The Defiled West Demo is back with another update!

Not only is Christmas now being celebrated across the Famine Frontier, but we have a wide selection of bug fixes and big improvements to accompany the festive season!

Holiday Additions

• Jollydead now spawn in Stickstead: Gundead wearing seasonal hats!

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• The Spectral Candy Cane: a new throwable melee weapon that is gifted to anyone who logs in during this holiday period! Be sure to pick yours up from the weapon wagon.

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• The Snowball Cannon: a new and exclusive ranged weapon that you can unlock by killing 25 Jollydead!

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• Stickstead Christmas decor!

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Improvements

This update comes with massive changes to some of the game\'s core systems:

Updated Soul Scale Tutorial

The Soul Scale tutorial has seen a complete overhaul. Previously, the tutorial was admittedly convoluted and in places difficult to understand, so we have restructured the whole thing to make for a clearer and more concise introduction to one of the game\'s most important concepts.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/6e81c77fbfffaf5dc35802c75262c8daa74829a6.png\"][/img]

Spectralisation Reinvented

Spectralisation was another big mechanic that, like the Soul Scale, was limited by the way it was introduced in-game. Until now, spectralisation has been a way of helping players to cheat death whenever their health reaches zero. Dying in this way would grant invulnerability for a few seconds, at the cost of some movement speed.

While this was an ability that often came in handy, players were often left confused as to what was happening and why, and ultimately it also led to a lot of balancing issues. As a result, reaching zero health will now kill the player in the same way that a heavily unbalanced Soul Scale will.

But fear not, we have introduced a new system to replace spectralisation. The player\'s overall health has been increased, and cheating death remains possible through the more-reliable method of...

Withered Whiskey

Withered Whiskey is a new elixir that can be obtained by defeating bosses! Unlike the elixirs you\'ve seen thus far, this one isn\'t for you... it\'s for your good friend, The Inspectre. Giving The Inspectre the whiskey will supercharge him, allowing him to save you from a killing blow by spectralising you. This means that as long as you keep your companion topped up with whiskey, you\'ll be able to shrug off grievous injuries like they\'re nothing.

With this feature, we\'ve also introduced new tutorials for Withered Whiskey and Spectralisation.

Boss Loot Chests

We wanted defeating bosses to feel more rewarding, so this update introduces Boss Loot Chests! After defeating a boss, the chest will appear and when opened, will present your rewards to you one by one and allow you to view details about each one.

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Miscellaneous Improvements

• An interactive Soul Scale balancing graphic can be viewed at any time via a hint button at the right of the Soul Scale.

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• The Soul Scale now glows as spectral and gunslinger essence is modified.

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• Sound effects now pause when the game is paused.

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• Town checklists now work in Riftwood Ranch and Ethereal Rift.

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Bug Fixes

• You can no longer dig if you are not holding a shovel.

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• Gundead weapons no longer flip and rotate maniacally.

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• Fixed an issue that would cause town checklists to be empty.

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• Fixed an issue with controller navigation to the Soul Scale warning border setting.

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• Fixed a bug that caused your ammo count to be hidden after unequipping a gadget.

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• The ability tooltips in the top left segment of the Soul Scale are functional again.

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• Bear traps can no longer be deleted during the gadget tutorial.

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• Enemies can no longer move while frozen.

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• Healing particles on the Creepy Captive have been fixed to be in line with other enemies.

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• Fixed an issue that would cause snake oil to sometimes not heal you.

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• You can no longer get stuck in front of or behind General Store\'s bookshelves after defeating him.

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• And plenty more!

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Thank you for playing Defiled West!

This will likely be our final post of the year so we\'d just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has played our demo and given feedback, it has been incredibly valuable. We really hope that you find these new changes fun and helpful, and hope you will stick with us into 2026 as we work on exciting new maps and features for the full release!\n\nThanks, and a Happy New Year,\nMindmoss

Intro

Hey everyone,

It\'s been a while since we discussed more about the game itself and what\'s coming. This post is our first Developer Diary. We\'ll go into the basics of Wraithwood and reveal new information about the town that comes after. Also, we\'ve got an update to the Demo releasing this month which fundamentally changes how one of our core systems works. Please skip to the end to see a TLDR if you\'re not in the mood for some reading ;)

A Detailed Wraithwood Dive

The fun bit comes first. We\'ve been working on Wraithwood steadily over the past few months. It\'s now feature complete, and only polish remains. While it\'s a much smaller town, it\'s by no means empty.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/4403e0526fc7b7f821232acf266b0e57460b83e7.png\"][/img]

Containing six procedural, randomised houses, Wraithwood also has three unique points of interest.

