When we launched Unexplored 2, we expected the average run to last no more than a few hours, after that the Wayfarer was supposed to die. In some ways the game is pretty difficult. It is a roguelite, after all. However, once people got into the right groove, they managed to keep their characters alive much longer. This was a problem. Players accumulated too much gear during their prolonged runs. Worse, the game never got a chance to advance the world between runs. This way the empire, and other adversaries never really got into play.
THE SOLUTION
Over the last couple of months we have made multiple adjustments to the difficulty and the balance, but it never was sufficient. So we also added a different solution: dynamic world events that can occur during a run. As time passes while you travel, the world gets a chance to react. This can be that imperial troops who advance, wolves that attack a settlement, clans clearing out bandits from a ruin, or new enemies appearing at an abandoned site. It makes the world much more responsive to your actions. Possibly the biggest advantage of this new dynamic world events is that it shortens the feedback loop between your actions and their consequences considerably. Taking the root sigil that once powered a root singer suddenly has an effect almost immediately. Messages and animations alert you to these events and, sometimes, of their causes. The new system delivers much better on an important promise the premise of Unexplored 2 makes: that you are exploring a living, simulated world where you have to carefully consider the consequences of your actions.
At the same time we hope it addresses some of the imbalances we had. Longer runs are now less of a problem because at least the world has an equal amount of time to respond and evolve during that run. Although, addressing balance issues like this will likely take some time, as we can only start to observe the long term consequences of these changes now. So we fully expect there will be changes and additions to the dynamic world event system over the next months.
NOTE: most of the new features will only work in a new work, but the most important you can activate in an existing one by using this code (ingame menu > pray for help): WakeForces.
In other news: Unexplored 2 Soundtrack is now available on Spotify!
Dynamic World Events allow the game to pass time and have factions act or appear during a run
Improvements
More interactions are available in bandit camps and kobold settlements.
Monsters and enemies can be spurred into action if you do not deal with them appropriately.
Interacting or disabling machines like root singers, scrying stones, and magic hearths can trigger world events.
Leaving arcane rifts unattended can trigger a world event.
Raids on towns and minor settlements have much more drastic effects.
Clans more actively repopulate farms, roadhouses, trading posts, and strategic locations.
More interactions are available when interacting with clan garrisons.
Improved Conversation Camera
Number of bug fixes
Patch 1.1.7 Is now live!
This patch gets rid of a couple of very annoying bugs, the most prominent being the one that caused the game to crash to the menu when interacting with a trader or a chest.
In addition, in our attempt to tweak the game towards the balance we feel it should have, we’ve made healing potions more rare, and losing hope traits also causes your maximum hit points to be reduced. These changes are only applied to newly generated worlds, and can be negated by two new difficulty modifiers we also added for that purpose.
Gameplay Changes - Reduces the number of healing brews available and adds a difficulty modifier to increase their number to previous levels. This modifier is automatically activated for existing worlds. - Losing hope traits also reduces your maximum hit points by 6 (to a minimum of 18). Adds a difficulty modifier to switch this mechanic off. This modifier is automatically activated for existing worlds.
Bug Fixes - Using a controller to close a trading screen or a chest doesn’t cause the game to crash to the menu. - Fixes issue that corrupted save slots in such a way they prevented new worlds and new runs from starting. These slots can be used again. - When you abandon a world but don’t create a new one in its place, the slot remains empty on a restart. - Graphic settings are not accidentally changed when you enter the options menu. - Removes lingering code that allows you to use the spacebar to move towards the mouse cursor. - Making sure spirit portals can only appear at locations that have the correct generation markers for it. (Doesn’t affect existing worlds and runs) - The Wild Cape now also protects against blizzards. - Shards of Shattered Iron can be dug up correctly from iron mines. - When entering a dark environment you no longer automatically equip weapons. - The light of the staff of Yendor does not reveal you when you are invisible.
Patch 1.1.6
This week’s patch is somewhat smallish, but it is a good mix between bug fixes and some new content for you to enjoy. Behind the scenes we’re working on some bigger content updates, that will hopefully be ready in a couple of weeks.
New Content - Adds shadow wolves, including a couple of new encounters, lore, and items. - Sometimes you encounter a lair with a bigger wolf.
Gameplay Changes - When you have no hope left, hope loss causes you to take damage. - Adds a dialog to the Sky Elemental for clarity.
