Curse of the Dead Gods News

Hello Pretenders!

Our monthly update has arrived! Take on some new challenges and discover new layouts and Curses in the Serpent’s Catacombs 🐍

⚠️ NOTE 1: Your current run will be deleted. Don’t worry! Your save will stay intact (Unlocked explorations, Unlocked Blessings, Crystal Skulls count…), but if you had a run in progress, you won’t be able to finish it.

⚠️ NOTE 2: Music and sound design are not fully implemented in this version, meaning new effects and new features maybe be soundless or with placeholder sounds.

[h2]Version 0.19.2 - August 12th, 2020[/h2]🍉 = Community additions

[h3]New features[/h3]

• New Hard Modes: Hard mode has been replaced by 3 levels of difficulty : Hard, Very Hard and Final
  Design note: The difficulties of all the explorations have been reworked in order to obtain a smoother progression curve, allowing new players to discover more content and hardcore players to maintain a high level of difficulty. The "Hard" explorations of the previous version now match the "Very Hard" explorations.
• 🍉 New Daily Challenges: Try Daily runs with fun and challenging new rulesets and win extra Crystal Skulls!
  Design Note: Previous mode variations have been rethought to become Daily Challenges. Each challenge features exotic rules, diversifying the experiences in the Temple. New challenges will be added soon.
• New Meta Currency: A completed exploration now rewards a Blood Emblem. These are used to unlock access to further explorations and Blessings
  Design note: This change prepares the game for its future evolutions, in particular the new content that will be unlocked soon.
• New Rooms variations: Chests and traps will be placed differently and new corridors will emerge, increasing diversity in the Serpent’s Catacombs
  
• 5 New Curses:
  + Devious Darts
  + Death Throe Echos
  + Putrid Hosts
  + Fungal Awareness
  + Malicious Flora

[h3]Balancing[/h3]

• Spears: Combo attacks, as well as the final combo hit, have a thinner detection zone than before
  Design note: The damage area now better matches the weapon's visuals.
• Spears: The final attack of the combo now deals 150% of the weapon's damage (instead of 100%)
  Design note: The increased damage of the final move encourages using the whole combo attack.
• Two-handed Heavy Weapons: Heavy weapon charged attack can now be cancelled earlier by dodge or parry.
  Design note: The charged attack now has better recovery as well (as for combo attacks).
• Two-handed Heavy Weapons: Heavy weapon charged attacks can now be followed by another charged attack or a regular attack
  Design note: Heavy Weapons were the only weapons that could not chain combo hits after a charged attack. Now it's possible!
• 🍉 Poison: Damage over time inflicted by poison can no longer kill the player (1 hit point remaining)
  Design note: Since damage over time from poison could not be removed by the player, it was frustrating to be in an "undead" state.

[h3]Visual changes[/h3]

• Relics and Stats Sanctuaries: New look for the Relics and Stats Sanctuaries!

[h3]Fixed bugs & QoL[/h3]

• 🍉 Clickable buttons: With the mouse, it is now possible to click on all the buttons!
  Note: If we missed any, please report it!
• 🍉 Parry: Fixed a bug that prevented parrying two attacks at the same time
  
• 🍉 Poison fog: Added a small buffer before damage over time (DoT) applies
  
• 🍉 Haven / Random rooms: If the first visited room of a section is a Random room, it cannot be a Haven room
  
• Map: A legend has been added to the map

[h3]Known bugs[/h3]

• Crash when a controller disconnects
  
• Character can go OOB when being so fast that the game cannot cope with him

[h3]What’s cooking in the Temple[/h3]

Hello, Pretenders!

We've got some news about the upcoming update of Curse of the Dead Gods! Have a look down below to see all the new stuff currently cooking in the Temple.

⚠️ Beware, spoilers!

[h3]• NEW META-CURRENCY: Blood Emblem[/h3]
A completed exploration is now rewarded with a Blood Emblem. These are used to unlock access to further exploration and Blessings.



[h3]• NEW HARD MODES:[/h3]
3 new Games Modes make their appearance in the Temple, replacing the original Hard Exploration. These changes will allow new or casual players to discover more content, and will give an increasing and harder challenge for hardcore players. More details on that next week!

