St. Valentine's Bundle, Giveaway, and upcoming updates plan
Happy St. Valentine's, friends!
Some of you expressed concerns that the game was not updated for almost 2 months and that Xendra might have abandoned Spellbook Demonslayers. Don't worry — development was continued behind the curtains. A lot of things came up all at the same time, hindering us from reporting the work that Xendra has been doing. But we prepared something to celebrate St. Valentine's Day with you.
My Rogue Valentine BUNDLE!
Bullet Heaven devs came together to do the bundling — you could get the following games with 15% off discount:
Spirit Hunters: Infinite Horde - Slay huge waves of monsters and harvest their souls for ever-increasing power.
Bounty of One - a fast-paced casual roguelite bullet hell that takes place in a cartoonish Fantasy Wild West. Play alone or locally with up to 3 friends..
Spellbook Demonslayers - each living Spellbook has its unlockable Passives, active Spells, their evolutions, and illegal variants.
20 Minutes til Dawn - Shoot down an ever-growing horde of Lovecraftian monsters to survive the night. Choose from a variety of upgrades to create unique and game-breaking builds. Unlock a diverse cast of characters and weapons with unique powers.
Share 3 of your favorite active and passive skills (any game) in the Event Channel on Xendra's Discord Server. The computer brain will randomly pick 1 winner to get a $5 top-up for Steam. It will also give Xendra some insights into what the community wants.
What Xendra is working on and future plans
An update is nearly ready — it includes the 2 new books with spells and passives for them.
📓Currently polishing: - New Spellbooks - New Spells - New abilities & dash skills that spend Mana - New illegal upgrades - Achievements - Balance & performance improvements - Bug Fixes
📓Pre-developed content for the next update: - A new playable character - Unique ability for both current and new playable characters - New game modes (delve into an endless dungeon with increasing challenges and rewards)
Thank you for your attention! ❤️Join Discord to share your thoughts with Xendra❤️
Spring Festival Discount & the Price Increase Notice
Upcoming Spellbook Demonslayers price change
Spellbook Demonslayers will go from $2.99 to $4.99 on Feb 5th. If you already own the game, good for you! If you're considering whether to buy Spellbook Demonslayers — take your last chance with Spring Festival's 20% off discount!
Happy Lunar New Year! May the rabbit bring you joy!
This year Steam has canceled the Spring Festival Sale, yet we want to celebrate this holiday together with our Asian players. Therefore, it was decided to set a 20% discount from January 21st till February 4th.
Summary for the year of Tiger
From the demo/prologue stage and the Early Access release in November, Spellbook Demonslayers almost doubled the amount of content. Xendra added to the game:
New Spells 4 more playable books & 2nd passive for every book, more than a dozen of active spells & Mutations (2nd upgrade path) for all auras.
The game did a full visual overhaul Brand-new map & enemy sprites, knockback physics rework, and even new menu music were added.
More Meta Progression We got certain tasks for Achievements to unlock more content. Now players can upgrade more things that will add variability to the gameplay.
Want to help with Spellbook Demonslayers development?
Leave a review on Steam! Xendra reads all the reviews and most of the content added was inspired by players in Steam reviews & comments. Spellbook Demonslayers is a game made together with the community, and future development relies heavily on the players' feedback. Join Xendra's Discord & Follow on Twitter to stay in touch!
Spellbook Demonslayers will join the East Meets West Games Fest
Spellbook Demonslayers will join East Meets West Games Fest showcase! The event is organized by Curve Games and will take place during January 17th-24th. East Meets West Games Fest showcase is a sale-type event dedicated to the Lunar New Year Festival that will come soon.
During the gameshow, you can get the game in the Demon Slaying bundle together the with famous 20 Minutes Till Dawn
❤️Join Discord to share your thoughts with Xendra❤️
DASH Mechanic, New Enemy Mechanics, TONS of new Auras & Upgrades!
All the content you asked for, and much more! Have a superb Christmas & Happy New Year! In addition to the update, during the ❄️Winter Sales❄️ Spellbook Demonslayers comes at a 20% discount. See you in 2023!
Game Rebalance
All demon stats and enemy waves have been rebalanced to improve pacing and accommodate new mechanics.
New Stats
☑️Mana A resource used for manually activated abilities. Gradually recharges over time.
