New: the Wayrest
At the head of Dren's north road stands the Wayrest, an old pilgrims' rest gone to ruin, with one keeper left: Amice Hartle. It's a quiet place away from the story, open from the start, with no enemies and a save stone at the gate.
- Build it back up. Lay out walls, floors, roofs, gables, doors and beds piece by piece on a grid, from materials gathered in the world or bought in Dren. Amice's quest, The Keeping, opens each new set of pieces.
- Farm. Six crops from Bartram Dunn's seed office. They grow each time you rest or come back from a journey.
- Cook and distill. Build a hearth and a still to make meals, drinks and potions from what you grow. Each gives a temporary bonus. You can have one meal, one drink and one potion active at a time, shown on the HUD.
- Animals. A hen coop, a goat fold, a byre for a cow and a hive stand, for eggs, milk and honey.
- Settlers. Six people out in the world can be brought to live at the Wayrest, each through a side quest of their own: Fed Every Morning, By Leave, Six Hens, The Length of the Tether, Milk for the Rest and The Keeper Changes. Some have more than one ending. Once their bed and their workplace are built, they move in and stand at their work.
- It changes as you work on it. The more you rebuild, the more the fog lifts, the sky clears and the place fills with planting, birdsong and the sounds of the animals. It is the one place in the game that grows brighter.
- Its own music, and a moment for the Wayrest in each of the three endings.
New elsewhere
- World map: press Y on the map screen to see the whole world. Only the regions you've been to are shown.
- The Cliff Tower and the Sea Caves on the Western Cliffs: the Lampwarden, a puzzle with the lamp's glasses, and the Sea Caves, which join the Drainage Caves.
- The Abbey Highlands' last climb up to the abbey is now the Abbey Stair, two straight flights with a landing, in place of a steep slope.
- Wishlist on Steam and Join the Discord links on the title screen.
Combat
- Enemy weapons now reach exactly as far as their attacks hit: blows no longer land past the end of a blade, and swings no longer go into the floor.
- A backstabbed enemy can no longer be backstabbed over and over while it is down.
- Area rotes (Toll, Peal, Hoarfrost, Squall, a staff's knell) no longer strike through walls and floors.
- Rotes no longer hurt bosses during phases where they can't be hurt.
- The Swarm Queen can no longer be stun-locked.
- Enemies' random choices now use their intended odds; some were checked every frame, which made rare moves nearly certain.
- The Waned archer's stab now waits its turn like its other attacks, and a gloom bat that loses you no longer stays hostile for good.
Fixed
- Loading a save no longer cuts the HP, Hold and stamina added by worn gear or a meal.
- In very long sessions at high frame rates, stamina and the dash no longer stop working.
- Holding LT through a conversation no longer casts a rote when it ends.
- A potion is no longer used up when the thing it restores is already full.
- Failing to equip an item now says why, instead of always "Your pack is full."
- The buy-count popup only offers as many as you have room for.
- Long dialogue choices wrap onto more lines instead of running off the box.
- STATUS shows the new numbers right after you spend points.
- Save screen thumbnails no longer go black after the save screen has been opened many times.
- Quitting during a quiet moment no longer leaves the music silent on the title screen and in the next game. Skipping the opening no longer leaves its sound playing.
- The endings stay in time with their song at low frame rates, and the Steam overlay no longer opens the pause menu during an ending.
- A failed journey no longer leaves the map you were on empty of enemies.
- A lift, barge or press still moving in another part of a dungeon no longer locks levers and shutters elsewhere, and the barge no longer snaps back.
- Being forced out of foul air now always leaves you on solid ground.
- The balance beam no longer counts a correct answer as a wrong try while it settles.
- Material piles in Dren no longer stay hidden after a rest at the inn.
- Footsteps are no longer silent at very high frame rates, and fountains follow the Ambience volume.
- Mirrors keep working after many map loads.
- Controller: Move and Sprint are bound in Steam Input's default layout again.
- The demo no longer crashes when an Act I quest mentions an item from a later act.
- Menus, the shop and the HUD do less work each frame.