Gameplay

A ready Vampire Hunts without tapping. Choose the hunter, then its prey.

• Hotel Madame Noire opens in Varynthis, with new opponents, house stock, and a twelve-rung Guest Book.
• Madame Séverine Noire, Mistress of the House, waits at the final table.
• Defeat the Confessor to unlock the Nine of the Sacred and their starter deck.
• Defeat Madame Noire to unlock the Sovereign, their starter deck, fortresses, and commanders.
• Previous qualifying victories grant the new faction rewards when your save loads.
• The Invitation brings new cards, fortresses, and commanders for Technocrats, Merchant Coast, Bards, and the Nine.
• Court of the Last Bell adds twenty Sovereign cards to the Undercroft, including Illyra and the Unconsecrated Crypt.
• Merchant Coast recruits four assassins across the core, Undercroft, and Madame Noire card sets.

The Bell That Drinks enters play. Its first allied Vampire Feed each turn deals 2 damage to the enemy fortress.

Mechanics

Dawn Delivery advances the Clock. Three wounded Vampires burn as Dawn arrives.

• The shared Clock advances through Day and Night. Card plays can bring Dawn before your opponent expects.
• Every second Dusk brings a Blood Moon. Allied Vampires gain +2 ATK and +1 DEF until Dawn.
• During Blood Moon, each ready Vampire can Hunt once per turn without tapping.
• Hunt selects an enemy unit, structure, or holding for a Free Strike.
• Allied Vampire deaths during Blood Moon grant surviving allied Vampires +1 ATK until Dawn, stacking.
• Dawn ends Moon bonuses and burns exposed Vampires. Daywalkers are exempt.
• Ordinary Vampires cannot attack, block, or activate abilities during Day.
• Blood Wells siphon enemy income; Enthrall temporarily takes control of enemy units.

Balance

The Undercroft

• Regular Undercroft tables are funded like the capital: 8 Tithe income and 12 Divine Favor to start, instead of 2–4 Tithe and 10 Favor. Seeded Church boards no longer fatigue on their first upkeep. The Cellarer's qualifier and the Confessor are unchanged.
• The Confessor plays freely between her scripted digs: she blocks, equips, and spends between her Relic Excavations instead of passing. In the paired pilot her table went from 75% to 35% player wins before the tables were refunded; expect a real fight, not a scripted one.
• The Censor, Hollis, sits down with one Chamber instead of two, trades Confess for Mortification of the Flesh and Keos Luvitar, and opens with Chapel, Monastery, Crusaders, and Incarcerate every time.
• Mortification of the Flesh: commanders lose half the DEF (ATK plus Sin, rounded down). Other units still lose the full amount.
• Avatars of Judgement, Retribution, and Sin: the 5 fortress damage and 3 cards arrive at the end of the turn you summon them, even if the Avatar has already left play.
• Holy Water heals its target fully and lifts debuffs; Forged Relic wipes excavation progress from every enemy Excavation and from Renquist.
• Undercroft bench (fresh starters, no emblems): regular tables 90% player wins with 7.1 fortress pressure on wins, up from 5.3, and zero opening fatigue across 40 seeded maps. Fresh-starter grids diagnose matchups, not full-run odds.

Hotel Madame Noire and the Sovereign

• Blood Moon: +2 ATK and +1 DEF for every Vampire you control until Dawn, including late arrivals. Varynthis, Citadel of the Sovereign adds one more ATK on top.
• Hunt needs a ready Vampire that is not still deploying, and strikes an enemy unit, structure, or holding. Fortresses and Lands cannot be Hunted.
• Blood Wells attach to the enemy Land or Holding producing the most; an attached Well makes 4 Blood and its host produces 1 less of each resource. Blood Infestation silences hosted Lands and Holdings for 3 enemy income steps.
• Lieutenants Dredik and Kraxis are assassins: 0 upkeep, and they do not untap in preparation. Pay 3 Blood to untap one.
• The Golden Exchange's Assassinate pays each assassin's own Paid Untap cost, not a flat Syndicate Fee.
• Mark the Prey replaces the previous Blood Target; Vampires Feed for double Blood on the mark and Varyn's Feeding Frenzy strikes it.
• Dawn Delivery pays its 3 Gold when either its casting hour or its 2-hour advance reaches Dawn.
• Starter bench (40 games per cell): the Sovereign starter wins 40/40 against the Confessor and 31/40 against Madame Noire. The Nine's fresh starter wins 20/40 against the Confessor and 0/40 against Madame Noire, so bring a developed deck to her table. Faction-wide tuning follows your reports.

