Game Updated to v1.8_20260209 (Full Release, Out of EA)
The Darkness Below Demo · published
v1.8 (full release, 2026-02-09)
fixed: bug where monster actions were not chosen properly, causing monsters to repeatedly use their strongest actions (especially those using a chance '%'), ignoring their actual percentages and leading to an imbalanced, unfair experience
fixed: bug where minibosses were not giving increased xp / gold when they were defeated, regardless their increased hp / damage output. Now this is considered as well and can expect increased xp / gold based on monster's multipliers. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '12.3. Loot' and '12.7. Experience'
fixed: bug where combat actions could be taken under a triggered event dialogue when monster happened to be on same square as the event, initiating combat. Now, event dialogue takes precedence
fixed: bug where the skill trainer screen continued showing the required skill / expertise even when training at higher expertise (apprentice+), when the requirement should only appear for the initial 'initiate' expertise
fixed: bug where sometimes no minimap and no item in-hand was shown in the top-right area, when an event was showing
fixed: bug where event sounds are sometimes heard even though the event is not triggered under some criteria
fixed: bug where potions couldn't be used through keyboard shortcuts in combat, requiring a mouse click. They can now be used the same way as scrolls and wands (one-off cast) in combat by clicking the 'Z' (default button for casting spell) which will use the potion as a spell (if its targetable, it will ask for a target) and not requiring a mouse click. Out of battle, a potion can always get equipped in hand slots through inventory screen and mouse clicked in game window screen (thanks, @Corwin)
added: populated 'Frosthollow' village with required content (buildings, stores etc.) and also a ship back to the early content is also added. This is the starting village that progress main quest on second chapter of the game
added: new main quest maps 'Coldwither Steppe', 'Glacium Tower', 'Glacium Tower, Level 2', 'Glacium Tower, Level 3', 'Oakveil', 'Rotspire Forest', 'Stone Mausoleum', 'Stone Mausoleum, Level 2'
added: new side quest maps 'Depths of Silkmoor', 'Withered Keep, Level 3', 'Depths of Rivenglen, Level 2', 'Greywillow', 'Ember Sands', 'Softwater', 'Winterhold', 'Deepwood', 'The Sewers', along with the relevant side quest givers in same or nearby maps
added: new monsters 'Mammoth', 'Frost Mage', 'Frozen Sword', 'Evil Armor', 'Mimic', 'Cloud Golem', 'Blood Maw', 'Pale Tree', 'Thunder Bee', 'Gale Harpy', 'Sludge Rat', 'Storm Eye', 'Dread Eye', 'Water Wisp', 'Deep Ooze', 'Air Elemental', 'Brute Thug', 'Thought Wisp', 'Fire Eidolon', 'Drake', 'Skeleton'. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '12.6. List'
added: new spells 'Water Skin', 'Ray of Cold', 'Aqua Strike', 'Break Curse', 'Cleanse Mind', 'Raise Dead', 'Break Paralysis', 'Reveal Secret', 'Wind Shield', 'Burning Sphere', 'Volt Arrow', 'Sanctified Chorus', 'Thunder'. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '15.6. List'
added: new feats 'Relic Seeker', 'Arcane Leathers', 'Cleave'. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '8.1. List'
added: ship travel from 'Frosthollow' (second part of game) to 'Crimson Bay' (first part of game) and back, effectively a way to connect the two chapters of the game. Although, travelling from 'Crimson Bay' to 'Frosthollow' wont be possible when on early content but only after entering second part of game (after sent to 'Frosthollow' first time). Finally, make sure you're visiting 'Crimson Bay' for first time to be able to see the ship travel to 'Frosthollow'
added: performance improvement overall in the game and heavy refactoring of event system, allowing easier handling and expansion
added: more parameters are now allowed on creating unique or miniboss monsters. Example is a miniboss on 'Glacium Tower' which uses the 'Skeleton Guardian' monster template, with an added 'water damage' effect on his 'Greatsword' action (properly themed to dungeon)
added: some changes in existing spells: 'Bolt of Lightning' damage updated from 8-20 to 12-16, 'Starbeam' damage updated from 10-24 to 14-20, 'Astral Fire' damage updated from 24-60 to 50-76 (mostly for balancing the gaps), 'Fire Shield' added cure to 'Flamed' condition as well. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '15.6. List'
added: now 'Feats' and 'Quests' entries are responding with single click (rather click and release), resulting in smooth, faster results. In addition, on 'Quests' page the 'inactive' quests (either completed / failed) are not shown in 'gray', leaving the 'active' ones only in white for better focus
added: monsters are now having a color-coded hit points indicator on their name, which name changes from black color (66% to full hp) to orange color (33% to 66% hp) to red color (0% to 33%). Especially useful against bosses which have increased hp where battle can take more time
added: party's current position on minimap / localmap (arrow) is now always shown, regardless on the minimap object found on the same square with the party, improving party's orientation at all times
added: punching sound effect when hitting on walls, trees and other kinds of obstacles was changed to a more subtle sound effect (thanks @GnomeSlayer)
added: robe items (armor) are now having a higher armor allocation per evolving indicator i.e. 1,3,5,7 instead of 0,1,2,3 as it was. For example 'Robe' provides a '1 + techmod' protection, a 'Robe +1' provides a '3 + techmod' protection etc. This will improve the caster's physical protection and make spells like 'Hardskin' more effective (double protection) on them, needed on higher level maps. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '14.7.2. Armor'
added: removed about ~20-25 monsters from both 'Dry Plains' and 'Goldenfields' maps, which were a bit more crowded than necessary. This should make clearing of these overworld maps a bit easier. In addition, added a setting to map generator to not overcrowd those overworld maps in later maps, to resolve this issue once and for all
added: each quest now contains one-liner hints / clues for the next action needed towards the quest completion, guiding the player at all times (thanks @elenda*******)
added: replaced the banner on story-telling puzzle on 'Withered Keep, Level 2' with painting, as its a more matching feature (image rather text)
