The Defiled West Demo is back with another update!
Not only is Christmas now being celebrated across the Famine Frontier, but we have a wide selection of bug fixes and big improvements to accompany the festive season!
Holiday Additions
Jollydead now spawn in Stickstead: Gundead wearing seasonal hats!
The Spectral Candy Cane: a new throwable melee weapon that is gifted to anyone who logs in during this holiday period! Be sure to pick yours up from the weapon wagon.
The Snowball Cannon: a new and exclusive ranged weapon that you can unlock by killing 25 Jollydead!
Stickstead Christmas decor!
Improvements
This update comes with massive changes to some of the game's core systems:
Updated Soul Scale Tutorial
The Soul Scale tutorial has seen a complete overhaul. Previously, the tutorial was admittedly convoluted and in places difficult to understand, so we have restructured the whole thing to make for a clearer and more concise introduction to one of the game's most important concepts.
Spectralisation Reinvented
Spectralisation was another big mechanic that, like the Soul Scale, was limited by the way it was introduced in-game. Until now, spectralisation has been a way of helping players to cheat death whenever their health reaches zero. Dying in this way would grant invulnerability for a few seconds, at the cost of some movement speed.
While this was an ability that often came in handy, players were often left confused as to what was happening and why, and ultimately it also led to a lot of balancing issues. As a result, reaching zero health will now kill the player in the same way that a heavily unbalanced Soul Scale will.
But fear not, we have introduced a new system to replace spectralisation. The player's overall health has been increased, and cheating death remains possible through the more-reliable method of...
Withered Whiskey
Withered Whiskey is a new elixir that can be obtained by defeating bosses! Unlike the elixirs you've seen thus far, this one isn't for you... it's for your good friend, The Inspectre. Giving The Inspectre the whiskey will supercharge him, allowing him to save you from a killing blow by spectralising you. This means that as long as you keep your companion topped up with whiskey, you'll be able to shrug off grievous injuries like they're nothing.
With this feature, we've also introduced new tutorials for Withered Whiskey and Spectralisation.
Boss Loot Chests
We wanted defeating bosses to feel more rewarding, so this update introduces Boss Loot Chests! After defeating a boss, the chest will appear and when opened, will present your rewards to you one by one and allow you to view details about each one.
Miscellaneous Improvements
An interactive Soul Scale balancing graphic can be viewed at any time via a hint button at the right of the Soul Scale.
The Soul Scale now glows as spectral and gunslinger essence is modified.
Sound effects now pause when the game is paused.
Town checklists now work in Riftwood Ranch and Ethereal Rift.
Bug Fixes
You can no longer dig if you are not holding a shovel.
Gundead weapons no longer flip and rotate maniacally.
Fixed an issue that would cause town checklists to be empty.
Fixed an issue with controller navigation to the Soul Scale warning border setting.
Fixed a bug that caused your ammo count to be hidden after unequipping a gadget.
The ability tooltips in the top left segment of the Soul Scale are functional again.
Bear traps can no longer be deleted during the gadget tutorial.
Enemies can no longer move while frozen.
Healing particles on the Creepy Captive have been fixed to be in line with other enemies.
Fixed an issue that would cause snake oil to sometimes not heal you.
You can no longer get stuck in front of or behind General Store's bookshelves after defeating him.
And plenty more!
Thank you for playing Defiled West!
This will likely be our final post of the year so we'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has played our demo and given feedback, it has been incredibly valuable. We really hope that you find these new changes fun and helpful, and hope you will stick with us into 2026 as we work on exciting new maps and features for the full release!
Thanks, and a Happy New Year,
Mindmoss