UI

• The Journey Map becomes a tabletop journal with clearer region and tavern identities.
• Run preparation now follows Banner, Command, then Deck, with a persistent loadout and purse summary.
• Preview your complete deck and choose a recorded victory deck before taking your seat.
• The deckbuilder gains fuzzy search, unit filters, cost/type/rarity/set sorting, a deck breakdown, and clear-and-undo controls.
• Adding or removing a card highlights it in both the shelf and deck list, with a named confirmation and undo.
• Blood Target and other general status explanations live in the side Codex; card tooltips keep current effects and counts.
• The Clock previews time changes; Blood Moon lighting and card frames make its threat visible.
• Stack targets, card choices, Contract seals, and keyword explanations are easier to read.
• New and revised illustrations give commanders, fortresses, and visiting cards clearer identities.

Audio

• Hotel battles gain escalating music, Madame Noire dialogue, and a voiced welcome from the Maître d’.
• Blood Moon, Vampire Hunt, Blood Ray, Feed, and Dawn deaths receive dedicated effects and sound.
• Journal pages, chains, pistols, and victim reactions gain new audio.
• Sovereign tables sound like the house they sit in: the Undercroft and the Crossroads each get their own three-movement Vampire score. The hotel waltz stays in Varynthis.

Fixes

• Previously earned faction rewards are restored without replaying their ceremony at the end of an unrelated run.
• Units holding Guild Coins can sacrifice their own coin to return to hand, including Papri and Nilanjona.
• Rammy resolves and animates both charges separately, including two hits on the same surviving target.
• Uninvolved cards stay steadily dimmed between attackers during crowded combat.
• Sovereign Familiar visibly clashes with Oppression Towers even when Harrowing prevents all damage.
• Ordin, Crescent Moon and War Chains appear in their bearer’s ability menu and respect the bearer’s tap readiness.
• Lands and holdings show current production, Blood Infestation suppression and remaining income steps, and continuous effects in their tooltips.
• Resource breakdowns now show Blood Well reductions and bonuses on the affected cards.
• The Regent's Drink Last has a dedicated two-variation sound cue.
• Opponents correctly consider legal Airborne defenses and two-unit Dread blocks.
• The clock and room lighting now change together when Blood Moon or Dawn begins.
• Locked commander and fortress portraits show the current tavern's rewards before your first table, with their unlock conditions.
• Vampires killed when Dawn removes temporary DEF now receive Dawn ash effects and correct death credit.
• Crowded combat and simultaneous Dawn deaths keep their death animations.
• Incarcerate explains a missing Chamber, and captured units retain the correct upkeep treatment.
• Dawn Delivery pays its bonus when its casting time crosses into Dawn.
• Backstab and Paid Untap respect targeting, resource fees, and Vampire dormancy.
• Early Riser counts. Enemy Vampires exposed at Dawn were never credited to the Guest Book's 30-Dawn rung; deployed and pre-seated bodies now count. Dawns before this patch cannot be recovered.
• Every commander on the Command step has a real one-line brief; the new Varynthis and Undercroft commanders read "Deploy from your garrison" before.
• Censer Bearers show their work: the Sin they mark onto an entering or targeted unit threads from the bearer before the brand flares.
• Incarcerate's cage lands on the Chamber where it ends up. On large displays the first capture slammed a full card away while the freshly deployed Chamber's drawer was still opening.

Play the free Spirefall demo, and wishlist the full game if you want to follow the next region. Your reports from the new Hotel tables will help shape the next balance pass.