added: a skill-based puzzle on a wall on 'Mad Wizard's Mansion, Level 2' now has a cracked-wall feature on it and requires clicking it to trigger the event (rather moving on square next to it). Another skill-based puzzle on a painting wall on 'Cult of Wizards, Hideout', where the puzzle requires clicking to it (rather moving on square next to it). This is an intermediary step before changing these skills to 'passive' mode (see '7.4.2. Passive skill checks') to allow repeated skill-checks but only if the party has the required skill expertise. This will allow 100% completion of levels but may need a revisit later if skill expertise is missing
added: after completing 'Mad Wizard's Mansion' dungeon and moving out, you will be now able to re-enter dungeon in case you forgot something i.e. secret areas, allowing you 100% completion
added: now if character doesn't has the 'Dual Wielder' feat, he wont be able to equip two single-handed weapons, instead of previously allowing equipping, but not using the second of the weapons. This should eliminate the confusion of having or not the 'Dual Wielder' feat
added: fine-tuned all skill-based challenges to allow both 'passive/active' challenges based on some logic. In short, passive skill challenges that can be logically attempted multiple times i.e. checking a painting/crack to reveal a secret room or recalling lore by an object. Active skill challenges that can not be logically attempted multiple times like persuading a guard or listening to a one-off discussion from shadows. Both passive and active skill checks will always use the current map tier as difficulty. In short, the party will be able to attempt multiple times a passive skill-check and revisit when they have the required expertise, which sometimes allows 100% completion of a dungeon. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '7.4.2. Passive skill checks' and '7.4.3. Active skill checks' (thanks @shafkhan2001)
added: weapon / armor skills can now use both base / magic items that are non-evolved (+0) straight from 'Initiate' expertise (the starting one) rather from 'Apprentice' expertise. In addition, 'Apprentice' expertise will now allow the equip / use of 1+ items, previously needing the 'Adept' expertise. In short, all magical weapon / armors of 0+ (i.e. non-evolved) will be equippable / usable from 'Initiate' expertise (just having the skill), eliminating the issue of waiting until you find the trainers and getting loads of unusable magical items in the process. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '7.5. Benefits and restrictions' (thanks @sasmith73)
added: improved lever functionality to allow complex lever sequences, across one or multiple levers, to trigger certain events. The first of such lever combination is added to 'The Sunken Abyss, Level 2' map, as part of a dwarvish-language skill puzzle and continuous work on skill-challenge puzzles and magic items
added: items can now trigger events when picked up, so items like scrolls / books with crucial information that can be picked up and read when needed to progress on a quest, are now possible to create and already used in game's content
added: increased efficiency on all shields, providing more protection per level bonus (i.e. +1), based on the fact that shields weren't providing much per increased level, especially with the addition of feats and stronger monsters. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '14.7.3. Shield'
added: overhauled 'NPC companions' functionality to make them more useful, adding missing NPCs on all maps, adding non-combat spells to NPCs (i.e. light), smarter NPC spell casting (i.e. a spell that causes effect on either party or monster, only cast when needed) and generally added balanced NPCs using all weapons, spells and skills
added: continuing on 'NPC companions' fuinctionality, NPCs for hire are now only asking for a starting price based on their tier (i.e. 250g) but then insted of daily pay they'll just share% the gold taken (i.e. 20% share, either from monsters or chests) and again based on their tier. This way, the party will only need to pay them once, then just 'sharing' (or losing) gold that they don't currently have, plus NPCs can only go when party dismisses them i.e. not going because the party have no money to pay them (no daily cost), making it easier to swap / change as needed. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '13.1. Services'
added: reworked the cutscenes to improve overall consistency and establish a unified visual style across all scenes
added: new weather effect 'underwater', to explore dungeons deep in the water, used in newer content
added: numerous hand-crafted and named magic items throughout the world, found as quest rewards, on the ground or dungeon chests. These items are more powerful than random magic items and are carefully designed to reflect the lore of the locations in which they are found. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '12.3 Loot' in section 'Named magic items'
added: event options that involve skill checks, now show an icon for the attribute they depend on. For example, a 'Fitness' check uses the 'Power' attribute, so a 'Power' icon is displayed to indicate that different outcomes may occur, depending on the party's skill level. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '7.4. Skill checks'
added: better explanation in RULEBOOK.pdf and in-game for those spells increasing the elemental damage through weapon actions i.e. like 'Thunderclap' and 'Blazing Strike'. Specifically, instead of 'Fire Dmg 150%' (example), this is now shown as 'Fire W/Dmg +50%', making it clear that elemental damage is applied through weapon damage (thanks @crpgnut)
added: skill training is now faster, granting 3xp rather than 1xp per intended skill use (i.e. causing damage with weapons, casting with spells, receiving damage on armor etc.), allowing characters to reach higher expertises more quickly. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '7.7. Character progression' (thanks @crpgnut)
added: rebalanced all spells and recalculated their damage ranges for better consistency and usefulness across all expertises. Added many new Initiate and Apprentice spells, including several utility ones. More in RULEBOOK.pdf under '15.6. List' (thanks @crpgnut)
added: rebalanced the library shop, from having two (2) pages with first page having 6 spell books, second page having 3 attributes/elemental books and 3 skill books to now having three (3) pages with first page having 6 spells books, second page having 6 attributes/elemental books and third page having 6 skill books. This at least will make it easier to find the desired books (mostly attribute/elemental books) but also skill books (thanks @Corwin, @Saxton)