Greetings, adventurers! We've been hard at work improving the game (as always) in addition to working on the Switch port which is running better than ever. We may yet see a Switch release in August, if all goes according to plan. Before we get into recent changes, we're pleased to announce the release of... Tangledeep ~ Arrange ~
This remix album includes 21 arrangements of your favorite themes from the Tangledeep original soundtrack, all in a diverse array of styles and genres! From 80s rock and heavy metal to EDM/trance and jazz, there is definitely something for everyone here. The musicians from OverClocked ReMix absolutely knocked it out of the park, and if you enjoyed the original soundtrack, you're sure to love this! Listen and Purchase on Steam Listen and Purchase on Bandcamp

Patch Summary

In patches 1.14 and 1.15, we focused on a few major areas. LESS PUNISHING HEALING For a long time, Percy's healing services have been very expensive and bordering on 'punishing' depending on your level and how many times you've used them. While healing should not be free and unlimited, the way costs scaled was almost exponential at times. We've revised the healing cost formula to simply be 50g, plus another 50g per time you've healed in your current level. In other words, you should no longer see jumps like 50g -> 500g -> 1500g. Now, this doesn't help adventurers who get in over their heads in a nasty champion fight, but it will help you avoid character losses due to simply running out of resources. Defeat due to attrition was never a design goal of Tangledeep, which is why the game has no hunger system! POLISH n' SHINE Several key early game cutscenes have been much improved for clarity and dramatic (or comedic) impact. More visuals, audio, and even new music! Plus, we've put in lots of quality of life (QOL) changes that will definitely improve your play experience. For example, ordering pets "Come to me" will force them to stay right next to you for a little while, rather than running away immediately! ITEM DREAM IMPROVEMENTS All sorts of strange things can happen in Item Dreams, but these special events were not communicated well previously. Now, when entering new Item Dream floors, you'll see any sort of special floor modifiers like Big Mode, Costume Party, Fountain Floors, Berserker Floors, etc. upon entry. You'll also learn the effects of Dream crystal auras when first entering the aura (previously, you had to use the mouse to hover), and once you complete a dream you'll see a little 'report card' of what you earned and encountered during the dream! TREE OF MEMORIES A common request from roguelike veterans has been a so-called "bones" file, showing previous characters that have been lost on your current save slot. The idea of "bones" is a bit wrong for Tangledeep's tone, so instead, we now have the "Tree of Memories" which is inscribed with the names of fallen characters. You'll also be able to read where and when they were lost, their level, max floor reached, etc. This data is collected going forward on your local save, so older characters will not be shown. OPTIMIZATION We did a number of deep engine-level optimizations largely to benefit the Switch version of the game, since the Switch has a much less powerful CPU than just about any desktop or laptop processor. Some of these changes affected just about every object in the game and while we think we've addressed any bugs related to them, let us know if you find anything weird! SKILL BALANCE Some jobs had passives and innate bonuses that were particularly lackluster compared to other options. We've improved a selection of these, such as Gambler's Cheat Death, Edge Thane's low-health innates, Budoka's Vital Point: Bleed, and Brigand's Detect Weakness. Though Tangledeep is a single player game, we don't want there to be overwhelmingly powerful options OR jobs/skills so weak that they are never worth picking!

Patch Notes 1.14 and 1.15 (Combined)

ART/VISUALS

• Allies buffed by moonbeams (from the Moonbow legendary) now show the buff animation
• Improved the cutscene involving the Dreamcaster in town
• Improved the cutscene involving the escaped frog
• Improved the cutscene when picking up the cube from Dirtbeak for the first time

AUDIO/MUSIC

• New music for the escaped frog sequence
• Replaced some placeholder SFX
• Crab Grab now has SFX
• Planting a tree now has SFX
• Selecting items in your inventory / equipment screen now has SFX
• Various Monster Corral actions now have SFX

