B5.24 — New foes, better boss fights, messier endings

Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel - Patchnotes B5.24

The next patch brings more enemy variety, clearer boss attacks and a little more mess when things die.

New faces in the desert

Frost and arcane mummies join selected encounters, bringing icy shards and purple projectiles to the fight. All three mage types now have subtle elemental effects to help you recognise them.

Frost projectiles are now smaller, sharper and paler, with a continuous icy trail. Arcane bolts have a thicker, longer shape and a more visible trailing streak.

Development preview: fire, frost and arcane mummies.

We’ve also reduced oversized packs and spread encounters through busy sections of the main map. Dungeon groups received smaller caps, while improved spawn placement gives enemies more breathing room.

Bosses with better manners. Slightly.

The Husk’s beam has a clearer charge-up and commits to its firing direction, giving you a proper opportunity to dodge. Cover blocks the beam, and its damage better matches what you see.

Development preview: the Husk preparing its attack.

The Fleshmonster has 40% less health and leaves its shield down longer: 9.6 seconds instead of six. Once exposed, it can react to your hits normally. Its projectile attack also gets a more convincing throwing animation.

Different creatures, different endings

Undead disappear in sandy dust, wasps burst into green insect blood, and crawlers leave thick, dark-red splashes. Bosses get larger effects of their own—including a particularly unpleasant farewell from the Fleshmonster.

These effects also use less unnecessary physics and reuse existing effects to keep crowded fights lighter. Fire and ice deaths keep their elemental flavour.

More control over your settings

Both the start menu and in-game settings now include:

• Texture filtering.
• Hard or soft shadows, plus 0, 2 or 4 shadow cascades.
• Ambient occlusion quality.
• Ambient particle detail for decorative fog and torches.
• Brightness and contrast.

The graphics presets include the new performance options while keeping your personal brightness and contrast adjustments. Everything stays on one page in each menu.

A few more improvements

• Updated anti-aliasing choices and more reliable graphics-setting persistence.
• Improved Steam Deck preset behaviour with FSR.
• Corrected area activation and missing entry triggers.
• Animated gears for saving and loading feedback.

Thanks for the reports, observations and time spent playing. Your feedback keeps helping me find the things that need another pass.