Medical Morgue

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Overrun by the dead at the last minute, the morgue is in relatively good shape. Despite the name, its a doctors. Teeming with corrupt, syringe-wielding ghostly foes, this level challenges you with an overwhelming barrage of acidic tricks. However, the storage room gives way to a higher tier of medical loot that greatly helps as you progress through this difficult region.

The Cultist\'s Cabin

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/eb7a6b98e544fca27326dd0cf03ff0e877f9f39c.png\"][/img]

There are few places in the Famine Frontier quite as bloodied as this. A map plastered with skeletons and golden daggers, remnants of Stickstead and an aggressive, strengthened leader. The Cultists dare release the spirit of their godlike ancestors, but talk of the town is that there\'s loot to be had through a mysterious underground tunnel...

Wraithwood Farmhouse

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/735464203b72e5a332f4336784e4f67e91550744.png\"][/img]

The Farmhouse is the first Horde Level you\'ll encounter in Defiled West. Enemies are pouring in from all over, breaking windows as they feel the urge to feed the growing rift. If this rift gets what it needs to expand, Wraithwood stands no chance. You must defend the Farmhouse by barricading windows, crafting new traps and using new weapons to turn your sole existence into an army. Don\'t be alarmed by the disgruntled shotgun-bearing farmers crashing through the glass. They might be fast, but the rift is what they\'re after.

And that\'s all we\'ll reveal for Wraithwood until release. Expect more images to follow, but we want some of it to be a surprise!

The Screaming Caves

With the rift in Wraithwood closed, you can make your way through the rocky mountains deep into the caves on the other side. What was once a mineshaft for the local workers, is now a chorus of death. The ceiling drips with blood, the floors vibrate with anger. If your soul struggles anywhere, its here.

The second major location in Defiled West, The Screaming Caves is a region entirely underground. Explore and master five new locations with three challenging bosses to defeat. Enemies from Stickstead are too weak to be found in here - you\'ll have to make do with Petrighouls - crafty little duplicators; Pincers - organic traps aching for food and Oxidised Miners - Unable to move when being observed.

(of course, there\'s more!)

In a place with a cave called \"Arachnids Embrace\" you wouldn\'t expect anything short of creepy corruption. We\'ll share more as we open into 2026.

Dev Diary

Spectralisation

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Our biggest point of concern with the release of the Demo was that players didn\'t understand the Spectralisation process very well. With that in mind, we\'ve been working on a new solution.

Old tutorial? gone. Hearts? broken. Spectralisation? Not forgotten.

We\'ve reworked the process so that players no longer Spectralise on death (thats when you turn blue!). Now, you may only spectralise if you\'ve consumed Withered Whiskey. A new item which allows your Inspectre friend to pull you from the depths between worlds and keep you stabilised. Think of it like a ghostly defibrillator.

That\'s not all.

Balancing has been adjusted to accommodate this change. Withered Whiskey is only obtainable by killing bosses or looting very specific hidden areas. We want it to be a life saver. Keeping your soul balanced is now more important than ever - so be careful. You can play on Easy, Normal or Hard mode and each of these has slightly different affects to both soul balancing and health.

These changes will make their way into the Demo this month. We\'re also reworking Spectral Phase, one of the later-acquired abilities which allows you to spectralise on command, becoming invincible and providing a dash ability. Currently, it doesn\'t make sense to allow you to spectralise on command because you have to pay a high price to save yourself from death usually. So this part of the ability will be removed. However, there are other benefits to being a complete ghost...

Wraithwood Polishing

Its been a week or so of polishing Wraithwood up. Bug fixing, balancing and art redesigns are the focus. Especially with our Horde Level mechanic which needs some work still. Currently, you can only fortify windows facing upward. But there are windows on the side and bottom of the farmhouse which also need fortification, otherwise you\'ll be overrun.

Fortifying windows was a unique challenge because we do allow simple fortification on rifts within the Saloon bossfight, but these windows require you to be able to shoot through them and enemies need to be able to break them apart. So they\'re slightly different systems. Good thing someone left multiple boxes of wooden planks lying around?

