Feature: Sigil Powers
Each Sigil has an inherent power that harnesses the energy of rare Apocalypticals. Learn to execute them and experience Flame Walls, Arc Lightning, and more exciting new spells.

Major Performance Optimizations
We have put a tremendous amount of effort into improving performance on low- and high-end hardware. We are modifying our minimum and recommended system specifications to reflect this.

Crafting System Improvements
The Crafting UI has had a significant overhaul focused on legibility and ease of use. We’re not done yet, but Crafting new spells has never been easier or more rewarding.

Synthesis System Overhaul
Synthesis has been reconfigured and rebalanced to allow you to make meaningful choices when you run across items you don’t want to use for crafting. A new Reforge feature lets you drop unwanted items into a magical slot machine that give you a chance at Legendary loot with minimal fuss.

UI Improvements
Most of the menus and Heads-Up Display elements have had a major overhaul. This work is still in progress, but just about everything looks better, runs faster, and is easier to use.

Balance Improvements
A big round of balance has been applied to spells, AI, loot stats, and drop rates. We’re getting closer to our launch targets, but more work is coming.

Official support for Crossfire and SLI
Users with multiple graphics cards should now see significantly improved performance compared to a single card without graphical anomalies.

Official support for Eyefinity multi-display setups
Although there are some known issues that we are working on, users with 3X1 Eyefinity display setups should be seeing good results.


Gameplay:

• The damage dealt by a Synergy spell cast can contribute to the charging of the Synergy, which in some conditions can enable a crafty Battlemage to fire off Synergy spells very frequently. Enjoy the extra power while it lasts!
  
• An active block will cap incoming damage at the current shield bar. At present, this includes fall damage. This gravity- and lava-defying extra protection will be reined in prior to final release.
  
• The difficulty of the New Game Plus (NGP) areas is still being tuned. At present you may find yourself one-shotting enemies in one area and being one-shotted in another. The desired difficulty range (between “brutal” and “downright mean”) should be arriving by final release.
  
• Loot Machines will, on rare occasion, hold onto a piece of loot when the encounter is completed.
  
• Delirium Sigil: Several issues are under investigation
  
  • Mastery does always cause your Pet to prioritize targets with Mastery correctly.
    
  • The reflect effect may trigger on ranged opponents even when they miss.
    
  • Delirium’s Invisibility Sigil Power may dispel if one of your spells impacts a wall or other terrain. (It should only dispel when striking an enemy.)

Graphics:

• You may encounter a black screen (with audio playing) on game startup. Disabling tessellation has mitigated this for some users, and most users will eventually get video after an extended wait. We’re continuing to identify and address the issues underlying this behavior as we find them.
  
• While greatly reduced in frequency, we have still seen the “whiteout” effect in snowy and icy areas in some circumstances. If you can reliably reproduce this issue please start a conversation in the Technical forum to help us identify and resolve the remaining problem scenarios.
  
• A Blur effect that can happen during Boss fights can get ‘stuck’ in rare circumstances. Reloading the level will resolve this.
  
• Crossfire and SLI: We recommend you disable anti-aliasing if you enable SLI (for now). You may see occasional framerate hitches with Crossfire as we continue to tune and optimize.
  
• Eyefinity: You may see some UI overlap and positioning issues, and under rare circumstances may see graphical artifacts with the player hands/arms (e.g. appearing detached). Rest assured, the Dragon’s arms have not been amputated. Fight on.
  
• TressFx: Note: Enabling/disabling TressFX requires a game restart to take effect. Hair color may still be inaccurate, and hair components may be duplicated or otherwise appear floating in the world. Issues with hair everywhere will be addressed for final release.

Animation & Art:

• A few characters may have weighting/morphing issues, these will be polished up prior to final release.
  
• Some environmental foliage will ‘regrow’ after being subjected to fire damage.
  
• We’re continuing to polish the animation and physics treatment of enemies subjected to spells, particularly Kinesis.
  
• Some of the “Ghost Echo” scenes still have placeholder or first-pass animations with distortion artifacts. These will be completed and polished for final release.
  
• Lip-sync for most spoken dialog is still being polished and will be present in the final release.

UI:

• There are a few areas where the UI is clipped or overlapping.
  
• The descriptions of the Sigils in the Journal are inaccurate and will be updated for final release.
  
• The Reliquary description of the Lightning Sigil is out of date.
  
