STEAM PATCH NOTES - Alpha Patch 8.4

TEMPLES & MAGIC SYSTEM

Major Temple Overhaul

• Magic Levels now persist across runs as intended - pay once, unlock forever

• Level 1 (Awakening): 1 Boss Soul - unlocks base blessing pool

• Level 2 (Embrace the Rage): 5 Boss Souls - adds powerful mid-tier blessings

• Level 3 (Blood Demands Blood): 10 Boss Souls - unlocks devastating high-risk blessings

• Fixed blessing accumulation bug where blessings would stack across runs instead of resetting

• Temple now properly limits to one blessing selection per visit

• Blessings now correctly reset at the start of each new run while Magic Level persists

Blessing System Fixes

• Fixed Rage Scaling blessing - now properly reads Might stacks instead of calling non-existent function

• Fixed Undying Rage blessing - now triggers on ANY fatal damage, not just blood price self-damage

• Undying Rage is now once per run (high risk, high reward) instead of once per battle

• Fixed blessing sync between WeaponEnchantmentSystem and WrathStrikeSystem

Note: Magic Levels 2 and 3 need more testing - please report any issues!

PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATIONS

Blood Lightning System Overhaul

• Preloaded all 18 lightning sound effects at startup instead of loading per-trigger

• Cached gradient textures - single GradientTexture2D created once, reused for every flash

• Cached node references (relic handler, weapon relic, status handler) at battle start

• Converted blessing lookups from Array O(n) to Dictionary O(1)

• Added trigger chance caching - only recalculates when blessings actually change

• Fixed SwordGlowCapture instantiation to prevent type mismatch errors

Shader Performance

• Significant improvements to shader rendering

• Reduced gradient texture recreation overhead

• Better memory management for visual effects

General Optimizations

• Relic activation timing improved (0.15s interval for snappy feedback)

• Reduced debug logging overhead in production builds

RELICS & TRIGGERS

Relic Fixes

• Fixed relics initializing multiple times causing signal spam and lag

• Fixed Echo Dagger triggering multiple times per damage event

• Fixed Heavy Tome relic activating every turn instead of once per combat

• Fixed Paper Hands relic not triggering at start of turns

• Fixed relic reroll accidentally removing weapon relic (now protected)

• Fixed Blessing of Strength granting +1 max mana on every battle load

Scroll Fixes

• Fixed Scroll of Healing disappearing instead of properly stacking

BALANCE CHANGES

• Undying Rage blessing changed from once-per-battle to once-per-run

• Blood Lightning trigger chances rebalanced across all 13 blessings

• Status effect tooltip format improved (now shows "1 damage per stack" instead of total)

BUG FIXES

Portal & Run Preservation

• Fixed Dark Words portal not preserving deck, relics, gold, and blessings when restarting

• Portal restart now correctly maintains all your gear and progression

Battle System

• Fixed Avatar of War status not triggering at start of turn

• Fixed Vengeful Strike dealing double damage incorrectly

• Fixed status effects (like Exhaust shaders) persisting after expiration

• Fixed crash when attacking freed enemy nodes

Save/Load

• Fixed crash when loading corrupted save files (now gracefully returns to menu)

• Fixed moonlight crash when loading saves in nighttime environments

UI & Visuals

• Fixed prestige not unlocking after winning the game

• Fixed map display scaling issues (legacy 640x480 resolution cleanup)

• Fixed duplicate healing floating text

• Fixed map path lines barely visible - now with golden glow effect

• Fixed extra button backgrounds in palace confirmation dialog

AUDIO

• More soundtrack songs removed from rotation during quality pass

• Music system optimizations continue

• Volume normalization improvements

PRESTIGE MODE

• Fixed elite buffs not appearing on dungeon bosses at prestige levels 1, 3, etc.

• Elite buff detection now properly covers all fight types:

  • Elite fights (all acts)

  • Guardian fights (before dungeons)

  • Dungeon bosses

  • Act bosses

KNOWN ISSUES

• Magic Level 2 and 3 blessings need additional testing

• Some Level 3 blessings (blood_debt, true_seeing) may have implementation gaps

WHAT'S NEXT

Continued polish and bug fixes based on alpha feedback. Boss and enemy content expansion coming in future patches.

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