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Steam News23 December 20256mo ago

Playtest Update | New Relics, Animation Optimizations, and Tons of Improvements!

Greetings Gate Defenders! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Playtest for your feedback!

In this update5

Full notes

Full The Gate Must Stand: A Tower Defense Survivor update

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Repeated intro

Greetings Gate Defenders!

What changed

37 fixes14 additions57 changes3 removals
  • Gameplay
  • Balance
  • UI and audio
  • Store
  • Performance
  • Fixes
addedI. New Content2 New Upgrades:
changedI. New ContentEXP Healing: Picking up EXP crystals restores health equal to the EXP.
addedI. New Content6 New Relics:
changedI. New ContentDeceptive Balance: If followers on the field are≤ 4, recruitment cost is reduced by 50%. If> 4, refresh cost is reduced by 50%.
changedI. New ContentSouls Magic Box: Gain the legendary Spirit Body upgrade and carry up to 5 followers.
changedI. New ContentLucky Bone Dice: Upon upgrade, immediately exempt 1 follower's recruitment cost at the tavern.
Blood of the Kingdom awakening, final tier600%800%Blood of the Kingdom awakening, final tier increased, buffprobability of Eternal Verdancy0.2%0.6%probability of Eternal Verdancy increased, buff

The Gate Must Stand: A Tower Defense Survivor changes

added2 New Upgrades:
changedEXP Healing: Picking up EXP crystals restores health equal to the EXP.
added6 New Relics:
changedDeceptive Balance: If followers on the field are≤ 4, recruitment cost is reduced by 50%. If> 4, refresh cost is reduced by 50%.
changedSouls Magic Box: Gain the legendary Spirit Body upgrade and carry up to 5 followers.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Playtest for your feedback!

This time, we've brought a large number of updates, adjustments, and bug fixes, all in an effort to respond to your feedback and bring the game closer to what you've been hoping for.

Patch Notes as follows:

I. New Content

2 New Upgrades:

  • Battle Scavenging: Followers gain the ability to pick up EXP crystals.

  • EXP Healing: Picking up EXP crystals restores health equal to the EXP.

6 New Relics:

  • Invincible Battle Flag: If there’s only1 type of follower on the field (excluding ultimate followers), tavern refresh will guarantee that follower, with a 20% discount on recruitment cost.

  • Deceptive BalanceIf followers on the field are≤ 4, recruitment cost is reduced by 50%. If> 4, refresh cost is reduced by 50%.
  • Souls Magic Box: Gain the legendary Spirit Body upgrade and carry up to 5 followers.

  • Lucky Bone Dice: Upon upgrade, immediately exempt 1 follower's recruitment cost at the tavern.

  • Frost Thunder Heart: Frozen caps at 16 layers. At 16 layers, triggers 20 layers of Thunderstorm, but enemy attacks apply 1 layer of Freeze.

  • Boiling Demon Blood: When picking EXP crystals, +40% movement speed and attack speed for 2 seconds (non-stackable). Crystals are now picked up based on attack range.

New Systems / Animations:

  • Added a feature displaying the bonus value in the bottom-right corner of the Abyssal Cipherkey relic after acquisition

  • Added idle animation for tavern beer

  • Added border effects for tavern follower portraits

  • Added feedback effect for insufficient funds when clicking to purchase or refresh followers in the tavern

  • Characters will rotate when catapults launch heroes/spearmen to knock back heroes, and when follower catapults are deployed

II. UI/UX and Audio Optimization

  • Optimized the logic for certain archer awakenings to make it clearer

  • Removed the complex sound effects for Human Power’s Sword Light

  • Enhanced boss cooldown visualization

  • Brightened the font color for rarity text

  • Improved the outline effect for UI button fonts

  • Enhanced tavern purchase feedback

  • Added pause prompts

  • Optimized newbie tutorials

  • Window mode now supports minimization to a small window and manual dragging of screen edges

