Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel News

[p]Catch a fresh behind-the-scenes look at Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel—new enemies, new systems, and what’s next on the roadmap.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]🧪 Still looking for more beta testers on PC & Steam Deck![/p][p]If you want to help shape the game, hop in.[/p][p][/p][p]🗓️ Early Access October 2025[/p][p]🎮 Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3273880[/p][p]💬 Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/g5fK7Df[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for being part of the journey![/p]

[p]Hey everyone![/p][p]I’m hard at work getting the demo ready for Steam Next Fest, and things are coming along nicely. The plan is to have a solid, playable chunk ready before the event—and then open up Early Access shortly after.[/p][p]Here’s a look at what’s been happening behind the scenes:[/p][p][/p][h2]Elemental effects now hit harder (and look cooler)[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Elemental damage now packs more punch. Burning enemies like mages ignite immediately, and frozen foes will shatter into satisfying icy shards when smashed. Combat just got a whole lot juicier.[/p][p][/p][h2]Dual wield skill is finalized and fully working[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
One of the trickiest parts of our skill system is ensuring different abilities and elemental effects can combine seamlessly. Dual wielding posed a unique challenge—it affects how the player attacks, reloads, and triggers other effects. After a lot of tweaking and accounting for edge cases, it’s now working neatly with all elemental builds.[/p][p][/p][h2]Main quest progression and new boss: the Flamethrower Baddy[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Development on the main quest continues, bringing new story content and fresh enemies—like this brand-new boss wielding a brutal flamethrower. The footage is from an early test map, but… you get the point. WOOSH.[/p][p][/p][h2]New enemy tech and UI polish[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
I’ve also expanded general enemy behavior, adding projectile-throwing types to keep you on your toes. On top of that, the enemy name UI and various visual polish passes make everything look sharper and feel more refined.[/p][p][/p][h2]Destructible environments (with loot!)[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Destructibles are in! Blowing things up is always fun, but they also help make the world feel alive—and sometimes they drop loot too. This is a small taste of the broader loot system that’s planned for expansion after the Early Access release.[/p][p][/p][h2]Optional lore system: readable tomes and books[/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
For players who love world-building, I’ve added a system for reading tomes, scrolls, and ancient books. It’s completely optional, but offers rich lore if you want to dig deeper. And yes—it already looks pretty neat![/p][p][/p][h2]Major progress on the main story (but no spoilers)[/h2][p]The largest additions are actually in the main quest and story… but I’m deliberately showing less of that for now. If you’re part of the Discord, you may have seen a few extra glimpses. For everyone else: it’s shaping up to be something special.[/p][p][/p][h2]👉 Don’t forget to wishlist Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel[/h2][p]It really helps with visibility and keeps you in the loop for Early Access and Next Fest![/p][h2]🎮 Want to see more and join the community?[/h2][p]Hop into the Discord and chat with fellow adventurers, give feedback, or just lurk for sneak peeks.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Things are going fast now. And the oktober release window for early access is too! In the coming months, we'll be accelerating progress on Under a Desert Sun: Seekers of the Cursed Vessel—and having more playtesters would be a huge help.[/p][p][/p][p]If you're willing to test on PC or Steam Deck, we’d love to have you onboard. Your feedback makes a real difference![/p][p]💬 Join the Discord to get involved: [/p][p]https://discord.gg/g5fK7Df[/p][p][/p]

[p]Meet our newest boss: a flame-wielding menace with one goal—turn you to ash.[/p][p]Still early… but already terrifying. ☠️🔥[/p][p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]This is just a small test map in which I test all sorts of things. But as you can see making new enemies is becoming easier and faster. I am very happy with these results. Also, I think the flaming looks pretty neat![/p][p][/p][p]Kind regards,[/p][p]Ray[/p]

[p]Hello Seekers,[/p][p]I thought it was a good moment to highlight some fresh progress! Development continues at full speed, starting with new environments and further work on the main quest. As some of you in the Discord already know, I use the main quest as a way to push myself to build new systems. I'm now at the point where everything leading up to the final moments of the main quest is functional—both tech-wise and, for the most part, art-wise.[/p][p]That means it was time to move the story forward again, which in turn forced me to create new areas, enemies, and gameplay features. One such feature is an improved day and night system, with smoother lighting transitions and smarter particle effects that fade out instead of abruptly disappearing. Below you'll find a quick idea of the new day/night features and a few in-editor screenshots showing the early stages of these new zones.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Creating these new areas also meant designing new enemy types—specifically ones that shoot projectiles! From Nazis who fire bullets to arcane mummies casting magical bolts, I needed to build the underlying tech. To get that going, I set up a test using our trusty mummy as a prototype. This allowed me to develop the full system: bullets, shooting and casting animations, and proper hit detection.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Naturally, new areas also bring more destructibles. And let’s be honest—breaking stuff in an ARPG is just fun. (As you can see from me thrashing around... purely professional testing, of course 😏)[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]On the technical side, Steam Deck optimization remains a major goal. The game currently runs at a stable 45 FPS on Deck without any upscaling like FSR—so you get a clean image and native visuals. To get there, I’ve upgraded several systems under the hood. Particle systems now fade naturally, enemy spawning uses pooled and distance-aware logic, and we've improved object occlusion and visibility handling to keep things smooth when off-screen. These changes help across all platforms but especially make the Deck experience strong.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Join the Discord for daily development discussions and behind-the-scenes previews.
And if you like what you see—wishlist the game on Steam to support the journey![/p]