A major update to the game\'s look and core gameplay!

Adventurers are now represented by \"figurines\" that have multiple frames, and unit status indicators have been completely redesigned to be more compact and stylish.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45555042/66d3e32bca3e97ee07bdcdda0513d4dc64c8cd01.png\"][/img]

In addition, party members can now move through each other, and the line of sight algorithm has been made more permissive: if you would have line of sight by moving one tile (with some caveats), you have line of sight from where you\'re standing.

You can also unlock the ability to manually rearrange your cards, which is important because keywords like Overheat and Discard now deterministically affect your rightmost Action or leftmost Gambit. This also means you get to choose which Action gets hit by the Curse of the Clay Devourer, and it also means you can now overheat even your basic movement action if nothing else is available.

Hopefully, all of these changes expand tactical options without sacrificing depth.

The visual changes should give the board more life and breathing room, but you can revert to the old style in settings if you prefer.

Let me know how this feels! Steam reviews are always appreciated too.

CHANGELOG

v0.8.5 -> v0.9.0

BUG FIXES

• Fixed edge case soft locks involving splitter enemies and summoner enemies.

  [/*]

• Fixed edge case when playing an AOE card that causes the unit to be defeated due to backlash damage.

  [/*]

• Fixed enemy targeting for lunge cards when their movement options are cut off.

  [/*]

• Fixed Trail Boots triggering on non-movement cards, and failing to trigger on terrain that disappeared after you stepped on it.

  [/*]

• Wisdom of the Sixth is no longer missing 1 potency.

  [/*]

• Fixed reward menu sticking on screen if you end a run with it still open.

  [/*]

• Some outdated information in the tutorial codex entries has been corrected.

  [/*]

• The cost icon no longer reverts to blue/purple when a card is unplayable.

  [/*]

• Tutorial messages no longer block mouseovers when hidden.

  [/*]

• The stars hourglass no longer briefly displays the reward count from the previous battle.

  [/*]

• Fixed both character select portraits fading out character cards when moused over (even if only one was visible).

  [/*]

• Fixed curse level indicator reappearing after exiting character card/memory details on the run start menu.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Adventurers are now represented by figurine-style pieces with several illustrations. (If you prefer the old banners, the \"Player unit style\" setting reverts this.

  [/*]

• HP indicators have been completely redesigned to be more compact. (If you prefer the old indicators, the \"HP indicator style\" setting reverts this.)

  [/*]

• Units now gently fade when highlighted/lowlighted rather than snapping to high/low opacity.

  [/*]

• Unit emanation circles now also fade when lowlighted.

  [/*]

• Units no longer lowlight when out of battle.

  [/*]

• Units banners are slightly lower visually, to take up less screen space.

  [/*]

• The yellow health-drain effect on HP indicators no longer skips its animation when previewing a new source of damage.

  [/*]

• Changed main menu background.

  [/*]

• The tile cursor light has been made less intense.

  [/*]

• Tweaked lighting and colours in the Wall of Memory.

  [/*]

• Tweaked text alignment in settings and keybinds menus.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Added tense theme for certain conversations.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Party members no longer block movement for each other.

  [/*]

• Line of sight computation has been made more lenient.

  [/*]

• Added additional Curses (each can also be intensified after you win a run with them active):

  [list]

• Curse of the Nightmare: Party members gain 2(3) Fear on battle start.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Behemoth: Non-boss enemies have a 1 in 8(5) chance to gain 1 Stable on spawn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Void of Nostalgia: Starting on round 3(2), enemy attacks gain 1 potency per turn.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Certain tutorials now appear even when menus are open.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial noting that you can use items out of battle.

  [/*]

• Added tutorials for cards that Overheat/Discard/Exhaust other cards.

  [/*]

• Cards that will be overheated/discarded/exhausted are now highlighted when a card is selected.

  [/*]

• Boss soul items are now shown in the enemy detail menu.

  [/*]

• On the pause menu, \"Exit Game\" is now \"Save and Quit\", to be more accurate.

  [/*]

• On the pause menu, \"End Run\" now notes that your experience will be saved.

  [/*]

CARDS

• The Overheat keyword now adds cooldown to the rightmost playable Action rather than a random one.

  [/*]

• The Discard keyword now discards the leftmost Gambits rather than random ones.

  [/*]

• Cards that exhaust other cards now exhaust from the leftmost Gambits rather than random ones.

  [/*]

• Added the ability to rearrange your cards, unlocked with story progress.

  [/*]

• All of Seagull\'s cards that gain \"Ignore line of sight\" on upgrade now also gain 1 maximum range.

  [/*]

• Butterfly\'s Crashing Wave now deals 5 self-damage when played.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Stardust now gives 8 Stars rather than 3.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Seagull\'s Spell Capsule now triggers multiple times if you defeat multiple enemies at once.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Void of Nostalgia now summons a Reclaimer at a certain HP threshold, but has 400 max HP rather than 500.

  [/*]

• Behemoth no longer regains Stable if you remove it.

  [/*]

• Water: Mirrorscale\'s Polish now applies Exposed to party members, but only gives it 7 Block instead of 10. (Now that all its cards target party members, its aggro behaviour is more intuitive.)

  [/*]

This update continues polishing the overall shape of a run.\nTactic/Skill/Spell drafts have been replaced with Movement/Attack/Block/Status drafts, which are a lot more intuitive.\nItem events now give you one of your choice rather than two random ones.

Also, if you\'ve won a run with any given Curse, you can now intensify it for truly absurd levels of difficulty.\nCL 30 (every single Curse intensified) is not designed to be fair or even possible, though CL 15 (every single Curse at a normal level) is.\nI wonder at which level it crosses over.

CHANGELOG

v0.8.4 -> v0.8.5

BUG FIXES

• Curse of the Wildfire Exemplar now properly reduces healing according to max HP rather than missing HP.

  [/*]

• Butterfly\'s Arcane Grapple can no longer target bridge tiles.

  [/*]

• You can no longer apply assists to the tutorial.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Invective Scholar now properly applies damage to the whole party when it defeats one party member.

  [/*]

• Earth: Fossil\'s Haymaker now shows the proper tooltips for its statuses.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• You can now hover over portraits in the unit detail menu to fade out the unit\'s cards.

  [/*]

• Added an underwater effect when you\'re in early realm 1.

  [/*]

• Added light columns when you\'re in realm 3.

  [/*]

• Added slight hitstop when knocking units into obstacles.

  [/*]

• Increased size of realm selection banners.

  [/*]

• Made realm selection banners glow slightly when a starting path is chosen.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Replaced menu opening/closing sounds.

  [/*]

• Replaced character and biome selection sounds on the run start menu.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• With enough story progress, you may select a more intense version of Curses that you\'ve won a run with.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Notion of Eminence has been nerfed (enemy difficult doesn\'t ramp up as fast as it used to)

  [/*]

• Replaced Tactic/Skill/Spell drafts with Movement/Attack/Block/Status drafts.

  [/*]

• Item path choices now give you 1 item of your choice rather than 2 random items.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Created a consolidated deck + memories menu to check when drafting rewards.

  [/*]

• Duplicate Memories will now be shown at the appropriate upgrade level during character-specific drafts.

  [/*]

• Damage previews are more responsive.

  [/*]

• Move speed, draw count, and starting memory level assists now go up to 3 levels, to match with the other assists.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial for boss soul items.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial for the elemental realm cycle.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial for inaccuracy statuses.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial for damage-over-time statuses.

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• Added tutorials for the permanent statuses (Stable, Unstable, Sturdy, Fragile).

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial for reaction behaviours.

  [/*]

• Multiple enemy-related tutorials can now queue up at once.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Butterfly\'s Arcane Grapple now has 99 range rather than 10.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• All \"Tear\" items (max HP increase) now also heal you for the amount increased.

  [/*]

• Extraction now gives you two upgrade items in exchange for downgrading a card.

  [/*]

• Fire: Shielding Flame is now Phantom Flame, which doubles a unit\'s DoT statuses, rather than granting Resist.

  [/*]

• Water: Smoke Ball is now Frozen Haze, which grants 5 Observant, rather than inflicting Distracted.

  [/*]

• Wood: Axe Herb now cleanses 3 stacks of all debuffs, rather than granting Focus.

  [/*]

• Metal: Steel Mirror now inverts all of a unit\'s statuses, rather than granting AP/GP + Stunned/Dazed.

  [/*]

• Earth: Clay Weight now inflicts 2 Stunned on all enemies, rather than giving a card Persist.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Dodecahedron now increases skip rewards by 3 Stars rather than 1.

  [/*]

• Promise of Renewal now increases battle rewards by 3 Stars rather than 1.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Spell Capsule now temporarily upgrades a random card in hand rather than the card that defeats an enemy.

  [/*]

• Crow\'s Slow Burn now starts at 2 potency rather than 1.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Metal: Steel Eater\'s attack now does 20 rather than 24 damage.

  [/*]

• Earth: Landbreaker no longer regains Stable if you remove it.

  [/*]

Adding a tactics component to a deckbuilder means two new avenues of defense: moving out of enemy range, or taking aggro with another unit.

It also adds new restrictions on offense: your own attack range, and line of sight.

This naturally led to more defensive play.

\nFor a while, I was thinking of a way to reward aggressive play to balance this out.

This update, I\'m trying a new thing where the faster you finish a battle, the more Stars you get.

Please let me know how this feels!

\nAlso, the third layer of Curses is implemented.

Also, the third realm should feel much different in terms of build choices.

Also, the story continues.

CHANGELOG

v0.8.3 -> v0.8.4

BUG FIXES

• Per-turn and per-battle effects are reset for cards on battle end, so they don\'t look misleading in post-battle upgrade menus.

  [/*]

• Fixed damage preview when an enemy would push a blocking party member off a ledge.

  [/*]

• Descriptions for inverted DoTs now correctly state that they occur at start of turn.

  [/*]

• Absorption Tonic now behaves as described.

  [/*]

• Effects that boost or scale with debuffs now handle statuses that can only be gotten from inverting buffs.

  [/*]

• Strand Eater no longer sometimes fails to act when it has no allies.

  [/*]

• Fixed minor raycast zone issues on the run start menu.

  [/*]

• Shard terrain now behaves as intended.

