Hey Warlocks!
The Hard Coded Dilemma
First of all, we'd like to address the comments after our last update featuring key bindings changes. We've decided to revert the changes addressing key bindings. We appreciate your honesty and quick feedback, however harsh it may be.
Introducing Claymore was a bit more problematic than we would have expected, as with its inception one category had 3 weapons, while the players were able to assign only 2 weapons to a specific key as per Project Warlock’s code. To find a workaround we've decided to hard code specific key bindings and it seems that was not something anyone welcomed. At the same time we were working on the new difficulty level and the lives system. Over the course of the last few weeks we've tried to find solutions to the binding issue, but it turned out the best one was to revert to the pre-patch settings. So we did and moved Claymore to the 6th slot by default. At the same time we're removing the hard code to allow anyone to bind up to 2 weapons to a single key as before.
Fresh look at the lives system
And now - to give you more insight into an update to the lives system, as well as one brand new difficulty option!
Difficulty levels and losing lives, specifically, has been a hot topic since the game launched in 2018. The original concept (have limited lives and restart the full game if you lost them) was optional, but still the choice didn’t really sit well with a lot of the players. Some of the issues with that stemmed from difficulty spikes in certain areas, so we tried amending that by making a lot of adjustments to the game’s balance. The aim was to provide fair gameplay for the players and reduce the frustration caused by losing all their lives on a single boss fight, or a stage.
Five years on Project Warlock still finds new players and we decided it’s time to shift approach to the lives system with this patch, and we’re introducing redefined difficulty levels and reworked lives system. For those of you seeking the most hellish experience that results in losing all your progress, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Here are the patch notes:
Key bindings changes
- 1-0 keys are no longer hardcoded
- You can assign up to 2 weapons to a single key
- The sword has been moved from Slot 1 to Slot 6 (by default)
Reworked lives system
- Reworked the functioning of lives. Instead of losing all progress, in any mode (sans the Single LIfe Mode) that offers limited lives you'll be sent back to your most recent Workshop visit with 3 lives
Redefined difficulty levels
- Casual - Unlimited lives
- Standard - Limited lives, upon losing all lives go back to your most recent Workshop visit with 3 lives
- (NEW) Hard - Unlimited lives, double monster damage, fast monsters
- Hardcore - Limited lives, double monster damage, fast monsters, upon losing all lives go back to your most recent Workshop visit with 3 lives
- Single Life Mode - Single life, double monster damage, fast monsters, progress reset upon death
We hope these changes will allow more players to experience the deadlier difficulties of Project Warlock without worrying about losing all their progress, while still providing the most difficult experience in the Single Life Mode.
Make sure to let us know what you think about these changes, so if you’d like to share your feedback, or report any issues with the game, please do so on the Steam forum, or our official Discord server.
As always, please share Project Warlock with your friends and leave a Steam review if you’re enjoying the game to help us reach even more players.
See you in the next update!
Buckshot Software and Retrovibe