• Some of the loading screen tips still need a final spelling & grammar pass.

Other:

• Avast Anti-Virus can prevent Lichdom from starting on certain machines with AMD hardware. This investigation is on-going; in the meantime uninstalling Avast and restarting will allow the game to start. There are several alternative AV products (including free ones such as Defender/Security Essentials from Microsoft) that will not interfere with Lichdom.
  
• When the camera position is locked for cinematic purposes, gamepad/joystick controller input will only move on the X-axis.
  
• Roth appears in the New Game Plus area, but his spoken dialog is not yet present.

We're happy to announce that Lichdom: Battlemage has entered the BETA phase of Early Access! Below you will find the Build Notes for this version of the game.

For more details & discussion, please visit the official forum thread.

NOTE: This update will invalidate save data from all previous builds. You must start a new game. Sorry!


New Feature: New Game Plus
The game doesn’t stop when you defeat the last boss. Unlock New Game Plus mode and play on as long as you like. Tackle challenging new objectives and earn new tiers of loot to craft the most powerful spells ever.

New Feature: Sigil Powers
Each Sigil has an inherent power that harnesses the energy of rare Apocalypticals. Learn to execute them and experience Flame Walls, Arc Lightning, and more exciting new spells.

Major Performance Optimizations
We have put a tremendous amount of effort into improving performance on low- and high-end hardware. We are modifying our minimum and recommended system specifications to reflect this.

Crafting System Improvements
The Crafting UI has had a significant overhaul focused on legibility and ease of use. We’re not done yet, but Crafting new spells has never been easier or more rewarding.

Synthesis System Overhaul
Synthesis has been reconfigured and rebalanced to allow you to make meaningful choices when you run across items you don’t want to use for crafting. A new Reforge feature lets you drop unwanted items into a magical slot machine that give you a chance at Legendary loot with minimal fuss.

UI Improvements
Most of the menus and Heads-Up Display elements have had a major overhaul. This work is still in progress, but just about everything looks better, runs faster, and is easier to use.

Balance Improvements
A big round of balance has been applied to spells, AI, loot stats, and drop rates. We’re getting closer to our launch targets, but more work is coming.

Official support for Crossfire and SLI
Users with multiple graphics cards should now see significantly improved performance compared to a single card without graphical anomalies.

Official support for Eyefinity multi-display setups
Although there are some known issues that we are working on, users with 3X1 Eyefinity display setups should be seeing good results.


Gameplay:

• The damage dealt by a Synergy spell cast can contribute to the charging of the Synergy, which in some conditions can enable a crafty Battlemage to fire off Synergy spells very frequently. Enjoy the extra power while it lasts!
  
• An active block will cap incoming damage at the current shield bar. At present, this includes fall damage. This gravity- and lava-defying extra protection will be reined in prior to final release.
  
• The difficulty of the New Game Plus (NGP) areas is still being tuned. At present you may find yourself one-shotting enemies in one area and being one-shotted in another. The desired difficulty range (between “brutal” and “downright mean”) should be arriving by final release.
  
• Loot Machines will, on rare occasion, hold onto a piece of loot when the encounter is completed.
  
• Delirium Sigil: Several issues are under investigation
  
  • Mastery does always cause your Pet to prioritize targets with Mastery correctly.
    
  • The reflect effect may trigger on ranged opponents even when they miss.
    
  • Delirium’s Invisibility Sigil Power may dispel if one of your spells impacts a wall or other terrain. (It should only dispel when striking an enemy.)

Graphics:

• You may encounter a black screen (with audio playing) on game startup. Disabling tessellation has mitigated this for some users, and most users will eventually get video after an extended wait. We’re continuing to identify and address the issues underlying this behavior as we find them.
  
• While greatly reduced in frequency, we have still seen the “whiteout” effect in snowy and icy areas in some circumstances. If you can reliably reproduce this issue please start a conversation in the Technical forum to help us identify and resolve the remaining problem scenarios.
  
• A Blur effect that can happen during Boss fights can get ‘stuck’ in rare circumstances. Reloading the level will resolve this.
  
• Crossfire and SLI: We recommend you disable anti-aliasing if you enable SLI (for now). You may see occasional framerate hitches with Crossfire as we continue to tune and optimize.
  
