Combat Overhaul v1.61
What's changed and why?
End's Reach has always had very simple combat. The original vision for the game was something along the lines of Skyward Sword, where you were closely watching changes in the enemy's behaviour to determine what to do next.
The combat in the released version is very casual, and although some of those ideas were used they were mostly discarded to keep the game playing smoothly.
This update mostly focuses on improving combat to add a slightly higher difficulty, and some crunchier effects so that it's more enjoyable to smash things.
New Stagger / Defence System
Enemies now have a defense value. This prevents enemies from being permanently stunlocked off the first hit, something that trivialized all of the combat in the initial release. As you do combos to enemies, you will reduce their defense.
When an enemy's defenses are broken, they can be stunlocked and staggered as normal, but if you stop doing attacks, they will recover. This means you have to pick and choose which target to focus on while the others approach you, and you can't rely on area of effect damage to stunlock everything all at once.
Enemies also now have access to a universal 'Warp Strike' attack. They will glow purple before swinging, and are completely immune to staggering with maximum defense during the attack. They will also take reduced damage and deal additional damage. It's best to completely avoid an enemy that is charging up a Warp Strike.
This doesn't make combat extremely difficult, but it should add a bit of tactical decision making when you are confronted with multiple enemies.
Sound Effects and Audio Updates
The game has also received new sounds effects in combat to make things sound a bit crunchier and more sci-fi. It's not a huge change but enemies should also now have more variety in the sounds they make when hit.
Lots of things were missing sound effects that should have had them, things like doors, breakable rocks, wooden planks, etc. They now all have new sound effects and graphics to make the world feel a bit more reactive.
Bugfixes
Rotating the minimap in the map screen menu is a more reliable now
There was a bug where sometimes the minimap would rotate off axis, this should be fixed now
Fixed a bug where you sometimes couldn't delete save files on PC (The bind should be holding E now to delete)
Major objectives that were missing sound effects should now have them (opening doors with keys, etc).
Hitboxes adjusted for a few attacks on enemies
Animations adjusted for enemies that were playing the wrong ones.
Character controller fix for dash bug that was really rare
The Future of End's Reach
I can't say for sure if this is the final update or not for End's Reach. It has received many more post-launch patches than I planned since it originally came out in 2023, but I'm pretty happy with the game. One of the main areas I would like to address at some point is the unsatisfying magic system, but I'm not ready to take on a challenge like that yet.
I am currently working on another game and every few weeks I return here to see if there's anything I can update to make the game a better experience.
End's Reach is not selling very well here on Steam, I have to be honest. The original Atari VCS release was quite a bit more successful, but I understand that in the big sea of daily releases on Steam and Steamdeck it's easy to miss something you may enjoy. I see it as my duty to continue to improve the game in hopes that the game is acceptable and fun for someone who decides to try it. I also want to release End's Reach onto physical media some day, and want it to be in the best possible shape before I do that.
Thank you for playing and I hope you enjoy the update!