BALANCE

• Pet insurance cost is now simply player level * 75 gold, rather than monster level.
• Gambler’s Cheat Death passive now works a bit differently. Now, if it triggers from any damage source, you cannot die from any other damage sources that turn. For example: 5 monsters attack you. The 3rd monster’s attack would normally reduce you to 0 Health, but Cheat Death triggers. Previously, the 4th and 5th monsters could still defeat you. Now, they cannot.
• Brigand’s Detect Weakness passive now has a 50% higher chance of marking a monster each turn, and the damage bonus has been raised to +100% (up from +35%)
• Edge Thane’s Glorious Battler passive now also grants 25 CT when defeating a non-worthless enemy with a song active.
• Edge Thane’s innate abilities have more generous Health thresholds. The base innate now triggers when health is <= 60% instead of 50%, and the final innate (triggers when health is <= 33% instead of 25%. Also, when the base innate triggers, your damage mitigation is increased by 20% (up from 15%).
• Budoka’s Vital Point: Bleed now has a buffed ‘trigger’ effect. Once an enemy is marked for bleeding and you strike them with another Budoka technique, the bleed will spread to enemies within *3* tiles of the original enemy, instead of within 1 tile.
• For the first 3/4 of the dungeon, there is now a ~2 turn buffer from when you first enter a floor to when monsters can aggro you naturally. This should help with edge cases where a ton of aggressive monsters happen to spawn right next to stairs. However, note that if the monsters were already aggressive, or if you attack them, they will still fight back. Note: This does not apply on New Game+.
• Monsters knocked out with a Monster Mallet should now gain immunity to mud and lava, and any ‘charged’ ability they may have been using should now be canceled
• Jade Beetle’s ‘Armor Break’ skill removed (was only accessible by pet Jade Beetles)
• Flat damage resistance (such as the Physical damage reduction granted by Medium and Heavy armor) is now applied AFTER your % resistance. This is most noticeable when you have higher resistance values.
• Percy’s healing costs have been reduced to a flat, linearly scaling 50 -> 100 -> 150g (etc), resetting each time you level up. The costs are no longer based on character level. JP healing starts at 100jp and increases by 25jp per time you heal in your current level.
• The cost to deposit an item at the bank has been reduced by about 20% on average

BUGS

• Attempted fix for bug where monster echoes and powerups would sometimes not trigger if they spawned on top of you. The powerups should now be obtained automatically at the end of the turn
• Job Trials are now accessible immediately in New Game+ (if you’ve mastered your current job)
• When hovering your cursor over an enemy and using a melee weapon with an Overdrawing bow on your hotbar, clicking on an enemy at max range should properly switch to the Overdrawing bow
• Fixed monster wander behavior in Item Dreams with Deadly Void
• Fixed bug with certain monster ability targeting such as Battousai’s Iaijutsu
• Fixed bugs with inaccurate estimated healing on food items
• Fixed bug that was allowing certain status effects like Sneak Attack to trigger on the wrong conditions
• Fixed bug that made the Overdrawing magic mod always reset CT to 0 even when at less than max range
• Fixed bugs with effects that required enemies to have not noticed you (these were always triggering)
• Fixed visual bug with ‘icy ground’ (dropped by Frosted Jellies) sprite
• Fixed bug where certain status effect sprites would “stick” to a corral pet and never come off
• Corral pets should now gain XP even if you are at the level cap
• Another attempt at fixing bug where getting pulled or pushed would not update line of sight properly
• Fixed some monster abilities not using proper targeting
• Fixed bug where monster letters would sometimes display garbage text
• Fixed bugs with Armor Training (Paladin skill)
• Fixed bug where the block bonus from Big Giant Circlet and Crystal Ring did not stack correctly
• Fixed bug where friendly River Spirits’ water shot attack could sometimes target the player. Also fixed a number of other assorted friendly monster attacks
• Fixed bug where the cursor could permanently disappear when returning to title
• Attempt at fixing bug where the Summon Mini-Panthox effect would not trigger all summons (sometimes)
• Fixed visual bugs with button colors in equipment and inventory screens
• Fixed random floating “new item display” popup text
• Enemy buff animations should no longer play while outside line of sight
• Orbs/seeds should no longer drop in Job Trials, as intended
• Fixed bug with high level rumors spawning after doing job trials
• Fixed the monster family of one of the final hub side area bosses
• Fixed random error that could happen and prevent game load on some older systems
• Fixed health bars sometimes rotating out of position
• Attempted fix at issue where Fungal Columns (and some other enemies) would occasionally be invisible
• Monsters KO’d with monster mallet should no longer take lava damage (this should have been fixed already, so re-fixed?)
• Fixed bug that was not incorporating your Spirit Power into Iron Breathing’s healing calculation (this may have affected some other healing abilities)
• Fixed issues with sprite layering of summoned objects or terrain like mud and lava
• HuSyn’s Autobarrier is now correctly classified as a Passive skill again
• Gold cost of upgrading bank storage has been capped at your max gold held amount
• Casino 2F now gives a super treasure chest when cleared, as intended
• Parting Gifts should now work correctly with Runic Crystal

