Greetings, Unfortunate Souls! You have been summoned for the first full-fledged devlog, dedicated to everything going on behind the scenes. Today I wanted to share information about the process, experience, and inspirations that led to the creation of INTO EVIL just the way it is.

In the beginning, there was a game.

I have always been a huge Souls series nerd and have been playing all of them: from Demons Souls to Elden Ring. It was a big inspiration for the control scheme and general level of difficulty (by which I mean punishing, but fair). Demons Souls has always been just one brick of inspiration. I was always keen on creating the game which had everything that I loved about ARPGs, while getting rid of everything else that I did not. Teleglitch a roguelike top-down shooter with retro pixel graphics, can be considered to be the main source of inspiration for INTO EVIL. This game was the one that showed me its possible to efficiently create a compelling real-time roguelike with minimal assets. Without this inspiration, I dont think I would ever actually tackle this project.
Beyond that, many other titles helped shape INTO EVIL into the game you know today. Here is the list of projects that I would like to give a shout-out:

• Catacomb Kids has fantastic systems-driven gameplay;
• Vagante has compelling exploration and vibes;
• And of course, I tried to carry some fun combat flashiness right from Blast Brawl 2!

That said, I was never going to create just another regular soulslike roguelike. I always considered the main goal of the game to be a better Diablo. A lot of in-game decisions were based on this particular ambition. For example, beyond simple things like removing grinding and getting rid of ridiculously small bonuses (like 2% increased fire resistance or ignore 5% of enemies frost resistance), one of the big things I wanted to change was damage being the universal answer to most problems.
In most ARPGs abilities tend to either increase the damage players deal or reduce the damage they suffer in some way. I always found it to be a rather boring and reoccurring issue that needed to be revised. And besides, I always wanted to play with non-damaging abilities being a viable option. This led to the following in-game features:

• The display of enemy health bars and the minimap became actual in-game abilities the player needed to discover;
• Complex stealth system: enemies react to the player not only when he enters their field of vision, but also rely on hearing, the players interaction with objects, etc.;
• Elemental interactions;
• Complex environmental effects;
• Making every item more interactive and diverse from one another. For example:
  • While axes have a different moveset from daggers; lanterns, torches, and throwing knives have diverse ways to use them.

It was important for me to make players not just think about the best OP build possible, but to force them to stay constantly engaged and use all moment-to-moment options they have.

On the second day, there were characters and aesthetics.

While creating INTO EVIL I always wanted to help players understand the storyline better with the help of the art style. I wanted to help players see beyond pixels, if it makes sense with in-game portraits of characters and bosses done in a different artstyle, standing out from the rest of the game. Thats why I have always liked to describe INTO EVILs art style as super-vivid gothic horror but slightly cartoon-y.
Characters and bosses were influenced by tropes and common fantasy concepts. I tried to keep the designs simple, but easily distinguished from one another to provide the player with a simple but quick and clear understanding of the core for any encounter. For example, the playable characters have an intentionally different vibe from the bosses the player faces. The player is meant to feel like ordinary struggling folk, encountering monstrous beings. While bosses and enemies are corrupted by otherworldly evil into contorted abyssal nightmares so theyre much more grotesque.

On the third day, there was music.

The choice of music was one of the crucial things that I had to decide on. One of INTO EVILs highlights is the very intense boss fights where humans clash against horrible grotesque monstrosities. I wanted to make the music fully reflect the concept of a crescendoing epic dread and make the players skin crawl. To fulfill such a goal, most dark fantasy ARPGs tend to have dramatic orchestral soundtracks or something inspired by Diablos soundtrack. I wanted INTO EVIL to sound more grungy and coarse, abrasive even. Darksynth felt just like a natural fit. After perusing a bunch of artists, I settled on the collaboration with Dav Dralleon. His vibe of never-ending apocalypse as well as gut-wrenching horror seemed like a perfect match. Without spoiling the future regions, I am stocked to have all the music for INTO EVIL be done by Dav. Im sure youll find the games OST pretty memorable as well. Meanwhile, go check out his other stuff! [previewyoutube=Vt1nFPS35-c;full][/previewyoutube] As you may see, INTO EVIL is the game that has been created out of deep passion and years of experience. It could have become many things, but here we stay: a gruesome tale of the Inverted Tower where only the most unfortunate souls have the slimmest chance to reach its deepest levels. What is waiting for you in the future? Only time will tell. While waiting for future updates, dont miss a chance to experience the dread of INTO EVIL by braving the Open Demo. Ally with friends in Multiplayer, betray your foes in the PvP Arena mode, and dont forget to brave down the Inverted Tower.
Have you ever found yourself longing to discuss the effectiveness of border posts? Play Russian roulette with a shotgun? Explore the mysterious Great Well, unwanted by the world above? Or maybe join the Tulpar Crew? Talk horror and post quality memes? Then join the Critical Reflex Discord to stay updated and finally connect with your allies! We will keep an eye on you.

