Early Access Patch 2: Checkpoints, Co-op QoL, Enemy AI Rework & Achievements

Hey everyone!

Thank you for the support, reviews, bug reports, and co-op sessions. This update exists because of your feedback!

Let us know what you think of the changes!

Patch Notes

Less frustration when you fall

Falling into the acid no longer ends your run in most cases. We've rolled out a checkpoint system across the dungeon. If you slip, you respawn at your latest checkpoint with a health penalty instead of a game over.

Co-op feels much more forgiving

• If one player falls while the other is alive, the fallen hero respawns right next to their partner.
• If both players fall, you both respawn at the latest checkpoint.
• In combat, downed heroes now stay revivable for up to 60 seconds.
• Triggers and room flow were fixed so the surviving player can keep progressing properly in co-op.

Triggers rebuilt from the ground up

We redesigned the trigger system to be simpler, more predictable, and co-op safe. QA testing shows a significant improvement over the previous implementation and should address the vast majority of trigger-related issues reported by players.

Enemy AI overhaul

• Clearer attack telegraphs and recovery windows
• Less unpredictable dash and attack patterns
• Tank enemies redesigned to feel fairer and more readable
• New attack animations and status frames across both biomes

Tutorial & onboarding

The tutorial has been reworked with camera fixes, improved voice-over, and gentler training enemies so new players and co-op partners can learn the game at a better pace.

Achievements - Batch 1

The first batch of Steam Achievements is included, featuring tutorial completion, kill milestones, hero victories, gold collection, forbidden powers, Mad King choices, and more.

Plus a lot under the hood

• Hero stamina tuning
• Boss balance updates, including Ronhak, and corruption adjustments
• Audio, UI, collider, and navmesh fixes across many rooms
• Lighting improvements, reflection probe updates, and general polish

Mad King Redemption is now available on Early Access!

Full list of changes below:

Kill Zones & Checkpoints

• Checkpoint respawn on acid falls - falling into a kill zone no longer ends the run by default. Heroes respawn at the latest activated checkpoint with a 20% max HP penalty (configurable per trigger).
• Kill zone behavior modes - triggers now support Respawn at Checkpoint , Reload Scene , and legacy Instant Death .
• Checkpoint rollout - activate-checkpoint triggers added/updated across Biome 1 rooms (e.g. Wet Road, Shadowmere, Drowned Necropolis, Dread Passage, Arcane Chamber, Pit of Baron Morgrim) and Biome 2 rooms (e.g. Catacombs, Flooded, Dark Corridor).
• Fixed acid death not applying correctly in Side Effect room.
• Fixed kill zone placed too low in Catacombs (heroes dying unexpectedly).
• Fixed the kill zone health penalty not applying correctly in Flooded.
• Fixed acid point placement in Flooded.

Co-op

• Acid fall (single player down) - fallen hero respawns beside the alive partner (with HP penalty).
• Acid fall (both players down) - both heroes respawn at the latest shared checkpoint.
• Dual-fall grace window- if one hero falls first, the partner has a short window to keep playing before dual-fall checkpoint recovery kicks in.
• Downed bleedout extended to 60 seconds (was 20s) - more time to revive a partner in combat.
• Partner revive hold tuned to 2 seconds (was 3s).
• Fixed Loot soft-lock in tutorial co-op
• Fixed second-wave collider in Catacombs co-op.
• Fixed Dark Corridor spawn camera trigger in co-op.
• Mad King choice rooms: added a 10-second delay after a choice so both co-op players can pick their Forbidden power.

Enemy AI

• Full AI rework for Melee, Tank, and Ranged - mandatory telegraph states, explicit recovery, and removed hidden random timing.
• Melee - beat-em-up attack queue (max 3 slots), staging positions instead of random ring placement.
• Tank - guard cycle rework, reactive guard, close-strike fix, aligned aggression with melee archetype.
• Ranged - kite behavior as explicit states, volley cooldowns.
• Dash rework - dash attacks now enter recovery; less unpredictable burst movement.
• New telegraph/recovery animation states and frames for all enemy types across both biomes.
• Fixed ranged attack timing and hit detection.
• Fixed tank permanently high guard loop under player combos.
• Tutorial training enemies now deal 1 damage and use the same AI profile as their real counterparts.

Heroes & Combat

• Fixed Darkblade dash behavior.
• Fixed R2 dash not entering recovery state.
• Fixed camera on double-tap R2.
• Fixed Branok wrestler attack animations and frames.
• Hero stamina costs tuned down on overpowered attack chains.
• Corruption crash cost - entering post-corrupted state now removes 25% of max HP instead of 50% (reduced further by Getting Used To It passive).

Bosses

• Fixed Boss Magician super-armor health state.
• Fixed Boss 2 health bar display.
• Fixed Ronhak missing stun reaction.
• Retuned phase weights for Ronhak's 3 phases.

Tutorial

• Full tutorial rework - updated flow, Seraphina dialogue fixes, removed shop/dungeon block triggers that caused camera issues.
• Fixed camera behavior after teleport warps.
• Fixed voice-over playback.
• Restored the double Forbidden power choice in the tutorial.
• Fixed Mad King dialogue skips.

Achievements (Batch 1)

• 24 achievements added.

UI

• Fixed notification panel alignment and alpha transparency.
• Fixed Player 2 Forbidden power UI filler display.

Audio

• Fixed missing music in the Too Many Holes room.

Visual & Level Polish

• Sprite pivot and atlas rework across enemies (including Soul Reaper, Biome 2 enemies).
• Fixed Arcane Chamber acid shader.
• Fixed reflection probe bakes (Side Effect, all scenes).
• Fixed lighting and compositing in Flooded, Catacombs roof, Wet Road.
• Fixed Biome 1 & 2 material issues in Drowned Necropolis.
• Fixed VFX/meta material on prefabs.
• Too Many Holes - replaced King Axes with King Hammers (visual/content fix).
• Destructibles added to room corners.
• Fixed camera not resetting correctly on scene start.
• Fixed smoothed rotation and health player-index reference bug.

Collider & NavMesh fixes

• Shadowmere Dock - pier collider (could fall through right side).
• Shadowmere Abyss - platform colliders (could get stuck and skip enemies).
• Pit of Baron Morgrim - jump platforms, chest, wall colliders.
• Catacombs - initial jump colliders, disabled stray NPC triggers.
• Side Effect - acid and jump colliders.
• The Lift (Biome 1) - floor collider.
• Wet Road, Drowned Necropolis, Flooded, The Press — navmesh obstacles and collider passes.

Help us shape the game!

Found something odd? Let us know which room, hero, and game mode you were playing so we can track it down quickly.