  [/*]

STORY

• Added Act II Scene II.

  [/*]

• Added Act II Scene III.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Added new realm banner art on the run start menu.

  [/*]

• Added more card play VFX.

  [/*]

• Moved max Curse level indicator to above the Bond indicator.

  [/*]

• When you copy or create multiple cards in quick succession, they now spread out rather than stacking on top of each other.

  [/*]

• Added slight time dilation and sound effect when defeating the final enemy of an encounter.

  [/*]

• Large Memory sprites (e.g. in the draft and list menu) are slightly smaller.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• The number of Stars rewarded in each battle is now 3 or 10 minus the number of rounds the battle took. Boss battles still always reward the full 10. The reward cannot be less than 1 Star.

  [/*]

• Having fewer Actions now increases your chances of Actions appearing in drafts.

  [/*]

• Actions are more likely to appear as upgrade choices.

  [/*]

• Added additional challenge modifiers.

  [list]

• Curse of the Scale of Lament: Glitch terrain, which inflicts Fray to party members on step, is occasionally generated.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Arrow of Time: Party members lose 1 max HP per room, down to a minimum of 1.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Sum of Knowledge: Enemy abilities have increased potency.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Notion of Eminence: Enemy difficulty ramps up faster.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Design of Denial: Party members have a 1 in 2 chance to gain Void on battle start.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Statuses now show their source in the battle log.

  [/*]

• You can now click a button next to \"X steps until \\[boss name] approaches\" to examine the upcoming boss, if you have defeated it before.

  [/*]

• The camera controls codex entry now also describes smooth rotation.

  [/*]

• The current Curse level is now shown on the Curse selection menu.

  [/*]

• Cards are deselected after using an item to destroy them.

  [/*]

• On the card draft menu, Mighty choices are now always to the left, while Magical choices are now always to the right.

  [/*]

• The game now defaults to the cursor only seeing tiles.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Butterfly\'s Impatience has been reworked: It now starts at 30 potency and decreases each turn, rather starting at 5 and increasing each turn.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Keenness now has 2 charges rather than infinity, but its cooldown has been reduced by 1.

  [/*]

• Overthrow now Exhausts rather than shuffling a curse into your draw pile, and it now steals 5 stacks of all buffs rather than 10.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Discarding an item with multiple uses now multiplies the Stars given by the uses discarded.

  [/*]

• Intimidating Aura now works for pull cards too.

  [/*]

• Water: Splashbolt is now given as 1 use rather than 3, but it now increases a movement card\'s potency for the entire battle rather than just one turn.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Promise of Renewal has been reworked: Battles award 1 more Star.

  [/*]

• Resilience now grants 3 Form instead of 3 Grit per 3 attacks taken.

  [/*]

• Sunflower Seed now grants Block before DoTs tick.

  [/*]

• Seagull:

  [list]

• Polishing Cloth now gives 3 Focus per 3 ally-targeting cards played, rather than 5 per 5.

  [/*]

• Sharpened Wand now gives 3 Focus per 3 zero-cost cards played, rather than 1 per 1.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Behemoth:

  [list]

• Telegraph now gives 2 Critical and Exposed rather than 3.

  [/*]

• Wild Swing now does 14 damage twice rather than 16.

  [/*]

• Shell Guard now removes 1 Dulled rather than 4 Dulled.

  [/*]

The second layer of Curses has been implemented!\nThis update also brings a number of assorted quality of life and battle improvements.

Every Memory that gives Block or defensive statuses now ticks before DoTs do.\nSeagull\'s Duality now truly inverts every status, even those whose opposites can\'t be gained in any other way.\nEnemy AOE indicators have been redrawn to be more readable.\nChronomancer enemies no longer act on the enemy turn.\nCertain bosses will now summon adds when they\'ve taken enough damage.

There\'s not really a theme to this update, because behind the scenes I\'ve been focused on writing.\nMore story content is coming soon!

CHANGELOG

v0.8.2 -> v0.8.3\n

BUG FIXES

• Fixed Invective Scholar\'s Mind Empty card reading \"1 copies\".

  [/*]

• Fixed Cricket\'s Vice Grip showing cards on screen before he was selected.

  [/*]

• Made capitalization consistent across path choice descriptions.

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• Enemies with Witness no longer copy Banes.

  [/*]

• Fixed Tab causing the selection light to flicker on and off when the expedition has already ended.

  [/*]

• Fixed run-end stats not appearing for retreated party members on save and load.

  [/*]

STORY

• Realm poems now only appear for realms 2 and 3, to smooth out the start of the run.

  [/*]

• Home-base poems only appear the first time the run start menu is opened.

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• The term \"centimoon\" is now \"hundredmoon\", and \"decamoon\" is now \"tenmoon\".

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Redrew enemy AOE indicators with round corners so they\'re easier to read when overlapping.

  [/*]

• Wood: Made pillars contrast more with the floor.

  [/*]

• Added more card play VFX.

  [/*]

• Added final art for Heat Haze, Slipstream, Catalogue, Mercurial, Compactor, and Reclaimer.

  [/*]

• The Transmute event now has its own firework effect.

  [/*]

• Slightly increased the number of atmospheric particles.

  [/*]

• Stray battles no longer announce \"Dream Stabilized\".

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Added additional challenge modifiers.

  [list]

• Curse of the Wildfire Exemplar: Party members only heal 75% of max HP after defeating a boss.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Glass Leviathan: Enemies gain 1 Dodge on spawn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Invective Scholar: After the first three rounds of combat, both party members take 1 unblockable damage each turn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Horde Foundry: Enemies have a 1 in 2 chance to gain 2 Resist each turn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Gravestone Quarry: Rerolls and refreshes cost 1 more Star.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Enemies that take a turn as a reaction to your card plays now show a warning before you play a card that would cause them to take their turn.

  [/*]

• The maximum curse level cleared by each pair is now displayed.

  [/*]

• The number of each enemy you have ever defeated is shown in the monster library.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Seagull\'s Duality can now invert Form, Dodge, Blinded, Distracted, Rally, Recovery, Burn, Bleed, and Poison. The inverted versions of these statuses currently cannot be gained in any other way.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Earth: Mote of Gravity now applies 5 Bound rather than 2.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Instinct has been reworked: Each turn, gain Block equal to 10 minus the number of Actions you have.

  [/*]

• Enlightenment has been reworked: The first 2 turns of battle, Copy a Gambit from your unlocked pool.

  [/*]

• Absorption Tonic now converts every debuff into Poison, not just DoTs.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Spectacles now give Block before DoTs tick.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Star Leggings now give Block before DoTs tick.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Fire: Scale of Lament now summons Kindlings when enough damage has been taken.

  [/*]

• Water:

  [list]

• Glass Leviathan starts with 3 Dodge rather than gaining Dodge each turn, but it now summons Fogdwellers when enough damage has been taken.

  [/*]

• Skipper and Arrow of Time no longer act on the enemy turn.

  [/*]

This update introduces the Curse system, which lets you increase the difficulty of each run at will.

After your first winning run (and certain story progress), each realm cleared will unlock the associated boss\'s Curse, a unique modifier that will make the run harder.

Currently only the first of each path\'s Curses is implemented, but I plan to have the others ready in future updates.

A few new Assist Mode options have also been added, in case you would like to tune the difficulty the other direction.

In addition, the shape of the run has been further tuned to increase the diversity of Memories, and some bosses have been rebalanced.

CHANGELOG

v0.8.1 -> v0.8.2

BUG FIXES

• Fixed edge cases where the run progression would lock up if one character was already defeated.

  [/*]

• Fixed card hitboxes occluding part of the \"Confirm Upgrade\" button.

  [/*]

• Cards no longer stay on their hovered size when opening a new menu.

  [/*]

• Mighty Clarity and Magical Clarity are no longer available in the Cauldron.

  [/*]

• The deck summary menu is no longer missing cards when a character has some in hand.

  [/*]

• Gambits no longer block Actions being added to hand due to max hand size (the rightmost Gambit is discarded instead).

  [/*]

• Action charges and cooldowns are reset on battle end (so they don\'t display weirdly on the upgrade menu).

  [/*]

• Metal: Analyzer\'s Disjunction is no longer unplayable on copy.

  [/*]

• Fixed one particular warning message saying the range of your movement card is 0.

  [/*]

• Fixed Memory upgrade menu not removing character portraits when choosing one.

  [/*]

• Fixed cards/memories that inflict Stunned having the ally version tooltip in certain contexts.

  [/*]

STORY

• Added single-character variations of mid-run cutscenes.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Added final art for Hearth, Cleanser, Cambium, Analyzer, Quake, and Crystalline.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Added additional challenge modifiers unlocked after beating specific bosses, available at a certain point in the story.

  [list]

• Curse of the Eternal Pyre: The Magical starts with a Bane that gives them 5 Burn when retained.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Spider Kraken: Party members gain 2 Exposed on battle start.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Paper Hydra: Enemies have a 1 in 4 chance to gain 1 Critical each turn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Titan Walker: Enemies have a 1 in 2 chance to gain 1 Buffer on spawn.

  [/*]

• Curse of the Clay Devourer: The Mighty overheats their rightmost Action for 2 turns on battle start.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Added setting for text scroll speed.

  [/*]

• Added setting to toggle text skipping between instant and fast-forward.

  [/*]

• In the character examine screen, you can now see how many copies of a card a character starts with.

  [/*]

• Unplayable card warnings no longer appear when not in battle.

  [/*]

• Noted on item path choices that rare/golden items often have permanent effects.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Seagull\'s Alacrity now rushes to ally\'s side from a great range rather than ignoring line of sight. It can still be played on self.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Virtuosity now spreads to more cards on upgrade, rather than further upgrading a single Action.

  [/*]

• Butterfly\'s Shield Collar now gives Block before DoTs tick.

  [/*]

• Seagull:

  [list]

• Tactical Tome now spreads to more cards on upgrade, rather than reducing one card\'s cost by more.

  [/*]

• Maneuver Manual now also behaves as above.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Bosses that start with Sturdy now lose all stacks of Fragile after being attacked.

  [/*]

• Fire: Heat Haze\'s Fervor can now be played on empty ground when copied, since it is an AOE.

