Downfall - A Slay the Spire Fan Expansion News

Hello everyone! If you didn't see earlier, the Downfall Discord server has been restored and everything is back to normal working order. We just sent out a fresh new update, though some of it went out already as part of the recovery process when all the madness was happening. But, you can review the notes in their entirety over at the #patch-notes channel in Discord, or in Google Doc form here:

[h2]Patch Notes[/h2]

Patch Notes Link

One of the biggest milestones of this patch is that the game, thanks to the community, now is 100% beta-art complete, every card having something created by the community! Collector also received some additional tuning, adjustments, and bug fixes based on feedback, and is likely to be out of beta at this point (though we will officially remove that tag next update, make sure there aren't any lingering issues we've missed).

[h2]Welcome back to Tales & Tactics[/h2]

In addition to the update and Downfall server restoration, I come with some bad news, and an IMPORTANT REQUEST to all of our players. While Downfall's server was restored, The Tales & Tactics official Discord server was destroyed permanently. We don't know why the malicious individuals decided to delete it, but there was nothing that could be done. So, we've rebuilt it, better than ever before! For our players that joined us on the T&T Journey, please rejoin us on Discord here:

Tales & Tactics Discord

We have included an updated roadmap that previews out the next few updates (including a new addition based on community reaction to the Winter Update - full refresh of player character perks), and we will have the next major game update ready for testing in the experimental branch (complete with exciting new UI and brand new character abilities) very soon. Not long after that, we'll be rolling out the beta for our asyncronous Multiplayer PVP mode! Lots of exciting things happening over there, and we're itching to get back to being involved with our community again.

Thanks everyone!

UPDATE 12/29 - While there is no new alerts regarding the Steam product or risk of downloads, the Discord account remains compromised. I have reports that the account is trying to DM people and either send malware to them impersonating themselves as a developer, or trying to gain sensitive information. Do not engage with this account and absolutely do not click on any links sent.

(Update 7:19 PM Eastern 12/27, 0020 UTC+0 12/28) - We just updated the game intentionally, switching to a fresh clean depot for future use. Do not be alarmed if you see an automatic update.

Hello everyone. I bring some unfortunate news today. Yesterday, Christmas Day, at roughly 12:30 PM Eastern time, we experienced a security breach. At roughly 1:20 PM (1820 UTC+0 on 25/12) , that breach allowed a malicious upload to overtake our game on Steam's library for a period of roughly one hour. Our steam and discord accounts were hijacked, and though the Steam accounts were able to be recovered late in the evening, we were limited in our ability to warn or communicate immediately following the breach. Fortunately, we were able to contain the actual breach much more quickly than the amount of time it took to recover the accounts. The important parts you need to know are:

-The breach window was roughly 1:30 PM-2:30 PM Eastern (1830-1930 UTC+0) on 12/25.
-Downfall is safe to launch once more, and has been since roughly 2:30-2:40 PM Eastern on 12/25 (1920 UTC+0 on 12/25).
-If you did not launch Downfall in the breach window, you're clear.
-If you got an automatic update for Downfall on 12/25 but did NOT launch, you're clear.
-If you launched Downfall via the Steam Workshop (meaning you actually launched Slay the Spire), you're clear.
-If you did launch Downfall on 12/25 and succeeded and everything looked normal, you're clear.
-If you did launch Downfall on 12/25 and saw a command-prompt like screen, that starting spitting out a bunch of text after about 10 seconds, you're in the clear. That was actually just the Java log which we usually keep hidden, but accidentally left visible when we restored the game.
-If you did launch Downfall on 12/25 and got a 'no .exe found' type of error, you're clear. That was us exploding the game to prevent anyone else from being affected.
-If you did launch Downfall on 12/25 during the breach window and got a Unity library installer popup, please continue to read. You may be also at risk.

The security breach allowed a malicious upload to replace the Downfall packaged game. If you were one who saw that Unity library popup, here is the information we have at this time involving the malware that may have affected you:

Most Antiviruses seem to have not stopped the malware specifically from executing, but do stop its payload from being sent across the internet. This means you aren't automatically damaged by the attack.

