BIG NEWS, ADVENTURERS!

The first official playtest for the MythForce 1.2 update has OFFICIALLY BEGUN!

It’s time to jump in and experience the most RADICAL version of MythForce yet, featuring:

• New skill trees for each hero
  
• New encounter objectives that keep you guessing on every dungeon run
  
• A reworked armory system that lets you customize your weapons the way you want
  
• Numerous metagame and progression reworks to enhance your adventure
  
• Hundreds of bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, and so much more!

Didn’t register for the playtest via the MythForce Discord[discord.gg]?

No worries!

We’ve decided to open up the 1.2 playtest to as many players as possible—so if you own MythForce, you can jump in right now!


1️⃣ Select MythForce from your Steam Library
2️⃣ Right-click the game and select Properties
3️⃣ Navigate to the Beta tab on the left panel
4️⃣ Click the dropdown menu next to Beta Participation and select the public test branch to download the 1.2 build
5️⃣ Have fun! 🎉
6️⃣ Let us know what you think!

Once you've had a chance to experience the 1.2 build, we’d love to hear your feedback! Share your thoughts in the MythForce Discord[discord.gg] or Steam Discussions and help us make the game even better.

See you in the dungeon! 🏰⚔️
Now, let's see what Project Director Luke Rideout has to say about the Update!

Greetings, friends! Project Director Luke here.

Welcome to the absolutely massive overhaul of MythForce that is version 1.2. It’s a huge departure in many ways from the MythForce we launched back in 2023, almost a total re-imagining of the broader game.

We’ve gone over all of the feedback we’ve gotten from our launch into Early Access, then since launch, looking at what we’ve done right, and wrong, with each of our previous updates, to see what resonated and what didn’t, and the big pain points that still exist in the game today. We’ve thought long and hard about what we wanted the identity of the game to be, and decided that to make MythForce the game we truly want you to experience, it was going to require us to rethink the very soul of MythForce’s gameplay.

At its heart, MythForce is about adventuring with your friends through the Cursed Lands, slashing and bashing monsters, and getting stronger as you go. It should be a series of big, joyous moments, and you should always feel like you’re powerful.

Many of the Roguelike elements that we were leaning on weren’t really hitting the mark - there was certainly fun to be had in the randomness and chancing on the perfect run, but too much was left to rolls of the dice, and too little was truly in your hands to choose. We want you to “have the power” in MythForce, and that means a big shift away from powering up in the dungeon, instead turning the focus on gaining power through play, then crafting the build you truly will enjoy playing.

Though we still have plenty of randomness to keep you on your toes in the dungeon, 1.2 takes a big step back from “Roguelike” and much further into a more traditional “Multiplayer Action game with random elements” - We’ve turned our focus on giving you the ability power up and build out your hero to take on the challenges of the dungeon.

There isn’t nearly enough space in our patch notes to cover all of the changes made, so you’ll have to discover some for yourself, but here are the big headlines:


In this reimagining of MythForce, we approached the metagame from a perspective of changing the previous “Spend currency to expand your possibility space” to “Level up and create your perfect build”.


The main method of powering your character up over time in 1.2 is via leveling up your character. After each run in the dungeon, you will receive a certain amount of XP which will contribute to the level of the character. These levels unlock access to more powerful upgrades in each of the buildings in the Citadel, as well as giving you ability points to further customize your character in the Observatory (see below). For those players who joined us during Early Access, this may feel familiar as a greatly powered-up version of our pre-1.0 Rank system.

As your character’s level increases, the city will continue to be rebuilt (No more spending to upgrade buildings), and offer access to better services.


The armory is now a place to customize your weapons. We’ve moved all weapon enchantments out of the dungeon and into Sir Lucien’s capable hands. Choose your weapons and apply up to 4 powerful enchantments per weapon to take with you into the dungeon.

• Weapons are no longer character-locked. Any character can carry any weapon.
  
• Instead of specific weapon sets, loadouts are composed of a main and offhand slot.
  
• You no longer unlock and upgrade enchantments to be found in the dungeon
  
• Enchantments are now applied to weapons inside the Armory.
  
• Each weapon has a primary enchantment slot and up to 3 secondary slots
  
• Selected weapons in either loadout are separately enchantable

The Library is largely unchanged in 1.2, but does include the addition of a 4th book: A Glossary of terms that will help you in understanding all of the various effects that you can encounter in MythForce. The Glossary is fully unlocked without collecting any lost pages in the dungeon.


The Observatory has seen the largest change in 1.2, as we have completely removed the concept of shards and slotting shards into constellations. Now, the Observatory is the place you go to power yourself up by spending points in your character’s ability trees.

• Each character now has 3 distinct ability trees. 1 Skill point is gained every level, which can be spent freely across all 3 trees, but points must be spent in each level of the tree to unlock access to the next step up toward the top of the tree.
  
• Each tree also has 3 loadout slots that you can use to custom-build different builds for different playstyles.
  