• Eyefinity: You may see some UI overlap and positioning issues, and under rare circumstances may see graphical artifacts with the player hands/arms (e.g. appearing detached). Rest assured, the Dragon’s arms have not been amputated. Fight on.
  
• TressFx: Note: Enabling/disabling TressFX requires a game restart to take effect. Hair color may still be inaccurate, and hair components may be duplicated or otherwise appear floating in the world. Issues with hair everywhere will be addressed for final release.

Animation & Art:

• A few characters may have weighting/morphing issues, these will be polished up prior to final release.
  
• Some environmental foliage will ‘regrow’ after being subjected to fire damage.
  
• We’re continuing to polish the animation and physics treatment of enemies subjected to spells, particularly Kinesis.
  
• Some of the “Ghost Echo” scenes still have placeholder or first-pass animations with distortion artifacts. These will be completed and polished for final release.
  
• Lip-sync for most spoken dialog is still being polished and will be present in the final release.

UI:

• There are a few areas where the UI is clipped or overlapping.
  
• The descriptions of the Sigils in the Journal are inaccurate and will be updated for final release.
  
• The Reliquary description of the Lightning Sigil is out of date.
  
• Some of the loading screen tips still need a final spelling & grammar pass.

Other:

• Avast Anti-Virus can prevent Lichdom from starting on certain machines with AMD hardware. This investigation is on-going; in the meantime uninstalling Avast and restarting will allow the game to start. There are several alternative AV products (including free ones such as Defender/Security Essentials from Microsoft) that will not interfere with Lichdom.
  
• When the camera position is locked for cinematic purposes, gamepad/joystick controller input will only move on the X-axis.
  
• Roth appears in the New Game Plus area, but his spoken dialog is not yet present.

This patch addresses an issue that some users are experiencing where the game launches in an extremely low resolution, regardless of the graphics configuration settings.

Please join us on our forums to discuss the game and report issues.

This patch addresses an issue that some users are experiencing where the game launches in an extremely low resolution, regardless of the graphics configuration settings.

Please join us on our forums to discuss the game and report issues.

We've posted a patch that addresses several crash issues that have been discovered since the Alpha build went live. We have also updated the crash reporter tool to automatically include a DxDiag report along with the crash report to allow for more efficient diagnosis of future issues.

Please join us on the Lichdom: Battlemage forums to discuss the game or report bugs and issues.

We've posted a patch that addresses several crash issues that have been discovered since the Alpha build went live. We have also updated the crash reporter tool to automatically include a DxDiag report along with the crash report to allow for more efficient diagnosis of future issues.

Please join us on the Lichdom: Battlemage forums to discuss the game or report bugs and issues.

Thanks everyone for the great response to the Alpha build. With your help, we've identified some issues that warranted a (relatively) quick patch. Please join us on the Lichdom: Battlemage Steam forums to discuss the game and report issues.

Fixes in revision 57581

• Several crash and stability issues have been addressed. You may still encounter crashes; however this patch brings improved logging and crash reports, so please keep the reports coming.
  
• The energy barriers around an encounter in Maelstrom were not always removed upon completing the encounter. This should be fixed. If a barrier is still blocking your path after completing an encounter, check for enemies lurking around the area – some of them may seem shy after you’ve obliterated their friends.
  
• Some encounters were not re-triggering when you used Fast Travel to get back to them.
  
• Some users who upgraded from pre-alpha builds may experience shader or texture issues. An upgrade step was added to address this and will play the first time you start the game after patching. An issue with occasional “white-out” lighting in Maelstrom is still under investigation.
  
• A balance pass was completed on the overkill damage required to trigger Synergies and the magnitude of damage/duration/etc. on some of the Legendary Affixes.
  
• Improved visuals for tutorial videos.
  
• Added audible impacts during tutorial combat sequences.
  
• TressFX: Fixed an issue preventing the Gryphon’s hair from displaying with TressFX enabled.

Thanks everyone for the great response to the Alpha build. With your help, we've identified some issues that warranted a (relatively) quick patch. Please join us on the Lichdom: Battlemage Steam forums to discuss the game and report issues.

Fixes in revision 57581

• Several crash and stability issues have been addressed. You may still encounter crashes; however this patch brings improved logging and crash reports, so please keep the reports coming.
  
• The energy barriers around an encounter in Maelstrom were not always removed upon completing the encounter. This should be fixed. If a barrier is still blocking your path after completing an encounter, check for enemies lurking around the area – some of them may seem shy after you’ve obliterated their friends.
  