Bug Fixes - Quivers that are empty no longer fill up when reloading. - If an NPC doesn’t have a specific rumor to tell they will repeat the same random rumor, not different one each time. - The bubbles caused by the bathing giants do not spawn when the game is paused. - You cannot select too many skills during character creation after going back from the equipment tab. - Multiple water skins are used correctly during a single journey with multiple dry fortunes. - Fixes issue with traveling folk not always appearing in levels flagged as meeting places. - Biting cold doesn’t affect the wayfarer if other creatures suffer cold effects from ice devils. - Increases the definition for ‘in combat’ used when suppressing the pick up animation. - Location specific status effects (such as interloper) are correctly removed upon arrival on a destination. - Fixes a few typos and missing texts.
Patch 1.1.5 is live!
This week we have been working on some new content and gameplay changes. There is a new enemy: the Fly Lord, while Ancestral Spirits have learned a new trick and have become slightly more common. To keep you on your toes while dungeoneering, there are now many more uses for the detect and disarm traps skills…
New Content - Fly Lord encounter, including a new enemy, lore, and items. - A new encounter and new tricks for ancestral spirits. - Chests can be trapped and their traps can be disarmed. - When a pressure plate is trapped you can disarm it. - Pressure plates are trapped more often. - World generation option to favor the latest content. - A new template for additional barrows. - A new template for a trapped ruin.
Gameplay Changes - Heightened Sense and Detect Traps are more useful in spotting hidden traps. - You can only attempt to pick a lock 3 times, and each time the test will be a little more difficult.
Bug Fixes - Small improvements to the timelapse. - Skills in the character sheet are ordered alphabetically. - Control texts in Message popup change according to input. - Bug fix for basic controls m/k in tutorial.
Patch 1.1.4 is now live!
We’re back from our short break. Picking up with a bunch of bug fixes that were reported in our absence. This doesn’t clear the entire backlog of bugs, but it gets rid of a good chunk of them nonetheless!
We’ve also changed one and added two new features: Pray For Help is now accessible through the pause menu, we’ve added a skip button during the time lapse, and brought back the previous build button during character creation.
Bug Fixes - During the time lapse Allied clans won’t break alliances because they are attacked by other forces - During the time lapse clans cannot become Hostile as a result of being attacked (they can still become angry when they weren’t allied). - The map to the statue of Mercy found in some Mercy Tomb’s works correctly. - Potential fix for missing clues in Raaf Temples. - Fixes issue with generation recovery for nodes with multiple levels. - Removes weird shadows on the map. - Improves controller support in legacy menu. - Fixes aspect ratio issues in the game over menu. - Fixes rare freeze during generation of specific Mercy tombs. - Restless bones no longer resist claims to mines. - ‘Bluca plants’ have slightly smaller hit boxes and are spawned in slightly tighter patterns to prevent them from blocking paths. - Travel gear always clears its used status when starting a journey from a map node. - Addressing issue with the ‘proto stuff’ lore book. - Eclipse no longer randomly withholds rewards for offerings at their shrines. - The Athletic Physique skill has a correct icon. - The ‘well-worn’ quality on item correctly indicates it reduces the number of uses by 2. - Duplicate map notes for a single marker don’t get changed all at the same time. - Resolving an issue with returning from Doorn’s spirit world. - Campsites hidden in caves cannot be exposed at the same time. - The energized condition is taken into account better when determining the effects of travel hardships. - Fixes issues with items losing charges when stored in chests (only works for items stored after the patch). - Fixes a weird null reference that could occur after you die with mushrooms in your inventory.
New Features - Adds skip option during time lapse. - Restores the Previous Build option during character creation. - Pray For Help (including options to escape or report a bug) is now available through the pause menu
Other Changes - Improves feedforward and priority of meals that can be seasoned to restore hope. - Berries are never ‘fresh’ (as it didn’t have any effect). - Improves spelling, grammar, and accuracy of texts. - Priority of the fur-lined quality to counter cold hardship is reduced (cold weather gear is used first).
Patch 1.1.3
In this update there are three important changes: we’ve added lava (as one is wont to do in the middle of a heatwave), we’ve added a new research mechanic, and we have changed the auto heal.
The research mechanic you can use to research books in Haven’s to uncover clues. If you start from a new world one of such books might just lead you to one the Flame River Court, one of the new level templates that makes use of the new lava themes and mechanics!
