8-Bit Adventures 2 at Steam Next Fest Feb 2022!

I'm thrilled to announce that 8-Bit Adventures 2 is participating in Steam's latest Next Fest event - and to celebrate this, the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Demo has received a big update! What does it do? Let's dive in!

For anyone who's already played the previous demo, this latest version features all of the same content. You can once again choose between playing through the game's Prologue, battling your way through an exciting Dungeon, and exploring a Town with a hidden boss battle.

However, this latest update includes a TON of changes, fixes, and improvements. Simply put, this update makes the demo run and play like the final, release-level product! But how about some specifics?

What's New in the Demo?

• A massive performance boost, bringing the game up to near rock-solid 60fps performance (this boost accounts for most of the increase in file size, in case anyone was curious!)

• Dozens and dozens (and dozens) of bug fixes which make battles run smoother and ensure everything works as intended. And the game's balance has been improved too!

• Enhanced UI elements, such as indicating to the player what percentage their HP/MP is currently at through the use of colour, displaying a character's Max HP/MP when you go to use a restorative item in battle, as well as the addition of an icon which indicates which enemies have rare steal-able items which you don't currently possess!

• Improved support for high refresh-rate monitors.

• A Quick Menu button which allows the player to bring up a specific menu with just one press. The exact menu that's brought up can be customised in the Options menu.

• The Tutorial sub-menu, which details the game's mechanics, offering an easy refresher if the player ever forgets something. More tutorials are unlocked as you progress through the game.

• A new Sprint Mode option that allows the player to choose between Holding a button down to sprint, or Toggling running/walking speed with the press of a button. I'm a Hold mode kind of guy myself, but options are all about figuring out what works best for you!

• A Battle Status menu that can be brought up during combat to display a complete summary of the player's party (detailing Equipment, Augments, Statuses, etc.), designed to be a handy reference.

• Improved Ability/Item descriptions (and animations in a handful of cases) which clarify details which may have been more obtuse or poorly handled in past releases.

• Scrolling text in battle! The text displayed at the top of the screen during battle now scrolls as player/enemy actions play out, providing more relevant details. For example, say that there's an attack which deals damage and poisons an enemy. Some flavour text will appear about the attack, followed by a description of the damage dealt. But then the text will scroll down to also state that the enemy was poisoned. This is much more elegant than before.

• The Equipment and Augment menus now display character portraits, making the currently selected character easier to discern at a glance. Additionally, Shop menus now also feature character graphics for the same reason.

• The game will now pop up "Immune" text if an enemy (or ally) is unable to be inflicted by a particular Status Ailment.

• If you get a Game Over, you can now choose to Open the Menu before retrying a battle, allowing you to change up your Equipment/Augments, or heal a character with low HP/MP. This way, you don't have to reload & re-watch any cutscenes if you want to