• Some encounters were not re-triggering when you used Fast Travel to get back to them.
  
• Some users who upgraded from pre-alpha builds may experience shader or texture issues. An upgrade step was added to address this and will play the first time you start the game after patching. An issue with occasional “white-out” lighting in Maelstrom is still under investigation.
  
• A balance pass was completed on the overkill damage required to trigger Synergies and the magnitude of damage/duration/etc. on some of the Legendary Affixes.
  
• Improved visuals for tutorial videos.
  
• Added audible impacts during tutorial combat sequences.
  
• TressFX: Fixed an issue preventing the Gryphon’s hair from displaying with TressFX enabled.

Lichdom: Battlemage has entered the Alpha phase! Please note that previous save games are not compatible and you will need to start a new game.

For more detail, please visit the official forum thread.

• New level: Maelstrom
  
• New boss: Frost Claw
  
• New magic class: Lightning
  
• New enemy types:
  
• - Cult Alchemist
  
• - Cult Witch
  
• - Demon Vex
  
• New feature: Synergies. Synergies are special, legendary spells that can only be cast after charging them through casting two types of magic. Three synergies are available in the Alpha build: Ice Storm, Singularity, and Lightning Elemental
  
• New feature: AMD TressFX technology
  
• Sigil rework (all Sigils). Rebuilt the system that determines how a spell behaves based on its crafting components. Each spell now has a primary augment, which determines whether it is focused on Destruction, Control, or Mastery. The spell’s focus determines its behavior and how its attributes affect that behavior. The Journal contains full details for each Sigil.
  
• Shield System Rework. New system for crafting shields, each with different behavior suited for different play styles. Shield Patterns and Shield-specific Augments drop as loot.
  
• - Agile Shield
  
• - Strategic Shield
  
• - Tactical Shield
  
• Synthesis and Deconstruction Rework. Synthesizing Patterns and Augments yield more appropriate results. Spells can be Deconstructed to retrieve one of the original components.
  
• New spell Patterns. Spells can now be crafted and cast with a greater variety of delivery methods, including:
  
• - Targeted Ray
  
• - Targeted Lob
  
• - AOE Smart Trap
  
• - AOE Pool

Gameplay

• Resuming a saved game is sometimes noticeably slow.
  
• Blinking into an NPC approaching the player can cause unexpected knockback.
  
• The player can currently trigger the “galvanized” block effect against DoT effects.
  
• Backtracking within a level may re-trigger some encounters and loot rooms.
  
• The player can sometimes continue casting while the death effect/transition is playing, which in specific cases can trigger other issues.
  
• Some Boss attacks blur the player’s view; in rare cases this blur effect does not go away. Restarting the level will work around this.
  
• In rare cases, being subjected to knockback can push the player through the green barriers around specific encounters.
  
• The “Tormentor” NPC animations and actions are occasionally out of sync.
  
• Progress towards charging Synergy spells is not persisted across play sessions.

Animation, Graphics & Sound

• UI text can crop or overlap in some places.
  
• Spamming quick blink can cause camera issues in some areas.
  
• Lob spells for Sigils other than Fire/Ice/Lightning may be missing sounds and have placeholder visuals.
  
• Many NPCS have cosmetic-only animation issues when subjected to Kinesis spells.
  
• Some NPCs will not visibly “cower” when affected by Delerium Mastery spells, however the effects are functional.
  
• Enemies killed by burning effects sometimes leave visual artifacts and may not be fully engulfed.
  
• Terrain in some areas may appear white when viewed at specific angles.
  
• The lighting in the ice levels may occasionally flicker or toggle into an unintended state (“disappearing snow”).
  
• Placeholder visuals:
  
• - Player character’s shadow
  
• - Player, Gryphon, and Roth animations
  
• - Most animations in the “Ghost Echo” scenes
  
• - Most character/NPC lip-sync
  
• TressFX
  
• - There are some visual issues with the Gryphon’s hair with TressFX enabled.
  
• - If you toggle the TressFX feature, you need to restart the game for the change to take effect.
  
• Audio levels are inconsistent in some areas.
  
• NPCs hit while emerging from underground may replay their emerge animation.

