Desert Crypts

The Aridax, a fiercely independent desert faction, have long forgotten the ways of their ancestors. But now, their ancient tombs stir with a sinister energy. Something has awakened deep below.

These crypts are scattered across the desert and feature some of the highest-level enemies in the game. Be prepared for a challenge as you encounter 13 new enemy types, 20+ new items, new sounds, music, traps, and more.

Dungeon Difficulty

Dungeon difficulty is now represented by skull icons.

The scale ranges from 1 to 5 skulls, with 5+ (black) and 5++ (red) for the most brutal challenges.

XP Rebalance

We've reworked the skill XP curve and investment system to improve balance and progression, ensuring both specialized (tall) and generalist (wide) builds remain competitive, while fixing the issue where heavily invested skills would level faster at higher levels.

What's Changing:

• XP Curve Adjustments: Increased the XP required per level after level 15 to smooth progression.
• Dynamic Skill Caps: Skill caps are now tied to character level, with an additional +3 per skill point invested.

Equipment Animations

Torches are now animated, marking the introduction of animated equipment items.

Activated Items

We've updated the game engine to support items with activated effects and cooldowns, giving items the full range of functionality as abilities. Kicking this off is the Squirrel's Hand:

This necklace triggers when you're low on health, summoning a scurry of friendly helpers to turn the tide in battle.

Expect more items with powerful and interactive effects in future updates.

Other Changes

• Wound icons now stack if there are 5 or more of the same wounds.
• Added unique effect to Sun Amulet item (starting item for the Commoner).
• Blood pools now increase in size (up to 5 times) as more blood is added to a tile.
• Summon Brambles (Nature Magic ability): Bramble bushes can no longer stack multiple times per tile.
• Increased accuracy of Vile Gremlins (from 0.85 → 1.10).
• Gremlin Shamans now deal hex damage for their primary attack.
• Gremlin Shamans hex tiles now apply a status effect that increases damage taken instead of dealing direct hex damage.
• Gremlin Trapmaster will place a maximum of 5 traps while out of sight of the player, preventing floors from being overrun with traps.
• Elderberry wine now grants mental warding.
• Fear status effect (Fayde's Fear) adjusted: -20 attack speed → -10%, -20% dodge chance → -10%, and now reduces vision by 1.

Bug Fixes

• Major fix for dungeon generation, resolving a longstanding issue where rooms would sometimes fail to connect to the rest of the dungeon.
• Fixed arrow hit animations displaying in the wrong direction.
• Fixed Commoner Ascended icon not showing after beating the game with the commoner.
• Fixed Surge of Replenishment and Renew abilities granting momentum stacks.
• Fixed incorrect percent values shown on attack speed and movement speed tooltips.
• Fixed a crash caused by saving the game during a temporary animation.
• Fixed misaligned HUD status effect icons.
• Large monsters can no longer be hit multiple times with AOE abilities.
• Fixed piercing skewer animation showing in the wrong direction.
• Fixed a quest dialog bug in the Gremlin War Plans quest, making player unable to accept the quest.
• Fixed Leafborn shops having far less currency than intended.
• Notification log now supports line wrapping, preventing text from being cut off.
• Fixed unable to join Aridax settlement battles.
• Fixed overworld tile faction info UI glitch, not showing faction influence.