A special highlight of this level is the Bow weapon. Being able to occasionally pin enemies to walls is very satisfying, and really gives that weapon a unique feel to it. I\'ve also really enjoyed the sound design here. There\'s unique SFX for the rift closing and starving (not receiving enough food for a prolonged period, aka the win condition!). Sounds in Defiled West are mostly built by us, but from purchased clips. We dont like using sounds you might hear somewhere else, so everything has to be uniquely adjusted. Sounds like the rift starvation are heavily layered and stitched together to match the animation in the scene, and remind you of the power it holds.

The map itself is also quite visually pleasing - compared to Stickstead, Wraithwood doesn\'t use a repeating texture. Every part was drawn with purpose and that\'s how it\'ll be going forward. Enemies dont emerge from fog, they simply crawl out from tall cornfields. Time to make some corn particles.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/6656b6f65a62f47cb7e35bfb7d977747cd58da4c.png\"][/img]

The Screaming Caves - Design

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Very little has been done for this area just yet. There\'s a lot of work ahead of us, but we were consistently slowed down by new systems, UI and animations previously. Two major systems are still yet to be implemented - Localisation and Level Replays. Currently you can enter previous levels to buy goods, explore or change cosmetics. But we want to provide the chance to attempt the level again with your enhanced gear and skills. Not to mention, complete all objectives for each level!

The major point of uniqueness with this map is that its all in a cave. There\'s still going to be levels (yay, loading screens!) but the \"outside\" is really \"inside\" and the Hallowed Halls contains everything you\'re used to.

There\'s an emphasis here of spectral energy, and most enemies will be ghostly in some form. So we want the player to really manage their ability to stay physical and not die from disrupting their soul scale. Additionally, we\'ve got new enemy logic to keep things interesting. The last thing we want is reskins everywhere. Dont get me wrong, reskins have their place. Enemies with different speeds and health pools serve their purpose. But why visit a new region, if everything is the same with a new face?

Thats also where weapons and gadgets come in. Although we wont share what the new gadgets for the caves are, we can confirm a new mechanic which allows you to damage spectral enemies in a completely new way. We\'re trying to gradually increase the strength you\'ll need in order to defeat each horseman of the frontier. Psyanite is the orchestrator of this rift and requires a significant demonstration of power to defeat.

Detailed Planning for Banshee\'s Bluff, the next minor town on your journey to death, will begin shortly.

The Rest of the Game!

We do get distracted from time to time, adding thors hammer, lightsabers and whatnot. Stuff like this isn\'t currently available to players but perhaps in the end game! Either way, we\'re always improving parts here and there.

The Objective system is a new mechanic we\'ve introduced to give players a goal in each level. Its completely optional and only affects the grade you receive at the end of the level. Its built for completionists, really. That isn\'t to say its pointless for everyone else. Completion of all buildings within a town grants a small bonus based on the grades you received in each one. This isn\'t a significant advantage over other players, but it adds up! Its up to you, if you want a little bit more health ;)

Thats all for now, thanks!

Mindmoss

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/43a14e071e3bdae44c980b200341d6596b21927e.png\"][/img]

TLDR:

Loads of work has been done over the last few months, and we\'ve improved areas of the demo as well in response to feedback. The tutorial has been made simpler, and the spectralisation (going blue) mechanic has been reworked.

This month, we will release a holiday themed update with some quality of life improvements, two new weapons and some decorations. More information on that soon!

Hey,

Now that Halloween is over, we\'re reverting back to the quiet darkness of the Famine Frontier. But, we\'ve got a few little changes as we continue to improve the game.

• Removed Halloween Decorations

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• SFX to graveyard minigame success

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• New tomahawk tiers

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• Enemy optimisations

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• You can now only dig if the shovel is in your hand

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• A few smaller fixes.

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We\'re still working on our overhaul of spectralisation, which will be released to the demo in the following weeks. I wonder what will Stickstead look like over the holiday season?

Thanks!

The spookiest time of the year is upon us - and with it comes new changes to the Defiled West Demo! This update not only includes a variety of bug fixes and improvements, but also introduces several seasonal features - available for a limited time only!

Halloween Additions

• Pumpkindead now spawn in Stickstead.

