Developer Update [0.4.3] - New Direction + Trials, Polish and Challenges

From now on, you can expect more frequent updates, news, and playtest events where you’ll be able to jump in, try new changes, and help shape the game as it grows. Follow us on Discord to stay up to date.

This update brings new additions, polish, and quality-of-life improvements to the demo, including the first Trials level: a special challenge levels designed to test your strategy in new ways. We’ve also worked to make the game clearer, smoother, and more satisfying from the moment you start playing, and we’d love to hear what works, what doesn’t, and how we can make it even better.

More Polished Experience

We’ve given the demo a major pass to make the board easier to read and the gameplay easier to focus on.

• Clearer UI, hints, tower feedback, costs, and wave information.

• Refined effects, animations, sounds, and interactions throughout the game.

• Improved board readability, text clarity at lower resolutions, and visual presentation.

• A broad round of bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements.

Trial Levels

We’re introducing a new mode of gameplay - Trials. Rather than surviving waves, you’ll need to find the right plan to win without letting the Crystal take any damage. It’s a different kind of challenge that rewards careful planning and smart use of your tools.

You can find a first taste of this on the Woodlands map: Woodland Trial [01-04]

This is only our first puzzle and a small taste of what’s ahead - Future puzzles will be bigger, trickier with their own twists and challenges. Please let us know what you think!

New Tutorial Flow

We’ve completely redesigned the opening tutorial to get you into Hextalia’s strategy faster.

It’s shorter, clearer, and better focused on the decisions that matter: placing towers, building walls, and planning a defense that holds. The flow has been simplified, with clearer guidance at the moments you need it.

Map Challenges

We are experimenting with a new way to reward mastery in Hextalia - instead of simply giving higher ratings for finishing with more health, each map now includes optional challenges that encourage smarter planning and different strategic choices.

Complete all three challenges to earn all three crystals - not just by surviving the waves, but by proving you truly mastered the level.

This system is still evolving, so we’d especially love your feedback: are the challenges clear and fun? Do they support the flow of each map, or do they ever get in the way?

The Woodlands are Taking Shape

The Woodlands level-selection map has been refreshed to better communicate the world we’re building around Hextalia.

This is only the beginning: a first glimpse of the regions, corruption, and larger journey still to come. Future updates will expand beyond the Woodlands with new biomes, more places to defend, and much more of Hextalia’s world to discover.

TLDR:

• Looks and Feels Better: overall polish, clearer UI, bug fixes, and a smoother flow throughout the demo.

• New Mode: Trials: one-wave puzzle-style levels where you use your loadout to find the right solution.

• Star System Changed (WIP): Stars (crystals) now come from completing three optional challenges per map instead of just finishing with high health.

• AdjustedWoodlands Visual Refreshwe updated the Woodlands table map and made visual improvements to several levels.

What’s next

Full production on Hextalia is now underway. We’re building new levels, biomes, play modes, strategic options, and more ambitious challenges - and we’ll be much more active about sharing that process with you.

Expect more frequent updates, playtest events, feedback discussions, and Q&As. We would love the community to help shape what Hextalia becomes.

Keep an eye out for our next update, which will feature a new play mode (Scoreboard, anyone?), an updated Skill Tree, and more.

One important schedule note: to give the full game the time and polish it deserves, we’re moving our release window to Q1 2027. We’ll have more to share in the coming months.

Thank you for sticking with us. We’re incredibly excited about what’s ahead.

A full changelog is attached below for anyone who wants the specific details.

Changelog [0.4.3] -

🏹 Towers & Building

• [Fixed] Fixed an animation bug on the Level 5 Crossbow tower.

• [Fixed] Fixed a bug where selling buildings refunded the full purchase price instead of the correct sell value.

• [Fixed] Fixed a bug where items could be placed on walls.

• [Improved] Highlighted the base tower when tower coupling is active, so both selected towers are easier to read.

• [Improved] Tower selection now visually indicates when you do not have enough currency to purchase a tower.

• [Improved] Wall selection is now only shown when needed.

• [Improved] When dragging an Augment, other tower effects are hidden so it is easier to see which towers have an open slot.

