Playtest notes 12 Jun 2025

Internal playtest85 entries25 balance changes14 interface changes13 art updates13 bug fixes10 content additions10 wording fixes

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.

It's time for the second June patch! This week brings in more controller support so you should be able to play an entire run from start to finish using a controller or Steam Deck. Still, it's quite early so feedback on its ux, ui, bugs, and general feedback about its implementation are appreciated. The support is in for Xbox controllers so other controllers may experience some weirdness or incompatibility at this time. Please report those as issues too!

The Timeline is still taking a little break while we bring in some balance changes, ux fixes, wording updates, and the usual bug extermination.

Items in this note

28 cards

Unplayable.
Eternal.

Sovereign Blade

Retain.
Deal 10 damage.

Adaptive Strike

Deal 18 damage.
Add a 0 copy of this card into your Discard Pile.

Gain 5 Block.
Upgrade a card in your Hand.

Deal 6 damage.
Deals 3 additional damage for each card in your Exhaust Pile.

If the enemy has Poison, apply 9 Poison.

Add 3 random Colorless cards into your Hand.
Exhaust.

Deal 52 damage.

Forge 3.
Sovereign Blade deals double damage to the enemy this turn.

Ethereal.
At the start of your turn, gain and draw 1 additional card.

Gain 5 Strength this turn.

Deal 7 damage.
Gain Block equal to damage dealt.

Gain 7 Block.
Add Sly to a Skill in your Hand this turn.

Deal 10 damage.
Double the damage ALL Hang cards deal to this enemy.

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

Draw 1 fewer card each turn.

Shivs gain Retain.
The first Shiv you play each turn deals 9 additional damage.

Retain.
If your Hand is empty, draw 2 cards and gain .

Sculpting Strike

Deal 9 damage.
Add Ethereal to a card in your Hand.

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

Deal 9 damage.
Deals 2 additional damage for each Soul in your Exhaust Pile.

Ethereal.
Osty deals 10 damage to a random enemy.
Exhaust.

The Sealed Throne

Whenever you play a card, gain .

Weak enemies take double damage from Attacks.

Whenever you apply Vulnerable, draw 1 card.

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

Relics, potions and powers

Enemies and events

Content

Silent

Reworked cards:
Bubble Bubble
Tracking
Sharp Edge (now called Phantom Blades)

Defect

Added new Adaptive Strike card

Necrobinder

Reworked Sentry Mode
Added new Sweeping Gaze token card

Ancients

Reworked Tanx's Whistle blessing
Reworked Neow's Monochrome blessing
Added new Neow blessing, Explorer

Balance

Ironclad

Buffed Ashen Strike card: damage scaling buffed from 2(3) additional damage per exhausted card -> 3(4)

Defect

Changed Seeking Strike card:
Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1
Damage increased from 4(6)->6(9)
Rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon

Necrobinder

Nerfed Bury card: damage decreased from 21 -> 13
Changed Hang card: stacking is now exponential instead of linear
Nerfed Sculpting Strike card: Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1

Colorless Cards

Buffed Restlessness card: now has Retain

Ancients

Nerfed Neow's Bundle blessing: now a cursed boon that sets the player's gold to 0
Changed Neow's Sturdy Brace blessing:
Is now a positive boon
No longer gives Greed
HP decreased from 20 -> 10
Changed Neow's Bell of Twilight blessing: additional Elites increased from 5 -> 8

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Enemies

Changed Knowledge Demon's Mind Rot affliction: now gives Knowledge Demon Vigor
Changed Lagavulin Matriarch: tweaked moveset
Changed Soul Fysh:
Beckon now causes player to lose 6 HP instead of applying Doom
HP buffed from 181(191) -> 211(221)
No longer starts combat with Intangible
Changed Waterfall Giant: is now more aggressive and attacks more often for slightly more damage

Events

Nerfed Waterlogged curse card: HP loss decreased from 3 -> 1

General

You now gain one orb slot when channeling an orb on a character with no slots

Multiplayer

Plating power decrements faster for enemies in multiplayer

Art

Added special death animation for Corpse Slugs when they die after Ravenous has been triggered
Added animations for Scroll of Biting enemy
Made Spiny Toad's explosion animation bigger and slicier
Orb slots now move when your character grows/shrinks
Added portrait art for Fisticuffs, Demesne, Symbiosis, and Conqueror cards
Added beta art for the following cards:
Feeding Frenzy
Vicious
Hidden Gem
The Sealed Throne
Crushing Depths
Arrhythmia
Soul Storm

User interface & experience

Potions & Relics

Gift Box relic now gives you the bonus relics automatically rather than through a reward screen
Relics count up again and now pause briefly when reaching their threshold

General

Animated map legend, map points, and back button for map screen
Cursor now changes to magnifying glass if clicking would open an inspection screen
Damage numbers are created even when zero damage is dealt
Ancient event buttons are now glassier
Spiral room transition replaced with gradient
Map screen opens with a little fade in and bump now
Removed back button from relic inspect screen and it now closes faster
Reward screen now opens with a little bounce, animate in faster, and the card inspect screen dismisses smoothly
Run timer is now stopped upon game over
Updated deck view screen view upgrades button and info text at bottom of screen
Updated all screen transitions VFX to be roughly 0.8 seconds; this makes some faster and some slower

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Multiplayer

Clarified instructions in multiplayer treasure relic picking

Wording

Improved Bell of Twilight relic wording
Cards which utilize quotation marks now utilize curly quotes rather than straight quotes to improve legibility
Experimenting with removing all "For the rest of combat" language from relevant cards like Armaments and Hand Trick
Fixed missing new line in Chest Beam card
For the Sturdy Brace ancient relic, the curse Greed is rendered in red text instead of gold
Regent's pronouns are now majestic
Trying a wording rule where we have Curses in relics show up in red text as they negatively affect the player
Updated text shown at bottom of various card select screens to have less caps
Updated wording for Pandora's Box relic's info text in the card view screen
Void Form and Bundle of Joy cards now specify that they affect cards energy costs specifically

Bug fixes

Silent

Accelerant power no longer softlocks combat if poison ends the combat

Regent

Players can no longer hover over the Sovereign Blade visual while dragging a card
Sovereign Blade hovertip no longer hides The Smith card's Star cost

Potions & Relics

Relic flash (e.g. eggs) no longer blocks card selection
Relic flashes now render over the topbar

Ancients

Fixed Neow's Gift Box blessing appearing too often
Fixed issue where you could get 2 Neows in your run's save if you save/reload when you first enter the Neow room
Fixed Neow's Cleric blessing which was appearing as the Bundle blessing

Enemies

Corpse Slugs now get stunned first before they get the extra strength when Ravenous is triggered
Fixed incorrect Defend intent on Waterfall Giant
Wriggler now does animation when it gives you Parasite

Events

Fixed an issue where dying during the Cursed Choice event could cause a softlock

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General

Unknown room odds are now correctly loaded from save file

Newer: 20 Jun 2025 All patch notes Older: 5 Jun 2025

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