  • Black mask no longer expands downward over time

  • Optimized visuals and effects for Upgrade /Awakening/Shop interfaces

  • Brightened rarity text color in top-right corner of Upgrade

  • Centered quest interface and added darkened bottom mask

  • Updated all animations and attack/skill effects for S Serros

  • Replaced tavern background image

  • Magic Coin acquisition now flies into the collection frame

  • Modified Rising Slash: Bleeding effect

  • Optimized visual effects when upgrading followers using Decree of the Ancient King/Synthesis

  • Merchant appearance now automatically zooms out to ensure full visibility

III. Functionality and System Optimization

  • All follower sigil awakenings (Bow Soul Sigil, Frostbound Sigil, Blazecore Sigil) now allow player-selected placement

  • The first wave of minions will spawn in various corners of the battlefield at the start of the game

  • Optimized fence generation to ensure initial fences do not block access points

  • EXP crystals now scatter upon the boss's death

  • Optimized Forest Guardian thorn edges to prevent vertical flickering

  • Refined slowdown logic when traversing enemies

  • Reduced delay for heroes to acquire Spiritual Body when mounted on followers

  • Enhanced Epic Upgrade pool rules, increasing the weight of individual Epic Upgrade

  • Optimized minor enemy scaling logic

  • Added game pause notification prompts

  • Followers obtained via the Ultimate Holy Grail now display green deployable tiles on the map during placement

  • Optimized text rendering for all languagesresolved rough white/black outlines in City Defense upgrades, difficulty selection, return to menu, and close buttons
  • Updated boss enhancements: Skills and attack power now strengthen every 10 seconds

  • Added camera movement controls (up/down/left/right) when purchasing Divine Blessings/upgrading minions or Ancient King's Orders/placing fences in the shop

  • Increased prices in the Mysterious Shop

  • Added setting option: Pause game when purchasing minions

  • Acquiring Grimoire Relics: Relics that automatically unleash skills now have a 1-second cooldown after skill exhaustion before the next skill is released

  • Optimized conditions for the appearance of the newbie tutorial dialog box

  • Optimized the slow early-game pace and monster spawn rate

  • Enhanced enemy strength after defeating bosses

IV. Balancing and Adjustments

  • Minion level requirement for Coronation Advancement changed to Level 10

  • Guardian Advancement stats reduced to 100/200/300/400 max HP

  • Max HP UP Upgrade stats reduced to 20%/40%/60%/80%

  • Forest Guardian's Bond of Battle now restores 3 HP to the hero

  • Thunder of the Court's attack speed reduced to 1.5

  • Rising Slash's bleeding layers increased to 5/10/20

  • Frostfall Siphon of Greatshield Guardian increased to 5/10/15%

  • Half-Blood PrinceBlood of the Kingdom awakening, final tier changed from 600% to 800%
  • Greatshield Guardian 's Tank value reduced to 50/100/150%

  • Archer's Volley reduced to 70/140/210%, attack speed reduced to 0.8

  • Catapult's Precision Boulder Smash reduced to 1000%/2000%/3000%, Boulder Critical Damage reduced to 7/14/21x

  • Archer's Comradeship effect adjusted to 5%, Great Shield Guardian's effect adjusted to 10%

  • Boss experience granted reduced by 20%. Initial skill damage and attack power of Tier 1 bosses (5 and 10 minutes) uniformly reduced by 30%

  • Catapult throws people’s cooldown increased to 10 seconds. Max HP increased to 150%/300%/600%

  • Greatshield's Iron Bastion Resonance now grants followers 10%/20%/30% increased HP

  • Forked Lightning's stack transfer rate reduced to 10%

  • Assassin's base attack power increased to 100

  • Assassin's Bloodstained Dagger now increases attack power by 1, with Max bonus increased to 150/300/450

  • Thunder Mage's Lightning Ball attack count reduced to 1/2/3

  • Evil Shadow Shield no longer reduces gate HP; now causes gates to absorb 80% of damage taken by heroes

  • Uppercut now automatically targets the highest-health enemy in front

  • Game Speed Boost: x1.5 / x2

  • Reduced certain awakening stats for Serros

  • Increased the base attack power of city gate guards

  • The probability of Eternal Verdancy has been increased from 0.2% to 0.6%

V. Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the damage dealt by Human Power's sword light effect was lower than expected after heroes gained physical attack power bonuses.

