Gordian Quest News

We will bring Home Behind 2 to WePlay in Shanghai!

We are happy to tell you that we will bring Home Behind 2 to WePlay in Shanghai!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1220010/2/

Home Behind 2 is a Roguelite RPG which takes place in Scaria.

A country engulfed in a civil war for 10 years. Lead a patchwork group of revolutionary fighters into the depths of the government's territory as you struggle to overthrow a brutal authoritarian regime!

If you are interested, don't forget to wishlist it!

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoconutIslandGames

A Sneak Peek At Our Next Update

Hey Heroes,

The Digital Tabletop Festival has arrived, and to celebrate this, Gordian Quest will be available at a 15% discount!

To our fans who have joined us upon our Early Access journey, you may have heard whispers of an upcoming Gauntlet Mode update at the end of the year. We're still working hard on making it happen, and while we are not ready to open up a test run of it just yet, we're eager to tell you more about the key features of this next major update.

Gauntlet Mode

Gauntlet Mode is a separate game mode that will offer fast-paced and frantic adventures packed with more content. Each run in Gauntlet Mode will be shorter than completing a full Act, but it will be much more intense. It sits alongside the Acts and is meant to be an end-game experience, featuring randomized realms with all the enemies, events, items, and other features from the Acts. When we complete Act III and IV later next year, the contents of those Acts will also be updated into Gauntlet Mode.

The mode is intended to challenge you and to test your strategies, as the Realms that you fight in are volatile and riddled with ever changing effects. You will have to adapt your tactics and prepare for the unforeseen as you travel through a device known as the Maelstrom Gate, visiting the realms. Here is an overview of how it works, as well as several follow up features that are still being discussed at the moment :

You create a fresh party, and begin your foray into the first Realm (Realm 1).
Each Realm is around 10 nodes long and ends with a Realm Boss. Defeating the Realm Boss lets you advance into the next Realm (pick from 1 of 3).
Realms get progressively more difficult (Realm 2, Realm 3, and so on).
Between the start and end point of a Realm, there are various branching paths.
The paths consists of various nodes that provide a different level of risk and reward, and can meaningfully change how the Realm feels.
(Tentative) Each Realm you complete grants you a Reliquary Key. Boosting a Realm's difficulty or picking a dangerous Realm grants more Keys. You will learn more about these keys in Act IV, but suffice to say, you will be able to use them for their intended purpose now...
(Tentative) Reliquary Keys can be used to unlock and level up Artifacts, which are items that provide global bonuses on future runs. You don't lose Artifacts, and you can select and equip up to 3 at a time.
(Tentative) Every 3 Realms, you hit a save point. You can choose to safely bank your Reliquary Keys, or to double down on them. If doubling down, you will forfeit these bonus keys and a portion of your haul if your party is defeated at any point before the next save point - but you will be richly rewarded for your gamble if you succeed!
(Tentative) We plan to have seasonal leaderboards to celebrate the most clever and persistent players.
The Realms grow ever more challenging, but with the right team, strategy, and astute Artifact use, you will venture far deeper into the realms than anyone else!

Balance Changes

This patch contains our biggest balance changes yet. Apart from changes needed for a better sense of progression in Gauntlet Mode, we've been looking through your feedback and suggestions, and we've gone back to rework a great many things. Let's take a look at some of them.

[h2]Skill Ranks[/h2]

Skill cards can now be ranked up multiple times. Common cards have a max rank of 2. Rare cards have a max rank of 3. Epic cards have a max rank of 4.
Each rank increases the base power of the card.
Items can now drop at different tiers, with higher level items having higher ranked cards.

[h2]Mastery[/h2]
When at max rank, a card be mastered. This resets the card's rank to 1, but lets you pick from 1 of 3 upgrade paths for it. Each card can only be mastered once.

