- Fixed the mistake in the Fatigue formula causing weapon/utility skills to generate several times more Fatigue than intended.
- "Seal of Power" now correctly applies its effect when casting spells.
- Fixed the inability to turn in "Odar's Thugs" quest.
- Fatigue gain from using abilities is reduced to 1.5% / 2.5% of ability's energy cost for skills and spells respectively (2% / 3% before)
- Fixed the inability to turn in Witch Hat, Witch Staff and morions to l'Owcrey.
- "For Whom The Bell Tolls" now has greatly increased cooldown and reduced Sanity loss.
- "Unholy Anthems" generate less noise now.
- Fixed the bug causing locations to play wrong music themes.
- Reduced the value of "Onslaught" Energy Burn.

Additionally:

- Fixed Skeleton Kingsguards contracts generating in Mannshire. This fix isn't retroactive - you need to complete or fail already generated contract for this change to take place.
- Fixed Skills & Spells Energy Cost and Cooldown Duration being 105% by default instead of 100%.
- Undead and Proselytes are now more vulnerable to Sacred Damage.
- Fixed secret room passages sometimes becoming unpassable after the reveal.

- Fixed the crash occuring after entering the second floor in some dungeons.
- Fixed staff-wielding necromancers spawning in low-level dungeons.
- Fixed the inability to cook crab meat.
- Gulons now drop Gulon Hides when skinned.
- Fixed the softlock occuring after changing the locations during the "Odar's Thugs" quests.
- Risen Axonians no longer drop bones on death.
- Increased the odds of successful lockpicking.
- Fixed Tollers using Tormentors' stats.
- Fixed AI not properly reacting to Gulons.
- Fixed the incorrect materials of some of the new amulets.
- Fixed the incorrect pricing when trading with Vagrant Tott.
- Vagrant Tott now charges 20% less for fast travelling.
- Increased Shock Resistance debuff caused by both "Impulse" and "Resonance".
- Balance tweaks for several tier II and tier III Brigands (mainly regarding the high block chance and block power of enemies armed with two-handed weapons).
- Fixed the possibility to strike yourself with a lightning when casting "Tempest".
- Doubled the sleep limit from accumulated Fatigue (+1 hour per 5% Fatigue instead of per 10% Fatigue).

- Fixed the inability to back out from the dialogue about renting the Bank vault.
- Fixed some of the new amulets' incorrect prices.
- Fixed all new Proselytes granting the same amount of experience on death.
- Reduced the conversion rate of a Backfired spell’s Energy Cost into Sanity loss.
- Innkeepers now have more money (to make it easier to sell Barrels of Beer to them).
- Moved Fiends to a higher tier.
- Slightly nerfed Marauders.
- Reduced some of the low level Proselytes' Accuracy.
- Risen Axonians no longer have access to “Nail Down”.
- Fixed the player character being able to acquire the effect of “Crimson Gift”.
- Fixed the crash caused by explosions.
- Fixed the exploits allowing to steal items from containers without it being registered as a crime.
- Enemies should now correctly recover Health when the player character leaves the location.
- Increased doors’ durability.
- Taking a cart ride no longer counts as sleeping and doesn’t decrease the maximum sleep duration.
- Increased the duration of Elven Mud’s effect.
- It should no longer be possible to click through the animation of “Impulse”.
- “Pyromania” now grants Miracle Chance instead of Crit Chance.
- “Triumph” now grants Miracle Chance in addition to Crit Chance.
- Fixed “Body and Spirit” decreasing Sanity loss from Backfired spells by 80% instead of 20%.
- Nerfed Flagellants’ “Driven by Pain” passive.
- Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements of “Endurance Training”.
- Reduced Fumble Chance and Backfire Chance from dual wielding.
- Fixed the inability to rent a room from the hostess in the Close Harbor Tavern.
- Fixed the missing greeting line of the University’s Physician.
- Fixed the ability to accept a contract after completing it.
- Increased Fatigue reduction from consuming exquisite foods.
- Increased the strength of Gulons.
- Various fixes to most spells’ Energy Cost, Cooldowns Duration, and Backfire Chance.
- Reduced the restock speed of Herbalists’ wares.
- Added sound effects to some of the new Proselyte abilities.
- Added more sound effects to “Gwynnel’s Answers” cutscenes.

