The Whispers Update is out, introducing new danger management mechanic that finalises the game's survival component, as well as a full GUI overhaul!
AMBUSHES & DANGER
The party is now on the run not only story-wise but also mechanically. As you explore an area, Mournfolk zero-in on your location and will eventually ambush the camp. These ambushes are extremely challenging even for endgame parties and their best outcome is still forced move to another location with some resources left behind.
Managing this new danger becomes a game in itself, with constant pressure of having to pick what quests to prioritise, when to take the risk, and when to just leg it. And like with everything in Bonfire, every now and then you just have to take the loss.
MORE USE FOR GLIMMERS
Glimmers are now a truly rare and valuable resource with several new uses. Rune abilities are no longer infinite and require Glimmers to recharge. Several important encounters also use them, such as lighting beacons that keep Mournfolk at bay for just a bit longer.
Since the balance has changed dramatically here, existing save files will have their Glimmers adjusted to more reasonable values upon first launch.
GUI OVERHAUL
Long overdue, this update finalises the game's GUI, including core elements such as loadout selection menu or health bars. The goal was increased usability and consistency, as well as general beautification.
This includes quality-of-life updates such as merging team and item selection menus into one, increased clarity of information
FULL PATCH NOTES:
NEW CONTENT:
Introducing the new danger level and ambush mechanic.
New encounter: Beacon.
New Glimmer-centric variants for existing encounters.
A new miniboss variant: Mournfolk Bishop.
New high-level encounters added to the pool.
3 new challenge-type quests have been added.
3 new bonus-type quests have been added.
4 new errands have been added.
Updated and expanded the game's intro sequence.
New tutorials added.
New story scenes added to introduce some of the new lore and features.
Dev Note: Most of the new quests are related to the ambush mechanic, providing different opportunities to consciously lower the danger level.
GUI OVERHAUL:
New unit portraits and health bars.
New team & loadout selection menu.
New errand menu.
New errand results menu.
New difficulty change menu.
New profile reset menu.
New logo sequence at the start of the game.
New ambush result menu.
Improved quest menu.
Improved rune upgrade panel.
Improved skill point purchase panel.
Map menu now displays current risk of ambush.
Multiple smaller fixes in all menus for clarity and consistency.
Dev Note: We're of course open to feedback on the new menus, but give them a bit to get used to at first, especially if you're a long-term player.
BALANCE:
Endless journey's Glimmer cost changed from 7 to 5.
The quest tied to collecting enough Glimmers has been updated accordingly.
Enemies start up easier on Journey difficulty mode, giving a small grace period to new players.
Trader prices are less likely to be on the lower end in the endgame.
Abandoned Camp errant is now less risky (this was a bug).
Base Glimmer drop rate has been significantly lowered.
However, bosses and similarly tough enemies are now more likely to drop Glimmers.
Challenge quests involving boss enemies are guaranteed to drop Glimmers.
Challenge quests involving bosses provide less XP now.
Enemy reinforcements can now be elites.
Endgame "kill events" have been made harder.
Adjusted the event/encounter pools for default, endless and endgame event sets.
Hexa's Shadowspawn's max HP is now limited to 50. This only comes into play when facing Failures.
Increased XP reward for the Claw Marks quest.
Increased XP reward for the Rune Masters quest.
Dev Note: We're generally happy with hero and enemy balance, but the changes to Glimmer drop rates are very significant, so we're definitely open to your feedback here.
Dev Note #2: Likewise, let us know what you think about the new ambush mechanic and its balance.
GAMEPLAY & QoL:
Trader now sells food!
Rune levels now show consistently with other upgrades, with 1 being the starting level instead of 0.
"Show HP as numbers" option is now on by default for new players.
Quest progress meter clearly shows where the campfire is.
Errand reward sequence can now be skipped just like the end quest tally.
Reinforcement counters now have tooltips.
Added tooltip for the next turn counter on the character portraits.
Rewards and special conditions are now more clearly highlighted in the quest menu.
Clearer notification when there's not enough Glimmers to start a quest.
Dev Note: Trader selling food now is going to make a lot of you happy. Also gives it some endgame role.
Dev Note #2: There are still some areas where we want to add tooltips, but they will come in a smaller update later on.
COSMETICS:
Added voice SFX for all Mournfolk and the Hunter.
Added voice SFX for Undead enemies.
Added voice SFX for the Wandering Master.
