We're excited to announce that Chasm Alpha 0.5 is finally coming on January 28th for our Alpha backers. This final Alpha update was a long time coming, and we want to apologize for the wait. We decided to make some final changes to the gameplay after analyzing the feedback our amazing Alpha backers gave us, and it took a bit longer than expected to get it out the door. It was a hard decision to go back to the drawing board on some different facets of the game instead of moving on, but we feel that what we have now is finally up to our expectations and much closer to our initial vision. It was also important for us to get things right so we can move on to the final content push without worrying about systems changing. We think the Alpha access phase was a huge success, and we can't thank everyone enough for participating and giving their honest feedback!

• Changed Essence back to classic XP and Gold currency systems.
• Changed Level Ups to happen automatically with health refill & random stat increases for auto-balancing.
• Changed dying in Normal mode to require loading last save file.
• Changed save system to PSX-style slot system with animated profile icons (more unlockables!).
• Changed NPCs so all except Crone are captured when you first arrive in town and must be rescued.
• Changed Innkeeper to collect Treasure, will reward you with Elixirs for so many pieces of treasure turned in.
• Changed Spells to scale with player's power and stay useful as you progress. Gotta collect them all!
• Changed Scavenger to always be in Save Rooms after rescuing him.
• Changed Altars to only have one item, priced at extreme discount for blind buy.
• Added 5 types of elemental Gems (Ruby/Fire, Sapphire/Ice, Topaz/Lightning, Emerald/Poison, Diamond/Holy) with various quality levels (Chipped, Flawed, etc) that can be added to weapons and armor to customize gear (ie. Fire Chain Whip or Holy Brass Knuckles).
• Added more portals to areas and removed inter-Area portal travel.
• Added canary NPC that will carry you back to town from Save Rooms, and vice versa.
• Added breakable Hanging Lights that provide player with Mana for magic weapons and Gold drops.
• Added progressive enemy respawning in previously cleared rooms.
• Added Shrines back into the game with several types (temporary stat buffs, restore health/mana, Gem, etc.)
• Added Undead Crusader enemy and Wraith miniboss to Catacombs.
• Added new hint to Catacombs puzzle and fixed symbols causing unintended confusion.
• Added new Magic Molotov spell.
• Added new game intro.
• Added base support for Marcel's Fan Translation tool.
• Removed plant ingredients. Finding Recipes unlocks new potions in Crone's shop.
• Improved game text with single sans-serif font family for visual consistency.
• Improved dialogue and note text with custom formatting, keyword highlighting and new graphics.
• Improved area layouts and pacing.
• Improved parallax depth effect.
• Improved dungeon generation with stronger core paths and less long branches to dead ends.
• Improved combat with new enemy strafe behaviors and more combat areas.
• Improved Pause menu design and function.