[ 2025-02-12 16:17:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Beware and Behold, Unfortunate Souls! We summon you once more because INTO EVIL just took part in the OTK Winter Expo 2024! To celebrate the showcase, we are inviting you to watch the brand-new trailer: [previewyoutube=veOlMcpauyU;full][/previewyoutube] If you thought we would stop here, you are wrong. We have prepared the second major Demo update. The main feature that we are adding is a chance for you to backstab your best friend in the PvP arena. The Versus Mode was forged in the abyssal depth of The Inverted Tower and will unlock after defeating the Prologue. Read further to study all the changes in more detail, OR, just dive right into the game and experience them firsthand! Key changes:

• Steam Remote Play-based co-op is now more seamless and part of the in-game experience.
• Added The Arena, accessible after defeating the Prologue.
• You can now enable Full Split-Screen if you do not wish to have the camera zoom out to keep all the players in view.

The Arena

• An additional passage further below can now be found in the top-right of the Great Hall. It is initially locked to unlock it, beat the Prologue!
• Once unlocked, exit through the side passage to enter The Arena, where you can battle your friends to the death!
• Once a map is selected, combat will begin. You will be placed on teams according to your player color, and be assigned a few lives each. Defeat all opposing players to win!
• While each map has a core layout and emphasizes certain mechanics, they are also partially randomized for each battle. A unique set of hazards and discoverable loot will be present hurry and find the best items before your opponents do!
• Maps also contain locked chests these contain particularly powerful gear, but require keys to open! Those keys are guarded by powerful champions foes who periodically spawn onto the map and try to slay any players they encounter. Lead them towards your enemies to ruin their day, or risk a direct battle with them in order to claim their key for yourself!
• In addition to loot, there are more permanent ways of gaining power: for example, by slaying other players! Whenever a player dies, they will drop either a pickup that will fully heal the claimant, and increase their vigor or vitality. This buff will last across lives!
• Finally, each map has a central area where occasionally power will gather. Once gathered, it can be claimed but only by a single player. Stand in the zone alone for long enough, and you will have otherworldly might be bestowed on you

Multiplayer Changes

• You can now view your Steam Friends in-game, and send them an invitation to join your session via Remote Play.
• Triggering the Steam Overlay will now pause the game.
• In multiplayer, the Character menu for each player is condensed and shrunk to a corner of the screen.
• Correspondingly, multiple players can now have their character menus open simultaneously.
• HUD elements progressively reduce in size with more players.
• The way difficulty scales with more players has been revised.
• When in multiplayer, you can now toggle the split-screen mode in both the Descent and the Arena.

Balance Changes

• The Veterans starting armor is now weaker.
• The Friar now begins with a wooden shield in addition to their mace and lantern.
• The bounce off effect of heavy armor now only applies against blows of sufficiently low force.
• Shields consume slightly more vigor when blocking attacks (based on their force).
• Correspondingly, the attack force of all items has been rebalanced. Some weapons are now better at breaking through shields (ex: maces), and some weapons are now slightly worse (ex: swords).
• Torches now ignite foes when landing a critical blow.

Input Changes:

• The game now waits for player input at startup before advancing to the main menu. The purpose of this change is to determine more gracefully if a player wants to use a gamepad or keyboard/mouse.
• Correspondingly, all methods of input - plugged-in gamepads and keyboard/mouse - require input before they are claimed as player inputs by the game.
• The auto-replace keyboard option has changed: plugging in additional gamepads no longer replaces the mouse and keyboard until the fourth one is added. It has been moved to the Options > Input > Controllers menu.
• There is now an additional keyboard disable setting that more specifically disables the keyboard if gamepads are being used. (This new setting defaults to off.)
• Added the ability to explicitly disable controllers and the keyboard/mouse in the Options > Input > Controllers menu.
• The gamepad input library (InControl) has been updated to the latest version.