We will be expanding the list of possible Mastery upgrades to feel impactful and unique. Here is a handpicked list of 5 possible effects to give you an idea of what these upgrades will be like :

A basic spell could gain the "Channelled Spell" modifier, but its AP cost would increase by 1.
A melee attack could gain a "Leech" modifier, reducing its damage but allowing it to steal HP.
A defense skill could gain a "Purge" modifier, removing one random debuff on the user.
A debuff skill could gain a "Potent" modifier, letting it apply its effects through Guard.
A high cost skill could gain a "Quickened" modifier, reducing its AP cost and base values.

The new Mastery system will no doubt allow for much more theorycrafting and build variety, and we're excited to see what you'll come up with.

[h2]Talents[/h2]
The Talent System has been through several iterations, but we're still not happy with how it feels.
Here are the issues we have identified with it, mirrored by many of your comments as well :

In the very first version, talents were rolled at random from Talent Nodes, but they felt far too random for a proper build to be designed around them. Gaining a talent should be helpful and meaningful to the build progression, not frustrating.
In the current version, the system was changed to a very deterministic way to build what you want, but the rate at which talent points are given out are too generous.
Several talents were frequently picked more so than others, being the "best choices".
The new talent system feels somewhat "separate" from the skill grid.

Processing the above, we'll be designing the third iteration of the talent system with all the considerations of the above.

Talent Nodes are now unlocked on the Skill Grid as you progress.
Talents and Talent Nodes are now split into 3 tiers (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3), with each tier being more powerful and impactful than the previous.
You can choose the Talent you want to insert into the node, from the same Tier or lower. This can be swapped out at any time while in town, or in camp.
Talents now require a minimum stat requirement. This value will be higher for Tier 2 and Tier 3 nodes.
Higher tier talents are now much more impactful. For example, a high Strength will give you a chance to shrug off status effects, a high Dexterity will give you a free move on your turn, and a high Intelligence will let you redraw your starting hand in battle.
This will also encourage various hybrid stat builds, instead of enforcing min-max stat builds (which still do have a place, but is no longer the only way to build a hero).

[h2]Enemies[/h2]
One of the things we hope to accomplish in the next build is to make enemies more of a strategic puzzle to fight. One of the key things we intend to change is how their intent indicator works.

Intents will now always reflect what they intend to do, rather than reflect what they are doing based on the current position and layout.
This means that moving out of an enemy's range will no longer cause them to change their action to something you could not foresee. If there are no targets for them, that attack will miss and hit empty air.
This enforces the idea that positioning can be used as a defensive tool to avoid attacks. This is also a buff to Movement cards. To balance this, we will be increasing the enemies' range in certain cases, and tweaking certain enemy behaviors.

Secondly, to minimize confusion and improve readability, we will be making a change to their decks :

Currently, enemies also draw a hand similiar to players, and act based on priority of cards in hand from left to right. This will no longer be the case with the new intent system.
When inspecting an enemy, you will only see the action that they intend to play.

[h2]Statuses[/h2]
As a result of the above, Statuses will be getting a much needed change as well.

Statuses that heroes can apply and are "card-based" like Burn and Chill have been reworked. This is because enemies no longer have a hand or deck for this to apply to. Specific statuses that enemies can apply and are "card-based" will remain as they are as they can still affect the heroes' hand.
We are now giving a better definition and purpose to damage over time statuses. Statuses can now have a duration counter together with their effect value.
Applying multiple stacks no longer causes a status to stack indefinitely, but refreshes the stack and duration. To balance this, these statuses will have higher values, and can be further boosted through talents and items.

New Heroes

We have two new heroes coming in the next patch. Today we'll be giving a sneak peek at one of them - the Warlock. Hailing from the outer reaches of the Azul Desert, the Warlock is a Noyakin mystic with a checkered past.

His kind call them Blood Mages or Wild Mages. They are tribes that splinter off from the main settlements. In a land where water is scarce and death is one unforeseen disaster away, one must learn to wield one's very lifeblood as a weapon and for nourishment. A man of few words, he seems to have unfinished business with the Cult you've been tracking down.

His abilities revolve around sacrificing his own blood or of others as a material component for his spells, as well as summoning totems for various effects.

