My dear players -
We've raided the dragon's den and bring you a Treasure Trove of exciting new content to put your synergy building skills to the test. There's a LOT to cover, so let's dive in...
Challenge Modifiers
Since our EA launch, challenge modifiers have been among the top player-requested features. For the past year, we've been collaborating directly with many of you on Steam discussion and Discord to design this system together to deliver the precise sweet spot of challenge customizations you've been dreaming up. This culminated late last night with a final send off of the designs to our prerelease testers to get direct player input on the balance. Special thanks to Reiga, Kaaz, and Psilioxus for their input and recommended tweaks on the balance tuning.
This update introduces 27 distinct challenges ranging from level 1-3 in difficulty rating, all of which can be stacked together for an insane total challenge level of 40 (Which you will not survive...)
Some examples include the "Lost Guardians" challenge that effectively gives your guardians permadeath, adding to the intensity of each battle. We've also got "Bigger Bosses" (nuff said), "More Minions", and the "Deadly Poke of Zorro" that will see every enemy piercing through your armor and shields. And if you think you can run from this, the "No Escape" challenge ensures you cannot retreat after your first turn.
With greater challenge comes greater rewards: Each activated challenge will supply a bonus score percentage to your battles, fate encounters, or grant an additional run completion bonus. Whether you're psyched to compete globally or take pride in beating your personal best, the leaderboards just got a whole lot more fun!
New Artifacts
Our second biggest player feature request has been to supply more permanent ability upgrades for your heroes to help further synergize with your decks. Treasure Trove brings just under 40 new artifacts, each adding a distinctive, game challenging ability to encourage new deck construction and make careful resource management even more rewarding.
Among these new artifacts, our skeleton summoning fans will surely enjoy Semaniel's Necronomicon that allows your hero to summon a skeleton warrior for every unit it defeats on the battlefield. This could be with its attack, an AOE destroying half the map, or poison enveloping your foes - creating instant undead armies. This artifact is made in honor of Semaniel, who we thank and honor for translating the game in Spanish and the wonderful coverage on YouTube.
You'll also find the "Weighted Die of Theron" I promised in response to the RNG feedback in our Steam forums. This artifact will ensure you get a 20 the next time you roll dice.
Additionally, to encourage exploration, we've eliminated the "automatic" treasure finder and instead added things like maps and compasses to reveal new areas. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.
Thematic Shops
I've been promising and delaying this feature for too long...no more! Thematic shops are here at last. This was another heavily player-requested feature, and I gotta say, it was a good call. It really does add a lot to the feel of exploring - you never know which new weird character you're going to find in the wilderness and what kind of exciting goodies they have in store for you.... a Satyr selling loyal bunnies, a potion brewmaster, an ironclad outpost stocked with a legion of soldiers to recruit?
Russian Language Support
Special shout out to community member Neuk for providing Russian translations for the game!
While these are still a work in progress, it is more than 99% complete and I'm very excited to roll it out this update. Please feel welcome to share your feedback via the in-game reporting system and enjoy!
We'll be coming up with something special to honor Neuk in the game in our next content update :)
Additional Build Notes
- Fixed AI Sync error caused by Nithsrot retaining ownership of the Treant card in Animate Tree for discard purposes after action has been undone. This happens because the triggered ability in the card itself is reassigned to the previous card action user (Nithsrot) in the undo sequence before assigning the previous user (Rugged Mage). (Thanks Daniel Taylor, Havok, UwUShuna and 野蛮人)
- QoL: Made it so that artifact equipment cannot be removed by spells like Rust.
- QoL: Indicated on all equipment cards the equipment slot that is used (ex: right hand, left hand, two-handed, helmet, outfit)
Steam - Deal of the Day
Lastly, I'm super excited to share that Valve honored us with a home page feature as July 19th's "Deal of the Day". From now through this week, you can pick up Abalon for our biggest discount yet of 40% off.
I hope this encourages even more folks to discover Abalon and share with their friends! It's my aim to continue developing this game and the Abalon series of games for the next decades into the future.
So please keep your feedback and reviews coming! It's my drive and passion to see you that you have the most satisfying experience in the tabletop inspired world of Abalon!
Join the Discussion:
- Steam discussion board: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1681840/discussions/
- Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios (RossD20Studios#2359)
Thanks so much!
~Ross