• [Improved] Increased the size of Augment slots on towers and added an outline so they are easier to see from a distance.

• [Improved] Moved the Tower Merge button into the Tower Selection area and gave it a clearer visual treatment.

• [Improved] Made the tower upgrade effect more noticeable, so upgradable towers are easier to spot.

• [Changed] Tower Link is now enabled by default from Level 2, allowing walls and towers to be placed together automatically.

🗺️ Levels & Maps

• [New] New level - Woodland Trial [01-04], introduces a new game mode: Trials.

• [New] Introduced map Challenges with a tooltip explaining how they work.

• [New] Updated Woodlands Level 01 with new environment art, including tents and training dummies.

• [New] Added a new path visual to make enemy routes clearer and easier to read during gameplay.

• [Improved] Adjusted level balance across the demo, including wave tuning, pacing changes, and small map adjustments to improve flow and difficulty.

• [Improved] Updated textures on the Woodlands map to better match the level’s visual style.

• [Improved] Tuned and assigned the correct Challenges across all Woodlands levels.

• [Changed] Challenges are now active in Levels 3, 4, and 5, while Level 2 keeps them hidden.

• [New] Added a sound effect for revealing the map.

🌲 Skill Tree & Progression

• [Changed] Removed forge items from the Skill Tree.

• [Changed] Renamed Relics to Augments for clarity.

• [Removed] Removed the Buy Level ability from the game.

• [Improved] Redesigned the Skill Tree UI to align with the new Crystal Shard art.

• [Improved] Replaced the old “text inside shard” cost display with a cleaner cost section for each skill.

• [Improved] Added a “Not Enough Currency” indicator to Skill Tree purchases.

• [Improved] Fixed several Skill Tree visual issues, including hover alignment and purchased-skill clarity.

• [Improved] Rewards now show a tooltip explaining what was unlocked.

• [Improved] Unlocked rewards are now visible in the Codex.

🎓 Tutorial & Onboarding

• [New] Added in-game guidance to help players learn how to use the coupling base tower.

• [Improved] Clarified the Augment tutorial in Level 2. The level now stays darkened until you begin dragging the Augment.

• [Improved] Made tutorial text larger for easier reading.

• [Fixed] Fixed a bug when dragging Augments during the tutorial.

👹 Enemies & Waves

• [New] Enemy amount is now shown before starting a wave.

• [Fixed] Fixed a missing audio clip on the Dummy enemy.

• [Fixed] Fixed the Rune Chest enemy not dealing damage to the Crystal.

• [Fixed] Fixed missing translation text in the Dummy enemy tooltip on Level 1.

🖥️ UI, Menus & Codex

• [New] Added game version display to the menu.

• [New] XP amount is now shown when hovering over the Crystal UI in the top left.

• [Improved] Clarified the end screen button text to better indicate returning to the map.

• [Improved] Improved damage number visibility so they can no longer be hidden by 3D objects.

• [Improved] Polished the menu highlight visuals.

• [Improved] Improved the level-up visual effect to feel more impactful.

• [Improved] Locked and unselected tower classes are now shown more clearly.

• [Changed] Changed the unspent Tower Shards visual warning from red to yellow.

• [Fixed] Fixed a bug when exiting the Codex.

🎨 Art & Audio

• [New] Added sound effects to the end game animations, including a crystal break sound on defeat and a chain explosion sound on victory.

• [New] Added new win and lose animations to make end-of-run moments feel more polished and satisfying.

• [New] Added sound effects to the end game animations, including a crystal break sound on defeat and a chain explosion sound on victory.

• [Fixed] Fixed the reroll sound effect not playing correctly in the main build.

⚙️ Performance & Stability

• [Fixed] Fixed a performance issue where the hit amount display could cause frame rate drops during gameplay.

🛒 Shop & Economy

• [Fixed] Fixed a black screen flash caused by an unwanted reward animation when purchasing items in the shop.

📢 Community & Meta

• [New] Added a Discord link to invite players to join the community.

• [Improved] Reviewed and updated localization text, including outdated entries and new text.

• [Fixed] Fixed various text typos throughout the game.