Other

• The game may not start on machines with certain AMD CPUs if Avast Anti-Virus is installed. Uninstalling Avast and restarting the machine will work around this; please take appropriate steps to keep your machine protected.
  When tutorial videos are disabled, the screen may still fade when walking over the areas that trigger the tutorials.
  
• If you revisit a Reliquary you’ve previously accessed, Roth may reappear (no gameplay effect).
  
• When the camera position is locked for cinematic purposes, gamepad/joystick controller input will only move on the X-axis.

Lichdom: Battlemage has entered the Alpha phase! Please note that previous save games are not compatible and you will need to start a new game.

For more detail, please visit the official forum thread.

• New level: Maelstrom
  
• New boss: Frost Claw
  
• New magic class: Lightning
  
• New enemy types:
  
• - Cult Alchemist
  
• - Cult Witch
  
• - Demon Vex
  
• New feature: Synergies. Synergies are special, legendary spells that can only be cast after charging them through casting two types of magic. Three synergies are available in the Alpha build: Ice Storm, Singularity, and Lightning Elemental
  
• New feature: AMD TressFX technology
  
• Sigil rework (all Sigils). Rebuilt the system that determines how a spell behaves based on its crafting components. Each spell now has a primary augment, which determines whether it is focused on Destruction, Control, or Mastery. The spell’s focus determines its behavior and how its attributes affect that behavior. The Journal contains full details for each Sigil.
  
• Shield System Rework. New system for crafting shields, each with different behavior suited for different play styles. Shield Patterns and Shield-specific Augments drop as loot.
  
• - Agile Shield
  
• - Strategic Shield
  
• - Tactical Shield
  
• Synthesis and Deconstruction Rework. Synthesizing Patterns and Augments yield more appropriate results. Spells can be Deconstructed to retrieve one of the original components.
  
• New spell Patterns. Spells can now be crafted and cast with a greater variety of delivery methods, including:
  
• - Targeted Ray
  
• - Targeted Lob
  
• - AOE Smart Trap
  
• - AOE Pool

Gameplay

• Resuming a saved game is sometimes noticeably slow.
  
• Blinking into an NPC approaching the player can cause unexpected knockback.
  
• The player can currently trigger the “galvanized” block effect against DoT effects.
  
• Backtracking within a level may re-trigger some encounters and loot rooms.
  
• The player can sometimes continue casting while the death effect/transition is playing, which in specific cases can trigger other issues.
  
• Some Boss attacks blur the player’s view; in rare cases this blur effect does not go away. Restarting the level will work around this.
  
• In rare cases, being subjected to knockback can push the player through the green barriers around specific encounters.
  
• The “Tormentor” NPC animations and actions are occasionally out of sync.
  
• Progress towards charging Synergy spells is not persisted across play sessions.

Animation, Graphics & Sound

• UI text can crop or overlap in some places.
  
• Spamming quick blink can cause camera issues in some areas.
  
• Lob spells for Sigils other than Fire/Ice/Lightning may be missing sounds and have placeholder visuals.
  
• Many NPCS have cosmetic-only animation issues when subjected to Kinesis spells.
  
• Some NPCs will not visibly “cower” when affected by Delerium Mastery spells, however the effects are functional.
  
• Enemies killed by burning effects sometimes leave visual artifacts and may not be fully engulfed.
  
• Terrain in some areas may appear white when viewed at specific angles.
  
• The lighting in the ice levels may occasionally flicker or toggle into an unintended state (“disappearing snow”).
  
• Placeholder visuals:
  
• - Player character’s shadow
  
• - Player, Gryphon, and Roth animations
  
• - Most animations in the “Ghost Echo” scenes
  
• - Most character/NPC lip-sync
  
• TressFX
  
• - There are some visual issues with the Gryphon’s hair with TressFX enabled.
  
• - If you toggle the TressFX feature, you need to restart the game for the change to take effect.
  
• Audio levels are inconsistent in some areas.
  
• NPCs hit while emerging from underground may replay their emerge animation.

Other

• The game may not start on machines with certain AMD CPUs if Avast Anti-Virus is installed. Uninstalling Avast and restarting the machine will work around this; please take appropriate steps to keep your machine protected.
  When tutorial videos are disabled, the screen may still fade when walking over the areas that trigger the tutorials.
  
• If you revisit a Reliquary you’ve previously accessed, Roth may reappear (no gameplay effect).
  
• When the camera position is locked for cinematic purposes, gamepad/joystick controller input will only move on the X-axis.