Novus Orbis News

[h3]Mage Revamp[/h3][p]This update brings a major overhaul to the Mage class, aimed at delivering a more dynamic and satisfying experience right from the start of a run. While the core mechanics were already enjoyable, the card pool leaned too heavily toward skill cards, leaving early stages slow and underwhelming. Elemental management also felt clunky in certain situations.[/p][p]To address this, I’ve added four brand-new cards directly to the Mage’s base pool—no unlocks required. Several existing cards have also been reworked or improved, making the Mage more versatile, aggressive, and fun to play. Check the “Changes” section below for the full list of updates![/p][hr][/hr][h3]New Feature – Stall Punishment[/h3][p]I’ve introduced a new system to discourage excessive stalling (like endlessly healing HP or Monster Blood farming). This kind of playstyle goes against the spirit of the game, and the new Stall Punishment mechanic ensures that pacing remains tight and engaging.
When playing too conservatively (like playing 1 card per turn, not attacking, ending turn without playing cards) the game will give you two warnings before going into "Divine Punishment" mode, where every time you end your turn, enemies will get Great Strength 4x. The fight will continue in this mode regardless of your playstyle until you either win or lose. The threshold will be less strict during boss fights. The formula I'm using may be tweaked after further testing.[/p][hr][/hr][p]As always, I’ve included a healthy dose of balance adjustments and bug fixes.[/p][p][/p][h3]Additions:[/h3]

• [p](General) Stall Punishment[/p]
• [p](Card) Mud Slide[/p]
• [p](Card) Low Pressure[/p]
• [p](Card) Fireworks[/p]
• [p](Card) Ice Shield[/p]

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• [p](General) Choosing a level with increased difficulty will now increase your chances to get Legendary cards, as well as adding a chance to get blessings from the "strong" pool when you would get "normal" ones (from blessing rooms, mini bosses and some events).[/p]
• [p](Cards) Improved the description for the Mage's cards that increase one elements based on a different one.[/p]
• [p](Cards) Mage's cards (Aerodynamics - Ice Melt - Kindle - Static Electricity - High Conductor) now have additional effects (like attack or block). This change tries to make mix up elements more streamlined, to speed up early game and early turns in combat. Because of this change, Kindle and High Conductor are now attack cards.[/p]
• [p](Cards) All Grimoires now, additionally to their previous effect, give you 1 of their elements when drawn.[/p]
• [p](Card) Railgun, removed elements reduction, converted to +2 elements addition.[/p]
• [p](Card) Steam Jet, removed elements reduction, converted to +2 elements addition.[/p]
• [p](Card) Scorched Earth, removed elements reduction and elemental requirement, added elements addition, set to AoE, reduced damage, reduced cost in combo.[/p]
• [p](Card) Foam, removed element requirement, element consumption increased to 2, the card now deals AoE damage 3 times.[/p]
• [p](Card) Slight change to Concrete Barrier's visuals.[/p]
• [p](Card) Brainstorm combo value set to 1 from 2.[/p]
• [p](Event) Removed Mimic encounters from Lands-Night and Lands-Storm.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) The normal Mimic can now perform "chomp" max 1 time per turn. Great Mimic behavior unchanged.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Wall of Sorrow will start using the "Falling Bricks" attack two turns earlier.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Ophanim's status Omniscience, when drawing a Special card, decreases the enemy's Countdown by 1. This will now cap at Countdown 1 (can't go to zero with this effect).[/p]
• [p](Enemy) The Core's second phase will now give you 1 Eye card on phase change, then give you more per 10 cards owned (a second one if you have more than 20 cards, a third if more than 30, etc). Additionally, the card burn action has been replaced with a block one.[/p]
• [p](Pet) Minic action that would increase your HP can now trigger only once per fight. Given HP increased to 10 from 5.[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue with handling difficulty with Sky Archipelago and Abyss.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that wouldn't properly set the effects of levels' increased difficulty when loading an ongoing run.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that could leave a small card on the screen when using Defensive Sacrifice card.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the game making your hand not playable after checking the "Archive - Cards" during combat.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that would not give you the right amount of SP the first fight after loading a run.[/p]
• [p]Clearing a higher version of Lands (like Lands - Evening) before clearing Lands would unlock the achievement for the higher version, leaving the normal Lands achievement locked (this would happen when winning with one class, and then playing the next run with a different class). This behavior was not intended, now the normal unlock will always happen together with any other version of Lands.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that would allow you to enter a portal right after clicking "Run Away" from a Mimic, creating possible big issues.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug that would softlock the game in some instances when having Risk of Heat blessing.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a small visual bug when opening the world map when playing consecutive runs.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Parasite Affliction card not working as intended when having more than one in hand.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some rare instances where cards could get stuck in a "raised" position while the enemies are attacking.[/p]

