Abalon 2.0 is Out Now!
This update is available free for all of our existing players and on sale for the Roguelike Celebration and Steam Scream Fest.
About Abalon 2.0
Following in the spirit of our previous large update, "Gear Up!", I've taken player feedback to heart to provide a rewarding structure to Abalon's massive amount of content and deliver on some of our most requested features. Let's dive into the changes!
Progression Tower
We've added a new player leveling system, depicted by our signature "Progression Tower" that will have you ascending further into the clouds and unlocking new characters, game modes, upgrades and challenges. Since Abalon was designed to encourage the exploration of many different characters and deck synergies, the tower stands tall to unify your excursions and provide some extra incentive for that "just one more run..." feeling.
You earn player XP for playing adventures with any character and the rewards here are universally available and unlocked for all of your characters.
Summoner Ranks
Player Level works in tandem with Summoner Ranks through a tiered upgrade system that's designed to see players jumping from character-to-character to make the most efficient progress. The greater the challenge (game difficulty to summoner rank), the greater the XP earned per run. The summoner upgrades are unlocked per character, but each upgrade tier requires a universal unlock so that all summoners can reach their highest potential. Among those rewards are tomes of XP that you can use to help your favorite characters boost ahead.
Each upgrade opens up more opportunities for customizing the start of your adventure run.
For instance, you'll be able to unlock more starting spells, carry items and artifacts (in separate categories from your spells) and eventually take guardians as starting units. To incentivize exploring a variety of different cards, we've added a "points system" in the form of gold cost for each category. This way, you might decide to take a few potions or invest your entire budget in one really powerful artifact. And yes, your customized starting decks are now saved so you're all set for your next run!
Summoner Upgrades
Each summoner also has 3 character specific upgrades that enhance their natural abilities (2 ability upgrades and 1 stat boost). You'll earn your first upgrade in the bronze tier after a run or two, with slick bonuses like spin attacks for melee characters and extra projectiles for ranged.
The diamond tier was specifically created to reward our most hardcore players with some outrageous new abilities: Sylvia can hurl a barrage of squirrels, Sir Cheezles can mass time travel, Serpenta can mind control small armies, and so much more!
There's nothing subtle about the Summoner upgrades that unlock at Diamond Tier. Hurling a barrage of squirrels is by far the most satisfying way to collect loot.
Descent
You're going to need those upgrades to take on the new ascension difficulty mode that we've lovingly called "The Descent" as you're not climbing a spire so much as descending into the underworld. This was a fun way to curate some of our existing challenges and create a streamlined experience that you'll be able to compete and compare scores of other players with.
Each level of Descent introduces a new challenge that's added cumulatively to the previous challenges and provides a distinct score bonus (for either battles, summoner fights, run completion, etc.)
Completing runs will earn your summoner stars - which now show on their run start card so you can try and collect them all for each character.
Abalon Mobile Release Update
All of these great new features also culminate in the imminent release of Abalon for Apple iOS and Google Play! Abalon is carefully designed to play comfortably from anywhere - on any device, in any orientation, and sync your progress seamlessly amongst all the platforms in which you play.
To that end, you'll find a new "Account" setting in the menu where you can (entirely optionally of course) register an account with us so you're ready to sync your Steam game data and play on your mobile devices when the game launches in three weeks on
Thursday, November 7th!
You can pre-register now (it's free) on both Apple and Google Play.
Balance Changes
- The big one: Ranged units no longer counter attack ranged attacks. We pondered this one quite a bit, and decided it didn't create the best experience, especially when you'd have a carefully placed fireball or dragon breath returned with a barrage of arrows.
- Plague changed from “Non-undead units get -1/-1” to “All enemies get -1-1 until end of their turn.”
- Forbidden Library cost reduced from 2 to 1
- Withered Dog - Life Increased 2 to 3, Gains Small
- Weaken - In addition to -2/-2 can’t counter or combo, weakened targets cannot block.
Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
There were a lot of fixes in this build too, and I thank everyone for using the in-game/forum/and Discord reports for contributing. Honestly, there's quite a long list and I decided I'd best be launching this update so you can play it rather than reading a hundred little bullet points :P
Let me know what you think!
I care a lot about this game and our community here, so please let me know what you think of the changes and where you'd like to see Abalon go next. Your Steam reviews are also greatly appreciated!
~Ross