As We Descend News

[v.397515]
ːsteamthisː ⇒ Community-inspired change

Hail, new Wardens! Kev again with new patch notes. Hope you're enjoying Next Fest so far. It's awesome to see so many players playing and discussing the game! Thanks to all those who have joined in so far, and extra shoutout to those of you who have gone the extra distance to leave a review on our demo.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3256480/As_We_Descend_Demo
(For those with a keen eye, yes, we've just updated the capsule art on it for Next Fest!)

For this patch, we've made some changes mostly focused on quality-of-life adjustments, with some balance changes as well and improvements to the metaprogression screen. For those of you who are already playing, this will invalidate your current run save after you update.

[h2]Metaprogression Screen[/h2]
Designer notes: The metaprogress screen should be a bit clearer now with these changes. Maximum challenge level is still Descension 5, but it's now a tiny bit more forgiving at base difficulty with the change to the Fatigued mechanic while also streamlining the base experience.

• While unlocking, no longer focuses camera on non-demo unlocks
  
• ːsteamthisː Added delineation for positive & negative effects of Descensions unlocks
  
• Smaller icons on non-major unlocks
  
• ːsteamthisː [New] Tactical Retreat, available in the demo
  
• Grievous Wounds renamed Battle Fatigue, now available in the demo
  
• Dire Fatigue is no longer available in the demo
  
• ːsteamthisː Added new Descension Gauge tooltip on hover
  
• Added Sacrosanct origin logo preview and mythion circle to link the three origins
  
• Shifted a few other dependencies around
  

[h2]HUD & UI[/h2]

• ːsteamthisː Max UI scale increased from 1.1 to 1.2
  
• ːsteamthisː UI scaling now affects City Event panel
  
• ːsteamthisː Added hover tooltips for the combat zones
  
• Updated on Main Menu exit prompt
  
• Combat HUD health loss changed to all-white
  
• Fixed issue where Combat HUD would have an aliased white pixel at certain resolutions
  
• Fixed typo on difficulty disclaimer
  

[h2]Cards[/h2]

• Added card art for Doom (Mesmer - Affliction) and Under Pressure (Navigator)
  
• Fix for inaccurate stagger preview of Force Blast (Guardian)
  
• Fix for inaccurate stagger preview of Thorn Skewer (Dauntless)
  
• Fix for Armored Warfare+ morphing the function of the card
  

[h2]Innkeeper's Blessing (Starter Tech)[/h2]
Designer notes: Innkeeper's Blessing and Fatigued have been slightly reworked to reduce baseline complexity and offer more consistent healing. This also provides a real decision at the Inn even at base difficulty level.

• Healing changed from 40%/20% of max health to a flat 5
  
• Additional healing can be purchased from the Inn
  
• Fatigued is only induced after Battle Fatigue modifier is enabled
  
• Innkeeper's Favor option Charisma check threshold increased from 7 to 8
  

[h2]Enemies[/h2]
Designer notes: This patch includes tuning for various encounters to move some enemy damage into debuffs and utility instead.

• Enemies with Scatter Attack intents are now capped at 3 targets (mostly a visual change, behaviorally nearly identical)
  
• Recoil intent type for Vermin Broodmother instead of Special intent
  
• ːsteamthisː Vermin (Blue) Spit exchanged for Slimy Spit that deals less damage but applies Sapped
  
• Minor adjustment to intent cloud position of Vermin
  
• ːsteamthisː Dune Stalker encounter overhauled to reward more aggressive play and offer greater counterplay
  • Applies Armorshred instead of Sapped
    
  • Sweeping Strike cleave damage greatly reduced
    
  • Staggered duration increased from 1 to 2
    
  • Stagger threshold slightly decreased
    
  • Weakpoint health slightly decreased
    
• Fixed bug with Spiky buff opacity (Spiker)
  
• ːsteamthisː Fixed Decimator to no longer ignore provoke effects (like Dauntless's Phalanx) (Siege Spire)
  
• ːsteamthisː Added VFX for Executioner's Mark (Phantasm)
  

[h2]Events[/h2]
Designer notes: Added new events that allow more drafting and perk options, as well as removing a boring choice to remove pool dilution. Cleansing items now consistently offers more compelling choices.

