GEARSMITH · published
New
- The third region is now the Vess Isles, replacing the Ember Pit. Each stage has three small islands joined by walkways.
- The Vess Isles boss is the Abyss Mother. Her head sits out in the sea where you cannot reach it, so you hit the tentacles stuck in the sand and strike her eye when she surfaces.
- New weapon, the Katana: the first cut after sheathing (iaido) hits harder. Hits build blade intent. When it is full, the next iaido hit raises the blade a level: white, gold, then red.
- New weapon, the War Flute: attacks, heavy attacks and skills each record a note. Once the notes are lined up, use the skill to play a song that boosts damage, attack speed, move speed or defense, or heals you. In co-op, allies in range get it too.
- New weapon, the Shield Axe: it has a sword-and-shield form and an axe form, switched with right click. Hits in shield form fill phials. In axe form each hit spends a phial for extra damage, and with all phials full you can use the Release Slam.
- You start with the Longblade, Staff, Dagger, Bow and Whip. The other weapon lines are unlocked with embers in three tiers of 3, 5 and 8, and you no longer need to clear Nightmare first.
Combat
- The Floating Tome throws a fan of pages with its basic attack once five pages are stacked. The Great Scythe gathers a soul for each kill, and with five souls its basic attack becomes a sweep around you.
- The Hand Cannon has a four-round magazine: the fourth shot always crits, and an empty magazine has to be reloaded. The Dagger marks an opening on the enemy it hits, and hitting from that side deals more damage.
- The engraving screen has been rebuilt with two tabs, Runes and Engravings. Engravings can be taken out at any time for free.
- Starting life is now 50 instead of 30.
Monsters
- The Red Sand Road has twelve new monsters and the Vess Isles twenty-one, each with an attack of its own. The Hooktail Scorpion's poison bursts after a few seconds, the Mirage Imp swaps places with you, the Astrolabe Construct pins stars under your feet and joins them with burning lines, the Thunderscar Colossus links nearby monsters with lightning, and the Ramhorn Basilisk's gaze turns you to stone for a moment.
- The Wreck Octopus sprays ink that makes the floor slippery, the Shellcracker lowers your maximum life for the rest of the room, the Shade Cuttle latches on and keeps biting, the Fishfolk Hornblower calls nearby monsters to surround you and then leap in together, the Bell Hermit throws small monsters at you, and the Reefmaw opens its shell and floods the ground, so standing in the water makes you choke.
- The Glenburg Cellar gains the Bone Grub, and Urga Woods gains the Canopy Spider. The Fishfolk bailer, Sluice Slime, War drummer and Gnoll Sand Witch have new moves, and the Cultist is now called the Hooded Shade.
- Idle and run animations for monsters in the Cellar, Woods, Red Sand Road and Vess Isles now use 8 frames, and their legs really step when they walk.
- The Hundred Hooks hooks have been redrawn. They are smaller and match the hooks hanging in the Pit Butcher's room.
Stages and heroes
- The stages in Urga Woods and the Red Sand Road have been rearranged. The woods are now a series of open clearings. The Red Sand Road follows the caravan road, with camel trains on it, and each place has a large landmark. The Glenburg Cellar gains the Undermill and Urga Woods gains the Mushroom Hollow.
- Sandstorms are weaker, each region has a few new music tracks, and the coast has the sound of waves.
- There are now six playable heroes: the Wanderer, Green Hood, Pointed-hat Wizard, Ramskull Piper, Crowskull Reaper and Greathelm Knight.
- Settings has new optional screen filters: old TV scanlines, film grain, soft bloom and cinematic grade. All are off by default.
Co-op
- The co-op lobby has been rebuilt. The room shows four seat cards with the hero each player picked.
- Steam lobbies, friend invites and joining from the friends list have been added. This has not yet been tested with two real Steam accounts, so please tell us if something goes wrong.
Fixes
- Burrowing and diving monsters now sink into the ground and rise out of it instead of vanishing.
- A perfect dodge now avoids spikes about to pop up under your feet, and its invulnerability covers the whole slow-motion window.