- Added sounds to Electromancy and Magic Mastery spells.
- Ghouls’ level is now taken into account when spawning them in Crypts.
- Increased the damage of “Jolt” by 10%.
- Slightly nerfed low level Wraiths.
- Removed the possibility of finding usual Shackles on tool racks instead of Rusted ones.
- Fixed the bug with Brewery NPCs cloning themselves.
- Fixed the bug that generated Shrines instead of Abandoned Carts.
- Fixed glass bottles not shattering when thrown.
- Fixed overly powerful minibosses spawning in Mannshire Bastions and Crypts (this change will come into effect after completing or failing already generated contracts).
- Fixed loot in the Watermill.
- Fixed the Cart Driver’s description.
- Fixed the Fence’s name.
- Fixed elven traders’ descriptions.
- Fixed harbor merchants’ descriptions.
- Fixed the missing price of Bronze Isles and Barcia folios.
- Fixed Beets adding to Fatigue when eaten.
- Fixed Bandages and Lockpicks missing the "Merge" option.
- Fixed the bug with the cell door’s context menu that occurred during contracts with kidnapped NPCs.
- Fixed the incorrect cooldown of “Step Aside!” when this skill was used by enemies.
- Fixed the bug allowing to fill non-vessel items with water.
- Fixed shop signs attracting thrown items when aiming at tiles close to them.

- Changed the effects of “Impulse” and “Resonance”.
- Fixed excessive Thirst gain from abilities, which was caused by an incorrect comma placement in the formula.
- Young Trolls now have shadows.
- Slightly nerfed enemies in the Prologue.
- Junk dealer Tott will no longer sell his wares for 1 coin each.
- Gulons no longer attack each other.
- Fixed the crash caused by attempting to learn a “paid” rumor.
- Fixed the softlock caused by dual wielding.
- Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements for “Short Circuit”.
- Fixed Fatigue Resistance being displayed twice in the character menu.
- “Potential Difference” now has its Immobilization Chance displayed correctly.
- Fixed the effect of “Impulse” being applied twice when using it on Resonating targets.
- Fixed the potential crash caused by interacting with tool racks in the Catacombs.

IMPORTANT: this is a major update that includes changes to the global map generation, so it requires you to start a new game. If you want to continue your old playthrough, it can be done by rolling back to the previous version in the game’s Steam options


…and a quest that goes with it. You can receive it in a location of questionable repute after reaching level 14.



13 high level Proselytes.

Added the House of the Azure Thread, the Bank, the Golden Grain Inn, the Cathedral, the University, the Printing House, the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, a dockside store, the Close Harbor Tavern, and the Fence’s hideout - each new location has its own characters and gameplay function.

It will wrap up the introduction sequence and prepare you for the sandbox part of the game.

It comes with access to a sizable storage. This location becomes available after arriving to Brynn and completing “Gwynnel’s Answers”

Using abilities and performing various actions will now generate Fatigue, which lowers your character’s Max Energy. Fatigue can be kept at bay with regular sleep, quality food, and some consumables.

The character can now only sleep for a limited amount of time that depends on how long they spend awake and their Fatigue.

Added several new magic-related stats and a Backfire mechanic that causes reckless mages to take damage from their own spells.

11 unique books that provide information about the game’s lore and grant some experience when read for the first time.

1 new sword, 7 new necklaces (including a unique one), 3 new artifacts, 12 new valuables, crabs, crab meat, and shells.





- New camp types.
- Changes to some of the existing Proselyte abilities.
- Added a few unique interactions with Brynn guards.
- Changed Jonna’s starting Affinities: instead of Daggers and Dual Wielding she now has access to Electromancy and Magic mastery. Also changed her starting inventory and unique trait.
- Added an option to fill various vessels with water.
- Added a system that lets time pass in locations even if the character isn’t present there.
- It’s now possible to read signs and comment on certain important items.
- Damage Reflection now returns damage before the application of Protection and Resistances.
- Added Armor Penetration to the majority of spells.
- Armor Penetration gained from Perception now also applies to spells.
- Changes to the Curses mechanic. Removed Curses of Goldhoarder and Loudmouth from the game.
- Starting from 2 stacks, the effect of Wetness will increase Backfire Chance for Electromancy spells.
- Some merchants are now willing to purchase artifacts.
- The Witch’s Hat will have a few things to say about your Miraculous and Backfired spells.
-- Hunger and Thirst gain from using abilities now scales with their Energy cost.
- Walking through shallow waters will now slowly drench the character until a certain threshold.
- Walking through shallow waters now takes 2 turns instead of 1.
- Changed some of the existing interiors and Points of Interest.
- Removed thyme from the Herbalist’s request.
- Reading treatises now awards you with experience.


