The Last Spell News

Hello warriors !
We hope you’re doing great ! It’s finally winter here in France, so it’s officially the season of hot chocolate and plaids! But don’t worry, snow and cold won’t keep uu from bringing you the next updates for the game…

[h2]Beta Branch opening![/h2]

As you know, The Last Spell is a very complex game to make. Anytime we make a small change in the systems or the balancing, there are about 1 million parameters that are impacted, and a possible introduction of some new (and unexpected!) bugs.
This is why we’ve now decided to officially open the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell!

This branch is mostly aimed at players who really want to help us make the game. Obviously, this will allow you to try the changes and new features before other players, but we can’t promise you this will be an optimal/bug-free experience.

[h2]FAQ[/h2]

What is the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell?
The Beta Branch is a version of The Last Spell containing features that are still being tested. If you want to help us develop the game, you can access it on Steam. Be cautious though! The builds that will be in this branch haven’t been 100% tested, so there may (will) be bugs and other issues. This build is not made to be played "as an official one", like the standard branch.
We’re creating this branch for players who really want to help us with the development of the game! They will be able to try the newest features that we’re developing. Thanks to this branch, this will ensure our next patches are as bug-free as possible.

However, once again, if you want to play a stable version, we strongly advise you to stay in the Main Branch!

How to access this branch?
To access the open beta, you need to change the branch on Steam. **However, before you make the change, we VERY STRONGLY advise you to put your saves somewhere safe! Even though they’ll be in different folders, you’re never too careful with saves!**
So, before you do anything, you should get your save folders %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save and copy them on your desktop if you want!
Now, you can change branch and try the beta one!

• Go to your game library on Steam
  
• Right click on The Last Spell
  
• Click on “Properties”
  
• Go to the “BETAS” tab
  
• Select “open_beta
  

Can I use my current save in the beta branch?
Yes! The game will consider the branch as an update so you can definitely use your current saves. However, you won’t be able to go back to the previous branch with those saves!
For example, if you have a save in the 0.93.1.3 version, and decide to use the save in the 0.94.0.0 version, then you won’t be able to go back to the 0.93.1.3 version with those saves.
So, we strongly advise you to create a backup copy of your current save files if you decide to go to the Beta Branch.
Reminder: You can find your save files in %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save

How can I give feedback?
For the beta branch, please only give us your feedback in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch" channels. Please don’t write your feedback in the other channels, otherwise it will be quite difficult for us to differentiate the “beta feedback” and the “normal feedback”.

I’ve found a bug!
To make sure our devs fix the right version, please only report your bugs in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch"for the beta branch with as much info as you can:
When reporting a bug or an issue, please don't forget to join the Output log:
To get the logs
- Search the file in your explorer by copying this: %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Logs
- Ideally, make an archive (.zip, .rar, etc.) with the 3 logs MAJOR, NORMAL and DETAILED. If it's not possible, just send us the DETAILED.

And now, let's dive in to the very first update available for the beta branch!

[h2]Update 0.94.0.0 changelog (Experimental Branch)[/h2]

[h3]New Features[/h3]


New enemies

• 4 new enemies: Blocker, Hopper, Hunter and Twisted
  

Elite enemies system

• An elite is a boosted version of the normal enemy with a random gameplay modifier. For now, we have implemented 6 modifiers:

Aura: Gives a buff to all enemies within a range of 2
Reinforced: Increases an attribute permanently
Mirror Shield: Returns a flat amount of damage to the Hero attacking this enemy
Misty: Generates thin mist in a radius of 3 tiles around the enemy
Energetic: At the end of the enemy turn, this enemy will play an extra movement and attack phase
Regenerative: Regenerates a percentage of Health every turn

• They appear at certain days in both Lakeburg and Glenwald
  
• For now, not all enemies have an elite version but the goal is to have all of them
  

Rework of the wound system

• Wounds thresholds and effects are now custom for each enemy type
  
• New wounds effects were added (wound that blocks the use a certain skill, wound that reduces an attributed to zero… )
  
• Wounds thresholds now scale with the max Health of the unit. The more max Health a unit have, the more difficult it will be to wound them
  
• Addition of a display for wounds in the HUD of enemies and heroes
  

Items

• When Health, Mana, Armor, Action points or Move points maximum value changes, the current value changes from the exact same offset (whether it’s from equipping an item, obtaining a new perk…)
  Example: a Hero has 90/110Health, and a new armor gives him +20HP. Upon equipping the new armor, the hero will have 110/130Health instead of 90/130.
  
