July 1 Developer Note - Development Progress and Feedback

It has already been two months since the game was released and development continued, and we have now entered the second half of 2026.

We are carefully reviewing every single piece of valuable feedback sent by players through comments, reviews, messages, emails, and more, and we are continuing to work hard to reflect that feedback in the game as much as possible.

We would like to share the major development progress that has currently been completed for the upcoming 1.0 full release update.

1. Complete User Interface (UI) Overhaul

[c]We have changed the overall interface design to improve visual comfort and readability for players.[/c]

[c]Major UI elements, including the main menu and in-game interface, have been revised to be more intuitive.[/c]

Please understand that not all translations have been completed yet, so some parts may still appear mixed with Korean, which is the language used in our working environment.

2. Stage Start Method Changed and Countdown Removed

[c]Stages no longer begin with a countdown timer. Players can now start directly after they are ready.[/c]

Information Display and Leaderboard

When you press the stage start button, the AI learning information for that stage and the leaderboard on the right will be displayed, allowing you to review them before entering.

Combat Power System Added

“Combat Power” is measured based on the character’s stat values and multipliers. This allows players to check the expected combat power of the opponent they will face in the next stage in advance.

※ Combat Power Calculation Method

Combat Power is calculated by adding together the character’s stats, such as max HP, attack power, defense, and more, then applying bonus multipliers from equipped gear/weapons, acquired Traits, Perks, Contracts, and buffs.

• This value represents the character’s actual strength in numerical form, and serves as an indicator that lets players compare it with the expected combat power of enemies in the next stage to estimate their chance of success.

Leaderboard Criteria Changed

The leaderboard now displays rankings based on the average of stage progress, account level, and combat power, and has been expanded to show up to 30 players.

※ Leaderboard Score Calculation Method

• Each category, including the reached stage number, account level, and character combat power, is converted into a respective score. The average of these three values is then calculated as the “Overall Growth Score,” which determines ranking order.

• Therefore, rather than focusing heavily on only one element, consistently clearing stages, raising your account level, and developing your combat power evenly will be more advantageous in leaderboard competition!

3. Xbox Controller Support Completed

[c]You can now play the game using an Xbox controller.[/c]

Basic Controls

You can move the mouse cursor with the right stick, click with the A button, and close windows or cancel actions with the B button.

Scroll Function

You can control the scrollbar by moving the left stick downward.

Controller Vibration Support

Controller vibration will activate according to various combat situations, and this function can be turned on or off in the in-game settings/options. (Note: UI navigation functions, such as moving between UI slots using the D-PAD or left stick, will be supported through a future update.)

4. Improved Trait Acquisition Controls

[c]Additional control methods have been added for selecting and acquiring Traits.[/c]

Mouse/Keyboard

Traits can be acquired using mouse click or the Spacebar.

Xbox Controller

Traits can be acquired using the A button.

5. Ongoing In-Game Resources and UI Revisions

[c]We are currently carrying out a complete revision of the in-game UI and all other UI elements. Alongside this, all in-game icon resources related to Traits, Perks, Contracts, and merchants are planned to be fully replaced.[/c]

6. Confirmed Features Planned for the Full Release Version

[c]The full release version will include the following key content and systems, adding greater volume and depth to the game.[/c]

• Growth and Reward System Overhaul: Introduction of “Play Points”

• Rewards obtainable by clearing stages will be greatly expanded. “Play Points” earned through gameplay can be used as currency to purchase Traits, buffs, and more. Play Points will not reset even after death.

• More Diverse Stage Rewards

Each time you clear certain stages, you will be able to obtain new combo skills, character appearances/skins, and powerful weapons, ultimately gaining the opportunity to advance into new classes. Acquired combos, skins, weapons, and classes will not reset even after death.

• Class Advancement System

Starting from the basic character, players will be able to advance into higher classes with unique combat styles and skill sets, such as Fighter, Swordsman, Samurai, and Lancer, allowing for more varied gameplay.

• New Ranked Seasonal System

• Ranked mode will operate on a seasonal basis with the full release. Each season will feature a unique ranked theme, and limited rewards such as appearance skins and profile icons will be given based on the ranking achieved when the season ends.

7. User Feedback and Q&A

[c]We sincerely thank the player who recently sent us detailed feedback along with gameplay data through the Steam Community and email. It was truly a great help in identifying detailed bugs and balance issues that are difficult to catch in a solo development environment.[/c]

Below, we have organized the cause analysis and future improvement plans for the issues reported in an easy-to-understand Q&A format.

Q1. Frequent crashes during gameplay and after combat, especially in compatibility mode and ranked mode

• Issue Analysis: We confirmed that crashes occur more frequently during combat end, level transitions/scene transitions, or when ranked mode ends while running in Windows 7/8 compatibility mode. The issue becomes especially frequent when a large amount of data has accumulated after more than 10 consecutive wins. This appears to be caused by image, UI, Trait, and other resource data loaded into memory not being properly and completely cleaned up/released during scene transitions, or by conflicts occurring while saving result data.

