Novus Orbis News

[p]Took me a while for this one![/p][p]This update introduces two major changes to the game’s core systems:[/p][p][/p][h2]Card Marking System[/h2][p][/p][p]A big part of most deckbuilder roguelikes is the ability to power up your cards. While Novus Orbis has always had its combo system, which effectively gives each card a “normal” and “stronger” version, the lack of further customization has always been a weak point.[/p][p]To be honest, I couldn’t find an elegant way to add card upgrades on top of the systems already in place—until suddenly, I could. Like many things in development, it just clicked one day.[/p][p]Inspired by systems like Wildfrost’s charms, Novus Orbis now has a marking system.[/p][p][/p][h3]How it works:[/h3]

• [p]Cards can now receive a single mark, which modifies how they behave.[/p]
• [p]There are 5 positive and 2 negative marks:[/p]
  • [p]Double Damage – The card deals twice as much damage.[/p]
  • [p]Free Card – The card costs 0 SP (cannot be used on cards that already cost 0).[/p]
  • [p]Double Use – The card activates twice when played.[/p]
  • [p]First Draw – Always appears in your opening hand.[/p]
  • [p]Keep – Not discarded at the end of your turn.[/p]
  • [p]Costly – Increases the card’s cost by 1.[/p]
  • [p]Less Damage – Decreases the card’s base damage by 5.[/p]
• [p]Not all marks can be applied to all cards (e.g., “Free Card” won't work on 0-cost cards).[/p]
• [p]There are a few ways to obtain marks:[/p]
  • [p]A new portal type now appears in levels, offering a choice between two random positive marks.[/p]
  • [p]The Shop has a new fifth tentacle that sells a mark.[/p]
  • [p]A new Sanctuary Spirit has been added:[/p]
    • [p]Recruiting it will apply a random negative mark to one of your cards.[/p]
    • [p]Interacting with it in the Sanctuary rewards you with a mark of any type.[/p]
• [p]Not all marks have the same impact on your hand, so I decided to make them more or less rare depending on the type. Specifically, Double Use and Free Card are more difficult to find than the others.[/p]
• [p]You'll have at least 2 chances to mark cards each level, once at the shop, and once in the specific mark room.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Variable Room Layouts[/h2][p]The addition of the new “mark” portal inspired a broader change to dungeon layout.[/p][p]Previously, room types were fixed per level. That’s no longer the case.[/p][p][/p][h3]What’s new:[/h3]

• [p]Each level now has a semi-randomized layout.[/p]
• [p]The sequence of combat and random rooms stays the same, but every special room slot is now a randomized pair.[/p]
  • [p]For example: a slot may be Treasure OR Spring, or Firepit OR Mark, etc.[/p]
• [p]Each type of special room (Treasure, Spring, Firepit, Shop, Mark) is guaranteed to appear at least once per level (but you may be forced to take one or the other option: if you find a Firepit / Mark pair, you'll have to choose which to prioritize). [/p]

[p][/p][h3]Balance Note[/h3][p]These are big changes, especially the introduction of card marks, which can significantly increase player power. I’ll be monitoring balance closely and making adjustments as needed.[/p][p][/p][h3]Additions:[/h3]

• [p](General) Cards Marking system.[/p]
• [p](Event) New "Marking" Sanctuary Spirit[/p]
• [p](Shop) The shop will now also sell the option to mark a card.[/p]
• [p](UI) Cards will now show cost and values in red when they're worse than their original value.[/p]
• [p](UI) You can now hold down the mouse button when clicking on the up and down arrows when viewing your deck or the archive, to quickly scroll through the list without having to single click multiple times.[/p]
• [p](Event) Added Angel Form and Flush to the pool of cards that heal the hurt creature.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Changes:[/h3]