• New item: “Potion of Cleansing”, this potion will remove all your negative alterations
  

Heroes

• Addition of an option in the character sheet to dismiss the hero
  
• Addition of an option in the character sheet to hide hero’s helmet
  

Misc

• Addition of a reroll button in the shop to refresh all the content in exchange of some gold
  
• New option in the main menu to rewatch the intro scene (you can also now skip the intro with the escape key)
  

Modding

• Addition of a new modding system to import custom fonts to support more language
  

[h3]Qol[/h3]

• Addition of a “turbo mode” available during the night phase to accelerate both heroes and enemies turns (configurable in the option panel)
  
• Animation from the night report panel can now be skipped with a button
  
• New shortcut for heroes’ selection (by default mapped to F1, F2, F3…)
  
• Upcoming poison damage for the turn are now displayed directly in the health gauge of the unit and new feedback shows when an enemy will die from poison on his turn
  
• Rework of the enemies turn's staging: enemies should no longer act off screen and the camera movements are smarter, accelerating the turn
  
• Saves are now stored by steam user (allowing to play with multiples steam account on the same computer)
  
• Optimization of the game
  

[h3]Balancing[/h3]
Enemies
Splitter:

• Added new skill single target to target heroes
  
• Reduced the damage of the skill shred
  

Accursed:

• Replaced the skill “Curse” with a new skill “Magic Exhaustion”: drain 3 mana from the target
  

Waves

• Reduced slightly the number of enemies in waves with elite enemies
  

Items

• Added a new skill on the “Holy Ring” trinket: “Cleanse” 3 mana cost, 0-5 range, will remove all negative alterations from the target
  

Hello warriors!

We hope you're alright! The team is putting the last touches on the next update that should be available "very soon"! We're also slowly getting ready for the holidays, some people in our team are already full-on "Mariah Carey-Christmas mode". We're not hearing "All I want for Christmas is you" in the studio yet, but it's a matter of days now...

Anyway! You might have seen that since yesterday, you can vote for the Steam Awards! If you liked the game this year, it would mean the world to us to see The Last Spell nominated in the "Best Game You Suck at" category!



Obviously, if you want to vote for the game in another category (like the "Best Soundtrack Award"!) we'd be super happy as well!

Take care, warriors!
(Don't forget to join our Discord server!)

Hello warriors!

We hope you're alright! So today, we have a very special announcement for you! We know you've been wondering when the next update is planned to release! Don't worry, we have great news for you ;)


[h2]New release timeline for the next updates[/h2]
For the Glenwald Update, we put all our efforts into releasing one BIG update. This was certainly cool for some players, but we realized that other players wanted more updates more regularly.

Although we won’t be able to give you updates that are as big as Glenwald Calling every month (we like to sleep at night ^^), we’ve decided, with our awesome publisher The Arcade Crew, that from now on, we’ll release updates more often! Instead of releasing a major update every 3-4 months, we'll release smaller updates and each of them will have one big focus.

For the next one, the "End of the year update" will be divided into 3 updates!

[H2]New "mini roadmap" for Winter 2021[/h2]

Our first batch of "smaller updates" will be released this winter, up to early 2022. If everything goes as planned, there will be 3 updates to go and each of them will focus on ONE big feature of the game

Without further ado, here's the roadmap for the 3 next updates. We can't give you specific release dates yet, but the first one will be released very soon, and the last one will be released in Early 2022 :)

So, for the end of 2021/early 2022, we'll have 3 smaller updates.

• The first update will focus on the enemies
  
• The second update will focus on the perks
  
• The third update will focus on the maps
  

This changes our initial roadmap so here's athe new and updated one detailing what's coming up this Winter



So yeah, the next update should be released very soon ;)

We hope you’ll keep on enjoying The Last Spell! Please feel free to join our Discord server and give your feedback to our Feature Upvote page!

Hello warriors ! This week, we have some news for you!

[h2]“Glenwald Update” Balancing issues: We have a new patch![/h2]

We hope you’re alright! So, as you remember, we released the “Glenwald Calling” update a few weeks ago. It was a huge work for us, but we’re glad you folks seem to like the new map!




However, we’ve quickly realized there were some issues with the new balancing of the game. Indeed, before the update, the game was a little too easy, and now it’s become too hard especially in Glenwald.

The Last Spell is a very hard game to balance in general, but thanks to your feedback and comments, we’re very happy to release today this balancing patch that should alleviate some of the issues that made the “Glenwald Update” too hard. Please let us know what you think of this new balancing that is detailed in the changelog

We’re very glad to have such a committed community, and it’s thanks to you that we’re able to make the game better during this early access! So, from all of us at Ishtar Games, thank you!

