- Added a jail to Brynn.
- Fixed numerous passive abilities granting incorrect Bonus Effects: “Keep Them Coming”, “Final Push”, “One at a Time!”, “Reprisal”, “Rune of Fortifying”, “Rune of Destabilization”, “Embodiment of Resilience”, “Anticipation”, “Setup”, “Opportune Moment”.
- Switching to a different loadout now clears the bonuses from “No Retreat”.
- Fixed a delayed change in the character's stats upon learning new abilities.
- Fixed corpses not decaying.
- Chests in camps and containers in certain other locations no longer reset when these locations respawn.
- Fixed the bug with negative fines and jail time in Brynn.
- Visual fixes to the Homestead location.
- Fixed the crash caused by rumors in the French localization.
- Increased the upper threshold for “Wetness”, but every new stack now requires a higher duration of the effect. Greatly decreased Durability loss for metal items upon reaching 3 and 4 stacks of “Wetness”.
- Added Physical Resistance to some mage-centered gear and Velmir, Jorgrim, and Dirwin’s starting armors.

- Added the Pawnshop to Brynn. You’ll be able to find it in the Old Towers quarter (northeastern part of the city).
- Added 2 new capes: Velvet Cloak and Jibean Cape.
- Added 3 new glove variations: Sapphire Mage Bracers, Ruby Mage Bracers, Orient Bracers.
- Added 4 new rings: Gold Aquamarine Ring, Silver Sapphire Ring, Silver Emerald Ring, Ornate Ruby Ring.
- Added 3 new items: Morion, King’s Bust, Peach.
- Added several secondary NPCs to the Old Towers quarter.
- Maybe you should pay a visit to the Rotten Willow Inn?




- Increased the elven merchant’s stock.
- Mill containers are now considered private.
- Fixed “Battle Trance” bonus effect not giving Energy.
- Fixed “Push the Falling” granting Weapon Damage instead of Crit Chance.
- Innkeeper, his wife and their maidservant now have fixed names.
- Fixed doors collisions.
- Container sprites are now properly saved.
- Secondary Brynn NPCs no longer trade.
- Fixed wrong shooting collisions in one of the Bastion overworld presets.
- Brynn guards now use correct stats and skill sets (this change won’t affect old saves).
- Fixed the Proselyte Guard not dropping his dagger in the Prologue.
- Fixed the crash caused by attacking birds.

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE

- Added lake locations.
- Fixed “Regenerative Carapace” increasing the player character’s Resistances.
- After the Troll is dead, the Signal Tower will be repopulated by a new garrison.
- Fixed the condition check for dual wielding, the issue with which occasionally prevented Dual Wielding skills from working.
- Fixed the Block Chance formula for enemies.
- Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements for Two-Handed Sword skills.
- Added location name pop-ups to Brynn quarters.
- Added location name pop-ups to Osbrook and Mannshire.
- Fixed memory leaks.
- Fixed the Ancient Troll not dropping tusks upon being skinned.
- Fixed the crash in the Abandoned Siege Camp.
- Fixed glitches in the Mannshire tavern hostess’ behavior.
- Fixed the inability to enter the newly-added Brynn tavern on some old saves.
- Final fix to the locked door bug caused by saving the game in the Ruined Manor.
- Re-added the Ruined Manor ambush.

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE


- Added the Watchtower Tavern to Brynn. You’ll be able to find it in the Old Towers quarter (northeastern part of the city).
- The Brynn Quartermaster now sells equipment, namely high level items. You can increase the size and quality of his stock by raising your Reputation in Brynn. He now also has his own sprite, animation, and a portrait.
- Added a respawn mechanic for enemies and vegetation. Corpses and loot in already visited locations will now eventually disappear. Respawn times depend on the wilderness factor and can range between 3 and 6 days.




- Reduced shields and weapons’ Durability loss from blocking damage.
- Fixed the issue with the Troll’s armor - you should now be able to deal more damage to it.
- The Osbrook Merchant will offer a higher price for treatises (although it’s still fairly low).
- Increased the speed of aggro reset - animals will be much less prone to chasing you after you leave their threat zone.
- Tweaked enemy numbers in high level ambushes.
- Siding with Odar during the “Fate of the Brewery” quest will now reward you with Reputation in Osbrook.
- Added some loot to the Ransacked Homestead (only if you haven’t already visited it).
- The cart with a Quality Plane is now guarded by a couple brigands.
- Reduced the amount of leeches in rivers.
- Reduced Bison’s Vision range.


