Changelog.ggBeta
HomeGamesUpdatesPricingMethodology
Steam News29 January 20265mo ago

⚡From Playtest to Progress - The New Active Perk Wheel

Hey everyone! Recently I brought Hexborn to DreamHack (a big gaming festival here in Sweden) and ran the demo live on the show floor. It was the first public showing of the demo, so I was honestly pretty nervous.

In this update4

Full notes

Full Hexborn update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

Repeated intro

Hey everyone! Recently I brought Hexborn to DreamHack (a big gaming festival here in Sweden) and ran the demo live on the show floor. It was the first public showing of the demo, so I was honestly pretty nervous. But I was really happy to see how well it was received. People were leaning into the chaos, the arenas felt satisfying, and the “snowball into a monster” fantasy came through. After DreamHack playtests, I reworked Active perks to be easier to use mid-chaos. The result is Flow + the Active Wheel, one quick choice that turns into a big power spike.

What changed

0 fixes0 additions2 changes0 removals
  • Gameplay
  • Performance
changedHey everyone! Recently I brought Hexborn to DreamHack (a big gaming festival here in Sweden) and ran the demo live on the show floor. It was the first public showing of the demo, so I was honestly pretty nervous. But I was really happy to see how well it was received. People were leaning into the chaos, the arenas felt satisfying, and the “snowball into a monster” fantasy came through. After DreamHack playtests, I reworked Active perks to be easier to use mid-chaos. The result is Flow + the Active Wheel , one quick choice that turns into a big power spike.
changed📸 DreamHack snapshotsThanks for reading! If you haven’t wishlisted Hexborn yet and you like retro FPS combat mixed with roguelite progression, wishlist it to get notified when the demo and eventually the game drops.

Hexborn changes

changedHey everyone! Recently I brought Hexborn to DreamHack (a big gaming festival here in Sweden) and ran the demo live on the show floor. It was the first public showing of the demo, so I was honestly pretty nervous. But I was really happy to see how well it was received. People were leaning into the chaos, the arenas felt satisfying, and the “snowball into a monster” fantasy came through. After DreamHack playtests, I reworked Active perks to be easier to use mid-chaos. The result is Flow + the Active Wheel , one quick choice that turns into a big power spike.
changedThanks for reading! If you haven’t wishlisted Hexborn yet and you like retro FPS combat mixed with roguelite progression, wishlist it to get notified when the demo and eventually the game drops.

Steam post image

🛠️ An opportunity for improvement

One thing I noticed during playtests: players weren’t using Active perks as much as I expected and occasionally they were triggered by accident in the middle of the chaos.

In my previous Steam update I shared Actives as a meter-based system with high-impact abilities. The abilities themselves felt great, so this wasn’t about power, it was about making them feel more intentional and easier to access mid-fight. After watching a bunch of playtests, I started thinking: how can I make this even smoother? Then it clicked:

🧠 The solution: Flow + the Active Wheel

Actives now plug into a Flow meter:

  • Flow fills during combat

  • When it’s full, you open a radial wheel

  • Pick one owned Active perk

📸 DreamHack snapshots

Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth, played, and gave feedback, it genuinely helped shape the demo. Steam post image

Thanks for reading! If you haven’t wishlisted Hexborn yet and you like retro FPS combat mixed with roguelite progression, wishlist it to get notified when the demo and eventually the game drops.

See you in the next update 🩸🤘 Sohrab

Source

Steam News / 29 January 2026

Open original post

Changelog.gg summarizes and formats this update. How we read updates.