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

[/p]

[p]Here we go, new level![/p][p]With the Sky Archipelago, continues my vision for the second path in the game, with the first one taking to the depths of hell, and the second one up to the sky. The next level will be the last for this path![/p][p][/p][p]New content in this update is strictly related to the new level, in the next one I will go back focusing on adding a few more smaller things: I have a set of new cards for the mage in mind, as well as at least one or two new pets.[/p][p][/p][h3]Additions:[/h3]

• [p](Level) Sky Archipelago[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Yawarasaphire[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Light Elemental[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Amethyst Tortoise[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Spuma[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Corallum[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Elemental Cluster[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Ophanim[/p]
• [p](Card) Slow Punishment[/p]
• [p](Card) Wind Dance[/p]
• [p](Achievement) Sky Explorer - Warrior[/p]
• [p](Achievement) Sky Explorer - Mage[/p]

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

• [p](Enemy) Attack Duplicarta and Skill Duplicarta will now perform their action based on the number of your cards (attack or skill) plus 1. Which means they will perform at minimum a single action even when you have no cards in hand.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Ghosts' status "Ghostly" changed to give the owner Evasion only if it currently has less than 2 Evasion.[/p]
• [p](Enemy) Updated Emerald Tortoise's visuals.[/p]
• [p](Card) Changed the description for Fancy Bottle, Spring Water and the Mysterious item cards, to hopefully make summoning pets for new players less obscure.[/p]
• [p](Card) Complete rework for Stance Change. It can now be used only if you have no attack cards in your hand. Will draw 5 cards and give 1 SP out of combo, 5 SP in combo. Combo value changed to 3.[/p]
• [p](Mage) Reduced cost for most Mage's initial cards. Also increased the healing from Healing Dew. While I still want to keep the concept of "Mage's cards should cost a lot out of combo", I understand that as it currently stands, the beginning of every run is too slow, difficult, and feels like a chore. Hopefully these changes will make starting a new Mage run more fun.[/p]
• [p](Event) Added Spring Water and all pet Item cards to the pool of cards that "float back up" in the Pond event.[/p]
• [p](UI) The game window can now be resized in windowed mode.[/p]
• [p](Level) Retouched some lights and colors in Hell.[/p]
• [p](Challenge) The challenge that would make you not heal between levels will now heal you for half your max HP. (With the addition of new levels and difficulties I realized that it's very tough to win bosses with a reasonable amount of health, and that having low health would restrict your choices in the next level too much).[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the game would not save the Blood Bank's deposited amount of blood.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some issues when selecting different screen modes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a softlock in the tutorial.[/p]
• [p]Fixed cases where you could play cards while drawing them at the beginning of fights.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Meditate card showing its healing value in red.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the map not showing the right icon and tooltip for a Mini Boss room, when the level's difficulty would include "force a mini boss".[/p]
• [p]The last update completely broke the card Grand Strategy. It's now back to a working state.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that would call the score screen twice if you spam clicked after beating the final boss.[/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]

[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.