• As you level up, you also gain attribute points, which can be applied to Strength, Magic, or Toughness (Now encompassing both physical and magic defense).

Keaton offers a new service in loaning out trinkets for you to take with you into the dungeon! Now you can upgrade your amulets, bracers, boots, and charms in the emporium, then bring one of each with you into the dungeon. Beware, Redcaps can (and will!) still steal your gear, so trinkets will also still appear in chests.

• A number of new trinkets have been added for each category, for a total of 15 each.
  
• Glyphs can be spent in the emporium to permanently power up the trinkets you can take into the dungeon. Higher level upgrades are locked behind character level.

There are fewer perks in MythForce than there were previously, with many former perk offerings being rolled into the player Skill Trees, but a few new perks have been added, and upgrades to perks are now instantly applied when found in the dungeon, allowing for access to much greater power without having to stack multiple choices.


The Boutique remains the same as it was - use Glyphs to buy cosmetics, voice lines, and emotes that can be applied to your character to use in the dungeon.


The biggest change to the dungeon experience is in the addition of a number of new “Encounter Objective” types that flavor the way you interact with each room as you play. Now each time you enter a new room in the dungeon, you will be given an objective that must be completed in order to progress to the next room. Some of the objectives are as follows:

• Defeat Enemies: The classic, simple combat experience. There will be a number of waves of enemies that spawn, and each must be defeated in order to move on.
  
• Horde Mode: Once the entire party has gathered in the room, the forces of evil begin throwing everything they have at you. The horde will continue spawning until the timer expires. Upon defeating the remaining enemies after the timer expires, the exit will be unlocked.
  
• Destroy the Crystals: There are a number of Power Crystals magically locking the exit of the room. All but one crystal at a time will be protected by a shield. Destroy each crystal in order, while defending yourself from waves of enemies, to move on.
  
• Discharge the Relic: A large Relic powers a shield guarding the exit. Discharge it by staying in close proximity for some time while fighting a horde of enemies. After the Relic is discharged, defeat remaining enemies to unlock the exit.
  
• Disable the Barrier: The exit is sealed with a powerful magical barrier. Fight through a horde of enemies, picking up the Soul Gems they drop. Fire the Soul Gems at the barrier to bring it down. Defeat remaining enemies to unlock the exit.
  
• Protect the Artifact: Activate a mighty Artifact that can bring down the barrier around the exit. Protect it long enough from a horde of enemies to drop the barrier. Fail, and the Artifact will be reset and you will be forced to start again! Defeat remaining enemies to unlock the exit.
  
• Slot the Medallions: 3 Stone Medallions have fallen out of their receptacles and are scattered throughout the room. Slot them into their receptacles while fighting off a horde of enemies to unlock the door mechanism. After all Stone Medallions have been slotted, defeat the remaining enemies to unlock the exit.
  
• Destroy the jewels with Soul Gems: 3 blue soul jewels are located in the room. Fight through a horde of enemies, picking up the Soul Gems they drop. Destroy the Jewels by firing the Soul Gem at them. When all Jewels are destroyed, defeat the remaining enemies to unlock the exit.
  
• Destroy the jewels in sequence: 3 green soul jewels are mounted on the wall in the room. Destroy them in sequence by attacking the highlighted jewel while fighting off a horde of enemies. Each jewel must be destroyed before the timer runs out or the sequence will be reset.

All status effects are now associated with a number of specific keywords, each one covered in detail within the new Glossary, which can be found in the Library in the Citadel. These tags will make the effects of all of the abilities and effects in the game much clearer. Also, every effect has been clearly sorted into the category of Buffs and Debuffs which have their own dedicated space on the screen while adventuring. Some new keywords include (But are not limited to):

• Bravado: Guarantees the next hit to be a crit
  
• Lethal: Lethal attacks instantly kill Non-Tough creatures and deal double damage against Tough creatures
  
• Tough: Only take double damage from Lethal attacks, and can’t be Knocked Back, Knocked Down, Frozen, or Rooted
  
• Affinity: Having Affinity with an element causes you to be healed by it instead of damaged.
  
• Weakened: Decreases damage output by the weakened creature
  
• Exposed: Guarantees that the next hit on the Exposed creature does Critical damage.
  
• Damage Linked: A portion of the damage dealt to Damage Linked creatures is also dealt to other Damage Linked creatures.

You can peruse all 37 keywords and their effects in the Glossary!


Now elemental effects can be combined to create powerful magical explosions, affecting all enemies nearby. When an enemy is afflicted with Burning, Chilled, or Electrified, then applying one of the other elemental effects causes an AoE explosion causing elemental damage and applying a debuff:

• Burning + Chilled = Weakened
  
• Burning + Electrified = Exposed
  
• Chilled + Electrified = Damage Linked

We’ve changed how Mystic Forges appear in your dungeon runs. Instead of alternating between forges and Skill Shrines, now they can occasionally appear randomly in dungeon rooms while exploring. They will always provide 4 choices - 1 per weapon, per loadout, or 2 for a 2-handed weapon (i.e. if you have a sword and shield, you will get 1 sword enchantment, 1 shield enchantment, or 2 enchantments for a bow). The Enchantment shrine will grant from the pool of all secondary enchantments available.

