Hive Blight News

[h3]Hey everyone![/h3][p]
Steam Next Fest is now over, and we just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you who played the demo, wishlisted Hive Blight, or left a review, it means the world to us! Your support gives us the energy to keep pushing forward.


Good news: the demo will stay live all the way until release, so if you haven’t tried it yet (or want to play more), it’s not going anywhere.

Now, onto the actual update, both the demo and Beta have just been updated to match the current playtest version (if you don't know what I mean, go read the part "Want to try new stuff early?" at the bottom) ! But more fresh stuff is coming very soon...

Here’s what’s new in this version:

Quality of Life

• [p] Enemies now reposition better during fights, reducing big enemy clusters and improving readability.
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Balancing
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• [p] Fight Club can now be bought twice
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• [p] Mycelium Herald (Boss)
  Old → “Invincible while elites are alive. Bloom: +1 Spike from Chubristle, +15 Chitin Grimhusk, and +3 Damage from Pale Apostle.”
  New → “While elites are alive: Gains Invincible and Bloom: +1 Spike, +15 Chitin, and +3 Damage”
  Attack speed: 1 → 0.7
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• [p] Big mushrooms should now appear a bit less often
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Visuals
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• [p] New shop animation when buying items
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FX Overhaul- New FX for:
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• [p] Enemy deaths
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• [p] Berserk activation
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• [p] Tempo triggers
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• [p] Poison-spreading trinkets
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• [p] Morgana’s area effect
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• [p] Heartbreaker effect
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• [p] Vignette when you're close to losing a fight
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• [p] Fight intro for elites and bosses (to help highlight their effects)
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Bug Fixes
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• [p] Fixed some UI buttons not showing correctly
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• [p] Fixed Blight Levels unlocking when they shouldn’t, or not unlocking when they should
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• [p] Fixed exploit with Rockamouflage and Ricin Infusion triggering during the setup phase
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Testing Further Beyond
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• [p] Press ⬆️ during a run to unlock a very, very early version of Chapter 3. Curious? Go for it.
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A few days ago (as some of you on Discord already know), we decided to slow down a bit when pushing new content to the main version. Just like we did for Bounty of One, we’ll now use a playtest branch to test features ahead of time, for both the demo and the main game! That way, we can make sure not to break our game when bringing new features to it!

Want to try new stuff early?
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• [p] Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/optizonion-games-915538608969101372
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• [p] Grab the “Entomologist” role in the #role-here channel
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• [p] In your Steam library, right-click Hive Blight or Hive Blight Demo, go to Properties > Betas, and select WIP-Playtest from the dropdown
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• [p] Steam will update to the playtest version
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Enjoy, and thanks again for all the love!\[/p]

[p]Hey everyone![/p][p][/p][h3]Big news first - Steam Next Fest starts today, and Hive Blight is part of it!
[/h3][p]If you want to help us gain visibility, the best thing you can do is play the demo, tell your friends, stream, make videos, or just spread the word in whatever way you can. It really makes a difference for us, thank you! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Also, during the Fest, you’ll be able to watch a beautifully awkward replay of me (Kobal) trying to explain the game while stuttering my way through it 😅 [/p][p]Not exactly pro streamer material, but hey, it’s honest work. Hope you still enjoy it![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Now let’s talk update. We’ve been reworking the map, both visually and in terms of game design. It now offers more varied paths and choices, and should feel way more interesting across runs. It’s still a work in progress, we plan to add new node types and continue improving variety, but it’s already in a much better place, and we wanted you to try it out right away.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We also took the ooportunity to add our native language, French, to the game! This should rejoice those who speak the "langue de l'amour". [/p][p]Please give it a try if you're a fellow french speaker because, as most people, we are very bad at not making mistakes in our own language....[/p][p][/p][p]After this, our next focus will be adding more variety with enemies and nodes, to keep the experience fresh and strategic.[/p][p][/p][p]Hope you enjoy the update! As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts — feel free to share your feedback here or on Discord ![/p][p][/p][p]Enjoy![/p][p][/p][h2]Update Content[/h2][p][/p][h3]Quality of Life:[/h3]

• [p]Map rework (New node for evolution, new generation)[/p]

• [p]French Added[/p]
• [p]Boss rewards now include Starting Trinkets[/p]
• [p]New fight for elites[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Balancing:[/h3]

• [p]Cloaked Dagger (Equipment) - Ambush ammount: 3 -> 4[/p]
• [p]Cloaked Dagger (Equipment) - Attack Speed gain: +0.2 -> +0.1[/p]
• [p]Toxic Pollen (Trinket) - Poison inflicted: 4 -> 8[/p]
• [p]Ricin Inusion (Trinket) - Poison inflicted: 4 -> 5[/p]
• [p]Rockamouflage (Trinket) - Chitin received: 5 -> 4[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• [p]Myrtle bow and Webbed Harp now show the correct tooltips[/p]
• [p]Multiple grammatical and understandability fixes [/p]

[p][/p]

Hey everyone!

For this first update of the demo, we bring you a mix of important progression changes, quality-of-life tweaks, and the usual balance and polish to keep Hive Blight smooth and shiny.

Let’s talk about the biggest change first.

Originally, our goal was to create a tutorial that didn’t feel like one. We’d drop players straight into a run, limit the mechanics to simple ones (like Heal and Spikes), and guide things gently through the quest system. The first boss marked the end of that intro, and behind the scenes, it helped ease players in without overwhelming them.

