Grimslair - Balance Overhaul - v1.3b

Steam post image Balance Patch 1.3b

Hello, Reapers!

After watching a ton of streamers play Grimslair during Steam’s Deckbuilder Festival, I learned a lot. So many great things came out of this festival, and I am incredibly grateful that Grimslair was part of it.

Having veteran deckbuilder players try the game and give critical feedback was exactly what I felt had been missing since launch. I wanted to take full advantage of that feedback to get Grimslair’s systems, cards, enemy stats, enemy specials, and overall balance closer to where they need to be.

So, let’s cut to the chase:

Missing Quota No Longer Kills You

Yes, you heard that correctly.

Missing your quota no longer kills you. Instead, Grim will get angry, steal some of your Gold and Blood Money, increase enemy Health and Attack by +1 each time, and increase the required quota for the next day.

I felt this change was needed because there were too many ways to die, and it made the game feel more confusing than it needed to be. Now your main goals are simple: give Grim souls, survive, and reach the corner portals before the 10-day limit expires.

10-Day Limit

Many veteran deckbuilder players were taking advantage of how much time they had before reaching Grim at the end of the run. If players grinded long enough, the game became way too easy.

There is now a 10-day limit to prevent players from abusing the level-up system and other scaling mechanics for too long.

Soulwords and Battle Cards Have Been Adjusted

Soulwords and battle cards have received several balance changes.

For example, the “Per Gold” Soulword was the bane of my existence and was way too powerful. It has now been changed to “+# per 15 Gold” instead of “+# per 5 Gold.”

I considered nerfing it even more, but since Grim can now take Gold from you when you miss quota, I feel better about where this change landed.

Many other value modifiers have also been reduced because they were creating too many godlike decks, even at Common and Uncommon rarities.

Map Size Decreased by 1 Radius

I wanted to reduce the average run time, and reducing the map size should significantly help with that.

Instead of the corner portals being located at [c](5,5)[/c], they will now be located at [c](4,4)[/c]. This still increases after Ascension.

Barrier locations also no longer block the player on the default/first map, but they will be added later through Ascension/New Game+.

Infinite Draws No Longer Happen

There was a bug where certain Soulwords could draw cards even when you had 0 cards remaining in your battle deck.

This has been fixed.

I also added an indicator that appears when you try to draw with 0 cards in your battle deck. The game will now tell you that you have no cards available to draw instead of allowing the effect to continue.

This infinite draw bug was making the game way too easy.

Enemies No Longer Drop Time Warp Cards or Health Potions, Except Bosses

Enemies will no longer drop [c]-1[/c], [c]-2[/c], or [c]-3[/c] Time Warp cards, and they will no longer drop Health Potions unless the enemy is a boss.

There were too many playthroughs where players healed to full health and still had a huge number of Health Potions and Time Warp cards in hand, removing much of the challenge.

The game should now feel more tense and dangerous throughout the run, unless you find your own way to overcome the obstacle.

Enemies Have More Health and Scale by Distance

Enemies now have more health in general and grow stronger as you travel farther away from the [c](0,0)[/c] Graveyard.

Most enemies now have 5–15 more health depending on the location and enemy type, with further increases as you get closer to the edge of the map.

Enemy Count Dice No Longer Roll When They Are Unnecessary

Enemy Count Dice no longer roll if you have not encountered that enemy before.

Previously, the first encounter would roll a die where every side was [c]1[/c], which wasted the player’s time. Now, the enemy icons spawn instantly instead.

This also applies to other cases where every side of the die has the same value, such as the 3rd or 5th encounter with certain enemies.

The dice will now only spawn when there is actually a chance for the enemy count to change, such as [c]1–2[/c] or [c]2–3[/c].

Boar Special Changed

The Boar will no longer only break your block. It will now also attack you when its special triggers.

New Omen Cards Added

Various new Omen cards have been added.

For example, one Omen limits you to only 1 Attack card while it is chained. Several others have also been added to create more challenge and variety.

Daily Events Now Show Keyword Effects on Collectible Cards

This was a big one.

Previously, when you hovered over a Daily Event option that gave you a battle card, you could not properly read what the card’s Soulwords or keywords did.

Now, the Daily Event UI shows the battle card and its associated keywords so you can better understand what you are choosing.

Controller Support Updated

Controller support has been completely overhauled for smoothness, accuracy, and overall performance.

Burn Effect Damage Indicator

When you Burn an enemy, a number will now appear showing how much damage that Burn effect will deal at the end of Grim’s turn.

Location, Action, and Search Cards Are Now Faster

Location, Action, and Search cards now move at roughly double speed.

This is especially helpful for players who like to speedrun the game. You can now click faster without causing issues.

Steam Deck Support

For a long time, the Linux build of the game was completely broken to the point where the game could not start properly.

I finally got my hands on a Steam Deck and fixed the major issues with this update.

If you are still having issues on Steam Deck, uninstalling and reinstalling the game should fix the problem. That is what fixed it for me.

You can also try changing the game’s Compatibility setting to Proton if you still run into issues via Game -> Properties -> Comatibility -> Check/Uncheck that one prompt to change the operator

Story Mode Updated and Fixed

Sometimes players would start Story Mode, but later the game would reset the Story Mode boolean and act as if the player was no longer in Story Mode.

This has been fixed and also various dialogue has been updated with better sounding dialogue and voiceovers with Isabella.

RNG System for Soulwords has been fixed

There were instances of runs where the player would collect a Rare/Ultra/Legendary Soulword at the start of a run (even with Smonkey) and shouldn't have happened yet.

Card Container No Longer Hides Itself Randomly

There were instances where your hand cards outside of battle, such as Health Potions and Time Warp cards, would randomly hide.

I finally found the issue, and this should no longer happen. Your cards should now hide and reveal at the correct times.

Startup Logo and Autosave Scenes Optimized

The startup logo and autosave scenes have been optimized and should no longer put unnecessary strain on your system.

Also, your mouse will no longer be forced to stay hidden when you Alt-Tab out of the game.

Battle Card Selection Fixed

Battle Card Selection would sometimes fail to appear after winning a battle.

This has been fixed.

Trickster Starter Perk Fixed

The Trickster starter perk said that Scramble would cost 0 Agility.

This was working correctly on the backend, but the Scramble card still visually showed a cost of 1 Agility.

This has been fixed, and Scramble now properly shows 0 Agility while the Trickster perk is active.

Various Crash Reports Fixed

Several crash reports have been addressed in this update.

Visual Bugs Fixed

Many visual bugs, like when you hover the Clock, have been fixed and no longer showcase the location card titles/text on top of these panels.

Still Being Worked On

I have started the localization process for 25+ languages.

You can change the language in the Settings menu, but not all text has been fully updated for every language yet. That is all for now! Please test out the new balance and report back to me via Community if you run into any bugs and/or annoyances that need to be adjusted. Thank you, Reapers! - Austin Williams