  [/*]

• Water: Arrow of Time:

  [list]

• Sand Grains now gives 1 Resist rather than Buffer.

  [/*]

• Entropy now deals 3 Poison rather than 7.

  [/*]

• Smooth Stone now gives 5 Block rather than 1 Parry.

  [/*]

Wanted to get these out pretty quick since at least one person has gotten stuck due to an edge case.\n\n

BUG FIXES

\n
• Fixed edge cases where the run progression would lock up if one character was already defeated.\n
• Fixed card hitboxes occluding part of the \"Confirm Upgrade\" button.\n
• Cards no longer stay on their hovered size when opening a new menu.\n

STORY

\n
• Added single-character variations of mid-run cutscenes.\n

This update focuses on tuning the overall shape of a run and giving the player more control over their build.

Previously, the math worked out where a run would include between 9-10 \"breather\" battles (realm-start battles and stray threats) and 14-15 \"full\" battles (including bosses).

This has been reduced to 4-5 \"breather\" battles and 10-11 \"full\" battles. The exact placement of fights still varies between runs, but now it\'s expected that about one third of rooms lead to a fight, rather than about two thirds. The 100 Stars achievement is still quite attainable under these conditions, but to compensate for their being fewer battles, you now also gain 1 Star by default for discarding an item.

Cauldrons are now guaranteed to offer an upgrade and a removal, which do not refresh.

Card removal events now give you an item that lets you remove a card, rather than having you choose one of five.

Items and neutral cards in general have been buffed to balance the fact that you have less control over which ones you get.

Items that give cards have had their max HP cost dramatically reduced or eliminated, and new items have been added that allow you to destroy Actions for some benefit, or remove Gambits with some minor drawback.

Golden neutral cards\' Banes are now temporary, and many other neutral cards have been strengthened to fit their role as powerful single-use cards.

CHANGELOG

v0.8.0 -> v0.8.1

BUG FIXES

• Fixed cards getting stuck in the middle of the screen when closing the card menu during the animation.

  [/*]

• Fixed boss-defeat achievements automatically unlocking (they will be properly unlocked upon opening the Library if you\'ve already done so).

  [/*]

• Fixed Serration\'s backlash showing damage on preview for non-attack cards.

  [/*]

• Fixed some unintended behaviour with the Cauldron when one party member has retreated.

  [/*]

• Fixed tutorial behaving weirdly if you were defeated during it.

  [/*]

• Fixed edge case that caused swarm enemies to sometimes receive special behaviours.

  [/*]

• Cards destroyed via card-destroying items are now counted in the post-run cards purged stat.

  [/*]

• Fixed some cases where examining statuses would display the version for the wrong team.

  [/*]

STORY

• Added several more lore entries, unlocked through certain conversations.

  [list]

• Martial arts

  [/*]

• Magical arts

  [/*]

• Roguecraft

  [/*]

• Puppetry

  [/*]

• Barrier Band

  [/*]

• Sheltrite

  [/*]

• Nullgrass

  [/*]

• Tether

  [/*]

VISUALS

• The single target arrow no longer obscures the indicator cluster in tactical view.

  [/*]

• Added final art for final bosses.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Rebalanced encounter frequency across the run. Encounters are less likely to happen multiple times in a row.

  [/*]

• The Cauldron now guarantees removal and upgrade items, and now has 3 Cauldron-specific items and 2 realm-specific items (rather than the other way around).

  [/*]

• The Cauldron now only refreshes cards and memories.

  [/*]

• Cards from the Cauldron go into your hand first rather than your deck, so you can use items on them immediately.

  [/*]

• Character-specific path choices now show up later in a run.

  [/*]

• Card removal path choices now show up later in a run.

  [/*]

• Card removal path choices now give an item that removes a card, rather than having you pick a card to remove from a selection.

  [/*]

• Action drafts can now appear at any major choice, rather than only every 9 rooms.

  [/*]

• Actions are slightly more likely to appear in regular card drafts.

  [/*]

• Type-specific draft choices now show up earlier in a run.

  [/*]

• Stray threats are even less likely to happen later in a run.

  [/*]

• Stray threats no longer increase the likelihood of a full encounter happening.

  [/*]

• Adjusted chance of finding items after battle to account for there being fewer battles.

  [/*]

• Boss battles no longer drop items, as the boss itself drops an item.

  [/*]

• Enemies are slightly more likely to come from neighbouring realms.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Several settings have been reworded to be more clear, with descriptive toggles rather than checkboxes.

  [/*]

• By default, hovering over enemies now also displays their \"permanent\" statuses (Sturdy, Fragile, Stable, Unstable). This can be changed in the settings.

  [/*]

• Added codex entry detailing how damage statuses work.

  [/*]

• Added tutorials for enemy AOE indicators (attacking, debuffing, buffing).

  [/*]

• Re-added tutorial for opposing statuses.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Seagull:

  [list]

• Rescue now gives a flat 2 Rally with 2 Overheat.

  [/*]

• Save now discards a maximum of 2 cards rather than 3.

  [/*]

• Inquiry now retreats for 1.

  [/*]

• Lever now rushes to your ally\'s side rather than pushing your ally.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• You now gain 1 Star by default for discarding an item.

  [/*]

• Water: Triple Point now skips 5 turns of cooldown rather than reducing Overheat by 1.

  [/*]

• All items that draft Actions have had their max HP costs reduced (5/3/1 rather than 15/10/5).

  [/*]

• All items that draft Gambits no longer cost max HP.

  [/*]

• Intuition can now be used to destroy any Action, not just the rightmost one.

  [/*]

• Clarity and Lucidity now immediately destroy cards/actions rather than giving them the Destroy keyword.

  [/*]

• Loose Shackle now gives 3 Burn rather than 3 Fray.

  [/*]

• Fire: Cold Ash now gives 1 Rally in addition to immediately destroying the selected card.

  [/*]

• Added a new item to each realm that immediately destroys an Action for a unique benefit.

  [list]

• Fire: Burning Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 5 Focus.

  [/*]

• Water: Flowing Mark, which destroys an Action and heals for 20.

  [/*]

• Wood: Rising Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 3 AP + GP.

  [/*]

• Metal: Polished Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 20 max HP.

  [/*]

• Earth: Buried Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 5 Resist.

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Memory draft events now let you pick one of two.

  [/*]

• Character-specific memory draft events now let you pick one of three, rather than one of two.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Dodge stacks on enemies are now always consumed, even if your attack hit.

  [/*]

• Water:

  [list]

• Mirrorscale\'s attack is no longer locked, but has been slightly nerfed to compensate.

  [/*]

• Arrow of Time\'s Entropy is now a non-locked card that inflicts Poison, rather than a locked one that inflicts Exposed.

  [/*]

Thanks for reporting these!\n\n

BUG FIXES

\n
• Fixed cards getting stuck in the middle of the screen when closing the card menu during the animation.\n
• Fixed boss-defeat achievements automatically unlocking (they have been reset and will be properly unlocked upon opening the Library if you\'ve already defeated them on that save file).\n
• Fixed Serration\'s backlash showing damage on preview for non-attack cards.\n
• Fixed some unintended behaviour with the Cauldron when one party member has retreated.\n

NOMIA is now available in Early Access!

See here for what you can expect in this period:

[dynamiclink href=\"https://steamcommunity.com/games/3608900/announcements/detail/529858829083477702\"][/dynamiclink]And see here for the latest update\'s patch notes:

[dynamiclink href=\"https://steamcommunity.com/games/3608900/announcements/detail/529858829083477972\"][/dynamiclink]

Please enjoy!\n- T

Welcome to the Early Access versions! This update focuses on further improving the clarity of the tutorial and fleshing out the whole run.

Additional conversations have been added that bridge story beats, and realm 3 enemies have been implemented (albeit mostly with placeholder art, due to me losing a significant chunk of dev time to a motherboard failure).

Thanks for following this journey! The rest of the story will unfold in future updates.

I plan to continue updating and expanding the game mechanics throughout Early Access.

CHANGELOG

v0.7.5 -> v0.8.0

BUG FIXES

• The game speed setting arrow properly reflects the speed when it is reset between runs.

  [/*]

• Cards on the enemy examine screen no longer have the AP cost icon.

  [/*]

• Cards on the enemy examine screen can no longer be examined for upgrades.

  [/*]

• Anti-aliasing setting no longer resets to default when returning to the main menu.

  [/*]

• Enemies no longer announce attacks after the party is already defeated.

  [/*]

• Camera reset no longer centers on a point far away from the board when the party is already defeated.

  [/*]

• Apothecary no longer has a chance to do nothing when it has no allies left.

  [/*]

• Poems now auto-skip again after being viewed for the first time.

  [/*]

• Units are now deselected when a cutscene begins.

  [/*]

• Fixed memories drafted stat behaving weirdly on save and load.

  [/*]

• Prevented a few minor sequence breaks during the tutorial.

  [/*]

• Fixed slight fade in and out when the conversation background hasn\'t actually changed.

  [/*]

STORY

• Added small cutscenes that occur when you clear your main objective depth.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Losing a run now has a different stinger than clearing a realm.

  [/*]

• Updated the Tower theme to a version with live cello.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Added path choices for upgrading Memories (realm 2 and onwards).

  [/*]

• Added path choices for transmuting cards (realm 2 and onwards).

  [/*]

• Path choices that could be chosen 3 times in a run can now only be chosen 2 times.

  [/*]

• Character-specific path choices that could be chosen 2 times in a run can now only be chosen 1 time.

  [/*]

• Stray threats no longer happen when encounter chance is 0%.

  [/*]

• Terrain effects now overwrite existing terrain effects.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Tactical view now persists between rooms.

  [/*]

• Most menus can now also be closed by clicking anywhere outside the menu space.

  [/*]

• Memories and items are now larger in list menus.

  [/*]

• Reworded \"Snap camera\" as \"Turn camera\".

  [/*]

• Split Instant Camera Turn setting between tactical view and rotation.

  [/*]

• When a card is selected, choosing an out-of-range or out-of-sight target now explains why the target is invalid rather than deselecting the card.

  [/*]

• Added a setting to use the previous behaviour for the above (automatically deselecting).

  [/*]

• Made \"Tactical View\" indicator fade like character names.

  [/*]

• ESC now deselects cards before opening the pause menu.