  • Fixed a game freeze bug that occurred when instantly defeating a boss while starting a quest.

  • Fixed an issue where the Imp quest could grant excessively high single-attack rewards exceeding the cap.

  • Fixed a bug where windowed mode and resolution settings weren't saved upon re-entering the game.

  • Fixed an issue where Forest Guardian thorns displayed abnormally large damage numbers.

  • Fixed a bug causing heroes to bounce back one tile when approaching fences.

  • Fixed incorrect reward values in the Imp quest.

  • Fixed a bug where left-clicking couldn't view the boss UI

  • Fixed a bug where the Molten Fire Boss's bombs were targeted by minions

  • Fixed a bug where the Quadruple Demon attacked void followers, and could still move while under Vulnerability

  • Fixed a bug where enemies killed by Shadow Assassin's Bleed didn't count as kills, and void granted to heroes didn't restore their HP

  • Fixed bug where Demonic Power movement speed increased attack speed

  • Fixed bug where Fire Dragon’s ultimate follower couldn't attack after Divine Favor set its attack speed to 0.5, and bug where Fire Dragon could appear when purchasing Catapult after loading

  • Fixed the City Gate upgrade now featuring Common/Rare/Epic/Legendary options with values of 20/40/60/80%. Each rarity also gains an additional spawn condition: only appears when the City Gate's health is below 80/60/40/20%.

  • Fixed a bug where the Lightning Chain Overlord's chain attack failed to trigger the hero's Gale Dance.

  • Fixed a bug where minions could still attack while in Spirit Body.

  • Fixed a bug where the Flamecleave Archmage's Fireball, after being collected by the hero, left small flames while walking.

  • Fixed a bug where minions from the current wave would not reappear after saving and loading.

  • Fixed a bug where the Decree of the Ancient King could not be used after saving and loading.

  • Fixed a bug where upgrading during the cast of Forward Slash would prevent selecting the upgrade.

  • Fixed a bug where right-clicking to cancel before purchasing a follower in the Tavern would still grant the corresponding Bond of Battle to the hero.

  • Fixed a bug where the AoE damage of the Demonic Steel boss was not being amplified.

  • Fixed an issue where the taunt indicator for minions summoned by the Demonic Steel boss would infinitely spawn when taunted.

  • Fixed an issue where the sound effect for Gale Dance would persist in the menu after victory if the ability was still active.

  • Fixed an issue where rapidly clicking the fence multiple times could stack charges, causing the fence's health to become negative.

  • Fixed a bug where enabling guidance caused the guidance dialog to appear every time the tavern was mouseovered after Decree of the Ancient King.

  • Fixed a bug where the Imp quest rewarded more than intended.

  • Fixed a bug where quickly moving the mouse while viewing a follower's passive skill caused the description to persist.

  • Fixed a bug where, after killing a boss and leveling up in-game, selecting a skill and then moving near a relic prevented the relic from being selected.

  • Fixed a bug where only one location was displayed when obtaining two identical relics

  • Fixed a bug where the relic acquisition interface could be used to select minions

  • Fixed a bug where the Golden Path advancement was not taking effect

  • Fixed a bug where Abyssal Cipherkey did not increase minion health

We’d love for you to keep sharing your thoughts and suggestions to make the game even better!

Feel free to join our Discord to connect with other players who love the game too!

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Source

Steam News / 23 December 2025

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