Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle

Released: Sep 9, 2014
Platforms
Last updated: 11 Sep 2026, 07:14 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

12 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.1 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Music no longer requires Windows Media Player .DLLs. NOTE: This change will potentially effect some user's Volume Settings. It's advised you review your in-game Sound Options before playing. Fixed a bug that caused the Track List to not update when travelling between Du
BUG FIXES

Music no longer requires Windows Media Player .DLLs. NOTE: This change will potentially effect some user's Volume Settings. It's advised you review your in-game Sound Options before playing.
Fixed a bug that caused the Track List to not update when travelling between Dungeons.
Fixed a bug that caused the wrong Track List to be loaded when loading a saved game.
Fixed a bug that allowed the player to skip a boss using a Scroll of Teleportation.
Original post
12 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.1 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Music no longer requires Windows Media Player .DLLs. NOTE: This change will potentially effect some user's Volume Settings. It's advised you review your in-game Sound Options before playing. Fixed a bug that caused the Track List to not update when travelling between Du
BUG FIXES

Music no longer requires Windows Media Player .DLLs. NOTE: This change will potentially effect some user's Volume Settings. It's advised you review your in-game Sound Options before playing.
Fixed a bug that caused the Track List to not update when travelling between Dungeons.
Fixed a bug that caused the wrong Track List to be loaded when loading a saved game.
Fixed a bug that allowed the player to skip a boss using a Scroll of Teleportation.
Original post
11 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0_02 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Players Experiencing the Crash on Startup caused by a lack of Windows Media Player will now be able to play, but Music will not be loaded, as XNA 4.0 requires WMP .DLLs to function correctly. I will continue to search for a better solution.
BUG FIXES

Players Experiencing the Crash on Startup caused by a lack of Windows Media Player will now be able to play, but Music will not be loaded, as XNA 4.0 requires WMP .DLLs to function correctly. I will continue to search for a better solution.
Original post
11 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0_02 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Players Experiencing the Crash on Startup caused by a lack of Windows Media Player will now be able to play, but Music will not be loaded, as XNA 4.0 requires WMP .DLLs to function correctly. I will continue to search for a better solution.
BUG FIXES

Players Experiencing the Crash on Startup caused by a lack of Windows Media Player will now be able to play, but Music will not be loaded, as XNA 4.0 requires WMP .DLLs to function correctly. I will continue to search for a better solution.
Original post
10 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0_01 Patch Notes
GAMEPLAY Reduced the spawn rate of Altars of Blessing. All non-user created Traps now do 5 + 3 * Trap Level Damage, up from 2 + Trap Level / 2. ENEMIES Squish and Necropoli's base Health, Damage, and Scaling reduced. Squish is no longer Thick Skinned. Illusions now have 20% of th
GAMEPLAY

Reduced the spawn rate of Altars of Blessing.
All non-user created Traps now do 5 + 3 * Trap Level Damage, up from 2 + Trap Level / 2.
ENEMIES

Squish and Necropoli's base Health, Damage, and Scaling reduced. Squish is no longer Thick Skinned.
Illusions now have 20% of their parent's stats, down from 25%.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a graphical glitch caused when using Knife in the Dark from Stealth.
Fixed a bug which allowed Necromancers to Sacrifice and Resurrect inanimate objects.
Original post
10 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0_01 Patch Notes
GAMEPLAY Reduced the spawn rate of Altars of Blessing. All non-user created Traps now do 5 + 3 * Trap Level Damage, up from 2 + Trap Level / 2. ENEMIES Squish and Necropoli's base Health, Damage, and Scaling reduced. Squish is no longer Thick Skinned. Illusions now have 20% of th
GAMEPLAY

Reduced the spawn rate of Altars of Blessing.
All non-user created Traps now do 5 + 3 * Trap Level Damage, up from 2 + Trap Level / 2.
ENEMIES

Squish and Necropoli's base Health, Damage, and Scaling reduced. Squish is no longer Thick Skinned.
Illusions now have 20% of their parent's stats, down from 25%.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a graphical glitch caused when using Knife in the Dark from Stealth.
Fixed a bug which allowed Necromancers to Sacrifice and Resurrect inanimate objects.
Original post
09 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos. New Item Type: Cursed. Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances. GAMEPLAY New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos. New World Objects: Altars of Blessing. New World Object: Tombs. Enemies who have no logical way of opening doors
HIGHLIGHTS