The payload it tries to scrape and generate involves passwords, specifically from your browsers, Discord, and a few other applications: Windows local login, Google Chrome, Yandex, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, Telegram, Discord, and files that might contain the word 'password' (if 'password' is in the filename).

If you saw the Unity popup or otherwise feel you may be breached, we recommend you changing important passwords, particularly ones that are not set up for 2FA (2-factor authentification). Any account that is set up for mobile 2FA should be immune. You should also be sure your live protection is active and run scans. Though, for full peace of mind, I personally am electing to reset and wipe all of my drives from my affected hardware.

The payload included the installation of a "WindowsBootManager as an application under my user's AppData folder. Also "Windows Boot Manager is a video game".

One user reported: In your users/[username]/AppData/Local/Temp folder, there will be several files the Trojan creates. One will be called epsilon-[username].zip, which contains everything the Trojan has stolen -- Discord info, autocomplete, saved passwords, network info, cookies, saved credit cards, steam info. WARNING: If you go investigating these files for yourself, to do so without being connected to the internet, just in case there is still some possibility of retriggering an event.

Another user reports: "It was under Local\microsoft\windows\0 for me. It said it was a video game, and from a name i didnt know. I checked on another computer on windows 11 and this file didnt exist. I deleted it and i had no problem restarting the computer afterward, but it was scary.
The other file was named unitylibmanager and was found under local\temp\ and i think this one was the original offender.
I also had a problem with Discord, can't say it was linked but it said the .exe was infected, so i deleted everything."
Also can confirm: "I found WindowsBootManager as an application under my user's AppData folder. Also "Windows Boot Manager is a video game" lmao. I deleted all of them manually."

(UPDATE 12.27.23 2:29 AM) Another user has reported: it looks like in my (user)/AppData/Roaming folder there is a folder named 'UnityLibManager' which was created at the time of all the other malicous folders/files and that was what windows defender detected ('UnityLibManager.exe')

We are still working with any affected users to gather and share as much data as we possibly can. We are also communicating with Valve on the nature and timing of the breach so they can also help from their end.

For those concerned about future breaches, we purged the affected hardware that was breached completely, a full hard drive wipe. We've also added additional security and are in the process of transferring ownership of Downfall to a dedicated Steam account that solely is responsible for uploading to it and is never used or logged in for any other purpose. As much as we like to think we're safe, the reality is that any account that is actively used (that is, logged into frequently) is always at risk to a malware attack, and in this case, Downfall was owned by an active account. When that active account become compromised, so did Downfall. The act of the account being logged in at all was all that was needed for the breach to happen in this case.

I can't apologize enough to the affected users. The thought that someone would hijack a free passion project for malicious intent is truly vile. Downfall is nothing without its players and the joy surrounding it and I am appalled at the attack.

Thank you all for your understanding. I will continue to update as any more information comes my way.
-Michael Mayhem

[h2]Two big announcements in one! [/h2]





[h2]The Collector[/h2]

The Collector is our most ambitious character yet, with twice as many cards as a normal Slay the Spire character. This is due to the Collector's "Collection" mechanic, where you can hijack cards from your foes and add them to a special alternate deck. Every turn, you draw one card from this deck, adding to your normal hand of 5 cards. Collect the Spire!

Thanks to our amazing artists, particularly the incredible Opal, Collector is the first new character to be released with 100% original custom card art, including the ENTIRE Collection set! No recolors of base game art this time.

Collector also feature themes of Debuffs, including a new unique debuff called Doom. Burn both your foes and your deck with a subtheme of Exhaust, including the new Pyre keyword - Pyre cards are powerful, but have an additional cost of 'Exhaust a card in hand.' in order to play them. And of course, you can always summon your faithful Torchhead to protect you and amplify your offensive capabilities.

Collector is releasing in a 'beta' state officially, but has been in testing for months and we're really happy with where it is. We only call it a 'beta' as we expect we may have to do some rapid patches as we collect more data.

[h2]Tales & Tactics[/h2]

After two and half years of development, and with the help of our publisher Yogscast Games - our indie roguelike strategy game, Tales & Tactics, is now released into Early Access and available for purchase! Not only that, it's 20% off for the week of launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1652250/Tales__Tactics/

Over the years, literally hundreds of you have asked us if you can financially support us as developers. We've never been able to say yes to that for Downfall directly, but we'd be thrilled to have you check out our original title. For those that do, we would extremely appreciate leaving a Steam Review, even if it's just a couple of words. Reviews matter a ton for Steam's algorithms - more than most players realize.

