Ezmeralda 1.0 is out: four acts, four wards, one Sanctum

Ezmeralda 1.0 is here

Thank you to everyone who played, reported bugs and left feedback. 1.0 rebuilds Ezmeralda around a proper journey: acts, dungeons and bosses that guard the way forward.

Four acts, four wards

Each road out of town leads to a new act. Fight through the zone, find the ward lair at the far end and slay the ward boss that guards it.

• Act I - The Greenwood (east): the Forest Guardian
• Act II - The Sunscar (south): the Sand Colossus
• Act III - The Mire (west): the Spore Monarch
• Act IV - The Frostreach (north): the Frost Warden

Slay all four and the Sanctum opens in the town plaza, where the Hollow King waits.

Nightmare and Hell

Beat the Hollow King and Nightmare difficulty opens, then Hell. Every tier raises monster levels and the loot drops to match, and the wards must be slain again.

Side dungeons

Three optional dungeons, each with its own boss and a guaranteed named unique the first time you clear it:

• The Forgotten Crypt (Greenwood)
• The Sun Temple (Sunscar)
• The Molten Deep (Cinder Fields)

Also new

• Zone levels: monsters and loot scale with the act you are in
• A new main quest that follows the acts, with its own story text
• 21 new Steam achievements
• Dodge on Space (replaces jump)
• Every key can be rebound, and prompts show your own keys; gamepad works too
• Quest and story text in nine languages
• A cleaner interface, with boss health at the top of the screen and one font everywhere
• Music for every zone, including the town theme and boss music in the lairs

Co-op fixes

• Party votes to enter caves and lairs now work, and can be answered with keyboard or gamepad
• Fixed lost position updates that made other players stutter
• Fixed dungeon entry requests that never reached the host

Other fixes

• Fixed a crash that could happen at random during play
• Solo players now get XP from every kill
• Safer saving; F5 saves your game
• Dying now costs a fifth of the gold you carry. Your level, gear and stash are safe, and the death screen no longer claims you lost everything

Found a bug or have feedback? Post it in the Steam discussions; we read everything.

See you in the Sanctum!