Valor Of Man News

Hello Wardens,

After a couple of chaotic months, we've finally had the time to breathe and polish the game, thanks to all of your feedback.

Now we're jumping back into the spotlight with the #TurnBasedThursdayFest, featured on the Steam homepage this whole week!



We also just hit 7,000 wishlists, and we can't thank you enough for the incredible support. ❤️

Join us this week as we march onward toward Chapters II & III.



If you like to connect with fellow Wardens, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VZse9tUehk

Thank you!
Florian & Traian

Hello Wardens,

This update brings some serious love to both visuals and performance! We’ve revamped event art with full-screen illustrations, added shiny new VFX (check out those poison clouds 👀), and improved first-time loading by 2x. Town events are now cozy Campfires where heroes can cure conditions alongside the usual upgrades, and subtle touches (like a new menu effect) make the game feel smoother than ever.



We’ve also squashed bugs, tuned the UI, and made a few balance changes behind the curtain. Demo players get access to more gear, abilities, and artifacts, but progression is now locked to keep things clean.

Once again, thank you for all your feedback and support!

Onward to Chapters II & III!

Thank you!
Florian & Traian

If you like to connect with fellow Wardens, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VZse9tUehk

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General:
- Added a loading screen along with optimised first time game loading (2x improvement).
- The Campfire event replaces the old Town event and now allows heroes to cure conditions as well as upgrade.
- Events visual revamp, now with full screen illustrations.
- Visual FX improvements: Poison Cloud, enemies death, Ogre Enrage and others.
- Added a subtle visual FX in the main menu and on hero selection.

Balance:
- Increased available content in the Demo. You now have access to more gear, abilities, and artifacts by default, but progression is locked to keep things clean.

Bugfixes and Stability:
- Upgraded code for menus to improve overall performance of the game.
- Fixed an issue where some spell sound FX (looking at you, Firebolt) wouldn't respect volume settings, even when muted.
- Fixed Zephyrath Reactions sometimes not showing intent.
- Fix a bug where tutorials would show over other menus and block UI elements.

Hello Wardens,

Today’s patch fixes a potential soft-lock in the tutorial introduced in the last balance update. Thanks for the reports!

We’ve been a bit quiet, but we’re deep into development on Chapters II & III. We're not quite ready to share more yet, but progress is steady.

As we test new classes, we're exploring mechanics like enemies resisting Criticals; should they react or not? Also, with the new Toughness system (50% damage reduction instead of full block), shields now offer passive defense without feeling like auto-picks.

As always, thank you for the feedback.

Good luck, Wardens!

Thank you!
Florian & Traian

If you like to connect with fellow Wardens, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VZse9tUehk

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Balance:
- Resisted Criticals no longer trigger Reactions.
- Shields now also grant passive Toughness.

Bug Fixes:
- Fix Tutorial soft lock.
- Removed last action bar button.
- Fix debuffs with -Movement Points not applying on the enemy turn.
- Show gold rewards from fights and events adjusted by bonus from artifacts.

Hello Wardens,

AOE Goodness: Enemy AOE abilities can now hit other enemies. You can now set up crazy combos by using the enemies' own Reactions against them (we're looking at you, Dreadeyes!). To help you set this up, Threat markers now show for all enemy AOE reactions simultaneously.



Powerful abilities now start on Cooldown. For instance, Mass Inspire is super strong and we love the way it feels, but always using it in the first turn is not the design we're striving for. So instead of nerfing it to the ground, now you have to wait a couple turns to unleash your might.

In terms of UX, special movement abilities now show on a separate button. This means special moves like Teleports and Surges won't be used automatically by the action queue anymore. Thank you for the suggestion!

In terms of balance and fixes, this patch has so many changes we don't even know them all ourselves (just kidding, we know everything o_o). Check out the extended list below.

Good luck, Wardens!

Thank you!
Florian & Traian

If you like to connect with fellow Wardens, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VZse9tUehk

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Features & Quality of Life Improvements:
- Starting cooldown for abilities and spells.
- Enemy AOE now also hit other enemies.
- Faster text in cutscenes.
- New ability or item notification disappears when entering Heroes screen.
- Campaign start toggle class details shows/hides info for all heroes.
- Show reaction markers for multiple enemies concurrently.

Move Abilities Usage:
- Use only default move action for action queue. Don't autoselect other move actions.
- Group extra move abilities in action bar after the default move button.
- Grey out action bar buttons that are not part of a potential action queue.
- Animate hero move ghost color.

Balance:
- Nerfed weapons Gladius and Shockwave.
- Nerfed artifact Guardian Butterfly. Now only affects the first hero.
- Nerfed artifact Necrotic Embrace.
- Legendary +1AP artifacts redesign for 2 heroes.
- New Legendary +1AP artifacts for each archetype (no debuffs).
- Toxic Mushroom now has Toughness instead of Evasion.
- Removed 1 Vampire Bat from the Mushroom+Bats early fight.
- Lamp artifact now only gives Alistair +1AP.
- Burning bush artifact now only gives Ignatius +1AP.
- AOE Weapons option to hit 1 target.
- Show terror near enemy health bar.

Bug Fixes:
- Fix Royal Assassin Death & Knockback animations.
- Fixed Cleanse not usable for Poison, Burn, etc.
- Fixed a bug with stealth.
- Fixed Skeleton block animation.
- Hide reaction threat markers on enemy turn.
- Display correctly unlocked stuff at the end of a run.
- Fixed DOT not triggering Survive.
- Fixed Trample not triggering Survive.
- Fixed Immunity to Displacement also blocking Stun after Knockback.
- Fixed Monster Hunter distract mechanic.
- Fixed Jesters Brigandine Evasion. Jester's Brigandine can now be worn by Elara.
- Fixed Lamp & Poisoned Apple not working together.
- Fixed Strain sometimes triggering for abilities that should not have Strain.
- Fixed a bug where Mass Cure would remove Poison but not heal for it.
- Fixed a rare bug where Knockback would sometimes still occur if the enemy Missed.

Ranged retaliations now specify they try to target the attacker.
Fixed a visual glitch where equip animations would sometimes cancel attack animations.
Fixed first event choose artifact option.
Fixed Combat Log blocked feedback.
Fixed Axe of Greed event reward.