Update 0.4a - The Big Brain Update - is Now Live!

[h2]Key changes:[/h2]

• Enemy AI has been significantly improved (see below)
  
• Item durability has been removed from the game
  

[h3]AI changes:[/h3]

• Enemies avoid hazards and navigate levels much more consistently
  
• Spell effect zones now impact enemy pathing/avoidance
  
• Enemies may now avoid committing to attacks while a hazard/barrier is between them and their target
  
• Enemies detect and react to threats more consistently
  
• Enemy speech barks have been revised
  
• Human enemies are now more vocal about their internal understanding of the world
  
• Certain enemies can now partake in "activities" while not in combat (patrolling, etc)
  
• Characters in the prologue now are connected to the full AI system/path more intelligently
  

[h3]Stealth Changes[/h3]

• Sneaking is now more consistent / intuitive (may still need tuning though, I'll watch for feedback)
  
• The AI Vision/Hearing systems has been revised
  
• Entities now take a brief period of time to react to sounds
  
• Once alerted, enemies will search for enemies/threats
  
• There is now a "visibility" indicator while stealthing that indicates how much light is on you
  
• Undisciplined enemies now can have an explicit "startled" animation+shout when they are alerted
  
• Startled enemies can now alert nearby allies to their perceived threat
  
• There are now various popup tutorials about stealth and how light/sound affect it
  
• The "Shadow's Veil" cloak now actually makes you harder to see while stealthing
  

[h3]Parry Changes[/h3]

• Enemies stay in a parried state spin for slightly longer + travel slightly slower
  
• Running/lunging attacks detect if they are chasing a target and, if so, travel for a longer/farther distance to reach them
  
• There are now tutorials for Parrying
  

[h3]Codex Changes[/h3]

• The Codex is now available during the Descent
  
• The Codex's layout has been simplified
  

[h3]Other Changes:[/h3]

• Dropping carried item is now "hold down on D-pad" on gamepad (instead of Hold A/X + down)
  
• The Prologue now contains a shortcut gate that can be persistently opened across runs, shortening future runs to the boss
  
• The "You Decend Even deeper" screen has been removed
  
• Bosses no longer have on-character speech barks
  
• Obelisks with directions below now have a blue light (to visually distinguish them from Vitae and link to Maria)
  
• The "static" first Descent now only lasts for a single run (instead of until you defeat the first boss) - it repeating seemed to be more frustrating than helpful
  
• The red vitae orbs embedded in the central pillar of nexus rooms can now be shattered for health pickups
  
• Keybinding now works properly when paused in the Descent
  
• Every Unity-referencing null-coalescing operator has been removed (these seem the most likely culprit for in-build crashes on entity deaths)
  
• The game should be able to recover if VRAM issues cause render textures to be wiped