Hero's Spirit cover
Hero's Spirit screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Puzzle, Role-playing (RPG), Adventure, Indie, Arcade

Hero's Spirit

Quality of Life Update
A quality of life update has been pushed to Steam. Lots of fixes here, folks. (Though let's be realistic, we probably broke something as well and are standing by for reports.)

This is not New Gen+, please read the previous announcement, The Future of Hero's Spirit, for more information on that.

• updated backend to .NET 6.0 and updated all dependencies
• possible (needs verification!) fix for Intel HD3000 series GPUs
• improved rendering performance
• added vsync to settings
• fixed framerate when vsync is off
• fixed tool-assist mode's 100% speed being too slow
• fixed tool-assist mode's MAX speed capping at refresh rate
• fixed bad visual stuttering on windows 11
• fixed wrong framerate on windows 11
• new castle grounds (normal/+) music, day & night
• added a second hidden entrance to the dragon's lair (resolves a certain softlock)
• certain misplaced friends can be recovered at sanctuary
• took the machine guns away from cats
• cats now prefer to be 'near' the player rather than 'touching' the player.
• cats no longer follow the player if the player is mounted
• bunnies no longer snack on their largest friends
• cats no longer snack on their largest friends
• bunnies follow the player through noneuclidean areas without getting weird about it
• off-border color while -not- using the retro shader will now match the HUD background
• Luddershore++ has a new color scheme and tunes
• frank can now frank even when the franking would otherwise have been defranked
• fixed a bad stripe of location text in the mountains in the castle grounds
• you are now ready for this place (if you are ready for it)
• cats now enjoy the occasional crunchy snack
• portals in the swamp are now properly labeled
• the forbidden shore can be accessed
• wait, they _do_ come in red??
• flashing items on the HUD are a bit smoother
• the post-credits scene now displays kill count
• the 'hole' NPC is less incorrect
• added "Open Data Folder" to Settings menu

The Future of Hero's Spirit
Hello to our wonderful community! We have some exciting news to share.

Previously we announced the New Gen+ update for Hero's Spirit. Much has happened since then, and we've been holding off on announcements while we shape things up to determine what the future of Hero's Spirit looks like. Now we have a better idea of the form this will take, and are ready to bring the community up to speed.

The New Gen+ update for Hero's Spirit has evolved into something a bit more interesting. Rather than changing so much of the game you all know (and hopefully enjoy), we've decided to release it as new product, and are quite excited to announce Hero's Spirit DX! This allows us to leave the "classic" version in place as it is (with minor wrap-up and maintenance updates, more on that later), while also blazing ahead with DX and exploring new possibilities with a significantly upgraded engine, graphics, and new mechanics.

The intention isn't to add "another" price tag to new content. We are working on a way to make Hero's Spirit DX available for free to current owners of the "classic" game. The specifics are still to-be-determined, and we'll announce more information on that at a later date.

Hero's Spirit DX will be available for Windows, macOS, and Linux at release. It will feature official mod and workshop support for custom characters, maps, and even entire campaigns. All the graphics are entirely remade, and there will be new content, lore, and secrets to explore. We do not yet have a release date we can share, but the team has been hard at work for some time already to create the best experience we can, and are all excited to get it to you as soon as possible.

The existing "classic" game will still see a few quality-of-life updates as they become available, but will be winding down in favor of Hero's Spirit DX eventually. One such update has just gone live, and the patch notes will be made available momentarily.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being a part of our little community, and thank you for playing our game. We hope to continue to entertain you for years to come.

Coming Soon: New Gen+ Update
A new generation of in-house engine technology allows us to raise the bar on Hero's Spirit, enabling a multitude of new features to be explored. At the same time, we have made some changes to the self-imposed 'hardware limitations' that constrain the game's design, allowing for more aesthetically pleasing (and accessibility-friendly) color palettes. We still strive to maintain a consistent look and feel across the entirety of the game's surface, but the specifics have changed to allow us to deliver a better experience for our players.