[h2]Economy[/h2]

[h3]Houses:[/h3]
Price: 45 Gold→ now 40 Gold

[h3]Ruins:[/h3]
The overall yield from scavenging ruins has been increased. Gold is mostly noticeable on the bigger Ruins (even smaller buffs shouldn’t be disregarded, though), but the Materials increase is huge!

For 1 Worker:

• Gold Focus: gives 10 Gold and 7 Materials→ now gives 12 Gold and 13 Materials
  
• Materials Focus: gives 4 Gold and 18 Materials→ now gives 4 Gold and 38 Materials

For 2 Workers:

• Gold Focus: gives 22 Gold and 14 Materials→ now gives 28 Gold and 28 Materials
  
• Materials Focus: gives 9 Gold and 35 Materials→ now gives 9 Gold and 84 Materials

For 3 Workers:

• Gold Focus: gives 36 Gold and 23 Materials→ now gives 48 Gold and 46 Materials
  
• Materials Focus: gives 23 Gold and 58 Materials→ now gives 16 Gold and 138 Materials

For 4 Workers:

• Gold Focus: gives 52 Gold and 34 Materials→ now gives 72 Gold and 67 Materials
  
• Materials Focus: gives 21 Gold and 85 Materials→ now gives 24 Gold and 200 Materials

Tip: Scavenging Ruins is a GREAT way to kickstart your run! Keep that in mind when trying to get the Gold needed for your first batch of Workers, which in turn will be the backbone of your economy; Or when in a sudden need of an immediate influx of Materials, to build a few more defenses.

[h2]Gear[/h2]

[h3]Weapons[/h3]

Magic Scepter:

• Increased the base damage (about 15%)
  
• Reworked the skill set of the Magic Scepter: Magic Bash, Wind Walk (new), Shocking Touch and Hammer of Faith. Further details in the Skill section later.
  
• Replaced the bonus attribute from The Adept’s Scepter: Stun chance bonus→ now Dodge bonus
  
• Replaced the bonus attribute from Master's Scepter: Resistance bonus→ now Stun chance bonus (but bigger than the previous Adept’s Scepter)
  
• Replaced the bonus attribute from Archmaster's Scepter: Propagation damage bonus→ now Move bonus
  
• Removed the accuracy malus on the following weapons: Hammer, Spear, Power Staff.
  
• Reworked a bit the Move points bonus scaling on the following weapons: Adamantium Hammer, Adamantium Dagger, Adamantium Crossbow, Adamantium Pistol → Higher levels will get a bigger bonus than before
  

Off Hand Scepter:

• Now grants the skill "Hammer of Faith" instead of "Shocking Touch"
  

[h3]Skills[/h3]

Magic Scepter:

Magic Bash :

• Use per turn 3→ 4
  
• Base damage multiplier 50%→ 100%
  
• Momentum skill effect 50%→ 25%
  

Wind Walker (new skill):

• Cost: 1AP
  
• Range: 0-5 (modifiable)
  
• Target: 1
  
• Use per turn: +2
  
• Buff (+3Move, +15% Dodge, 1Turn)
  

Shocking Touch:

• Cost: 2AP, 0Mana→ 1AP, 2Mana
  
• Use per turn3→ 2
  
• Base damage multiplier 100%→ 120%
  
• Debuff accuracy -10%→ -15%
  

Hammer of Faith:

• Base damage multiplier 100%→ 70%
  
• Stun chance 50%→ 70%
  

[h2]Overall difficulty[/h2]

[h3]Glenwald Haven:[/h3]
Enemy quantity progression is (a bit) less brutal.

[h3]Apocalypse[/h3]
Apocalypse 5, Enemies have +2 Move Points→ Enemies have increased Move Points.
We decreased by 1 the move point bonus for all enemies except for the Winged, Runner and Crawler which stay at +2 Move Points.

• Fix of freezes and some slow down caused by the mist censers.
  
• Fix of an exploit which made enemies not able to attack any building from the mist.
  
• The boomer won’t explode on barricade anymore.
  
• The skill “Watchout” from the “Longbow” weapon can only be used on heroes now.
  
• Fix of certain skills that sometimes could not be casted on heroes (for example potions skills or the skill transfer).
  
• Using the catapult skill now reset the cancel movement history (preventing exploits with the light fog).
  
• Improvement on some traits incompatibilities.
  
• Offhands now have the same damage scaling as their standard equivalent.
  

Don't forget to update your game!