Evercore Heroes: Ascension News

[h3]Hey everyone, Volibar here with our first major GOING LIVE FRIDAY @ 7:45pm - 10pm Irish Time[/h3]

If you didn't read the preview, along with a recap of the first week, you can catch up right here

tl;dr - this is the first major update, less than one week after the demo is live, and we're committed to continuing to work hard and keep the improvements and fixes coming.



As a reminder, our Steam Contest is open and running now! Compete to get immortalised in the game. More details can be found HERE.

Now, onto the details!




[h2]Demo Version 1.1[/h2]

[h3]Introducing Core Powers BETA
[/h3]


OVERVIEW
As Lotus leads the Luum Sentinels across Lumerea to retrieve shattered pieces of the ancient Evercore, its power grows and grants our Heroes with new enhancements.

As this system is just coming online, Skye and Cloud-EE have enabled the Sentinels to access this power for early Battle Testing!

Core Powers are permanent and will transfer to whichever hero you select in Hero Mode or Co-Op.

CORE KEYS & GEMS
Collect these rewards by completing the challenges behind the teleporters. Keys are used to unlock Power slots, while Gems are used to purchase the actual power. You can earn both in Co-Op or Hero Mode.


CORE GAME LOOP - LUUM REGENERATION NOTE: Luum was always intended to be a way to allow players to have agency over their own ability rotation, but also let skilled players flow through combat. Your feedback has been clear and we've made changes!

All Heroes now have passive Luum regeneration. This allows skilled players to still get into a flow through combat, but collecting Luum is no longer a chore or requirement, but now optional.

You should be able to use a lot more abilities in combat, combined with the Luum regeneration Core Powers if you choose. Please let us know what you think!

MAJOR BALANCE CHANGES NOTE: With such major changes to player power coming into the game, we needed to make changes across the board. Early game should be harder now, so be careful out there!

The world of Lumerea is more dangerous! Players and Enemies generally are more deadly now, so use those Core Powers to grow in strength and survive!
Enemy Health has not been modified for Hero Mode, but has been increased across the board in Co-Op, to account for a lot of increased team damage.

Please let us know what you think as we continue to iterate and improve the system!


[h3]Bug Fixes & Improvements
[/h3]

Players can now play Hero Mode and Co-Op without having to exit the game.
NOTE: this was caused by an underlying issue that would potentially ruin Co-Op games if you had played a certain type of game prior to entering the queue.

• Fixed a wide range of issues with Keyboard Mouse Beta Controls, including not being able to Escape menus all the time, repeated VO lines playing, or activatable shards triggering reliably.
  
• Fix for enemies targeting invalid targets such as dead players. Enemy should stop attacking these targets and, in co-op, immediately switch to a new target in their aggro list if one is a valid target.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause enemies to try and path around objects they shouldn’t.
  
• Fixed an issue that was preventing Thrashclaw from killing on the Snowgobbler minions by stepping on them. Bring on the carnage!
  
• Fixed a rare instance of sometimes players having two encounters in one island.
  
• Fixed a rare instance of sometimes players going through a Gold teleporter, but ending up with the wrong encounter or reward.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Dash ability that would allow you in certain circumstances to extend your invincibility.
  
• Fixed a few levels where players were able to escape the boundaries in side areas.
  

[h3]Heroes[/h3]
NOTE: All heroes have generally grown in power, with a bit more differentiation between them. As you progress through the game, we want each hero to have their own identity, and these changes push a bit more in that direction.

FYN:
NOTE: Fyn overall wasn't living up to his big persona, and so has been given a range of changes to make him better at his core role while adding gameplay. We've removed some of his passive Overshield and instead given him ways with two of his abilities to earn temporary Overshield in combat.

• Charge: Charge now does 50% bonus damage when fully charged. It also generates a small amount of temporary Overshield upon moving.
  
• Get Behind Me: now generates temporary Overshield on cast and re-casting, as well as a small amount for each projectile blocked by the shield.
  
• All temporary Overshield lasts for 15 seconds.
  

LOTUS: NOTE: We're fairly happy with Lotus in the game at the moment, but want to make her a little more active, and also increase her healing power with the introduction of Core Powers.

• Reduced Lotus's starting base health down from 70 to 60.
  
• Increased her Seed of Light Healing by 2x.
  

