Hey everyone.
We've got a lot of exciting news today,
Demo Update 5.2 is out now!
This build reworks the gameplay loop and streamlines the whole experience. It's the direction the game is heading, and this is the first time it's playable.
Change Log
Progression Changes
Runs now progress through a structured seven-stage journey across the game’s biomes.
Completing a biome advances your party to the next stage of the run.
All four heroes must claim their biome rewards before the party can continue.
Completing the Ethereal Plane finishes the current tier.
Completing a tier unlocks the next available difficulty tier.
Higher tiers must be completed and unlocked in sequence.
Party Progression
Character upgrades and increased maximum stats are preserved as the party progresses through tiers.
New Biome Rewards
The shop has been removed. Core game items are now unlocked through post quest rewards.
Completing a biome now begins a dedicated reward sequence for the Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, and Wizard.
Each hero is presented with three reward choices tailored to their available item categories.
Spellcasting heroes may also receive new spells among their choices.
Biome rewards can include weapons, armor, relics, and spells.
Prismatic Crystals
Prismatic crystals are rewarded as treasure upon completing a ritual. They can also be found in containers.
Added the Prismatic Crystal, a new consumable upgrade item that can be used between quests.
A Prismatic Crystal permanently transforms one eligible item for the remainder of the current run.
Upgradeable items can offer up to two authored upgrade paths.
Successfully upgrading an item consumes one Prismatic Crystal.
Items must have a supported upgrade available before they can be selected.
Already-upgraded items cannot be upgraded a second time.
Upgraded items retain their familiar name and are marked with a +.
Grit is still doing the heavy lifting underneath all of it: earn it by dealing damage, taking damage, and putting monsters down, then spend it to reroll the miss that was about to end the run, reflect damage, sharpen a crit, or prepare one more spell than you had any right to. The dice still decide plenty. They just don't get the final word.
We would love any feedback about the demo, and if you encounter any bugs, reach out. You can join us on Discord, and if you have a feature request, that's the place to put it too.
We're in Steam's Party-Based RPG Fest
Of Grit & Graves is part of Party-Based RPG Fest, running September 14-21. If you've been meaning to try the demo, this is a good week for it. There is a whole festival's worth of party-based RPGs to dig through, and we're in there with them.
We've partnered with indie.io
Of Grit & Graves is officially joining forces with indie.io! We're a team of three. I, Kevin, handle the code and the design, Andrew builds the levels, and Exequiel draws every hero, monster, and relic you've seen by hand. We started making games about four years ago because we're tabletop people — HeroQuest, Descent, the ones with the little cardboard doors — and we wanted that feeling without needing four friends and a free Saturday.
Between the three of us, we wanted help with things like QA testings, keeping our store page current, running a marketing campaign, and getting the game in front of the events it should be at. For those of you who may not know, working with a game publishing platform like indie.io greatly helps indie developers focus on game development while they handle all the behind-the-scenes magic. From helping manage store pages to crafting marketing campaigns and even helping the game shine at both digital and live events, indie.io helps in all the aspects that indie developers often struggle with alone. We went with indie.io because they have a great track record of helping other indie games reach more players, and other developers they've worked with have said great things about them. The goal is simple: help more gamers discover the game, and let me get back to building it. If you want to see what else they work on, their Steam publisher page is worth a look , there are some great indie titles on there: indie.io on Steam
What to do from here
Play the demo. It's live right now, and it's the reworked one.
Wishlist the game so you hear about it when it launches.
Follow the game as well — following is what actually puts our next post in front of you, and there is more coming.
Join the Discord — it's where the bug reports, the feature requests, and the polls that have genuinely changed this game all happen: discord.gg/KVc4Fj29H7
Thanks for sticking with this one. Go get yourselves killed down there.
- Kevin, Melted Monster Game Studio