- Fixed the rare crash caused by issues with saving the state of NPCs.
- Fixed the crash caused by opening the context menu of Nikos of Arpheon's Astrolabe.
- Fixed the issue causing certain roads to spawn incorrectly.
- Fixed the bugs of the NPCs sleeping schedule.
- Fixed incorrect visuals of water.
- Fixed the bug causing the character to get stuck in the Abandoned Manor’s cellar.
- Fixed the bug causing the character to get stuck when entering the tile with the Abandoned Siege Camp.
- Fixed some Resistances working incorrectly.
- Fixed the road passing through the Brewery (only affects new playthroughs).
- Fixed the bug that allowed duplicating Pyromancy spells on the ability bar.
- Fixed the bug causing repeated Reputation loss during the “Fate of the Brewery” questline.
- Fixed resurrected enemies using stats of Giant Rats.
- Fixed incorrect visuals for enemies submerged in deep water.
- Fixed the crash during interactions with the Homestead NPC.
- Fixed issues when learning new Ability trees from trainers.
- Fixed the crash occurring when being frisked by guards.
- Fixed the bug with repairing caltrops.
- Fixed the text and the sound not being synchronized in the Prologue’s dialogues.
- Fixed the crash in the Prologue upon reaching level 10.
- The skulls indicating Dangerous dungeons are now colored orange.


- Fixed “Rune of Sustention” not functioning as intended.
- Fixed “Push the Falling” replenishing Health instead of Energy.
- Fixed the crash caused by using “Skull Crusher” on objects.
- Fixed the incorrect usage of “Raise Shield” by enemies.
- Fixed “Ring of Fire” applying incorrect penalties to Fire Resistance.
- Fixed “Arc Cleave” replenishing incorrect amounts of Energy.
- “Right on Target” now grants Accuracy just as mentioned in its description.
- Reduced the effectiveness of “Double Lunge”.

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE

- Fixed the inability to interact with the nightstand on the second floor of the brewery.
- Fixed the layering issue of fences and wheat near the mill.
- Fixed the lack of footstep sounds when walking over bridges.
- Fixed the bug with enemies not spawning on river map tiles.
- Fixed the Abandoned Homestead crash.
- Fixed the Homestead crash.
- Fixed dungeons retaining their structure upon respawning.
- Fixed the incorrect sounds on map tiles with river bends.
- The first two tiers of Hunger and Thirst effects have a lower influence on morale (0.05 and 0.1 > 0.01 and 0.05).
- Fixed the missing price of Nikos of Arpheon's Astrolabe (doesn’t affect already acquired artefacts).
- Fixed the incorrect duration of Hazzun Celestial Sphere’s daytime buffs.
- Disabled the option to learn rumors from secondary NPCs in Brynn.
- Added an option to catch leeches in deep water.
- Containers in the witch’s hut now have an owner and are marked red.
- Increased shields’ Durability (doesn’t affect already saved items).
- Fixed the bug with brewery NPCs having merchants’ inventories.
- Fixed the bug with “Drunkenness” affecting main Attributes.
- Fixed the bug causing Fumble Chance and Armor Penetration to not be affected by leveling Agility and Perception respectively.
- Fixed the cutscene at the brewery.
- Added an option to rent a room in the Rotten Willow Tavern and Ralph & Sons Inn.
- Fixed the crash caused by “Boulder Toss”.
- Fixed the inability to harvest Harpies and Crawlers.
- Kromm now gives a correct reward upon completing the quest.
- The duration of “Wetness” now has an upper threshold.
- Changed reputation perks (Better Gear I and II now increase the maximum level of sold items by 4 and 6 respectively).
- Fixed the crash caused by opening certain containers.
- Fixed crimes not being registered in some of the Brynn quarters.
- Fixed the missing sound of the Troll’s “Deafening Roar”.
- Increased the base Accuracy bonus of “Taking Aim” by 10%.

