Horde Hunters News

Hello, and Happy New Year! We're starting the year with a rather sizeable update. Read about the bigger changes below and the smaller things in the full changelog after that.

[h2]New party member and changes around companions[/h2]

The Priest is available as a new hire, setting the ground on fire.

In addition, all party members now have their respective booster item. These items won't be available on level up unless you have them in the roster. Barracks will now have all the available characters for hire regardless of map and the defend missions may have any of them as a reward option.



[h2]Select your preferred weapon and character bonuses[/h2]

There's more choices now as far as weapon and character bonuses go. Hoping the list of options will grow in the future but already this feels like a big step in the right direction in making the runs more unique.



[h2]Cursor styles[/h2]

This was requested some time ago but I never got around to adding it in. Now
there's a few different cursor icons and colors to choose from in the settings!

[h2]Endless Village competition with Steam Gift Cards for winners[/h2]

The leaderboards have been reset from scores made with versions earlier than v. 0.5.5. To repopulate them I thought a contest would be in order (Update: All prior version scores have been wiped).

The top 3 scores made in Endless Village map will be rewarded with Steam Gift Cards. You have 2 weeks to compete, until the end of Jan 17th. Please take a screenshot of the end screen for proof of win just in case. I will contact the winners on Steam by sending a friend invite as that's how I can send the gift cards through. Excited to see how high the scores get. Good luck everyone!

1. Winner - 25 EUR Steam digital gift card
   
2. 2nd place - 10 EUR Steam digital gift card
   
3. 3rd place - 5 EUR Steam digital gift card
   

On another note, I'm looking for great screenshots to use in marketing. I'll award Steam Gift Cards for these as well. See the game's Discord for more details on that.

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

General

• New choices: Select your preferred weapon 100% bonus and character 50%/100% bonuses
  
• New settings: Cursor Style and Cursor Color
  
• New party member: Priest - Magic fighter, equipped with a cross
  
• New item: Farmer's Oats - +50% size for Pitchfork
  
• New item: Axe Sharpening Stone - +50% critical for Axe
  
• New item: Priest Beads - +50% duration for Cross
  
• New item: Poison Extract - +100% damage with poison
  
• Added party member and weapon information panels to Barracks
  
• Barracks has all the party members available for hire regardless of map
  
• Defend mission reward can be any of the party members
  
• Party member specific items will only be available during level up if owning said party members
  
• Increased Axe critical from 1x to 1.2x
  
• Added bounce from wall property to Spear and Shuriken
  
• Reduced Shuriken range from 1000 to 800
  
• Super Ball doesn't have knockback property anymore
  
• Dagger poison damage (weapon 100% bonus) will scale with Perception
  
• Tomahawk better alternates multiple projectiles
  
• Bow explosive arrow heads will have the same damage as arrow
  
• Voodoo Doll item explosion has a 50% larger radius
  
• Wishbone item chance dropped from 15% to 10%
  
• Character bonus projectiles do not apply to party members anymore
  
• Enemies have a stun cooldown (can't be stunned) of 1s after being stunned
  
• Top GUI changes with the XP bar. Also removed enemy kills as it's not really relevant information
  
• Weapons and items are all fixed at 50 gold value and Charisma has no benefit on sell price
  
• Charisma no longer gives a bonus for buying party members
  
• Critical is added as an option for Forge and Sun Stone upgrades even though it's not normally an upgrade for the weapon
  
• Fire mission water amount is higher if there are heavy winds (similarly water amount is lower in heavy rain)
  
• Spring item will show which weapons current have the bounce option
  
• Damage numbers will show M for millions when going that high
  
• Black Diamond item removed from maps where Forge isn't available
  
• Added a news / patch notes banner to main menu
  
• Reset leaderboards up until v. 0.5.5 runs
  

Bugs

• Farmers would sometimes get stuck in the beginning when finding their way home
  
• Fire Cape 100% weapon bonus (2x critical) was not applied
  
• Shop weapons and consumables remained to be selectable when certain popups were open like map screen
  
• Stun damage did not take into account some bonuses
  
• You can exploit high CHA to gain endless gold
  

Hello. This is a bit of a mixed bag content update with a new weapon, couple of interesting consumables and an elite challenge mission. In case I don't have a chance to drop another update this year, have a happy festive season everyone!