[h3]• DAILY CHALLENGES:[/h3]
Each day, play with a fun or challenging set of new rules: Special weapons at the beginning of your run, Curses upon you… These challenges are based on the previous game mode variations, providing exotic new runs.



[h3]• SERPENT ROOM VARIATIONS [/h3]
As in the Jaguar Temple, rooms in the Serpent’s Catacombs will have new random layouts or set ups. Chests and traps will be placed differently or new corridors will emerge, increasing diversity in the Serpent Temple!

[h3]• NEW SERPENT CURSES[/h3]
5 new Curses make their way into the Serpent’s Catacombs. Directly connected to the Serpent environment, those new Curses will make the Snake’s den a living hell.

Here is one to give you a taste:

Death Throe Echos See how the corpse shakes in its final moments, refusing to believe that it is already dead.

• Destroying an enemy has a chance of triggering an earthquake

[h2]Join our next livestreams[/h2]
Join our livestream today to have a glimpse of all of these new features! We’ll be live in English in a few minutes on our Twitch channel:

https://www.twitch.tv/PasstechGames

[h2]What’s cooking in the Temple[/h2]

Hello Pretenders!

It’s been almost 3 weeks since we released the Serpent Champions’ Weapons patch and it was very fun to read all of your theories about how to make them drop. Some of you were even right! Well done, everyone ✊

We stayed a bit quieter than usual to give you a chance to figure it out yourself, but it’s time to fully reveal the boss's weapons drop!

Both weapons have a 20% chance to drop if the condition is met. Only one requirement for each Champion, and it is never too late to complete it. There was a little twist on the first Champion, though...

[h3]Xucat’, the Witch[/h3]Xucat’, the Witch must be burning at the time of killing her. It’s as simple as that. You can use a Fire weapon to do it, or just your torch. There is only one situation where you cannot unlock the condition, and that is if you don’t have a Fire weapon during the fight and you’re suffering the “Torch of Sorrow” Curse.



[h3]Ratyapu, the Abomination[/h3]Ratyapu, the Abomination must die with the Weaken status. You can give the Weaken effect by doing a Parry or with a weapon with Weaken abilities (i.e.: the Barbed Javelin, the Crippling Bow...).



[h2]Twitch livestreams[/h2]
After taking a little break, we’ll be back on our Twitch channel this week, both in French and in English! Keep an eye on social media or on our Discord server to know our schedule. You can ask us many questions during the livestreams, and try to retrieve exclusive information 😈

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Hello Pretenders!

Welcome to the first update of the Serpent's Catacombs 🐍

In today’s patch you’ll be able to loot Champions’ special weapons. The rate is unchanged since the Jaguar Temple (20%), so good luck to all! We can’t wait to read your theories about how to drop them. Eventually, we’ll reveal the unlocking conditions, so stay tuned!

This update also adds a lot of bug fixes and balancing, plus a big rework of the fire and poison effects. You’ll probably be a bit surprised by some of the changes that we made, hopefully in a good way! We’ll be waiting for your feedback to see your first impressions!

[h2]Version 0.19.1 - July 15th, 2020[/h2]🍉 = Community additions

[h3]New features[/h3]

• New Champion’s weapon - "K'etyaam yaan", Witch's Crook
• New Champion’s weapon - "Disembowler", Dread Claw Design note: Two new weapons are now to be dropped when defeating the Serpent Champions (one for each)! As for the Jaguar Champions' weapons, they only can be dropped if you achieve a special hidden condition during the fight.

• Pistols Reskins + New Icons: All the pistols now have their own icons and 3D models
  
• Fire & Poison Synergy: The damage over time from Fire is doubled if a character is also Poisoned.
  Design note: Elemental synergy! Be careful, this also applies for the player character!
• Fire/Burning: Enemies on fire now take a small amount of damage over time. This amount is always the same for all enemies. Some Champions, like the Cursed Twins, remain immune to burning. The Dark Avatar of the Jaguar does not take damage over time while burning
  Design note: Taking damage over time while on Fire feels more natural and encourages the player to set enemies on fire. It is also more consistent with the fact that the player character takes damage over time from fire.