  [/*]

• Re-added the tutorial for deselecting cards.

  [/*]

• Added a tooltip for AP/GP indicators.

  [/*]

• Early tutorial enemies no longer act (and thus show intent indicators), to reduce information overload.

  [/*]

• Selecting enemies in the tutorial no longer brings up their portrait.

  [/*]

• Simplified tutorial enemy types.

  [/*]

• Required cards in the tutorial now indicate their required targets when not played on them.

  [/*]

• Added a tutorial section to show that both characters have Actions as well as Gambits.

  [/*]

• Clarified some tutorial tooltips.

  [/*]

• Resources now refill when enemies spawn in partway through the tutorial.

  [/*]

• Tutorial modal \"ACKNOWLEDGE\" button is more noticeable.

  [/*]

• Tutorial checkboxes are slightly closer to the middle of the screen.

  [/*]

• Most tutorial popups now automatically acknowledge when a card is played.

  [/*]

• Hornet\'s Shield Bash now has a cooldown of 3, but pushes for 4.

  [/*]

• Hornet\'s Swarm now deals 5 damage in addition to granting 1 Critical.

  [/*]

• Replaced Hornet\'s Hive with Shield Punch, which gives 10 Block and deals 5 damage.

  [/*]

• Replaced a few of Hawk\'s cards in the tutorial with more Talons, which also now cost 1 GP.

  [/*]

• The tutorial path choices are no longer 3 duplicate encounter choices.

  [/*]

• Hid Library button on character select just after the tutorial.

  [/*]

• World tooltips no longer appear through screen-hiding tutorials.

  [/*]

• Screen-hiding tutorial messages no longer let you play cards underneath them.

  [/*]

• Dialogue text now dramatically speeds up rather than instantly appearing after clicking.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Cricket:

  [list]

• Hammer now does 4 damage rather than 6.

  [/*]

• Chisel now has a cooldown of 2 rather than 1.

  [/*]

• Mallet now does 3x2 damage rather than 4x2.

  [/*]

• Mortise now has a cooldown of 1 rather than 0.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Added the final boss for each realm.

  [list]

• Fire: Added Scale of Lament.

  [/*]

• Water: Added Arrow of Time.

  [/*]

• Wood: Added Sum of Knowledge.

  [/*]

• Metal: Added Notion of Eminence.

  [/*]

• Earth: Added Design of Denial.

  [/*]

• Universal: Added Void of Nostalgia.

  [/*]

After a 2.5 year long GitHub streak, an inopportune broken motherboard very close to release time, and lots and lots of feedback, NOMIA will be releasing in Early Access October 10th, 2025.

Whether you\'ve been here since the very start or are just hearing about this for the first time, thank you for being here!

What You Can Expect

In the Early Access version, you can:

• Unlock all 4 playable characters and their combined 250 cards + 160 memories

  [/*]

• Play entire 3-realm runs, rather than being cut off after realm 1 as in the demo

  [/*]

• Experience the entirety of Act I of the story, and the first bit of Act II

  [/*]

• See the first four bond conversations between each pair of adventurers

  [/*]

What I\'m Still Working On

In addition to ongoing updates and tweaks to gameplay, the following are still works in progress:

• The rest of the main story, bond conversations, and lore entries

  [/*]

• Some late-game enemies still have placeholder art

  [/*]

• Challenge modifiers and more run events

  [/*]

• Overall card, item, memory and enemy balance

  [/*]

I want to make this release a fairly complete experience from the gameplay side, but still give enough space before 1.0 for feedback to make a meaningful difference. As always, all discussion and bug reports are welcome in the forums, or via this form .

How You Can Help

Reviews are extremely helpful for a solo developer project like this one! If you have the time to write one for the full game when it releases (or the demo anytime), I would truly appreciate it.

Hi everyone,

NOMIA is featured in the GDoCExpo Direct 2025.

Welcome to those coming from the event! The demo can be found right here:

[dynamiclink href=\"https://store.steampowered.com/app/3610980/NOMIA_Demo/\"][/dynamiclink]Please also check out the other amazing games showcasing in the Direct !

What is this?

NOMIA is a story-rich tactics roguelike where you play two heroes at once.

\nEach adventurer has two decks -- a reliable Action deck and an unpredictable Gambit deck, which create wild synergies.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45555042/2b8f9ef63b46c7e9161b5911e3ec41115cdf28ce.gif\"][/img]Its battle system shows enemy intents and incoming damage before you commit any moves, giving you all the information you need to execute brilliant tactics.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45555042/141c877703bab918d8a400cd4e4e675268ff9970.gif\"][/img]

It is a tale of purpose and perseverance, set in a dreamlike world where adventurers battle the past to sustain the present.

Why GDoCExpo?

I love the power of fantasy to envision a different way of being, but I am sometimes frustrated by the baggage of the genre -- a duality that made me want to try contributing my own take.

I was born in China, and moved to Canada at a young age -- a duality I embody.

In Chinese poetry, a Duilian is a couplet that follows certain rules -- a duality made succinct by structure.

NOMIA is my attempt to make something that explores duality in its themes and mechanics, and to challenge myself to write some metrical couplets of my own.

GDoC is a place where these dualities are celebrated, and I\'m grateful to be part of its showcase.

Who made this?

Design, art, writing, and programming are by me, Tangleworm.

Music is by classically trained composer Will Goss.

What\'s in the demo?

The demo features:

• All 4 unlockable characters

  [/*]

• 200+ cards

  [/*]

• 100+ items

  [/*]

• 50+ enemies

  [/*]

• 20+ story scenes

  [/*]

• Save file compatibility with the full version

  [/*]

The demo will remain up indefinitely, so you can play it at your own pace.

Any feedback is welcome as I continue to build the game into the best tactics roguelike I can before its October 10th Early Access launch.

Wishlists are sincerely appreciated!

Cheers, T

The game now has a lore section! All the worldbuilding that would be inconvenient to convey through dialogue goes here.

Generally, lore entries are written for knowledge that the characters would have in-universe, but wouldn\'t specifically talk about given the events that are happening.

I tried to keep these from being redundant with the existing conversations, in order to enable dialogue to focus on story rather than backstory.

In addition, you can now examine enemies in detail by clicking them in the monster library or on the run-end summary.

Items both neutral and realm-specific can also be referenced under neutral memories list button, or by right-clicking a realm in the elemental cycle reference.

CHANGELOG

v0.7.4 -> v0.7.5

BUG FIXES

• Fixed camera briefly moving back and forth when a battle starts.

  [/*]

• Scrolling no longer gets stuck when mousing over settings menu buttons.

  [/*]

STORY

• Implemented bond level 4 conversations (not accessible in the demo, but they\'re written).

  [/*]

• Added a Lore tab to the Library.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Casting a buff/debuff now casts a small light.

  [/*]

• Defeating an enemy has a new particle effect.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Added a stinger when clearing a realm or ending an expedition.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• You can now check neutral items from the character select menu.

  [/*]

• You can now check realm-specific items from the elemental cycle menu.

  [/*]

• Block no longer obscures a unit\'s HP number.

  [/*]

• Improved performance.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Seagull\'s Lightfield now applies 3 Grit rather than 2 Focus and 2 Grit, and only disappears after 2 turns.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Drainfield now applies 5 Weakened rather than 3 Weakened and 3 Fear, and only disappears after 2 turns.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• All items now stack to 99.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• You can now click on enemies in the monster library or end-of-run summary to check their cards.

  [/*]

• Certain enemies now only appear later in a run, but have become stronger.

  [/*]

• Rebalanced enemy distribution.

  [/*]

• Water: Mirrorscale\'s Polish now gives itself 10 Block instead of 1 Parry.

  [/*]

• Earth: Landbreaker\'s Root now gives itself 8 Block instead of 1 Buffer.

  [/*]

• Wood: Splinter\'s Chaos Rend now inflicts Bleed rather than Void (so it shows the DoT intent).

  [/*]

The revamped tutorial is complete! It seems like folks like the game more when they get to punt something off a cliff, so now punting an enemy off a cliff is the first thing you get to do.

Some terrain effects are also triggered on turn-end rather than on step, to encourage movement rather than staying still. To support this, damage preview now also accounts for terrain effects and lunge movement.

I\'m working on a run-modification system to support ascension-like challenge levels, but I\'m still designing what those challenges should be.

In the meantime, this system is used for assist features that make battles easier, for players who would like that.

Next update, I\'ll try improving the CPU/GPU/memory performance of the game. It\'s been a while since I\'ve dedicated some time to optimization.

CHANGELOG

v0.7.3 -> v0.7.4

BUG FIXES

• Paper Hydra can now properly play copied lunge AOEs like Puncture and Stonepiercer.

  [/*]

• Paper Hydra now properly previews copied wide AOEs like Surging Tide.

  [/*]

• Fixed lunging AOEs\' inconsistent behaviour when lunging to an empty tile.

  [/*]

• Fixed swarm enemies still gaining special behaviours in rare occasions.

  [/*]

• Tab to switch no longer requires multiple taps when one party member has retreated.

  [/*]

• Further fixed some edge case z-fighting.

  [/*]

STORY

• Implemented bond level 3 conversations (not accessible in the demo, but they\'re written).

  [/*]

• Rewrote the tarot cards after the first dive with Butterfly and Seagull, to add more context.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Added some floating particles in the air.

  [/*]

• Enemies with fields around them (e.g. Dampener, Behemoth) now have a circle indicating this field.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Damage from moving to terrain is now previewed (as is damage from standing on terrain with end-turn effects).

  [/*]

• Lunging now also previews incoming damage and intents for where you end up.

  [/*]

• Cinder and Soulfire terrain now inflict 3/6 Burn if you end your turn on it, rather than 2/5 if you move to it.

  [/*]

• Shard terrain now deals 15 damage if you end your turn on it, rather than 10 if you move to it.

  [/*]

• Spores terrain now inflicts 8 exposed if you end your turn on it, rather than 5 if you move to it.

  [/*]

• Added some assist mode features in the settings menu (these apply at the start of a run).

  [/*]

• You can now view a character\'s deck from the memory draft menu.

  [/*]

• Added a reminder for quickplaying cards.