General

• New melee weapon: Pencil - A very sharp writing instrument
  
• New consumable: Rabbit - Runs towards aimed direction and attracts enemies after it
  
• New consumable - Protective Dome: Create a dome that keeps everything on the outside
  
• New mission: Elite challenge - Duel with elites that you've managed to anger
  
• New enemy type that can jump/dash - Both normal and Elite versions
  
• Removed mini-boss event that occurred halfway through the game on normal maps
  
• Final boss now randomly alters its special attack and indicates it
  
• Elites will explode when dying creating damage around the area
  
• Non-elite fireballs are smaller, slower and less powerful
  
• You can close the level up screen with ESC when you're on the last screen (weapon upgrades)
  
• Added another level to Magnetism power-up
  
• Added a cloud graphic to Acid Rain projectile
  
• Added a Deselect All button to Power-ups screen
  
• Increased all animal damage radiuses
  
• Default icon size for new players is "Larger"
  

Bugs

• Enemy damage and other messages should no longer overlap each other
  
• Farmer did not target enemies accurately with the pitchfork swing
  
• Previously set default "Easy" game setting did not actually modify the difficulty options
  

Hello. After all the general improvements we're back on track with more content updates, starting with a new name in the roster!

[h2]New character[/h2]



Introducing Vinnan, a thief class character. Armed with a poison bomb and the ability to vanish and steal coins from enemies.

[h2]Precise abilities[/h2]

You can now make precise ability moves with Leap Slam and Dash up to the maximum range (currently mouse only!). This has been another much requested feature.

[h2]Custom seeds[/h2]

Challenge/Endless maps used to always have the same map layout because of a fixed seed. This has now been removed in favor of runs being less boring. Custom seeds are not gone however but extended in the following ways; You can choose to use the same seed when finishing a run by clicking the new seed icon found on the end screen. You can also choose to play the same seed someone else has played on the leaderboard (when available since this data hasn't been collected before). You can reset the seed on the summary screen by once again clicking on the seed icon.

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

General

• New character: Vinnan (Thief)
  
• 4 new achievements for Vinnan
  
• Precise ability moves with Leap Slam and Dash up to the maximum range (currently mouse only!)
  
• Challenge/Endless maps no longer have a custom fixed seed but are auto-generated like on other maps. Custom seeds are available to use in other ways
  
• "Easy" is the new default difficulty
  
• Reroll costs changed: Starts from 10 gold and increases by 5 each time used until end of run
  
• Charisma bonuses changed from 10/25% to 20/50% chance of a free upgrade on level up
  
• Character class information added to character select screen
  
• Tutorial messaging improved. Added option to change camera zoom level here as well
  
• Library and Bandit Camp messaging improved
  
• Blood Moon effect is a little less bright
  
• Fire missions on Farmlands map happen more frequently
  
• Level up 75 coin reward dropped to 60, Mission 50 coin reward dropped to 40
  
• The "normal" gold amount to start game with raised from 10 to 15
  
• Health amount displayed next to low health warning icon
  
• Adjusted weapon attack mode projectile values
  

Bugs

• Ability 100% bonus of 30% longer ability did not affect Jester's decoy
  
• Tutorial had an empty "Goal:" in the event log
  
• The number for multiple party members was not aligned properly in the weapon inventory slots
  
• You can die and get a mission reward screen before the game ends
  
• Sell items popup remained open after selling all consumables from inventory causing some overlapping issues
  

Hello. This update continues the "Major feedback update" and adds or changes several things players have requested. And it's a bit of a doozy!

There's several new settings so let's go through them one by one. Apart from that some balance tweaks were made especially adjusting mid-game difficulty.