[h3]Balancing[/h3]

• Difficulty levels: Players' resistance in Medium explorations is now the same as Short ones. Long ones now also give a (lower) boost of resistance. Hard Explorations remain the same as before
  Design note: We chose to slightly lower the difficulty of Medium and Long explorations to smooth the progression and let players discover more content. Hard mode remains in place for greater challenges.
• Dark Avatar of the Serpent (Final Serpent Boss): The Serpent Boss fight has been reviewed to create a more unique and challenging fight
  Design note: We are still monitoring this fight, you can expect further changes according to feedback.
• The Abomination (2nd Serpent Champion): Abomination now triggers a poisonous explosion when going into frenzy mode and is more pro-active during non-frenzy phases
  Design note: The Abomination fight had a tendency to be a little too predictable. This should help make the fight more dynamic.
• 🍉 Prophetesses: Prophetesses can no longer be healed by other healers
  Design note: Same as for Blood Priests, healers should not heal each other to avoid long and tedious fights.
• Blessing - Eagle’s Fascination: Completely changed the behavior of this blessing. Its new effect is now “Killing a Weakened enemy spreads Weaken effect to a close enemy"
  Design note: Previous design was problematic as it was too weak by itself unless paired with the Endless Greed Blessing, then becoming powerful. It was too weak for new players and mandatory/broken for advanced players (thus limiting the choice of Blessings to equip). This new Blessing should bring new possibilities, encouraging tactical and aggressive behavior. Text will be translated in all languages in a next update.
• Blessing - Endless Greed: Merged this blessing with the effect of the previous Eagle's Fascination. Endless Greed now freezes the Greed Kill timer when not in combat and increase all damage dealt by 1% for each Greed Kill count (up to 100%)
  Design Note: Endless Greed was too powerful when combined with the previous Eagle's Fascination, making this last blessing very weak on its own. Merging the two blessings allows a more balanced effect and leaves more Blessing choices for players.
• 🍉 Two-Handed Spears: Charged Attacks' move damage multiplier back to 50% x2 (from 75% x2)
  Design note: Spears are naturally powerful when properly used, the previous Charged attack buff made them too strong and less interesting to play with.
• 🍉 Two-Handed Heavy Weapons: Significantly reduced the time during which you cannot dodge/roll after 1st and 2nd combo hits
  Design note: Lowering recovery from heavy weapons should make them more practical by allowing quicker dodges/parry in the middle of a combo.
• Incandescent Claws: Raw Damage set to 13 (from 15)
  Design note: Setting enemies on fire with a Primary Weapon is strong. This change is related to new fire's damage over time property.

[h3]Fixed bugs[/h3]

• 🍉 Bestiary: Fixed unlocking conditions for the Serpent Cultists portrait
  
• 🍉 Hard Explorations: Fixed Improved Attack Speed for Elite Serpent enemies during Hard Explorations
  
• The Abomination (2nd Serpent Champion): Fixed Abomination Projectile attack. It now can be properly reflected by “Fulmination”, Death’s Rampart
  
• Crystal skulls drop: Fixed the Crystal Skulls count dropped by the Abomination and the Dark Avatar of the Serpent

[h3]Notes & Known bugs[/h3]
We are still currently working on the Final Boss of the Serpent Catacombs (the Dark Avatar of the Serpent), despite having made some changes already. We’re looking for some feedback about your fight experience with him. We hope to enhance the combat by adding some moves, balancing, and other interactions. If you have some ideas, drop them in the comment below or on our Discord Server, channel #suggestion-box.

• Crash when a controller disconnects
  
• Character can go OOB when being so fast that the game can’t cope with him
  
• Poison and fire shouldn’t kill you, but it does. Sorry?

[h3]What’s cooking in the Temple[/h3]
We are slowing down the tempo. The new rhythm of updates will be 1/month! This will let us focus on more significant changes in the game (as well as a new Temple!). Check out the road map below:

Hi, Pretenders!

Small post this week to announce that we've launched our own Twitch channel where we'll stream some sessions of Curse of the Dead Gods (and maybe our previous games as well!)! It'll be a great occasion to share some news with the community, show some exclusive looks of new features and content, and answer your questions about the game!

Streams will be in French and in English each week (schedule TBD) on Passtech Games' Twitch channel.

[h3]🔴 Follow us here! 🔴[/h3]

Join us today for our first English stream where we'll play with the new Serpent Champions' weapons before next week's update!

• 08:30am (PST)
  
• 11:30am (EST)
  
• 16:30pm (GMT)
  
• 17:30pm (CET)