Hello, Survivors!
Update 1.5 is here, and this one brings a bit of everything: a new optional DLC Survivor for players who enjoy summon builds, three new Powers available to everyone, two new Structures, a brand-new attribute for ally-focused playstyles, and a much less stubborn path to Rebirth.
And since many of you have been sharing feedback about the early game, we also wanted to give you more interesting choices right from the start.
Let’s begin with the optional part - and then move straight to the free additions for everyone else.
For those of you who enjoy spellcasting, summon builds, and the general fantasy of solving problems by arriving with your own army, we’ve added a brand-new playable Survivor: Skeleton King, the Cursed Necromancer.
He is built around commanding the dead - and letting his loyal subjects do the dangerous part of the job.
His Power, Necromantic Pulse, lets him raise skeletal allies during battle, so the longer the fight goes on, the less alone he is. His Talent, Necromantic Shield, turns that growing army into defense as well - surrounding him with spinning bone shields based on the number of summons he controls, pushing enemies back and boosting his survivability.
If you decide to pick him up, that also helps support our studio and lets us keep making more updates like this one, which we appreciate more than any undead monarch ever will.
If summon builds are not your thing, no worries - the rest of Update 1.5 is for everyone.
We’ve seen a lot of feedback that the beginning of the game can sometimes take a little too long to properly start being fun. So with Update 1.5, we wanted to give the early game a bit more diversity. That is why all three new Powers below are available right away from the start.
For once, hesitating may improve your odds.
As you move, cursed blades build up. The moment you stop, they fire in a volley at the nearest enemies - one blade per target, up to a base maximum stack of 10. It gives you a new reason to think about positioning and turns every short pause into a sharp little counterattack.
Available from the start of the game.
If death himself cannot join your run, he can at least lend you the equipment.
Thanatos’ Scythes summons deadly scythes around your Survivor. They orbit you, spiral outward, and deal damage on contact, giving you a strong new option for players who like close-range pressure and constant movement.
Available from the start of the game.
This one is exactly what it sounds like, which is part of the appeal.
Wall of Blades creates a circular fence of swords around your Survivor. It’s a practical solution for enemies with boundary issues. Each sword damages the first enemy it touches and then shatters, which means the wall slowly opens up and creates gaps. It gives you strong protection at first, but it does not stay perfect forever.
Available from the start of the game.
Sometimes a run goes badly.
Now you get one second chance.
Shrine of Resurrection grants a one-time revival if your Survivor falls, bringing you back with 50% Health. Once it saves you, it is destroyed for the rest of that run, so this is not immortality - just a very welcome piece of insurance.
If you enjoy killing enemies and then profiting from it, we have good news.
Soul Well is a sacrificial structure. Defeat enemies around it to fill the circle, just like you would do with a chest, and once it is complete, the Well destroys itself and spits out rewards - including, if fortune smiles on you, a powerful allied mid-boss for a short time.
You can now earn yourself some very large friends.
Summon-focused builds now have a proper stat to grow into.
Summon Damage is a brand-new attribute dedicated to allies and summons. New level-up cards can increase it during runs, and you can also buy those upgrades in the Workshop. In short: if your build relies on minions, they can now hit much harder.
We have made Rebirth much easier to reach.
From now on, Rebirth unlocks after maxing out 5 Favours instead of all of them. That means significantly less grind and a much faster path to this endgame system.
We also adjusted the achievement tied to Rebirth.
It is now awarded after you actually use Rebirth, rather than when the option merely becomes available. That should make the requirement much clearer and more consistent with the other achievements.
PS: our game designer claims this is the final version of the Rebirth changes. Are we choosing to trust him? Jokes aside, we apologise for multiple changes - sometimes it takes time to find a good solution. We hope these adjustments finally make the mechanic feel much more rewarding without asking for quite so much patience first.
As always, thank you for playing, thank you for leaving feedback, and thank you for being honest with us when something feels great - or when it very much does not. A lot of these changes you see in our announcements start exactly there.
Spring has fully arrived here in Toruń, which means... it's cold and surprisingly rainy. We, meanwhile, are here adding skeletons, scythes, and second chances to the game.
Which feels like a fair use of May.
Let us know what do you think about new Powers and Structures - we’re curious which one will be the most popular
See you on the battlefield,
~ Dark Point Games Team
...
If you’ve read this far, Pythia offers you a small reward: a glimpse of what awaits in the next update. A new (and free) Survivor is coming - and yes, you already know his name.