- Brynn elves no longer tell rumors.
- Reduced the number of enemies in Necromancers’ rooms.
- Low tier Necromancers are now accompanied by the Restless instead of Skeletons.
- Fixed reputation changes from contracts not being displayed in the Reputation menu.
- Fixed the issue with the missing ships in Brynn.
- Fixed the missing location name hover of the Lone Farmstead.
- Fixed sound issues near rivers.
- Added the missing journal entries for “Gathering the Caravan” and “Fate of the Brewery” quests.
- Slightly reduced the amount of herbs encountered on the map.
- Fixed “Blood Craze” granting incorrect bonus to damage.
- Fixed strange NPC behavior in settlements.
- Fixed incorrect ranged combat log entries.
- Fixed the bug preventing the use of “Double Lunge”.
- Fixed the crash caused by “Forceful Slam”.
- Fixed wolves never dropping pelts when skinned.
- Fixed the crash caused by the dialogue about key Mannshire NPCs.
- Fixed Jonna’s unique trait reapplying its bonus once more upon loading a save.
- Fixed rescue contracts not functioning properly.
- The state of the jail room now resets after you serve your time.
- Fixed the issue with overly powerful enemies spawning on map tiles and during ambushes.
- Reduced the size of wolf packs.

- Fixed the issue with bridges’ collision.
- Fog of war should now be properly displayed on river tiles.
- Tweaked Brynn merchants’ stock.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: we are aware about the bug that prevents merchants and other NPC from appearing on Brynn streets after the first couple of days - it will be fixed soon.
- Reduced the amount of crowns in village containers.
- The Korean localization should now function properly.
- Fixed the bug causing one of the achievements to be triggered by non-hostile animals.
- Tweaked dungeons’ drop rates.
- Fixed the crash occurring in jail.
- The elder no longer tells rumors about himself.
- Reduced the amount of gold in non-merchant NPCs’ inventories.
- Fixed the bug causing guards to disappear in the Guild Quarter.
- Fixed the quest-giving Brynn quartermaster’s name.
- Fixed the issue with certain damage types affecting pelts’ Durability too much.
- Fixed the treatise crash in the Prologue.
- Fixed the crash occurring during the Mannshire scribe dialogue.
- Fixed the crash caused by “Anticipation”.
- Fixed the issue with “Fire Barrage” Accuracy.
- Fixed the issue preventing a waterskin to be filled from a river
- Slightly reduced Durability loss from basic attacks.


- Fixed the crash occuring when using Stone Spikes under certain circumstances.
- Added some missing animations.
- Fixed the crash occuring during the dialogue with Rotten Willow innkeeper.
- Fixed the crash occuring after picking up spoiled food.
- Fixed the crash caused by crowns.
- Fixed the issue making containers contents disappear if the option to automatically close inventory
was enabled.
- Enemy spawn rates adjustments.

The size of the game’s world has grown almost 10 times - from 17x10 tiles to 40x40. You’ll be able to track your journey across it with a new global map menu that will also feature a character marker.

In your travels you’ll have a chance to encounter many Points of Interest, including monster dens and a handful of new unique locations.


The first major city will open its gates before you. It consists of four separate districts, each with their own vibe and special traders.


Your progress is now saved automatically upon exiting the game. However, these saves are deleted upon loading, so in case of your character’s death, you’ll be brought to the latest “hard” save made by sleeping.


Instead of being marked on the map from the get-go, Points of Interests are now discovered by learning rumors about them. You’ll be able to learn gossip and news from certain characters - some of it will end up leading you to an interesting location.


Theft, assault, and disturbing order within settlements is now a punishable offense. The punishment includes fines, jail time, and being executed on the spot.


The game’s world will now feature rivers, allowing you to fill a waterskin in the wild or just take a dip.


- Protection values from different items no longer stack, instead affecting only the body parts they are actually equipped on.
- Fumbled attacks now have their Stun, Daze, Knockback, Immobilization, and Bleed Chance set to zero.
- Dodge Chance now turns successful melee attacks into fumbles, and fumbles - into misses.
- Block Chance received an additional sub-system: successful blocking now costs some Block Power, which takes time to recover.
- Changes to the Accuracy formula: Accuracy and Dodge Chance now have two separate rolls, but their extreme values (Accuracy over 100% and Dodge Chance below 0%) will still have an effect on each other.