New Player Changes:

• Pings indicating the player has a tutorial message waiting for them now gradually intensify.
• Only 2 tutorial messages are allowed to accumulate, with higher-priority tutorials replacing lower-priority ones in the queue.
• There is now a popup tutorial on how to juggle items between hands.

Misc Changes:

• Updated to the latest version of Unity (2022.3.52f1).
• Some of the Essence traits the player can acquire have been rebalanced.
• The quality and quantity of items you can discover in the dungeon has been rebalanced.
• You can now perform basic actions (swapping items, opening doors, etc) without breaking stealth.
• Some icons for rarer items that were not completed in time for the prior update have now been updated.
• The subtle shadow underneath entities (to help them stand out visually against similar-colored backgrounds) has been intensified.
• Footstep sounds when the player comes to a stop are less jarring.
• Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented Vitae Sparks from appearing properly upon enemy death.
• The camera can now zoom further out.
• The pathfinding library has been updated to the latest version.
• Astral Projection now untethers the players view from their corporeal body.
• Spells with increased levels of mastery now properly reflect it in their name.
• The Bloom filter has been removed from the vision system. This should improve the framerate on Steam Deck.

Lastly, join the Critical Reflex Publisher Page and Discord to stay updated and connected with your allies.

[ 2024-12-04 20:25:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Beware and Behold, Unfortunate Souls! Its been a long time since the last update, but news has finally emerged from the abyssal depths of the dungeon. It's high time to announce that INTO EVIL, the megadungeon you are still not ready for, is joining the CRITICAL REFLEX family! Together well deliver the most intense and brutal experience to anyone daring to face the dangers of the underworld. [previewyoutube=0NCAQTCBseU;full][/previewyoutube] In INTO EVIL, its The Inverted Tower, not the Tower of Babel you need to worry about, as such we have localized the demo into the following languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Simplified Chinese
• Spanish
• Traditional Chinese
• Ukrainian

We recognise its been a long time since the last update, so weve made sure to make it worth your while by making this one the biggest yet. Beyond adding localisation, weve made adjustments to every area of the game, here are some of the key changes:

• The "leveling up" process has been revised.
• All items (and the modifiers they can acquire) have been revised and polished.
• Each unlockable characters starting traits have been revised.
• New items have been added to the game. Go discover what they do!

Scroll down in order to study all the changes yourselves!
Progression changes:

• Consuming a Vitae flame is now more dramatic and more clearly indicates the rewards to the player.
• Branding Runes have been removed from the game.
• In their place, "Soulsear Engines" have been added - these devices allow a user to consume a Soul Point in return for one of three random traits.
• The Runes that characters can obtain have been reworked (and renamed Essence).
• Consuming a Vitae Flame no longer resets all cooldowns. (This is meant to simplify their effects and make them more understandable.)
• Being resurrected in multiplayer is now much more dramatic, as your bones and flesh are reconstituted by arcane power.

Character changes:

• Each unlockable characters starting traits have been revised.
• Characters now begin with Essence traits unique to them that help grant them a more unique playstyle, as well as encapsulating their backstory.
• Unlockable characters now have an explicit flaw unique to them to counterbalance their increased starting abilities. Try out their new playstyles!

Gameplay changes:

• Many items have received tweaks and polish (or removed/replaced).
• New items have been added to the game. Go discover what they do!
• New item modifiers can be discovered.
• Healing Potions, and Potions of Magic are now Vitae ampoules and behave slightly differently.
• All other potions have been removed from the game. They are planned to be re-added in a more comprehensive alchemy update later in Early Access.
• Many items now have more visual variants - for example, more patterns of shields can be discovered.
• Some items are now "brittle" and degrade, then break, over time.
• You can now struggle while frozen to break free more quickly.
• There is a new status effect, wet. While its direct effects on your character are slight, its interactions with other elements are significant...
• Parry windows have been significantly tightened.
• Ammunition now persists between levels when loaded into crossbows.
• Whip yanks no longer make unaware enemies look in the wrong direction.\
• By default, you can no longer manually unlock when playing on a gamepad. This should prevent new players from accidentally unlocking themselves when getting used to the controls. (An option to revert to prior behavior is in Options > Gameplay.)

