The main goal of this update is to improve the replayability of the game. I wanted to make it more of a complete package that can support many hours of repeat playthroughs instead of roughly 1-2 hours to beat the base game once. The main way I've done this is to add a Difficulty Modifier system, which I've explained below. I've also made some other less-important changes, such as new items, a new music track that plays when you pick up one of those items, balance tweaks, and more. The game's base price will remain the same, and this update is offered as a free patch for everyone who owns it.
As part of this major update, I've put the game on sale for 20% off today. I also have the game's soundtrack awaiting store approval, and it will be available as DLC for $0.99 as soon as it is approved if anyone wants to add the game's music to their playlists for some chill BGM.
Thanks again to all the players! Here are the patch notes:
New Feature: Difficulty Modifiers
Difficulty Modifiers have been added to enhance replayability and add additional goals after you've beaten the game. This system works similar to ones you might have seen in some other roguelike games. You can choose special conditions to make your run more difficult using a menu accessed from the title screen, and the game will calculate a Difficulty Rating based on the modifiers chosen. The game will track your best Difficulty Rating beaten so you can try to beat your own "best score".
I have also added an Easy Mode as one of the difficulty modifiers, since some players found the game too difficult and frustrating while starting out. Using this modifier disables achievements.
The new Difficulty Modifiers are as follows:
- Easy Mode: -4 difficulty when enabled. Reduces the rate of needs loss by approximately 25%. Achievements are disabled while playing on Easy Mode.
- +Zombies Per Wave: +2 difficulty per level. Each level adds one additional zombie with each wave.
- +Fence Damage: +1 difficulty per level. Each level increases the damage zombies deal to fences by 100% (zombies deal normal damage, 2x damage, or 3x damage based on the level chosen.)
- Starting Supplies: +1 difficulty per level. Lowers the amount of starting supplies by 50% or 100% (Kaya starts with normal supplies, half supplies, or no supplies except the ammunition in her gun).
- Roguelite Mode: +4 difficulty when disabled (on by default). With Roguelite Mode disabled, Kaya loses all her levels when she dies.
New Feature: Rare Items
You can now find rare items at the shop, providing permanent passive bonuses for the rest of the run. The Assault Rifle has been moved to this list of items instead of dropping from zombies. Approximately 1 in 4 supply runs will offer a Rare Item.
The rare items are as follows:
- Assault Rifle: Increases fire rate, reducing time between shots by 0.4 seconds.
- Dot Sight: Guarantees a hit on the next shot following any miss.
- Boombox: Plays motivational music (a brand new music track). Also lowers stress by 50% while inside the house.
- Mattress Pad: Lowers the delay before gaining rest when falling asleep on the bed.
- Pacifier: Reduces the chance of the baby throwing a tantrum by 50%.
- Athletic Shoes: Increases the speed of supply runs by 1 second each way (going out and coming back).
- Spice Rack: Adds a small amount of stress relief (15% of food gained) when eating a bowl of soup.
New Achievements
Three new achievements have been added to the game for players to unlock. The new achievements are as follows:
- Twenty-Eight: Survive for 28 days.
- Win Harder: Escape with at least 5 difficulty.
- All But Impossible: Escape with at least 10 difficulty.
General changes and fixes:
- In order to eliminate some gamebreaking scenarios and encourage players to diversify skills, ranks in each skill are now capped at 12, with a global level cap of 85. If you already have over 12 in a skill on an existing saved game, you should be able to keep your skill as-is, but you will not be able to advance it further and the global level cap still applies.
- Needs loss is now slightly faster by default to reflect the addition of Rare Items and Easy Mode.
- The final ending cutscene's visuals have been improved (for new game+).
- The Assault Rifle now gives a slightly lower bonus to make it more balanced with other rare items.
- When holding baby on the sofa, he now gets comfort
- You can now get off the sofa, out of the bed, or out of the bathtub by simply moving away from them (after a short delay)
- The game now properly pauses when the player alt+tabs or the game window loses focus
- Changed caption on "take bowl" / "put back bowl" to "take soup" / "put back soup" for clarity and consistency
- Pressing E on the keyboard no longer selects menu options. You can use the keyboard to navigate menus by using the Enter key.
- Fixed a bug where putting back a bowl of soup wasn't turning off the red highlights marking unusable objects.
- Fixed a bug where putting too many levels into Gun Handling while having the Assault Rifle would break fire rate and revert it to default.
- The journal now opens faster when starting a new game.
- The assault rifle no longer drops from zombies and can instead by found as a rare item on supply runs.
- The Character Sheet has been changed to reflect the addition of Difficulty Modifiers and Difficulty Rating.