  [/*]

• The tutorial is now more guided and has a gentler learning curve.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• \"Range 0\" is no longer written on cards since their areas of effect are described in card text.

  [/*]

• Hid the neutral card and memory buttons in the character select when embarking on the first real run.

  [/*]

• Realm select buttons are hidden until party members are selected (when embarking on the first real run).

  [/*]

CARDS

• Butterfly Leap now has 4 range rather than 3.

  [/*]

• Seagull\'s Inquiry now does 12 damage rather than 10.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Many enemies do slightly more damage or are slightly sturdier.

  [/*]

Most lunges can now be played on empty tiles too! They can still be double-clicked if there\'s only one target.

I\'ve rewritten and redrawn the intro cutscene to establish the setting a little more. This will eventually join with a revamped tutorial.

In the meantime, please enjoy various clarity improvements, like being able to see which of an enemy\'s cards is a locked AOE.

CHANGELOG

v0.7.2 -> v0.7.3

BUG FIXES

• Tooltips no longer persist when exiting to main menu.

  [/*]

• Fixed water foam effect causing z-fighting with certain terrain.

  [/*]

• Fixed a typo in Glass Leviathan\'s flavour text.

  [/*]

STORY

• Implemented act I scene V and act II scene I (not accessible in the demo, but they\'re written).

  [/*]

• Rewrote the intro cutscene.

  [/*]

• Shortened post-tutorial cutscene.

  [/*]

• Cutscenes fade in and out a bit faster.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Added an effect to cards that are changed mid-battle.

  [/*]

• Added an effect when memories are activated.

  [/*]

• Tooltips have a distinct colour depending on whether they\'re for units, statuses, or terrain.

  [/*]

• The path choice menu now darkens and blurs the world when it first appears, not just when it reopens.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• Adjusted mix of path choices and encounter types across the run.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• You can now click outside the card upgrade/removal preview window to close it.

  [/*]

• You can now click outside the path choice diamonds to close the menu.

  [/*]

• Examining enemy cards now shows which are locked AOEs.

  [/*]

• Certain tutorials no longer appear when it is clear the player already knows what they teach.

  [/*]

• When status tooltips on units are disabled, hovering over a unit will show its Block in its HP tooltip.

  [/*]

• The item tutorial message now specifies that items can be used both in and out of battle.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Most targeted lunges/retreats are now non-targeted lunges/retreats. This means that you can now use them as mobility cards.

  [/*]

• Cricket\'s Woodchipper now exhausts.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Swarm enemies can no longer gain special behaviours. They generally don\'t survive long enough to make use of them.

  [/*]

• Enemies that split when attacked now copy all their statuses to their clones too.

  [/*]

• Wildfire Exemplar no longer applies Burn, Focus or Grit. Instead, its cards gain potency when cast.

  [/*]

• Split copies are no longer counted in the end-of-expedition enemies defeated counter.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Added Mote of Luminosity, which doubles any unit\'s Block.

  [/*]

• Added Mote of Saturation, which doubles all of a unit\'s statuses.

  [/*]

Enemies now emphasize space control a little more, with more locked AOE attacks and terrain-generating effects in place of applying statuses.

They also now show a damage-over-time intent distinct from the debuff intent, and several visual elements have been tweaked to reduce noise.

Per community feedback, the party member closest to the action is now automatically selected at turn start (this can be disabled in settings if you preferred the old behaviour).

To ease the learning curve, many of Butterfly\'s Momentum/Pressure/Balance generating cards now only do so on upgrade, and their original upgrades are now part of the base card. I\'ll be revamping the tutorial soon to make onboarding even smoother, but hopefully I can continue tweaking the card and enemy definitions to push the more complex behaviours to later in a run, when the player has had time to get used to their build.

Next update, I\'ll be focusing on more visual polish and clarity!

CHANGELOG

v0.7.1 -> v0.7.2

BUG FIXES

• Intent displays no longer temporarily disappear after failing to play a card due to unmet conditions.

  [/*]

• The deselect key no longer deselects cards/units when a menu is open.

  [/*]

• Fixed inconsistent results with diagonal retreats.

  [/*]

• Lightning Rod\'s Conductivity no longer activates for non-attacks.

  [/*]

• Memory acquire effects now trigger again when the potency of a memory is boosted by an item.

  [/*]

STORY

• Wrote act I scene IV (not accessible in the demo currently, but it\'s written).

  [/*]

• Hornet has new conversation portraits post-tutorial.

  [/*]

• Added a serious expression portrait for each party member. Except Crow, she always looks serious.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Added key art to the title screen.

  [/*]

• Water now has foamy edges.

  [/*]

• Wood realm floors have fewer gold lines, to reduce visual noise.

  [/*]

• Enemy intent preview lines are less visually noisy.

  [/*]

• Turn-start banners are slightly more fancy.

  [/*]

• Area intro and boss intro text is moderately more fancy.

  [/*]

• Removed tooltips for a Bridge + Impassable tile, since that acts just like a regular floor.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Updated title theme mix.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• At the start of your turn, the party member nearest to an enemy is now automatically selected (can be toggled in settings).

  [/*]

• Pressing Tab with no unit selected also uses the above logic, rather than always selecting the Mighty.

  [/*]

• Enemies now show a damage-over-time intent distinct from the debuff intent.

  [/*]

• Cinder Brake no longer generates Acid terrain, and generates less special terrain in general (due to enemies generating more).

  [/*]

• The Blacksalt Sea no longer generates Ice terrain, and generates less special terrain as well.

  [/*]

• The Infinite Library no longer generates Mist terrain.

  [/*]

• The Silvergrass Ruins no longer generate Thorns terrain.

  [/*]

• The Wall of Memory no longer generates Energy terrain.

  [/*]

• Bridge tiles are no longer considered special terrain by Trail Boots.

  [/*]

• Special terrain takes longer to appear in a run.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Draft and upgrade menus no longer briefly leave the screen after picking your first card.

  [/*]

• Non-targeted lunges can now be quickplayed if there is only one unit that could be affected.

  [/*]

• Added tutorials for journey log and battle log.

  [/*]

• Hid journey and battle log corners in the tutorial.

  [/*]

• Hid \"End Turn\" button in the tutorial until the player has played a card with both characters.

  [/*]

• Made tutorialization a little less obstructive in general.

  [/*]

• Tutorial checkboxes reappear when saving and loading a run (previously only reappeared next turn).

  [/*]

• Pressing ESC while examining a party member on the selection screen now stops examining them rather than opening the pause menu.

  [/*]

• Stars-generating items now preview how many Stars they\'ll create.

  [/*]

• \"Abandon Run\" is now labeled \"End Run\" since it keeps your experience gained.

  [/*]

• Added a toggle for whether camera reset also resets rotation.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Reworked a number of enemies to emphasize space control.

  [/*]

• Fire:

  [list]

• Censer\'s Gutter now creates Soulfire terrain, which applies 5 Burn to the party if they move to it. It also no longer gives Block.

  [/*]

• Calcine\'s Flare now creates Soulfire terrain instead of giving it Focus.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Butterfly:

  [list]

• Spear now gains line AOE on upgrade rather than direct damage.

  [/*]

• Surging Tide and Ebbing Tide are now AOEs by default, and instead gain Momentum/Balance generation on upgrade.

  [/*]

• Shaft Strike is now a targeted lunge by default, and instead gains Pressure generation on upgrade.

  [/*]

• Leap now gains Momentum generation on upgrade rather than flat range.

  [/*]

• Trip now gains Pressure generation on maximum upgrade.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Reduced the penalty of all max HP increase items.

  [/*]

• Roborant now heals and weakens for 10 rather than 15.

  [/*]

• Added Wit, which permanently increases draw count at the cost of 10 max HP.

  [/*]

• Added Grasp, which permanently upgrades a Gambit.

  [/*]

• Item text generally now states when the item\'s effect is permanent.

  [/*]

Hey, new trailer and key art!

More importantly: Early Access will be available October 10th, 2025! Hope to see you there.

For this update, Act I Scene III has been added. I was originally saving this for early access, but I think it\'s a nice story beat to include in the demo.

Work continues on the visuals, and I was able to iron out a few bugs as well.

More functional changes are coming next update.

CHANGELOG

v0.7.0 -> v0.7.1

BUG FIXES

• Character select portraits no longer overflow past the screen edges on high UI scales.

  [/*]

• Title screen spinning circles now respect UI scale.

  [/*]

• Tutorial checkboxes no longer appear for things that have had their keybinds removed.

  [/*]

• The cutscene skip prompt no longer appears in the top left if you\'ve unbound the key for skipping a cutscene.

  [/*]

• The cutscene skip prompt now reflects the correct key when rebound.

  [/*]

• Card numbers are no longer shown above them when their key is unbound.

  [/*]

• Fixed some key rebinds not getting saved properly.

  [/*]

• Fixed a tutorial-seen issue that prevented the opposing statuses tutorial from showing.

  [/*]

• Fixed soft lock when Cricket copies a card from the attack that causes him to retreat from the expedition.

  [/*]

• The see-through shader now deactivates when the cursor goes outside the battlefield, or when a menu is open.

  [/*]

• Fixed camera being slightly too low when focusing on a unit.

  [/*]

• Fixed particle weirdness when gaining/losing stars in quick succession.

  [/*]

• Fixed special behaviour purple trim not dithering at the bottom in tactical view.

  [/*]

• AP and GP granting items now also announce their effects above the selected unit.

  [/*]

STORY

• Wrote Act I Scene III.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Item gain is much more noticeable now.

  [/*]

• Cards on the reward, preview, and cauldron menus are slightly larger.

  [/*]

• The monster library tab now unfurls over several frames.

  [/*]

• When an enemy plays a card, the camera now frames its action rather than centering on just the enemy.

  [/*]

• The camera tweens slightly faster by default, and is now affected by camera speed.

  [/*]

• The purple trim for enemies with special behaviours is more noticeable.

  [/*]

• The Play and save slot buttons on the main menu are more prominent.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Added settings to invert X and Y camera rotation direction.

  [/*]

• Removed Stars in the tutorial for simplicity.

  [/*]

• Removed the tutorial popups for pausing and checking the codex (these are self-evident)

  [/*]

• Abandoning a run no longer goes through the animation of reducing the party\'s HP to zero.