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• The Pitchfork: a powerful new melee weapon obtained by killing Pumpkindead!

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• Pumpkins have been placed throughout the streets.

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• The main menu now features halloween music.

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Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that would prevent unlocked weapons from showing on the level completion popup.

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• Fixed an issue that would break interaction with the weapon wagon when swapping between controller and keyboard.

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• Data from destroyed weapons is no longer saved unnecessarily.

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• Patched an infinite ammo exploit.

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• Fixed an issue that would cause item slot count to disappear after dropping one item from a stack.

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• Fixed a bug that allowed crafted items to remain visible after being taken from a workbench.

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• Stopped General Store\'s weapon from facing the wrong direction when he\'s trying to aim at you.

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• The tour guide notepad no longer appears in the middle of the screen on ultra wide monitors.

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• The settings back button is no longer misaligned on ultra wide monitors.

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• Fixed an issue that caused a rope to briefly appear when equipping the rope cannon.

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• Ability selection and chore popups no longer bounce when the cursor is placed at their base.

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• Many more minor fixes!

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General Improvements:

• The tutorial now features an animation that demonstrates how to swipe with melee weapons.

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• Time is now slowed when using the spinshot ability.

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• Players can now choose to change the music in the saloon at the piano.

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• Added button icons to the settings menu to show how navigation works on controller.

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• Weapon wagon key icons are swapped to controller button icons when using controller.

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• Melee weapons on the ground are now transparent while an identical weapon is held.

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• Support for seasonal game-wide festivities!

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We\'ve been hard at work finalising the development of our next town Wraithwood, but we\'re not done with the demo just yet. Expect more bug fixes soon, a reimagined soul scale tutorial, and a complete overhaul of the currently-convoluted spectralisation system! We look forward to sharing more details with you soon.\n\n- The Mindmoss Team

\n[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/55e286ab838fb1284c747979b196cc398609456f.png\"][/img]\nFeedback Form

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/5b7acd08b1411bddccf5f2b22c14179d396302db.png\"][/img]

A Little Overview

Wraithwood features two completely unique levels - the Medical Morgue (seen above) and the Cultists House. Everything in this post is subject to change!

Wraithwood is a minor town, these towns serve as a bridge between major locations like Stickstead and the Screaming Caves. These towns do not feature unique boss fights, but have new enemies, weapons, gadgets and challenges.

For example, the image above shows a new enemy called the Creepy GP. These corrupt doctors float throughout the abandoned morgue armed with an enormous acidic syringe. Capable of shooting acid and directly injecting it, they\'re not to be messed with at any range.

The Rest of the Town

Like Stickstead, Wraithwood contains a few points of interest. We wont spoil these, but you can unlock some pretty special gear!

Make your way through the two initial levels, with the cultists house posing a significant crimson challenge. Find your way into three randomly generated infested homesteads, or ignore them and allow enemies to pour out from within.

Burn your way through cornfields to reach the real source of infection - The Wraithwood Farmhouse. A Huge fractured structure which plays completely differently to previous levels. Board up windows and stop enemies reaching the rift in the middle. Craft gear, repair the floor and survive waves of malicious enemies. Two new unique weapons can be obtained in the Farmhouse.

When you seal the rift, return after to survive as many waves as you wish for an extra challenge (and extra rewards!)

That\'s all for now

We\'re excited to share more as we get closer to release - please keep bug reports or feature requests coming and give the demo a try if you haven\'t already!

- Mindmoss

We\'re back again with another update and more patch notes! This time we\'ve directed more focus towards fixing bugs, but we\'ve also tried to include a few gameplay improvements too.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue that would prevent the Sheriff Brutality achievement from being awarded.*

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• Fixed an issue that would prevent Sheriff Bruality\'s death animation from playing.

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• Fixed an issue that would cause Gundead to rapidly flip direction while a player was standing beneath them.

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• Fixed issues that would prevent Gundead from shooting.

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• Gundead no longer jog on the spot.

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• The soul scale is now frozen while spectralised, as intended.

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• Fixed an issue that would prevent chore and status effect information from being displayed on the inventory UI.

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• The item drop circle now disappears properly when closing the inventory UI.

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• Inventory UI description area is now cleared when the inventory is reopened, preventing old information from lingering.

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• Fixed issues with settings menu navigation on controller.

