Hello all! With this content patch, a new hero, new companion, new weapon type, 40+ new cards and 1 new boss fight are added to Draft of Darkness!

Hero: Ivan

Ivan can use the brand new weapon type: the Dark Cannon! This weapon type comes with more than 20 cards, and specialises in deck & timeline manipulation. With Dark Cannon cards, you can create moves in your and allies' decks, advance allies and push back enemies in the timeline, retain moves to use them in the next turn, or clone cards to gain advantage against powerful foes! To unlock Ivan, you need to defeat the Brain Artifact boss.

Unique Companion: Leo

Ivan is a special hero, in that he starts with a mech companion named Leo. Being a machine cat, Leo can't use weapons like other characters, but he has a completely unique "Mech" deck with its own moves. Leo also learns these moves while leveling up, instead of getting them from encounters. Instead of going to the trunk, Mech moves will be added directly to the Leo's deck upon being acquired.
"Core" mech moves give Leo powerful abilities during combat. Only one Core can be active at a time, but they each significantly change how Leo fights. You can increase Leo's defences or choose to boost his offence by making every attack repeat itself. You can even make Leo fly! (Special thanks to "@Strikeing" and other people in our Discord server for giving the initial ideas of "core" mechanics and cards being gained every level-up.)
Leo also can't wear equipment, but he naturally gains defences when his level increases. His "Mech" perk advances him in the timeline when allies get hurt, which makes Leo a great companion in the party. Leo's deck synergizes well with Ivan's Dark Cannon and other weapons.

Boss Fight: Brain Artifact

When visiting the Factory, you will come across a new boss: Brain Artifact. This boss is one of the experiments of the Puppet Master, creator of the Puppets and the Dark Cannon. While trying to construct a fully sentient being who will obey him without condition, Puppet Master realizes something new.
Upon defeat of the Brain Artifact boss, you will unlock a new Outcome, and this boss will be added to the boss rotation of the Factory.

What's Next

Draft of Darkness is a solo-developed game: it's hard to isolate the development process from the personal issues. In short, due to problems with my family's health, I had to take a few breaks from the development past two months. Right now, I can say that everything is under control and I'm back to my normal development schedule. That said, the planned release date for Draft of Darkness v1.0 is unfortunately delayed to later this year. I've already re-planned the release schedule and I will announce the new date once it's final. I've been focusing heavily on content, but there has been some important tasks piling up in the backlog as well. So I'm planning on releasing a few bugfix and balance/technical improvement patches along the way. Aside from those, the next big patch will be adding the Part II of the story, and add the final content for the game. The up-to-date schedule can always be found in the Steam Forums or our Discord Server, feel free to check them out. Until next time!

Update Notes for Patch v0.9.0

Content

- New hero added: Ivan. - New unique companion added: Leo. - New weapon type added: Dark Cannon. - New deck added: Dark Cannon (20+ cards). - New deck added: Mech (20 cards). - New booster pack added: Quantum Vortex. - New boss fight added: Brain Artifact. - Added a system where cards can be gained when leveling up. Leo uses this system to gain Mech cards. - (New Perk/Ivan) Iron Fist: Increase base damage of your first damaging move in a turn by 0.1x for every 2nd move used by allies between turns. If this effect isn't triggered in a turn, it stacks. - (New Perk/Leo) Mech: Can't use equipment. May learn 1 move upon leveling up. Physical, Burn and Dark defenses are increased by 3 per level. Whenever an ally loses health, Advance 5%. Immune to Bleeding. Can't benefit from Pills, Vitamins or Energy Drinks. Negate incoming Blinded, be Staggered instead. - (New Item) Old Rollerblades: The possessor gains Slippery 3. - (New Item) Gray Cloak: The possessor gains Sneaky 3. - (Condition) Flight: Now can also decay with a melee hit (if not dodged).

Bugfixes

- Fixed an issue with Brute (enemy) making no moves and getting stuck. - Fixed an issue with some of the conditions affecting damage types when they shouldn't (ex: Dodge condition affecting health loss in card previews.) - Fixed some of the problems where events block other events or chests. - Various typo & small fixes.