Devlog – Combat Overhaul, Loot, Skills, Smarter Enemies & More
Hey everyone!
As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been sharing many updates on our social media channels for quite a while.
Unfortunately, the past few months have been extremely difficult for me financially. I lost my job, and at one point I came very close to losing the place I was living in as well. Because of that, development of Ashbound: Crown of Sin had to slow down significantly for a while.
Even so, I kept working on the game whenever I had the time and opportunity, and looking back, quite a lot has actually changed during this period.
So, here’s what we’ve been working on.
More Alive NPC Behavior
NPCs now behave much more naturally while going about their lives.
Instead of remaining permanently fixed in one location, NPCs can:
Sit around camps
Stand guard
Perform their own activities
Wander around areas
It’s a relatively simple change mechanically, but it makes inhabited areas feel significantly less static.
New Dynamic Camera System
A new camera system has been developed to give environments a more cinematic presentation.
Although Ashbound still primarily uses a fixed camera perspective, different areas of the map can now dynamically adjust its rotation.
This allows certain paths, landmarks, encounters, and environments to be presented from angles specifically designed for those locations.
The goal is to retain the readability of the existing perspective while making exploration feel much less visually static.
Customize How Ashbound Plays
One of the larger additions is a new collection of gameplay settings that allow players to customize the difficulty and even the overall rhythm of combat.
For example, animation cancelling can now be enabled or disabled at runtime.
With animation cancelling enabled, combat becomes much more responsive and closer to the flow of a hack-and-slash game.
Disable it, and attacks become commitments, creating a more deliberate style where every action needs to be considered more carefully.
The stamina system for regular attacks can also be enabled or disabled entirely.
Players can additionally adjust:
Player damage
Damage received
Adrenaline generation
Enemy aggression
Enemy posture recovery speed
Adrenaline is the resource used for abilities and healing, so players who want a more forgiving experience can increase how quickly they generate it.
Likewise, players who prefer less pressure during encounters can reduce enemy aggression.
Rather than forcing every player into one exact combat philosophy, the goal is to let you shape Ashbound toward the experience you enjoy.
Expanded Settings & Combat UI Options
A much larger settings menu has also been implemented.
Players can configure visual and gameplay elements such as:
Damage numbers
Blood effects
Additional character effects
Chromatic aberration
Motion blur
Other post-processing effects
Camera shake intensity
Camera distance
Smart auto-targeting / lock-on behavior
Enemy health bars can also be customized.
For example, you can choose whether they:
Always remain visible
Only appear when hovering over an enemy
Stay visible after an enemy has taken damage while untouched enemies remain hidden until hovered
The aim is to give players control over both visual clarity and how much information appears on screen.
Improved Enemy Attack Readability
Enemy attacks have received another readability pass.
Attack preparation animations now have longer anticipation frames, giving players more time to understand what an opponent is about to do.
Enemies also briefly display a visual effect on their weapon before certain attacks.
General enemy attack speeds have been slightly reduced as well.
The goal isn’t simply to make enemies easier.
It’s to make their intentions clearer, so getting hit feels like the result of misreading an attack rather than struggling to understand an animation.
Improved Enemy Attack Pattern Recognition System
One of the biggest combat changes is a reworked and improved enemy prediction system.
Enemies have had this general behavior before, but the underlying algorithm has now been significantly improved and made more consistent.
They can now better recognize the attacks and combo patterns you repeatedly use against them.
If you continuously repeat the same combo or simply spam basic attacks against the same opponent, they become increasingly capable of predicting your next move and parrying you.
Getting parried leaves the player staggered and creates an opening for the enemy to retaliate.
Higher-level enemies can also recognize and dodge certain player skills depending on their combat capabilities.
Expanded Finisher System
The finisher system has received a major improvement.
Finishers are now more impactful and much better integrated into the flow of combat.
The player currently has 10 different finisher animations, significantly reducing repetition when executing enemies.