CYNDER: NOTE: We really want Cynder to be the glass cannon of the trio, so we've slightly reduced his starting health, which should make it even more dangerous as enemies now generally do more damage. But we've also increased his damage output directly and through additional improvements to ability power via rewards.

• Increased the base damage output of all his spells.
  
• Lowered starting health from 35 to 30.
  

[h3]Rewards[/h3]
NOTE: Rewards in general have been buffed, or in some cases adjusted to be more engaging. We've also done a pass on visual and audio feedback on some shards, and will continue this effort. Also, several Shards have had their feedback improved when active, and we will be continuing this.

• Chemical Reaction (Flame) damage increased
  
• Team Wildfire (Flame) bonus damage increased
  
• Hero Moment (Fury) damage increased, duration of the effect down
  
• Jagged Stoneskin (Fury) damage return increased
  
• Steadfast Vengeance (Fury) effect has been increased
  
• Bounty Hunter has been removed from Fury, had its healing amount reduced, and is now available in the shop
  
• Focused Wrath (Fury) has been changed to now apply up to 5 times per target
  
• Auto Mitigator (Invention) percentage of damage as Overshield up, duration up 5->6
  
• Luum Generator (Invention) has been slightly nerfed
  
• Weak Spot (Mischief) base chance is now 50% across the board, and the duration scales
  
• Explosive Crit (Mischief) damage increased
  
• Parting Gift (Mischief) has had the cooldown removed and damage increased
  
• All Poison (Wild) effects now stack up to 4 times per target, increasing this entire category's potency
  
• Max Health has been removed from Soulbound Blooms, but is now available as a scaling Core Power
  

KNOWN ISSUES:
We have temporarily removed Shield Battery (Invention) from the game, as occasionally players were able to get more shield than intended (DH).

[h3]Enemies[/h3]
NOTE: we wanted to make enemies more dangerous but not more grindy. So aside from all damage being adjusted upward, the following changes have been made.

• Tank Golems now are less likely to Stun lock players. The base AOE attack no longer stuns but instead applies a Fracture debuff, increasing damage taken to players affected.
  
• The large Wolf has had the Howl ability increased in size and now applies 2 Frost stacks to players affected.
  
• The duration of Freezing Fog has been increased to 15 seconds. The duration of Ice Block (when a player reaches 5 seconds of Frost) has been increased to 5 seconds.
  
• The Roller, Yeti, and Wallumps the Wicked now cannot be Stunned or Displaced during certain special abilities.
  

[h3]Hey everyone, Volibar here with our first major update coming soon, and a short recap of the past few days.[/h3]

tl;dr - despite our hard work, struggles, and love we've put into this project, version one of the demo didn't hit the mark. We're here today with a big update that the team's been working super hard on while listening to all of your feedback.

We're committed to improving the game one step at a time, and we hope you'll keep giving us your valuable time and feedback along the way.

Here's what you can expect in the next update, along with our thoughts on some of the biggest talking points in the community.

[h3]Introducing Core Powers Beta
[/h3]


OVERVIEW
As Lotus leads the Luum Sentinels across Lumerea to retrieve shattered pieces of the ancient Evercore, its power grows and grants our Heroes with new enhancements.

As this system is just coming online, Skye and Cloud-EE have enabled the Sentinels to access this power for early Battle Testing!

Core Powers are permanent and will transfer to whichever hero you select in Hero Mode or Co-Op.

CORE KEYS & GEMS
Collect these rewards by completing the challenges behind the teleporters. Keys are used to unlock Power slots, while Gems are used to purchase the actual power. You can earn both in Co-Op or Hero Mode.


MAJOR GAME CHANGES NOTE: With such major changes to player power coming into the game, we needed to make changes across the board. Early game should be harder now, so be careful out there!

The world of Lumerea is more dangerous! Players and Enemies generally are more deadly now, so use those Core Powers to grow in strength and survive!
Enemy Health has not been modified for Hero Mode, but has been increased across the board in Co-Op, to account for a lot of increased team damage.

Please let us know what you think as we continue to iterate and improve the system!


[h3]Bug Fixes & Improvements
[/h3]

Players can now play Hero Mode and Co-Op without having to exit the game.
NOTE: this was caused by an underlying issue that would potentially ruin Co-Op games if you had played a certain type of game prior to entering the queue.