The Downfall community has been wonderful in helping us to shape the game, and we fully intend to do the same with Tales & Tactics' Early Access period. Your feedback will help us make the game as best as it can be, and we'll be running community design events as well to let you, the players, directly add content.

If you've never seen our announcements about Tales & Tactics before, it is a mashup of Autobattler & Roguelike Strategy. To use comparison games, "what if Teamfight Tactics was mashed with Slay the Spire". If you've ever played an Autobattler but found the PvP nature and turn timers overwhelming when trying to learn, or are a fan of Slay the Spire but want to try something that uses a different core than cards, we'd be thrilled to have you join us.



We said before that we weren't abandoning Downfall for this new journey, and we have stayed true to those words. Thanks for sticking with us playing our works, and we hope to continue to provide at the quality bar we've set out. Who knows what Boss we'll do next? Perhaps Tales & Tactics will get a Downfall crossover? Stay tuned, and enjoy the content double-feature.

Celebrating ONE YEAR since Downfall's Steam release!

It's been awhile since our last major update, and while there isn't a new character to show at the moment, this patch is still MASSIVE, and also comes with an equally MASSIVE announcement - a brand new GAME!

[h2]Announcing Tales & Tactics[/h2]



Before we get into the meat of this update, first, a personal message from the creators.

I'm Michael Mayhem, the original Downfall creative lead. Two years ago, I decided to embark on a journey towards development on a new indie game, and couldn't think of anyone I'd rather take that journey with than Vex, the very first collaborative partner who rapidly became primary developer of Downfall. We have been working on this new game (while still providing support and administering updating Downfall, our original passion project), and we're very proud to have recently announced it - Tales & Tactics!

We've often been asked over the years from passionate players how they can support us financially, and that has never been something that has really interested us for a mod project. However, today we're asking for your support in our new endeavor, and all we need from you is a simple Wishlist add.

Wishlists are massive factors to the likeliness of a game's success as they drive Steam's algorithm in showing the game to potential players, and just by wishlisting our new title, you are immediately supporting us financially, for free! We'd love to have you join us as a player for the launch of the game itself later this year, but just adding to your Wishlist truly means more than most players realize.

Tales & Tactics is a fresh roguelike strategy game, though not a deckbuilder! It uses the squad-based autobattler format as its core instead of a deck of cards, but offers many similar drafting & strategy elements you'd find in something like Slay the Spire. Join our Discord (link available in the Steam page below) for more information!

[h3]Click Here to Wishlist Tales & Tactics! Thanks for your Support![/h3]

[h3]TinyURL Link (Steam Library will not link to Steam pages right now)[/h3]

And now, onto the Downfall Update!

[h2]Downfall Update 4.3.0[/h2]

[h2]Full 4.3.0 Patch Notes[/h2]

This update is brought to you by many contributors, but a few special shoutouts to the people most involved:

• Stanek for a bulk of the character tuning updates, also AlexMdle and Mwalls
  
• LethargicWeirdo and CartesianCanvas for the new Character Skins
  
• Our incredible card artists, including Opal, CartesianCanvas, LethargicWeirdo, and ez for continuing to manage the art submissions
  
• The ever diligent localization team, including nyamnyami, Rucodeby, Nitablade, MisterShaokan, and Mwalls for the ongoing efforts to remain localized.
  
• Ocean, for an ever-expanding feature list to the community Discord Bot, and being a supportive generalist for Downfall.
  

[h3]Art, So Much Art![/h3]

This update features an ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS amount of brand new fresh card art from our incredible community art team. Almost 200 core character cards have new art, and over 400 beta card art submission have been added!

It's truly unbelievable how far the project has come in the quality and quantity of the art available. I can't thank the artists enough for their continued efforts.

A full list of every card that has been changed can be found in the full Patch Notes.

Oh, and as an extra bonus, two new character skins have been added, fully unlocked and ready for use! One for Hexaghost, and one for the Automaton.

