Occlude News

Occlude Update 1.0.2 & Announcing the Cardinals Update!

[p][/p][p]Hello fellow cultists, occultists and related adherents. A double edition Steam post for you - Updating Occlude to 1.0.3 and announcing a major, free update coming in a couple of months![/p][p][/p]

Salutations, Update 1.0.3

[p]This update resolves the last of our outstanding game issues from launch. It includes:[/p]

[p]Fixes to typos across the board. Especially annoying was the misspelling of Tributary, our own company, in the credits. Woops.[/p]
[p]Expanding Game Rules. Players rightly pointed out that they didn't include wording around Purgatory Slots, and we noticed some confusion with how Undo worked in Classic Mode. We've updated both in the Game Rules.[/p]
[p]Ongoing controller support. We know a small number of players on certain devices have had issues with using controllers. We've made some changes to help this. [/p]
- [p]We could do with some concrete reproduction steps before we can confidently say "it's fixed" so do let us know in the Discussions or comments if you have a recurring issue with using controllers. Do let us know exactly what happened before/after, with what controller setup you were using.[/p]
[p]General bug fixes and stability updates.[/p]

[p]We now feel confident enough to move onto adding more content to Occlude. Which reminds me...[/p][p][/p]

Introducing the Cardinals Update

[p][/p][p]We're extremely excited to announce a major, free update to Occlude in the Cardinals Update![/p][p]We will be adding over 20 new puzzles to the game, each a variant of one of the seven Rituals, called Cardinals.[/p][p]The rules of each Cardinal will be a new challenge for players, while also being loosely based off their original Ritual. Completing all Cardinals will unlock a new Archive Object and Document for those lore hunters out there.[/p][p]We know fans of Occlude wanted even more puzzles to chew on and we're extremely happy to oblige by more than doubling the amount of puzzles in-game.[/p][p]Currently we're figuring out when this will be ready for you lot to play (as players of Occlude know, timelines are fiddly things to get right). All we can say now is that we're looking at couple of months until they're ready - Please bear with us![/p][p]This update will also come with a number of Quality of Life updates that people have requested which take more time than a smaller update.[/p][p]Let us know what you think in the comments below. Don't forget to hop on our Discord to meet other Obscurants and read our lore drops - There's a new one out today![/p][p]Happy hunting,[/p][p]S[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]P.S. - We're trying to get out Trading Cards and Badges out for the game, but Steam keeps rejecting us for fairly vague reasons. Which is fun and fine! After the fourth round of trying to submit these, they hopefully will be with you this week. Apologies for the wait.[/p]

Stains That Never Fade

[p][/p][p]There are still unanswered questions. There is still so much more to understand about these Entities and the games they play. Did Occlude create them? Or did they create Occlude?
[/p][p]A new piece of evidence has landed on my desk. A photo of Hiroshima, I think, but every time I look back it seems subtly different. And a sequence of numbers.
[/p][p][/p][p]I cannot connect the dots, if indeed there are dots to connect.
[/p][p]One day I will have all the answers. One day I will sleep without these questions tormenting my every waking thought.[/p][p][/p][p]--[/p][p][/p][p]The world[/p][p][/p][p]is a broken machine.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

Occlude Update 1.0.2

[p][/p][p]We just can't help ourself - Our second update to Occlude is out! [/p][p]This is another small-ish one, addressing a few missing assets and further improving our controller support.[/p][p]As we said in our previous post the outpouring of support and love for Occlude has been humbling. As has huge amount of feedback![/p][p]We're working our way through your thoughts and comments as we speak, but in the meantime let's dig into what's inside 1.0.2.[/p][p][/p]

Welcome, Update 1.0.2

[p]This update has focused on two things - Updating artwork and further improving controller support:[/p]

[p]Improved Game Rules. The Game Rules (accessible through the options menu) had images that were thoroughly out of date and the text misleading in more than one place.[/p]
- [p]All images have been updated and text revisited to make the game clearer for players. [/p]
[p]Updated controller support. Players using Steam Deck and controllers couldn't reach unlocked endings and a few other key parts of the game.[/p]
- [p]We've corrected this, making sure players can navigate all areas with the controller and done a few tweaks to the controller system.[/p]
[p]Update King of Spades art. He was missing his lower K - Some players thought this was a secret clue and went mildly wild trying to figure out what this intentional error meant.[/p]
- [p]Sorry to say, it wasn't intentional. As of this update, the King is no longer missing his K.[/p]
[p]We've also corrected a few other minor bugs reported.[/p]

