The Engulfment

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We fell behind on posting patch notes, so this one covers three builds at once: 0.17, 0.18, and 0.19. Some notes may be post-hoc.

The big stuff

Rest nodes

The flat -25 Danger option is gone. Once per ring, you can instead make traversal between a rest node's connected nodes free of Danger. Chain them together and you get a web of safe passage.

The Engulfment

Breach nodes and Wardens are gone. In their place: when Danger maxes out, a circle starts closing in toward the inner ring, a bit further every turn. Friendly nodes shutter as it advances, and while you're caught inside it your items get cursed. When that happens, a log scrolls in at the bottom left of the screen so you know exactly what it took from you.

Starter Choices

New runs open with a choice of starting boons. A random weapon, a rare Conduit, jewelry, gold, extra lives, an extra Consecrate, a health crystal, a random gem, reduced Danger, a Cleanser, and a couple more.

Slide

We're experimenting with movement tech. While dodging, you can transfer your momentum into a slide. Dodge again in a short window at the end of the slide and you keep your speed, with a small boost on top and a sound cue when you hit the timing. This is experimental, so expect it to change.

Status effects

Radiant, Aflame, and Frozen are in, each with their own visuals. Frozen units get a proper ice texture.

Curses and Cleansing

Equipment and Conduits can now get Cursed. Cursed items are marked and have their own tooltip. New Cleanser items remove curses, with a proper UI for picking what to cleanse.

Combat log

There's now a combat log at the bottom left: damage you take, healing, shield damage in blue, and a kill feed.

Gameplay and balance

• Dodging now grants immunity frames

• Enemy AI got an overhaul. Enemies also reposition properly now when they lose line of sight to you.

• Combats now award an item draft

• Consecrate now unblocks Fortresses

• Four new rings: Ring of Sparking, Ring of Energy, Ring of Light, and Ring of Frost

• Added a new Conduit

• Elite nodes now award equipment one level above the current ring, and no longer award Conduits

• Greater enemies now only drop equipment, potions, gold, and scrolls

• Rare items show up less often from Ring 1 elite nodes

• Green gem attacks now deal Spirit damage

• Nerfed the fire gem and the green gem

• Siphoning Brand nerfed to 1%. Shield regen in general was really strong, so passive regen is now blocked for 2 seconds after you take damage.

• The heavier hit impact that crits had now applies to all hits

• Gold rebalanced. Nodes that generate gold hold triple the amount, cleared Rite nodes drop less, and Ring 2 gold gain got tuned.

• Currencies no longer spawn on non-combat nodes

• Removed keys

• Removed the bounty system

• Removed the legacy Fury node

• Rite nodes have their own dedicated scene now

• Event nodes generate with a minimum distance between them now

• Reward drafts can no longer offer duplicate items

• Projectile attacks always travel toward your mouse now

• Movement attacks no longer overshoot and drag you past where they should stop

• Estimated Power actually reflects the level and rarity of what you have equipped

• Fixed the Sacrifice event. Offer up a Conduit from your inventory, or take Danger to see a different offering.

UI

• Item reward UI v2

• Event UI v2

• Every button in the game got a feel pass. Hover and click sounds, buttons grow a little on hover and squish when you click them.

• Better lives remaining UI

• Inventory and Conduit windows no longer close on their own when you teleport in and out of nodes

• Gem Conduits are hidden if you don't have the matching gem

• Permanent upgrade Conduits are marked as permanent, place themselves into your prep grid, and return to your prep inventory when removed

• The "Extra reward" entry in multi-reward selections now tells you what it actually is

• Removed the close button on multi-reward selections

• Pinned tooltips work on reward draft cards now, and tutorial tooltips can be pinned again

• Attack damage modifier tooltips are bigger

• Fixed missing and duplicated item descriptions on the reward screen (Galvanic Sprig had no description at all)

• Shop UI fixes

• Removed Breach from the map legend

FX

• New teleport out effects, plus a screen effect while teleporting

• Enemy attacks now telegraph with a new incoming attack effect

• New health crack shader. Cracks glow brighter as a unit gets closer to death and fade out as it dissolves.

• New unit death effect, and Greater enemies land with a lot more impact when they die

• New player death screen effects, with health cracks on the player

• If your shield fully absorbs a hit, the damage vignette flashes blue instead of red

• The red vignette no longer hangs around during teleports

• Breaking a reward orb gives a brief glass shatter effect on screen

• Snappier animation transitions. Melee comes out clean after a green gem charge, and switching weapons no longer stalls your animations.

• All level 1 and level 2 items have unique icons now

• The Engulfment circle contracts based on distance and updates visually in real time. Nodes inside it show a shadow on hover.

• Changed the Aflame text color

• Removed the god rays from dying minions

Audio

• New sounds for Rest, Shop, and Choice nodes, and for clicking event options

• Loot and Conduit rewards each have their own reveal sound

• New sounds for teleporting out of a node, lighting a Lightbearer torch, and gaining or losing a revive

• Reward orbs hum now

• New ambient audio. Also fixed ambience not playing at all on the Rings and the Ash Dunes.

• Footsteps have shuffle sounds

Performance

• Fixed a framerate drop when using the red gem attack

• Saves and heavy cleanup now run during black screen transitions instead of during gameplay, which kills the stutters

• General smoothness improvements

Fixes

• Fixed a glitch that could give you negative movement speed

• Fixed death animations not playing, and the player death animation cutting off early

• Fixed enemy health scaling not resetting on a new game

• Fixed the first dodge of a run misbehaving

• Fixed right click attacks firing forward instead of at your mouse while dodging

• Fixed Wraiths wandering off the walkable area

• Fixed enemy eyes turning pink

• Fixed the Wormbeak shield attack collider

• Fixed the Aerie projectile not working

• Fixed Shadow Fiend not shielding allies

• Fixed multiple enemies spawning stacked on the same spawn point. This one took a few tries.

• Fixed the gem regen stat not applying

• Fixed spam clicking the retry button teleporting you multiple times

• Retrying an end node no longer makes you walk all the way back

• Fixed the Fortress not loading on Ring 2

• Fixed new map sections overriding nodes in sections that already existed (rest nodes turning into combats, that kind of thing)

• Fixed permanent upgrade chains not continuing if you died before reaching the last node

• Challenge nodes now award grid cell unlocks like they were supposed to, instead of regular loot

• Fixed multi-item rewards showing a placeholder entry instead of the actual draft

• Fixed potions showing up in event choices that shouldn't include them

• Fixed potions and scrolls showing up in the head equipment slot

• Fixed belts and shoulders not being equippable

• Fixed Conduit rewards not showing underlines

• Fixed curse icons disappearing from the Conduit grid, and the preview grid glitching, when items get cursed during the Engulfment

• Fixed buggy inventory slot behaviour when items are cursed

• The prep inventory can no longer be cursed

• Fixed a Conduit turning invisible in the prep inventory

• Fixed the hover glow sticking to Conduits after closing the inventory

• Fixed events not rotating their options correctly

• Fixed the Engulfment circle refusing to close while you stand inside it

• Fixed the shield regen sound playing forever after you die

• Fixed projectiles curving down toward the ground even when you're above them

• Fixed the Cleanser cooldown tracker

• Dying right after winning a fight now costs you the life without eating your reward orb or the exit portal

• Fixed a black screen after campaign defeat on the map, and another one on the main menu

• Fixed the camera zoom effect not cleaning up after teleporting out

• The kill feed no longer spams when minions die on their own at the end of combat

• Fixed the inventory opening and closing on its own across node transitions

• Fixed wall thud sounds triggering when they shouldn't on push effects