- Reduced the distances between settlements and dungeons.
- Greatly reduced experience and loot gains in the Prologue to be more in line with the Adventure Mode’s gameplay.
- Reduced spawn rates for the Brigands and Wolves you meet in the wilderness.
- Max Health no longer increases with level.
- Major buffs to most 5+ lvl enemies to improve scaling of mid and late game content.
- Increased the difficulty of Brynn and distant dungeons.
- Reduced the impact of Willpower on Cooldowns Duration and Abilities Energy Cost.
- Numerous tweaks to the Survival tree.
- Buffed the bedroll: removed the chance of Body Aches after using it and reduced its price. Investing a point into “Make a Halt” will now completely offset most of the bedroll’s downsides and grant it additional bonuses.
- Increased base damage of all maces. Reduced base damage of most two-handed weapons (with the exception of spears and staves).
- Nerfed bonuses granted by “Dash”. Buffed “Adrenaline Rush”.
- Reduced bonuses from “Runic Empowerment”. “Rune of Fortifying” now allows adjacent boulders to quicken the decay of Backfire Damage.
- Swapped Crit Chance and Fumble Chance for Miracle Chance and Backfire Chance on magic abilities and equipment.
- Reduced the starting Block Power Recovery by 10%.
- Shields now grant less Block Power
- Rest Mode no longer replenishes Morale.
- Changes to dual wielding penalties: reduced the penalty to Abilities Energy cost and Cooldowns Duration and added a penalty to Backfire Chance.
- Increased Immunity gain from vegetables, fruit, and certain other foods.
- Immunity now has a 25% stronger effect on Intoxication decay.
- Greatly increased the duration of most drugs. The duration of an Aftermath is now equal to half the base duration of a drug.
- Reduced the chance to vomit from Hornet Honey’s Aftermath.
- Reduced the Ancient Troll’s Health and some Resistances.
- While in jail, the character will only be fed gruel.
- Enemies will now be less eager to occupy burning tiles.
- Most effects that used to increase Fumble Chance now also increase Backfire Chance.
- Added new effects to exquisite foods.


- Removed the option to choose your reward after killing the Ancient Troll - it was a placeholder that was only meant to exist while the Troll was the only boss in the game. Now you’ll be rewarded with gold and a unique cloak.

The unique items, which were previously awarded for completing this quest, were relocated to distant dungeons and high level secret rooms.
- Changed the repair cost formula: the base cost was reduced, but it now increases with an item’s level. Starting with level 24, the cost will be the same as it was before the update.
- Reduced Durability loss from both delivering and taking hits.
- Increased Brynn bailiffs’ stock size.
- Reduced the initial level range of the equipment sold by Brynn bailiffs.
- Bailiffs will no longer sell magic gear - it was moved to Renod Kann’s Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods.
- Increased the impact of Brynn reputation on the level range of sold items.
- Doubled the chance of receiving unique items from distant dungeons' final chests.
- Raised the selling price of pelts to be roughly equal to common loot in terms of value per cell.
- NPCs will now purchase treatises at a better price.
- The Brynn quartermaster now sells lockpicks.
- Brigands now have a chance to drop high value rings and necklaces.
- Increased the price of most valuables.


- Numerous fixes to map generation.
- Fixed the bug causing major categories of damage Resistance (Physical, Magic, Nature) to not be taken into account when attacking enemies.
- Fixed the bug with the incorrect “Wetness” duration when entering deep waters.
- Fixed the bug preventing the loss of Block Power when blocking Nature and Magic damage.
- Reduced the frequency of the character and NPCs’ speech popups.
- Fixed the bug causing damage to enemies’ Armor to be applied twice.

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog, we’ll tell you more about the second ability tree, Magic Mastery, which will be a part of the next major update - “Forgotten Lore”, to be released on August 5th.

Magic Mastery is designed to be a highly impactful support tree, useful to any mage build. As a result, its abilities are mostly focused on two things: increasing the effectiveness and safety of your own spells and countering enemy magic.

To better understand our design choices, we highly recommend you to check out the previous devlog - it contains important details about the upcoming changes to the Magic System.




Magic Mastery consists of 12 abilities: 6 actives and 6 passives. The ability tree can be roughly divided into two paths: the left one mostly targets pure mage builds, while the abilities on the right have a lot to offer to hybrid characters.


Seal of Finesse



Activates an effect that lowers Fumble and Backfire Chances, reduces Cooldowns Duration, and speeds up the decay of Backfire Damage. When used, this spell also vents a large amount of already existing Backfire Damage.

The Seal works similarly to Weaponry stances: the number of the effect’s stacks increases with every passing turn, but decreases when your character moves to another tile.

Seal of Power



Activates an effect that grants major bonuses to Magic Power, Weapon Damage and a bit of Bonus Range. But that’s not all: whenever your character uses a specialized spell, the effect transforms into the Seal of a corresponding Magic School with its own unique bonuses and has its duration slightly prolonged.

For instance, Seal of Pyromancy grants Pyromancy Power, a fiery enchantment for your weapons, and a boost to Crit and Miracle Chances. In addition to Electromantic Power and Shock Damage on strike, Seal of Electromancy reduces Backfire and Fumble Chances. Seal of Geomancy comes with a bonus to Geomantic Power and Block Chance as well as faster Backfire Damage decay and lower Damage Taken.