The auto heal now works like a fairy in Zelda, it kicks in when you would have kicked the bucket. But it is now a world difficulty setting. All existing worlds have it enabled, but this is not necessarily the case for new worlds you might start…
This will likely be the last update in about 3 weeks. Vacations are happening, and with a small team like ours this means development will come to a standstill for a little while.
New Content
Lava level features with two possible states ‘hot’ and ‘cool’.
Flame Spitter sources in and out lava.
Smelt creatures.
Weapons can now get warped and melted from heat.
New level templates that make use of the lava features: fire caves, and the flame river court.
New research mechanic using books in the library.
Gameplay Changes
Auto healing is now a world difficulty option and works when you would have died, the threshold is removed.
Improving the way unstable grenade rocks work and are used in levels.
Bug Fixes
When you wake Kelkos you actually get the magic bow.
Making caves near root singers generate more robustly in new worlds (unverified fix!).
Elemental awakened status is properly cleared when starting a new world.
Portals can appear at the mountain version of a lake-side level.
Removes the tower from the teleporter ruin (as it incorrectly suggested you could go inside).
When you enchant an item with 2 or more sigils in Haven with Sigil Hunters on, the game doesn’t crash.
When you are allied with a clan you are not branded as a thief for taking things out of chests.
Patch 1.1.2 is now live!
This week we fixed a couple of bugs, and improved some of the AI behavior. Enemies should be less passive and better at flanking you. We’ve also been working on cool (or rather hot!) new content, but that isn’t quite ready yet. Expect that to roll out sometime next week!
Gameplay Changes - Reduces the number of charges for the Summon Shades spell. - Tweaks to the AI outflanking behaviors.
Bug Fixes - Places a sky portal in the marang keep level template when one is required. - The wild cape protects against hunted. - Everfrost and Sun Egg show which hardship they protect against while traveling. - Improves map diagnostics to make sure all nodes are properly connected. - Location bound items and status effects are removed when you travel through a Serpent Gate or with the Eye. - Muck Mucks are now called Ur Ma as the former turns out to be a derogatory term in the real world. - The Spirit Forge cannot be generated inside the First Valley. - Fixes an issue with too many ‘large round corners’ being built by overly creative farmers and roadhouse operators. - When you are attacked after joining a campsite, the people you are camping with ally with you. - A scroll bar was added to traders when they carry too much stock. - Adds text entries for rift shard rumors.
Patch 1.1.1
Patch 1.1.1
This might be the nicest patch number we’ll ever have. So we tried to make it a worthy one by fixing more than two dozen of bugs!
Once again many thanks to all of you who have been diligent in sending in those reports. Even if we didn’t reply directly we see all of them, and work through them as best as our limited resources allow.
Bug Fixes - Spire ruins with a sky portal are generated with enough space to fit all the features. - Rift shards appear on the map more consistently. - Fixes issues with ramps being untraversable near shallow water and mud. - The exit map button is no longer visible during the legacy loop. - Your traveled route is placed correctly during the legacy loop. - When a clay figurine contains a random drop, that item is resolved correctly. - When you pay an armorer to make an armor strong, they don’t make it ‘balanced’ instead. - Fixing issue with items that go missing in certain variants of the regular keep levels. - Prevents a few instances of non spirit world and edge assets from appearing in those levels. - Shrooms cannot spawn in a way that they block narrow paths. - Reduces the chance that crevices are generated floating in the air. - Prevents gates at the bottom of a stair to be accidentally raised by the level generator. - The interaction marker for delicious mushrooms is labeled correctly. - During the tutorial and in the Garden during the prologue, the weather is always nice. - You cannot travel to underground locations from overland exits. - If a destination is visible but cannot be traveled to, the travel UI doesn’t try to activate, freezing the game in the process. - Fur-lined boots do not prevent cold weather gear from activating when you encounter wilderness and cold during a journey. - Fixes issue with mercy tomb clue. - If you fully deciphered an inscription you don’t have to again with the same wayfarer (unless 4 years pass). - If you already know the secret of a ‘secret keeper NPC’ you don’t have to test again. - Better randomization of weather so the same destination doesn’t have the same weather for an entire season. - The task giving NPCs should be more aware of tasks that are already done. - The text feedback for camping actions is anchored correctly for different aspect ratios. - Makeshift shields still stop damage on the block they break. - Travel doesn’t break because travel gear has 4 effect icons. - Improves the placement of the ‘Raaf Tribune’ starting spot in the Garden of Yendor.
