Maybe you've seen some of the newer branches (Grotto->River->Maelstrom) and wondered where they were leading to? Well here's the answer.

This update introduces the UNDERWORLD, an infinite series of levels filled with ice, lava, demons, procedural monsters, the craziest boss fight in the game, and pain. Lots of pain.



The central set piece of the Underworld is a fight involving Fire Mother, Ice Father, and 7 Demon minibosses (one for each day of the week). I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm super excited about this encounter.

And that's not counting six new demon monsters. Highlights include the Demon Ghoul which only attacks when you're injured and the Demon Viper which can poison/confuse/delude you all at once. Unsurprisingly, demons drop "demon blood", which can grant demonic abilities and heal you, even above max HP.

Lastly, the coolest part of the Underworld is that it goes on forever. In each level after the first you'll find a Baron, a randomly generated boss. These guys have random attack types, resistances, spells, and even sprites!


Party time

To give you an extra leg up, each collectible ring now has powerful effects. Collecting them will be crucial to surviving the horrors of the Underworld.

A new class has been added. In a departure from the typical design, the Light Mage has a permanent effect: your character always glows. Stealth is nearly impossible, but several areas of the hotel become easier to navigate. This class also starts with a Celestial Essence (probably the most powerful potion) and a brand new spell, FOCUS.

Other changes include more satisfying enemy deaths, new sound effects, some tweaks to the Fane encounter, and several bug fixes.

Changelog:

• New branch, UNDERWORLD, which is reachable from red portals in the Maelstrom.
• New boss encounter with Ice Father and Fire Mother
• 6 new demon monsters
• Infinite descent into the Underworld is possible and procedural bosses will be at each level to greet you
• Morgue files are now uploaded automatically with an option to turn off.
Please let me know if this a problem for you.
• Lava and Ice tiles added.
• Demon blood can now heal above max HP. This change is a buff for one of the existing classes (wink, wink).
• Rings now have bonus effects
• New class: the Light Mage
• New spell: FOCUS. Turns ambient light into moonlight, moonlight into sunlight, and sunlight into a deadly bolt of fire
• The Spiridus now does PSYCHIC damage. Uh… good luck
• Blink is now directional! Warp Mages rejoice. Also, it's easier to get goodies in the Gallery
• Blood lasts at least one turn under Acceleration. Before it never even showed up
• Confusion no longer prevents spell casting, but makes failure rates go up
• XP is animated and has its own new sound effect (too annoying?)
• Monsters now glow red when dying
• Monsters sometimes drop gold on death.
• Gold for selling items reduced
• Fane has been given a throne
• New Fane artwork added instead of generic vamp portrait
• Antidote now also gives a temporary poison resist
• Bosses give more XP
• Fixed an error with hovering over unidentified potions
• Made 'ESCAPE' exit the dismiss gave over screen
• Hunters no longer cast damaging spells, but instead enrage themselves
• Music is softened when in menus and chatting
• Music is now switched out properly when taking a portal
• Fixed an issue with sprites drawing incorrectly (usually seen in Maelstrom
• Spell failure note added to Grimoires
• Fixed several issues with menus and resizing
• Fixed an issue with volatile poison and water
• Fixed an issue with double tooltips when hovering identified potions
• Fixed descriptions on bookshelf/paintings
• Added a button to make it more obvious morgue entries are clickable
• Some late game enemies made tougher… but probably not enough

Let me know what you think! I'm very curious how people think the Underworld is balanced.

One last reminder that the price increase to $10 is coming in a few days.