🎉 Happy New Year from Northwind!
Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! 🎉
As we step into 2026, I want to sincerely thank all of you for the continued support, feedback, and playtime you’ve given Northwind. It genuinely helps us push the game forward in the right direction.
🎉 New Year Sale – 20% Off
View game pageNorthwind is currently 20% off on Steam, running until January 6th.
If you’ve been on the fence, now’s a great time to jump in or to recommend the game to a friend who loves roguelite deckbuilders.
🛠️ Latest Update: Onboarding Improvements & Major Rebalancing [LIVE - DEC 28, 2025]
Alongside the sale, we’ve rolled out a large gameplay update focused on two main goals.
Better Onboarding for New Players
The Perk system is now unlockable, helping reduce information overload early on.
Added a tutorial warning for Focus cards, reminding players that Focus already grants mana when drawn and may not always be the best play.
Card Rebalancing Overview
This update includes a wide rebalancing across Duelist, Pyrotech, Gems, Gear, and Skills:
Adjusted power curves, costs, and rarities to smooth progression.
Reduced overly dominant strategies while buffing underused cards.
Simplified or clarified several effects to make decisions more intuitive.
Improved late-game scaling and reduced extreme burst cases.
🔎 Full Balance Patch Notes (English Only)
The update is live for all supported languages.
The following section contains detailed, technical card-by-card balance changes and is written in English only for clarity and accuracy.
⚔️ Duelist Card Rebalancing
Power Surge
Rarity: Uncommon → Common
Ability:Add 10 attack → Add 12 attack
Power Surge+
Add 13 attack → Add 15 attack
Wind Walk
Rarity: Common → Uncommon
Power: 9 / 12 / 15 → 8 / 11 / 15
Ability: Skip 2 non-Basic cards → Skip 1 non-Basic card
Wind Walk+
Cost: 2 → 1
Power: 15 / 20 / 27 → 12 / 16 / 20
Lunar Eclipse
Power: 9 / 12 / 16 → 11 / 14 / 17
Lunar Eclipse+
Power: 12 / 16 / 20 → 15 / 17 / 20
Training
Power: 6 / 8 / 11 → 4 / 7 / 10
Create Focus on draw pile → Create Focus into hand
Training+
Power: 7 / 10 / 14 → 4 / 8 / 12
Create Focus on draw pile → Create Focus into hand
Last Chance
Exhaust Energy cards → Exhaust any cards
Add 7 attack → Add 8 attack per card
Last Chance+
Power: 10 / 14 / 17 → 12 / 17 / 22
Add 9 attack → Add 10 attack per card
Battle Stance / Battle Stance+
Power standardized to 10 / 12 / 15
Take Control
Power: 6 / 8 / 10 → 5 / 7 / 9
Now gains Control in addition to switching cards
Push Up / Push Up+
Might gain per Basic card increased
Empower / Empower+
Overpower bonus slightly increased
Execution / Execution+
Locked cost changed to 0
Unburden / Unburden+
Changed from unequip-all to targeted Gear unequip scaling
Replicate / Replicate+
Cost: 0 → 1
Berserker Armor / Slash
Armor and Slash power rebalanced for smoother curves
Inner Strength / Inner Strength+
Reworked to recover Energy instead of discard positioning
(Remaining Duelist changes preserved as listed)
🔥 Pyrotech Card Rebalancing
Pipe / Pipe+
Mana gain reduced for better risk-reward balance
Focused Shot / Focused Shot+
Reaction now triggers on Level up or down
Gun Tricks / Gun Tricks+
Reworked from discard scaling to Skill banish payoff
Grit / Grit+
Reworked into cost-reduction utility instead of Surge looping
Reload / Reload+
Cost: 3 → 1
Bomb Throw / Bomb Throw+
Power increased slightly for mid-game viability
Rifle / Rifle+
Flow requirement reduced, Surge gain increased
Ivy Hairpin / Ivy Hairpin+
Changed to Flow-based once-per-turn Poison trigger
Scarf / Scarf+
Formerly Cursed Scarf, reworked to Ascend scaling Surge
(Remaining Pyrotech changes preserved as listed)
💎 Gems Rebalancing
Sapphire
Might +4 → Might +3
Chipped Ruby
Price: 8 → 10
Amethyst
Price: 15 → 12
Onyx
Overpower reworked, now trades attack power for debuff control
Chipped Sapphire
Price: 8 → 4
Topaz
Converted from cost modifier to Defensive Exceed utility
Thank you for your kind support! As always, the journey is far from over! More updates are coming soon!
– The Northwind Team, Barking Kitten Interactive