Demo Patch Notes: v0.03.02
Card Clash Rework, Mist Overhaul, Backpack System, Negative Vigor Gated & Tutorial Expansion
Hi everyone,
This is a big one. A lot of the changes in this build are gameplay-deep: we've reworked how Card Clashes resolve, restructured the Limbo Mist, gated negative Vigor behind specific conditions, and rebuilt the tutorial to teach it all properly. Some of these came directly from your feedback (the AI was too stupid, the border-dominance strategy was a little too reliable, the tooltips were doing too much work). We took the time to address them properly.
Heads up before you dive in:
active runs from previous versions have been wiped for compatibility reasons. Sorry about that. Starting fresh is the only way for these changes to work.
What's New
Card Clash Rework: We updated the resolution rules. If the attacker wins, the pinched card is flipped. If the defender wins, the attacking cards are degraded (two degradations destroy the card). Card Clashes now also trigger when you play a card defensively, which opens up a lot of new positional options.
Mist Restructured (Limbo): We reworked Mist frequency, distribution, and behavior. At the end of the round, regions still covered by Mist now get swapped. This cuts down on the border-dominance strategy that was a little too dominant, and combined with smarter enemies, battles should feel tougher.
Smarter Enemy AI: Enemies were updated to play around the new rules. They make better use of the reworked clashes and respond to your board more deliberately.
Backpack System: A new in-run inventory you can pull up from both the map and battle to see your full deck, your current board state, and the Reliquiae you've collected. We're calling it the Backpack for now; a Latin name will probably take its place later.
Negative Vigor Play, Gated: We tested negative Vigor in a few configurations and realized it was working better as an unlockable layer than a baseline mechanic. We've disabled it for now and will reintroduce it through Reliquiae or similar conditions (so it becomes a real strategic choice).
Vigor Bar Rework: With negative Vigor gated, we redesigned the bar to fit the new behavior. We also added pulse and highlight animations to the Merkabah when a card costs more Vigor than you have, and a clear "Not enough Vigor" notification appears when you try to play one anyway.
Tutorial Expansion: The tutorial now covers the new mechanics and deprecates the old ones. It's significantly more thorough; new players should have an easier time understanding the game now.
Visual & UI Improvements
Map Overhaul: A full visual pass on the map screen.
Battle Visuals: Updated visuals across the battle scene, including the Potentia component during Card Clashes.
Genius Selection Screen: Refreshed visuals for the Genius selection screen.
Reliquiae Visuals: Updated look for Reliquiae in the inventory and battle.
Canon Circle Indicators: Each Canon now shows which Circle it belongs to at a glance.
Canon Icons: A handful of Canon icons were updated.
Tooltips, Reworked: We rebuilt the tooltip system to make Reliquia and Canon effects more readable. (Keyword definitions are now optional.) Keyword descriptions themselves were also rewritten to be clearer and more concise.
Flavor Terms in Italic: In-game Latin (Canon, Region, etc.) now appears in italic instead of being styled as keywords.
Cursor Resolution: Higher-resolution mouse cursor.
Home Animation Fix: Removed the pop-in and stutter on the home animation.
Balance & Polish
Reliquia & Canon Tuning: Several Reliquia and Canon abilities were adjusted to fit the new clash and Vigor rules.
Save Compatibility: Active runs from previous versions were removed to keep things stable under the new ruleset. Existing save data is untouched; only in-progress runs are affected.
Various minor fixes.
What's Next
Multilanguage Support: Still actively in development, taking a bit longer than we hoped.
Game Design Rework, Continued: This patch was one of the biggest steps, but we're not done. We're still exploring ideas (including whether minor arcana have a place in the design), and more changes will roll out across future updates.
More Events & Content: New events, new Canones, new Reliquiae, and more gameplay variety are in the pipeline.
Battle Reworks: We will continue to update the battle scene to improve readability of the interface and of what's happening on the screen.
Lower Circles & Hell Map: Both still cooking. We'll share more when we're ready to show them.
The Card Clash rework and the gated negative Vigor change the way the game plays at a fairly fundamental level. We're genuinely curious how the meta shifts on your end, and what new strategies surface now that border-dominance is no longer the easy road. As always, send us everything: what works, what doesn't, what feels off, what feels great.
Catch you in Hell, The Team