- Decreased Stat Point gain per level to 1. Main Attributes cap at 30 points.
- Attributes grant larger bonuses to a smaller number of stats.
- Each 5 points invested into an Attribute grant a special bonus to three additional stats.
- Reworked the structure of every Ability Tree: each of them received more starting paths. Unlocking powerful spells and skills will now require you to first learn all the abilities connected to them.
- Abilities now have Attribute requirements as an alternative way of unlocking them.
- You can now learn the first tier of Ability Trees from trainers - for the right price.


These are powerful relics of the past that possess unique properties - some of them require activation, while others grant their boon directly from your inventory.

You’ll have a chance to acquire them from distant dungeons - particularly dangerous locations, situated far from the settlements.


Encounter three new enemy types: Crawlers, Harpies, and Deathstinger Swarms.


Three new bombs: Nistrian Flame Flask, Spider Blood Flask, and Deathstinger Jar.


Recreate your favourite songs!


Will you be able to earn them all?


- A special quest in the beginning of the game.
- Reworked dungeon progression.
- Most dungeons won’t have a fixed difficulty level - it can shift back and forth during subsequent repopulations.
- Added special distant dungeons: there are no roads or contracts leading to them. They have the most dangerous enemies and the most valuable loot.


- Rebalanced most passives and some active abilities.
- Rebalanced all Injuries and Conditions.
- Being Knocked into an occupied tile now applies Daze instead of Stun.
- Fixed and rebalanced Durability - it now functions as intended.
- Bows now have an Accuracy penalty when shooting at targets within 1 or 2 tiles.
- Ranged weapons receive Accuracy penalty for shooting at distant targets: -2% Accuracy for each tile beyond half the maximum Range.
- “Sudden Lunge” and “Seize the Initiative” have an increased Range when used with a spear.
- “Seize the Initiative” now properly works with bows and crossbows, using the Range of an equipped weapon.
- Each firebolt from “Fire Barrage” now has a separate chance to hit.
- “Petrification” will now remove Bleeding.
- “Ensnarement” and “Immobilization” will either decrease Dodge Chance by 25% or set it to zero, whichever is more impactful.
- Tweaked caps of many secondary stats.
- Abilities’ hovers now properly display the Attributes that modify them.
- Increased damage from Knockback.
- Decreased the chance for curses to trigger their effect.
- Shouting now generates less noise.
- “Stun” will also grant Stun Resistance to reduce the possibility of stunlocks.
- “Wetness” now has stacks, the number of which depends on the duration of the effect.
- Dungeons will take twice as long to repopulate.


- Birds can now be hunted.
- Rebalanced the Troll: decreased its Resistances and increased its Max Health. The Troll also gets weaker when low on Energy.
- The Restless received higher Bleed Resistance.
- Archers can now drop their melee weapons on death.
- Rebalanced the chance of enemy spawns - it now depends on the nearby dungeons, hunting grounds, and the hidden wilderness factor.


- Rebalanced prices for most items.
- Increased the amount of valuables inside NPCs' homes.
- Rebalanced the price of arrows and bolts.
- Rebalanced money and reputation rewards for completing contracts.
- Tweaked reputation values.
- Rebalanced merchants’ stock.
- You can now request a starting weapon from the sergeant in Osbrook.
- Added 2 Catacomb and 3 Brynn-specific contracts.
- Changed rewards for completing tasks.
- Reduced the Mannshire scribe’s stock.
- Changes to the Troll quest: it can now be accessed only after reaching level 10.


- Added lots of new dishes.
- Added new items.
- Increased the base chance of triggering “Battle Rage” with Henbane.
- Antitoxin no longer completely removes Aftermaths from drugs, now only reducing them by half.
- Mindwort no longer completely removes Drunkenness, only decreasing its duration by a few turns.
- Increased the spawn chance for herbs.
- Added spoiled milk.


- Added pop-up speech lines for casting spells.
- Ability trees now have hovers with a short list of their strengths and effects.
- Numerous changes to in-game texts: item descriptions, characters’ bio, contents of treatises, etc.
- You no longer need to earn entrance to the Mannshire castle.