HUD Changes:

• Runes now display more holistic information in the Character Menu, detailing both their background and the exact changes they add to your character.
• Changes in Vigor and Vitality are more clearly indicated.
• When displaying the Armor of an item or ability, the HUD displays an armor icon next to the stat changes to make this more clear.
• Armor stats now are more clear when comparing the difference between the armor you are examining and the currently-equipped item you would be replacing.
• There is now a "Defenses" page on the Character Menu.
• Fixed a bug where the dialogue overlay would scale poorly in multiplayer.
• The look and feel of the HUD has been refined.
• You are no longer able to bring up the Character Menu or pause the game mid-dialogue.
• During multiplayer, players are no longer able to have clashing Character Menus displayed simultaneously.
• All item icons have been reworked.
• You can now change the cursor to a higher-contrast red if the simple white version is insufficiently visible.
• The game now displays an explanatory alert when a controller has suppressed keyboard input.
• Due to needing to support a broader range of characters for various languages, the header font in the UI has been changed.

Other changes:

• The pathfinding library has been updated to the latest version.
• Graphics jobs have been enabled (which should improve performance on Steam Deck).
• Sprites atlases have been created to improve batching at runtime (which should improve performance on Steam Deck).
• Unity has been updated to version 2022.3.32f1.
• Fixed some visual bugs in the prologue.
• Prisoner torture chairs no longer appear in narrow hallways.
• Fixed a bug where objects were placed too close to each other and protruded past the edge of walls.
• All references to acid damage have been changed to refer to psychic damage.
• The games build date is now visible in the Options menu. (Please reference when filing a bug!)
• You can now reset the games playthrough state in the Options menu (while leaving conventional settings intact).

Lastly, join the Critical Reflex Publisher Page and Discord to stay updated and connected with your allies.

We will keep an eye on you.

[ 2024-08-27 16:47:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back - have a fresh update! This one has taken a bit, but I promise the wait has been worth it!

Key changes:

• The Inverted Tower's depths are now much more interesting! (No spoilers!)
• The guaranteed "first dungeon" is now different.

Dungeon changes:

• Many more dungeon pieces fit together, resulting in less predictable and denser-feeling layouts.
• Chests no longer trap characters/effects that are not supposed to be in them
• In the second level of the Prison, the exit should much more reliably be far away from the start.
• Stabbing attacks, projectiles, and similarly less-physical objects can pass through iron bars/grates and other "porous" obstacles. Enemies take advantage of this.
• Bonfires in the dungeon now emit more light.
• Enemies now path around tables.
• Doors no longer open to a full 90 degrees, making things become trapped by them less frequently.
• Knight-Wardens now hold Pikes less frequently.
• Giant Rats are now more deadly.

Tutorial / HUD changes:

• Popup tutorials are now less intrusive when they appear but accumulate in the bottom right of the screen.
• Now, when popup tutorials are "opened" via the Start button, they pause the game and appear as "info" windows in the center of the screen
• Popup tutorials now display an image that adds context.
• Picking up an item in a non-standard hand is now more intuitive.
• The prompt that explains how to swap back after auto-stowing an item on pickup now also indicates how to drop items.
• The Prologue now more clearly indicates how to drop an item in a specific hand.

Other changes:

• Updated Unity version to 2023.3.21f1.
• Updated pathfinding library to latest version.
• Updated dialogue library to latest version.
• Sounds no longer play when offscreen by a sufficient margin, and their volume is always correct.
• GradualChangeFloatVal no longer causes extraneous error logging due to object inaction.
• Lightmaps can now contribute to the detected light level on entities.
• "Manaforged" arrows generated by "Producing" bows now deal 2 damage instead of 1, making them more viable.
• Various other visual tweaks and enhancements.

[ 2024-04-06 16:13:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tiny update here! I was just traveling for a couple weeks, and noticed some bugs while away that I wanted to fix! (And some tweaks to the lighting stuff were suggested, which I have now incorporated!