But the changes are not entirely visual - the new audio backend will... well, sound exactly the same, but work more betterer! The new map and item data format allows us to revise things that were previously off-limits (because they'd have corrupted savegames). Steam API support is expanded, allowing us to explore some new social features! The HUD and menu systems are being expanded with some new functionality, allowing for better quality of life and screen visibility!

And of course, all the graphics are being updated for better ambience, clarity and gameplay quality.



One bit of sad news for a select few of you: We will be saying goodbye to Tool-Assist mode and its accompanying toolset. Maintaining TAS playback consistency was one of the biggest constraints and was a considerable investment of time and energy, and still imperfect. By leaving that feature behind, we can focus that time and energy on the game itself; and more importantly, this allows us to implement a pretty significant feature I might have forgotten to mention... what was it, now? Hmm. I remember it was important, interesting, and kind of a big deal. Oh well, more on that later.

The Collector's Update is Live!
- Added: A completely new HUD, including new items and location names.
- Added: A crystal has been unearthed, one that resembles the save crystals scattered across the world.
- Added: A mysterious artifact known as the Broom has been discovered. Spiders beware!
- Added: A new shop operated by an unknown stranger has appeared.
- Added: A new vegetable, the Carrot, has been imported from overseas.
- Added: A strange mirror with unusual depth has been discovered.
- Added: Beginning a new game+ will add a "Start Game+" option to the pre-game menu.
- Added: Five new achievements.
- Added: Multiple new music tracks.
- Added: Multiple new maps.
- Added: Multiple new map colorations.
- Added: NPCs are much more talkative, and their dialogue changes throughout the game.
- Added: Strange new coins are scattered around the world.
- Added: The compass now points towards the nearest save point, if one exists on the current map.
- Added: The Eye of the Collector has been discovered.
- Added: The line of sight mechanic now has alternative textures in options to reduce eye-strain reported by some players.
- Added: The player can make new friends who will follow them on their journey.
- Added: The player now leaves a trail of crumbs when they pass through hidden paths.
- Added: Unlockable cosmetic options.
- Fixed: A mysterious key has been restrained from ending the world by closing your game unnecessarily.
- Fixed: Convinces secret tiles that they should keep their palettes up to date.
- Fixed: Gave the treasure counter in the castle grounds a good talking to, made sure it never lies to the player.
- Fixed: Sat the main character down and explained that facing south every time they enter a new map is unnecessary.
- Fixed: The bunny has been provided a booster shot to immunize it against certain environmental hazards.
- Fixed: The exit menu now has a minor delay when closed, reducing unwanted button input.
- Fixed: The portals in Sanctuary are better at pretending to be brick walls when inactive.
- Fixed: The witch is now a good sport and kicks you out of unwinnable fights if you have a bad equipment combination.
- Fixed: The witch can no longer freeze time under specific unusual circumstances.
- Fixed: There were no misplaced map tiles to fix. Reports to the contrary certainly weren't addressed.

And all the stuff in between the lines here. We really hope you enjoy this update :heart:

Coming Very Soon: The Collector's Update
It's come to our attention that a certain one of our players has very nearly completed the dive, all the way to the bottom of the game. In a desperate attempt to slow them down, we've contrived a small, simple update that just adds a couple new maps, a handful of new equipment, a sprinkling of quality of life features, some unlockable cosmetic options, a new collectable item type, a couple new mechanics, a new music track, a redesign of the HUD, a new shop, fast travel enhancements, escalates your relationship with a certain NPC, addresses some complaints, and smells vaguely like chicken but only on Thursdays. (edit: so, it turns out the chicken thing wasn't true. sorry folks, I was misinformed.)

Front and center, the star of the show, is a new piece of equipment: The Eye of the Collector. This item will help you, sort of, as you attempt to track down all those pesky items scattered about. So grab that and- what's that? Where is it? We can't just tell you that. The world's only so big, right? Go find it! Hint, it's not just laying out in the open.

So when does this go live? Just as soon as we can finish it! (Original plan was this weekend, but we decided to let it bake just a little bit longer because the quality will be that much better.) Trust me, we're working fast to make this happen ASAP, and are already making good time.