----------

Thanks for reading. We will continue to work hard in bringing you more exciting features and improvements in the game. We thank you for your support and patience as we continue to build this game with you.

As always, we hope to hear your thoughts below on what we’ve put forth so far. Feel free to join us on Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/tce6YMW to chat with us.

And last but not least, if you haven't already, please consider giving us a positive review on Steam if you like how we are doing so far. It would really mean a lot to us. Thanks! :)

Crafted With Love,
The Mixed Realms Team

A Sneak Peek At Our Next Update

Gauntlet Mode

You create a fresh party, and begin your foray into the first Realm (Realm 1).
Each Realm is around 10 nodes long and ends with a Realm Boss. Defeating the Realm Boss lets you advance into the next Realm (pick from 1 of 3).
Realms get progressively more difficult (Realm 2, Realm 3, and so on).
Between the start and end point of a Realm, there are various branching paths.
The paths consists of various nodes that provide a different level of risk and reward, and can meaningfully change how the Realm feels.
(Tentative) Each Realm you complete grants you a Reliquary Key. Boosting a Realm's difficulty or picking a dangerous Realm grants more Keys. You will learn more about these keys in Act IV, but suffice to say, you will be able to use them for their intended purpose now...
(Tentative) Reliquary Keys can be used to unlock and level up Artifacts, which are items that provide global bonuses on future runs. You don't lose Artifacts, and you can select and equip up to 3 at a time.
(Tentative) Every 3 Realms, you hit a save point. You can choose to safely bank your Reliquary Keys, or to double down on them. If doubling down, you will forfeit these bonus keys and a portion of your haul if your party is defeated at any point before the next save point - but you will be richly rewarded for your gamble if you succeed!
(Tentative) We plan to have seasonal leaderboards to celebrate the most clever and persistent players.
The Realms grow ever more challenging, but with the right team, strategy, and astute Artifact use, you will venture far deeper into the realms than anyone else!

Balance Changes

[h2]Skill Ranks[/h2]

Skill cards can now be ranked up multiple times. Common cards have a max rank of 2. Rare cards have a max rank of 3. Epic cards have a max rank of 4.
Each rank increases the base power of the card.
Items can now drop at different tiers, with higher level items having higher ranked cards.

A basic spell could gain the "Channelled Spell" modifier, but its AP cost would increase by 1.
A melee attack could gain a "Leech" modifier, reducing its damage but allowing it to steal HP.
A defense skill could gain a "Purge" modifier, removing one random debuff on the user.
A debuff skill could gain a "Potent" modifier, letting it apply its effects through Guard.
A high cost skill could gain a "Quickened" modifier, reducing its AP cost and base values.

The new Mastery system will no doubt allow for much more theorycrafting and build variety, and we're excited to see what you'll come up with.

In the very first version, talents were rolled at random from Talent Nodes, but they felt far too random for a proper build to be designed around them. Gaining a talent should be helpful and meaningful to the build progression, not frustrating.
In the current version, the system was changed to a very deterministic way to build what you want, but the rate at which talent points are given out are too generous.
Several talents were frequently picked more so than others, being the "best choices".
The new talent system feels somewhat "separate" from the skill grid.

Processing the above, we'll be designing the third iteration of the talent system with all the considerations of the above.

Talent Nodes are now unlocked on the Skill Grid as you progress.
Talents and Talent Nodes are now split into 3 tiers (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3), with each tier being more powerful and impactful than the previous.
You can choose the Talent you want to insert into the node, from the same Tier or lower. This can be swapped out at any time while in town, or in camp.
Talents now require a minimum stat requirement. This value will be higher for Tier 2 and Tier 3 nodes.
Higher tier talents are now much more impactful. For example, a high Strength will give you a chance to shrug off status effects, a high Dexterity will give you a free move on your turn, and a high Intelligence will let you redraw your starting hand in battle.
This will also encourage various hybrid stat builds, instead of enforcing min-max stat builds (which still do have a place, but is no longer the only way to build a hero).