Key changes:

• Some lighting bugs have been fixed, and overall lighting quality has been further enhanced.
• The buttons for Invocations and Carried Items have been swapped on gamepad (making the layout closer to Dark Souls, and more aligned with the HUD).
• Demon packs in the second level are slightly less numerous.
• The Priest of Bones now has less health.
• Fixed a teleportation bug with certain boss arenas.
• It is now harder to get stuck behind objects in the dungeon.
• Animation rate changes (such as from becoming chilled) now better react to mid-animation adjustments

Please let me know if you run into any problems at all!

[ 2024-02-19 17:20:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, dungeon delvers! With Steam Next Fest on the horizon, here's a massive polish update to make your Descents even more sinister!

Key changes:

• Many things look significantly better.
• Many dungeon rooms have been revised.
• The boss fights on the first floor of the Prison have been revamped and made harder.

Non-Spoiler Changes:

• Lighting quality now gracefully degrades as game quality is lowered. (Medium is now more performant on Steam Deck.)
• Added bloom to the game.
• The game now applies a dithered noise effect to the rendered game view. (This can be disabled in the graphics options if desired.)
• There are now several options to adjust how responsive the game camera is, reducing motion sickness in sensitive players.
• Bosses should now be prevented from being flung out of their arenas due to physics bugs.
• Initial audio volume is a bit less loud.
• Torches are a tiny bit brighter and less flicker-y.
• Footsteps are generally more audible, there is more variety in sound when stepping on various things, and footstep loudness more consistently interacts with entity AI.
• Greatbows are now a bit faster when firing power shots.
• Knight Lossaire is now less baffled by columns.
• The Knight of Blood's Thorn Rapier looks different, has more reach, and has a less stun-locky moveset when in close melee.
• Ice skulls are slightly less dangerous.

This is "Part 1" of a massive set of changes to the dungeon levels. This initial update primarily focuses on the graphics of the game/certain "core" polish things. Once Steam Next Fest is over, I'll be releasing "Part 2", which will change actual level layouts more drastically (especially the second floor of the dungeon, which is quite bare-bones at this point)! Happy dying! Please report any issues or bugs you might find!

[ 2024-01-29 23:05:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tiny update here! In preparation for the much bigger update that's coming, I added some fancy new lighting techniques in INTO EVIL! Feast thine eyes:
I wanted to get this update out to make sure players could report any issues before the next update lands. Specifically, there's a slight chance this might cause performance issues on low-end devices - as such, the Quality setting in the options menu will actually impact certain things about lighting quality now. Please let me know if you run into any problems at all!

[ 2024-01-04 01:26:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Key changes:

• Prepare thyself for even more demonic foes
• Ranged combat has been revised (see below)

Enemy changes

• Three more terrifying fiends have been added to the depths: the Skinless Walker, Doomringer, and Ignifex
• Cruciform Thralls now sometimes scream when charging you
• The Priest of Blood's boss arena now contains foul, mysterious eggs...
• Gums can now shove their bulk backwards, knocking away players at their rear
• Greaselings now spread fire to nearby creatures and objects while burning
• Various other minor tweaks to enemy difficulty

Ranged combat changes

• You can now find more ranged weapons: shortbows, longbows, and greatbows
• Bolts are now Arrows, and are used by both crossbows and regular bows
• Arrows have a high chance to persist after being fired, allowing you to pick them up again
• Projectiles now fire with different speed/duration multipliers from different weapons
• Crossbows now take longer to reload
• Quivers no longer provide endless ammo, but instead provide a larger, dedicated ammo pool that gets refilled as you discover ammo of the same type on your Descent.
• Individual arrows now gleam on the ground (like gold)

Other Changes

• Vampiric blood consumption now glows, making it much more visible in dark areas
• The Frozen Needles spell has been reworked and now provides a buff that auto-summons needles over time, instead of constantly needing to be recast
• Icicles summoned by Frozen Needles can now be used as arrows if you have no other ammo
• Carried items now show a comparison against the slot they would replace (if no space remains)
• Dropped horns can now be played
• Corpses of summons and ephemeral creatures now fade away and vanish

Also, Happy New Year! :D

[ 2023-12-31 21:43:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Enemy changes

• Beware: 9 new devilish enemies have been added to the game.
• Tower Shield Guards now have an additional weapon, better AI, and are more "active"
• The branding iron no longer inflicts knockback (cultists instead are personally imbued with unnatural force)
• Flesh cultists should no longer stand around idle when no more frontline allies remain to engage with the player
• All demons now have darkvision.