  [/*]

• Added some motion dampening on WASD camera panning.

  [/*]

• The character select screen now shows the selected character\'s starting stats.

  [/*]

• Status tooltips when hovering over an enemy now default to off.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• All items that give Gambits now cost significantly less max HP.

  [/*]

Hey, a new logo!

I tried tackling more of the remaining Next Fest feedback in this update.

The camera has been overhauled with free rotation and a tactical overhead view. Visuals have been polished. The enemy roster has been expanded and tweaked for greater variety.

One thing that came up in playtesting was players always choosing upgrades, since they felt the safest.

Repeated upgrades are less interesting than drafting new cards and synergizing with new memories, so let's try swapping the rarity of upgrades and memories.

In addition, very few people were using items regularly, so I've removed the one-per-turn limitation on them.

Per community feedback, Dodge is also now only consumed on success, to make Dodge builds more viable.

Many other changes are detailed below!

CHANGELOG

v0.6.5 -> v0.7.0

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a number of card effects still triggering when a card was dodged.

  [/*]

• Fixed certain cards not being affected by hit chance as intended.

  [/*]

• Keybind menu buttons no longer stop the scroll wheel when moused over.

  [/*]

• Nimble and Bound no longer compound after save and load.

  [/*]

• Camera now resets properly when starting a run after abandoning a run.

  [/*]

• Enemies no longer skip their turn if Rally would heal them to the point where DoTs don't destroy them before they act.

  [/*]

• Fixed draw pile and discard icons overlapping your cards at higher UI scales.

  [/*]

STORY

• Cutscenes can now be skipped before you've watched them once.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Units now cast shadows on the world.

  [/*]

• Shadows from clouds have been intensified.

  [/*]

• Decorative tiles now appear underneath levels.

  [/*]

• Menu buttons like reroll/skip/confirm upgrade are now higher contrast with the background.

  [/*]

• Damage/healing numbers have a new font and tweaked animations.

  [/*]

• AP and GP gain/losses outside of turn start are now announced above a unit.

  [/*]

• Some shiny surfaces have been tweaked so they don't blast you with overwhelming glow under certain lighting conditions.

  [/*]

• Changed damage AOE indicators.

  [/*]

• Locked AOE indicators are now different from regular AOE indicators.

  [/*]

• Enemy AOE indicators are now hidden when an enemy-targeting card is selected, and when previewing an enemy's attack range.

  [/*]

• Remade the title logo.

  [/*]

• The card fan has slightly increased maximum width.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Added sounds for camera movement.

  [/*]

• Updated battle theme.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• End Turn now requires a double click when not all party members have acted.

  [/*]

• Increased frequency of Memory choices and decreased frequency of Upgrade choices.

  [/*]

• Added a golden Memory path choice.

  [/*]

• Character-specific card draft choices are no longer limited per run.

  [/*]

• The standard upgrade reward can now only be chosen 3 times per run.

  [/*]

• Character-specific upgrade rewards can now only be chosen 2 times each per run.

  [/*]

• Stacks of Dodge are now only consumed on successfully dodging an attack.

  [/*]

• Rally now heals a fifth of missing HP rather than a tenth.

  [/*]

• Enemy generation parameters have been adjusted to increase encounter variety.

  [/*]

• Ironically, also reduced enemy variety for the very first post-tutorial run to prevent information overload.

  [/*]

• Items are no longer limited to one per turn during battle.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• You can now press T (rebindable) to toggle an overhead tactical view.

  [/*]

• You can now press R (rebindable) to reset the camera.

  [/*]

• You can now remove keybinds by right-clicking them.

  [/*]

• You can now freely rotate the camera by dragging right-click.

  [/*]

• Game speed buttons in the top right have been condensed to a single toggle.

  [/*]

• All "increase by half" status tooltips have been rephrased into "1.5x potency";

  [/*]

• Rephrased tutorial bubbles to be more concise.

  [/*]

• Several tutorial bubbles now trigger under more intuitive conditions.

  [/*]

• Unplayable card explanations are more informative.

  [/*]

• "OK" buttons are now "ACKNOWLEDGE" buttons (easier to click).

  [/*]

• Intent descriptions on examine tooltips are more concise.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Seagull can now use Duality to invert their own statuses.

  [/*]

ENEMIES

• Fire: Added Hot Coal.

  [/*]

• Water: Added Aquifer.

  [list]

• Mirrorscale now has an additional defensive card.

  [/*]

Thanks for all your feedback during Next Fest!

I've got a lot to consider, but for now I've prioritized improving the new-player experience.

The tutorial now better represents normal gameplay, and should convey more information in fewer interruptions.

Cricket can now also be unlocked from the very first real run, and by popular demand, realm intro poems now stay on screen until dismissed (the first time they appear).

CHANGELOG

v0.6.4 -> v0.6.5

BUG FIXES

• The hand capacity warning no longer appears for upgrades.

  [/*]

STORY

• Made some script edits for clarity.

  [/*]

• Realm intro poems now wait for your click the first time they're displayed.

  [/*]

VISUALS

• Adjusted vignette effect.

  [/*]

• Card/memory list menus now unfurl their contents over multiple frames to reduce lag when opening them.

  [/*]

AUDIO

• Added pitch bending for worldspace sounds.

  [/*]

GAMEPLAY

• The intro/tutorial has been adjusted.

  [list]

• Enabled card drafting to be more representative of real gameplay.

  [/*]

• Gave Hornet and Hawk more interesting cards.

  [/*]

• Tutorial enemies are now consistent each time.

  [/*]

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Moved UI scale setting to the top of the Visuals section.

  [/*]

• Added toggle for anti-aliasing type.

  [/*]

• Added setting to show number buttons near the cards they'd select.

  [/*]

• Added keyboard equivalents for some clickable buttons (all rebindable).

  [list]

• You can now open the journey log and battle log with F1 and F2.

  [/*]

• You can now open your draw and discard piles with "," and ".".

  [/*]

• You can now end turn or reopen the reward menu with Enter.

  [/*]

CARDS

• Rephrased some of Seagull's healing cards to make it more clear they can only target allies.

  [/*]

• "1 tile long, X tile wide" descriptions have been simplified into just "X tile wide".

  [/*]

MEMORIES

• Black Tea now inflicts 10 Fear to your attacker rather than 3.

  [/*]

ITEMS

• Added Awareness: Turns an Action into a Gambit, removes 2 cooldown, and doubles its charges.

  [/*]

• Mote of Forgiveness no longer removes Fray.

  [/*]

Hi everyone,

NOMIA will be participating in Steam Next Fest's June 2025 edition.
The demo can be found right here!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3610980/NOMIA_Demo/

What is this?

What's in the demo?

• All 4 unlockable characters
• 200+ cards
• 100+ items
• 50+ enemies
• 20+ story scenes
• Save file compatibility with the full version
  

I lied in the last changelog; this is the Next Fest version.
Perfect time to overhaul almost all the combat sound design, right?

There were a few bugs I wanted to fix for the festival as well, particularly how the UI looks on 4K and ultrawide monitors.
Please enjoy!

CHANGELOG

BUG FIXES

• Fixed hand capacity warning always appearing on the second pick of a standard draft.
• Behemoth Soul now has the correct item icon and card art.
• Fixed critical hit sound not playing.
• "No line of sight" icon now takes into account when certain cards are empty or on cooldown.
• Numerous UI elements are no longer positioned strangely for 4K monitors at high UI scale.
• Click-and-drag camera panning speed now adjusts for monitor size.
• Fixed target preview showing nonexistent self-damage when units had stacks of Fragile.
• Fixed knockback preview on allies showing nonexistent damage.
  

STORY

• Cutscene tarot cards are slightly closer together so the previous one remains in context.
• Edited post-tutorial conversation to be more show, less tell.
• Edited a few other bits of the script.
• Moved character portraits further apart by default.
• Dialogue text is now coloured like name tag text.
  

VISUALS

• Adjusted timing of status effect announcements.
• Made units wobble for longer when hit.
• Units also wobble when receiving debuffs.
  

AUDIO

• Implemented spatial audio for in-world sounds.
• Updated battle theme version.
• Overhauled a lot of battle sound design.
• Added sound for mousing over targetable tiles.
• Used card-handling sounds in more contexts.
• Added sound for beginning a dive.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Retreat 1 can now move you diagonally.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• UI scale now defaults based on monitor resolution.
• Made tutorial checkboxes harder to miss.
• The "ignores line of sight" tutorial no longer appears for teleport cards because those are self-explanatory.
• Added highlight particles to the player's first character selection.
• Added a conversation log control reminder.
• Added a conversation skip control reminder.
  

CARDS

• Cricket's Experience now costs 1 rather than 2, but starts weaker.
• Crow's Nest Egg now starts at 8 damage gain per turn rather than 15.
  

MEMORIES

• Spinning Top and Jianzi now give 1 Focus/Grit rather than 2.
• Keen Retribution and Steeled Retribution now give 1 Focus/Grit when you're attacked, rather than 2.
  

ENEMIES

• Added a new enemy for each realm.
  [list]
• Fire: Added Kindling.
• Water: Added Fogdweller.
• Wood: Added Bystander.
• Metal: Added Lightning Rod.
• Earth: Added Chronicler.
  

A few big changes this week: standard drafts now let you pick two of four cards rather than one of three, and enemies should now always spawn in the newly generated room rather than having a chance to spawn in from behind you. The former was because player decks hadn't changed as much as I would've liked by the time they reached the first boss, and the latter was because the newly generated room felt pointless if all enemies spawned outside it. This also means the party is surrounded much less often, which should hopefully open up tactical options.

On the art side, everyone's battle outfit portraits are done, and conversations are a little more fleshed out with backgrounds and cut-ins.

This version will likely be the one participating in Steam Next Fest! Wish me luck.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Fixed enemy-added cards not playing the card creation sound.
• Fixed new unlocks not being highlighted at run end if you saved and loaded midway through.
• Fixed library highlight particle appearing when examining a character's cards.
• Fixed chosen path icon being incorrect after save and load.
• Fixed one of the two boss rewards being skipped after save and load.
• Fixed battle not progressing if a player retreated due to DoT damage on turn end with certain memories attuned.
  