Intents will now always reflect what they intend to do, rather than reflect what they are doing based on the current position and layout.
This means that moving out of an enemy's range will no longer cause them to change their action to something you could not foresee. If there are no targets for them, that attack will miss and hit empty air.
This enforces the idea that positioning can be used as a defensive tool to avoid attacks. This is also a buff to Movement cards. To balance this, we will be increasing the enemies' range in certain cases, and tweaking certain enemy behaviors.

Secondly, to minimize confusion and improve readability, we will be making a change to their decks :

Currently, enemies also draw a hand similiar to players, and act based on priority of cards in hand from left to right. This will no longer be the case with the new intent system.
When inspecting an enemy, you will only see the action that they intend to play.

[h2]Statuses[/h2]
As a result of the above, Statuses will be getting a much needed change as well.

Statuses that heroes can apply and are "card-based" like Burn and Chill have been reworked. This is because enemies no longer have a hand or deck for this to apply to. Specific statuses that enemies can apply and are "card-based" will remain as they are as they can still affect the heroes' hand.
We are now giving a better definition and purpose to damage over time statuses. Statuses can now have a duration counter together with their effect value.
Applying multiple stacks no longer causes a status to stack indefinitely, but refreshes the stack and duration. To balance this, these statuses will have higher values, and can be further boosted through talents and items.

New Heroes

Act II Official Release + Upcoming Gauntlet Mode

[h3]Hey Heroes,[/h3]

Act II is being officially released today!

Thanks to those of you who tried it out during beta stage and gave us your valuable feedback, we are excited to unveil a whole slew of new additions and improvements to the game. We will be touching on some of them later in the post. Along with the release of Act II, it is the perfect time to jump back into the game!

Also, in this update post, we will be talking a bit about an upcoming mode called the Gauntlet Mode we will be working on to make Gordian Quest even more replayable and enduring.

Finally, Gordian Quest will be 20% off this week, so please tell a friend about it if they haven't gotten the game already!

-------------------

CORE CHANGES

We've been listening to your feedback, so you'll notice many changes to various cards across the board.

Here are the more notable ones:

AP cost, damage, and utility have been rescaled for many cards. Many skills are much more viable now, and we are still actively making changes as deemed necessary.
Skill cards used to only scale damage and guard with stats. Now, stats also scale healing and statuses, keeping buffs and debuffs competitive as the game goes on. You can hold down Ctrl to inspect the various scaling mechanisms on a skill card.

Skills that don't scale at all now have a grey header. These are skills that remain useful at any stage of the game due to the nature of their mechanics.

New Talents

New Talents have been added, allowing you greater control over your deck and combat abilities.

Codex changes

You can now view all skills and items via the codex, even if you have not found the card yet. The card will only be visually dimmed if yet to be collected.

Item Changes

We continue to add items and rework old ones, some of which grew long in the tooth as the mechanics of the game evolved past launch. 60 new Legendary items have been added, giving even more variety to early and late game builds.

Quality of life changes
Many other quality of life changes have been added in, with notables including :

Ability to toggle battlefield view while choosing a card.
Manage hero skills and equipment from the guild hall/operations tent.
Selecting cards in battle by using the number key row.
Bulk purchasing items in stores.
Color blind mode for cards.

Accessing Act II

After completing Act I, you will be able to access Act II from the main menu. Each Act is a self-contained adventure, so you will start the adventure with a fresh party - however you can carry over the benefits of Hero Renown from Act I, so you will be able to start off with select advantages.

-------------------

WHAT'S IN ACT II

The Azul
The new map features new territories to explore and dangers to face. Sand storms that plague the land will cause some nodes to be shrouded, keeping the challenges within a mystery.

Some new paths spawn according to which nodes you choose to pass through, leading to endless possible ways to explore the secret caverns and tunnels coiled under the vast Azul Desert. What dangers or treasures lie ahead? Only the bravest of heroes will find out.

