Across the Obelisk News

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the patch notes for version 1.0.3 of Across the Obelisk which is out now!

[h2]Improved Draft system[/h2]
In this patch, we have changed how cards are chosen in Obelisk Mode and Weekly Challenge. From now on 8 packs of cards will appear (in each pack there will be 3 cards out of 6 possible contained in that pack,) and you will be able to choose 3 of them, with the option to reroll all packs only once.

The basic idea is that each hero is linked to 7 packs that will always be the same for them and a pack of randomly generated cards. With this change, we wanted to avoid the situation in the previous system where some heroes never got the pack they wanted and you had to restart the draft entirely.

We believe that with this new system, the draft is a little more consistent and you always have "something you want" for each hero, but at the same time, it is more difficult to have a perfect deck. Also, only being able to make a reroll brings a certain tactical component when choosing a pack or not. The pack being fully random offers an interesting unpredictable element that can even make you change your initial approach to how you were going to play.



[h2]Improved random combats[/h2]
We have changed the way random combat gets generated and, from now on, no two identical enemies will ever appear in the same encounter. Also, certain champions will coincide with their base enemy version (for example, Colin and Stormbringers or Lana and Spellbinders.) Note that the white and black versions of Act 4 enemies count as different enemies.

Speaking of Act 4, we have added 2 new enemies to give variety to the end of Act 4 and to the random combat generation of the last nodes in all game modes. These enemies are the Dualists and the Magus with their white and black versions.

Finally, in Adventure Mode with random encounters, you will now be able to see random immunities each champion has on the map and in the corruption screen so that you can better prepare yourself!



[h2]General Changes & Balance[/h2]

• New Profile system: now you can use and save different in-game profiles that will save your progress and unlocks, so you can play at your own pace with different people or as you want!
  
• New feature for items: when a hero equips an item they already have, this item will be automatically corrupted (upgrading it.)
  

Also, as with every patch we always like to give a general overhaul to certain aspects of the game balance. In this case, we have focused on buffing some perks to improve certain playstyles, as well as increasing the damage/heal of most of the cards with "Chain".

[h3]Traits[/h3]

• Heiner (unbreakable): Now grants 12 block (from 10) and 1 Fortify to all heroes at the start of the combat, instead of 2 Fortify to himself.
  

[h3]Perks[/h3]

• New Burn perk: Burn on enemies deals double damage if the enemy has 2 or less curses (including Burn).
  
• Health perks: the 4th perk increased health to 6 (from 4).
  
• Health perks: the 7th perk increased health to 16 (from 12).
  
• Resistances perks: the 3rd perk increased resistance to 3 (from 2).
  
• Resistances perks: the 6th perk increased resistance to 8 (from 6).
  
• Reinforce/Insulate/Courage stacking perks: increased the resistances given to 7% (from 5%) and reduced maximun charges to 8 (from 10).
  
• Fortify stacking perk that increases Fire and Blunt damage increased max charges to 50 (from 10).
  
• Fortify perk that gives block at the end of the round increased to 7 (from 5) for each Fortify charge.
  
• Decay perk that reduces healing received to 75% now can't be dispelled.
  
• Decay perk that reduces shadow resistance increased to 8% (from 5%) per Decay charge.
  
• Dark perk that makes charges on heroes explode changed to 38 (from 35.)
  
• Dark perk that increases the damage of the explosion increased to 35% (from 25%).
  
• Dark perk that makes dark on enemies also explode at the end of the turn, now it doesn't remove all the dark charges when it explodes. Charges are only removed on the big explosion.
  

[h3]Cards[/h3]

• Chain Heal: increased heal in all versions.
  
• Chain Lightning: increased damage in all versions.
  
• Chant of Accuracy (blue version): changed target to "Self".
  
• Holy Ripple: increased damage in all versions.
  
• Impale: increased damage in all versions.
  
• Saw Blade: increased damage in all versions.
  

[h3]Other[/h3]

• Boons and Injuries will no longer count towards the maximum number of 15 cards in each deck.
  
• Restricted Power corruptor: Sanctify cap increased to 100 (from 50).
  
• Madness base 7: starting gold and shards per hero increased to 400 (from 300).
  
• Madness base 8: starting gold and shards per hero increased to 300 (from 100).
  
