1.16 - Artifacts & Combat Improvements
Artifacts
A new item class has been added - the Artifact. When activated, artifacts change Nightingale's behavior, or have a positive and negative effect associated with them. Any number of Artifacts can be activated at a time.
Several rings and amulets have been changed into artifacts, so they can be equipped and unequipped more easily without taking up ring/amulet slots:
* Ghostly Ring -> Evasion Codex
* Perception Ring -> Perception Codex
* Guard Ring -> Guard Codex
* Lantern Necklace -> Lantern Familiar
* Nightingale Locket -> Nightingale Doll
* Second Chance Ring -> Second Chance Brooch
* Befouled Ring -> Befouled Head
* Curse Ring -> Small Cursed Snuffbox
* Robert's Ring -> Large Cursed Snuffbox
* Closed Gaze Ring -> Closed Gaze
* Inverted Gaze Ring -> Inveted Gaze
Additionally, a wholly new artifact has been added:
* Flight Codex - allows Nightingale to run much more quickly but accumulates cursed energy while doing so
Combat Revisions
In order to make the game more fluid and fun, combat has been significantly revised:
* All of Nightingale's actions now have points where they can be canceled out of to dodge, block, or run - this makes all actions in the game faster(and safer)
* Healing items can now be used while walking or running
* There is a new Danger status when Nightingale suffers a blow that would kill her - this reduces her to 1 health and gives her 3 seconds of invulnerability in order to find something to heal with
* The i-frames on the Evasion Codex(formerly Ghostly Ring) have been dramatically increased, making it much easier to dodge and avoid attacks
* Monsters no longer turn when Nightingale rolls or otherwise dodges past them, making rolling past monsters and attacking from behind possible
* Monsters briefly slow down after attacking to open more windows for counterattack
* Monsters take into account velocity when choosing to attack, making it easier to bait out attacks by changing direction suddenly or dodging
* All melee weapons have been adjusted and rebalanced to be somewhat faster and more satisfying
* Many monster attacks have been revised to be more dodgeable
Portable Crafting Kit
Craft spells and laboratory items anywhere(so long as no monsters are around). Purchase from Albert in the Byzantine Labyrinth in Chapter 2, 3 or 4.
Monster Drops
All monsters now can drop additional loot, reducing the need to visit the shop for crafting supplies significantly.
New Hauntings
Several new hauntings have been added for the extremely cursed. Most noticeably, it now rains blood outside.
New Items
* Shield Ring - doubles the durability of shields
* Necromancer's Ring - increases the health of summoned allies
* Corrupted Meat - poisons Nightingale but adds +75 health, dropped by various enemies
Polish
* A new accessibility feature - Sound Icons - has been added to the Audio Options menu, which adds icons to off-screen sounds such as footsteps, combat, gunshots and explosions
* Film grain(called Noise Effect in the options) has been reimplemented as a procedural effect instead of a video. This means it has more variety, will no longer crash some machines, and is finally compatible with Steam Deck builds.
* Significant memory optimizations mean the game works much better on machines with low VRAM.
* Significant CPU optimizations should increase loading and performance for machines with slower CPUs.
* The title screen loads much more quickly, with less time spent on a black screen, on lower end machines.
* The bell toll at the Moonless Formless logo has been removed to save your ears.
* In menus, the mouse cursor is now hidden once a gamepad is used, and is only shown again if the mouse is moved.
Balance Changes
* Nowhere now has a Comfy Chair and Remembrance Shrine in Chapter 1/2
* Bleeding and poison now deal 30% health - previously they did fixed amounts per 100 health - this makes it much easier to predict their behavior
* Healthy Roll heals 1% every 60 seconds, instead of 1 health
* First Aid Kit heals 50% of health instead of 100%
* Warding candles heal cursedness more smoothly and quickly
* Shield durability scales more with poise and base durability increases with each NG+ level
* Horace health increased and is now immune to poison/bleeding
* When the maximum value of a stat such as health changes, the current value now scales proportionally
* Burning Gentleman's flames go out on death
* Many NPCs have more and rarer items for sale, and some now have a Sell option that did not previously
Bug Fixes
* Instances where volumetric fog could still be seen when on lower quality levels, such as when outdoors, have been fixed(and the FPS in those areas will be higher now)
* Fix vampirism only applying a single source of vampirism, instead of all of them - this meant wearing multiple pieces of equipment with vampirism was not effective previously
* Fix cursed furniture transitioning into regular furniture occasionally causing furniture to become stuck halfway in the floor
* Fix several instances where taking a photo could result in a black screen and softlock the game
* Fix some enemies, such as the Cloaked Ghoul, being able to throw projectiles behind them
* Fix holding a Torch while using the Curious Statue causing Nightingale to disappear
* Fix Nightingale clipping through the door when unlocking it
* Fix odd shadow/shading issues on several outfits with short hair
* Fix some side attacks from monsters not turning fully before starting
* Fix odd collision on Cursed Armor
* Fix Angel (Greatsword) not doing damage with their sword
* Fix Mad Witch having odd behavior when cornered near a wall
* Executioner Wretches can no longer track the player when a spirit twig is used
* Fix Zombie Knight's wall charge not doing damager
* Fix Executioner Wretch's kick not doing damage
* Fix various enemy attacks not triggering as often as they should
* Fix collision on Skinned Witch making it hard to do heavy attacks against her
* Fix some missing textures and models introduced in v1.13's asset optimizations
* Fix odd camera behavior when using a ladder in Chapter 2
A new item class has been added - the Artifact. When activated, artifacts change Nightingale's behavior, or have a positive and negative effect associated with them. Any number of Artifacts can be activated at a time.
