INTO EVIL - Versus Mode, OTK Festival

Beware and Behold, Unfortunate Souls!

We summon you once more because INTO EVIL just took part in the OTK Winter Expo 2024! To celebrate the showcase, we are inviting you to watch the brand-new trailer:

Watch on YouTube

If you thought we would stop here, you are wrong. We have prepared the second major Demo update. The main feature that we are adding is a chance for you to backstab your best friend in the PvP arena. The Versus Mode was forged in the abyssal depth of T̴̨̈́h̴̛͉e̷̦͌ ̷̡́I̷̫̐ń̵̦v̸̢̈́e̷͇͐r̷̩͋ẗ̷͈́ḛ̸̽d̵̬̆ ̵̀ͅT̶̖̈́o̵͎͋w̶̹̾e̸͎͊r̷͝ and will unlock after defeating the Prologue.

Read further to study all the changes in more detail, OR, just dive right into the game and experience them firsthand!

Key changes:

• Steam Remote Play-based co-op is now more seamless and part of the in-game experience.
• Added The Arena, accessible after defeating the Prologue.
• You can now enable Full Split-Screen if you do not wish to have the camera zoom out to keep all the players in view.

The Arena

• An additional passage further below can now be found in the top-right of the Great Hall. It is initially locked — to unlock it, beat the Prologue!
• Once unlocked, exit through the side passage to enter The Arena, where you can battle your friends to the death!
• Once a map is selected, combat will begin. You will be placed on teams according to your player color, and be assigned a few lives each. Defeat all opposing players to win!
• While each map has a core layout and emphasizes certain mechanics, they are also partially randomized for each battle. A unique set of hazards and discoverable loot will be present — hurry and find the best items before your opponents do!
• Maps also contain locked chests — these contain particularly powerful gear, but require keys to open! Those keys are guarded by powerful champions — foes who periodically spawn onto the map and try to slay any players they encounter. Lead them towards your enemies to ruin their day, or risk a direct battle with them in order to claim their key for yourself!
• In addition to loot, there are more permanent ways of gaining power: for example, by slaying other players! Whenever a player dies, they will drop either a pickup that will fully heal the claimant, and increase their vigor or vitality. This buff will last across lives!
• Finally, each map has a central area where occasionally power will gather. Once gathered, it can be claimed — but only by a single player. Stand in the zone alone for long enough, and you will have otherworldly might be bestowed on you…

Multiplayer Changes

• You can now view your Steam Friends in-game, and send them an invitation to join your session via Remote Play.
• Triggering the Steam Overlay will now pause the game.
• In multiplayer, the Character menu for each player is condensed and shrunk to a corner of the screen.
• Correspondingly, multiple players can now have their character menus open simultaneously.
• HUD elements progressively reduce in size with more players.
• The way difficulty scales with more players has been revised.
• When in multiplayer, you can now toggle the split-screen mode in both the Descent and the Arena.

Balance Changes

• The Veteran’s starting armor is now weaker.
• The Friar now begins with a wooden shield in addition to their mace and lantern.
• The “bounce off” effect of heavy armor now only applies against blows of sufficiently low “force.”
• Shields consume slightly more vigor when blocking attacks (based on their “force”).
• Correspondingly, the attack “force” of all items has been rebalanced. Some weapons are now better at breaking through shields (ex: maces), and some weapons are now slightly worse (ex: swords).
• Torches now ignite foes when landing a critical blow.

Input Changes:

• The game now waits for player input at startup before advancing to the main menu. The purpose of this change is to determine more gracefully if a player wants to use a gamepad or keyboard/mouse.
• Correspondingly, all methods of input - plugged-in gamepads and keyboard/mouse - require input before they are “claimed” as player inputs by the game.
• The “auto-replace keyboard” option has changed: plugging in additional gamepads no longer “replaces” the mouse and keyboard until the fourth one is added. It has been moved to the Options > Input > Controllers menu.
• There is now an additional “keyboard disable” setting that more specifically disables the keyboard if gamepads are being used. (This new setting defaults to “off.”)
• Added the ability to explicitly disable controllers and the keyboard/mouse in the Options > Input > Controllers menu.
• The gamepad input library (InControl) has been updated to the latest version.

New Player Changes:

• Pings indicating the player has a tutorial message waiting for them now gradually intensify.
• Only 2 tutorial messages are allowed to accumulate, with higher-priority tutorials replacing lower-priority ones in the queue.
• There is now a popup tutorial on how to juggle items between hands.

Misc Changes:

• Updated to the latest version of Unity (2022.3.52f1).
• Some of the Essence traits the player can acquire have been rebalanced.
• The quality and quantity of items you can discover in the dungeon has been rebalanced.
• You can now perform basic actions (swapping items, opening doors, etc) without breaking stealth.
• Some icons for rarer items that were not completed in time for the prior update have now been updated.
• The subtle shadow underneath entities (to help them stand out visually against similar-colored backgrounds) has been intensified.
• Footstep sounds when the player comes to a stop are less jarring.
• Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented Vitae Sparks from appearing properly upon enemy death.
• The camera can now zoom further out.
• The pathfinding library has been updated to the latest version.
• Astral Projection now untethers the player’s view from their corporeal body.
• Spells with increased levels of mastery now properly reflect it in their name.
• The Bloom filter has been removed from the vision system. This should improve the framerate on Steam Deck.

Lastly, join the Critical Reflex Publisher Page and Discord to stay updated and connected with your allies.