☑️Mana Recharge Speed Increases the amount of Mana recharged per second.
☑️Energy Shield A barrier that takes damage before your HP. Energy Shield starts recharging after not taking damage for a short amount of time.
☑️Dash Invincibility Length Increases your Dash skill travel distance and Dodge duration.
Dashing
You can now spend 1 Mana to Dash, allowing you to quickly evade enemy attacks with 100% Dodge Chance.
Enemy Changes
- Certain enemies can now attack you with projectiles. Enemies with active attacks have HP bars and a gold outline to help keep track of them.
Corrupted Shrines
- Certain waves will now spawn a Corrupted Shrine that can attack you with projectiles. Defeating demons and destroying projectiles will contribute to cleansing the shrine. Grants a choice of Arcane Auras as a reward.
Arcane Auras
- Arcane Auras are very powerful rewards that can be obtained by defeating Corrupted Shrines.
Bounty Hunter Damage Multiplier against Elite Demons +50%, Damage +20%.
🔼Evolution: Massacre You have Fury while there is a living Elite demon.
🧬Mutation: Aftermath You have Fury while there are no living Elite demons.
Fury increases base damage by +1 per character level, but increases damage taken by +13%.
Sigma Stance Demons lose 33% HP when spawned. Your Critical Chance is always 0%. Critical Shrines are rerolled into another type.
New Standard Auras
Volition Mana Recharge Speed +25%.
🔼Evolution: Clarity Max Mana +2. When an Elite demon dies, fully recover your Mana.
🧬Mutation: Palms Read Max HP +13 per filled mana. When you gain Mana, instantly recover 7% HP.
Surplus Energy Shield +13, Light Radius +13%.
🔼Evolution: Last Bastion Energy Shield +30%. When your Energy Shield breaks, negate all HP damage dealt by the hit and Regenerate HP over 0.7s equal to 200% of the hit's damage.
🧬Mutation: Soul Split Max HP converted to Energy Shield +50%. Max HP +13%, Energy Shield +13%.
Cybernetics Energy Shield +10, Energy Shield +7%, HP Reserved +4%.
🔼Evolution: Augmentation Energy Shield Recharge speed is doubled.
🧬Mutation: Jumpstart When you spend Mana, recover 7 Energy Shield and immediately begin recharging Energy Shield.
New Illegal Upgrades
☑️Time Compression Destroy all your empty spell slots, and summon a Corrupted Shrine and a Treasure Chest for each.
☑️Petrified Blood When you lose HP, the amount is reduced by % equal to your Reserved HP, to a max of -50%.
☑️Chained Memories Mana Recharge Speed +200%. Mana stops recharging for +1.3s upon being spent.
☑️Reroute 100% of Mana Recharge Speed is converted into Regeneration Speed.
☑️Crystal Blood Regeneration recovers Energy Shield instead of HP while Energy Shield is at least 1. Energy Shield +7.
☑️Reclamation You gain extra Energy Shield equal to 50% of your Reserved HP.
☑️Kinetic Charge When you Dodge, recover +1 Energy Shield equal per Armor.
☑️Soul Guard All but 1 Max Mana is converted to twice that much Armor.
☑️Bare Skin Energy Shield Recharge instead applies to HP, based on your Max HP. Regeneration Multiplier -50%.
☑️Bloodstream (No longer the evolution of Revengeance) Damage increases based on missing HP, up to 1.5x at 1 HP.
☑️Modern Engineering Max Energy Shield +100%. Armor -2.
☑️Smooth Sailing Base Movement Speed Multiplier +30%, Enemy Projectile Amount +50%.
☑️Discipline Energy Shield Recharge is not interrupted by damage, but cannot recharge Energy Shield above 70%.
☑️The Best Defense Damage Reduction multiplies damage dealt instead of reducing damage taken.
New Shrine
Mana Shrine Increases the Mana Recharge Speed of players.
New Elite Enemy Mods
Mana Jammer Prevents Mana from being regenerated for +0.7s after spending Mana.
Spell Slinger Fires up to 3 projectiles at players.
Malice Additions & Changes
Malice 77 can now be accessed. The Invincibility Penetration modifier has been removed from the game. The following Malice modifiers have been added / changed:
🆕Rapid Fire | 1 Malice Per Point, Max of 7 +13% Enemy Attack speed (for activated attacks, not contact damage).
