OK, the Day Of Darkness, The Hour of Despair, The Moment of Truth is finally here... The long-gestating update for Slain about to drop! As a burnt offering and heartfelt ‘thank you’ to those that have been with us from the start at 11am PDT/1pm CDT/7pm GMT we’re giving each and every pre-existing purchaser of Slain on Steam a free gifting code, so you can bestow a copy on your most hardcore gamer buddy. All New Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5NakGttzWg&feature=youtu.be This set of augmentations and fixes has turned into something much deeper than just a ‘patch’ - it’s more like a re-launch, hence the game’s new name. Our aim is that it will address every issue within gameplay, visuals, audio and functionality to bring Slain up to the highly polished standard we always intended it to be. We’ve significantly changed and improved pretty much every single element of the game’s look and feel in the last two months and endeavoured to assimilate all of your (very useful) feedback – below is a summary of what’s been worked upon. STRUCTURE • Difficulty curve has been completely re-calibrated. • Checkpoint spacing has been re-regulated to allay difficulty spikes. • Comprehensive review of health/mana pick-up frequency and placement to ensure improved balance. • Total overhaul of tutorial elements. ENEMIES • More complex and challenging behaviours for nearly all enemies, including added secondary attacks and augmented AI. • Four brand new highly lethal enemy types. • More challenging flying creature attack patterns • Cursed Souls will steal Mana instead of damaging the player. BOSSES • Comprehensive additions and refinements to all existing boss encounters. • 3 all-new bosses, including an epic multi-stage battle with the villainous Lord Vroll! FUNCTIONALITY • Hit detection improvement between Bathoryn's weapons and enemies CONTROL • Weapons can be switched whilst on the move. • Jump height is now controllable. • Subtle refinements to hero’s movement characteristics to increase ‘feel’. COMBAT • ‘Brutal Attack’ introduced that requires skilful timing to execute, provides huge visual reward and inflicts massive damage. • New parry ability and ensuing Critical Strike riposte. • Fireball and magical bolts can now be reflected back to the target with a carefully-timed sword swing. • Enemies have vulnerability to steel, ice or flame weaponry, necessitating tactical switching on the fly. • Larger creatures can be hit in the head for extra damage. • Dedicated block button. • ‘Dash back’ now more responsive and effective. MANA • Mana can be harvested from enemies that are killed by high-value attacks • Mana Spirit now has two levels of power and can carve straight through enemies. • Mana abilities now on dedicated Mana button. VISUALS • Improved hit impact animation feedback from enemies. • 'Correct' elemental weapon usage particle splash and positive audio feedback effects. • General improvement in smoothness and quality of character animations. • Seamless scene transitions. • Backgrounds no longer blend with the foreground and characters. • Aesthetic and practical overhaul to many characters. • Two scan line modes for that authentically retro CRT look. AUDIO • Almost 100% revamped audio – a multitude of additional sound effects, ambient sounds and new music (including extra tracks from Curt Victor Bryant over the next few weeks). • Improved sound balance between music and effects. CAMERA • Camera now keeps Bathoryn in-frame when falling and shifts position in anticipation to avoid ‘leaps of faith’ FRONT END • Overhauled Save system • Comprehensive options functionality. • Tutorial recap function. NARRATIVE • 100% re-scripted dialogue. • Additional background lore • Fleshed-out story denouement and enigmatic epilogue. REWARDS • New multi-part pickup with valuable gameplay effect hidden in secret challenge areas • Headbang to honour victory - in the name of the Great Horned Metal God! ACHIEVEMENTS • 30 Merciless Steam Achievements! You can read in even more detail the entire devlog of the changes here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/369070/allnews/ Obviously we’ve been striving hard to iron out any bugs, glitches and wrinkles in the code but if you spot anything weird or have any feedback at all then please don’t hesitate to report it via the pinned topic here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/369070/discussions/0/353915309352468427/ And remember – ALL HAIL THE GREAT HORNED METAL GOD