Maps & Magic
Hello again, Soulfallen. It's been quite a while since the last major update "Labyrinths & Loot", and I've kept myself very busy working on what I consider to be the largest update to Soulfall ever. I will list below some of the more prominent/noteworthy features, some QoL stuff, and then a collection of bug fixes at the end.
Forsaken Trials
This is one of the main features of the update, and the one I spent the most time working on by far. Forsaken Trials is a brand new infinitely scaling end-game mode, accessible from the second floor of Khelos. After defeating the Dark Lord in Act 4, your character can head South of the bonfire and step through the purple portal to teleport up to the Trial Hall. From there head North and find the Trial Atlas. Interacting with it will open a new Slay The Spire style UI where each node is its own unique map run built from one of 10 objectives layered onto one of 16 unique maps. To go with this I also built a new enemy spawn system based on "packs" which are pre-determined groupings of enemies that spawn together in deliberate and unique formations. There are hundreds of base packs and thousands of possible combinations, so no two trials ever feel quite the same. Every Trial run culminates in a final map boss, and defeating it unlocks the next tier of Forsaken Trials. After defeating a Trial boss and ascending to the next tier, enemies will become stronger, but rewards will increase loot will drop at a higher base item level.
Magic & Rare Enemies
Starting as soon as Act 1, enemies can now spawn in as either "Magic" or "Rare", meaning they have special modifiers and boosted stats to present a more unique challenge during a run. Some rares also have new unique abilities, and both magic and rare enemies can drop the new crafting loot items that can be used to improve weapons and armor (more on that below). This is intended to add variability and some increased challenge during what would be considered "downtime" in between Elites spawning during normal Act runs. A rare will often feel like a mini elite boss that has to be prioritized and handled before objectives or trash mobs can be dealt with.
Total Monster Overhaul
I was not super happy with the amount of enemies in Soulfall whose only purpose was to walk towards the player and melee them. This felt boring. So I went back to the drawing board and tried to re-design enemies as a whole to make sure each one felt unique in their own way. This included a few totally new enemies, and completely reworked monster abilities, attacks, pathing, and mechanics across the board. There are still a few simpler enemies that just walk and melee (especially at the very beginning of an Act), but they no longer represent the majority of enemy interactions. This paired with the magic/rare enemy system makes runs feel way more exciting in my opinion.
Crafting: Orbs & Shards
With the addition of magic and rare enemies come new items from their new drop tables. These items are rare and incredibly powerful. Orbs that allow you to upgrade a piece of equipment's rarity, its quality, stats, modifiers, and re-roll everything about it. This really solves the issue of getting a common or uncommon item drop late in the game and immediately feeling like its worthless, as now with crafting orbs it could potentially be your next BIS item depending on its base stat rolls. You will mostly receive shards as drops, which can be crafted into orbs, which can then be used to modify equipment. I have found myself having way too much fun getting back to town and spending all of my crafting materials trying to juice legendary items to make them completely broken.
Act 4 Overhaul 2.0
Act 4 needed a bit of love as its pacing felt off. After adding summoning stones to Acts 1-3 it felt strange to enforce the full 20 minute run timer on Act 4. I made some changes that allow you to move to the next platform early after successfully completing a ritual obelisk. This allows a full run of Act 4 to be completed much faster, especially if you are over-geared and get good luck on which ritual options appear. The Dark Lord can also be fought early now via the summoning stone.
Sprint & Stamina
I added a sprint mechanic mostly because why not, it is not super broken or over-powered due to a fairly limited stamina bar and the draw back of getting stunned if you take damage while sprinting. Still a nice option for anyone trying to speedrun maps or acts.
Death Tax
A smaller change that I feel is worth mentioning is a new death tax. As the gold economy becomes more important with a vendor I wanted to make sure that there was a real gold sink in the game, as well as a real punishment for dying. It is fairly low at 10% so I don't foresee this causing a ton of issues for players.
Quality of Life
Increased the default character zoom so you can see more of the environment around you
New characters now start with a weak starter weapon already equipped, so no more punching your way through the beginning of the game
Cleaned up the skill tree node hover info to be much clearer
Improved the class specialization selection screen
Added a UI display while you're in town showing your unspent talent and skill points
Adjusted default brightness up slightly and lowered default screenshake
And a couple dozen other small things I've already lost track of (I really need to keep track of this stuff better, oh well)
Bug Fixes
XP shards were not combining correctly
You could deposit more items into a stash tab than its maximum
Lava golem stomp left a lingering hitbox that kept dealing damage forever
Some bosses were dropping zero loot
Various debug collision shapes were visible for certain abilities (the boss imp's dash, the warlord's war cry)
Trials runs could occasionally spawn with no enemies, or skip the "map selected" prompt
If you encounter any bugs while playing, please always feel free to report it on the community hub, discord, or any other way you want to reach out to me. I genuinely cannot overstate how much these reports help. With this much new stuff getting added I am 100% sure a few things slipped through the cracks.
Closing Thoughts
I'm feeling very good about the state of the game currently, I have been "bug testing" this update for the past week and having a ton of fun getting a new character through the campaign and through the first few tiers of Trial runs. There is still plenty more to add before I feel like the game has reached 1.0 but this really feels like several steps in the right direction. I hope you enjoy this update as much as I have. I tend to post early versions of new mechanics and some half-formulated ideas/thoughts over on discord, so feel free to join there if you like keeping track of that type of stuff or want to contribute your own thoughts and ideas. Always open to hearing new perspectives on what is and isn't working. Wishing everyone a very safe and fun and sunshine filled Summer. Spend it with the people you love. Never forget that you are loved infinitely, and that you have the capacity to love others infinitely.