Hello everyone!

The City of Gold update is soon to be released: the approximate time is 21:00 MSK, November 18th. Right now is a good moment to give a summary of the progress we’ve made, talk about the update’s new features and what will be added to the game until the end of the year, and also discuss our plans for the future development of Stoneshard.


The City of Gold update will feature the long-awaited expansion of the game’s world: the old 17x11 map will be replaced with a 40x40 one - there’ll also be a new menu for navigating it. This map will be filled with numerous Points of Interest, including monster dens and some new unique locations.



As for finding these locations, you’ll need to make use of the new Rumor System - chatting with NPCs will occasionally provide you with valuable (and sometimes not so valuable) hints about places that are worth checking out.



Paper maps will be reintroduced into the game at a later date as an alternative way of finding Points of Interest and all kinds of treasures and hidden stashes.


The first major city will open its gates before you. It’s composed of four separate districts, each having its own vibe and special merchants.






After the update is released, you’ll no longer need to rush to a nearby tavern or camp when you need to urgently exit the game - your progress will be automatically saved on exit. It’s worth mentioning that saving on exit isn’t the same as quick saves - exit saves are deleted upon loading, so in case of your character’s death, the game will continue from the closest “hard” save made by sleeping.

On top of that, the new system will preserve information on lots of variables, including the state of tiles and the fog of war, dungeons’ layout, and more. This means that you won’t have to re-explore locations upon loading the game.


Expect to encounter three new dangerous enemy types that come with their own nests: deathstinger swarms, crawlers, and harpies. Each of these enemies will require a special approach, so make sure to exercise caution while hunting them!





You’ll also be able to hunt birds!


Expand your arsenal with throwable bombs: fire, acid, and the one that unleashes a swarm of enraged deathstingers.



And after you survive a difficult fight, treat yourself to some new dishes.






Artefacts are incredibly valuable relics of the past that possess various unique properties. Some of them grant passive bonuses while occupying your inventory, and others require activation.

You’ll have a certain chance to discover them in distant dungeons - hidden locations inhabited by the most dangerous enemies. These dungeons don’t have contracts associated with them, so you’ll need to find them first...


The Combat System received many important changes: let’s start with the most prominent ones - changes to armor. In City of Gold the Protection value from every equipped item will no longer stack. Instead, armor will only affect the body part it’s equipped on - this will make combat even deadlier, and there’ll be much more strategy involved in gearing up.

We also reworked two key defensive stats: Dodge and Block Chances. Dodge Chance now transforms successful attacks into fumbles, and fumbles - into misses. Block Chance received an additional mechanic: successful blocking now spends some Block Power, which takes time to recover, so if you want to use shields to their full potential, make sure to check out the corresponding Ability Tree!


The Attribute System was reworked as well: Attributes now grant different, more powerful bonuses, but you’ll be getting less Stat Points upon leveling up. In addition, every 5 points invested into an Attribute will grant you a major bonus to certain stats.



The Ability Trees’ structure was affected too. In order to make leveling more engaging and fluid, each Ability Tree now has multiple starting paths, and reading treatises will no longer be the only way to unlock higher tier Abilities - it can also be done by meeting Attribute requirements. In addition to that, it will be possible to unlock initially unavailable Ability Trees with the help of trainers, which will give you access to the first tier of them.




This update will feature the first batch of 40 Steam achievements. A large portion of them will be awarded for maxing out Ability Trees, but some will require you performing unorthodox feats. For instance:

Leechfeast – have leeches applied on six Injured body parts at the same time.
Shovel Knight – kill the Ancient Troll with a shovel.
What A Time to be Alive – experience 4 Deadly effects at the same time.
Totally Bear-able – kill a bear with a level one character.
Dr. Phlogiston, I Presume – have 7 enemies on fire at the same time.
I Have No Arms And I Must Kill – kill an enemy with a melee attack while both your arms are Severely Injured.


We plan to release a series of patches and small updates over the course of December and January to polish the existing content and add some new stuff. This will mostly affect Brynn: we want to introduce interiors to every house and add at least half a dozen extra buildings. In February you can also expect a small surprise on the second anniversary of the game’s Early Access release - but more about it later...