• HP of enemies in Act 3-4 in the last levels of madness reduced by 10%.
  
• Champion Guts: changed the card "Desecrate" for "Shadow Cleave", reducing the number of multi hits in area and thus reducing his fury gain and the dark he applies.
  

[h3]QoL & Bug fixes[/h3]

• When a save game is corrupted because the game was closed unexpectedly if there's a saved backup, it will be loaded instead.
  
• In the perk tree, if you have selected a perk that "does not stack" under a multi-selectable perk, this info will also be available when hovering over the main node.
  
• Fixed a bug in cooperative games that showed items as "bought" when coming from an old save game in the same session.
  
• Fixed a bug that could lead to negative health values through the use of corruption nodes and item swaps.
  
• Fixed a bug that produced a different number of corruptions completed among the players in coop games when some reward screens were reset.
  
• Fixed other small issues and text corrections.
  

[h2]Halloween event[/h2]
During the Halloween event (24 Oct - 3 Nov) the game will have a special Weekly Challenge, this challenge will have its own corruptions and a twist in the gameplay "Darkest Night" a perk that will be applied to everyone (heroes and enemies) and that will explode the dark at the end of every turn. In addition, the game backgrounds will be filled with new sinister Halloween decorations.

Reach the third floor of this Weekly Challenge to unlock an exclusive card back!



[h2]Halloween Cosmetic Pack[/h2]
As we teased in our Dev Diary with the artwork for this DLC, it seems only fair that we let you know that the Halloween cosmetic DLC is available NOW on Steam! The new DLC contains Halloween-themed costume changes for our heroes that we think you will absolutely love!

You can get hold of the DLC right here.

Now, with all of those new changes and all the new information that we’ve provided, it is time for you to jump into the game and tackle the Weekly Challenge and get your free card back for its completion!

Good luck!

Hell-o, Adventurers!

With the spooky season just around the corner, we wanted to clear the mist and open the casket on what we’ve been working on and what you can expect coming up in the very near future.

Firstly, we have prepared a special something for Halloween that you’ll start seeing in-game very soon. You will start to see various decorations that are hallmarks of this October boo-nanza cropping up and around as you play.

Additionally, there will be a new Weekly Challenge with its own themed corruptions that are so cool it will chill you to the bones. Not only that, but a special prize awaits those who are able to complete the Weekly Challenge that will be yours to keep. Those who diligently watch our dev-showcase channel on Discord or follow us on Twitter will have already gotten a sneak preview of this card back.


[h2]Patch 1.0.3 News and Info![/h2]
Patch 1.0.3 will also include several new improvements and features – which we will discuss in more detail in the patch notes – but to give you an idea of what we have, there will be:

• Improved card drafting system in Obelisk, and Weekly Challenge modes
  
• Added a third line of perks to choose from at the end of the draft (e.g. heal/regeneration/vitality perks on Scouts or Warriors)
  
• Improved random combat creation system so that two equal enemies are not repeated, as well as adding a preview of the random immunities of the champions
  
• Three new enemies of Act 4
  
• Improved several perks to give them more viability
  
• Performance improvements and bug fixes
  

[h2]What About Halloween Costumes?![/h2]
There cannot be Halloween without some timely costume changes, though, right? Since the community has often asked for more skins and outfits for the heroes, we felt that Halloween would be the perfect time to introduce new cosmetics to Across the Obelisk that’ll put fear into your enemies before your cards are even drawn!

What’s better than an upcoming cosmetic DLC pack? Easy answer: one that will be available on Monday 24th October! Dressed to thrill, dressed to kill, dressed to steal candy from every boss in the game.



Look out for the patch notes on Monday when we’ll go into further detail about Patch 1.0.3 and the changes that it will bring.

Until then, have a fang-tastic weekend!

Hello everyone. This is a hotfix to reduce some of the current desync problems in coop when casting boons and injuries.

As always, thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, and understanding.

Hello everyone. This is a hotfix for some of the bugs that have been reported. Also, with this hotfix, we are working on solving the desync problems that the latest patch seems to produce.

- Fixed a bug that was giving a bigger amount of score than expected after a combat corruption was completed when the card reward selection was restored.

- Fixed a problem with the corrupted versions of Power Coil and Nullifier not granting the proper amount of maximum charges.

