Death of a Wish News

Death of a Wish has received critical acclaim! Here's a little taste of what critics are saying!

Death of a Wish is quite possibly one of the best action games ever made - Callum Rakestraw, Entertainium

The beginning of 2024 is packed with huge blockbuster games, but I don’t think they can overshadow what developer Melessthanthree is cooking up in their action-adventure Death of a Wish - Azario Lopez, Noisy Pixel

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For all its bleakness, it's the kind of experience that reinvigorates your critical faculties, bursting through the fog of diminishing returns and leaving you newly curious about video games in general. - Edwin Evans-Thirwell, Rock Paper Shotgun

Harsh and unflinching, Death of a Wish is not only one of the year’s best games, but also an experience that will stick with you for a long time to come. - Cyril Lachel, Defunct Games

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Death of a Wish is a great moody action game that’s worth adding to your list of must-play 2024 indies. It’s a narrative with textbook Catholic guilt, a heartfelt journey of self-discovery, and the exploration of queer acceptance. - Charlie Kelly, Checkpoint Gaming

Death of a Wish is a uniquely crafted hack-and-slash - Corthos Fellrin

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Death of a Wish is storytelling at its finest, with every element of the game – from aesthetics, to mechanics, to writing – coming together to create one of the most engaging, evocative games I’ve played in a long time. - Ben Sledge, The Gamer

an incredibly compelling action-RPG, both in terms of its satisfying yet brutal combat and its dark, yet thought-provoking story beats" - JohnnyBueno

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Death of a Wish is out now on Steam, you can purchase it now or wishlist it for later.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2302080/Death_of_a_Wish/

Hello all!

There's just a few small hotfixes that I wanted to highlight that have made it into the build since Monday:

• Fixed an out of bounds/possible sequence break in the "City Ruins" area.
  
• Increased the PIERCE afflict of RAPID's projectiles.
  
• [Track 2] Adjusted aspects of the Crusader Engine Uriel boss fight that might help those who are struggling with it.
  
• More work has been done to help distinguish enemy attack signals and tells, and reduce audio/visual clutter when fighting alongside a companion.
  
• Changed the initial Sin/Punishment descriptors to help reveal a little more of what they dictate (it might not just be what they initially say...)
  

Not too much but there's some important things in there that I hope improve the experience!

Don't forget to leave a review if you've played the game; we're only 6 away from the 50 review "Very Positive" threshold!

Thanks again!
- Colin

Hi everyone,

As we reach the one week point since Death of a Wish's release, I want to thank everyone again for playing, sharing, and reviewing the game! We're at 35 Steam reviews at the time of writing, which is so exciting to see. If you got a chance to play the game this weekend, please take a minute to leave a review; it would be so cool to get to the 50 "Very Positive" review threshold soon!

There have been a few hotfixes and tweaks to make it into the build since I last updated, here's a quick rundown!

Features:

• Added two new tech options: "Teleport UI" and "Disconnect". The Teleport UI tech lets you toggle the Teleport indicators and arrows on/off, while the Disconnect tech lets you toggle the Disconnect ability on/off once it's been unlocked (the ability will still be active when required for progression, even when the tech is toggled off).
  
• Tweaked the enemy attack signal audio and visuals to be more prominent on the screen/in the sound mix.
  
• Thickened Chris's outline and shadow during combat to help with visibility and positioning.
  
• Added a new type of Damage Number to show when damage has been boosted due to an enemy being TAUNTed.
  
• When in combat, you now need to run into the scene transition boundaries for a brief time to trigger the scene transition. It takes a little less than half a second, with the hope that this should prevent unintentional scene changes during combat. A UI indicator will show how long until the transition triggers. Scene transitions should behave as before when not in combat. I've seen more than a few players voice frustrations with this, so please leave a comment if this helps!

Balance:

• Decreased the Track 1 Boss S-rank requirement, but made its time bonus requirement slightly stricter.
  
• [Post-Track 5 spoilers] Made it a little harder for the player character to get stuck on enemy colliders during the "RUN" encounter.
  