Seal of Insight



This Seal reveals a few places of power in a small area around the caster. When the character occupies an empowered tile, they gain Magic Power, Miracle Chance, Energy Restoration and have their Spells’ Energy Cost reduced. The effect persists as long as the character remains in place, growing in power with each passing turn and getting weaker with each cast spell.

This means that if you plan to cast a lot of spells within a short period of time, it might be a good idea to make use of places of power along with Seal of Finesse. This tactic comes with a price though - you’ll have to sacrifice your mobility for it to work.

Seal of Cleansing



This spell allows you to remove all magical and physical effects, both positive and negative ones, from the main target and everyone adjacent to it. Additionally, the spell extinguishes burning tiles, clears puddles of acid, unholy blood, and magma, and also removes runes and other magical entities. Each removed effect or object replenishes a small amount of energy to the caster and reduces their active Cooldowns.

If the caster targets themselves with the Seal or is affected by its AoE, they gain Miracle Chance and reduced Damage Taken for each removed positive effect and are applied with reduced damage Resistances for each removed negative effect.

Using the Seal on magical creatures, such as the Undead and Wraiths, temporarily increases the damage they receive.

Seal of Reflection



This powerful defensive buff not only increases your character’s Resistances to all types of damage but also reflects* half the damage received from melee attacks. And most importantly, while under the effect of the Seal, all spells aimed at your character will be redirected to a random target within Vision (if there is one).

* - there were some tweaks to the Damage Reflection mechanic: the damage will now be reflected before Protection or Resistances are applied, which greatly increases the effectiveness of this stat.

Seal of Shackles



The ultimate Magic Mastery spell applies a powerful Seal that significantly reduces the target’s Energy Restoration and increases its Skills’ Energy Cost, Cooldowns Duration, and Fumble Chance.

While under the effect of the Seal, enemies can’t use spells, and each ability that comes off cooldown will burn their Energy (scaling with its Energy Cost) and deal Arcane Damage for the same amount.


Precise Movements

Investing Ability Points into specialized Magic Schools reduces Backfire Chance of their spells.

Remaining on the same tile gradually lowers Backfire Chance.

Dissipation

Each point of received Magic or Nature Damage replenishes one point of Energy and grants a small stacking bonus to Magic and Nature Resistances.

Body and Spirit

Spellcasting generates 20% less Fatigue. By 20% reduces Sanity loss from Backfired spells.

Lingering Incantations

Increases the duration of all magical effects - this includes Areas of Effect created by magic, such as magma or ball lightning.

Thaumaturgy

Grants all spells a bonus to Miracle Chance and Miracle Power. Performing a Miracle provides a stacking reduction to Backfire Chance and Backfire Damage.

Arcane Lore

Grants a small bonus to Magic Power for each learned magical ability*, including Magic Mastery actives and passives.

* - In the current version of the game, this effect exists as Jonna’s starting trait. It will be changed in “Forgotten Lore”: Jonna will receive Magic Power for reading magical treatises, and each learned magical ability will permanently increase her Experience Gain. This is the first of many changes to the preset characters’ starting traits that will arrive with the fully fledged Trait System and Character Creator.

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

That’s all for now: we hope you liked these new abilities and will soon make them a part of your newly created characters’ builds. Make sure to follow the news, it won’t be long until the update is released!

Hello everyone!

We’d like to begin today’s devlog by making an important announcement. The upcoming major update, titled as “Forgotten Lore”, will be released this year on August 5th.



It will include the following:

• The long-awaited surprise that we promised some time ago - a new boss! Similarly to the Ancient Troll hunt, this quest can be acquired in a location of questionable repute after you reach a high enough level.
  
• A new quest, “Gwynnel’s Answers”, which will conclude the opening sequence of the main story and send you off to explore the open world.
  
  A quick reminder - for the time being, this quest will be the end of the main questline. We plan to focus on the overarching plot only after we finish implementing the necessary systems and mechanics.
  
• New magic school, Electromancy, which will allow you to master dangerous and unpredictable lightning spells.
  
• New utility tree - Magic Mastery. We’ll tell you more about it in the next devlog.
  
• Several new points of interest.
  
• A large portion of the remaining Brynn buildings: the printing house, the House of the Azure Thread, the Bank of Brynn, the Golden Grain Inn, the Cathedral, the University, the Close Harbor Tavern, the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, and a dockside store.
  
• New enemies: 13 new types of Proselytes (including two minibosses), as well as Gulons and Young Trolls.
  
• New mechanic: Fatigue. More details below.
  
• New magic mechanic, Backfire, and a few additional magic stats. More details below.
  
• New loot type: Folios. These texts provide information on various aspects of the game’s lore. Reading them also grants some Experience.
  
• Caravan Stop that can be used for resting and storing your items. Caravan travels will be added in subsequent major updates.
  