[h3]Balance & Polish[/h3]

This update features, perhaps more than any in the past, a massive collection of balance & polish adjustments that focus on numerical adjustments, rarity adjustments, and other simpler changes that don't require a massive-scale character rework. Nearly every character has been touched, with most receiving a large quantity of changes to better balance the character.

Champ in particular has been taking the spotlight since the last update, and while he's been brought down in some of the more problematic areas, other cards have been brought up to fill some of the void. We expect his overall winrate to slightly decrease (down to match the other characters who all have been in a relatively stable and on-target winrate), but his variety of viable builds and strategies to improve.

One major note I'll call attention to is the change to the Heart Blessings (the reward you get for breaking the keys). These have been changed to only affect Boss Fights. This change is happening because, while we have tuned the Downfall mode boss fights to assume you have been breaking keys, the rest of the game does not factor in those extra free stats from the key breaks. Hallway encounters and Elite fights, the things Downfall doesn't interfere with, end up being slightly easier as a result, and has always skewed the overall game difficulty. The keys also are "effectively free" to break, in that the total cost to break them is the same as the total amount of Souls you get from defeating the Merchant. Downfall adds both a currency sink, and a currency reward that balances out that sink, so the net result has simply been that hallway and Elite fights are easier than the base game balance intends. This change addresses that once and for all.

[h3]The Future of Downfall[/h3]

Some time ago, Vex and I announced to our community a relative departure from the main development process, instead handing Downfall to a new excited team of volunteers and contributors, such as the members mentioned above who are responsible for 4.3.0. While our personal capacity to contribute has slowed, we haven't forgotten about the project - in fact, we often find ourselves unable to take a break from Tales & Tactics and come back and chip away at future updates.

What does the future hold for Downfall? EVERYTHING. While it may still take some time, every single remaining Boss has a branch with some prototype of mechanics and potential decks in place, as well as larger reworks to existing characters. Needless to say - we aren't done yet! Downfall being a free, volunteer project with no revenue stream means it still remains a hobby, but I won't be satisfied until every single boss is in that playable roster. It will happen!

I will tentatively commit to at least one new character at some point this year, though likely it would be much later in the year after Tales & Tactics has released and we find ourselves with a little more spare time. The Downfall Project also remains fully open-source and community-driven, so if you are passionate about the mod, know a little bit of Java code, and want to contribute, please, join our Discord! We are always happy to have new contributors.

[h3]Until Next Time...[/h3]

Thanks so much to the nearly half a million players that have sampled Downfall. The never-ending glowing reviews are always a highlight to our day. We hope you can join us on our new project, but if not, we'll be right back here with more Downfall before you know it.

Thank you for playing!

A quick second update, with fixes for some localization errors that were causing crashes and (more importantly) some Hermit balance changes and updates that fell by the wayside! Thanks for playing.

-- Hermit Changes --

TEXT: Spite text now correct about which action resolves first.
BUGFIX: Eye of the Storm no longer lights up when in the middle of your hand.
BUGFIX: Using Luck of the Draw while under effect of No Draw no longer locks up the game.
BUGFIX: The block from Red Scarf does not trigger Wave of the Hand to prevent a recursive softlock.
BUGFIX: Fixed Pet Ghost/Mark of the Bloom softlock.
BALANCE: Snapshot now deals 1 more damage.
BALANCE: Gestalt cost raised to 2.
BALANCE: Smoking Barrels vigor gained down by 1.
CHANGE: Manifest now grants 16(20) Block, but adds a Decay to your hand.
CHANGE: Black Powder is now common.
CHANGE: Rye Stalk is now Rare and reads "At the start of each combat, all enemies lose 2 Strength.".
CHANGE: Shadow Cloak now reads "Gain 4(6) Block whenever you draw or exhaust a Curse.".
CHANGE: Eternal Form now reads, "Ethereal.(Not Ethereal.) The first 4 playable cards drawn each turn cost 1 less that turn."
CHANGE: "Add a 0-cost Defend to your hand and upgrade it X(+1) times. Exhaust."
CHANGE: Combo now reads "Put the first (2) Dead On card(s) triggered each turn back into your hand." and costs 1.