0.2.0 — The Garden Update

NEW: Second Biome — Garden of Stillbirths

• The second biome is now live! Access it after at least 8 runs in the Catacombs.
• 3 new enemy types.
• 1 new resource type.
• 1 new environmental hazard.
• This biome is designed to feel much harder — please share your feedback!

NEW: Ashenhold V2

• Ashenhold has been completely rebuilt from the ground up — new pixel art, new UI, much closer to the final design.

NEW: Inn + Quest System

• A new unlockable building in Ashenhold that lets you accept procedurally-generated quests.
• Completed quests reward you with different resources.

NEW: Runic Monolith

• New in-run interactable building that lets you add "runes" to your spells.
• Boost damage, area size, multicast, and more — extremely powerful build potential.

NEW: Fickle Shrine

• New random interactable found during runs.
• Offers a mysterious weapon — grab it, reveal more info, or risk upgrading it (and potentially losing it), all for a cost.

NEW: Pact Stone

• New in-run interactable building that lets you bet on yourself.
• Take on the next few depths with a handicap — if you survive, big winnings await.

NEW: Rite of Ascension

• New special room that can appear during your run.
• Face increasingly dangerous waves of enemies while the room drains all your blood (no level ups!).
• Each stage rewards you more and more.

NEW: Blood Mirror

• A new special room that can appear during your run.

NEW: Wishing Well

• A new interactable with three stations: Blood Basin, Thorny Edge, and Weapon Altar.
• Toss blood, HP, or weapons — the Well's mood determines the outcome.

NEW: Completely Re-done Blood Forge

• The Blood Forge is now much more interactive and split into 2 minigames.
• Select your weapon type and choose which traits to add to it through new trait challenges.
• Crafting costs now scale with run depth.

NEW: Secret Rooms

• There's now a chance a secret room spawns somewhere in the level, hidden until you enter it.
• Don't worry — this isn't Doom. It should be relatively straightforward to spot a hidden room when you're near one.

NEW: Sprint Overhaul

• Sprinting now has a brand new animation and disables all weapons/spells while active.
• Sprint speed has been increased.
• Crucifix upgrades can re-enable attacks while sprinting.

NEW: Max Spell Level Increase

• Every spell can now be leveled up to 5 — all spells received new upgrades past level 3.

NEW: Perfect Dodge

• Unlock the ability to perform a "perfect dodge" at the Bloodshrine.
• On its own it triggers a satisfying visual effect, but new crucifix upgrades let you build around it to reward skillful play.

NEW: Re-rolls

• You can now reroll crucifix and level up upgrades for a blood cost.
• Free re-rolls can be unlocked at the Bloodshrine.

NEW: Stats

• Track all your stats per biome and globally, always accessible from the Pause menu.

NEW: Magic Compass

• Unlock a compass that shows you the direction of the exit, crucifix, and last few enemies.

NEW: Run History

• View up to 20 previous runs in the Inn.
• Note: not retroactive — recording starts from this version.

NEW: Weapon/Spell/Status Effects Guide

• Browse all weapons, spells, and status effects from the main menu's "Guide" section.
• Includes a bit of lore for the first time!

NEW: Info Overlay

• When looking at something you're unsure about, open the new Info overlay — it dynamically adapts to whatever's on screen to explain what everything is.

NEW: Weapons & Spells

• New weapon: Flail
• New weapon: Formless (special weapon!)
• New spell: Soul Harvest
• New spell: Chain Lightning

NEW: Dynamic Music System

• Music now reacts to combat intensity based on nearby enemy distance and threat level.
• Music fades to silence during calm moments and builds back up when danger approaches.

TWEAKED: Upgrade Requirements

• Replaced the old "path" system with a new minimum-requirement system.
• Upgrades now require a certain number of unlocks in the same building, regardless of which ones. Much more flexible and less frustrating.

TWEAKED: Blood & XP Consolidation

• Blood and XP have been merged into a single resource: Blood.
• The pink orbs enemies drop are now blood, and blood is used both for leveling up and purchasing things.
• No gameplay impact — just clearer for everyone.