This system will continue to grow as more enemy types and combat situations are introduced.
Overall Combat Improvements
A large amount of work has gone into improving the general feel of combat.
This includes changes and fixes involving:
Knockback from powerful enemy attacks
Heavy weapon hit reactions
Combat sound effects
Gore system issues
Visual effects
Enemy positioning
Attack decision-making
Enemy aggression
Animation transitions
General combat responsiveness
Powerful attacks from larger enemies now produce more believable reactions, including stronger knockbacks when appropriate.
There have also been many smaller fixes and adjustments across the combat system that are difficult to list individually.
Combat remains one of the areas receiving the most iteration, and it will continue to evolve throughout development.
Loot System & A New Direction for Equipment
A proper loot system has now been introduced.
Enemies and containers such as chests can drop different resources and equipment, including:
Gold
Arrows
Weapons
Armor
Other equipment
This also represents a small change in direction for the game.
Originally, I wasn’t planning for Ashbound to contain much of an item-grind element.
However, I’ve decided to expand the importance of equipment.
Different weapons and armor pieces will eventually be able to provide their own unique active and passive abilities, meaning the equipment you find can directly influence how your character plays.
The foundations for this system are now implemented, although most of the unique equipment and abilities themselves still need to be created.
With loot drops now working and the equipment system being redesigned around them, Ashbound is gradually moving toward a stronger ARPG-inspired build system.
Weapon-Specific Skills
Weapons can now have their own unique skills.
The skill available to the player depends on the weapon currently equipped, giving different weapons more identity beyond simply having different damage values or attack animations.
For now, this system supports active weapon skills.
Passive equipment abilities are planned for the future as well.
Skill & Perk Systems
The foundations for character skills and perks have also been implemented.
Characters can now support their own abilities, while equipment can provide additional active or passive skills.
A lot of the work here is currently happening underneath the surface, but these systems form the foundation for much more varied character builds later in development.
Inventory & Equipment Rework
The inventory is currently being redesigned alongside the new loot systems.
We’re transitioning toward a more traditional ARPG-style equipment and inventory structure, better suited for managing weapons, armor, loot, abilities, and future character builds.
Greatsword Resource System
Greatsword usage has been redesigned once again.
Rather than being freely available at all times, Greatsword attacks now use their own limited resource.
You replenish Greatsword usage by successfully performing:
Perfect Parries
Perfect Dodges
This turns the Greatsword into a reward for strong defensive play.
Instead of repeatedly throwing out powerful Greatsword attacks, you first need to earn those opportunities by properly reading your opponents.
The Greatsword remains one of your strongest combat tools, but accessing that power now requires more deliberate play.
Environmental Damage
The foundations for environmental damage have also been implemented.
The first basic example is explosive barrels.
Destroying a barrel can damage nearby enemies.
The current implementation is still placeholder-heavy in terms of visuals and sound, but the system itself allows for more environmental combat interactions in the future.
Improved Interaction System
Interactable objects are now easier to identify.
By pressing a button, players can temporarily highlight nearby objects and characters that can be interacted with.
If an interactable object is slightly out of reach, the player character will also automatically walk toward it before performing the interaction.
This makes navigating and interacting with crowded environments much smoother.
Special Enemies & Miniboss Foundations
A new category of special enemies has been added.
These enemies have considerably more health than standard units and are designed to sit somewhere between regular enemies and true miniboss encounters.
Their special status is displayed through icons alongside their health bars, making dangerous targets easier to identify during larger battles.
Systems have also been developed to allow future minibosses and bosses to use unique abilities and more specialized combat behaviors.
There isn’t a proper boss encounter in the game yet, but much of the underlying framework required for them is now in place.
Zombie Improvements
Zombies finally do more than simply walk toward you.
They now have proper attack animations and can fully participate in combat.
Several additional idle behaviors have also been implemented.
You may now encounter zombies:
Feeding on corpses
Crawling along the ground
Performing various idle animations
These additions help them feel more like creatures inhabiting the environment rather than enemies simply waiting for the player to arrive.