The Bard
Naran the Bard joins the roster of heroes! She yields a delicately precise form of magic through a series of harmonies. She can lead a turbid orchestra that feeds fear or a soothing aria that inspires courage where there was none. She wanders the realm in pursuit of adventures and companions that can inspire her music.

Naran's skill schools revolve around three main themes :

Effects that strengthen her party's offensive capabilities, or weaken and expose the enemy.
Effects that cause direct harm, whether through the magical nature of her music or her trusty slingshot.
Effects that can confuse and control her foes, turning them to her side, albeit temporarily.

An Expanded Bestiary
Here is a look at some of the new enemies you'll encounter in this new region. They'll possess new and deadly traits that you'll need to prepare a good response to, lest they rip your party to shreds! The desert is a dangerous place.

The mechanics are still a work in progress, but here is a sneak peak at the new mechanics you'll have to deal with:

Missions
A core complaint at launch was that players would mostly stick to three heroes over the course of an adventure, with the rest of them just parked in town. As part of the Act II arc, Missions is brand new mechanic that will give these heroes more purpose, and allow you to engage with them more often.

A new NPC in town will grant access to this system, where you can form parties with your other heroes and send them off on missions. This system runs alongside your own adventures - as you explore the wild, your other parties make progress as well. You can track their progress on your map with a counter on the side.

After a period of time, these away teams will complete the mission progression, gaining XP. In addition, several things may happen at this juncture. Depending on the type of mission :

You can benefit by collecting a small reward from their missions (essentially making these missions delayed rewards),
You can switch over to the away team, fighting a concurrent battle elsewhere on the map, earning specific rewards.
You can scout out areas on the map, adding Boons to the area.
You can convert a node into a Raid node - a new battle mode that lets your party join forces with the away party to fight a powerful set of foes.

This is a highly extensible system and we see the possibility of adding more mission types in the future, as well as reasons to send specific heroes.

-------------------

Our work is not over - we'll be spending the next few weeks monitoring the release of Act 2 and responding to any bugs or balance issues that may pop up.

Beyond this, we are excited to soon begin development of the Gauntlet Mode, an infinite dungeon mode where you will be able to compete with other players to travel as deep as you can, facing ever stronger dangers and foes.

It is meant to offer a quicker, more frenetic session as compared to the longer experiences of the Acts e,g half to 1 hour runs instead of multiple hours invested into single run. We wanted to prioritise the development of this mode over Act 3 and 4 as we have received feedback from a great number of players who want something like this. We also believe it will give the game extended longevity while you wait for the other Acts to be developed. There is already a good base we can work with to create this mode, by remixing the many battle locations, enemies, items, events, and more.

The replayability of this mode will put it on par with the many other traditional roguelike experiences you may be familiar with out there, all with our unique brand of deckbuilding and RPG elements. The competitive element will also encourage more experimentation with parties and builds, as we introduce even more enemy traits that counter or prove resistant to specific combos and skills.

While the final mechanics may change upon release, here's the overall gist of how it would work.

Gauntlet Mode starts off with you picking your team of heroes. You will activate an ancient gateway known as the Maelstrom Gate (the nature of this will be revealed in Act 3 and 4, but suffice to say it is a portal to infinite other realms).
You travel through a procedurally generated Realm, which start off small and is generally linear in nature with branching paths. You'll be forced to weigh the merits of the path ahead as the level converges onto an end boss at the end. It starts off at a manageable difficulty.
Defeating the boss gives you a chance at obtaining a legendary item, and unlocks the next realm, where enemies are of a higher level, and the challenge factor is increased.
Upon completing a set number of realms (killing the end bosses), you will be given the opportunity to exit the Maelstrom Gate and interact with NPCs, selling and obtaining new items. You can then return through the Gate to continue your delve.
Upon completing a set number of realms, you will be given the opportunity to add a new party member. These party members can be used for missions, and act as an "extra life" should one of your existing members fall.
Survive as many realms and bosses as you can! Your run ends when your current party is defeated. Your lowest depth will be recorded, and you'll be able to compare your run to other players on a global leaderboard.

