Heroes of the night, the new major update is now OUT! Two new early maps, Perks & Traps reworks and a few more things: all details are available below!
TL;DR:
- Perks system rework: 40 -> 75 Perks
- New early maps: Swampfurt (Tutorial) & Gildenberg
- New ending scenes & magic circles
- UI Improvements for Perks
- New features
- Balancing
Thank you again to all the players of the open Beta: your feedbacks were extremely helpful! We hope all of you will enjoy this update, and we invite you to join our Discord to chat with us!
PERK SYSTEM REWORK
Each Hero will be given a different perk tree, increasing the diversity in builds.
Perks are now divided into thematic collections, presented as columns of 5 perks (1 for each Tier). The content of these columns is determined during the Hero’s generation, involving randomness:
- Some specific collections are not always present.
- Main collections are always there, but behind the scenes they have several possible perks for each Tier, so the result will be different between Heroes.
However, as before, the only condition for being able to unlock a perk is to have access to its tier. It is not at all mandatory to unlock the previous perk of a column to get access to the next one. We actually wish for the opposite, resulting in a broader experience with many fun combinations!
NEW AND REWORKED PERKS
Many perks previously featured in the game have either been reworked, tweaked or removed. Feel free to revisit the perks you think you already know!
This update also marks the creation of a lot of new perks, there currently are 75 perks in the game while there used to be 40.
New mechanics have been created for this occasion, we will let you discover them on your own...
NEW MAP: SWAMPFURT (TUTORIAL)
This map will act as the tutorial to The Last Spell. It can only be played when starting a new campaign. All other maps will have to be unlocked by new players (current players will still have access to all the maps they had unlocked up until now).
NEW MAP: GILDENBERG
This map is unlocked by finishing the tutorial. It lasts for 7 nights, and has a very specific layout with only 3 sides for the enemies to come from. Winning a run unlocks access to Lakeburg.
NEW ENDING SCENE & MAGIC CIRCLES
We slightly revised the story of the game, and the victory animation was changed accordingly. Additionally, all maps now have a different magic seal.
UI IMPROVEMENTS FOR PERKS
Better information on perks
In the perk tooltip, you can now view the real, dynamic value of the granted bonuses. This comes in handy if you want to have a clear idea of what a perk actually provides before and after you unlock it.
Perks providing a skill also show a preview of the one your Hero will get to add to their kit.
New HUD elements
Above the skill bar, perks are now visible, which allows you to have a clear view of your hero's build at all times. This new display also provides other features: conditional activation, highlighting when using a skill, dynamic bonus value, decremental counter, range on hover...
We also used this opportunity to display the current statuses of the selected unit. This is shown on both heroes and enemies.
Opportunistic and Isolated rework
“Opportunistic” and “Isolated” are now applied on all attacks. They have been renamed as “Opportunism” and “Isolation” respectively and are now using a base-100 value (default: 100%) just like Damage and Critical Power.
Whenever your Hero's Opportunism or Isolation value is above 100%, they get bonus damage when the conditions are met, no matter what attack they use.
The corresponding skill effects (which were previously mandatory for a skill to benefit from those damage bonuses) are now referred to as “Opportunism Multiplier” and “Isolation Multiplier” and work just as advertised: the corresponding attribute's value is multiplied for this attack.
For example, if my Hero has 110% Opportunism and their skill has an Opportunism Multiplier x2, then during the attack the Opportunism attribute will be considered to have a value of 220%.
Traps Rework
Traps can now be repaired in exchange for materials.
Also, traps cost a few materials more than before but do not disappear anymore when they are depleted. This way they can be repaired at a lower cost rather than having to rebuild new ones.
Modding rework
We’ve also updated the modding in The Last Spell. All mods will become incompatible because of an improvement we made on the code.
So, if you want your mod to work with the new version you will have to make some changes on it. The change concerns the config.xml file, and we made a small tutorial to update your mods to make them work with the new version.
You can read it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1105670/discussions/0/3183487594856484201/
New Features
Perks
- The Perk system has been completely reworked (more details above)
- Rework of many perks and addition of new ones : there currently are 75 perks in the game instead of 40.
- Perks tooltips are now more precise with more informations
- Perks are now displayed in HUD's
New Map: Swampfurt
- Only playable at the beginning of a new campaign (can't be selected on the world map)
- Designed to be a tutorial with a special ending at night 2
- There are only 2 sides
New Map: Gildenberg
- Unlocked when finishing the tutorial (if you already have a save you will unlock it when launching the game)
- Last 7 days
- There are only 3 sides
Heroes
- Rework of the opportunistic and isolated attributes : they are now applied on all attacks
- Addition of 61 new traits
Skills
- Changed how the opportunistic and isolated skill effects work
- Alterations from heroes' skill can now affect other heroes
Buildings
- Traps don't disappear anymore when depleted
- Traps can now be repaired in exchange for materials
Story
- The ending cinematic has been changed to match our new direction for the story
- Each haven now has a different magic circle with a different seal to break
Meta
- Tweaked a lot of meta upgrades to match the new campaign progression (souls price and activation conditions)
Misc
- 4 new musics pack
- Addition of the elite guardian
- The apocalypse system is now unlocked when finishing a run in Lakeburg
- Graphic assets for the world map have been reworked
QoL
- Improvement on the game lexicon displayed in tooltips (examples can be seen in the health tooltip, poison damage tooltip )
- Alterations are now displayed in units HUD
- More ability effects are displayed when casting a skill (the little text popping above an unit)
- Added some information about the ongoing run in the main menu (elapsed time, city, apocalypse level)
- Optimization of the game
Balancing
Enemies
- Added 15% Stun Resistance to these enemies : Winged, Splitter, Archer, Hopper, Hunter
Lakeburg
- Increased a little bit the waves difficulty at the very beginning of the map
Attributes
- Increased bonuses of healing received in level ups and items
- Changed all bonuses of Isolation and Opportunism in level ups and items
- Changed some attributes' boundaries (mostly some "max" going up)
Heroes
- Changed most traits' values
Misc
- Tweaked some night trophies