Companion Characters
Friendly NPC companions can now follow the player and participate in combat.
They can travel alongside you and fight enemies together with you.
This system will also be useful for quests and story sequences where characters accompany the player rather than simply remaining behind as static NPCs.
Improved Character Visibility
Additional character lighting has been added to improve player readability.
This helps prevent the player character from blending into darker or visually dense environments, particularly during combat.
Major Audio Improvements
Audio has received a substantial polish pass.
New and improved sounds include:
Weapon swings
Damage impacts
Sword clashes
UI interactions
Armor movement
Surface-dependent footsteps
Movement sounds can now change depending on the armor being worn.
Footsteps can also react to environmental conditions such as wet ground, giving movement more physical connection to the environment.
Additional Combat Screen Feedback
Several new screen effects have been added.
Healing now has additional visual feedback to make recovering health feel more satisfying and immediately readable.
Defeating enemies can also produce additional screen feedback.
These effects are being kept relatively restrained so they improve responsiveness without overwhelming the screen.
Checkpoints, Saving & Respawning
A proper checkpoint, save/load, death, and respawn system has now been implemented.
The game can track player progression and correctly restore the player when loading a save or returning after death.
Portal & Map Transition System
Portals have been added.
These allow the player to travel between completely different maps.
There are also invisible portal variants used internally to move the player between separate areas of the same map.
This provides much more flexibility when designing interiors, transitions, disconnected spaces, and larger regions.
Safe Zones
Certain locations can now disable combat.
In places such as camps, towns, and shops, the player will be unable to draw their weapons.
This creates a clearer distinction between combat spaces and safe social areas.
Notification & Warning System
A new notification UI has been implemented.
In addition to general notifications, the system can display contextual gameplay information such as:
Leaving or returning to quest areas
Warnings when entering regions containing significantly stronger enemies
Death-related information
Other contextual gameplay messages
The goal is to communicate important information without constantly interrupting gameplay.
Regions & Location Introductions
The world can now identify individual regions.
When entering certain areas, the name of the location can appear on screen.
This helps different parts of the world feel more distinct and gives important locations a stronger sense of identity.
Monument Statues & Environmental Additions
New monument statues have been added to several environments as part of the ongoing work to make different regions more visually recognizable and give locations stronger landmarks.
Main Menu & Opening Flow
The opening portion of the game is now functional.
This includes things such as:
Intro logos
Main menu
Save-related functionality
Demo information
Initial game startup flow
These systems help turn the project from a development build into a more complete playable experience.
DLSS & FSR Support
Both DLSS and FSR support have been implemented.
These technologies should help improve performance and provide more options for running the game smoothly across different hardware configurations.
Tutorial System
The tutorial card UI has been redesigned and tutorials have been added to help introduce the game’s mechanics more naturally.
Instead of overwhelming the player with everything at once, the system now introduces mechanics gradually as they become relevant during gameplay, making the early experience much smoother and easier to follow.
Playtest Preparations
We’ve also been preparing the first playable test version of the game.
This first playtest build is focused on giving a solid introduction to Ashbound’s core systems.
For this initial version, I’ve created two dedicated maps designed specifically for the playtest experience, with a total estimated playtime of around 45–60 minutes.
I’ll be announcing the exact date for the playtest this week, along with full details on its content, structure, and how you’ll be able to participate.
Localization
Work on localization support is also underway.
The game’s text systems are gradually being prepared to support multiple languages properly as
development continues.
There have also been many smaller fixes, improvements, and systems added throughout this period that would make this devlog even longer if I listed every single one.
Despite development slowing down significantly over the past few months, Ashbound: Crown of Sin has continued to evolve in a lot of important ways.
And as mentioned above, I’ll also be sharing the date and full details for our upcoming playtest later this week.
Thanks for continuing to follow the development of Ashbound: Crown of Sin.