We hope you enjoyed the outline of how Gauntlet Mode will work, and we can't wait to start working on it this coming month. Do share your thoughts on how you'd like it to work as well in the forums - we know some of you are just bursting with ideas!

----------

Act II Beta Has Arrived!

Hey Heroes,

Act II is releasing today as a beta!

To ensure stability, we will first be releasing it on the bleeding-edge branch. This means you will have to opt into bleeding-edge to have a first-hand go at experiencing Act II. We will also be adding in translations for other languages in the coming weeks.

For those not sure what the bleeding-edge branch is, consider it a beta. Be pre-warned that the game may hang or crash as betas do from time to time and we are counting on you not to freak out if it does. Please also kindly inform us of any bugs you find by pressing the F8 key.

The build will be playable from start to finish but the content is not complete yet. We will continue to add the remaining content (i.e. enemies, cards, backgrounds, etc) and will polish the new mechanics in the following weeks leading up to the official public release.

Once we consider the update to be stable and bug free, we will officially release it (likely end of August).

Do note that in the official version, you will have to finish Act I before you can play Act II.

As before, due to the extensive differences between the two versions, the save file used in the bleeding-edge is separate from the main branch, so you'll be able to dive in and test the changes without worrying about messing up your current progress. Eventually, these changes will make its way to the main branch after a period of testing.

To opt-in to bleeding-edge, go to Gordian Quest on your Steam launcher and click on the following - Manage > Properties > Betas > Opt-in to bleeding-edge

-----------

[h2]What You Can Expect In Act II[/h2]

Now, let us tease you with what you can expect in Act II!

[h3]The Azul[/h3]
The new map features new territories to explore and dangers to face. Sand storms that plague the land will cause some nodes to be shrouded, keeping the challenges within a mystery.

[h3]The Bard[/h3]
Naran the Bard joins the roster of heroes! She yields a delicately precise form of magic through a series of harmonies. She can lead a turbid orchestra that feeds fear or a soothing aria that inspires courage where there was none. She wanders the realm in pursuit of adventures and companions that can inspire her music.

Naran's skill schools revolve around three main themes :

Effects that strengthen her party's offensive capabilities, or weaken and expose the enemy.
Effects that cause direct harm, whether through the magical nature of her music or her trusty slingshot.
Effects that can confuse and control her foes, turning them to her side, albeit temporarily.

[h3]An Expanded Bestiary[/h3]
Here is a look at some of the new enemies you'll encounter in this new region. They'll possess new and deadly traits that you'll need to prepare a good response to, lest they rip your party to shreds! The desert is a dangerous place.

The mechanics are still a work in progress, but here is a sneak peak at the new mechanics you'll have to deal with:

Noyakin Blade
Steal Item: Steal an item from the player. Return item to player on death.

Noyakin Mystic
Disruption: Add 2 Disrupt cards to target hand. When played, Disrupt applies a random debuff to the unit.

Fire Spirit
Burn Weapon: Apply Burn to all attack cards in target's hand.

[h3]Missions[/h3]
A core complaint with our first patch was that players would mostly stick to three heroes over the course of an adventure, with the rest of them just parked in town. As part of the Act II arc, Missions is brand new mechanic that will give these heroes more purpose, and allow you to engage with them more often.

A new NPC in town will grant access to this system, where you can form parties with your other heroes and send them off on missions. This system runs alongside your own adventures - as you explore the wild, your other parties make progress as well. You can track their progress on your map with a counter on the side.

After a period of time, these away teams will complete the mission progression, gaining XP. In addition, several things may happen at this juncture. Depending on the type of mission :

You can benefit by collecting a small reward from their missions (essentially making these missions delayed rewards),
You can switch over to the away team, fighting a concurrent battle elsewhere on the map, earning specific rewards.
You can scout out areas on the map, adding Boons to the area.
You can convert a node into a Raid node - a new battle mode that lets your party join forces with the away party to fight a powerful set of foes.

This is a highly extensible system and we see the possibility of adding more mission types in the future, as well as reasons to send specific heroes.

----------