• New biome, seashore.
  
• New items.

As you may see, one of the largest Stoneshard updates is almost upon us. To ease the wait, we’d like to share more details about two new systems that will be added in “Forgotten Lore” - Fatigue and Backfire.


Fatigue is one of the few remaining survival mechanics that we plan to implement. It has a number of important gameplay functions:

• Create an additional layer of planning and character management.
  
• Increase the importance of sleeping (right now it’s only used for saving the game).
  
• Boost the value of certain consumables such as stimulants and exquisite foods.

Fatigue works similarly to other Health mechanics: it can range from 0 to 100% and is generated by a variety of actions:

• Traversing tiles
  
• Attacking
  
• Blocking and dodging
  
• Using skills (Fatigue Gain is 2%* of their Energy Cost) and casting spells (Fatigue Gain is 4%* of their Energy Cost)
  * - these are rough numbers that are subject to change

The rate of Fatigue Gain is tied to a couple other stats: first of all, there’s Fatigue Resistance, which can be both negative and positive. Secondly, Max Energy also plays a big role - the higher it is, the longer it will be before your character gets tired.



When your character’s Fatigue reaches 25%, 50%, and 75%, they’ll receive increasingly powerful debuffs to their Fumble Chance, Energy Restoration, and Cooldowns Duration.

In addition to all that, Fatigue also gradually lowers your Max Energy Threshold. It’s a new stat that works similarly to Max Health Threshold, albeit with one important difference: Max Energy Threshold only limits the amount of Energy that can be replenished through Restoration, so it’s possible to exceed it with certain consumables, abilities, and effects.



Overall, Fatigue is balanced in such a way that it doesn’t become a source of frequent annoyance while still carrying enough impact to not be ignored: as long as you make smart use of the available resources, an average dungeon run shouldn’t raise it by more than 25-30%.

There are many ways to combat Fatigue:

• The effect of Vigor, which is acquired after a good night’s sleep or by using some consumables (such as Elven Mud). It reduces Fatigue Gain and gradually lowers already existing Fatigue.
  
• Many exquisite foods, which can be bought in Brynn taverns and grocery shops, can either alleviate Fatigue or reduce Fatigue Gain.
  
• Some stimulant drugs might help you stay awake longer than usual: Nikkaf has a noticeable effect on Fatigue Gain, and Al’qud slowly reduces Fatigue every turn.
  
• Rest Mode can provide a moment of respite after a fight.
  
• And finally, the most obvious method - sleeping. Each hour of sleep significantly lowers Fatigue, which makes Bedrolls and distant camps all the more important when embarking on a long journey. Resting in more expensive taverns also has a greater restorative effect.

As you may imagine, Sleeping received a major overhaul. Just like in real life, your character will no longer be able to sleep for weeks on end thanks to a new mechanic, maximum sleep duration, which comes into play every time you decide to take a nap.



Every two hours of staying awake increase the maximum sleep duration by one hour, capping at 8 possible hours of sleep. Each 10% Fatigue additionally increases this number by one hour. This means that after 16 hours of activity you’ll be able to sleep for 8 hours, and if your character is also exhausted, they’ll be able to stay in bed for up to 18 hours.

Naturally, we anticipated the situation where you might need to save your progress while the character isn’t tired enough to sleep - the Sleeping UI now has a “Rest” button, which gives an option to save the game without skipping time.


Let’s move onto the second part of this devlog: changes to the Magic System. They were made due to several reasons:

• There’s a dissonance between the depiction of mages in the lore and their actual gameplay. In our setting, magic was haphazardly put together from scraps of ancient knowledge, which fell into obscurity during the local version of the Dark Ages. Magic is mostly limited to battlefield use, and no one understands its true nature or how it actually works. As a result, mages can’t do much else apart from mechanically memorizing the few surviving spells from their preferred magic schools and then simply reciting them without any alterations.
  
  From time to time, extraordinary minds find ways to modify or improve upon the existing spells, but any kind of deviation from the established tradition is extremely dangerous and often leads to injuries, madness, or agonizing death.
  
  On top of all that, mages have to use their own body and mind as a conduit for energies - this kind of stress is extremely unhealthy for any practitioner of magic. Take Jonna, for instance - despite her haggard looks, she isn’t even in her thirties…
  
• In the current version of the game, magic gameplay lacks the tactical depth of melee builds and requires significantly less resources. Mages hardly interact with the Health system, don’t spend gold on consumables and repairs, and barely ever have to think about their positioning. Magic builds only have to worry about Energy and Magic Power, which greatly reduces their variety.