• [p](General) New rooms layout for all levels.[/p]
• [p](General) Better interaction with the in-level map. It should now have a better responsiveness in opening and closing. In addition, each symbol will now show a tooltip when hovered on with the mouse.[/p]
• [p](General) I tried to improve how the game handles "no input" phases during combat. This should make a smoother experience, as well as make my life easier developing from now on.[/p]
• [p](Visual) Improved visuals for the Firepit.[/p]
• [p](Visual) The Shop's tentacles and eye's animation now doesn't speed up with increased game speed.[/p]
• [p](Blessing) Risk of Ruin wasn't accounting for Spongy status, leading to dealing 0 damage. Fixed, meaning that now Necrocube can be cheesed if you have this blessing.[/p]
• [p](Event) Blood Bank is now forced in Hell level.[/p]
• [p](Event) Sanctuary Spirit encounter event is now forced as either the first or second event in both Caves and Echo Tower. It is also now encountered only once per run.[/p]
• [p](Enemies) Ovomycete, Abyss Gaze, The Core and the two Mimics had attacks that show "???" for damage, because they were calculated on the player's current HP when the attack comes. I decided to rework these actions so that the value is set when the intent is called, and not modified further, allowing the game to show the actual value in the intent.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) As a consequence of the previous point, the Mimics' "Chomp" attack will now always be calculated only on the player's current HP, and not on Block. This should make the two Mimics fights more challenging.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Removed "Shield Cut" attack from The Core. This was meant to avoid the player having too much Block, but it made it too difficult to reliably show a value in the intent, and with Permanent Armor now keeping only half of the current Block, this attack is not as needed as it was.[/p]
• [p](Card) Parasite lacked a sound effect, added.[/p]
• [p](Event) Increased the chance to find the Sanctuary portal (for levels 2-3-4 the chance is now 33-66-99%)[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• [p]Added a tentative way to avoid cards being removed from the deck (and from the savefile) when encountering certain bugs. This should take care of issues like cards getting stuck in the middle of the screen in a "combat" state while out of combat, or having cards misplaced in strange positions when checking your deck.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the fact that when opening a chest you could check your deck, close it, and then access portals while still having the card choice on screen.[/p]
• [p]Fixed blessing No Pressure not working properly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed rain sound not being removed after clearing Lands-Storm.[/p]
• [p]Storm card still said "Advance" in description, as well as elemental requirements, despite them being removed. FIxed.[/p]
• [p]Solved some issues when interacting with the shop with a game pad.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the game not showing the enemy's intent properly after status Blind goes away.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that could leave an empty tooltip over the enemy's HP when getting Blind status.[/p]
• [p]Fixed cases where a card that was affected by a Parasite card couldn't be used even after that fight was over.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some issues with Wipeout card.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an error with Grand Strategy's cost.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Ignite not showing as unlocked in the archive.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the fact that some blessings could be shown as "?" in the archive even after being unlocked.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the "card" sanctuary spirit not actually removing your card when recruiting it.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Thank you as always for the support! [/p][p][/p][h3]Remember, if you like the game, each single positive review helps me a lot![/h3][p][/p][p] If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr]

I have to admit—when I get a sudden good idea, I can’t help but drop everything and chase it. This update is one of those moments.

It introduces a brand new event—the biggest and most complex one yet.

Up to now, events were self-contained: something happened in the room, and that was it. The recently added Blood Bank was the first event to carry effects across levels and even runs.

Now, meet the Sanctuary event.

[h3]Here's how it works:[/h3]

• First, you’ll need to win the game once to unlock the possibility of encountering it.
  
• After that, you may find a small spirit in an event room. The first one is a Heart spirit.
  
• Interacting with it will unlock the Sanctuary event (and earn you an achievement).
  
• From then on, there’s a chance an extra portal appears on the first floor of levels 2, 3, and 4.
  
• Entering this portal takes you to a secret sanctuary, where you’ll see all the spirits you've collected so far.
  
• There are five spirits in total, each with unique conditions for joining you—and a special reward when interacted with inside the Sanctuary.
  
• You can only interact with one spirit per visit, and once you do, that spirit leaves the Sanctuary. You'll need to find it again for it to return.
  
• The spirit event can appear multiple times in a single run.
  
• The Sanctuary portal can only be accessed once per run.
  

[h3]And there’s more:[/h3]

• Added 6 new cards (4 Warrior, 2 Mage).
  
• Added 1 new Blessing.
  
• And yes... you can now PET YOUR PETS.
  

[h3]Additions[/h3]

• (Pets) All pets can now be clicked on to "pet" them. This is a purely visual/sound effect, with no gameplay function.
  
• (Event) Sanctuary
  
• (Achievement) Sanctuary
  
• (Card) Whispering Stone
  
• (Card) Railgun
  
• (Card) Dark Guard
  
• (Card) Grudge
  
• (Card) Fuel Hate
  
• (Card) Wipeout
  
• (Blessing) Risk Of Ruin
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• (Card) Storm is now Legendary, and doesn't require elements anymore (but still removes 1 wind, thunder and water). Also, removed its "Advance" ability. Combo value set to 3 (from 1) and cost is now 6-3 (from 4-2)
  
• (Card) Lava Flow combo value changed to 1 from 0.
  
• (General) Dialogue text that automatically disappears now lasts a little longer.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• Fortress Smash card was incorrectly flagged as Legendary instead of Rare inside the code. Fixed.
  
• Relax card was wrongly flagged to not work when having Time Freeze or Stasis statuses. Fixed.
  
• The new Archive for cards would not show cards' stats until hovered once. Fixed.
  

Thank you as always for the support!

[h3]Remember, if you like the game,
each single positive review helps me a lot![/h3]

If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server.

Between life events and building a new computer (plus moving the entire project over), this update took a bit longer than usual.

But it’s finally here—a long-planned and frequently requested feature: the Archive!

