Update 2026-04-29: Tutorials, Combo Rework & Combat Tuning

29 Apr 2026Developer post

Contextual Tutorial System (New)

Brand new in-world tutorial system: lessons appear when you first encounter a mechanic instead of being dumped upfront.
Each lesson fires exactly once. No spam if you walk past a second quest statue or pick up another coin.
Interactive lessons for counter, projectile deflect, and blink: press the actual button to dismiss and learn by doing.
Info-only lessons for combo, ultimate, overcharge, cooldowns, every pickup type, and every world interactable (vendor, crystal, quest statue, miniboss rune, boss gate, hookshot challenge).
New main menu checkbox "Show tutorials". Auto-disables once you've seen them all. Re-check any time to replay everything from scratch.
Tutorials cover the things that were easy to miss: HUD icons (hat = damage, staff = fire rate), cooldown indicators above the combo meter, overcharge's overcommit penalty, the purple coin shop loop.
Translated into all 9 supported languages.

Vendor shop now auto-selects the first row's Buy button when it opens, and snaps selection back if it ever gets lost mid-shop. Fixes the "stuck with no highlighted button" state on gamepad.

Combo upgrades' per-tier bonus reduced by 50% so they're not the obvious "free 2x" build path anymore.
Combo cooldown-reduction capped: max combo with the upgrade fully maxed now gives ~20% cooldown reduction (down from a previous half-or-more shave that drowned every defensive ability).
Combo can grow past max tier and the HUD shows the raw count as MAX (Nx). Going over the cap now bleeds 100 per tick down to the threshold instead of letting you sit safely above the limit.
Combo storm VFX disabled for now. Too noisy at high tiers, drowning out actual gameplay.

Counter damage multipliers reduced across the board: WhipSlam 2x → 1x, QuickStrike 2x → 1.5x, BeamBurst 2x → 1.5x, Fling 2x → 1.5x. Counters are still satisfying but no longer clear waves on their own.
Counter slow-mo duration cut from 0.5s to 0.25s. Less of a "stop the game" feel between hits.
Counter prompt now renders on top of every other VFX so it's always visible, even in busy fights.
Deflect cooldown doubled from 1s to 2s. More deliberate, less spammable.
Chain Lightning nerfed: max targets 6 → 3, damage per jump 45% → 25%. No longer the screen-clear button.
Soul Siphon (drain beam) heal rate tuned down for testing.
All percent-based heals now properly accumulate fractional values instead of always rounding up to 1 HP.

Anti-kite: enemies enter "chase mode" if you stay 30m+ away for 3 seconds, doubling their movespeed until they get back within 20m. Can't outrun a horde indefinitely anymore.
Live enemy cap lowered from 250 to 150. Late-game waves still feel packed but every enemy stays readable.
Orc rotation fix. They were turning unrealistically slowly due to a LOD setup bug. Now they turn at the speed they're configured for.

Direct-grant at 500+ kills now only auto-collects regular coins. Metacoins, potions and health stay on the ground.
Enemy upgrade drop rates rebalanced (common 0.5%, elite 1%) so a full run lands around 20 upgrades instead of 30+. Build still gets there, just not frontloaded by raw kill count.

Discovered chests now show as orange markers on the minimap and full-screen map. Looted ones dim to "used" tint so you don't waste time backtracking.
Map icon palette refreshed: quest (bright green), boss (red), miniboss (red-pink), chest (orange-red). Easier to read at a glance.

All 21 lighting presets reworked: brightest day toned down, darkest night brightened up, fog capped so no preset feels milky.