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Steam News17 July 20261mo ago

Experimental Branch

Hey all, this is Kev. We have some hefty changes for the upcoming Update 10, which means we need your help to test out the patch before the patch goes out live to everyone!

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Full As We Descend update

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Repeated intro

Hey all, this is Kev. We have some hefty changes for the upcoming Update 10, which means we need your help to test out the patch before the patch goes out live to everyone! Instructions for how to jump into the [unstable] branch are at the bottom of this news post. The aim of the City changes is to really amp up the decision-making in the strategy layer, and also make the gameplay clearer there so you can pick between trade-offs. It also expands the impact of any visit to a location, since you can take many actions at a given location provided you have the right resources. Reworked City System and Cycle SystemInstead of having stats, your allies are specialized to traverse different parts of the City. Once you send an ally to a location, you'll be able to take any number of actions (for regular events). After you leave, the location goes on cooldown for 2 cycles! Items no longer go into your City deck; they go into a special Pouch instead, and can be traded with people in the City when you visit their location. The city location panels now show more detailed information about what options are available at each location. Plus, you'll get a sneak peek on some of the new card art! Steam post image How to join the experimental test You can jump into the experimental [unstable] branch (new content in English-only) using the instructions below:

What changed

0 fixes2 additions1 change0 removals
  • Balance
  • UI and audio
  • Gameplay
addedHey all, this is Kev. We have some hefty changes for the upcoming Update 10 , which means we need your help to test out the patch before the patch goes out live to everyone! Instructions for how to jump into the [unstable] branch are at the bottom of this news post. The aim of the City changes is to really amp up the decision-making in the strategy layer, and also make the gameplay clearer there so you can pick between trade-offs. It also expands the impact of any visit to a location, since you can take many actions at a given location provided you have the right resources. Reworked City System and Cycle SystemInstead of having stats, your allies are specialized to traverse different parts of the City. Once you send an ally to a location, you'll be able to take any number of actions (for regular events). After you leave, the location goes on cooldown for 2 cycles! Items no longer go into your City deck; they go into a special Pouch instead, and can be traded with people in the City when you visit their location. The city location panels now show more detailed information about what options are available at each location. Plus, you'll get a sneak peek on some of the new card art! Steam post image How to join the experimental test You can jump into the experimental [unstable] branch (new content in English-only) using the instructions below:
addedRight click As We Descend -> Properties -> Betas Use this code in the Private Betas field and hit check code: descendingDeeper Press the blue button that says "Opt into" You're all set for [unstable] testing with a clean, independent save file! The [unstable] branch is our branch with new changes and adjustments which might also introduce instability; if you want a more stable experience, you should generally play in the vanilla app without the [unstable] branch enabled. The [unstable] branch has its own save file as a subfolder within your Steam Cloud Save* (if you have it enabled)*. If you want to test from scratch, great! If you'd rather pick up testing from where you are in your current progress, you can port over your save. Full instructions for porting over your save can be found in our discord , just follow the instructions in this post .
changedP.S. This is also a headsup that the inbound Update 10 will also clear out any ongoing Descents (like all our major updates where there are core gameplay changes), so make sure to finish existing runs! As always, your metaprogression will still be retained. If all goes according to plan, we'll be rolling out the update on July 23rd .

As We Descend changes

addedHey all, this is Kev. We have some hefty changes for the upcoming Update 10 , which means we need your help to test out the patch before the patch goes out live to everyone! Instructions for how to jump into the [unstable] branch are at the bottom of this news post. The aim of the City changes is to really amp up the decision-making in the strategy layer, and also make the gameplay clearer there so you can pick between trade-offs. It also expands the impact of any visit to a location, since you can take many actions at a given location provided you have the right resources. Reworked City System and Cycle SystemInstead of having stats, your allies are specialized to traverse different parts of the City. Once you send an ally to a location, you'll be able to take any number of actions (for regular events). After you leave, the location goes on cooldown for 2 cycles! Items no longer go into your City deck; they go into a special Pouch instead, and can be traded with people in the City when you visit their location. The city location panels now show more detailed information about what options are available at each location. Plus, you'll get a sneak peek on some of the new card art! Steam post image How to join the experimental test You can jump into the experimental [unstable] branch (new content in English-only) using the instructions below:
addedRight click As We Descend -> Properties -> Betas Use this code in the Private Betas field and hit check code: descendingDeeper Press the blue button that says "Opt into" You're all set for [unstable] testing with a clean, independent save file! The [unstable] branch is our branch with new changes and adjustments which might also introduce instability; if you want a more stable experience, you should generally play in the vanilla app without the [unstable] branch enabled. The [unstable] branch has its own save file as a subfolder within your Steam Cloud Save* (if you have it enabled)*. If you want to test from scratch, great! If you'd rather pick up testing from where you are in your current progress, you can port over your save. Full instructions for porting over your save can be found in our discord , just follow the instructions in this post .
changedP.S. This is also a headsup that the inbound Update 10 will also clear out any ongoing Descents (like all our major updates where there are core gameplay changes), so make sure to finish existing runs! As always, your metaprogression will still be retained. If all goes according to plan, we'll be rolling out the update on July 23rd .
    1. Right click As We Descend -> Properties -> Betas

    2. Use this code in the Private Betas field and hit check code: descendingDeeper

    3. Press the blue button that says "Opt into"

    4. You're all set for [unstable] testing with a clean, independent save file!

    The [unstable] branch is our branch with new changes and adjustments which might also introduce instability; if you want a more stable experience, you should generally play in the vanilla app without the [unstable] branch enabled. The [unstable] branch has its own save file as a subfolder within your Steam Cloud Save* (if you have it enabled)*. If you want to test from scratch, great! If you'd rather pick up testing from where you are in your current progress, you can port over your save. Full instructions for porting over your save can be found in our discord, just follow the instructions in this post.

Hope to see you in game, Kev and the team at Box Dragon

P.S. This is also a headsup that the inbound Update 10 will also clear out any ongoing Descents (like all our major updates where there are core gameplay changes), so make sure to finish existing runs! As always, your metaprogression will still be retained. If all goes according to plan, we'll be rolling out the update on July 23rd.

Source

Steam News / 17 July 2026

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