The "Achievements" tab in both the main menu and in-game menu has now been replaced with a new "Archive" tab.
Opening it will bring up a new menu with three categories: Cards, Blessings, and Achievements.

From here, you can browse all the content you've unlocked so far!

• For Cards and Blessings, any locked content will appear behind a question mark. You'll see the name, but the details remain hidden until unlocked.
  
  
• Once unlocked, newly discovered entries will be marked as "New" the first time you view them—this label will remain until you end your current session.
  

In the future, this menu may also include archives for Pets and Enemies.

With this feature out of the way, I'll start making a new level for the next update :D

[h2]Additions:[/h2]

• (General) Archive menu.
  

[h2]Changes:[/h2]

• (Enemy) Darkness Elemental will now cycle between its two actions, avoiding getting stuck only casting evasion.
  
• (Enemy) Current Elemental was wrongly getting double its supposed Electrify status on fight start. It now gets its intended amount. The base value has also been decreased to 8 from 10.
  
• (Event) Using a Fancy Bottle at the Pond will now give you the bottle back. (To avoid wasting the card for people who still don't know its use).
  
• (Event) Small visual change for the Blood Bank event.
  
• (UI) Changed the icon for Ebonactite's Death Wish status to a red hue, to hopefully make it more visible to new players.
  
• (UI) Fixed the fact that most of the Mage's skill cards had a red combo outline, instead of the intended blue.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• The formula to reduce enemies stats when they appear in a level before their intended one (specifically for the new Lands versions) was wrong, making the enemies much stronger than intended. Their stats should now be more in line with the actual level's difficulty.
  
• Fixed Ice Elemental showing a "buff" icon for its block and evasion actions.
  
• Removed the Evasion tooltip from Relax card.
  

Thank you as always for the support!

[h3]Remember, if you like the game,
each single positive review helps me a lot![/h3]

If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server.

No new content for this update, just a few changes and bug fixes.

[h2]Changes:[/h2]

• (General) Changed how Great Strength behaves on enemies: it will now be removed at the end of the NEXT enemy turn. The way it worked so far forced me to have the few enemies that gain great strength to do it as their first action, otherwise they would lose it at the end of their turn, and basically gain nothing from it. With this change, I can now have these enemies cast great strength as their last action (which is a lot more fair to the player). Affected enemies: Wealthy Abomination, Mimic, Paralux.
  
• (General) Mimics are back in the game in normal mode too.
  
• (Enemy) Paralux will now copy the player's statuses after attacking, with the statuses remaining until the next turn.
  
• (Enemy) The change to great strength means that Wealthy Abomination can now use its Weak Spot attack (150 damage) with great strength, bringing it to 300 damage. Because of that I'm decreasing its base damage to 90.
  
• (Enemy) Decreased Paralux base damage.
  
• (Enemy) Kobolds now show a "Friendly Bond" status to tell you about the (so far hidden) ability to get strength when another Kobold dies.
  
• (Enemies) Darkness Elemental and Ebonactite's actions that would have you discard their whole hand, will now make you discard only one card.
  
• (Card) Boiling blood now deals 1/4 of your current blood instead of 1/2.
  
• (Card) Platinum Melon can now be found only from the second level.
  
• (UI) Added "(Currency)" to the Monster Blood tooltip.
  
• (Event) The Blood Bank will now show the current deposited blood in the sprite itself.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• "Gods Protection" blessing's name changed to "Gods' Protection".
  
• Fixed the ability to open the draw pile by spamming it during After Image's activation (soft locking the game).
  
• Removed "AoE" tooltip from Boiling Blood.
  
• Paralux was meant to always have the same statuses as the player, but it would wrongly not lose obtained statuses when the player didn't have them (for example, strength obtained through Warrior's Fortify (which is lost at turn end) would persist for Paralux when copied. Fixed.
  
• Fixed pad controls not working on the newly added branching levels.
  
• Fixed the game unlocking the Caves achievement when winning Echo Tower. The game will now unlock all level achievements when accessing the world map, instead of at the start of the next level.
  

[h2]Biggest update since release![/h2]

This update introduces one new level and a major feature that’s been planned for a long time, along with two new systems to make each run more varied and engaging.