Fixed a wide range of issues with Keyboard Mouse Beta Controls, including not being able to Escape menus all the time, repeated VO lines playing, or activatable shards triggering reliably.

We're continuing to crush bugs as fast as possible, and will keep at it as long as it takes!

[h3]Heroes[/h3]
NOTE: All heroes will generally grow in power, with a bit more differentiation between them. As you progress through the game, we want each hero to have their own identity, and these changes push a bit more in that direction.

FYN:
NOTE: Fyn overall wasn't living up to his big persona, and so has been given a range of changes to make him better at his core role while adding gameplay. We've removed some of his passive Overshield and instead given him ways with two of his abilities to earn temporary Overshield in combat.

LOTUS: NOTE: We're fairly happy with Lotus in the game at the moment, but want to make her a little more active, and also increase her healing power with the introduction of Core Powers.

CYNDER: NOTE: We really want Cynder to be the glass cannon of the trio, so we've slightly reduced his starting health, which should make it even more dangerous as enemies now generally do more damage. But we've also increased his damage output directly and through additional improvements to ability power via rewards.

[h3]Rewards[/h3]
NOTE: Rewards in general have been buffed, or in some cases adjusted to be more engaging. We've also done a pass on visual and audio feedback on some shards, and will continue this effort.

[h3]Enemies[/h3]
NOTE: Some enemies were a bit too easy to disrupt, so they've become tougher and late game monsters will be immune to certain affects, making sure you have to stay on your toes when facing them!

[h2]Demo Issues Discussion[/h2]

Here are some of the issues we've heard your feedback loudest on, and are taking immediate steps to start to address!

Keyboard + Mouse Controls
While the Keyboard and Mouse controls are in beta still, we know people found a lot of issues, and we're working hard to resolve all of them as quickly as possible. This patch has a lot of fixes in it, but we're still working on more, along with taking a longer look at how we can improve the responsiveness and feel.

Gameplay Pacing + More Variety
One of the biggest points of feedback we've heard is around game pacing, specifically collecting Luum to fuel your abilities. This mechanic wasn't there to make you have a chore, but to allow higher skill players to get into a flow through the game by killing enemies and keeping going. But we've heard your feedback and are making some immediate changes! All heroes will now have a base Luum recharge!, This should keep you in the action more, but still allow players who can take down enemies at a good pace to flow.

Additionally we've taken a step in increasing variety, with a long list of shard changes and hero tuning. in future versions we'll also be looking at more "game breaking" and "build altering" runs. We've got some exciting plans here and will make it a focal point.

Why Couldn't I Play More than One Round?
In short, we knew this issue was a real detriment to the experience, but we made the decision to get some real hands on feedback even with it in the game. It's a long story as to why that bug existed, but essentially we had to make people quit so it wouldn't ruin Co-Op games. We're happy to say that this issue has been fixed in this build!

[h3]Thanks again everyone for your patience, support, and feedback. We'll keep working hard for you, and for Lumerea!

See you in game,
Volibar[/h3]

[h3]Our demo is LIVE right NOW - go and PLAY!![/h3]

[h3]The best part? Everybody can play![/h3]

The demo is live from now on until the end of Steam Next Fest!

[h3]HOW TO SIGN UP:[/h3]

• Go to our store page
  
• Click on the big green demo button to add it to your library
  
• Download the demo
  
• Get ready to save Lumerea!

[h3]WHAT CAN I EXPECT?:[/h3]
In this demo you can expect:

• 3 playable heroes across 3 different classes!
  
• one run per mode, can you make it till the end?
  
• play co-op with friends or dare the world of Lumerea alone in Hero mode!
  
• unlock core powers by playing & experiment with new builds!
  
• play with either keyboard + mouse or controller (customizable keybindings!)
  

We can't wait to hear from you! Provide feedback by using the in-game survey, post it on our Steam forums here or on Discord in the dedicated channels!

This demo is huge for us and we'll be once again be relying on your amazing feedback to make the game the best it can be!





Maxx is challenging you all to compete in his GREATEST EVENT EVER!!!

Compete in one of his challenges and be at the top of the list by the end of Next Fest and WIN naming one of the future shards in the game - how cool is that!?

You can read all about this event by [CLICKING HERE TO READ THE STEAM ARTICLE]

The event will run from Monday the 17th till the 3rd of March 2025

[h3]Be a true hero and write history![/h3]

HEY HERO! Yeah, YOU! Big news- like, HUGE!"