• Improvement Plan: We are redesigning garbage collection (GC) timing and resource release processes so the game can clear memory more efficiently in the background. We will also remove computational bottlenecks that occur during data saving and synchronization, improving stability so level transitions can be completed safely without heavy load across all OS environments.

Q2. Unnatural hit detection, such as taking damage even when an attack appears to miss

• Issue Analysis: There was a mismatch between the visible weapon trajectory and the actual collision area where damage is applied for both players and enemy characters, causing unreasonable situations where attacks appeared to hit empty space but still dealt damage.

• Improvement Plan: We are precisely adjusting the hitbox range of all weapons so that they match the visual animation one-to-one. In particular, we will add interpolation logic so hit detection does not become misaligned even when frame rates drop, ensuring that the mind game of watching and dodging attacks works properly.

Q3. Enemy AI occasionally attempting to parry while stunned

• Issue Analysis: Once the AI enters a stun state, all actions should be restricted. However, this temporary logic error occurs when a parry buffer command entered just before the stun state is executed immediately after entering the stun state, or when the state lock is not properly applied.

• Improvement Plan: On the first frame when a status effect such as stun becomes active, all reserved AI input buffers will be forcibly cleared. We will also strengthen the state control code so that no defense or counterattack mechanics can activate until the stun state has fully ended.

Q4. GPU temperature rapidly increasing in the lobby or main screen after Round 10

• RemovedIssue AnalysisAs combat continued beyond 10 rounds, accumulated particle effects such as blood marks and sword slash effects were not fully removed from memory or the background renderer even after round resets, resulting in a suspected resource leak that overloaded the GPU.

• Improvement Plan: When combat ends and the player returns to the main lobby, we will apply a “reset system” that forcibly clears unnecessary visual effects and memory data. Through optimization work, we will ensure the game does not place excessive strain on the graphics card even during long play sessions.

Q5. Both player and AI getting stuck in infinite stun loops

• Issue Analysis: Immediately after recovering from stun, the stun gauge could begin accumulating again, causing the character to remain stunned continuously when hit by rapid consecutive attacks, without being able to perform any action.

• Improvement Plan: After stun is released, we will introduce a short stun immunity period, also known as a Stun Grace Period, or a system that reduces stun value accumulation for a certain time. This will remove the unfair situation where players helplessly fall into an infinite stun loop and lose the game.

Q6. Axe-and-shield soldier attacking instantly at extremely high speed without motion

• Issue Analysis: We confirmed an issue where the enemy holding an axe and shield would attack abnormally fast while completely skipping the wind-up motion of raising its right arm.

• Improvement Plan: We will closely inspect the attack animation frame structure and playback speed control code for this monster to secure enough wind-up frames for players to see the enemy’s preparatory motion and respond by blocking or dodging, while also fixing the abnormal attack activation.

Q7. Merchant appearing in early rounds when players cannot buy anything

• Improvement Plan: We will control event timing so that merchants or raid events do not appear during the very early stages of the game when the player has no currency at all. Events will instead be unlocked according to the player’s account level.

Q8. HP Regen efficiency and character stat growth limitations

• AdjustedImprovement PlanThe inefficient fixed regeneration value, where HP regenerated by only 3 per second even when max HP reached the thousands, will be changed to percentage-based regeneration based on max HP. This will allow recovery efficiency to increase naturally according to the player’s growth stage.

Q9. AI remaining too smart even when starting as the next character after death: AI learning system

• AdjustedImprovement PlanTo address the issue where the next run becomes too difficult after a character dies due to the AI learning system, the AI difficulty/learning data weight will be greatly reduced on the next attempt after death, making the balance more player-friendly.

Q10. Sharp difficulty spike and stat inflation in later rounds, especially Round 18–20 and beyond

• AddedImprovement PlanThrough the newly introduced “Play Points” system, we plan to stabilize permanent character stat growth and unlock balance. At the same time, we will fully readjust the stat values of enemies appearing in each stage to prevent excessively unreasonable difficulty spikes, while maintaining the core fun and tension of combat.

Q11. Enemy parry success feeling too difficult and unfair to respond to

• Issue Analysis: When an enemy successfully parries, the player is forced into a long stun state and becomes defenseless against follow-up attacks. This created fatigue by forcing players into monotonous growth builds focused mainly on survival stats, such as HP and life steal.

• Improvement Plan: When the player successfully parries, we plan to greatly reduce the character’s recovery delay, allowing the player to quickly chain into the next action, such as another attack or dodge, immediately after successfully defending against an enemy attack. In addition, we are reviewing multiple presentation and system adjustments to reduce the severity of the risk when an enemy successfully parries, such as shortening stun duration or replacing it with a simple knockback or speed reduction debuff, so that the gameplay environment becomes more enjoyable and better balanced.

Future Schedule and Announcements

Once further development progress has been secured, we will share another development update.

Before the full release, we plan to first test the update build as a beta version to verify stability, then proceed with final revisions before the official release.

As additional content is added and the overall level of polish improves, the game’s price will increase with the 1.0 full release version.

A discount promotion is currently underway, so please keep this in mind if you are considering purchasing the game.

We sincerely thank all players who continue to play and support the game. We will do our very best in development.

Sincerely,

TEAM NIRIZ