Several rings and amulets have been changed into artifacts, so they can be equipped and unequipped more easily without taking up ring/amulet slots:
* Ghostly Ring -> Evasion Codex
* Perception Ring -> Perception Codex
* Guard Ring -> Guard Codex
* Lantern Necklace -> Lantern Familiar
* Nightingale Locket -> Nightingale Doll
* Second Chance Ring -> Second Chance Brooch
* Befouled Ring -> Befouled Head
* Curse Ring -> Small Cursed Snuffbox
* Robert's Ring -> Large Cursed Snuffbox
* Closed Gaze Ring -> Closed Gaze
* Inverted Gaze Ring -> Inveted Gaze
Additionally, a wholly new artifact has been added:
* Flight Codex - allows Nightingale to run much more quickly but accumulates cursed energy while doing so
Combat Revisions
In order to make the game more fluid and fun, combat has been significantly revised:
* All of Nightingale's actions now have points where they can be canceled out of to dodge, block, or run - this makes all actions in the game faster(and safer)
* Healing items can now be used while walking or running
* There is a new Danger status when Nightingale suffers a blow that would kill her - this reduces her to 1 health and gives her 3 seconds of invulnerability in order to find something to heal with
* The i-frames on the Evasion Codex(formerly Ghostly Ring) have been dramatically increased, making it much easier to dodge and avoid attacks
* Monsters no longer turn when Nightingale rolls or otherwise dodges past them, making rolling past monsters and attacking from behind possible
* Monsters briefly slow down after attacking to open more windows for counterattack
* Monsters take into account velocity when choosing to attack, making it easier to bait out attacks by changing direction suddenly or dodging
* All melee weapons have been adjusted and rebalanced to be somewhat faster and more satisfying
* Many monster attacks have been revised to be more dodgeable
Portable Crafting Kit
Craft spells and laboratory items anywhere(so long as no monsters are around). Purchase from Albert in the Byzantine Labyrinth in Chapter 2, 3 or 4.
Monster Drops
All monsters now can drop additional loot, reducing the need to visit the shop for crafting supplies significantly.
New Hauntings
Several new hauntings have been added for the extremely cursed. Most noticeably, it now rains blood outside.
New Items
* Shield Ring - doubles the durability of shields
* Necromancer's Ring - increases the health of summoned allies
* Corrupted Meat - poisons Nightingale but adds +75 health, dropped by various enemies
Polish
* A new accessibility feature - Sound Icons - has been added to the Audio Options menu, which adds icons to off-screen sounds such as footsteps, combat, gunshots and explosions
* Film grain(called Noise Effect in the options) has been reimplemented as a procedural effect instead of a video. This means it has more variety, will no longer crash some machines, and is finally compatible with Steam Deck builds.
* Significant memory optimizations mean the game works much better on machines with low VRAM.
* Significant CPU optimizations should increase loading and performance for machines with slower CPUs.
* The title screen loads much more quickly, with less time spent on a black screen, on lower end machines.
* The bell toll at the Moonless Formless logo has been removed to save your ears.
* In menus, the mouse cursor is now hidden once a gamepad is used, and is only shown again if the mouse is moved.
Balance Changes
* Nowhere now has a Comfy Chair and Remembrance Shrine in Chapter 1/2
* Bleeding and poison now deal 30% health - previously they did fixed amounts per 100 health - this makes it much easier to predict their behavior
* Healthy Roll heals 1% every 60 seconds, instead of 1 health
* First Aid Kit heals 50% of health instead of 100%
* Warding candles heal cursedness more smoothly and quickly
* Shield durability scales more with poise and base durability increases with each NG+ level
* Horace health increased and is now immune to poison/bleeding
* When the maximum value of a stat such as health changes, the current value now scales proportionally
* Burning Gentleman's flames go out on death
* Many NPCs have more and rarer items for sale, and some now have a Sell option that did not previously
Bug Fixes
* Instances where volumetric fog could still be seen when on lower quality levels, such as when outdoors, have been fixed(and the FPS in those areas will be higher now)
* Fix vampirism only applying a single source of vampirism, instead of all of them - this meant wearing multiple pieces of equipment with vampirism was not effective previously
* Fix cursed furniture transitioning into regular furniture occasionally causing furniture to become stuck halfway in the floor
* Fix several instances where taking a photo could result in a black screen and softlock the game
* Fix some enemies, such as the Cloaked Ghoul, being able to throw projectiles behind them
* Fix holding a Torch while using the Curious Statue causing Nightingale to disappear
* Fix Nightingale clipping through the door when unlocking it
* Fix odd shadow/shading issues on several outfits with short hair
* Fix some side attacks from monsters not turning fully before starting
* Fix odd collision on Cursed Armor
* Fix Angel (Greatsword) not doing damage with their sword
* Fix Mad Witch having odd behavior when cornered near a wall
* Executioner Wretches can no longer track the player when a spirit twig is used
* Fix Zombie Knight's wall charge not doing damager
* Fix Executioner Wretch's kick not doing damage
* Fix various enemy attacks not triggering as often as they should
* Fix collision on Skinned Witch making it hard to do heavy attacks against her
* Fix some missing textures and models introduced in v1.13's asset optimizations
* Fix odd camera behavior when using a ladder in Chapter 2