Update 1.1 - Passing Moons
We've been updating the game on a weekly basis, but this update is an especially substantial one. We feel this is an important update, hence the jump to 1.1.
This update aims to make the world more dynamic and more challenging during the mid and end game by making the seasons and their effects on different regions more prominent. You might find yourself regretting not bringing a tent when a monsoon starts, or when you are caught in the rays of a relentless summer sun. The seasons are tied to the passing of moons, and they can have pretty drastic effects on a region. You’ll never look at the map quite the same way.
This update is quite substantial, and a first step into making sure the game has the right balance for both experienced and new wayfarers. We’ll probably keep addressing these balance issues as we found that the average mileage most experienced players get out of each character is too high. The game was actually designed for you to burn through a few wayfarers before venturing into the First Valley. Clinging to the first wayfarer for a long time is fun, and a respectable achievement in itself, but it also causes you to miss out on crucial aspects of the game.
We didn’t forget about bugs and we fixed them where we could. Next week we’ll prioritize bug fixes again a little more as we are trying to settle into a weekly rhythm of bug fixes and a constant trickle of content updates.
We’ve also changed a few content unlock options. The unlocks that allowed you add character races to Haven’s starting roster have been swapped out by starting worlds with friendly clans, and thereby having access to their races and backgrounds from the start. You might find that some of these options are already unlocked for you. In addition, another new content option allows you to start a world with all the Serpent Gates fully operational. It is designed to fast track your ability to explore the world.
Gameplay Changes
Different regions have more pronounced seasons affecting traveling and camping.
Adds a number of camping conditions that affect how safe or dangerous it is to camp at a spot. Some of these conditions (exposed/hidden) depend on the location of your camp in the level.
The time of day indicator now also lists date and season and is visible on the map.
Encounters, hazards and hardships have been rebalanced. Especially for more difficult regions: you will likely encounter fewer encounters and hazards than before, but more hardships.
Mist adds the wet status unless you have a cloak or similar travel gear.
The ‘extra races’ content options have been replaced by ‘friendly clans’ content options which allows you to choose different cultures and backgrounds from the start in new worlds.
A content option has been added to open all serpent gates from the start in new worlds.
You can now select 6 content options when you start a new world.
Food items have much more texture: they can have different qualities such as fresh, dried, rotten or blighted.
The Foraging skill now also helps with identifying which foods are dangerous to eat.
The Star Gazing skill has been changed. You can gain oriented, and possibly inspired when resting outdoors at night.
Oriented lasts a little longer.
Kramas & Tjilpit keeps for 12 days, but to have any effect the meal you prepare must come from fresh produce.
Spirit Pearls are more expensive and rarer to find with traders.
The Vampiric Broodspawn staff has fewer charges.
Bug Fixes
Pavilion23 isn’t added as a trait for the Raafi after returning specific relics.
Fixing issue with herbs and plants not respawning after a reload when they should.
When a level is regenerated its variant is cleared properly.
Fixing an issue with the Rough Road template that caused the generator to fail.
Improves the way the generator can recover from generation failures.
The Unformed Labyrinth cannot use small and large keys which inhibit the labyrinth from forming correctly.
Patch 1.0.15 with hard, experimental difficult settings!
We’ve added a feature much requested by our community: the option to add markers and notes to the map!
We’ve also had a very good discussion with some of our most experienced players and this led to some changes in camping, but more importantly to 3 new difficulty settings designed to make the mid and end game more challenging. These settings are experimental, they might be a little extreme but we are curious to see what their effects are. If you still struggling rest assured, they are also fully optional.
New Features - Add your own markers and notes to the map. - New experimental difficulty modifier: Easier to Wound. - New experimental difficulty modifier: Sigil Hunters. - New experimental difficulty modifier: No Healing Brews.
Bug Fixes - Dropping items from your inventory works properly again. - Prevents rocks from blocking Haven’s entrance. - Mosquitoes don’t spawn in settlements. - Interrupting creatures spawn closer to your camp consistently. - Aggressive wildlife prevents you from camping. - The hunted status is more severe but is correctly removed after an encounter is spawned.
