After 4 months of hard work, our penultimate patch has arrived!
The changes are so massive, that a point by point breakdown of every change would just be listing the entire game, and also spoiling some surprises, so we are going to keep it to a general overview.
There is some extra detail on many of these changes in our last preview diary, so if you haven't seen it we recommend taking a peek!
Changes
Progression and pacing
Slorf progress through the wilds is now paced more gradually. They must complete runs that are short, then medium to unlock a full length run. More complex content appears in medium and full runs.
Astrolabe
At each of these milestones, two new arms of the Astrolabe are revealed, with new nodes to unlock via in game challenges.
- Node design has been overhauled, with inner arm nodes controlling difficulty, and outer arms adding twists with a mix of advantage and disadvantage that add a new layer to consider.
- Nodes are no longer exclusive per arm, you can activate any you wish.
The 20 node run is now a thing. I have tried it and it is absolutely bonkers!
Regions
The number of regions has doubled from 3 to 6, allowing each region to have a stronger thematic focus. The full run has 3 legs with 2 possible regions per leg.
Tuning
A massive amount of tuning from stats to placement and frequency of content. Too much to list! Some highlights:
- Improved the logic that picks recipe rewards. The system also weighs what resources you have more as you approach late game
- Grub behavior is now based on enemies killed and not simply turns
- Fear behavior improved - Now each unit evaluates threats per tile and runs as far as possible from threats.
- Underflock turrets have advanced, with smarter behaviors relating to height and unplayable tiles, and new blast patterns
New Stuff
Slorfs
A new Slorf, Zink has been added to the roster!
Zink spent way too much time in the Thrix warren, but was able to escape before becoming a mindless thrall to the god tuber. Zink becomes enraged when the other Slorf is damaged allowing you to setup an insane one two punch.
Content
- With new regions comes a heap of new clearings, including new layouts and challenges.
- Hypnotic cards are powerful but dangerous and gained only from certain rare effects. Destroyed on camp, cannot be discarded, and cannot have more than one in hand.
- New Spooky Forest content such as scary stumps, bone piles and new ghost types.
- Some water in the Thrix Warren is now colorful and gives a hypnotic card when drinking
- New bug boss in the rugged Steppes
- Root challenge and Bug nests challenge promoted to leg 1 bosses.
- The will of the wood have expanded their roster with several new enemies.
- Mask is now a movement card with multiple upgrades
UX
- All camp info is now available in game, not just crafting
- Recipe screen now better explains bonuses/penalties to chance of discovery
- Main menu streamlined and made less confusing
- Improved camera and visuals for character select screen
This patch is a massive step up and the last patch before 1.0 so we hope you give it a try and enjoy ZOR again like it was the first time! :D
Thanks for playing ZOR,
Clint and Gavin