• [New] Tool Schematic
  
• [New] Barrier Breakthrough
  
• No longer possible to trigger Master in Market (+1 Attack Power / +1 Armor buff choice)
  
• Cleansing Ritual
  • ːsteamthisː 20 copper to cleanse no longer shows up if you don't have 20 copper
    
  • New Favor option
    
  • New Dissolve option
    
• Health values post-revival adjusted to be generally higher for the payment options
  

[h2]Major Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed issue where a player's event choice option could be ignored by the game's input system
  
• Fixed bug where the camera could freak out if the player navigated through the deployment menu too quickly
  
• ːsteamthisː Possible fix for bug where an uninitialized card could get stuck in the top-left of the screen, which blocked input
  

Wishlist and Follow As We Descend to make sure you get all the announcements as well as a notification when the game launches on March 27th 2025 (yes, that's next month!):
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend

If you want more experimental content, you'll have to signup for closed beta access. You can also join the Discord to talk to other players and have a greater chance to earn a beta key. Thanks for following along in our development journey, looking forward to seeing you in the Demo (and hopefully the Beta too)!

Cheers,
Kev
Game Director at Box Dragon

[v.396944]
ːsteamthisː ⇒ Community-inspired change

Hail, Wardens! Kev here, game director of Box Dragon and our resident game designer. You're just in time for the new patch. But first off, did you catch the new gameplay trailer where we reveal the release date?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
I'll keep these patchnotes short and not go over every little detail. We've got plenty of other fixes, gameplay, and art improvements in various places. So, onward to major changes since the last Demo update:

• Two FULL Biomes in the Demo
  
• ːsteamthisːDouble Expedition Pacing Change
  
• ːsteamthisːNew Scavenge System
  
• ːsteamthisːNew Encounter Info
  
• ːsteamthisːNew Market Event System
  
• New Wound System
  
• New Unit: PURIFIER
  
• ːsteamthisːNew HUD, UI, and HUD Scaling Setting
  
• ːsteamthisːOverhauled Favor Economy
  
• ːsteamthisːRupture and Tar Reworks
  
• Recoverable Technology
  
• Over 40 new cards, 20 technologies, 5 enemies, 2 minibosses, 2 bosses
  
• Tons more unit, perk, tech, card, and enemy adjustments
  
• ːsteamthisːNew Meta-Progression Screen
  
• Lots of new card art
  
• ːsteamthisːVarious performance improvements
  
• ːsteamthisːAnd yes, the Hold-Escape bug has been fixed
  

[h2] Two Biomes of Gameplay[/h2]
Designer notes: You can now play through all of the first two Biomes with the first Origin, even in the demo. Countless challenges await you here, and for the daring, you can even crank up the Descension difficulty system.

[h2] Double Expedition Pacing Change[/h2]
Designer notes: Tired of the methodical pacing? You can now deploy at rapid speed. But be warned; your forces only get time to catch their breath upon a new cycle, and there are far fewer cycles now then before.

• Biome 1 Cycles decreased from 6 to 4
  
• Biome 2 Cycles decreased from 7 to 5
  
• You get 2 Expedition Force cards each cycle now
  
• However, this may be quite taxing for your forces, so keep an eye on their health and fatigue
  

[h2] New Scavenge System[/h2]
Designer notes: After each successful expedition, you will be able to use the Scavengers you bring with you to salvage resources. A risky option you can do to make room for additional Scavengers is by sending fewer units to each Expedition.

• 5 Scavengers are deployed with you into expeditions
  
• Leaving empty deployment slots will grant +2 Scavengers
  
• Scavengers are spent to scavenge resources from ruins
  
• Some resource deposits in ruins are extra dangerous, beware of Contamination!
  

[h2] New Unit: Purifier[/h2]
Designer notes: The Purifier arrives, a new rare unit that is a solo squad. It wields powerful support abilities, but can also harness the power of Afflictions using its Absolution perk to turn the tides of battle.

