Playtest notes 1 Jan 2026

Internal playtest77 entries30 content additions15 bug fixes12 balance changes9 wording fixes5 interface changes4 performance fixes2 art updates

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 New Year! This patch brings the start of fixes for hitching peroformance issues, a wave of card reworks across multiple characters, changes to the Necrobinder starter deck, Zlatir reworked into Vakuu, and a new score-based Epoch unlock system.

Items in this note

25 cards

Osty deals 3 damage.
If this is the first time this card has been played this turn, draw 1 card.

Deal 33 damage to ALL enemies.
Costs less for each Ethereal card played this combat.

Add 2 Inky Shivs into your Hand.

If the enemy has Poison, apply 9 Poison.

Osty's attacks deal 4 additional damage.

Enemy loses 3 HP.
Add 3 Souls into your Draw Pile.

Gain 6 Block.
Transform all Status cards in your Hand into Fuel.

Summon 3 X times.
Add X Souls into your Draw Pile.
Exhaust.

Exhaust your Hand.
If 9 cards were Exhausted this way, gain 1 Intangible.

If this is in your Hand, it must be played before other cards.
Eternal.

Forgotten Ritual

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

Osty deals 11 damage
and applies 2 Vulnerable
to ALL enemies.

At the start of your turn, lose 1 HP.
Whenever you lose HP on your turn, deal 6 damage to ALL enemies.

Next turn, Summon 2 and gain .

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

Pull from Below

Deal 5 damage for each Ethereal card played this combat.

Gain 1 Strength. ALL enemies lose 1 Strength.

Right Hand Hand

Osty deals 4 damage.
Whenever you play a card that costs or more, return this to your Hand from the Discard Pile.

Deal 13 damage.
Add a Soul into your Draw Pile, Hand, and Discard Pile.

The next Power you play is played an additional time.
Exhaust.

Whenever you create a Status, deal 5 damage to ALL enemies.

Draw 2 cards.
Exhaust.

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

Whenever you play a Power, gain .

Whenever you apply Vulnerable, draw 1 card.

Relics, potions and powers

Blood-Soaked Rose

Whispering Earring

Enemies and events

Content

General

Epochs which were revealed via Achievements are now gained via a score system at the end of runs

Ironclad

Reworked Forgotten Ritual into a Skill
Reworked Juggling

Silent

Reworked Blackened Blade into Blade of Ink
Reworked the following cards:
- Bubble Bubble (now a Skill)
- Graceful (now a Skill)

Defect

Reworked the following cards:
- Compute (renamed Subroutine)
- Refactor (renamed Smokestack)
- Signal Boost

Regent

Reworked Resonance (from Power to Skill)

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Necrobinder

Reworked Necrobinder starter deck
Reworked the following cards:
- Eidolon
- High Five
- Invoke
- Pull From Below
- Soul Storm
- Symbiosis into Fetch
Swapped effects between Right Hand Hand and Fetch

Ancients

Reworked Blessed Antlers
Zlatir reworked into Vakuu with new option pools
Added new Vakuu options:
- Hand of Vakuu
- Music Box
Reworked Ruby Earrings into Whispering Earring
Deprecated Echo Chamber
Deprecated Special Sleeve
Reworked Tanx's Might

Balance

Ironclad

Buffed Vicious card:
- Card draw increased from 1 -> 1(2)
- Energy cost decreased from 2(1) -> 1

Necrobinder

Buffed Calcify card: Osty's bonus damage increased from 3(4) -> 5(7)
Buffed Banshee's Cry card: now hits ALL enemies
Buffed Dirge card: no longer Exhausts
Changed Capture Spirit card: upgrade now adds 4th Soul instead of upgrading Souls
Changed Severance card: upgrade now deals 18 damage instead of upgrading Souls (was 13)

Ancients

Changed Perpetual Coin relic:
- Moved from Vakuu to Nonupeipe
- No longer affects merchants spawning in ? rooms
Merchant's Robes moved from Nonupeipe to Vakuu

Art

Added beta art for 21 new power icons
Added beta art for 22 relic images

User interface & experience

Game Over screen now features score bar animations
Ancient options in relic collection are now ordered alphabetically
Character-Ancient dialogues are now condensed to one line after exhausted
Character-Ancient dialogues no longer require a click after fully exhausted
Improved hitboxes for Phantasmal Gardeners, Queen, and Amalgam enemies

Writing

Various wording improvements based on player feedback
Compactor card renamed to Compact
Blood-soaked Rose description now mentions it adds the Enthralled curse to deck
Crimson Pendant description now mentions HP loss upon pickup
Fixed "Effortless" -> "Effortlessly" in Jungle Maze Adventure event
Fixed Rest Site and Colorless tag consistency
Removed erroneous space in Inked powertip description
Removed gold highlighting from Attack, Skill, and Power keywords in power descriptions
Renamed Zlatir Ancient to Vakuu

Bug fixes

General

Fixed cards in Deck incorrectly showing their in-hand text
Fixed Continue button briefly flashing when entering Neow room
Fixed crash when viewing run history for incomplete Ancient visits
Fixed font scaling having incorrect size
Fixed game not launching on macOS due to Gatekeeper issues
Fixed race condition in combat system
Fixed softlock related to Epoch unlock state when loading older saves

Ironclad

Fixed chapter 1 and 2 Epochs being out of order

Necrobinder

Fixed Sic'Em crashing when played without Osty

Potions & Relics

Fixed Leveler flashing at start of turn when player had no Block

Enemies

Fixed Door showing stun intent while dead when killed by Whistle
Fixed softlock when Doom kills both Kin Priest and Kin Follower in the same turn
Fixed Test Subject staying semi-transparent after losing Intangible while stunned
Fixed Torch Head Amalgam dealing more damage than shown in intent

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Events

Fixed Luminous Choir gold option not being locked when player cannot afford it

Performance

Fixed hitching when power icons appear
Fixed hitching when playing Inferno card
Fixed hitching when Osty revives
Fixed engine VFX hitching when playing cards

Newer: 8 Jan 2026 All patch notes Older: 18 Dec 2025

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