Good day, traveler!

Chronicles of Vaeltaja's next update is just around the corner, so it's finally time to reveal some details. This update brings the second last Character Class, some changes to certain gameplay mechanics and UI changes.

The update will be released on Thursday 8th of February.

Let's start with the visual and UI stuff.

Visual Inventor, Quickbar, Item and Equipment Icons

Inventory is now more visual with new icons for each type of items and equipment. This makes it easier to spot the needed items from the inventory and gives a nicer look to the whole item management overall. Shops will still list their inventories like before, but now icons appear before the items name.

But there is another new improvement that is affected by icons: A Quickbar! Finally you can see the tools that you have equipped at the bottom of the gameplay screen. Quickbar can be used for torches, lanterns, camping gear, hour glass, and there is at least one new tool coming in the near future, but more about that at later date.

There are some other visual improvements: new minimap frame, new torchlight animation and some adjustment to torch and lantern lighting.

Combat Rows, Status Icons, New enemies and Damage Types

Combat Rows bring another big change to the table and give some tactical depth against enemies. In the beginning of the battle characters 4-6 are assigned to second row. If character in the front row falls in the battle, a character from the second row moves to front row until the fallen party member is revived. Row order: character 3 is behind character 1, 4 is behind 2 and 6 is behind 3. There will be small icons showing the row of each character.

With Combat Rows come two new damage types: melee and ranged. Characters in the back row are safe from most melee attacks, but there are some enemy special melee attacks that may still harm them. On the other hand, backrow characters are more vulnerable to ranged damage. Also flying enemies, such as leechers, can attack second row, though not as effectively as when they are attacking the first row.

To keep things interesting, this update will add two new enemy types: Bandit Archer and Outlaw Marksman. This changes some enemy mobs in several areas. Archer is equipped with a bow and Marksman uses a crossbow. Both have their own idle and attack animations.

Whip is the only melee weapon that can be used from the back row, so Witch Hunter is the only character class that is effective from both rows.

Status effects get their own individual icons too, making it easier to recognize them.

Optional Instant Movement

The second last addition is a little more experimental, as it brings optional Instant Movement mechanic. This means that the gameplay can be changed to remind old genre classics, such as Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and the first Lands of Lore. Instant Movement can be turned on in the options menu and unfortunately it works a little bit wonkier than other options: It has to be activated each time starting the game and it also needs to be activated with 'space' or controller's button, same goes with deactivating. I will try to find a fix for those issues as soon as possible.

Character Class: Conjurer

Finally the second last character class is coming to Chronicles of Vaeltaja: Conjurer!

Like Mages and Priests, Conjurer has its own two sub-classes: Summoner and Necromancer. This means more variety in character builds as you can hire two of them. Conjurer works quite differently than other classes, as it can summon either enemies or undead to aid in the battle. These summoned creatures, such as nikarus, leechers, skeletons and zombies, will replace the Conjurer for a few turns and they will attack automatically using their basic attacks and skills. By improving Conjurer's stats, the summons will grow stronger too. But beware: Conjurer's life is bound to those summoned creatures.

There will also be some bug fixes, balancing, performance improvements and other tweaks to improve the gameplay experience. For example after this update there's no more need to push 'forward' after turning towards npcs, doors and levers before activating them.

I hope these changes, additions and improvements will make Chronicles of Vaeltaja even deeper and more enjoyable experience to old and new players.

Thank You!

Jani/Witchgrove Games