• Absolution: Auto-action grants a stack. At 3, unleashes a powerful auto-attack that scales with the number of Affliction cards in your battle deck.
  
• Starter cards: Purge, Penitence, Shadow Sight
  
• Features 11 learnable cards and the unique Deliverance affliction
  
• Various cards feature the Absolution Bonus, which spends a stack of Absolution to gain a bonus
  

[h2] Technology[/h2]
Designer notes: You will find many artifact fragments while out on Expeditions. Returning these to the Elder will allow you to craft powerful technology to aid your forces.

• Turn in two Artifact Halves to gain a new technology
  
• 18 powerful technologies await you in the demo
  

Congratulations on making it to the end of the patch notes! If you've got any thoughts, please leave a comment below. Eager for more? Wishlist and Follow As We Descend to make sure you get all the announcements as well as a notification when the game launches:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend

If you want more experimental content, you'll have to signup for closed beta access. You can also join the Discord to talk to other players and have a greater chance to earn a beta key. Thanks for following along in our development journey, looking forward to seeing you in the Demo (and hopefully the Beta too)!

Cheers,
Kev
Game Director at Box Dragon

Hey all. We're hosting Feudal Festival, with awesome games joining in like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Manor Lords, Mordhau, and more. You can check out a smattering of deep discounts and free demos here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45229319/sale/FeudalFestival


To celebrate, we've relaunched the demo for As We Descend, and you can play it here to experience our sci-fi spin on feudalism we call "Raygun Feudalism":
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3256480/As_We_Descend_Demo

It's on demo version 0.1.1, and we'll likely update it in the near future so make sure to stay tuned. We've been steadily working on some cool new cards, enemies, and features, and we can't wait to share them soon.

You're probably tired of hearing me mention this, but obviously we couldn't do this without you and the rest of our awesome player base. To get the game in front of as many players as possible, you can Wishlist and Follow As We Descend:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend

Cheers,
Kev and the team at Box Dragon

Two tidbits to share with you all, one that has happened already and one that's inbound soon!

First up, a Deep Delve by me into the Stagger mechanics of As We Descend so you'll be well equipped on your future descent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzleUrwNbNU

And the other bit of news is that we'll be participating in TGAGWCAGA (or The Game Awards for Games Who Can't Afford the Game Awards) a brand new indie showcase that's going to pop off this Friday (the 13th)! It's designed to spotlight incredible indie games that truly deserve more attention—while also poking a bit of fun at the exclusivity of The Game Awards. So if you're into super awesome indie games, make sure to check it out. You can subscribe here to watch it when it goes live: https://www.youtube.com/@TGAGWCAGA


TGAGWCAGA will also have a Steam Event running from December 13th to December 22nd, so we'll be there!

You're probably tired of hearing me mention this, but obviously we couldn't do this without our awesome player base. To get the game in front of as many players as possible, you can Wishlist and Follow As We Descend:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend

Cheers,
Kev

Hey,

The demo for As We Descend has been paused until we're ready to re-launch it for the next phase. Thanks a bunch for the wonderful support of the game and for playing our demo! The next version will incorporate community feedback as usual and be even bigger than this one.

As of the moment I paused the demo, you all gave it a whopping 93% positive over 59 reviews! It's so great to hear all the kind words and your thoughts on our game. At its peak, there were 290 players simultaneously playing the demo, and over the timespan we had nearly 17000 players try it out. We were covered by some huge names in the indie space on YouTube as well, like Splattercat, Wanderbot, and Retromation!

If you want to find out news like when the demo for As We Descend returns, you can signup for our newsletter at www.AsWeDescend.com. Not only will you hear about all the happenings, you'll also be eligible to be selected as a beta participant and get back into the game even while the demo is paused.

As always, we appreciate your support for As We Descend. We couldn't do this without you; by sharing the game with your friends and wishlisting, we can make sure to get the game in front of as many players as possible. Wishlist and Follow As We Descend to make sure you get all the announcements as well as a notification when the game launches:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769830/As_We_Descend

Cheers,
Kev and the team at Box Dragon