Low Magic, They Said! - Major Update - February 2026

# Low Magic, They Said! - Major Pre-Demo Update

## February 2026

This is a big one. Months of work leading up to our Steam Next Fest demo later this month. New bosses, overhauled systems, and polish across every corner of the game.

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## New Content

### 5 New Boss Encounters

The world just got a lot more dangerous. Five new bosses join the Orc Boss and Moltenface, bringing the total to **7 unique boss fights** -- each with their own mechanics, animations, and sound design.

• **Trollkyria** -- A Troll-Valkyrie hybrid guarding the ruins. Triggers rage mechanic at low health.

• **Beholder Cube** -- A massive gelatinous horror with a dark core and acid dissolve attacks.

• **Fireshader** -- A volcanic fire demon with an ignite/extinguish cycle that punishes careless play.

• **Widowmaker Mjau** -- Don't let the name fool you.

• **Low Res Dragon** -- The name is a lie. The dragon is very much high resolution.

### 17 Enemies Across All Acts

Every encounter has been tuned. Early, mid, and late game enemies each bring distinct mechanics -- debuffers, tanks, specialists, damage dealers -- and now they all have unique entrance animations, hit reactions, and ambient idle sounds during your turn.

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## Major System Overhauls

### World Prestige -- Now Actually Works

The difficulty scaling system that's supposed to make the world fight back harder after each victory? It was broken. A single bug deep in the code meant that **none of the 30 modifiers were doing anything.** Fixed. Enemy HP scaling, damage modifiers, healing penalties, shop price increases, card draw reductions, elite spawn rates -- all of it now applies as intended. The world remembers your victories now. For real this time.

### Temple Magic Upgrades

Spending boss souls to upgrade your magic at the temple now properly deducts souls and allows consecutive purchases. Previously, souls weren't being spent and you couldn't buy the next level in the same visit. Fixed across all save slots.

### Save System

Saving is stable everywhere. No more experimental warnings, no more "you can only save at the map" restrictions. Save and quit works from any point in a run. Prestige counts, victory tracking, and meta-progression all persist correctly across all three save slots.

### Event System

Events now respect act and floor restrictions. No more seeing early-game encounters deep into a run where they don't belong.

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## Audio and Visuals

### Enemy Sound Overhaul

Every enemy type now has unique grunt sounds on entrance and when hit, with pitch and volume variance so no two hits sound identical. Ambient idle sounds play during your turn, bringing battles to life. Undead enemies have a particularly unsettling presence.

### Fire and Heat Effects

Heat distortion effects around magical fire now blend smoothly into the environment instead of cutting off at hard rectangular edges. Fire shaders across events, the Little Palace, and boss encounters have been polished.

### Combat Feel

Damage modifiers, block scaling, and healing penalties all produce visible gameplay differences now. Fights feel tighter. Difficulty progression is real.

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## Quality of Life

• Help section accessible from the top bar with full keyword reference (hold ALT in-game to see keyword details on any card)

• Debug console noise reduced by 85% for cleaner performance

• Numerous relic fixes and interaction improvements

• Card upgrade and interaction fixes across the board

• DragonBones animation performance improvements

• UI polish pass on character selection, pause menu, and battle rewards

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## Active Development

This game is being polished daily. Expect frequent patches between now and Early Access, and continued updates through full release later this year. What you're playing today will only get better.

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## Steam Next Fest Demo Coming Soon

The demo is almost here. If you're seeing this before the fest -- **wishlist now** so you don't miss it.

If you're already playing -- thank you. Found a bug? Have feedback? Join our Discord from the main menu. Your feedback directly shapes the final game.

And if you're enjoying it, please **WISHLIST** the full game -- it's the single most helpful thing you can do for a solo indie developer.

*-- Eric / onehouse*