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As We Descend News

Patch 0.5.0.2

Rolling out a tiny hotfix that ensures you can't get stuck on an old access screen.

[v.415598]
✦ ⇒ Community inspired change

✦Fixed a rare issue where a "Closed Beta Access" screen could sometimes appear and block access

Patch 0.5.0.1

Hey, thanks to all the players so far who are leaving feedback and reviews. We've got a quick hotfix for you all that addresses some concerns and issue that have cropped up. You should be able to continue your current in-progress runs with this hotfix.
-Kev

[v.415595]
✦ ⇒ Community inspired change

Optimizations
  • ✦Minor optimizations in various places should yield smoother runs overall
UI/UX Flow
  • ✦Added support to go back to the Main Menu from the Begin Descent Menu using ESC
Fixes
  • ✦Fixed several rare crash bugs
  • ✦Fixed unlocalized Russian text
  • ✦Fixed issue where various weakpoints on the Plague Soldier and Molter King could be hard to see and target
  • ✦Fixed issue where Target Fire couldn't be upgraded
  • ✦Fixed issue where Impenetrable upgraded into the wrong card
  • ✦Fixed issue where Vanguard didn't have a unit portrait in the forces inspection
  • ✦Fixed issue that caused upgrade previews to jitter
  • ✦Fixed issue with Depth 3 tooltip on the run summary screen
  • ✦Fixed issue with "#NAME?" intent tooltip in various encounters
  • ✦Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in a confirmation window loop in the settings menu when playing in Fullscreen Windowed mode on certain resolutions
  • Fixed issue that caused some card text to be too small in certain languages

Valheim publisher launches deckbuilder and strategy game hybrid As We Descend

It's a bit surprising that we haven't seen more projects that put together two genres as massively popular as deckbuilders and strategy games. The former style of design has given us everything from Monster Train 2 to Slay the Spire while the latter includes Against the Storm, Total War: Pharaoh, Age of Empires 4, and so much more. As We Descend takes notes from both types of game, blending them into something new that you can now check out for yourself with its Early Access launch on Steam today.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

As We Descend is a deft mix of XCOM and Slay the Spire, and you can try it now

Satisfactory publisher prepares to launch new roguelike deckbuilder

As We Descend - Early Access Begins NOW!

Hey, Kev here. You ready to descend into Early Access? Excellent, you can delve straight into the game right now. We've launched with a 17% discount to reward those of you who have wishlisted and followed in the game's development journey.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend
The launch discount will be live for 2 weeks. Enjoy the game! That is all.

//////

Wait, you're still here? Alright, no prob; I'd be happy to tell you more. First I've got some bonus news to share, and then I'm going to tell you some extra info about the Early Access.

I'm hyped to announce that we'll have two bundles available right at launch, one with the grim post-apocalyptic citybuilder Frostpunk and one with the stellar tactics roguelike deckbuilder Star★Vaders! If you already own either of these titles, you'll be able to get As We Descend for an extra 10% off.
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/53967/City_Must_Survive
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/54120/As_We_Descend_x_StarVaders
[h3]What's in the base version now?[/h3]
There are two player Origins with radically different playstyles, each sporting 3 exclusive units to that faction and countless unique mechanics. The other 11 units are shared and have a special variant depending on your origin. Split among these units, there are currently over 380 cards. You can complete a full 3-Depth descent to the core, featuring 40 unique enemies and 7 bosses who will try to stop your run.



If you've joined us for the beta, you'll know there are a litany of additional challenges in the form of 25 Descension levels. We've condensed these a bit into 5 mega Descension Levels, each one represents a major jump in difficulty. We'll continue to add on to these challenges as people clear them throughout the Early Access.

We'll be going into Early Access with 12 languages and maintaining these translations throughout: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (BR), Ukrainian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Russian.

Small note on the Russian translation: It's 97% done with mostly a few events that are incomplete; if you notice any event text that's incomplete, it's a known issue! Our translator ran into a snag while trying to get the translations in, and we'll get it sorted out in a future patch.

[h3]How will things develop through Early Access?[/h3]

Your feedback comes first for Early Access. Make sure to join the Discord to discuss with players and developers there, or post right here in the Steam Community forum.

We're going to include a third playable Origin sometime in the Early Access that transforms the game as radically as the existing two Origins. There's tons of content we want to adjust and fine-tune, as well as another boss or two. As mentioned before, we'll be ramping up the challenge level for those seeking it through the Descension system. Naturally, the progression and ending of the story will intertwine with the narrative of the Early Access itself.

We've opted not to go with a roadmap since we find those things often misleading and non-conducive to rapid development. We'd rather test things faster with the Early Access community and be reactive to the feedback and organic development process. We plan to release updates at a regular cadence of about 3-4 weeks, allowing us to respond quickly to the needs of the game. While every update won't necessarily contain a huge amount of content, you can expect the game to steadily improve and grow during Early Access.



I'm looking forward to continuing developing the game alongside you and the rest of the community over the course of the Early Access. See you in the game!

Cheers,
Kev and the Box Dragon team

Charity Challenge


Hey all, got an extra challenge for you for those of you who seek to delve deeper (for a good cause)!

During the opening weekend of As We Descend's launch, we'll be hosting an open-challenge for both players in the community as well as content creators and streamers.

[h3]Here's how it works:[/h3]
  • You submit your highest-scoring run to this channel in our discord, using a screenshot of your end-of-run score screen.*
  • The eligibility window is over the opening weekend (May 30th 14:00 UTC – June 2nd 6:00 UTC).
  • You’re allowed to try as many runs as you want to get the highest score. (A normal run takes ~50-100min depending on how quickly you play.)
[h3]Curious about the scoring system?[/h3]
At the end of each run, you get a score; the highest score possible is ~10 000 which is aggregated from your performance in run (based on the number of battles you've completed, how efficiently you clear each battle, and whether you finished your entire run) and also multiplied by the difficulty system (there are 5 major difficulty levels, and attempting the game at max difficulty yields a 3x multiplier on your score).
  • 40 Points per Expedition
  • 80 Points per Elite Expedition
  • 80 Points per Wave cleared
  • 200 Points per Boss cleared
  • Up to 10 Points per Battle (The fewer turns you spend in battle, the more points you get)
  • Base Multiplier 1.0 (+0.4 Multiplier per Descension for a max of 3.0 total)
  • x2 Multiplier for Completing a Descent
[h3]The Donation Pool[/h3]
The streamer/youtuber who gets the highest score gets to choose which cause to donate the prize pool towards. The prize pool is generated from both the highest score of that youtuber/streamer, and the highest score from the community for a max total** of 20 000 points; each point converts to 1 Swedish krone donation (about $0.10). So that’s how it works!

Lemme know if you have any questions or thoughts.

Good luck and may the bravest delver win,
Kev Chang
Game Director at Box Dragon

*If you're a streamer, just post a VOD or YouTube video of your run, then post a link in our discord channel or @ us on twitter (@boxdragongames) or bluesky (@boxdragon.bsky.social).

**Assuming there's no bugs with the scoring system, of course. So we'll effectively cap it at ~20 000 just in case there's any bugs since that's the max tallyable score!