Devlog #8: a new bestiary, the Book of Synergies and what's new inside the game (demo v0.1.15)

The demo moves to version 0.1.15. This one is about understanding your defenses: a bestiary that tells you everything about each enemy, a book that shows what stacks and what doesn’t, and the patch notes inside the game, in your language. Many of these questions came from you, so thanks for asking them.

A new bestiary

On the map, before you MARCH, press B. Each enemy’s sheet now fits entirely on the page and says much more:

• At the top, its speed (compared to a soldier’s), how hard it hits a wall, how many lives it takes if it reaches the gate and how much gold it drops.
• Its layers (shield, armor and health) at the wave you choose, with the numbers from a real run.
• Eight effect cards that tell you whether Bleeding, Burn, Poison, slowing, stun, freezing, execution and marks AFFECT it, whether it RESISTS them or whether it’s IMMUNE, and why.
• At the bottom, the priorities from the defense panel that target it, with the same orbs.

Bosses and champions get the same sheet plus their story: every ability with its name and numbers (like Sir Roderic’s STORM CHARGE), their phases one by one and what to do when they fall.

The Book of Synergies

Next to the bestiary (key L) there’s a new book with eight pages: the rules, the stacks of Bleeding, Burn and Poison, the marks, control, what each defense leaves behind, how much harder each one hits when the enemy already has something on it, ten animated combinations and what doesn’t stack. It doesn’t tell you what’s best: it tells you what happens.

The enemies are the game’s own models walking with their animations, with Bleeding, Burn and Poison right on them: the blood runs and drips, the fire climbs the body in tongues, and the poison bubbles green.

What’s new, inside the game

Below the menu notices there’s now a WHAT’S NEW pill with the notes of the last four versions, in all 13 languages, filtered into NEW, CHANGES and FIXES. A lit torch tells you when there’s something unread, and the first time you open a new version a short note sums it up. Notes about something on another screen have a SHOW ME WHERE button that opens the map and points you to it.

Effects keep the best

• The best, not the latest: if an enemy was bleeding from a Ballista and then a weaker Archer hit it, the whole bleed switched to the Archer’s damage. Now every hit still adds stacks and refreshes the effect, but the damage, the slow and the time left are always the best it got. Same for Burn and Poison, and a short Ash no longer cuts a longer one.
• Different marks add up: the Arcane mark and Ash together give +40% (+70% with Anathema and Fertile Ash). Before, only one counted.
• Each defense burns on its own: an Archer’s Burn, a Catapult’s and the Fire Mage’s burn at the same time on the same enemy, each with its own strength.
• “EFFECTIVE against armor” replaces “BREAKS armor” on defenses and cards. BREAK is now only for what destroys that layer outright.
• The enemy sheet shows its marks (ARCANE, ASH, FROST) when you click an enemy.

Fixes

• Escape during the ending no longer freezes the screen: the ending has SKIP, like the intro and the defeat.
• Map signs no longer overlap: a wall next to an unlit torch no longer covers LIGHT.
• Everything in your language: the ammo, fire mode and priority signs no longer mix in Spanish, Arsenal notes fit their box in German, French and Italian, and the HALLOWEEN banner is measured again when you change language.
• The FPS counter no longer jumps with the UPGRADE medallion or covers the map’s BACK button.

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That’s 0.1.15. Steam updates the demo automatically. If something breaks or you have an idea, use Report a problem in the pause menu: it comes straight to us. And if you haven’t tried it yet, the demo is free on Steam. See you on the palisade.