Playtest notes 5 Jun 2025

Internal playtest125 entries39 balance changes38 content additions20 bug fixes13 interface changes9 art updates3 wording fixes2 performance fixes1 audio update

This is a pre-release internal note from the closed playtest, quoted as it was written for testers. It describes a build that no longer exists; treat it as history, not as a description of the current game.

Happy summer patch time!

This week Neow and Tanx are getting glow ups while we bring in a whole host of cards for everyone while focusing balance on the Underdocks.

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A lot of the map assets have new colors, values, and some updated icons and we're also packing a lot of common textures so if you notice any strange visual issues or performance problems, do let us know because the texturepacker compatibility is a little janky. Things like image compression are now used on select assets as well so if you see non-placeholder assets with artifacting or anything, feedback there is appreciated.

A good chunk of core character SFX also made it in so each playable character should have more of its audio identity.

The Timeline is taking a time out this week as we want a few more UX touches before we take a look at it anew.

Items in this note

51 cards

Ethereal.
The first Attack each turn deals 50% additional damage.

Ultimate Defend

Whenever you create a card, gain 1 Strength.

Whenever you spend or gain , deal 3 damage to ALL enemies.

Brightest Flame

Gain .
Draw 2 cards.
Lose 1 Max HP.

If the enemy has Poison, apply 9 Poison.

Add 3 random Colorless cards into your Hand.
Exhaust.

Unplayable.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Hand, take 2 damage.

Calculated Gamble

Discard your Hand,
then draw that many cards.
Exhaust.

Child of the Stars

Whenever you spend , gain 2 Block for each spent.

Ethereal.
Deal 13 damage.

Draw 2 cards.
When this card is Exhausted, gain .

Ethereal.
Deal 9 damage to ALL enemies. ALL enemies lose 9 Strength this turn.

Enfeebling Touch

Ethereal.
Enemy loses 8 Strength this turn.

Gain 9 Plating.

Gain an additional 4 Block from Defend cards.

The first time you play a
0 Attack each turn,
return it to your Hand.

Forgotten Ritual

If you Exhausted a card this turn, gain .
Exhaust.

Get farther away.
Increase Sandpit by 1.
Increase the cost of this card by 1.

At the start of your turn, gain .

Deal 12 damage.
Draw 2 cards.

Deal 8 damage X times.
Double X if it's 4 or more.

Deal 15 damage.
Next turn, gain .

A random card without Replay in your Draw Pile gains Replay 2.

Add a copy of the third Attack you play each turn into your Hand.

Deal 6 damage.
Every 3 Skills you play in a turn, put this into your Hand.

Deal 5 damage twice.
Increase the damage of ALL Maul cards by 1 this combat.

The first Attack or Skill you play each turn is placed on top of your Draw Pile.

Whenever you draw an Ethereal card, draw 1 card.

Pillar of Creation

Whenever you create a card, gain 3 Block.

Summon 4.
Gain 7 Block.

Deal 9 damage.
Put the next card you play this turn on top of your Draw Pile.

Ethereal.
Transform a card in your Draw Pile into Soul.

Forge 7.
Sovereign Blade now deals damage to ALL enemies.

At the start of your turn, add 1 Sweeping Gaze into your Hand.

Sleight of Flesh

Whenever you apply a debuff to an enemy, they take 9 damage.

At the start of your turn, add 1 random Colorless card into your Hand.

Whenever you draw a card during your turn, deal 2 damage to ALL enemies.

Gain 7 Block.
Apply 1 Vulnerable.

Deal 3 damage.
Trigger all Lightning against the enemy.

Whenever you Evoke Lightning, deal 6 damage to each enemy hit.

Toric Toughness

Gain 5 Block.
Gain 5 Block at the start of the next 2 turns.

Weak enemies take double damage from Attacks.

Add Replay to a card in your Hand.
It costs an extra .
Exhaust.

The first time you gain Block from a card each turn, double the amount gained.

Deal 10 damage.
The next Ethereal card you play costs 0 .

Whenever you apply Vulnerable, draw 1 card.

Ethereal.
End your turn.
The first 2 cards you play each turn are free to play.

Deal 5 damage to ALL enemies X times.

Relics, potions and powers

Fairy in a Bottle

Intimidating Helmet

Ringing Triangle

Chains of Binding

Enemies and events

Content

Ironclad

Silent

Added new cards:
Bubble Bubble
Graceful
Sharp Edge
Speedster
Tracking

Defect

Added new cards:
Feral
Reflective Fortress
Snow Field
Thunder

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Necrobinder

Added new cards:
Symbiosis
Sleight of Flesh
Reworked Forgotten Ritual card

Regent

Added new cards:
Void Form
Terraforming
Arsenal
Astral harvest
Bundle of Joy
Make It So.
Reworked cards:
Pillar of Creation
Polish
Deprecated Eternal Solstice card

Colorless Cards

Added new Hidden Gem card

Ancients

Neow now always offers a third blessing with risk and reward
Added new Neow blessings:
Focus
Sturdy Brace
Gift Box
Reworked Bell of Twilight relic + is now granted by Neow
Added new multiplayer-exclusive Neow blessing, The Cleric

Balance

Ironclad

Changed Unmovable card:
Block gain increased from 4(6) -> 6(8)
Cost increased from 1 -> 2
Nerfed Taunt: now targets a specific enemy to apply Vulnerable on