Graphical Improvements

• New sprites for: Martyr's Pillar, Loot Elevator, Blood Forge, and Candles.
• Catacombs tileset overhaul — many tweaks and additions for a more diverse and alive feel.
• New Catacombs particle and environmental effects.
• New environment art for Garden of Stillbirths: stillbirth trees, foliage, glowing plant lights, and ambient wind audio.
• Beautified attack telegraphs.
• Beautified landing explosion (if unlocked).

Misc

• Sprinting through destructibles (boxes/vases) now destroys them.
• Performance optimization for level generation — ~20% faster on average.
• Added an experimental asynchronous tileset update setting for even faster level generation at the cost of drawing tiles dynamically as you explore.
• New slow-mo/finisher effect when killing elite enemies (can be toggled off in settings).
• New setting for player health bar position/display (globe in bottom-left VS floating bar above player).
• Added 2 new unlockable upgrades in the Bloodshrine.
• Added 3 new elite enemy traits.
• Added 5 new weapon traits.
• Added 10 new floor modifiers.
• Added 14 new Martyr's Pillar effects.
• Sawblade now bounces against walls instead of immediately stopping.
• Added new crucifix upgrades.
• Added an ambient sound to the Blood Forge.
• Redesigned settings menu.
• Added compass system — unlockable upgrades at the Bloodshrine show directions to exits, enemies, and crucifixes.
• First upgrade at each building is now free.
• Added combat status indicators that show when your weapon or spell is unavailable (e.g. while sprinting).
• Doubled gold rewards from dismantling weapons.
• Added a light brightness slider in the darkness settings menu.
• Improved controller UX for interactable objects (forges, shrines, monoliths, etc.).
• Updated to Godot 4.6.2.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed enemies getting stuck inside walls.
• Fixed blood cost at the loot elevator being wrong at default settings.
• Fixed enemy count sometimes being incorrect at floor exits.
• Fixed lifesteal showing 0% on weapons from player corpses.

Changes since 0.2-pre-20 (for playtesters)

Thank you to everyone who's been testing the pre-release builds — your feedback shaped this release! Here's what changed since pre-20:

• Added new enemy: Blightspine Sentry — a hiding enemy that fires beam attacks, with elite variant that fires staggered 3-beam bursts.
• Revamped the Grasping Root enemy into "Meat Mommy" — an invulnerable static hazard that summons meat spikes, with whisper system and atmospheric audio.
• Added the Blood Mirror room — a new special room encounter.
• Added the Wishing Well — a new interactable with Blood Basin, Thorny Edge, and Weapon Altar stations.
• Overhauled the Blood Forge with new trait challenge types (single direction, sequence, timed direction), depth-based cost scaling, hit particles, and a weapon type legend display.
• Added Pact Curse system with 6 curses: Frail Vessel, Leaden Limbs, Dulled Edge, Burning Tithe, Spell Silence, and Shackled Soul.
• Burning Tithe rebalanced — reduced from 2% to 0.2% HP/sec, health can't drop below 10% max HP.
• Pact callout on level complete screen now shows correct remaining floor count.
• Added dynamic music system with distance-based intensity scoring and low-intensity silence.
• New Garden of Stillbirths environment art: additional foliage, plant lights, and tilemap updates.
• Sawblade now bounces off walls (up to 3 bounces) with proper wall normal detection.
• Improved enemy line-of-sight detection across all weapons — non-wall objects no longer block targeting.
• Fixed camouflage trait disabling lights more reliably.
• Fixed Magic Compass targeting invalid enemy instances.
• Fixed Fickle Shrine occasionally failing to generate a weapon.
• Fixed loot mode staying active on the death screen.
• Apothecary Grace effect now fully refills potions instead of a large refill.
• Added quest abandon confirmation dialog.
• Fixed home base lighting ignoring hand-tuned values when brightness slider was adjusted.
• Fixed lifesteal showing 0% on weapons from player corpses.