To celebrate our demo we are running a contest from Thursday until Steam Next Fest ends on the 3rd of March!

The goal is simple, get your friends together and be the team or player at the top of one of the challenges at the end of the event to win the grand PRIZE!

You can find our ground rules [HERE!]

[h3]What can you win?[/h3]

Every player (solo or that is part of a party) that wins any of the challenges will get a shard/power-up named after them in a future update of the game! How cool is that?!!

[h2]Co-Op Strike Team Challenges[/h2]


The whole team wins, regardless of who placed the submission.

Gold is counted for one player on the team and only at the end of a finished run. We do not count what was collected during the game, only what's left at the end!

If two teams tie on time - the team with the player on it that holds the most gold at the end will win!

[h2]SOLO Hero Mode Challenges[/h2]


Achieve the fastest finish time possible as Fyn, Cynder or Lotus! Pick your favorite or try all of them!

On a tie - we'll go for the player with the most gold at the end of a run!

[h3]HOW DO I COMPETE?[/h3]
To compete we ask you to make a video recording of the victory screen that holds:

• The completion time of the run
  
• The amount of gold owned at the end of the run
  
• The names of all players in the party - you can do this by clicking the 'hero info' at the bottom right.

See the gif below as example of what we'd like to see - but then, don't get defeated like me!

Once done you can upload this as public/unlisted video on Youtube and share the link in the dedicated space on our Steam forums by replying to the correct challenge discussion.

[h3][CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE STEAM FORUMS][/h3]

For recording you can use any program you are comfortable with. Some options are OBS, The Win11 snipping tool, Xbox Game Bar and/or Nvidia Experience recording. We will not be able to accept screenshots!

Thank you so much for getting in and playing the first Demo of Evercore Heroes: Ascension! Your feedback has been really valuable, so keep it coming. There's more to come in the demo as well, so stay tuned!

We've got our first patch for you today, mostly focused on some bug fixes and quality of life improvements, with a few small balance changes as well.

[h2]Bug Fixes & Quality of Life Improvements[/h2]

• Fixed various issues with menus not behaving properly while using Keyboard.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing AZERTY Keyboard users from being able to rebind controls.
  
• Fixed a rare issue that was causing players to lose some functionality after interacting with an NPC.
  
• We've temporarily removed the Abandon Run button from Hero mode.
  
• Note: this is related to why you must quit the game each time, as sometimes players are getting into a bad state after a run, allowing them to matchmake, but preventing them from getting into the match (and thus ruining it for all players). We're working hard on a fix for this issue and will share more updates as they become available.
• Fixed a rare issue where a player might go through a teleporter and straight back to the main menu in Hero Mode.
  
• The Contest of Fortitude and Gauntlet objectives should no longer progress while a player is dead.
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]
NOTE: we're preparing a larger set of balance changes when we introduce Core Powers, but these are just some quick changes in response to early feedback.

• Wallumps the Wicked should be slightly more wicked now.
  
• Snowgobblers should now correctly ranged attack, making the Thrashclaw fight more difficult.
  
• Increased Fyn's basic attack slightly
  Note: we'll keep an eye on the big guy for a larger balancing pass, but for now this is just to help Fyn players a small amount.
• Increased the duration of the Stun effect applied on Fyn's Shield Toss ability.
  Note: we want Fyn to be able to effectively disable in co-op, as well as have windows of opportunity to apply damage in Hero Mode. We will continue to refine his core ability loop in future patches.
  
• Increased the base damage of the Poison status effect (found in Wild).
  Note: while Wild has a lot of shards that play off one another, we felt like the base damage of the effect needs to come up. We will make more changes to this tree in an upcoming patch.
  
• Poison Pop (Wild) should now apply 2 stacks of Poison on application.
  
• Diamond Cells (Invention) has had its refresh rate lowered from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
  

[h2]What we're working on[/h2]

• The team is working on fixing an issue that will allow us to get rid of the pesky forced "Quit Game" flow. This is a tricky one, but we'll keep you posted - thanks for your patience!
  
• We're aiming to get the Core Powers system enabled soon. You can currently gain Core Keys and Core Gems in runs, which will save to your account if you want a head-start.
  
• When we enable Core Powers, we will have a large set of balance changes at the same time, taking the game from Rogue-like to its intended Rogue-lite and allowing progression.