Horde | 2 Malice per point, Max of 5 +20% Enemy Amount & Kills Required per Shrine
Empowered Elites | 2 Malice per point, Max of 4 +25% Effect of elite buffs on enemies per point.
🆕Bullet Hell | 3 Malice per point, Max of 2 Enemy Projectile Amount +1
🆕Escalation | 4 Malice per point, Max of 1 Enemy attack patterns become more difficult.
New Meta Progression Upgrades
🔼Max Mana 🔼Mana Recharge Speed 🔼Free Smuggler Reroll Amount 🔼All Auras added in this update can have Unbinding and Mutation applied.
Other Changes
✅Automatic save backup & recovery has been added to prevent data loss.
✅Freeze against Elite demons has been changed: Instead of fully stopping them but only having 20% duration, it now slows them by 30% for the full duration.
✅You can now reroll for free 1 time at each Smuggler's Shrine. This amount can be increased in the Upgrades menu.
✅Unbound aura upgrade screen now shows aura effects in the description.
✅Improved the performance of Floating Damage numbers.
✅Auras now display their maximum level in their tag text.
✅Improved visual feedback when enemies & players are damaged.
✅Prey Animal Illegal Upgrade now reduces Armor by 2 instead of 1.
✅Nines Illegal Upgrade now also grants Energy Shield +9
✅Revengeance Aura (Explosion Retaliation) Evolution changed: Evolution: Short Fuse Revengeance also triggers when you Dodge.
✅Thickening Aura (HP/Armor) Evolution & Mutation changed: Evolution: Behemoth Max HP Multiplier +50%, Armor +3, Character Size + 50%.
Mutation: Walk It Off When you spend Mana, Regenerate 20% HP over 0.1s.
✅Thunder Swarm spell now also launches sparks whenever you spend Mana.
✅Energy Cleave and Nova Cleave now gain extra base damage equal to 20% of your Energy Shield. They have also been increased in speed.
✅Astrid now also starts with +13 Energy Shield.
✅Cremation Aura now causes Chance to Explode above 100% to multiply the damage of its explosions.
Fixes
✔️Fixed a memory leak related to the system that syncs enemy sprites to the position of their physics data.
✔️Fixed an issue where Burning Ground's first tick of damage was only dealing 50% damage.
✔️Fixed an issue where the duration of the Sealth buff was shorter than intended when applied while you already have Stealth.
✔️Fixed an issue where projectiles could not hit more than 10 demons simultaneously (very noticeable on Energy / Nova Cleave).
⏳Hurry to get Bounty of One & Nomad Survival in the discounted bundle!⏳ It was an honor to cooperate with Bumpty & Kobal, makers of the Bounty of One, and with The Fox Knocks, the maker of the Nomad Survival. They are amazing guys and we are really happy we could use this opportunity to work with them on the collaborative bundle. 👉Horde Killer Bundle will end on December 14th. Hurry up!
Thank you for enjoying the Spellbook Demonslayers while it is in Early Access. With your support, your developer, Xendra, could add much more content from the day one build. Your suggestions helped the game development till now, and we hope you could guide Spellbook Demonslayers in the future. If you want to support the dev even further, there is a -20% discount for supportive DLC right now — all donations go to your developer. 🧡Please, write in review what content you think Spellbook Demonslayers needs at the current stage.
Currently, Xendra is working on the new major update that will bring a brand new gameplay mechanics to the game. Some of you who follows Spellbook Demonslayers on Xendra Discord server already guessed what it is.
We have in plans more collabs, more content, and more fun events! Follow Spellbook Demonslayers on Twitter or Join our Discord server to stay tuned!
And of course, Spellbook Demonslayers is participating in the ❄️Winter Sales❄️ with a tasty discount.
UPCOMING: Dash ability, full rebalance, shrines that shoot!
I'm working on a big update that will have a beta running for it this week! The game is also 20% off so if these plans sound good, then now is the perfect time to pick up a copy and start unlocking upgrades to get a head start for the new update.
This is a bit of a longer post so you might want some music. Go put on the album Galerie by Anomalie!