STORY

• Cricket and Crow's battle outfit conversation portraits now have different art than their in-world sprites.
• Added detail pop-ups to conversations.
• Added background to certain conversations.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Standard Recollections now let you pick 2 of 4 cards, rather than 1 of 3.
• Players no longer always start right next to each other when moving rooms.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Moved game startup greeting to the side.
• Added links to store page and feedback form on the main menu.
• Adjusted timing of some notifications and events to reduce overwhelm.
• Highlighted character examine button if the selected character is at level 0.
• Shortened "New Conversations Available" notification time.
• ESC now opens the pause menu on the character select screen rather than doing nothing.
• Keybind conflicts are now prevented.
• Moved tab-switch tutorial to after card play/intent tutorials.
  

ENEMIES

• Enemies are now much more likely to spawn "ahead" of the party rather than in from behind them.
• Metal: Titan Walker's Recalibrate now removes 5 Weakened instead of 20.
  

ITEMS

• Added Creased Space, which turns a movement card into a teleport this turn.
• Added Loose Shackle, which turns a movement card into a teleport this battle at the cost of 3 Fray.
• Added Astral Flicker, which turns a movement card into a teleport permanently at the cost of 10 max HP.
• Added Muscle Memory, which permanently turns a non-exhausting Gambit into an Action with a cooldown of 2.
• Added Chirography, which permanently turns a non-exhausting Gambit into an Action with 2 charges.
  

Your paths are now always distinct options!
Previously, the game secretly limited the number of picks for certain options (such as only being able to Purge twice) in order to curate the run. This is now no longer hidden information; I overestimated how much complexity this would add to the decision, so it's now in the player's hands when they want to consume limited path choices.
This update also contains many bug fixes, though a lot of these actually made it into the hotfix halfway through the week.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Fixed rare bug where path selection would repeat forever without starting the battle if an encounter was rolled while certain memories were attuned.
• The saved run no longer gets into an invalid state if you force-quit the game in between your characters retreating and the "EXPEDITION CONCLUDED" message appearing.
• Fixed only neutral bosses appearing before enough story progress was made.
• Fixed Hawk's unit persisting between runs.
• Fixed edge case with generating special terrain in certain scenarios.
• Fixed unit sprites sometimes dipping into the ground on battle start.
• Removed duplicate "Gained/Spent X stars" logs.
• Fixed a typo in Butterfly and Crow's intro conversation.
• Fixed card hover flickering when the cursor is at the very bottom of the screen.
• Re-enabled GP cost icon when examining cards added to your deck by enemy cards.
• Fixed Stars indicator not updating right after restarting a run.
• Fixed path choices losing direction after saving and loading.
  

STORY

• Butterfly and Seagull's battle outfit conversation portraits now have different art than their in-world sprites.
  

VISUALS

• The title screen has been updated with a new background.
• Redrew one card each in Cricket and Crow's unlock cutscenes.
• Replaced Stress card art so it looks less like an error.
  

GAMEPLAY

• You can now select a target with the arrow keys and click with Right Ctrl (both rebindable).
• Generated path choices no longer change after saving and loading.
• Added more realm-specific rooms to the map generation pool.
• Path choices now only present unique options.
• Path choices now show when a choice has a limited quantity during a run.
• Path choice quantities have been adjusted from how they were before, now that they are not hidden information.
• Memory draft choices are even more likely to skew towards the unit with fewer memories.
• Construction Sign is now alone again. It didn't need the help.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Added font assets to credits as well.
  

ENEMIES

• Wood: Strand Eater's self-buff now gives 2 Focus rather than 5.
  

CARDS

• Seagull: Inquiry now costs 1 rather than 0, and loses cost on upgrade rather than gaining range.
• Cricket: Some cards have been changed to be more interesting on upgrade.
  [list]
• Tackle now gains range rather than potency on upgrade.
• Anchor is gains Persist on upgrade rather than potency.
• Blinding Speed now gains 4 range on upgrade rather than 1.
• Grasping Wind now gains Draw 1 on upgrade rather than 2 more pull.
• Hyperfocus now costs 1 less on upgrade rather than gaining range.
• Marquetry now gains 2 range on upgrade rather than 1.
• Perseverance now costs 2 rather than 1, but starts at 10 potency rather than 4. It also scales faster on upgrade rather than becoming Innate.
• Sneaking now costs 1 rather than 0, and loses Exhaust on upgrade rather than gaining range.
• Wedge now gains width rather than range on upgrade.
  

v0.6.1 introduced a rare bug where starting a battle with certain memories on a character would fail to start the encounter, then cause the path choice menu to stay on the screen forever. This should now be fixed.

Once again, this change loops in some (Cricket and Crow) card tweaks and some QOL changes, since there was no reason for me to rip those out from under the patch. Those shall be described in next update's notes.

Mid-run save/load is a little bit more complete, a new battle theme by Will Goss is in, and I've added lots of finished artwork.
Check out the expanded post-tutorial cutscene in particular!

At Full Indie, I saw something interesting: The "tab to switch" tutorial checkbox appeared at the same time as the cards and got lost in the visual noise, so it was sometimes not completed.
Since the card tutorials happened after that, they never showed, and players were reading cards with no context as to how they worked.
To mitigate this, I've moved card tutorials up so they happen immediately after selecting your first unit, and made tutorial boxes contrast a bit more with the world.

While I've added as much content as I can to the demo (the first 2 unlocks for everything), I'm continuing to work on the rest of the story behind the scenes for early access.
I plan to continue adding features to the demo as I finish implementing them.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Due to numerous changes to the save system, runs in progress (but not experience or unlocks) have been invalidated. Apologies for the inconvenience.
• Saving and loading with a reward menu open no longer restores your rerolls.
• Saving and loading with an upgrade open no longer restores the number of upgrades available.
• Fast-forward/slow motion is now reset when returning to the character selection screen.
• Fixed card text sometimes disappearing in the exhaust pile.
• Clarified text for cards that apply statuses to both yourself and enemies.
• Enemies can no longer get multiple additional special behaviours in extremely rare cases.
• Additional special behaviour icons now render properly upon save and load.
• Broadcast can now spread debuffs from Kaleidoscope and Infinity Mirror.
• The debuff preview icon will now also appear for Kaleidoscope and Infinity Mirror.
• Fixed target Block preview for Block-stealing cards.
• Enemy cards no longer sometimes have gray borders when examining them.
• Fixed damage preview for knockbacks that deal multiple hits of direct damage.
  

STORY

• Expanded and redrew some cards in the second story cutscene.
• The intro Sage now has non-placeholder artwork.
  

AUDIO

• Added a non-boss battle theme.
• Updated title theme.
• Music now crossfades rather than fading fully out, then fully in.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Memory drafts with multiple options no longer give duplicate choices.
• Made higher rarity cards even more likely to appear in upgrades, and lower rarity cards even more likely to appear in purges.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Reward menus now also blur the field behind them, to reduce visual noise.
• Increased contrast and visibility of tutorial popups.
• The Action/Gambit tutorial has been moved to before the tab-switch tutorial.
• Damage preview now accounts for backlash behaviours.
• Reduced delay when restoring various status effects on load or removing them all on battle end.
  

ENEMIES

• Added Spore Tower.
• Added Hedgehog.
• Added Behemoth.
• At a certain point in the story, neutral bosses may appear in place of the realm bosses.
• Full encounters can no longer generate a battle with only one enemy.
• Buffed Horde Foundry so it's less trivial to just move out of the way of its minions' self-destruct attacks.
• Clarified Mirrorscale's behaviour text.
  

CARDS

• Some of Seagull's cards have been reworked to enable more synergies:
  [list]
• Wand of Blinding has been replaced with Wand of Cladding, which grants 3 Grit to self or ally.
• Observe can now give Vigor to self or ally, rather than just yourself.
• Keenness now has a cooldown of 2 rather than 3.
• Lever now gives your ally Flow.
• Thesis now gives Grit rather than Block directly.
• Optimism now gives 2 Rally rather than 3 Grit.
• Recall and Impulse now also grant 1 Initiative.
• Alacrity now costs 0 rather than 1.
• Foresight now also gives 1 Vigor and 1 Flow, but only has 1 charge before upgrades.
  

v0.6.0 introduced a bug where cards would sometimes become blank if they were Exhausted, then examined in the discard pile menu. This has now been fixed.

This change loops in some Seagull card tweaks as well since there was no reason for me to rip those out from under the patch, but those shall be described in next update's notes.

You can now save and load a run in progress. This was quite a complex feature to implement, so please let me know if anything behaves strangely!

Many other feedback-driven changes have been made:
While choosing a path, you can also now see the probability of an encounter happening.
Card removal and upgrade events no longer have duplicate choices for the same character.
Lots of card upgrades have been made more interesting than straight potency increases, and many enemies have been rebalanced.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Fixed "Ignores line of sight" always appearing in green on cards that gain this on upgrade.
• Fixed self-damage preview when playing Butterfly's Evaporate while having Vulnerable/Parry with an enemy currently intending to attack.
• Fixed player knockback previews appearing for both party members when catching aggro.
• Fixed edge cases where enemy intents would resolve non-deterministically when several enemies were at the same range to the party.
• Fixed some tiles not getting deleted when clearing old rooms.
• Fixed dialogue playing unintentionally if the tutorial was restarted due one party member being defeated.
  

VISUALS

• Added more lighting effects to card plays.
• Self-damage from enemy-targeting cards (e.g. Stonepiercer, Waterfall) is now also previewed.
• Removed the AP cost indicator on enemy cards to prevent confusion, as their AP doesn't work how the player's does.
• Special behaviour potency numbers are now purple to prevent confusing them with status stacks.
• Adjusted tile create/destroy particle timing and density.
  

GAMEPLAY

• You can now save and load a run in progress.
• Mid-run save files display your current realm and depth.
• Abandoning a run now goes through the run-end summary and saves experience.
• Purge and Improvement events can no longer have duplicate card choices for the same character.
• Enemies are more likely to gain special behaviours, and a greater variety thereof.
• Path choices now show the chance of an encounter occurring.
• Full encounters and minor battles are now distinguished by the battle start text.
• Changed encounter tuning to prevent a challenging battle just before the boss battle.
• Moved the guaranteed rest encounter to 2 steps before the boss (was 3 steps).
• Tweaked overall encounter generation parameters.
• Tweaked room generation to more closely follow the chosen path's direction.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• The "Skip" button no longer expands to cover the bottom row after you run out of rerolls, to avoid skipping by accidentally double-clicking.
• Added a tutorial for cards with minimum range.
  