Fixes:

• Fixed a bug that would allow Corruption to rise on death when the Corruption meter is not active.
  
• [Post-Track 5 spoilers] Fixed a wrong warp when going into the radio tower elevator, then immediately leaving the elevator.
  

Thank you all again! The whole team hopes you've enjoyed and continue to enjoy Death of a Wish.

- Colin

We are pleased to announce that Death of a Wish will be coming to Double Fine and iam8bit's showcase, Day of the Devs - San Francisco 2024! Come celebrate the game's release with us if you are attending GDC or in the area!

1. When: Sunday, March 17th 3pm-8pm
   
2. Where: The Midway, San Francisco, CA
   

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/day-of-the-devs-2024-san-francisco-edition-in-person-celebration-tickets-797078512287

Death of a Wish is out now! Purchase it now to save 10%!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2302080/Death_of_a_Wish/

Hello all!

This is Colin again, and I want to thank you all for the great launch week we've been having so far! It's been so rewarding seeing all your reviews and playthroughs, and I hope you all continue to enjoy Death of a Wish!

Just a reminder, if you've been playing and enjoying Death of a Wish, don't forget to leave a review! It'll help with our visibility so more potential fans can find and enjoy the game, which will help our community grow. It only takes a minute but makes a big impact!

With that out of the way, here's some update notes for the just-launched patch v1.0.5:

Features

• The Screenshake option has been slightly reworked to better address concerns some players expressed about disorientation/motion sickness. Additionally, a new intensity level has been added called "Reduced", so the options are now (from greatest to lowest intensity) On > Reduced > Low > Off. If you are someone who was concerned with the intensity of camera movement in this game, let me know if this helps!
  
• The game now has its own mouse cursor! This was actually supposed to be in the launch version of the game, but there was an error with the image file. If you prefer or have gotten used to just having the default mouse cursor when playing with keyboard + mouse, leave a comment and I'll take it into consideration.
  

Balances

• Reworked Sol's Hold Action's damage stat scaling. This rework should make it more viable to use in melee-focused builds, which better fits its design intention.
  
• Slightly reworked the S-rank thresholds for a few early-game enemies.
  

Fixes

• Fixed a softlock in the underground Subway area that would trigger when fighting a specific encounter in New Game+.
  
• Fixed a bug caused by skipping a cutscene in Track 4 that opened the door to the Track's dungeon area. Skipping that cutscene should now still open the door as intended without having to leave and re-enter the room.
  
• Fixed a bug that made the Scorned Virtue look like it was increasing your stats instead of decreasing them as intended. This was only a visual bug, but the stats in the Level Up screen should now match Chris's intended stats when Scorned is equipped.
  
• Fixed a softlock that occurred at the end of Track 4/start of Track 5 if you started the game with an old demo save file (pre-February 2024 Next Fest demo version). If your save file is affected, you might see an item in your inventory that you don't remember picking up. When you get to the point where you are supposed to pick up that item, the scene where Chris picks it up will automatically play, and your inventory will be unaffected.
• [Track 2 Boss Spoilers] Asking for help from Naomi during the Crusade Engine Uriel fight no longer locks you in to summoning her for every subsequent attempt.
  
• [Track 4 Minor Spoilers] Rewinding during the timed combat sequence now resets the countdown timer to whatever time it was at the start of the current combat round.
  
• [Track 5+ Sidequest Spoilers] Fixed a bug that prevented the final merchant cutscene from playing in New Game+ if you fulfilled his sidequest conditions on a previous new game cycle. If you run into this, you still need to talk to the merchant before the scene will trigger, but as long as you have his final item in your inventory, the scene will play as expected when you walk away from him.
• [Track 5+ Sidequest Spoilers] Fixed a softlock that would trigger when attempting to save Will from the Neo-Sanctum knights after previously failing the fight.
  

That's all for now! On behalf of the entire Death of a Wish team, thank you for all of your support, and we hope you continue to enjoy Death of a Wish!
- Colin