- This patch introduces the fully reworked EX system – that is, the expanded abilities of ship's weaponry that became available as soon as you've had enough of certain stat to qualify for them. That previous mode was too binary – you either have them or you don't. That didn't really reward for spreading your stats around and, at the same time, it gave nothing for maxing them out – everything above the entry requirement went to waste. Well, if you don't count the raw power that those maxed out stats provided to you, that is. So we've chosen a better system – now, those expanded abilities are always online. But they do scale with their primary stats. So having 1 or 2 of those stats is not wasteful, having 5 is good and having 7+ is awesome. List of new EX (and we'll probably need to make a better term for these in the future; the term of EX stems from my love for Guilty Gear series but that's just too obscure): Rosary : -10% Cursed time per point of Transcendence. Stacks if doubled. Apparition I: 20% that the victim becomes purple colored per point of Poise. Apparition II: For each hit foe, restore 1% of Energy per point of Splendor. Pilgrim: Grace Dominion recharges 0.25 second faster per point of Acumen. Stacks if double, but no less than 1 Second. Genesis: +5% to Anathema damage per point of Poise. Schism I: +10% to Crush damage per point of Ardor and Crush damage mode is now always online. Schism II: +50% to foe movement distance per point of Splendor. Gehenna I: 4% that the affected foe will become purple per point of Acumen. Gehenna II: +25% fuel per point of Ardor. Longinus I: +10 damage to blue foes per point of Splendor. Longinus II: +25 damage to purple foes per point of Pride. Thorns I: Red foes receive +20 Damage while under this curse per point of Pride. ThornsII: 20% chance that the foe becomes red colored per point of Acumen. Communion I: +5% overall damage per point of Transcendence. Communion II: +2 seconds of this curse duration per point of Poise. Penance I: When enemy enters this cloud, restore 4% of Energy per point of Splendor. Penance II: +20% damage versus yellow per point of Pride. Parable: -2 seconds soul cooldown per point of Acumen. Stacks when doubled. Exodus I: Swapped foes will stop moving for 2 seconds per point of Pride. Exodus II: 2% that the enemy will vanish forever per point of Transcendence. - Another major rework is the stat system. Previously, the bigger part of your stat points came from equipment and the lesser was given in form of free distribution points. That second part wasn't as fun, however – generally, they went to max out your primary stat and that didn't offer for much variety. So we've removed the free distribution stats and now the entirety of your parameters are provided by your equipment. To compensate for this loss, now Acts and Souls also provide 2 stat points each. And, in case of two special Acts, they provide 3 stat points each. Now our ship building menu is even more starry! Also, to make the process more intricate, the second copy of the same weapon will now provide different stats from its original. Previously, too many builds were pushed into twin-linking their weaponry to achieve best results possible. Now, there's more flexibility. Also, many weapons can now give access to the stats that they didn't gave before, meaning that overall building potential is further increased. - Gremlins are no longer returning thrice as much damage. Should make those bastards a bit more manageable as it's only a double now. - A less visible change – we've done a major rework on the inner logic of combat. Reworked it from the scratch, actually. In near perspective, this may lead to some small bugs, but in longer term it'll make the game much more stable. The gremlins bug, for example, was ironed thanks to that. - Our composer is having the time of his life while being conscripted to glorious russian army so we're adding a new person into our fold: welcome Alice Saturnova! Hope you'll enjoy listening the nine tracks that she composed specially for the VN part. Two more VN chapters. The future plans: rework of GUI, 42 more VN chapters, new ship sprites (now with animations!) and 12 more foes, including elite 2x2 ones. I can even spoil you those l33t names – The Sun, The Emperor, The Empress, The Judgment, The Devil and The World. Yeah, our tribute to Za Warudo incoming.
X Caeli: The Iron Hand of Love
Nerd Commando Game Studios
Nerd Commando Game Studios
2020-02-04
Indie Adventure Singleplayer
Game News Posts 20
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
Positive
(34 reviews)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/708970 
The Game includes VR Support
XCaeli Linux [1.82 G]
You're battling the waves of incoming foes in the style of old arcades. At the beginning of each fight, you're given a randomly generated assortment of starfighter equipment - you need to outfit your ship (actually called "Throne" - protagonist is a deity so his armaments are theologically flavored) so you can counter the advances of one of the game's 40 waves of enemies. The process feels similar to making an RPG build.
Each wave of foes tries to do their own thing - some flood the screen with so much projectiles that it's almost impossible to dodge so you need to build sturdy. X Caeli is euro-shmup inspired so you don't die from the first hit. Some return to you all the damage you cause so you need to act gently. Some don't even care about destroying you and instead just try to run for the win, forcing you to go in with your guns (aka "Powers') blazing. Each wave is a puzzle to be solved and there are no clear-cut answers.
There are 12 Powers (weapons) in the game, each with completely different main and primary shooting modes. You can also enable EX modes for those, modifying their utility in varying ways. There are 6 Virtues (main stats, providing basic bonuses and enabling EX modes), 10 Acts (traits with global modificators), 5 Thrones, 5 Dominions (protective shields) and 4 Souls (powerful and slowly recharging tools). All the equipment is vastly different from each other and there are many rarely seen options there. This gives the combat tremendous replayability.
There's also a soft match-3 element. All enemies are colored and, upon their death, they harm all adjacent foes of the same color. You are not obliged to fight in this fashion and its effectiveness depends on your build - some can easily ignore it, some profit a lot. Some armaments are color dependent, dealing damage to the foes of specific colors or protecting you from their attacks. It's yet another angle to take when fighting the foes.
The story happens in-between the combats and is centered around an ancient & very evil stargod Caelum who is forced to protect a spaceship full of beautiful babes. That's not something he's used to be doing, but life is not always fair. Our story is as devoid of cliches as possible - it's definitely not another visual novel. We have a nostalgic 90-s inspired art, our girls are actually in their twenties and they behave accordingly, our protagonist is neither high school kid nor a loli. We're especially proud of our art's composition because every picture is something that you will not see anywhere else. The plot is absurdly comedic and ends with the romance, of course.
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+
- Processor: 2.0 GHzMemory: 1 GB RAM
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: Shader Model 3.0
- Storage: 2 GB available space
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