Zorbus cover
Zorbus screenshot
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS), Indie

Zorbus

Update notes for release 60.9


  • When you turn off your lantern, companions will now immediately turn off their lanterns too. Previously they waited for they turn to act to do that. (thanks to Jeremy for mentioning)
  • Dualshot and Multishot talents now have their range listed as "Weapon range / max talent range (8)" and the talent descriptions now also mention that weapon ranges are used, but the max range is 8.
  • You can now create an obituary file of an ongoing game from the game menu (opened with ESC). CTRL + D to create (no indicator is shown) or CTRL + O to create and open in default text editor. These hotkeys are listed in the setting "Create obituary after death" description. (thanks to Person for suggesting)
  • There's now a chance that certain lore books are created in the starting areas of the 7th-9th dungeon levels.

Update notes for release 60.8


  • Fixed various mouse targeting related bugs.
  • Tweaked "Autopilot delay" setting a bit.
  • Updated the ingame lore book "Book of Deicide" with more endgame info. The book is now always generated in the starting area of the last dungeon level.
  • Updated the endgame info in the PDF manual.

Update notes for release 60.7


  • Some UI work:


    • Worked on some of the menu layouts to fit more text in the infoboxes.
    • You can press F1 (or either thumbstick on the controller) to toggle an enlarged infobox.
    • You can now increment the interface zoom by 1 point instead of 10.
    • Better handling of very high interface zoom levels.
  • New setting: "Autopilot delay": The amount of delay when "Draw screen when continuously walking" or "Draw screen autopiloting" is checked.
  • Zorbupedia and the PDF manual now has entries for "Darkvision" and "Stealth vs perception".
  • If a creature does not see the player, the "?" mark on it is green if hiding was very successful, yellow otherwise. (very successful = stealth was 10 or more points higher than perception)
  • Dualstrike talent is now usable with reach weapons when the target is one step away. (thanks to TolkienCat for mentioning)
  • Companions now use a talent point on ability boost talents if they have 2 talent points but don't yet fill requirements of other talents. (thanks to TolkienCat for mentioning)
  • Companions no longer pick Spirited Learner talent if Spirit ability is equal or lower to Mind. (thanks to TolkienCat for mentioning)
  • Fixed a bug where companions could pick the Bloodlust talent twice. (thanks to TolkienCat for mentioning)
  • Fixed a bug where you could waste a flask on everlasting ammunition.

Update notes for release 60.6


  • Tameable animals now have the Spirited Learner talent, and can learn talents on level ups. Talents are chosen from ability boosters, Bloodlust, Evasion, Health Surge, Die Hard, and Squirm. Animal companions are leveled up to your experience level only after taming them. They get their Health, Stamina, Dodge-skill, and natural attacks boosted when you level up.
  • Removed "unarmed" from the Melee-skill description. The skill is used only with melee attacks made with weapons.
  • Disable / Magic / Melee / Ranged -skills are dimmed on the character sheet for animal / non-humanoid companions, if not applicable.
  • If a companion is unarmed then its natural attacks are listed on the 2nd page of the character sheet.
  • if you have the Morbid Fascination of Undeath talent, you can now see the character sheets of animated undead companions.
  • Shooting at a lit animated candelabrum or at a brazier with an extinguishing ammo now extinguishes it. (thanks to Fieri the Merry for mentioning)
  • When buying stackable items like potions from a shop, the line "You already have X of these in your inventory." is shown in the infobox. Now it properly counts recently buyed items that haven't yet been stacked (stacking is done after the inventory is closed).
  • Manual and ingame help corrections.

Update notes for release 60.5


  • Changes to the archetype characters: The Bully (minotaur) and The Leader (aasimar) now both start with the Health Surge talent.
  • If you start the game with the Health Surge talent, it is now forced to quickslot 1. Previously if you started with for example Charge and Health Surge, Charge would go to slot 1 and Health Surge to 2.
  • Updated the gameplay tips in the ingame Tips & Tricks book and in the PDF manual.
  • Some cosmetic menu UI fixes.
  • Remember that you can change the game font from the settings. Any installed truetype font can be used.


    • One nice free font from Google Fonts that fits well into CRPGs: Asul ... (thanks to Smoke.b for mentioning!)
    • Try it with font height 16, row height factor 110, adjust interface zoom as wanted.
  • The leaderboard has been reset. Old leaderboard can be found here.

Update notes for release 60.4


  • Changes to the Morbid Fascination of Undeath talent:

    • Stats of your undead companions get automatically boosted everytime you descend to the next dungeon level.
    • You can not use any weapons or ammunition that does holy-damage.
  • You can now trigger detected suspicious furniture to reveal themselves by firing at them from afar with a reach / ranged attack. The attack itself does not do damage. Worst quality of ammunition is automatically used. (Detected suspicious furniture is mostly mimics, living statues, and such, and is marked with a red "!" on the furniture)
  • You can spring detected traps by firing at them from afar with a reach / ranged attack.

