Gastova: The Witches of Arkana Endgame Build Updates and Info

Howdy, everyone!

Thank you for the general welcoming response to the news of the update. Before we dive deep into the contents, let’s get something rather important out of the way:

Gastova: The Witches of Arkana Early Access Build update, version 1.02A - "Endgame Build" will be postponed to December 18th, 7pm (PST) - a week from today.

The reason for the postponement: We need to address the situation regarding the game’s balancing issues in the utilization of grimoires and the general difficulty curve across modes. That being said, there is a chance that the game update will come out earlier than the postponement date if we reach a good balance threshold earlier.

Game Development Progress

Structural Changes

• Bosses no longer have casting bars. Easier attacks don’t have alerts, and some of the more jeopardizing attacks contain a discreet warning that will cue the player to dodge or jump out of the way before it’s too late.

• Shop has been phased out for a level system that allows natural progression - all upgrades are unlocked as you play the game, with no need for back-and-forth trips to the town, and you can check them out in your pause menu.

• Cartridges droppables are now treated as Elemental EXP. Killing enemies will grant players regular EXP that counts towards levelling up Gastova.

• Grimoires are finalized, and each Grimoire has an individual cost for performing different tasks. This phases out the potion system. You can only use one Grimoire at a time, and need to wait for the cooldown bar to disappear before casting another magic. Grimoire fuel is not rechargeable by the Goddess Statue, so you need to spend it carefully!

• The menu has had some changes. We’ve received feedback that the keyboard customization system was not behaving appropriately, and for now, we have phased it out. We can revisit this topic once the build is online and consider ways to offer alternative control options.

• The game is now fully voice-acted (except for town NPC dialogues), and some bosses will have voice effects during their combat. If you find this to be a little unpleasant, players can also turn the voice volume down without affecting sound effects, but keep in mind that this will also affect voiced dialogues.

• Chests have been completely phased out as well. Right now, enemies drop Elemental EXP, grimoire stacks, or heal/mana drops, so you don’t have to exhaustively wait for chests to respawn in areas that are hard to access.

• Goddess Stone is now obtained by a rechargeable mechanic. 1 charge per enemy slain, in a total of 400 in the hardest mode, 250 in normal mode, and 100 in easy mode.

• Normal and Hard mode contains the new “enchantment” mechanic, where monsters have additional damage hazards that add a bit of extra difficulty to them. The frequency of the enchantment's appearance varies per mode, and certain kinds of enemies do not spawn with the enchantment.

Endgame Contents Information

For those who have played the game up until now and stopped at Aldebaran, if you head back to the Academy and return to the Shrine of Origins, you’ll find that the entire map there is now accessible. You’ll need to roam the area and find the memories of past witches to unlock the way to the Boss Room. Once you reach it, we advise you to save up before going into the unlocked room, as that is the boss room of that area.

Here is a video showcasing it:

Please note that this video also loads