Today I’ve uploaded patch 1.3.2, which brings a few changes and fixes.
Know that the console port is progressing; I’ve written an article that I need to finalize before publishing. I hope to be able to show you the game running on the Switch soon!
Addition of a second "Knockback" skill
I’ve added a new Knockback skill to the neutral skill tree, which is relatively quick to unlock.
If you obtain both Knockback skills, the effects will be combined.
I hope this little addition will please the players who requested it as a "default," since it can be unlocked very quickly (after Crawler, it’s quite achievable).
It’s not my intention to have a character with "a lot of default stuff," and I want to keep a game that can be completed without needing a huge arsenal.
In my opinion, that’s one of Noreya’s great strengths.
Changes to the first zone / start of the game
Once again, I’ve made changes to the first zone to satisfy/reduce the frustration of new players after watching many live streams and reading articles.
It turns out that in the very first areas, there are the backers’ tombstones, which apparently tended to confuse players who didn’t participate in the campaign.
As a result, I’ve removed all the tombstones from this area and placed them in a dedicated map that contains all the tombstones in one place.
This map can still be easily found early in the game!
The second change to the first zone is that the underground section of the forest used to be one-way, which frustrated many people who couldn’t collect the heart tier on their first attempt.
I’ve added platforms that allow movement in both directions, which should reduce the number of players getting lost at the beginning of the game.
Adjustment to healing time based on difficulty
Similarly, I noticed that many players complained about not being able to heal during a boss fight, which is quite common in metroidvanias. In Noreya, there are moments to heal, but they are specific and only allow for one heal.
Therefore, I’ve decided to adjust the healing time based on the difficulty level, reducing the first heal by 0.5 seconds in normal mode!
Addition of various gold loot / rewards
I also took advantage of this update to add some gold nuggets in a few areas that were a bit too empty.
I’ve also increased the amount of gold given by certain rare monsters.
And that’s it for the key changes, here’s the full patch log!
Patch Log:
Add/Improvements:
- change first area to remove tombs and allow both way in the underground forest
- add a dedicated map for the backers tombs
- change first heal speed
- add a new knockback skill in the skilltree
Fix:
- fix a critical error on boss 6
- fix markers reset after defeating a boss
- fix the teleportation to the statue can be used even if you don’t have the skill
- fix bug with the gamepad binding when playing with a PS5 controller
- fix missing “no respawn zone” in the first area, to avoid falling in loop into the spikes
- fix the default values for the outline setting which was not applied
