Into Evil News

[h2]Key changes:[/h2]

• Magic and spells have been revised and expanded (see below)
  
• The HUD has been revised and expanded (see below)
  
• All playable characters and NPCs have updated portraits (and their in-game appearance has been updated to match)
  
• The Barbarian and the Rogue have been removed from the game - they will return as part of the Mighty Weapons and Dual Wielding content updates after the Early Access launch (respectively)
  

[h3]Magic changes[/h3]

• Pyromancy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Firebolt, Fireball, Ignition, Bonfire, Fireforge, and Mantle of Fire
  
• Cryomancy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Snap Freeze, Winterchill, Iceshatter Mine, Blizzard, Frozen Needles, and Mantle of Frost
  
• Tempestry has been revised and contains 6 spells: Step of the Wind, Static Spark, Lightning Bolt, Wind Blast, Sparkdash, and Thunderstorm
  
• Divination has been revised and contains 6 spells: Starlight, Starsight, Cartography, Intuition, Clarity, and Astral Projection
  
• Iasotrophy has been revised and contains 6 spells: Heal, Regeneration, Bolster, Inoculate, Blightbolt, and Toxic Mist
  
• Most spells can now be "charged up" to cause a "better" version of the effect with different properties
  
• Charging up spells causes your character to chant, which is audible to nearby enemies
  
• If your spell is disrupted before it is properly unleashed, it is "disrupted" and appropriate effects indicate that you lost the charge
  
• Spells that create an effect at a target spot can be more precisely placed with a mouse
  
• More effects now have magical auras that can be percieved
  
• Magical auras now (once revealed) can display text that explains what a given effect or aura "does"
  
• Spell Tomes are now held items that passively increase your knowledge of a selected spell while equipped held
  
• There is no longer a way to spend Vitae to permanently learn a spell; this feature will return in an upcoming update that will revise character progression
  
• There are now additional popup tutorials explaining the above during gameplay
  
• "Heroism" invocations - Battlecry, Flicker Dodge, etc - have been removed from the game and will be reworked in a later update.
  

[h3]HUD changes[/h3]

• The look and feel of the on-character menu + HUD has been entirely redone
  
• Your player character's portrait now appears in the HUD "root menu"
  
• There is a new on-character submenu - "Invocations" - that explains the effects of all invocations a player currently has access to (including those castable from items)
  
• There is a new on-character submenu - "Active Effects" - that shows a description of any active status effects/debuffs on your character
  
• Buffs/sustained effects are now dispelled via the "Active Effects" menu
  
• Status bars/icons now appear above the player during active gameplay
  
• The HUD is now colorized with your player color
  
• You can now change your player color during character select
  

[h3]Other Changes:[/h3]

• Invocation order and focused carried item/invocation now properly persists between levels
  
• Bleed is now more dangerous
  
• Bloodfly clouds now apply bleed at a much faster rate
  
• Shock now damages entities that have negative lightning defense (such as from metal armor)
  
• The gates of the cages in the Prologue can no longer accidentally trap the player
  
• The shortcut in the Prologue can no be opened from the other side of the wall
  
• Knight Lossaire no longers cares about allies outside the boss arena
  
• Map generation should be more tolerant of rare errors
  

This is actually a giant update that brings the core game much closer to the "final" state for Early Access! Go give it a try!

A smaller update this time, mostly centered on usability improvements and bugfixes.

As usual, please file feedback in the Steam forums or on the INTO EVIL Discord!

[h2]HUD/Menu changes:[/h2]

• Carried items are no longer arranged "around" the character in the in-game HUD but are instead below them (mirroring the displayed Invocations)
  
• The multiplayer color indicator has been slightly adjusted to be more visible but less intrusive at all levels of camera zoom.
  
• Things are much more dramatic when a boss is slain
  
• "Escape" (or any other configured "start/menu" button input) now escapes the pause menu in the Descent.
  
• A list of all connected controllers is displayed in the Options > Input > Controllers menu
  
• The focused consumable slot can now be properly dropped from the Gear > Carried Items wheel
  
• Cycling through empty consumable slots on a gamepad no longer causes a "nothing to drop" popup (only long press)
  
• Long-range crossbow aiming now shows the prompt to "shoot" via hitting the Interact button for precise shots
  

[h2]Input changes:[/h2]

• The game now auto-pauses when a player's controller is unplugged
  
• Auto lock-on and auto target switch can be disabled in the Options menu
  
• Enemy auto-lock is now weighted by "enemy importance" (i.e., it's easier to stay locked on to a boss instead of its minions)
  
• Manual locked-on target switching on gamepad has been improved and made easier to track
  
• It is easier to pan the camera around the edges of the screen with mouse and keyboard, and lock-on no longer disrupts this.
  
• You no longer dodge when leaving the on-character menu on a gamepad
  
• Crossbow fine-grained aiming now works properly again on gamepad.
  

[h2]Other Changes:[/h2]

• Enemies no longer turn their back to you when projecting your movement
  
• The fire pools in the Hellfire boss arenas now properly damage you repeatedly
  
• The whirling blades in the Priest of Flesh's boss arena now only cause regular damage flashes (to reduce visual noise when minions are getting struck)
  
• The flesh walls summoned by the Priest of Flesh now do not act as lock-on targets.
  
• Shields no longer block "zone" attacks (pools of fire, blizzards, etc)
  
• Quivers drop less frequently
  
• The crossbow aim indicator is no longer disabled when travelling between levels
  
• The radius in which you hear Blood Demon chittering has been decreased
  
• Fixed a typo in the demo final boss fight dialog.
  

[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