ENEMIES

• Many Fire enemies have had their Burn application reduced or replaced with direct damage.
• Many swarm enemies have had their HP reduced.
• Skipper's Pressurize now grants 2 Block and Focus rather than 3, and its Geyser now gives it 6 Exposed rather than 5.
• Serration now has 25 Sturdy rather than 30.
• Horde Foundry's Heart Seekers now spawn with 2 Unstable.
• Wayfarer's innate Resist has been nerfed from 5 to 3, and its self-empowerment has been reduced.
  

CARDS

• Butterfly:
  [list]
• Quarterstaff now gains knockback and range on upgrade rather than damage.
• Halberd can now be upgraded 3 times.
• Evaporate now clears all debuffs, but deals as much self-damage as twice your stacks of debuffs. It also Exhausts.
• Final Blow now gains massive range rather than damage on upgrade.
• Arcane Grapple now has 10 range by default and gains Persist on upgrade.
• Surging Tide now gains width rather than range on upgrade.
• Ebbing Tide now gains length rather than draw on upgrade.
• Erosion now gains Persist rather than potency on upgrade.
• Spear Dance now gains Persist rather than distance on upgrade.
• Patience now draws 1 on upgrade rather than increasing in potency.
• Laminar Flow gains Persist on upgrade rather than increasing in potency.
• Turbulent Flow gains Innate on upgrade rather than increasing in potency.
• Reservoir now grants Hesitation rather than Form, and gains Persist on upgrade rather than no longer Exhausting.
• Impatience now starts at 5 damage rather than 10, and its scaling has been adjusted.
  

You can now preview enemy intents before committing a movement.
The lack of this information was leading to slower and more careful play, so I hope this enables more curiosity and experimentation!

In addition, any enemy that you've defeated at least once is now added to the monster library, which enables you to look directly at their cards by selecting them.

Various feedback has been implemented, such as having your party fully heal after a boss battle (rather than just 90%), adding a setting to choose between the old tile-only cursor and the new unit-sensitive cursor, and having the option to make camera rotation snap instantly to reduce motion sickness.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Damage preview now takes into account special reactions such as physical/magical weakness.
• Switching units while dragging a card now cancels the drag.
• Item tooltips no longer disappear when mousing between the item and the discard button.
• The "?" button to examine a specific character on the selection screen should no longer be pushed offscreen when the window is especially small.
• Prevented checkboxes from repeating when the battle ends before they've been checked.
• Fixed knockback not previewing when Paper Hydra copied knockback cards that did no direct damage.
• When Paper Hydra copies knockback cards that do no direct damage, these are now displayed as Attack intents.
  

STORY

• Home base conversation portraits now have different character outfits to reflect the setting.
• Shortened tutorial to 2 fights instead of 3.
  

VISUALS

• Made difficult terrain tile highlight more distinct.
• Made enemy attack range highlight more distinct.
  

AUDIO

• Replaced healing sound.
  

GAMEPLAY

• The monster library has been implemented. Defeating an enemy adds it to the library.
• Any foe added to the library can be selected in battle to examine its abilities.
• Added more enemy special behaviours.
  [list]
• Swift: Movement speed is increased by 2.
• Purifying: Purges 1 stack of all debuffs each turn.
• Spacefolding: This unit can teleport anywhere.
• All-Seeing: This unit bypasses line of sight.
• Rheopectic: Gains 2 Resist when attacked.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• You can now preview which enemies will attack you before you commit a movement.
• Paced and refined tutorial messages to avoid information overload.
• Added tutorials for the enemy library and examining enemies.
• Added a tutorial for the line-of-sight icon.
• Added a setting to only consider tiles (not units) with the cursor.
• Added a setting to have camera rotation snap instantly rather than gradually.
• Added a toggle for click-and-hold item use.
• Added a toggle for showing status tooltips when examining a unit.
• Reworded knockback tooltips to make them more clear.
• Highlighted certain codex entry snippets in gold.
  

CARDS

• Seagull: Light From Within now gains range on upgrade rather than dealing 5 less damage.
• Cricket: Hardened Fist now gains 1 range on upgrade rather than 2 more charges.
• Scaling factors on cards are no longer written in all gold.
• Scaling factors now say "Potency scales by..." rather than "Potency increases by..." to more clearly link them with items that affect scaling.
  

The story continues!

You can now play lunge cards in all directions, not just orthogonal and diagonal.
Unfortunately, this makes past-me a liar because he wrote about his reasons for restricting lunge cards to those directions, but I found a way to make your final lunged position intuitive. Hopefully this makes longer-range lunge cards like Surging Tide more fun to play!

In response to feedback, enemies that are about to push or pull you now show a knockback preview on the target party member. Currently only Paper Hydra can ever do this (after it witnesses one of your push/pull cards), but this opens up the design space to future enemies that incorporate knockback into their standard kit.

In addition, you can now hover over a specific status icon to get a description of just that icon. No more being overwhelmed by the list of every status a unit has.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• You can no longer push your ally off a ledge.
• Fixed rare cases where Paper Hydra would copy a lunge card and then appear to lunge to the edge of the universe.
• Fixed rare cases where bridges would draw mid-air.
• Fixed rare cases where special terrain effects would fail to draw.
• Playing cards too fast no longer causes incoming damage previews to be incorrect.
• Fixed issue where damage preview for knockbacks would be incorrect on enemies with exactly 1 stack of Vulnerable/Parry if the knockback card does no direct damage.
• Items for locked memories no longer appear in the Cauldron.
  

STORY

• Added a new main story conversation.
• Redid a few art assets to illustrate what the Scourge actually looks like.
  

VISUALS

• Special behaviour status icons now show potency if applicable.
• Buffer stacks being consumed now shows text above the unit.
• The time dilation effect no longer applies when defeating the split copies of the Wildfire Exemplar.
• Items that deal with Overheat/Discard now have tooltips for these effects.
  

AUDIO

• Made hit sounds punchier.
• Added sound for defeating bosses.
• Updated conversation theme.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Lunge/Retreat cards are no longer restricted to cardinal and intercardinal directions.
• Lunge/Retreat cards no longer trigger "on move" effects if they didn't actually move you.
• The incoming damage preview now shows when an enemy is about to push/pull a party member.
• Some enemies now prefer to move even when they're already at their ideal range.
• Added more enemy special behaviours.
  [list]
• Metallic: Gains 1 Parry when targeted by a Skill.
• Fibrous: Gains 1 Parry when targeted by a Spell.
• Noxious: Inflicts 1 Poison when attacked.
• Spiked: Deals 3 damage when attacked.
• Abrasive: Inflicts 2 Exposed when attacked.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• You can now hover over a status/behaviour icon above a unit to get an explanation of just that status/behaviour.
• You no longer have to wait for the camera to finish rotating before you can pan again.
• More tutorial messages now highlight the thing they are focusing on.
• Special behaviour tooltips now also explain any status effects mentioned.
• Settings can now be changed by dragging the fill bar.
• Vsync can now be set from 0 to 4 times (formerly just 0 or 1).
• Save files now show story progress.
• There is now a small greeting describing the game on startup.
  

CARDS

• Butterfly's Joust now has a cooldown of 2 instead of 0, to balance out its direction no longer being restricted.
• Cricket's Dropkick now Exhausts, to balance out its direction no longer being restricted.
  

ITEMS

• Reworded many item descriptions for clarity.
• Metal: Roborant now only heals for 15 rather than also giving 15 max HP.
  

Welcome to the first post-demo update!

As per feedback, tutorials should now never repeat, and a number of them have been reworded for clarity.

Five new enemies have been added to the game. They show up rarely, but they have peculiar mechanics that should add an interesting twist to the encounter.

Also, I've been meaning to redraw the pixel-style status icons for some time now, and it's finally been done. In addition, Jing and Florian have their final portraits.

Next update, I plan to continue the story and update the adventurers' conversation portraits as well.

Changelog

BUG FIXES

• Fixed minor text spacing issue on cards that apply statuses in an area.
• Fixed edge case where a tutorial would repeat when you selected and deselected a push/pull card multiple times.
  

STORY

• Librarian Jing and Searcher Florian now have their final portraits.
  

VISUALS

• Redrew status and intent icons at much higher resolution.
• The cursor now takes on a different look when dragging a card.
• Unlocks are now always listed cards-first.
• Status icons above unit sprites now max out at 5 across rather than 7, and stack upwards rather than reflowing downwards.
• Reduced intensity of menu motion.
  

AUDIO

• Added different ambient audio per realm.
• Added a theme for story conversations.
  

GAMEPLAY

• Terrain effects can appear in more diverse patterns.
  

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Selecting a card with only one valid target will now automatically preview what would happen if you played it on that target.
• Tutorial checkboxes are now pointed to with a shrinking diamond.
• The codex now describes double-click to play and drag to play.
• Tutorials never repeat after they've been acknowledged (previously they'd repeat if the battle was ended before the "chapter" of tutorials was done).
• Reworded enemy intent tutorial for clarity.
• Added line-of-sight tutorial.
• Added line-of-sight codex entry.
• The line-of-sight eye icon now takes into account the ranges and targets of cards in your hand.
• The item discard "X" now notes that you should click and hold on its tooltip.
  

ENEMIES

• Fire: Added Enkindler.
• Water: Added Skipper.
• Wood: Added Dampener.
• Metal: Added Serration.
• Earth: Added Fossil.
• Bosses now have different bases on their sprites.
• Added a notification that the second boss has appeared early because the game is unfinished.
  

Hi Steam! The demo for NOMIA is now available.
In it, you can do the first leg of a run, and experience the first little bit of the story and all character relationships. All four characters are unlockable.

This represents a little over a year and a half of work by me, so I'm very excited to present it to you!
Any feedback or comments are welcome.

If you've been following this journey from earlier, here's detailed patch notes as well!

Changelog

BUG FIXES

STORY

VISUALS

GAMEPLAY

QUALITY OF LIFE

CARDS

MEMORIES