This update brings substantial changes, primarily focused on improving the traversal experience of the Dream Map and enhancing the gameplay of the starting character, Penitent Knight. The tutorial flow has also been refined to better convey core game mechanics, alongside various quality‑of‑life adjustments and stability improvements.
Key changes are listed below:
## Map Changes
- On the Dream Map, movement is now performed by **dragging a hand card to advance by its point value**. This unifies gameplay logic both in and out of combat, letting you land precisely on your desired tiles. Due to the greatly increased freedom of this new movement system, free reroll charges per loop have been removed.
- The Goddess Spring event has been completely reworked. You may now spend gold to select one among several **effects**, which applies a **specified point bonus** to a card of your choice.
- The HP‑recovery logic at Camps (Rest Sites) has been fully redesigned — HP is now restored based on the point values of three cards from your hand. The old percentage‑based bonus from camp upgrades has been replaced with a new HP recovery formula. This change further emphasizes the card reroll system and adds more rewarding decision‑making when resting at camp.
- Adjusted interaction for the Divination tile: fully random outcomes have been replaced with a choice between two upgrade options.
- Revised forced‑stop properties for several map tiles. Most tiles no longer force you to halt, leveraging the new flexible movement system.
## Combat Changes
- Sin Knight’s talent reworked: **Gain Sin equal to the value when playing Attack cards; lose Sin equal to the value when playing non‑Attack cards**. Sin overflow penalty changed from **AP deduction** to **taking damage equal to the overflow amount**. (Note: Action Points are now uniformly referred to as AP.)
- Tweaked several Warrior card effects: Removed innate Replay from the Dagger card (“Replay” is the unified term for “Multi” in this version). Added Enchantment: Damage Resonance — gain 1 stack of Replay whenever another card deals damage, enabling better synergy with multi‑damage builds.
- Rebalanced encounter values across battles in the starting Dream for more reasonable fight intensity and duration.
- Lowered the base point value of Blade to curb excessive early‑game power.
- Added Persist enchantment to Luminescence, preventing infinite combos from repeated reroll abuse.
- Revised Double‑Edged Strike (formerly Rush): its penalty is no longer taking 3 damage on discard; instead you take damage equal to your AP upon playing it. Added a unique damage visual effect.
- Reduced total damage output of Thousand Sword Barrage and added a distinct damage visual effect.
- Various trinket adjustments & fixes:
‑ Empowered Soul Sword: no longer requires three cards to have distinct point values; added unique damage visuals.
‑ Reworked Growth Bracelet: grants Replay to all cards based on total reroll count, instead of giving Replay only to Attack cards.
‑ Reworked Moon‑lit Lantern: grants Armor at the start of your turn, replacing damage scaling from self‑inflicted wounds.
‑ Adjusted Crystal Sentinel enemy talent to prevent overpowered outcomes when captured.
‑ Improved Savings Pouch: now grants scaled gold bonuses when passing the starting tile.
‑ Buffed Rebellious Sword: damage taken and health restored are now equal values.
‑ Tuned Wicked Dragon boss talent: it receives increased damage when its Dragon Aura is detonated.
## Meta‑progression & Out‑of‑Combat Changes
- New Arena battle unlocked. Reward: Second Page of the Tome of Order, which removes the gold cap within Dreams.
- New shop item: Gilded Savings Pouch, grants extra starting gold at the beginning of each Dream run.
## Presentation & Quality‑of‑Life Improvements
- Save‑loaded combat reruns now strictly reproduce the original random seed; random outcomes will no longer differ on each reload.
- Optimized initial enemy card ordering for smoother combat pacing.
- Distinct visual effects now trigger for HP gain, HP loss, and Max HP changes outside combat.
- Hand cards grey out automatically when AP is exhausted, visually indicating they cannot be played.
- Shatter animation added to enemy HP bars upon defeat to enhance kill feedback.
- Revised game pixel font for more consistent visual style.
- New **Completion Rate** stat on main menu, tracking overall game progress.
## Bug Fixes & Stability
- Fixed infinite armor stacking exploit with Steam Shield under certain conditions.
- Fixed visual glitches for trinket Golden Finger when applied to cards with Reverse effects.
- Fixed an issue where the end‑turn confirmation popup could persist outside combat if spammed when leftover AP remained after battle.
- Revised warning text for starting a new game with existing save files to clearly inform players of associated risks.
- Fixed overly strict clear‑time requirements for Scholar achievements.