[h3]20% off for the next 3 days[/h3]
Grab the Novus Orbis + OST Bundle for additional savings!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/51454/Novus_Orbis__OST/

[h3]Additions:[/h3]

• (General) Branching Levels System
  
• (General) Levels Difficulty System
  
• (Level) Echo Tower
  
• (Level) Lands - Evening
  
• (Level) Lands - Night
  
• (Level) Lands - Storm
  
• (Enemy) Attack Duplicarta
  
• (Enemy) Skill Duplicarta
  
• (Enemy) Slimer
  
• (Enemy) Current Elemental
  
• (Mini Boss) Paralux
  
• (Mini Boss) Forgotten Knight
  
• (Boss) Eye Of The Storm
  
• (Card) Fire Wall
  
• (Card) Momentum
  
• (Card) Pocket Watch
  
• (Blessing) Risk Of Heat
  
• (Blessing) Invisible Flame
  
• (Blessing) Solid Flame
  
• (Blessing) Quick Step
  
• (Blessing) No Pressure
  
• (Event) Sage
  
• (Event) Blood Bank
  
• (Achievement) Tower Explorer - Warrior
  
• (Achievement) Tower Explorer - Mage
  
• (Achievement) One Step Ahead
  
• (Achievement) Two Steps Ahead
  
• (Achievement) Three Steps Ahead
  
• (Achievement) Sunset
  
• (Achievement) Moonlight
  
• (Achievement) I Need An Umbrella
  

[h3]Branching Levels System[/h3]

Previously, a full run consisted of a fixed sequence of 4 levels. The long-term goal is to expand the game to include 9 levels, with branching paths. Each run will still be 4 levels long.

The first step in this plan is the addition of Echo Tower, the starting point of a new second path that leads to a second ending. After completing the first level (Lands), you’ll now be able to choose between:

• Caves (original path)
  
• Echo Tower (new path)
  

After either one, the run continues to Abyss.

More levels for the second path will be added in future updates. Once the entire second path is implemented, players will follow one complete path per run (original or new). After completing the second path, each level will branch into a direct counterpart.

[h3]Level Difficulty System[/h3]

To keep runs fresh, a new system dynamically adjusts the difficulty of Caves and Echo Tower based on your choices.

• Winning a level increases its difficulty by 1.
  
• Losing a level resets its difficulty to 0.
  
• Each win also lowers the difficulty of the other level by 2.
  

Difficulty Tiers (0–3):

• 0 – Base Difficulty
• 1 – One fewer Treasure/Healing room (specifically before the boss)
  
• 2 – Shorter level (3 fewer Event/Enemy floors)
  
• 3 – Forced Mini Bosses (2 mini-boss portals appear)
  

This system currently only applies to the Caves/Echo Tower choice but will be applied to every branching level in the future.

[h3]Lands Variants[/h3]

Since the first level (Lands) is always played regardless of path or result, it tends to be the most repeated. To add variety, the level will now cycle through 4 different versions:

• Lands – Normal
• Lands – Evening
• Lands – Night
• Lands – Storm

Each version features different visuals, slightly more challenging layouts, altered room counts, and varied events. They also include a few enemies from later levels.

Progression:

• Winning a run moves you to the next version.
  
• Losing a run resets Lands back to Normal (restarting a run does not).
  

This is a tentative system and may be tweaked based on player feedback.

[h3]New Event – Blood Bank[/h3]

A new event called Blood Bank has been added to the event pool of every level (different chance to appear depending on the level).

In the Blood Bank, you can deposit or withdraw Monster Blood. This currency persists across levels and between runs.

• You can perform only one action per encounter (either deposit or withdraw).
  
• Deposits are capped at 9999.
  

This feature is meant to address how Monster Blood often becomes excessive late in a run but is sometimes scarce early on. The Blood Bank aims to give players more control over their economy across multiple runs.

[h3]Notes:[/h3]

• Echo Tower and its enemies use music and sound effects from other levels/enemies. They will be properly updated when ready.
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• (General) Lands level's chance to have Hurt Creature and Bird Events increased to 60% each.
  
• (General) The tips you get when loading or losing the game will now cycle in order instead of being chosen at random.
  
• (Card) Boiling Blood won't consume blood anymore, but will now target one random enemy instead of being AoE.
  
• (Enemy) Slight increase to Fungal Knight's base damage.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that would show the "do you want to play hard mode?" screen without being able to remove it when loading a game.
  
• Fixed a bug that would leave the game stuck in "copy a card" mode when drawing Paper Airplane on your first turn when having After Image blessing.
  
• The recent adjustments in difficulty made it so the player was forced to replay the tutorial when they hadn't won the game yet. Added a "Replay Tutorial" button to the classes selection screen until you win once.
  
• Concrete Barrier and Imposing Presence had a wrong card text border (was rare instead of legendary), fixed.
  
• Fixed a bug that would do weird stuff when using some cards that let you discard while having the Stasis status.
  
• Fixed an issue that would leave the game in "no input" state for a few moments when using cards that make you draw from your deck.
  
• Fixed some instances where the enemy's intent's damage value wouldn't be updated when it was modified during a multiple intents action.
  

I have to say I'm happy with the amount of stuff I managed to make in less than a month.
The next levels for the second path will come as soon as possible.

Thank you as always for the support!

[h3]Remember, if you like the game,
each single positive review helps me a lot![/h3]

If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server.