After we finish all that, we’ll start working on the Rags to Riches update, which will flesh out the global map and introduce two new Ability Trees to the game - Armor and one of the magic schools (we'll share the details later).

Wizard’s Fate, the update coming after Rags to Riches, will almost be entirely dedicated to magic - other than new magic schools, Wands, and Magic Mastery, we’ll also implement new systems that will make playing as a sorcerer not as easy and serve as a foundation for the full-fledged character generator.



An important mention: we will no longer be giving approximate release dates. The updates will be released only after we are sure that everything is ready. Exact release dates will be announced during the final stages of development and testing - one month before a patch’s release or so.

=======

That’s all for now. See you in the lands of Aldor on November 18th!

Hello everyone!

The City of Gold is almost here! Before its release on November 18th, we plan to publish one more devlog with a summary of the update’s most important changes and additions. Today, however, we’d like to tell you about two previously unannounced systems.


Rumors are closely tied to the new global map. As you may recall from its designated devlog, the global map will be initially concealed in the fog of war that you need to clear by exploring the world.
The same principle applies to Points of Interest, the location of which will be hidden until you stumble upon them yourself or learn about them from rumors.

Rumors are scraps of the latest news, gossip, and other interesting information, mostly exaggerated and sometimes not matching the reality at all. This mechanic is already partially present in the game: most NPCs can be chatted up to learn their thoughts about recent events, although this feature currently doesn’t have any gameplay applications.



After the CoG update, talking with some characters will actually provide you with valuable information, usually hinting at nearby POIs, which will then be marked on the global map. Different types of Points of Interest will have their own rumors associated with them: you’ll be able to learn about nearby camps, hunting grounds, monster dens, unique locations, distant dungeons, and so on.

Keep in mind that sometimes NPCs will request payment for valuable rumors, so make sure to bring your gold purse when fishing for information. If you fail to learn anything useful on your first attempt, don’t be discouraged - you’ll be able to try again in a few days.




Let’s talk about artifacts, a new type of loot with special properties. Artifacts are powerful relics of both recent and ancient past, some of them even dating back to antiquity. They’re usually imbued with mystical properties and can greatly benefit your character if you’re willing to sacrifice inventory space to carry them around.

Artifacts function as unique items: each of them can only be acquired once per playthrough. You’ll be able to find them in distant dungeons - dangerous locations situated far from settlements. These distant dungeons don’t have contracts associated with them, so you’ll have to either find them on your own or rely on rumors.



In the future, we might introduce additional means of acquiring artifacts: you’ll be able to find some of them in special locations, and others - in secret rooms or during quests. But for now, here are some of the artifacts you’ll have a chance to encounter in this update:




“St Wald, one of the first Aldorian saints, left his mark in history as a great preacher and an implacable enemy of heretics and the wicked. His relics are said to possess miraculous properties, capable of warding off the evil eye and cleansing malicious curses”

Effect: grants +30% Unholy Resistance and immunity to the “Curse” effect.




“This hefty tome is written in the Order's notorious code which no one has yet managed to crack. It's rumored that this book was blessed by all three Hands of the Host, and that it contains the full history of the Order and every mystery of creation they were privy to…”

Effect: killing undead or Proselyte enemies has 25% chance to grant “Blessing” for 100 turns.




“Nikos of Arpheon was perhaps the greatest seafarer known to the world. He was the first one to make a successful voyage around the Continent about a century ago. Even in the eye of Southern storms or amid icebergs of the North, Nikos's unparalleled skill as a navigator allowed him to always keep his ship on the chosen course”

Effect: can be used on the surface during night time once per day. Upon activation, grants the effect of “Clear Vision” for 2880 turns, boosting Crit Chance, Accuracy, Vision, and Bonus Range.




“A bronze jug in the form of a lion, expertly crafted on the Bronze Isles by an unknown master. Somehow this aquamanile found its way to Aldor, where it was blessed by the Archtheurgist of the High Hieron himself to serve as an eternal source of water to those dying of thirst - whenever emptied, it miraculously refills itself”

Effect: can be used once per day. Upon activation, sates 50% Thirst and also replenishes 25% Health and 15% Condition to each body part.

=============

That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!