Update 0.8 - The Climb

major update

Sortilege · build 24866837 · published

On SteamNotes only · this build shipped before we watched the app

Update 0.8 - The Climb

The solo mode used to be a sequence of fights that was kind of scripted and got very repetitive over time. We wanted to tweak that a little so it is now a climb with a shape: a branching route up the Sortilege academy floors. Levelling your dice and keeping your HP between rounds! We think this creates a much more replayable system with a lot more variety in how the games go down.

Pick your way up

The run is a map now. Floors fork and rejoin, and you commit to a route rather than walking a line. Ordinary fights, elite doors, shops and the finale all sit on it, and the stairwell rises around you a storey at a time as you climb. Nothing resets between fights. Your health, your dice, your boons and your level all carry, so the second floor is still with you on the eighth.

Beat them, take their dice

There are ten opponents on the ladder, from a nervous First-Year up to the Elder Geometer at the top, and their academic rank tells you how much trouble you are opening the door on. Each one wears their own set of dice. Win, and the whole set is yours in one go. Not a piece of it. The ladder is a wardrobe you rob on the way up.

What staying alive costs

Shops are a room of hanging signs, each price on its own lantern. The dice services get more expensive every time you use them in a run.

There is no free patch-up between fights, and finishing a fight with health left pays better. Every coin spent staying alive is a coin you did not spend getting stronger.

How far it goes

You start with three d4 and 20 health. By the top the table looks nothing like that: across 400 measured climbs, the first floor averages three dice and almost no d20s, while the boss floor averages six or seven dice with three d20s among them. One d20 will not finish the Elder Geometer. You will need a few. So choose wisely along the way to make sure you have enough power!

It looks better too

Boon cards have been rebuilt: the old parchment is gone in favour of dark, rarity-tinted cards that lean and lift under the cursor, with foil that catches as they tilt. There is a new logo intro, the shop is a real lit room, and both health badges now read out your throws and dice locks.


Everything in 0.8

The Climb

  • Branching run map. Floors fork and rejoin, routes are committed to, and the whole thing is staged on the stairwell and framed a storey at a time.

  • Nothing resets between fights. Health, dice pool, boons, boon level and the XP bar all carry. The opponent you pick on the map is the one who sits down.

  • Gold replaces the per-win reward pick. Payout scales with the floor, elites pay more, and keeping your health pays a bonus.

  • Shops on the map: buy a die, upgrade the pool, split a d20, buy a boon, or buy health back. Repeat dice purchases escalate in price, splitting steepest of all.

  • Overkill pays. A killing blow that overshoots earns bonus gold, and the post-fight spoils dialog itemises where every coin came from.

  • Split replaces Forge. Trade one d20 for two d6: less raw power, far more room to grow.

  • Ten named opponents with academic ranks, each wearing their own dice set, and each set won whole.

  • Depth-anchored opponents. Foes now carry realistic loadouts for where they stand on the climb instead of a difficulty number.

  • Shared loadout sidebar on the map and in the shop: health, boons, your true-scale pool, gold, XP and level in one place.

  • New Lesser Conjure boon.

  • Perfect-roll rewards now scale with the size of your pool.

  • Runs survive a save and load, including the map you are standing on.

  • Balance: a wider start, a real opener, tighter foes, a steeper early ramp, and an AI that will re-roll to survive a lethal commit.

Look and feel

  • Boon cards rebuilt as dark rarity-tinted cards with tactile hover, a physical pick, and foil that reacts to tilt.

  • New Godot Splash: the cup is shaken with a flick of the wrist and lands on a gleam and a chime.

  • Glass Cannon has a new multi-shot beat with glass sound effects.

  • Health badges now read out per-turn throws and dice locks, the capacity discs are gone in favour of gauges that explain themselves on hover, and the re-roll track updates as you act.

  • The winning roll's die upgrade now plays before the match ends.

  • Die icons rebaked for every dice set.

  • The "No Valid Targets" warning on cards is clearer.

Platform

  • Android ships as a free demo, unlocked with a device-link code.

  • Controller fixes: the shop was unusable on a pad, and a locked door now explains itself.

  • Icon attributions are no longer dropped on export.



The demo is playable now, and it is the same climb.Play Sortilège

Update 0.8 - The Climb · Sortilege build 24866837 · SteamPeaks