Silent

Changed Calculated Gamble card: upgrade changed from losing Exhaust -> gaining Retain

Defect

Buffed Tesla Coil card: Energy cost decreased from 1 -> 0

Necrobinder

Buffed Pagestorm card: Energy cost decreased from 1 -> 0
Nerfed Pull Aggro card: upgrade Block gain decreased from 6(8) -> 6(7)
Nerfed Sentry Mode card: Energy cost increased from 1 -> 2
Nerfed Transfigure card: Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1

Regent

Nerfed Dying Star card: Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1
Changed Genesis card: rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
Changed Guiding Star card:
Draw next turn increased from 1(1) -> 2(3)
Upgrade damage decreased from 11(15) -> 11(14)
Buffed Heavenly Drill card: Energy cost decreased from 3 -> 2
Changed Hegemony card: rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
Changed Spectrum Shift card: rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
Nerfed The Smith card: Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1

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Colorless Cards

Buffed Ultimate Defend card: upgrade Block increased from 11(14) -> 11(15)

Potions & Relics

Nerfed Intimidating Helmet relic: Block gain decreased from 5 -> 4
Changed Lattice of Eyes relic: rarity increased from Common -> Uncommon
Changed Ringing Triangle relic: rarity changed from Uncommon -> Shop

Ancients

Nerfed Tezcatara's Brightest Flame card: Energy gain decreased from 2(3) -> 1(2)
Nerfed Tanx's Maul card: damage decreased from 6(7) -> 4(5)
Changed Necrobinder's Veilpiercer Neow bundle: Defile -> Death's Visage

Enemies

Buffed Fossil Stalker:
Latch damage increased from 9(10) -> 11(13)
Tackle damage increased from 7(8) -> 8(9)
Changed The Infested boss combat:
Fight move damage restructured and increased across the board
Infested Guardian now gives more Block and Plating
Buffed Parafright: Disrupt power amount increased from 11 -> 21
Buffed Sewer Clam: Strength gain increased from 3 -> 4
Buffed Thieving Hopper: Flutter power no longer decrements from non-attack damage
Buffed Toadpole:
Whirl move damage increased from 6(7) -> 7(8)
Max HP increased from 24(25) -> 25(26)

Events

Changed The Lantern Key event's History Course relic: no longer plays cards from two turns ago if you did not play cards the previous turn

Art

Added portrait art for various cards:
Toric Toughness
Enfeebling Touch
Seance
Black Hole
Seeking Edge
Frantic Escape
Added art and VFX for Tanx the Ancient
Edited values and sizes of map assets

User interface & experience

General

Added logic to apply a red dot in the main menu if there is a revealable Epoch
Players can now view the leaderboard at the game over screen of a Daily Run
Run seeds are now strings instead of numbers
Fixed controller bumper assets in settings to not be stretched
Fixed map node image edges looking strange
Game over history animation now plays fun sounds
Added new unknown map assets
Inspect card screen animations now more closely match inspect relic screen animations
Slightly improved feedback screen text legibility
Added notification dot for timeline button in main menu
Updated map drawing colors for all characters
When submenus open, the back button now animates in nicely

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Multiplayer

Alley-oop card can now have different hovertip description wording between the applier and their allies

Audio

Added new SFX for characters

Wording

Lethality modifier has been renamed to Murderous to avoid confusion with the Lethality card
Renamed Voidborn card -> Child of the Stars
Reworded Hardened Shell power hovertip to read as "cannot lose more than X HP each turn"

Bug fixes

Ironclad

Whirlwind card no longer keeps playing SFX/VFX once all enemies are dead

Defect

Fixed typo in Rebound card's description

Colorless Cards

Eternal Armor card now triggers "gain Block from card" effects
Fasten card now properly adds Block to Ultimate Defend card

Potions & Relics

Fixed an infinite loop if Fairy in a Bottle is triggered while Tide's Binding relic is active
Ranwid the Elder event is no longer encounterable if you have no potions

Enemies

The Two Slug and Three Slug combat encounters can no longer be encountered back to back
Cultist death animation is no longer cut off on the left
Fixed an issue where, after shrinking Test Subject in phase 1 or 2 with Beetle Juice and then killing it, it would stay visually shrunk
Fossil Stalker's Suck power no longer applies Strength in the middle of multi-attacks, so the number listed in their damage intent will now be accurate
Queen boss's Chains of Binding power no longer triggers during the enemy turn

Events

When hovering over the "Push" option in the Stone of all Time event, the Vigorous hovertip now correctly reflects the amount of damage it will add

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General

Abandoning a Daily Run at the main menu now submits your score
Burn status cards that have Ethereal are now properly Exhausted
Fixed softlock when loading into a run with the Terminal modifier
Insanity modifier can no longer give you Ancient cards
Nostalgia card's power no longer triggers when playing cards that were duplicated by effects like History Course relic
Run history nodes at game over can now be hovered over
Surrounded power icon no longer has an opaque black background

Multiplayer

Fixed issue with surrounded fights in multiplayer where the direction a single player was facing affected the damage calculation for all players

Performance

Further compressed large images and abstract VFX
Packed various assets into compressed texture atlas

Newer: 12 Jun 2025 All patch notes Older: 29 May 2025

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