To fix this issue, we decided to add a new mechanic, Backfire, and a few new stats that go along with it:

• Backfire Damage
  
• Backfire Chance
  
• Miracle Chance
  
• Miracle Potency

Backfire occurs in situations when a mage fails to cast a spell by mumbling the magic formula, performing a wrong gesture, or just losing concentration. When something like this happens, they take a bit of damage - the exact amount depends on a separate stat, Backfire Damage. Additionally, miscasting a spell drains Sanity and generates more Fatigue than usual.



The base Backfire Chance is 20%, but it can be higher depending on the complexity of a spell you try to cast: it’s much easier to make a mistake while summoning “Inferno” than when casting “Fire Barrage”. Backfire Chance can be reduced with special gear, certain abilities, by using Stardust, or by leveling Agility.

Backfire Damage is a percentage of Energy used to cast a spell that is dealt as damage if it Backfires. For example, if Backfire Damage is 50%, miscasting a 20 Energy spell will deal you 10 damage of the corresponding type. By default, Backfire Damage is 0%, but it grows by 20% with each cast. Remaining on the same tile lowers Backfire Damage by 10%, and skipping a turn reduces it by another 10%, reflecting the fact that mages need time to recover their concentration.

This way mages still have a lot of tools to work with while finally gaining more opportunities for meaningful decisions: as long as you don’t go out of your way to kite enemies and make occasional pauses between spells, it’s possible to keep Backfire Damage at zero, receiving no damage even if you miscast. Alternatively, nothing really prevents you from using spells every turn while actively maneuvering around the battlefield - although in this case you may want to acquire some Magic and Nature Resistances or make liberal use of Stardust.



Miracle Chance and Miracle Potency are magical alternatives to Crit Chance and Crit Efficiency: their addition to the game will improve the variety of mage-related gear, raise the importance of Perception to magic builds, and remove the silliness of being able to cast more critical spells by equipping physical weaponry with high Crit Chance.

=========

That’s all for now. In the next devlog, we’ll tell you more about Magic Mastery and its interactions with Fatigue and new magic mechanics.

Until next time!

Hello everyone!

Let’s start with some context. Unlike other archetypes, mages have been neglected in terms of new content for quite a while. There are multiple reasons for this: before new magic could be added, we had to introduce a number of additional mechanics first, which wasn’t possible while the focus was on building more important and global systems. It also didn’t help that developing new magic requires much more resources than weaponry and utility trees. But now the time has come, and we finally can give magic the attention it deserves. Therefore, meet Electromancy!

We envisioned Electromancy as something in between Pyromancy and Geomancy: it’s capable of dealing high damage to multiple targets while providing ample opportunities for weakening your foes and manipulating their positioning.

The key mechanic of Electromancy is the so-called Resonance, which can be applied by the ability tree’s first two spells. This effect in particular distinguishes Electromancy’s AoE spells from those of pyromancy - they target specific targets rather than set areas, allowing you to affect enemies standing on opposite sides of the battlefield. Let’s have a better look at each spell’s function and the overall structure of the ability tree:



Just like every other magic school, Electromancy includes 14 abilities: 7 actives and 7 passives.





The main Electromancy spell that acts as a foundation for the entire ability tree. It allows you to zap your target with a bolt of electricity, dealing a bit of damage and applying it with the effect of “Resonance”, which reduces Shock, Control, and Movement Resistances while also increasing Cooldowns Duration. It’s a simple spell, but its importance shouldn’t be understated - most high tier Electromancy abilities require at least one Resonating target before they can be used.

The varied debuffs applied by Resonance make “Jolt” a great addition even to melee builds, especially if they use one and two-handed maces, spears or just rely on Stuns, Dazes, Immobilization, and Knocking enemies back.




“Impulse” is especially useful to hybrid characters - or when enemies catch you off guard and creep too close for comfort. It deals Shock Damage to adjacent enemies with a chance to Knock them back, applying Stagger if they remain in place.

Additionally, it has a chance to apply each affected target with the effect of “Impulse” - essentially, it’s a stronger version of Resonance which debuffs the same stats. Other than that, “Impulse” deals some damage every turn with a chance to Knock enemies back, reducing the possibility of them closing the distance again.




This spell is one of the main offensive tools available to an apprentice electromancer. It does some damage to all Resonating enemies within Vision - the damage scales with the number of Resonating targets. The spell also has a chance to Daze each affected target.

If two Resonating targets are adjacent, “Short Circuit” deals double damage to them.




“Static Field” is an AoE spell with an interesting twist. The center of its zone of effect isn’t a targeted tile, but rather all Resonating enemies - each of them receives a harmful aura of sorts. Each turn, “Static Field” deals Shock Damage to its main target (and everyone adjacent to it) with a chance to Immobilize. If the main target moves to a different tile, “Static Field” moves with it. And since damage from multiple instances of “Static Field” adds up, this spell becomes especially deadly when its targets are huddled up.