Dash Ability
Actively evade enemies, quickly travel to gather dropped EXP, and enable new synergies!
The Phase Dash skill will be available initially, and later updates will add a method of accessing a variety of new Dash Skills. For example, you will unlock a damaging charged rush similar to the shield in Hades, and a dash that sacrifices HP to infuse you with a powerful buff called Fury!
Corrupted Shrines
These shrines will attack you in various ways, such as firing various patterns of projectiles. Cleanse the shrine by killing demons or breaking its projectiles with dodging / tanking in order to claim Arcane Auras & Upgrades!
Arcane Auras & Upgrades
Certain stats that some builds rely on to function properly (like Chain) have been separated out into a new upgrade pool, and increased in power. A variety of new Auras and other unique upgrades are also available in this pool.
These upgrades are a noticeable power spike, and they allow you to get the stats you need to cover your build's current weakness without being diluted by standard level up rewards. If you are lacking single target damage, you can take boosts like +50% Elite Damage Multiplier. If you are lacking pack clear you can take effects like +1 Projectile Chain or +20% Chance for demons to Explode on death, dealing 13% of their Max HP as damage.
This prevents you from being forced into aggressively rerolling early in the run just to get the basic stats & damage to make your build work. It also helps signal the power level of certain effects more effectively, and gives you more distinct decision points each run that you can point to as something that you would like to change on future runs in order to try and get a better outcome.
It also reduces the size of the regular level up pool, making it easier to reroll.
Full Game Rebalance
The entire game is being rebalanced with these new features being taken into consideration. The goal of this is to allow as many builds as possible to be viable at all levels of Malice, and to use the Arcane Aura system to make sure you have access to the stats their build needs to properly get rolling.
Part of this rebalance will also include a noticeable decrease in the amount of Shrines active at once on most builds: Instead of relying so heavily on temporary power you will gain more permanent power through Arcane Auras. You are still able to stack huge amounts of buffs by intentionally trying to do so, but builds that aren't specifically focusing on shrines will no longer stop functioning if their buffs expire.
This change causes pretty huge - but warranted - implicit nerf to Shrine Maiden during the endgame. This aura was mandatory for surviving in long runs, which worsened the problem of builds not working if buffs started running out or you missed a few Shrines.
Lethality's evolution is also going to be replaced. The new evolution will still be turned towards S-Tier power, but this method of accessing and scaling Execution chance is unhealthy for build variety, and Execution is more appropriate as an Arcane Upgrade that all types of builds can access.
Smuggler Shop Refresh
All of the worst and most boring smuggler upgrades are being reworked and replaced with a larger number of unique effects and special synergy options.
A lot of Quality of Life improvements, bugfixes, buffs, and other things will also be in the patch. If there are any QoL improvements you'd like to see or weak spells you think need to be buffed, make sure to post them here!
GRAPHICS OVERHAUL, New COLLISION and KNOCKBACK System!
Content
🔶 Most pixelart in the game has been redone, and a lighting system has been added.
🔶 Light Radius stat has been added: Affects how much light you emit. Demons in your Light Radius are weakened, causing them to take double Knockback.
🔶 Enemy collisions have been completely redone to improve performance. This change also makes knockback much better at pushing through packs of demons.
🔶 Spells can now be leveled endlessly via treasure chests & spell level boost effects.
🔶 The "Overlevel" mechanic now has a button for activating it, instead of being activated automatically.
🔶 You can now toggle outlines for all demons on/off.
🔶 A 20-Minute variant of the first map has been added. This map is a bit harder than the 2nd one. The new knockback system will help you defeat this new map, along with the following new upgrades:
🔶 You can now upgrade Dodge Chance in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Knockback in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Light Radius in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Overlevel in the Upgrades menu.
🔹 New Aura: Enlighten Overlevel +1, Light Radius +13%. Max HP Reserved: +9%.
🔹 Evolution: Flashbang Demons take damage when they enter your light radius, and every 1.3s while inside it.
🔹 Mutation: Intimidation Demons within your Light Radius lose -30 Base Speed.
🔹 New Illegal Upgrade: Submission Triple Damage Chance +25%, Light Radius +25%. Max HP Reserved: +25%.