[p]Our next step is currently looking to reviewing save files and improving readability and accessibility. This may take a little longer, so we thought we'd get this easier update out of the way first.[/p][p]Also - We have got Steam Trading Cards and Badges in review. Just waiting on Steam to review and they'll be dropping![/p][p][/p][p]Thanks again for the outpouring of love. If you haven't yet, go check out the Tributary Games discord, where you will find fellow players, wild theories, lore drops and even a smattering of fan art![/p][p]See you soon.[/p][p]S[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

Occlude Update 1.0.1

[p][/p][p]Hello Obscurants, Magicians and other practitioners.[/p][p]First we wanted to thank you from the bottom our hearts for the response to Occlude at launch. [/p][p]Over 5,000 of you have walked through the door in the rain and we're currently sitting on 86% (!!!) "Very Positive" reviews.[/p][p]We're a tiny team who have worked extremely hard to make Occlude, but it's all been worth it for the reaction at launch. [/p][p]You honestly don't know how much it means to us. Thank you again.[/p][p]Right, enough of the soppy stuff, onto the meat of this post:[/p][p][/p]

Introducing Update 1.0.1

[p]Over launch we spotted a few bugs and issues players were having. [/p][p]We jumped straight on this after going live and are pleased to announce Occlude 1.0.1 - A small update to the launch build.[/p][p]This contains:[/p]

[p]Fixes for Steam Deck players, specifically with moving off the bottom of the Foundations and accidentally hitting "New Deal". [/p]
- [p]Now when you navigate down from the bottom Foundation (Spades) you return to the top Foundation (Clubs). [/p]
- [p]Furthermore, if you navigate up from the top Foundation (Clubs) you instead go to "Undo" rather than "New Deal".[/p]
- [p]The next change will also help our Steam Deck players with this issue.[/p]
- [p]Also - Steam Deck players - Our Deck setup is very much in Beta! We also have a recommended controller layout uploaded to the workshop. Let us know what you think of these changes and how the game works on Deck in the Discussions section.[/p]
[p]Confirmation popups for New Deal and Exit. On hitting either of these buttons, these small popups show underneath the existing buttons with confirmation buttons.[/p]
- [p]We've also reworded "Quit" to become "Exit", and this popup explains better than the game will save and then return you to the table, rather than quit the game.[/p]
- [p]For long time players this might take a little getting used to, but it was highly requested and we couldn't have so many players losing progress.[/p]
[p]Fixes for clearing saves and playing Tutorials again. Previously doing this would occasionally give you a board that wasn't possible to complete while following the tutorials.[/p]
- [p]We were made aware of this issue shortly before launch but this took a little bit of delicate work to get right. [/p]
- [p]Now you can clear saves and replay the tutorial to your heart's content.[/p]
[p]Fix for the final unlock and Credits showing up twice. Players who finished the game and then played another Ritual would get the Photograph Object popping up again and Credits roll for a second time - Now, no more.[/p]
- [p]The Credits will now also not show if you've completed the game in Story Mode only - Instead, a screen encouraging players to give Classic Mode a spin will appear.[/p]
[p]We've also corrected a few typos, updated some wording and squashed minor visual bugs.[/p]

[p]Despite our sturdy build on launch, there's always something that slips through, so we were keen to get these issues responded to as quickly as possible. [/p][p]We're going back to the Occlude mines for more work, which we'll post about soon. [/p][p]If you've spotted an issue let us know in the Discussions! We'd love to help.[/p][p][/p][p]Again, thank you all so much for your support. Also, if you enjoyed Occlude and haven't reviewed the game yet, please do consider it![/p][p]Each review is like recommending the game to five other people in the eyes of the Steam algorithm. [/p][p]We love to read them and appreciate each one massively. No worries if not! We'll see you at the table, either way.[/p][p]Until next time.[/p][p]S[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

Sinister new card game brings Balatro's rule-warping brilliance to Solitaire

Ben Starr's real-life appearances as headlining joker Jimbo aside, nothing about Balatro is particularly sinister. 2024's smash-hit card game is a soothing, number-blasting joy that, as developer 'Localthunk' has stressed, bears none of the gambling overtones of actual poker. But what if you want a darker twist on a family favorite? Enter Occlude. Described as "a ritual disguised as Solitaire," this cosmic-horror card game gives me the unsettling vibes of Inscryption, and developer Tributary Games is burying its secrets just as deeply.

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