Casting this spell creates a ball lightning on a targeted tile, which deals damage to anything within a two tile radius with a chance to pull targets towards it. Enemies adjacent to the ball lightning receive slightly more damage, and if you somehow push them into it (or if the ball lightning pulls them in by itself), they receive double damage.

Unlike the previously described spells, “Ball Lightning” doesn’t require Resonating enemies to be used, but its duration is increased by a couple turns for each Resonance within Vision.




Obviously, we had no other choice but to include this spell into Electromancy. “Chain Lightning” deals a large amount of damage to a targeted enemy and then jumps towards a nearby Resonating target, damaging it as well. The number of additional targets is limited only by the number of Resonating enemies, although they can be damaged only once per cast.

On top of its main effect, “Chain Lightning” reduces the ability tree’s active Cooldowns by a couple turns per each affected target. It also has a chance to apply Stagger.




And finally, “Tempest” - the ultimate Electromancy spell. Casting it summons lightning strikes that hit three random enemies within Vision, instantly finishing them off if their Health is lower than 20% (but not if it’s higher than a certain flat number). The spell hits Resonating targets first.

Each lightning strike removes Resonance with a chance to transform it into Stun - the Stun Chance scales with the number of remaining Resonance turns. The bonuses for removing Resonance don’t end here: each successfully Stunned enemy summons an additional lightning to strike one of the survivors.



Allows Electromancy spells to enchant your weapon for a few turns, adding Shock Damage to your physical attacks and letting them reduce Shock Resistance on hit.

Additionally, natural lightning strikes that occur within Vision grant your character a long-lasting bonus to Electromancy Power.


Grants “Impulse” a chance to deal double damage to any target it Knocks back and a chance to Immobilize these targets.


Grants different bonuses depending on your character’s current energy: each remaining percent of their Max Energy grants a small bonus to Electromancy Power, and each missing percent - a bonus to Energy Restoration.


“Conductivity” allows “Static Field” to drain energy from enemies and transfer it to your character, which is invaluable for maintaining your reserves.


Casting Electromancy spells has a chance to activate Resonance on a random non-Resonating target within Vision. If there’s no valid target, it has a chance to prolong Resonance duration on a random enemy.


“Chain Reaction” reduces Shock Resistance of every target struck by Electromancy spells - the power of this effect depends on the number of Resonating targets.


This passive grants bonus Energy Restoration for each Resonating enemy - killing them reduces Cooldowns Duration and spells’ Energy Cost.

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That’s all for now - we hope you liked what you saw! Make sure to stay tuned: in the next devlog we’ll announce the next major update’s title and release date. We might also tell you a few things about changes to the magic system and reveal a new ability tree, Magic Mastery.

Until next time!

Hello everyone!

This post is the first one in the series of devlogs where we tell you about new content that will be a part of the upcoming major update. Today, we’ll share the details about high tier Proselytes - new dangerous enemy types which you’ll be able to encounter in Catacomb dungeons.

Proselytes are a disturbing, mysterious vampire cult that only recently became prominent in Aldor - they are definitely on the fantasy side of things when compared to the rest of the setting. While working on them, we decided not to focus too much on realism and the restrictions of the world we created, instead fully embracing the opportunity to make new enemies memorable and unique.


Here they are, left to right…

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Let’s start with the Proselytes whom you might run into while exploring both low and high level Catacombs.



“The sight of martyrs' agony only strengthens other Proselytes' loyalty to the Court. How deep into madness does one need to descend to volunteer for something like this?..”

Martyrs are stationary foes whose main task is to support other cultists. Their “Neverending Torment” passive causes Martyrs to lose Health each turn as long as there’s both an enemy and an ally within their Vision, while “Willing Sacrifice” transforms some of the damage they take into healing for their allies.

As a result, it might be a good idea to prioritize Martyrs in combat. There is one thing to keep in mind though - killing them doesn’t immediately end your troubles. Even upon taking fatal damage, a Martyr continues hanging from the stake, replacing their abilities with the “Blessed in Death” passive that grants significant buffs to the rest of the Proselytes. The solution here is simple - you’ll just need to finish the job and topple the stake propping up the corpse.



“Echoing through the pitch darkness of underground tunnels, the otherworldly cluttering of his bell can send even the most reckless hotheads fleeing in terror."

The Bell-Ringer is yet another cultist whose main task is supporting other Proselytes. Aside from the standard Proselyte bag of tricks, he also has two unique active abilities: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Unholy Anthems”. The first ability generates a huge amount of noise, attracting cultists from distant rooms and chipping away at your character’s sanity, increasing the damage they receive. The second one grants a random buff to every Proselyte in a large radius.

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Let’s have a look at the next tier of Proselytes:



“This Proselyte is a perfect soldier: inhumanly strong, ferocious, and feeling no pain, fear, or mercy.”

