Big Steam Next Fest Patch: New Arena, Codex, Frostbind Rework, Blessing Changes

Hello, HELLBREAK fans!

We’ve been hard at work making some exciting changes, fixes, and additions to the game. With Steam Next Fest around the corner, we’re rolling out a huge patch to improve and expand HELLBREAK Demo. Check out the details below, and get ready to dive back into the arena!

New Features

New Arena: Courtyard

We’re introducing a brand-new arena, the Courtyard! This arena is vastly different from Necropit in terms of aesthetics and has a much more complex layout. We were a bit concerned about including it in the demo as it’s still being polished, especially in terms of optimization, but we wanted to showcase the direction we’re heading in with the support we’ve received. In the full game, each arena will have its own set of enemy waves and bosses. For demo purposes, the Courtyard will feature the same enemy waves as Necropit, so you’ll be facing off against Gorath in this completely new environment. And don’t forget, each arena comes with its own leaderboards, so make sure to get those high scores before anyone else!

Codex Page

We’ve added a brand new Codex page! Here, you can see lore and combat information about all the enemies you've killed, inspect their 3D models, and complete kill missions to gain a permanent damage boost against them. Each enemy has a unique kill mission, and upon completing it, you’ll gain a small damage boost for them. Bosses have even more unique rewards than a simple damage boost. As you’ll see, the enemy list is much longer than what you saw in the demo, and this isn’t even the full roster for Early Access. There are so many more enemies and bosses coming your way!

Frostbind Curse Rework

We noticed that the Frostbind curse wasn’t as interactive or impactful as the other curses. So, we’ve reworked it to be more engaging and fun. Now, Frostbound enemies cannot move or deal damage. And if their health drops below 20%, they shatter and die immediately. Bosses shatter at 10% health.

New Blessings

• Shrapnel Storm: Your grenade splits into 3 smaller grenades, each with 65% of the original damage and radius.
• Scavenger Adrenaline: Gain 10% damage and 5% movement speed for 5 seconds after picking up ammo.
• Static Surge: Enemies you dash through are shocked for 5 seconds.
• Blazing Path: Dashing through enemies applies inferno for 5 seconds.
• Bottomless Reserves: Total ammo capacity increased by 10%.
• Extended Chambers: Gain 10% extra magazine size.
• Battle Instinct: Gain 20% more experience.

New Blessings Tied to Blaze Spell 🔥:

• Ashen Blast: Upon deactivating Blaze, release a wave of inferno around you.
• Flame-Fueled Rage: While Blaze is active, your weapons deal 100% more damage.
• Infernal Sustenance: Gain 1 health for every 4 enemies affected by inferno.
• Unquenchable Flames: Blaze duration is increased by 100%.

Language Support

We now support Brazilian Portuguese!

Changes

Player Starting Gear Update

After careful consideration, we’ve decided to start the player with the Viper (SMG) and Aegis (Shield Spell) unlocked and equipped. This means that the first missions for Varkoth and Serathiel will be considered as completed if you haven’t completed them already. Our thought process behind this change was that most players do not spend too much time playing demos, and since Next Fest is going to feature a lot of them, we want to ensure that players will have a better experience with the game even if they only spend a short amount of time. If you’ve already progressed beyond this point, this change will not affect you.

Balance Changes

Banshee (Pistol): The Banshee is now 40% more accurate, making it a more reliable weapon in your arsenal.
Hex Cooldown: Increased to 25 seconds (was 20).
Blaze Cooldown: Decreased to 35 seconds (was 40).

Blessing Changes:

• Mark of Precision: Increases weapon accuracy by 30% but reduces damage by 10% -> 7%.
• Soulseeker's Precision: Increases headshot damage by 30% -> 15%, but reduces body damage by 15% -> 7%.
• Infernal Endurance: Increases max health by 20%, but reduces health gained from all sources by 15% -> 10%.
• Abyssal Sacrifice: Your max health is reduced by 20%, but you regenerate 1 health per 20 -> 25 meters.
• Soulbound Vengeance: Gain a stack each time you kill an enemy, up to 15 -> 10 stacks. Each stack grants you 3% damage. You lose a stack every 2 -> 1 seconds.

Fixes

Gameplay Fixes

• Improved AI pathfinding and targeting, fixing issues that caused enemies to get stuck (including bosses).
• Fixed an issue causing some pickups to spawn with weird angles.
• Fixed an issue preventing the player from picking up ammo if their equipped weapon was full, even when another weapon wasn’t.
• Fixed an issue with Hex Totem spawning in weird places, especially when triggered mid-air.
• Fixed an issue where enemies spawned underground in some cases.
• Fixed an issue where Gorath's charge ability didn't steer towards the player. Now improved for more direct targeting.
• Fixed an issue with Hex-related blessings resetting the curse type applied by the Hex, which negated the effects of the Elemental Hex blessing.

Visual Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing red damage indicator areas to stretch when near vertical surfaces.
• Fixed an issue that caused some enemy-related VFX to stay active in the level after the related enemy died (e.g., the Scorched's flame VFX).
• Fixed an issue causing frostbound enemies to rotate weirdly in some cases.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing the main menu background movie from playing correctly on some devices.

As always, thank you so much for your support! We’re still working hard to bring you even more content, fixes, and improvements as we move toward Early Access. Keep the feedback and bug reports coming, and be sure to jump into the game to explore all these new features!

See you in the arena gladiators!