Other changes

• The "close" prompt for popup tutorials now moves a bit to help players see it
• Status icons are always shown if the user has a temporary/expiring one, making it easier to track their status
• All items with imbued spells now show a more fleshed-out description of the spell they cast
• Fixed a bug where dying in the character select hub soft-locked the player
• Recharge times of various spells have been tweaked for better balance.
• Armor now plays clash FX when fully negating a damaging blow
• Displayed item/ability info now handles the width of displayed content better
• Fixed a bug causing certain characters to spawn with equipment/property modifiers applied twice 9_9

[ 2023-11-24 23:33:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Key changes:

• Magic and spells have been revised and expanded (see below)
• The HUD has been revised and expanded (see below)
• All playable characters and NPCs have updated portraits (and their in-game appearance has been updated to match)
• The Barbarian and the Rogue have been removed from the game - they will return as part of the Mighty Weapons and Dual Wielding content updates after the Early Access launch (respectively)

Magic changes

• Pyromancy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Firebolt, Fireball, Ignition, Bonfire, Fireforge, and Mantle of Fire
• Cryomancy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Snap Freeze, Winterchill, Iceshatter Mine, Blizzard, Frozen Needles, and Mantle of Frost
• Tempestry has been revised and contains 6 spells: Step of the Wind, Static Spark, Lightning Bolt, Wind Blast, Sparkdash, and Thunderstorm
• Divination has been revised and contains 6 spells: Starlight, Starsight, Cartography, Intuition, Clarity, and Astral Projection
• Iasotrophy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Heal, Regeneration, Bolster, Inoculate, Blightbolt, and Toxic Mist
• Most spells can now be "charged up" to cause a "better" version of the effect with different properties
• Charging up spells causes your character to chant, which is audible to nearby enemies
• If your spell is disrupted before it is properly unleashed, it is "disrupted" and appropriate effects indicate that you lost the charge
• Spells that create an effect at a target spot can be more precisely placed with a mouse
• More effects now have magical auras that can be percieved
• Magical auras now (once revealed) can display text that explains what a given effect or aura "does"
• Spell Tomes are now held items that passively increase your knowledge of a selected spell while equipped held
• There is no longer a way to spend Vitae to permanently learn a spell; this feature will return in an upcoming update that will revise character progression
• There are now additional popup tutorials explaining the above during gameplay
• "Heroism" invocations - Battlecry, Flicker Dodge, etc - have been removed from the game and will be reworked in a later update.

HUD changes

• The look and feel of the on-character menu + HUD has been entirely redone
• Your player character's portrait now appears in the HUD "root menu"
• There is a new on-character submenu - "Invocations" - that explains the effects of all invocations a player currently has access to (including those castable from items)
• There is a new on-character submenu - "Active Effects" - that shows a description of any active status effects/debuffs on your character
• Buffs/sustained effects are now dispelled via the "Active Effects" menu
• Status bars/icons now appear above the player during active gameplay
• The HUD is now colorized with your player color
• You can now change your player color during character select

Other Changes:

• Invocation order and focused carried item/invocation now properly persists between levels
• Bleed is now more dangerous
• Bloodfly clouds now apply bleed at a much faster rate
• Shock now damages entities that have negative lightning defense (such as from metal armor)
• The gates of the cages in the Prologue can no longer accidentally trap the player
• The shortcut in the Prologue can no be opened from the other side of the wall
• Knight Lossaire no longers cares about allies outside the boss arena
• Map generation should be more tolerant of rare errors

This is actually a giant update that brings the core game much closer to the "final" state for Early Access! Go give it a try!

[ 2023-10-23 00:38:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the DUNGEON! I will be hosting a livestream of INTO EVIL on October 11th! Swing on by and check it out!

[ 2023-09-26 17:09:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

A smaller update this time, mostly centered on usability improvements and bugfixes. As usual, please file feedback in the Steam forums or on the INTO EVIL Discord!