But it backfired. Many players thought beating that boss meant the end of the demo, and stopped playing—missing out on nearly 70% of the actual content.

So we’ve adjusted the flow:

• The first run is still simplified, but you can now go beyond the first boss and challenge Chapter 2 right away.
• Whether you win or lose your first run, you unlock the clan selection;
  
• You’ll also start earning experience and unlocking content immediately, right from the first run instead of starting progression beyond that point.
  
• Clan levels have been increased to 20 instand of 5

This should make progression feel more natural and help avoid confusion. Let us know how it feels!

Anyway, all this to say that if you've played the game and are reading this, you should probably give it another go cause you might have missed a bunch of content.

Outside of this main issue, here are the others changes we have made:
[h3]Fixes, balance & Improvements:[/h3]

• Pebble Axe now inflicts 3 Shatter (was 2).
  
• Fixed Sharpened Shell not showing the Spike tooltip.
  
• Fixed Spike Elite not losing spikes correctly.
  
• Small visual improvements across the board.
  
• Changed Trinket and Equipment holders to look more distinct.
  
• New end screen when you leave the game — now featuring tiny insect devs!
  
• Fixed Chapter 2 levels sometimes having too high difficulty.
  
• Changed end screen messaging so it doesn’t sound like “game over.”
  

[h3]Game System Updates:[/h3]

• Removed the Introduction Chapter – you now start directly in Chapter 1.
  
• Clan levels increased to Level 20 (was 5).
  
• Units that leave your team are now returned to the draft pool.
  
• Blight Level unlocks are now visible in the Unlocks screen.
  

Let us know what you think of the new flow and all the tweaks. As always, your feedback is a big part of shaping Hive Blight!

Enjoy!

Hey everyone,

[h3]We’re super excited to finally share the Hive Blight demo with you.[/h3]



https://store.steampowered.com/app/3643400/Hive_Blight_Demo/

It’s been a wild ride getting here, and we couldn’t have done it without all your support. Whether you’ve been following the project for a while or you’re just discovering it now—Thank you!

This demo lets you step into the heart of the fight against the Blight. You’ll get to lead two very different but equally heroic clans. The Vespada are the kingdom’s main strike force: bulky, hard-hitting melee units that don’t care much for subtlety. The Sweet Symphoney, on the other hand, usually spend their time partying and playing music—but with the fungal threat spreading, they’ve come together to support the war effort with charm, healing, and proximity-based powers.



You’ll have access to 20 unique units, 20+ powerful trinkets and 20+ pieces of equipment, and get to fight through 2 full chapters filled with danger, choices, and cool synergies to discover. If you're feeling brave, you can also test your skills with 7 escalating Difficulty Levels for an extra challenge.



We’re still hard at work on Hive Blight, and we’d really love to hear what you think of the demo. Your feedback is super important to us—whether it’s bugs, balance, UI, or just vibes. If you want to share your thoughts or hang out with the team, come join us on Discord:


Right now, our top priority is reworking the map system to make runs feel more interactive and varied. You’ll already get a first taste of that in the demo when it’s done, and we’re planning to expand it even more in the future to keep each run fresh and unpredictable. But beyond that, we’d love to know what you think needs improvement—so don’t hold back!

If you enjoyed the demo, leaving a quick review helps us a ton. It boosts visibility, brings more players in, and keeps us motivated to push further.

And finally—huge thanks to everyone who helped us get to this point. Again, to all our regulars and everyone checking out the game for the first time: thank you. This adventure wouldn’t be possible without you.

Enjoy!

[h2]Hello everyone![/h2]

Great news! Following our previous post, we have now added a new clan to the game:
[h2]The Sweet Symphoney![/h2]



Usually, the Sweet Symphoney enjoy frivolous activities. They spend their time playing music, partying, and entertaining the other clans whenever possible. Faced with the fungal threat, they've come together to offer support to the war effort.

This new clan lets us double down on the clan system, and from our playtesting, each combination feels truly unique. For instance, with the Vespada limited to melee units, fights used to be very melee-focused. But with the Sweet Symphoney’s ranged units, there’s now a whole new way to approach battles.
Furthermore, this new clan comes with its own unique mechanics, trinkets and items. They focus on heals, crowd control (called "charm" here) and buffs. They may feel weak at first but, combined with other clans' abilities, they will allow you to make the fights last and eventually outscale your opponents.

Here are the new trinkets and items:



While I am at it, we would like to expand our tester base, if you want to give Hive Blight a try, give us your feedback and help us improve the game further, just head over to our Discord:

https://discord.gg/optizonion-games-915538608969101372

Once you’re there, grab the “Hive Blighter” role in the #roles channel to unlock the Hive Blight sections. You’ll then be able to request a key by sending us a message in the #request-key channel.



Here is a quick overview of their specific mechanics:

• Harmony: Adjacent are affected by the listed effect.
  Here's an example with ludwig:
  
  
  
  
• Charmed: While a unit has some Charmed stacks, its damage is 0, each time the unit attacks it loses 1 Charmed stack.
  Here's an example with Nina:
  
  
  
  
• Tempo: Triggers the listed effect every 4 attacks.
  Here's an example with Gustav:
  
  
  
  
• Heal: Heals the target by the specified amount (I know, unheard of)
  Here's an example with... Bob:
  
  
  
  Welcome back, bob!

We've also solved a few bugs, improved and fixed some UI elements as well as added many sounds for your enjoyment!

Anyway, that is all for today! Hope you like what you see!

Enjoy!