Death of a Wish News

Hello all!

Death of a Wish has now been out for three weeks, and it's been wild seeing the game grow and reach new audiences. We've also gotten a ton of great feedback from our reviews, comments, and watching people stream/let's play, and this latest update focuses mostly on addressing these notes. Here's a quick rundown of the biggest changes:

Features

• Added a new setting in the options menu called Combat Contrast. When this setting is on, the game will further contrast the player/enemy characters from the background, as well as reduce background visual noise during combat. There are four settings with this option, each with a more exaggerated effect: Off, On, Extra, and Max. If you're having trouble distinguishing enemy movement from the background, give one of these increased settings a try!
  
• Chris can now Rewind out of hitstun. You can even cancel the big knockback hitstun with a Rewind use! We hope this will encourage players to experiment with using the Rewind, and prevent frustration caused by taking a lethal hit right as you're trying to input a Rewind.
  
• Altered the sound cue when an enemy starts an unparryable attack, to better distinguish the sound from the parryable attack.
  

Balances

• Enemies will now be less likely to overlap their attacks patterns when fighting in groups, particularly on the Easy and Normal SIN difficulties. This change is intentionally lessened on the harder SIN difficulties, but still has some effect compared to previous versions.
• Altered the timing on the visual enemy attack cue so that it more closely signals the beginning of the parry/perfect dodge timing.
  
• Chris no longer loses his brief period of invincibility from parrying when immediately cancelling the parry animation into a counterattack. The grace period for a successful parry should now last about one second from the moment the parry was triggered, regardless of whether the animation gets cancelled or not.
  
• Further tweaked the health values and damage type weakness/resistances of various boss encounters (including Crusade Engine Uriel).
  

Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused certain parryable enemy attacks to be marked as unparryable.
  

If you haven't started the game yet or were waiting for some concerns to be addressed, this is a great time to play and leave a review! Death of a Wish has already garnered 60+ positive reviews at the time of writing, and it'd be so cool to see the game get to 100 Steam reviews! With your help, I think we can do it.

Thanks again and talk soon,
- Colin

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

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0OJv6AEZ5k&t=7s[/previewyoutube]

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

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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/