Balance Adjustments
🔸 Revengeance's explosion damage calculation now ignores all positive damage mitigation, allowing it to deal much more damage on builds with tanky stats. 🔸 Illegal Upgrade "Overclock" now grants +1 Overlevel and +1 Max Level instead of +2 Max Level. 🔸 Various bugfixes 🔸 Other stuff I forgot about
A new Beta is now available for Spellbook Demonslayers!
Content
🔶 Most pixelart in the game has been redone, and a lighting system has been added. 🔶 Light Radius stat has been added: Affects how much light you emit. Demons in your Light Radius are weakened, causing them to take double Knockback. 🔶 Enemy collisions have been completely redone to improve performance. This change also makes knockback much better at pushing through packs of demons. 🔶 Spells can now be leveled endlessly via treasure chests & spell level boost effects. 🔶 The "Overlevel" mechanic now has a button for activating it, instead of being activated automatically. 🔶 You can now upgrade Dodge Chance in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Knockback in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Light Radius in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now upgrade Overlevel in the Upgrades menu. 🔶 You can now toggle outlines for all demons on/off. 🔹 New Aura: Enlighten. Overlevel +1, Light Radius +13%. Max HP Reserved: +9%. 🔹 Evolution: Flashbang Demons take damage when they enter your light radius, and every 1.3s while inside it. 🔹 Mutation: Intimidation Demons within your Light Radius lose -30 Base Speed. 🔹 New Illegal Upgrade: Submission Triple Damage Chance +25%, Light Radius +25%. Max HP Reserved: +25%.
Balance Adjustments
🔸 Revengeance's explosion damage calculation now ignores all positive damage mitigation, allowing it to deal much more damage on builds with tanky stats. 🔸 Illegal Upgrade "Overclock" now grants +1 Overlevel and +1 Max Level instead of +2 Max Level. 🔸 Probably other stuff I forgot about
TO ACCESS THE BETA: Right-click on the game and press on 'Properties'. From there, you can access the Beta tab & dropdown:
The Update YOU Voted For!
Welcome the content you voted for！
Aura Mutations:
✔️Beast Eye (Brain Power) Max Spell Limit +1. Damage +30%. ✔️Heat Wave (Trail Blazer) +20% Damaging Area damage frequency, +5% bonus for each level of this aura. ✔️Time Splicer (Clairvoyance) Reduce your current level by 4. Damage is increased by 1% per character level. (Applies retroactively) ✔️Silent Assassin (Acrobatics) When you dodge a non-elite demon, instantly kill them. When you dodge an elite demon, they lose 7% of their current HP. ✔️Natural Padding (Juggernaut) Damage taken is randomized to between 40% and 90% of its original value. ✔️Behemoth (Thickening) Max HP Multiplier +50%, Character Size + 50%. ✔️From Shadow (Nightshade) Gain Stealth for 13s when you kill an Elite. Stealth also grants +13% Criitcal Chance. +13% Stealth effect for each level of this aura. ✔️Rat Race (Tailwind) Character Size -25%, Base Move Speed Multiplier +20%. ✔️Metabolism (Mending) Regeneration Multiplier +35%. For each level of this aura: Regeneration Speed +13%. ✔️Miracle (Shrine Maiden) Buff Effect +25%. For each level of this aura: Shrine Kill Requirement -5%. ✔️Laundering (Synthesis) For each illegal spell you have: Overlevel +1. When you learn an illegal spell: Overlevel +1. (Overlevel allows you to pick 2 rewards at a level-up screen) ✔️Flawless Strike (Deadly Aim) Spells gain added base damage equal to 10% of your Critical Chance. ✔️Life in Death (Samsara) Revives restore you to full HP. Revives +4. ✔️Impale (Skewer) Projectile Pierce amount +50%. Projectile Speed & Range +20%. ✔️Endless Night (Dark Moon) Freeze Duration +50%. ✔️Pinpoint (Intensity) Elite demons take 1.5x Damage. Non-elite demons take 0.9x Damage. ✔️Enbiggen (Fortification) Damage Reduction stat also applies to Projectile Size and Character Size. Damage Reduction +10%. ✔️The Reach Around (Fracture) Chained projectile range +100%. Chain +1. ✔️Bob and Weave (Revengeance) Base Move Speed Multiplier increases based on missing HP, up to +50%. ✔️Arm Blaster (Shotgun) Projectile Amount also applies to Armor. ✔️Maximum Impact (Lethality) One-third of Critical Multiplier also applies to Knockback. ✔️Satiate (Demon Feast) When you kill an Elite demon, regenerate 77% HP over 1.3 seconds. ✔️Splitting Wind (Slipstream) Half of the Projectile Speed stat also applies to the Critical Multiplier. Projectile Amount +1. ✔️Blast Zone (Cremation) Explosion Size Multiplier +13% for each level of this aura. ✔️Long Arm (Brutality) Damage is also applied to Pickup Range. Projectile Size +20%. ✔️Hemorrhage (Bloodletting) The effect of Regeneration applied to Base Damage is increased by 35%. ✔️Rapid Recovery (Reverberation) Cast Speed also applies to Regeneration Speed. Cast Speed +30%. ✔️Goodbye to Everything (Deathbound) Defiance amount +4. When you Defy Death, instantly kill all demons.