[h2]Large Icons[/h2]

This has been requested for a long time but I had to first figure out how to exactly implement it. I'm hoping the solution I came up with is a happy middle ground for everybody. All the GUI icons for your inventory have been moved to the bottom of the screen and now support small and large icons. This format will also allow for more items in the future.

[h2]Zoom Closer to the Action[/h2]

This is a preference many may prefer and especially on Steam Deck it is IMO a more enjoyable experience. The downside of this is that naturally you don't see as wide of a screen area but that may not be a factor for you. Try it out and see how you go.

[h2]Difficulty Presets and Faster Game Speed[/h2]

There's a simple toggle now to switch between all the difficulty modifiers and more of a formal way to say what is "Easy", "Normal" or "Hard". In addition, you can set the game speed up to 2x faster. This would mean e.g. a normal 15min run turns into 7,5min and so it can get a little crazy! I have it labelled as "experimental" because I'm not confident I made all the necessary changes perfect (there was a lot involved across the codebase).

[h3]Full changelog[/h3]

General

• New setting: Icon Size - Normal or Larger GUI icons for weapons, items and consumables (Default: Normal, Larger on Steam Deck)
  
• New setting: Zoom Level - Normal or Closer in-game camera view (Default: Normal, Closer on Steam Deck)
  
• New difficulty setting: Preset - Choose from Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard (Default: Normal)
  
• New difficulty setting: Game Speed - Run everything faster (1-2x) (Default: 1x)
  
• GUI icons for weapons, items and consumables have been moved to the bottom of the screen
  
• Level up sound and message will come every time you level up despite already having level ups in the queue (with auto level up setting turned off)
  
• Black obelisks appears later in the game with less frequency
  
• Blood Moon weather event appears later in the game
  
• Flying group of enemies (or single big one) start coming a minute later in the game. Speeds of these groups are a little slower
  
• The mid-game difficulty is overall a bit easier for non-challenge maps
  
• Bank funds dropped from 25k to 10k
  
• Mission arrows are a bit closer to player
  
• Golden Heart item changed to gaining 10 coins for every 50 health you lose
  
• Several items display a message when if effect e.g. Golden Heart or Present
  
• Map goal is shown on screen when starting run
  
• Minimum water drops in fire missions raised from 3 to 4
  
• Added an information panel for wine and firebomb consumables in the Winery building popup
  
• Added Switzerland flag to leaderboard
  
• Added gold amounts to leaderboard
  

Bugs

• The undead were not affected by terrain speed modifiers
  
• Endless Desert did not display best score in the log
  
• Difficulty settings did not save to file in certain cases
  
• Could not end run (only exit to main menu) if having the Spoon item with health consumables remaining
  

Hello. Still continuing to fix some of the issues the big update brought up. In addition, this update has improved windowed mode, balance tweaks and a new item.

General

• New item: Mirror - 33% chance to scare common enemies away for 5s (works once)
  
• New setting: Window border - show/hide window toolbar and minimize/close buttons (default: On)
  
• Windowed area is a bit larger and targets a common resolution of 1600x900 if having 1920x1080
  
• Sacrifice (building) change: Player loses 50% health from sacrifice initially, then +10% each time used up to 90%
  
• Frequent Buyer Card item increased discount level from 20% to 25%
  
• Blood Donor power-up added one more level up to 25%
  
• Nicolaus's super ability (explosive arrow) has a 50% bigger radius
  
• The "show collision mask" setting now also includes elites and enemy projectiles
  
• Elite screen title changed from "Rewards" to "Rewards Earned" for better clarity
  
• Updated Discord graphic in main menu
  
• The easier difficulty curve lasts longer for normal maps
  
• Small highlight effect on start game button
  

Bugs

• Game crash if closing the game directly in settings e.g. through task manager
  
• Gamepad navigation issues after selling weapons or items
  
• Gamepad navigation gets lost if selling all consumables from inventory
  
• Elite reward "choose" buttons would show up if opening and closing map (no actual harm with this though)
  
• There was a rare chance that the 4th level up reward (gold or consumable) didn't show up at all
  
• Boss arena was not visible on pause