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• Fixed an issue that prevented certain objects from shining while in the street.

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• Fixed an issue that stopped spectral doors from being removed properly when destroyed.

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• Fixed the positioning of the lamp outside Brainsburys.

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• Fixed an issue that would make it difficult to shoot enemies next to a poltergeist pedestal.

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• Enemies can no longer walk on top of safes.

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• Infinite ammo in the Ethereal Rift is no longer prevented by an empty weapon.

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• Fixed an issue that made it impossible to spawn enraged souls after reloading a game.

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* If you defeated Sheriff Bruality and were not granted the achievement, it should now be awarded to you the next time you load your save.

Improvements:

• Tutorial now says \"swipe all three dummies at once\" for further clarity.*

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• New sound effect for attempting to fire a weapon with no ammo.

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• Made Brainsbury\'s shop floor healing station more intuitive.

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• New sound effects for Sheriff Brutality.

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• New setting to disable the soul scale warning border.

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• Spectralisation abilities are now clearly divided into three Soul Status Effects:

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• Spectral Phasing

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• Spectral Slow

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• Soul Freeze

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* We are also in the process of creating an animation which we hope will make the concept of melee swiping clearer.

Thank you once again for your continued feedback. We are currently trying to make improvements to the soul scale tutorial alongside fixing bugs, so expect to see more updates soon!\n\n- The Mindmoss Team

Feedback Form

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The first Defiled West Demo patch is now live!

Huge thank you to everybody who has wishlisted and played the game so far. In this first update, we have a multitude of bug fixes and general improvements that we hope will make for a smoother gameplay experience.\n- Mindmoss

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that would allow Martha to attack several times a second.

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• Fixed an issue that allowed multiple difficulty options to be selected simultaneously.

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• Weapons no longer snap to a fixed position while holding aim when using controller.

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Improvements:

• Made the fog of war lighter in colour for increased visibility.

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• Vertical fences have updated art to make them clearer.

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• The door to the training room in Riftwood Ranch now glows during the tutorial.

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• There is now an arrow on the floor in Riftwood Ranch to make the tutorial clearer.

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• Key popups that require you to hold now feature a progress bar.

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• Martha the Malicious has been weakened, and the amount of damage she takes before taking out her shield has been increased.

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• On PC, specific weapon slots can now be immediately selected using the keys 2, 3 and 4.

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• Functional settings for screen resolution.

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• New setting to switch between full screen and windowed mode.

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• While a controller is connected, the cursor becomes visible when it detects mouse movement.

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• A new popup that appears before the game loads that confirms whether players intend to use keyboard or controller (while controller is connected).

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Thank you once again to everyone who has provided feedback so far. We plan to continue updating this demo for a little while longer, so we welcome any further feedback so that we can improve it as much as we can.

Feedback Form

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45726901/ab173a9df729428a2ae9e3a1195ca9dec83752da.png\"][/img]

We\'re excited to announce the demo for Defiled West is now available.

Explore Stickstead

The Demo drops you in right at the beginning of the game, experiencing it almost exactly how you would in the full version.

Clear all five infested buildings, capture some bounties for the local sheriff, complete chores to stock up on gadgets and take complete control of the settlement with a selection of weapons ranging from rusty revolvers to spectralised ghostly rifles.

Acquire Equipment and Abilities

Though not all abilities are available in the Demo, you can choose an ability every time you complete a level to help you with your eradication leisure.

Unlock weapons as you find them, with some carefully hidden, and others left behind by those who failed to do what you\'ve been tasked with.

Unlock gadgets, such as molotovs, bear traps, pouches of glass and more.

Experience the Soul Scale

Death isn\'t normal round these parts. You died a long time ago - but with a perfectly balanced soul, you\'re able to stay in the physical realm. Losing all your health is an inconvenience, but becoming fully human or fully ghost will shortly lead to your demise. Keep an eye on your soul scale.

The Future

We aren\'t moving on from demo support just yet. We will do our best to fix bugs you find and improve existing assets like Sound Effects & Art. We know some things arent quite right.

We\'re actively developing the rest of Defiled West, with several towns such as Wraithwood and the Screaming Caves. You can expect new enemies in every new location, with more weapons, gadgets and challenges.

Feedback Form

Above all

Have fun, report bugs, request features - leave a review if possible!

- Mindmoss Team