New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos.
New Item Type: Cursed.
Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances.
GAMEPLAY

New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos.
New World Objects: Altars of Blessing.
New World Object: Tombs.
Enemies who have no logical way of opening doors have lost the ability. Instead, these enemies will now take up to 3 turns to break doors down.
Reduced the spawn rate of all Spellbook sources.
CHARACTER CREATION

Added Female Hairstyles.
ENEMIES

New Enemy: Pile of Grave Worms.
New Enemy: Phantom Spooker.
New Enemy: Hellbat.
New Enemy: Ancient Mummy.
New Enemy: Necromancer.
Illusions now spawn with remaining health proportionate to their parent.
SKILLS

Fortify now correctly uses Stacks instead of Turns.
ITEMS

New Item Type: Cursed.
Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances.
New Item: Scroll of Curse Removal.
New Item: Scroll of Enhancement.
Added Chance to Fear Weapons.
Added correct effects for Burning, Frozen, and Poisoned Weapons.
Rare Daggers now have unique names.
Daggers now have unique icons.
Shields now have unique icons.
BUG FIXES

Being hit from multiple sources at once no longer causes a delayed hit animation.
Fixed a number of other issues caused by out of sync animations.
Fixed a bug which allowed windows to be moved after they were closed.
Original post
09 Jan 2015Developer post
Alpha 1.1.0 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos. New Item Type: Cursed. Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances. GAMEPLAY New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos. New World Objects: Altars of Blessing. New World Object: Tombs. Enemies who have no logical way of opening doors
HIGHLIGHTS

New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos.
New Item Type: Cursed.
Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances.
GAMEPLAY

New Dungeon: The Crypts of Creepy Chaos.
New World Objects: Altars of Blessing.
New World Object: Tombs.
Enemies who have no logical way of opening doors have lost the ability. Instead, these enemies will now take up to 3 turns to break doors down.
Reduced the spawn rate of all Spellbook sources.
CHARACTER CREATION

Added Female Hairstyles.
ENEMIES

New Enemy: Pile of Grave Worms.
New Enemy: Phantom Spooker.
New Enemy: Hellbat.
New Enemy: Ancient Mummy.
New Enemy: Necromancer.
Illusions now spawn with remaining health proportionate to their parent.
SKILLS

Fortify now correctly uses Stacks instead of Turns.
ITEMS

New Item Type: Cursed.
Added Weapon and Armour Tier Appearances.
New Item: Scroll of Curse Removal.
New Item: Scroll of Enhancement.
Added Chance to Fear Weapons.
Added correct effects for Burning, Frozen, and Poisoned Weapons.
Rare Daggers now have unique names.
Daggers now have unique icons.
Shields now have unique icons.
BUG FIXES

Being hit from multiple sources at once no longer causes a delayed hit animation.
Fixed a number of other issues caused by out of sync animations.
Fixed a bug which allowed windows to be moved after they were closed.
Original post
18 Dec 2014Developer post
A Long Delayed News Post
Hello all! After what seems like forever, I've finally got the time to talk about everything that's been going on recently and to get everyone up to speed with a number of things. First off I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who's continued to support both me and Claustrop
Hello all! After what seems like forever, I've finally got the time to talk about everything that's been going on recently and to get everyone up to speed with a number of things.
First off I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who's continued to support both me and Claustrophobia even while I appeared to vanish off the face of the Earth. Recently I had to take a small hiatus from Claustrophobia in favour of my University coursework, which has pretty much dominated my life these past few months. Thankfully, I have nearly finished this work and can return to Claustrophobia soon. Which leads me nicely onto what's next for the game!
Firstly, Claustrophobia now has an artist, Kyle Sun. Kyle joined the project a couple of months ago, and has been working hard to pick up from where I left off. With graphics in his capable hands, I can focus entirely on content and feature creation.
So what's next for Claustrophobia? Well, among other things, the next patch will feature:

The Crypts: An all new dungeon!
Visual Tiered Equipment
Female Hairstyles
Passive Effects on Weapons
With Christmas rapidly approaching, I can't give an exact time for this patch, but I hope to see it out towards the end of December / start of January.
Thank you for reading, and if you have any queries, please let me know!
Cheers,
Dan
Original post
18 Dec 2014Developer post
A Long Delayed News Post
Hello all! After what seems like forever, I've finally got the time to talk about everything that's been going on recently and to get everyone up to speed with a number of things. First off I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who's continued to support both me and Claustrop
Hello all! After what seems like forever, I've finally got the time to talk about everything that's been going on recently and to get everyone up to speed with a number of things.
First off I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who's continued to support both me and Claustrophobia even while I appeared to vanish off the face of the Earth. Recently I had to take a small hiatus from Claustrophobia in favour of my University coursework, which has pretty much dominated my life these past few months. Thankfully, I have nearly finished this work and can return to Claustrophobia soon. Which leads me nicely onto what's next for the game!
Firstly, Claustrophobia now has an artist, Kyle Sun. Kyle joined the project a couple of months ago, and has been working hard to pick up from where I left off. With graphics in his capable hands, I can focus entirely on content and feature creation.
So what's next for Claustrophobia? Well, among other things, the next patch will feature:

The Crypts: An all new dungeon!
Visual Tiered Equipment
Female Hairstyles
Passive Effects on Weapons
With Christmas rapidly approaching, I can't give an exact time for this patch, but I hope to see it out towards the end of December / start of January.
Thank you for reading, and if you have any queries, please let me know!
Cheers,
Dan
Original post
29 Oct 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.4 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor. XP scaling is now exponential. GAMEPLAY Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the play
HIGHLIGHTS

Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor.
XP scaling is now exponential.
GAMEPLAY

Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor.
Likewise, undiscovered enemies will no longer scale up when they are below the player's current level.
Preparations made for upcoming new content.
MUSIC

Added the final mix of Light6.
ENEMIES

Added Modifier: Illusionist
Greatly increased Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies Health.
XP from defeating Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies increased to co-inside with new balancing.
Enemies now have increased Hit Rate at greater levels.
STATS

XP scaling is now exponential.
Hit Rating and Defence Rating now suffer Diminishing Returns.
Altered scaling of Diminished values, such as Critical Chance, Armour Efficiency, etc.
Combat Efficiency and Dual Wielding now suffer Diminishing Returns.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a major bug causing a number of Skills (including Rat-at-tack) to deal damage based on user Health rather than the intended Stat.
Fixed a bug causing Diminished values to scale beyond their maximum values at high levels.
Fixed a crash caused by attempting to rebind NumKey0 while at the main menu.
Fixed Health, Mana, and Damage Multipliers on enemies.
Fixed incorrect values on the Tooltip for Dual Wielding.
Original post
29 Oct 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.4 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor. XP scaling is now exponential. GAMEPLAY Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the play
HIGHLIGHTS

Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor.
XP scaling is now exponential.
GAMEPLAY

Added Dynamic Leveling: Enemies will no longer scale 1:1 with the player's level - instead, scaling is based on the amount of sources of experience per floor.
Likewise, undiscovered enemies will no longer scale up when they are below the player's current level.
Preparations made for upcoming new content.
MUSIC

Added the final mix of Light6.
ENEMIES

Added Modifier: Illusionist
Greatly increased Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies Health.
XP from defeating Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies increased to co-inside with new balancing.
Enemies now have increased Hit Rate at greater levels.
STATS

XP scaling is now exponential.
Hit Rating and Defence Rating now suffer Diminishing Returns.
Altered scaling of Diminished values, such as Critical Chance, Armour Efficiency, etc.
Combat Efficiency and Dual Wielding now suffer Diminishing Returns.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a major bug causing a number of Skills (including Rat-at-tack) to deal damage based on user Health rather than the intended Stat.
Fixed a bug causing Diminished values to scale beyond their maximum values at high levels.
Fixed a crash caused by attempting to rebind NumKey0 while at the main menu.
Fixed Health, Mana, and Damage Multipliers on enemies.
Fixed incorrect values on the Tooltip for Dual Wielding.
Original post
11 Oct 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.3 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added the Ability to throw potions. Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors. Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies). GAMEPLAY Added the Ability to throw potions. Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors. UI
HIGHLIGHTS

Added the Ability to throw potions.
Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors.
Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies).
GAMEPLAY

Added the Ability to throw potions.
Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors.
UI

Added the Option to load your last Character's appearance when creating a new Character.
Altered the colouring of the minimap for easier visability.
Leaderboard entries made before major balance changes now have an outdated tag, and will be overridden by all new entries.
Added a warning message that will display When attempting to load a save file that is no longer compatible with the current build.
ENEMIES

Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies now have buffs to their base damage.
Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies no longer have buffs to their Hit Rating.
Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies awarded XP reduced.
Enemies with the Beserker mod's damage modifer and Dexterity reduced.
Squish's Base stats increased.
Rat-at-tack's base Damage and Modifier reduced.
Constitution scaling of enemies increased to 3 Constitution per level, up from 2.
SKILLS

Execution's base damage increased to 120% Weapon Damage, 30% Strength. In addition, Damage gained from the target's lost health increased to 120%.
ITEMS

All potions now have effects when used on an enemy.
STATS

Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies). This change also effects leaderboard scoring.
Critical Damage gained from Strength reduced to 1 point every 2 Strength, down from 1 every 1 Strength.
Critical Chance and Critical Damage now apply diminishing returns rather than having a hard capped value.
BUG FIXES

Fixed Interaction inconsistancies with the Dungeon Exit.
Fixed a bug causing the Armour gain from Strength to be incorrect.
Invisible Enemies no longer show up on the minimap.
Invisible Enemies no longer count during any condition checks for nearby enemies.
Various Tooltip typos corrected.
Original post
11 Oct 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.3 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added the Ability to throw potions. Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors. Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies). GAMEPLAY Added the Ability to throw potions. Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors. UI
HIGHLIGHTS

Added the Ability to throw potions.
Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors.
Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies).
GAMEPLAY

Added the Ability to throw potions.
Added Wide Doorways fitted with double doors.
UI

Added the Option to load your last Character's appearance when creating a new Character.
Altered the colouring of the minimap for easier visability.
Leaderboard entries made before major balance changes now have an outdated tag, and will be overridden by all new entries.
Added a warning message that will display When attempting to load a save file that is no longer compatible with the current build.
ENEMIES

Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies now have buffs to their base damage.
Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies no longer have buffs to their Hit Rating.
Elite, Champion, and Hellish enemies awarded XP reduced.
Enemies with the Beserker mod's damage modifer and Dexterity reduced.
Squish's Base stats increased.
Rat-at-tack's base Damage and Modifier reduced.
Constitution scaling of enemies increased to 3 Constitution per level, up from 2.
SKILLS

Execution's base damage increased to 120% Weapon Damage, 30% Strength. In addition, Damage gained from the target's lost health increased to 120%.
ITEMS

All potions now have effects when used on an enemy.
STATS

Redesigned all XP and Level Scaling (recommended to start a new game due to inconsistencies). This change also effects leaderboard scoring.
Critical Damage gained from Strength reduced to 1 point every 2 Strength, down from 1 every 1 Strength.
Critical Chance and Critical Damage now apply diminishing returns rather than having a hard capped value.
BUG FIXES

Fixed Interaction inconsistancies with the Dungeon Exit.
Fixed a bug causing the Armour gain from Strength to be incorrect.
Invisible Enemies no longer show up on the minimap.
Invisible Enemies no longer count during any condition checks for nearby enemies.
Various Tooltip typos corrected.
Original post
27 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2_02 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Fixed an occasional crash caused when switching weapons (unfortunately this fix has resulted in all those effected losing their second loadout). Fixed the Boss Key vanishing when right clicked.
BUG FIXES

Fixed an occasional crash caused when switching weapons (unfortunately this fix has resulted in all those effected losing their second loadout).
Fixed the Boss Key vanishing when right clicked.
Original post
27 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2_02 Patch Notes
BUG FIXES Fixed an occasional crash caused when switching weapons (unfortunately this fix has resulted in all those effected losing their second loadout). Fixed the Boss Key vanishing when right clicked.
BUG FIXES

Fixed an occasional crash caused when switching weapons (unfortunately this fix has resulted in all those effected losing their second loadout).
Fixed the Boss Key vanishing when right clicked.
Original post
26 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2_01 Patch Notes
ENEMIES Stats on Thick-Skinned Enemies greatly reduced. SKILLS Shred's Bleed damage increased to 20% damage per turn, up from 10%. ITEMS Reworked all Weapon's damage gain per level and per rarity. STATS Critical Chance from Dexterity reduced to 1% every 5 points. BUG FIXES Fixed
ENEMIES