New Spells
● Glacier Mine Lay a mine at your feet that Freezes demons in a block of ice when triggered. The ice shatters after a duration, shooting ice shards at nearby demons. Find the spell in-game to discover its evolution! ● Soul Eater Sentinel (Illegal) Summon a damaging Sentinel that follows you, firing aimed bullets. Periodically creates a stationary copy of itself that auto-aims. Copies gain +1% Cast Speed and Size when this skill kills a demon.
New Illegal Upgrades
● Double Down Whenever you lose invincibility you are Reinforced for 1.3s. ● Drunken Confidence The chance to dodge is doubled. You take 40% damage from dodged hits.
Changes to improve the Quality
● Critical chance can now scale to 300%, up from 200%. ● The upgrade interface now has multiple tabs to separate different types of upgrades. ● A tooltip system has been added to the game to help provide more information. ● You can now change aiming modes with hotkeys. I will add rebindable control settings in an update. ● New reward options will take the place of banished rewards immediately, instead of needing to banish all 4 options. ● Illegal Spells now show you what spell they will replace before choosing them. ● Reduced the HP of elite demons during overtime. ● Cremation's evolution "Eruption" now grants +13% Explosion damage multiplier per level instead of a flat +50%, allowing it to be scaled further. ● Juggernaut's evolution "Heavy Lifting" now grants 5% of Max HP Added as Base Damage, up from 3%. ● Demon Feast's evolution "New Devils" now reduces enemy armor by 5% of your Max HP, up from 3% of your current HP. ● A variety of weaker spells have been buffed. ● The amount of base damage added to spells by the illegal upgrade "Black Hole" has been increased by 50%. Detailed spell information including base knockback amounts will be available in a future update. ● Healing Shrine now also grants +7% Regeneration Speed. ● Various improvements have been made to the interface.
New Elite Mods
● Rapid Damage: Deals damage to the player 35% more frequently. ● Regen Breaker: Applies -7% Regeneration Multiplier on hit for 4s.
New Shrines
● Lifesteal Shrine: Regenerate a small amount of HP when you kill a demon.
Fixes
● Fixed an issue where the "Damage per Pierced Enemy" damage bonus was not updating frequently enough. ● Fixed an issue where fractional enemy damage was being rounded incorrectly. This fix stops Eden's passive "Mercy" from reducing damage to less than 1, but you can still achieve huge tankiness by dropping your HP as close to 1 as you can. ● Fixed an issue where the illegal upgrade "Black Hole" was not adding base damage to damaging areas like rotating shields. ● Fixed an issue where Aura Evolution information would stay open even when not hovering. ● Fixed a memory leak related to the character selection screen. ● Fixed an issue where Revengeance's evolution "Bloodstream" was not multiplying the damage bonus from Thickening's aura "Adapatation".
Twitter Giveaway & Steam Awards
Thank you for staying with Spellbook Demonslayers!
We are organizing a Giveaway on Twitter:
1. Make an original post on Twitter with the hashtag #spellbookdemonslayers
That is it. We will choose 2 winners after Nov 30th~ If you follow @MaliciousXendra . It would make us really happy, but we won't push it
You can also suggest Spellbook Demonslayers for Steam Awards
If you don't agree, well, you can tell us what could change your mind & we will do everything possible to achieve that.