HUD/Menu changes:

• Carried items are no longer arranged "around" the character in the in-game HUD but are instead below them (mirroring the displayed Invocations)
• The multiplayer color indicator has been slightly adjusted to be more visible but less intrusive at all levels of camera zoom.
• Things are much more dramatic when a boss is slain
• "Escape" (or any other configured "start/menu" button input) now escapes the pause menu in the Descent.
• A list of all connected controllers is displayed in the Options > Input > Controllers menu
• The focused consumable slot can now be properly dropped from the Gear > Carried Items wheel
• Cycling through empty consumable slots on a gamepad no longer causes a "nothing to drop" popup (only long press)
• Long-range crossbow aiming now shows the prompt to "shoot" via hitting the Interact button for precise shots

Input changes:

• The game now auto-pauses when a player's controller is unplugged
• Auto lock-on and auto target switch can be disabled in the Options menu
• Enemy auto-lock is now weighted by "enemy importance" (i.e., it's easier to stay locked on to a boss instead of its minions)
• Manual locked-on target switching on gamepad has been improved and made easier to track
• It is easier to pan the camera around the edges of the screen with mouse and keyboard, and lock-on no longer disrupts this.
• You no longer dodge when leaving the on-character menu on a gamepad
• Crossbow fine-grained aiming now works properly again on gamepad.

Other Changes:

• Enemies no longer turn their back to you when projecting your movement
• The fire pools in the Hellfire boss arenas now properly damage you repeatedly
• The whirling blades in the Priest of Flesh's boss arena now only cause regular damage flashes (to reduce visual noise when minions are getting struck)
• The flesh walls summoned by the Priest of Flesh now do not act as lock-on targets.
• Shields no longer block "zone" attacks (pools of fire, blizzards, etc)
• Quivers drop less frequently
• The crossbow aim indicator is no longer disabled when travelling between levels
• The radius in which you hear Blood Demon chittering has been decreased
• Fixed a typo in the demo final boss fight dialog.

[ 2023-09-16 22:26:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Key changes:

• Enemy AI has been significantly improved (see below)
• Item durability has been removed from the game

AI changes:

• Enemies avoid hazards and navigate levels much more consistently
• Spell effect zones now impact enemy pathing/avoidance
• Enemies may now avoid committing to attacks while a hazard/barrier is between them and their target
• Enemies detect and react to threats more consistently
• Enemy speech barks have been revised
• Human enemies are now more vocal about their internal understanding of the world
• Certain enemies can now partake in "activities" while not in combat (patrolling, etc)
• Characters in the prologue now are connected to the full AI system/path more intelligently

Stealth Changes

• Sneaking is now more consistent / intuitive (may still need tuning though, I'll watch for feedback)
• The AI Vision/Hearing systems has been revised
• Entities now take a brief period of time to react to sounds
• Once alerted, enemies will search for enemies/threats
• There is now a "visibility" indicator while stealthing that indicates how much light is on you
• Undisciplined enemies now can have an explicit "startled" animation+shout when they are alerted
• Startled enemies can now alert nearby allies to their perceived threat
• There are now various popup tutorials about stealth and how light/sound affect it
• The "Shadow's Veil" cloak now actually makes you harder to see while stealthing

Parry Changes

• Enemies stay in a parried state spin for slightly longer + travel slightly slower
• Running/lunging attacks detect if they are chasing a target and, if so, travel for a longer/farther distance to reach them
• There are now tutorials for Parrying

Codex Changes

• The Codex is now available during the Descent
• The Codex's layout has been simplified

Other Changes:

• Dropping carried item is now "hold down on D-pad" on gamepad (instead of Hold A/X + down)
• The Prologue now contains a shortcut gate that can be persistently opened across runs, shortening future runs to the boss
• The "You Decend Even deeper" screen has been removed
• Bosses no longer have on-character speech barks
• Obelisks with directions below now have a blue light (to visually distinguish them from Vitae and link to Maria)
• The "static" first Descent now only lasts for a single run (instead of until you defeat the first boss) - it repeating seemed to be more frustrating than helpful
• The red vitae orbs embedded in the central pillar of nexus rooms can now be shattered for health pickups
• Keybinding now works properly when paused in the Descent
• Every Unity-referencing null-coalescing operator has been removed (these seem the most likely culprit for in-build crashes on entity deaths)
• The game should be able to recover if VRAM issues cause render textures to be wiped

[ 2023-09-10 01:46:50 CET ] [ Original post ]