- Fixed a problem with the corrupted version of the Endless Bag not being activated under some circumstances.

As always, thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, and understanding.

Greetings adventurers!

It's already been more than a month since Across the Obelisk left Early Access, and so much has happened since then! Between bug fixes, feature updates, hotfixes, and patches, there are almost too many things for us to cover. So, we will go over some of the changes in Patch 1.0.2 and give you some juicy info on some things planned for the future.

Today we'd like to present to you the first of what we hope will become a regular part of how we communicate our progress and upcoming plans with you, our players – our very first official Dev Diary! There has been a lot of work between balancing the current game with tweaks for our cards and heroes, while also trying to add in nice little quality of life changes to make the game just that little bit better for you.

After a short break since Patch 1.0.1 and our very short stay in Stockholm, Sweden to meet the team at Paradox Arc and attend PDXCON, it is now September and we are back in full swing squashing bugs, tweaking some of the cards and heroes, and poking at the code to make it all silky smooth. That means making improvements to make it more user-friendly, improving stability, and giving the game a general balance pass across the board.

[h2]Quality of Life[/h2]
We have now implemented a system that allows the game to save with each round of combat so you can exit at any time and come back even closer to where you ended previously. Along with that, we’ve added quality of life features to make the game more user-friendly to everyone, such as tracking active quests when selecting the next zone for your adventure (see image below,) or highlighting auras and curses that are already active on characters when hovering the cursor over a card; for example, hovering over Poison Dart will highlight all poison stacks on heroes and enemies.



Furthermore, we have improved the stability of online connectivity and gameplay while also implementing features to make getting back into the game after suffering a disconnect to be as fast as possible. When a user that is not the host disconnects from the game, the host is taken back to the lobby with the game already set up and ready to go for that user to rejoin, or to reassign hero control. Coupled with saving the game between each round of combat, it will be very quick to get back into it.

[h2]Balancing Act[/h2]
As always in each patch, we try to give a balance pass based on feedback from our incredibly dedicated community. Balancing a game with the level of complexity we have across all of the game modes is no easy task, but little by little we hope to achieve it and reach a point where we are all happy (you included!) You can read the full list of balancing changes in the Patch 1.0.2 notes we published yesterday.

[h2]So, What’s Next?[/h2]
After Patch 1.0.2, our intention is to finish the combat log and get you up to speed with the revamp of the Obelisk Challenge draft system.

What we want to improve with the draft system is that our heroes are currently quite different from each other and each has a different quirks and features, so when you select a hero you have a general idea of how you want to play them. With the current draft system, it is possible that you don't get any of the card packs you wanted for that hero, often leading to frustration or even redoing the game and draft phase.

What we intend with the new system is that each hero will have a set of card packs assigned to them – which will always appear and be available to choose from. These packs will contain a variety of cards that means whether to choose a pack and which ones to choose will add a strategic element to the drafting. The idea is to avoid the previously mentioned situation where none of the packs you want appear.

We also want to improve the weekly challenges and add a cosmetic reward – a card back – to encourage you to come and compete each week.

[h2]Rats to That![/h2]
Finally, we have started working on the Frozen Sewers – which as many of you will know was Zek's home before he was exiled. Now the sewers are frozen and, just like up in the city, almost all the remaining rats are frozen or turned into the frozen walking dead.

Here you have the sketches of the new enemies of this sub-zone and one of the backdrops for the combat!



We are also working on the Black Forge and other surprises that we will reveal a little at a time as we continue our development!

[h2]Before You Leave[/h2]
If you’ve been on the sidelines watching the development of the game but haven’t made the dive into adventuring Across the Obelisk, now is the perfect time to do so because the game is 20% OFF until September 26!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1385380/Across_the_Obelisk/

As always, we would really appreciate it if you enjoy the game to write a review and give it a recommendation on Steam. It is something we really appreciate from our wonderful community.

Until the next Dev Diary which will be aimed for roughly every month or so (no promises,) we bid you adiós, hej då, and see you on Discord.

[h2]Follow Across the Obelisk[/h2]
@AcrossObelisk Discord /r/AcrossTheObelisk

[h2]Follow Paradox Arc[/h2]
@PDXArc Website