    • Worst quality of ammunition is automatically used.
    • Traps that affect a single creature do nothing when sprung from afar, but Animate, Confusion, Dismiss, and Summon traps are very usable.
    • Expert Trapper gives a +4 bonus to hit the trap. The Seeker Shots talent can not be used to shoot at traps.
  • Weapon changes:

    • New property: shafted. Shafted weapons deal 50% more damage on hit when Charge talent is used. Polearms, spears, hoopaks, and urgroshs are shafted weapons, but staves are not.
    • Urgrosh: removed great-property. Added reach- and shafted- properties.
    • Hoopak: Added shafted-property.
  • Charge talent description updated:

    • "You take one step towards a target creature, and make a melee attack with +3 modifier. You will cause 50% more damage on hit if you are wielding a weapon with the shafted-property. The talent's action cost is used instead of the weapon's action cost. Polearms (bardiche, glaive, halberd, ranseur), spears (spear, shortspear, trident), hoopaks, and urgroshs are shafted weapons, but staves are not."
  • You now get experience points from killing creatures while possessing someone.
  • Companions now correctly use flasks (of poison, slime, etc.) when in regroup-behaviour.
  • If the player leveled up before all of his companions had arrived on the map, then the companions not yet on the map didn't get the level up. Now after everyone has arrived on the level, a check is made to level up all companions up to the player's experience level.
  • Some new pages to the game over / win menu:

    • A kill count page with randomly positioned images of all killed monsters, a list of fallen companions, and a list of ascended companions. Only shown if applicable. Obituary files also have the fallen / ascended companions listed.
  • Replaced the menu click sound effect file. It was an OGG file that mysteriously every now and then sounded a bit distorted, something you could hear with headphones at least. Replaced it with the same effect but in uncompressed WAV format.
  • Some typos fixed.

Update notes for release 60.3


  • Tweaked some dungeon content generation parameters and edge cases. For example, previously you could come across a dungeon level where there were several hidden areas which were completely empty.
  • Filtering the game log wasn't possible when keybindings that had letter keys as movement keys were used (mainly the VI keybindings). You can now write a filter keyword in the log screen when SHIFT is pressed. (thanks to Zhuo for mentioning)

Update notes for release 60.2 + Tournament results + Scoring system woes


  • Hopefully fixed a bug where the player could level up at the same time as getting a low health warning dialog, making the game stuck on the dialog. I couldn't reproduce the situation, but tried to ensure that it won't happen. (thanks to OldMan for reporting)
  • When a player slots an item in companion's equipment, the slot is reserved, and the companion won't automatically change the item to an another one. To better indicate player slotted items, a letter "R" is now displayed on the right side of the equipment row, and when the selector is on the slot, a note is displayed in the item info box: "This item was slotted by the player. The slot is reserved, the companion won't automatically change this item to an another one.".
  • Fixed a bug related to the "Multikill" achievement.
  • Some recruitable creatures do not level up. To avoid confusion, "-" is displayed as level on their character sheet instead of "1".



Tournament results

The tournament is over, results can be seen at tournament.zorbus.net.

Congratulations to Isen, who won all the main categories!

Weekly wildcard winners from weeks 48 and 49, I've tried to reach you via email and friend invites, but no luck. If you want the $10 Steam gfit card, please contact me somehow. Your character names were Corinel and Creakshaw, Steam names are t***** and d***********.



Scoring system woes

The scoring system needs needs a revision. I'm thinking of dropping the real time speed factor from the score, but don't know yet how to differentiate two similar runs from each other. Turn count isn't really working either. Any ideas on this are very welcome!

Update notes for release 60.1

Tournament



If you win a prize in the tournament, check the email that you set in the settings or accept a Steam friend invite from me, otherwise I can not send you the gift card. You can remove me after you've got the card. Alternative to the Steam gift card is an Amazon gift card.

Week 48 winner, character name "Corinel", Steam name "t*****", check your mail...

Changes




  • Fix: Potion of Martyrdom does not heal withered companions.

  • Fix: Ring of Bonding does not heal / restore a withered companion.

  • Fix: tiefling clones no longer spam the Fire Ray talent.

  • If you have the Morbid Fascination of Undeath talent, you'll get full experience from kills made by your undead companions. Currently kills made from non-undead followers too, as I didn't want to break save file compatibility just for this. Will eventually be changed at next full release.

  • A red notification in item descriptions of disallowed items when you have the Morbid Fascination or Soothing Solitude talent. Now on your items when trading in shops, too.

  • You can now change companion behavior / tactics in examine mode with the controller:

    • Press B when the cursor is on yourself to change behavior of all companions.
    • Move the cursor over wanted companion to change its behavior with B.
    • Select a target creature or an empty map tile and press B to set an attack target or a travel destination for all companions.
    • Press Y to change tactics. If the cursor is on yourself or an empty tile, tactics of all companions are changed.
    • Press right bumper to command only expendable creatures.
    • You can not set a target creature or a travel destination for just one companion with the controller.

  • You can set a travel destination for companions in the map / autopilot screen with the controller. On the autopilot screen, select a destination with the cursor, press left trigger (all companions) or right trigger (expendables only).

  • Clarification to the Holy Warrior talent: holy-damage bonus applies only when a weapon is used, not on unarmed / gore attacks.

  • Added skill point formula and talent progression chart to descriptions of the Great Mind I & II talents.

  • Notes for Soothing Solitude, Morbid Fascination, etc. added to local leaderboard too.

December '23 Tournament with Steam gift card prizes!

In this tournament anyone can win!


  • $50 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the ascended Overgod with the highest score.
  • $25 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the ascended God with the highest score.
  • $25 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the fastest ascension.
  • $10 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for a wildcard winner each week.

The weekly wildcard winner is chosen randomly from all players who have played that week.

To make a wildcard entry, your character needs to level up to at least experience level 3, and have a higher score or more experience points than any of your previous characters during the tournament. Characters that reach the endgame are always included in the wildcard draw.

Wildcard prize can be won only once per player.

Rules and leaderboard here: tournament.zorbus.net