Stats on Thick-Skinned Enemies greatly reduced.
SKILLS

Shred's Bleed damage increased to 20% damage per turn, up from 10%.
ITEMS

Reworked all Weapon's damage gain per level and per rarity.
STATS

Critical Chance from Dexterity reduced to 1% every 5 points.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a major bug causing Sword Damage to scale incorrectly.
Fixed Keys Vanishing from the Inventory when Right-Clicked.
Fixed a bug causing the second Comparison Tooltip to become uncoupled.
The Tooltip for Strength now displays the correct information.
Original post
26 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2_01 Patch Notes
ENEMIES Stats on Thick-Skinned Enemies greatly reduced. SKILLS Shred's Bleed damage increased to 20% damage per turn, up from 10%. ITEMS Reworked all Weapon's damage gain per level and per rarity. STATS Critical Chance from Dexterity reduced to 1% every 5 points. BUG FIXES Fixed
ENEMIES

Stats on Thick-Skinned Enemies greatly reduced.
SKILLS

Shred's Bleed damage increased to 20% damage per turn, up from 10%.
ITEMS

Reworked all Weapon's damage gain per level and per rarity.
STATS

Critical Chance from Dexterity reduced to 1% every 5 points.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a major bug causing Sword Damage to scale incorrectly.
Fixed Keys Vanishing from the Inventory when Right-Clicked.
Fixed a bug causing the second Comparison Tooltip to become uncoupled.
The Tooltip for Strength now displays the correct information.
Original post
26 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added Second Weapon Loadout. Added Full Screen minimap. Large scaling rework to Melee Combat, Hit Rating, and Enemy Health & Damage. GAMEPLAY Added a second weapon loadout (Default Key Q). CONTROLS Slightly reworked movement controls to reduce the chance of acciden
HIGHLIGHTS

Added Second Weapon Loadout.
Added Full Screen minimap.
Large scaling rework to Melee Combat, Hit Rating, and Enemy Health & Damage.
GAMEPLAY

Added a second weapon loadout (Default Key Q).
CONTROLS

Slightly reworked movement controls to reduce the chance of accidentally moving more cells than intended at a time.
UI

Added a Fullscreen Map, complete with tooltips and movement (Default Key M).
Comparison Tooltips will now display all equipped alternatives when the item in question can be equipped to multiple slots.
Doors are now shown on the minimap.
ENEMIES

Enemy Health Scaling reworked.
Enemy Defence Rating reworked.
Enemy Damage Scaling reworked.
SKILLS

Shield Bash's Stun Duration reduced to 2 turns, down from 5.
ITEMS

Two Handed Swords now scale correctly.
STATS

You now gain 1 Armour for every 2 points of Strength.
Armour Efficiency gain from Constitution increased to 20%, from 10%.
Resist Efficiency gain from Wisdom increased to 20%, from 10%.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a bug causing Keyboard Movement controls to rebind incorrectly.
Keyboard movement no longer occurs while rebinding keys.
Traps placed in doorways can now be removed.
Original post
26 Sep 2014Developer post
Alpha 1.0.2 Patch Notes
HIGHLIGHTS Added Second Weapon Loadout. Added Full Screen minimap. Large scaling rework to Melee Combat, Hit Rating, and Enemy Health & Damage. GAMEPLAY Added a second weapon loadout (Default Key Q). CONTROLS Slightly reworked movement controls to reduce the chance of acciden
HIGHLIGHTS

Added Second Weapon Loadout.
Added Full Screen minimap.
Large scaling rework to Melee Combat, Hit Rating, and Enemy Health & Damage.
GAMEPLAY

Added a second weapon loadout (Default Key Q).
CONTROLS

Slightly reworked movement controls to reduce the chance of accidentally moving more cells than intended at a time.
UI

Added a Fullscreen Map, complete with tooltips and movement (Default Key M).
Comparison Tooltips will now display all equipped alternatives when the item in question can be equipped to multiple slots.
Doors are now shown on the minimap.
ENEMIES

Enemy Health Scaling reworked.
Enemy Defence Rating reworked.
Enemy Damage Scaling reworked.
SKILLS

Shield Bash's Stun Duration reduced to 2 turns, down from 5.
ITEMS

Two Handed Swords now scale correctly.
STATS

You now gain 1 Armour for every 2 points of Strength.
Armour Efficiency gain from Constitution increased to 20%, from 10%.
Resist Efficiency gain from Wisdom increased to 20%, from 10%.
BUG FIXES

Fixed a bug causing Keyboard Movement controls to rebind incorrectly.
Keyboard movement no longer occurs while rebinding keys.
Traps placed in doorways can now be removed.
Original post