Fiends retained their ability to handle weapons, so they act as infantry of sorts. Armed with axes and crude clubs, they have access to some Weaponry skills. On top of all that, they also have two new passives: “Witness His Might” and “Anthems of Bloodshed”.

“Witness His Might” increases Fiends’ damage and Health for each unique Proselyte type within their Vision, and allows their attacks to gradually decrease your character’s resistance to damage. “Anthems of Bloodshed” grants them a guaranteed critical hit with bonus Bleeding Chance on every 6th attack that also buffs nearby cultists upon landing.



“Impalers are unmatched in their ability to track down and capture those poor souls who unknowingly wander into the catacombs. The victims that survive the hunt either join the cult or serve as sacrifices for the Court.”

Impalers’ main task is to wear your character down and quite literally bleed them dry. To aid them in this task, they have access to a number of abilities: “Impaling Lunge”, “Lacerate”, “Net Throw”, and “Sudden Lunge”. Other than that, Impalers’ “Blood Scent” buffs their Crit and Counter Chances as well as their damage for each Bleeding affecting enemies and allies within Vision.



“The horrific murkstalkers resemble underground bats not only in appearance but also in their behaviour, taking full advantage of the catacombs' impenetrable shadows.”

Murkstalkers are among the most devious Catacomb creatures - defeating them won’t be an easy task. Their main strength lies in mobility and being unpredictable: “Murkwalk” allows them to teleport over large distances, and “Embrace the Murk” grants them a short dash and invisibility. While invisible, they regain some of their strength and receive a stacking bonus to stats, which they can unleash at the right moment by rushing your character down with a devastating “Murkstrike”.

An invisible Murkstalker can only be revealed by standing on an adjacent tile, so it might be a good idea to bring a net or some other means of Immobilization when facing them - those will prevent any attempts to retreat into the Murk.



“Girruds are too far gone in their disturbing metamorphosis, giving off the impression that their repugnant tongues have a mind of their own.”

This Proselyte’s main weapon is his incredibly long tongue, skillfully utilized through the following three active abilities: “Tongue Pull” allows him to drag the target a bit closer, “Tongue Push” creates a two tile distance, while “Tongue Leech” has a chance to Immobilize and Drain a large amount of Health.



“This bestial cultist's mind is clouded with unbridled rage - there is very little human left in it.”

Yagrams are an embodiment of rage and brute force, posing danger to allies and enemies alike. They are capable of multiple AoE attacks: “Swipe” lets them knock nearby targets into walls and other props, while “Earthshaking Strike” Stuns and Dazes anyone who happens to stand in front of a Yagram.

Additionally, every attack delivered to or by Yagrams fuels their hidden rage stat. Upon reaching a critical level, it activates the “Bestial Rage” passive that increases both their damage dealt and damage received. While in this state, Yagrams abandon all common sense, causing their attacks to frequently hit random targets instead of your character - with enough luck, this can be used to your advantage.



“Sagguls still bear the mark of the Crimson Plague, although for them it's a blessing rather than a curse.”

Sagguls are twisted, ugly mutants that act as ranged units for the Proselytes. In combat, they rely on “Blood Spit”, creating puddles of liquid that damage your character and heal other cultists. When forced into melee, they can still fight back with “Blister Burst”, dealing damage and creating blood puddles on every nearby tile.

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And finally, minibosses:



“Wormbearers are the grotesque embodiment of the Court cults: the host suffers from its parasites, while the parasites suffer for their host.”

Clumsy and hard to kill, Wormbearers rely on giant worms that they can summon on any tile within Vision by spending a bit of Health. They are also willing to make use of any dead bodies lying nearby, destroying them with their “Wormfood” ability to summon a few worms on random adjacent tiles. The resulting number of worms depends on the size of the affected corpse.

A single worm isn’t all that dangerous, but a whole swarm of them can be rather difficult to deal with - their “Feed the Host” passive converts some of the damage dealt to the enemy into Health for the Wormbearer, allowing more and more worms to be summoned.



“The only thing keeping this vaguely human-shaped product of vile rituals alive is its blind faith in the Court.”

An Anmarrak is a miniboss with a unique style of combat. Upon spotting an enemy, it burrows its tentacle arm into the ground, receiving a massive boost to various resistances, while losing its ability to move around and attack directly. The tentacle arm then resurfaces near the enemy and begins striking them. Moving away from the tentacle or killing it forces the Anmarrak to reposition it or spawn a new one.

The key to defeating the seemingly invulnerable Anmarrak is to methodically slay its tentacles: thanks to its “One Body” passive, any damage received by these two entities is split between them, permanently increasing with every destroyed tentacle.

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That’s all for now. We hope you enjoyed reading about these upcoming additions to the game’s bestiary! Make sure to stay tuned: in the next few devlogs, we’ll tell you more about new Ability Trees and changes to the Magic System.

Until next time!