CONTENT / GAMEPLAY

• You can now find a new tree in Riverstone Grove that will be inscribed with the names of characters you’ve lost in Tangledeep. This data has been tracked only recently and will show level, job, champions defeated, etc. for each of your previous characters.
• Upon completing an Item Dream, you’ll now see a popup showing the results of your Dream run: gold, XP, and JP earned, fountains found, items looted, and Goldfrogs caught. You’ll also see what (if any) upgrades your item got!

ENGINE

• Yet more XML optimizations for faster load time
• Support for dialogs with multiple pages of reponses! Wow!
• Major optimizations related to map objects, monster spawns, and wandering monster behavior
• Major optimization related to monsters trying to pathfind from very far away
• Major optimizations related to many damage-dealing effects

QUALITY OF LIFE

• On the Equipment screen, pushing left on your list of equipped gear via keyboard or controller will wrap the cursor around to the Filter buttons. Pushing right on the Filter buttons will then return to your equipped gear list.
• When walking into an Item Dream aura (after not being in that aura the previous turn), the game log will show the aura effect. Also, the aura effect will pop up over your head for a second.
• When purchasing Pet Insurance, the game will now let you know if you already have insurance *before* checking to see if you have enough money
• When attempting a Job Trial, if you have a corral pet, you will now have the option of putting the pet back in the corral automatically
• The Recipe book now updates ALL recipes to check if you have ingredients, each time you cook a recipe.
• When handing in quest-related items like Tsukida’s coffee, the game will try to use unmodified versions (such as Coffee with no seasoning)
• You can now sell items to Nando in town.
• A new confirmation dialog now appears if you try to leave a campfire area without resting or cooking at the fire.
• New tutorial popup the first time you knock out a monster in the dungeon reminding you to use your Escape Portal to easily escape
• New tutorial popup if you have not returned to town after going through several dungeon floors (and if you have never used your portal before!)
• You can now swap places with merchants in the dungeon.
• When using the “Come to me at once” pet command, your pet should now stick right next to you for a few turns. It will not move away for any reason (unless pulled away.)
• The “Wandering Merchant” message should no longer obscure the “Harvest Food” dialog after exiting an item dream.
• Dungeon areas that are roughly on-par for your level will be noted as “Tricky” in the upper left, which is generally accurate to the challenge you would expect in these maps.
• When finding unusual Item Dream events, you will now see some overlay text the first time you enter that floor
• Grove Pest and two of the final hub area bosses (re-used sprite) removed from the Monsterpedia, secret rift boss *added* to the Monsterpedia
• “Shaken” status now displays exact amount of CT lost per turn
• Added numbers to various special item and effect descriptions

WRITING

• JP: Numerous text updates and fixes
• “Spirit-Linked” modifier was previously used for both armor and shields and had the same name for both. Now, the shield version is called “Refreshing”.