Improved font quality and rendering.
Done button animates consistently between all menus.
Necromeister miniboss is now more distinct from the basic Necro enemy.
Updated the look and scale of buff/debuff icons.
Updated the colouring of buff/debuff icons.
Fixed sprite pivot for Unassuming Undead.
Fixed sprite pivot for Blastshower rune.
Added shadow to the Trader's rug.
Added FX for enemy appearance when Failures weather effect is present.
Rune ability items appear sequence has been updated for Endless and Ambush.
Reinforcement counters now correctly disappear on quest end.
Fixed the glitching ink blot below the end quest panel.
Enemy portraits have more offset between them in horde encounters.
Fixed glitches and janky behaviour of XP bars on level ups.
Flames and warm glow added to all menus.
Updated the look of the level up indicator in the camp screen.
Updated the night transition in the camp screen.
New FX for the Heal Scroll item use.
Fixed margins and sizing of the unit tooltips.
Tutorials now fade menu captions for better readability.
Improved fountain animation.
Health bar is no longer hard to see or invisible on very low HP.
Fixed and unified Runesmith's anvil sequence.
BUG FIXES & MISC STUFF:
Changes to handling of textures and their loading.
Using items no longer triggers Ephrem's inspiration healing effect.
The game should no longer be slightly blurry on retina Macs.
Sucker Punch doesn't trigger and waste its use on enemies that die from DoTs.
Corrected max item number in errands.
Resource counter now correctly displays in Gauntlet quest menu.
Improved backend for buff/debuff icon handling.
Fixed bugged sound behaviour when changing sound and music settings.
Fixed a bug where music would not play with sound disabled.
Fixed a crash caused by Hexa being unavailable for her quest.
Game no longer incorrectly saves rune ability items as normal items.
Fixed incorrect quips for miniboss encounters.
Prevented the game from generating garbage maps for Gauntlet and Endless quest.
Fixed incorrect drawing order on some of the ability/spell FXs.
Fixed a crash in quests with enemy reinforcements.
Resource predictions in the quest menu can no longer overflow.
Prevented a crash caused by buying a rune upgrade when another is still in progress.
Ephrem AI fixes.
Oakheart enemy AI fixes.
Fixed erroneous AI checks for average party HP.
Minor improvements to kill event handling.
Potential fix for Z-sorting glitches in some buff/debuff effects.
Prevented food from going into negatives on some rare cases.
Auto-tester now correctly recharges runes.
Debug map regeneration tools now correctly clear quest data.
Fixed boss ability positioning in enemy tooltips.
Fixed texture glitches in the intro.
Fixed timing on the logo sequence for fullscreen Macs.
Fixed items display not fading correctly when the quest is over.
Difficulty-related unit stats handling refactor.
Summons and reinforcements are now correctly adjusted for difficulty.
Corrected food drops in chests on easy quests.
Quest progress meter correctly hides when tutorial is displayed.
Fixed broken tutorial for reaching summon limit.
Fixed rare crash with Erzsie's Sustenance skill caused by reaching the summon limit.
Fixed a crash on speeding up summons.
Fixed glitches with summon HP bar and buffs.
Debug stats display refactor.
Prevented locked quests from appearing regardless under some circumstances.
Fixed rare crash on Countess boss quest.
Correct dialogue now displays when there's not enough heroes for a quest.
Prevented chest covers from suddenly popping instead of fading when chest is the first encounter.
Dev Note: The changes to texture loading are related to change in how they are handled by the engine. We're unsure if we covered all cases, so let us know if you experience hiccups or glitches caused by texture failing to load in time.
WHAT'S NEXT?
With this update, we've closed two huge tasks that were still hanging over our head: the GUI overhaul, and the finished journey/survival system. This means the only thing remaining now is content: the two missing heroes and the ending. Plus all the minor stuff like new enemies and biomes.
We'd like to take this opportunity to change our update strategy and go with more granular patches from now on. The game no longer requires any major reworks that leave it unplayable for months and the big-content-update-every-century approach just didn't work out. For now we're going to focus on bug and balance fixes for Whispers, but expect more mid-size patches with stuff like new enemies or storylines after that, with big releases reserved for the heroes.
As always, thank you for your continued patience and support! If you encounter any issues, would like to check our current development roadmap or make any suggestions, feel free to drop by our community forums. You can also follow me on X or join MoaCube's Discord server for more frequent updates.
-Tom