• Did a consistency pass on strings where we now refer to either "buffs" or "debuffs", as well as "elemental debuffs" or "non-elemental debuffs". We don't use the term "status effect" anymore
  
• We have added “Uncommon” as a distinct tier across all weapons, trinkets, and perks.
  
• Added new icons to the dungeon depth progress bar to show special rooms (Treasure icon for Treasure/Merchant, skull icon for Lieutenant/Boss/Setpiece).
  
• Rerolls can now be used freely up to the limit per-run, instead of one reroll per shrine.
  
• Trap damage now scales against enemies, making them always viable against enemies, even in high difficulty and late-game.
  
• In all Mythic difficulties, all monsters that can appear in the chapter will be able to spawn in any episode in that chapter at any depth. Creature rosters will still progress more gradually in Easy~Hard difficulty.

• A number of improvements to the in-game HUD
  
• Re-organized and simplified the display of buffs and debuffs in the HUD to make it easier to understand the state of your character during gameplay
  
• UI Navigation with controller has been improved and stabilized.

• Champion enemies will no longer spawn in Chapter 1 on Easy or Normal difficulty.
  
• Previous “Filler” enemies like Redcaps are now part of the regular creature roster, so they can spawn as part of enemy waves, instead of only at the beginning of a room. Only Potstickers are now “fixed spawn” enemies.

There have been far more small bug fixes than are listed down below, but this is a list of some of the most “visible” items updated and fixed in v1.2.

• Hawkins can now use Air Dash while Spectral Detour is active.
  
• Chicory (Maggie’s Familiar) now has a different colored orb in its chest and eyes depending on the type of elemental damage it has applied.
  
• Fixed issues with the shield not re-equipping after using the Sling Shield ability.
  
• Rico can no longer backslash teleport onto Deadalus during his monologue before the final battle
  
• Rico’s backslash ability should no longer be able to miss

• Fix Enchantments: Gathering Storm, Sniping, and Strike Twice multiplying all damage you dealt while the weapon was equipped (e.g. damage dealt by abilities)
  
• Lethal damage is now calculated in a consistent place in the damage calculation, and it's calculated closer to the end of the damage calculation. Should avoid possible issues of damage being reduced by Physical or Magic Defense so that it's no longer Lethal.
  
• Greatsword power attacks and charging attacks no longer do a damageless AoE on attack. Previously it incorrectly appeared you were hurting enemies when you were not.
  
• Perfect actions have been further stabilized and cleaned up.
  
• Dodge, jump, and jump abilities are now client-authoritative, so should not rubberband or stutter in multiplayer. This also means it should be much less likely for a jump ability to fail to activate due to a bad connection to the host.
  
• Improved the Shield Bash hitbox.

• Fixed many creature attacks so they would be less likely to miss attacks that are within range.
  
• Fixed many attack ground indicators to better represent exactly where attacks will land
  
• Fixed creature AI to make better decisions about what attacks are appropriate at different engagement ranges
  
• Fixed Necrolytes getting completely stuck/lost after becoming blinded.

• Fixed an issue where buff and debuff effects could become stuck on screen even after the effect had expired.
  
• Now the last 2 enemies in any encounter become automatically pinged, instead of 1

• Fixed some audio issues where SFX were not playing when hitting prone enemies, or playing incorrectly when using mace charge attacks that hit nothing.
  
• Perks/Enchantments/Trinkets/Curses
  
• Fixed an issue where some trinkets could spawn that granted bonuses against enemies that would never spawn in that Chapter.

• Due to changes to improve the roster and spawning systems, Bestiary progress for Skeletal Lizardfolk (only) will be reset.

• Due to an EOS friends list server data issue, it is possible though rare that a network call causes a brief hitch in Citadel screens.

• Although we have greatly improved multiplayer action responsiveness, as MythForce is a Peer-to-peer game, if the client’s connection to the host is particularly poor, it is still possible for the client player to miss attacks that appear to have hit.

We've arrived at the final hero dev blog for the 1.2 update, and this week, we’re shining the spotlight on the heart & shield of MythForce—Victoria the Knight. As a steadfast defender, battlefield commander, and relentless warrior, Victoria brings a trio of unique playstyles that let you take control of combat in a variety of new ways. Whether you prefer standing strong as an unbreakable tank, rallying your allies as an inspiring leader, or diving headfirst into battle as a fierce warrior, Victoria’s rework ensures there’s a build for every kind of front line hero.


Let’s bring on the BONK and take a closer look at her three distinct classes: Knight, Commander, and Warrior.

As a Knight, Victoria is the shield that stands between your team and the unrelenting hordes of Deadalus's army. This class focuses on taunts, knockdowns, and defensive buffs, making her the ultimate wall of defense. Enemies won’t just notice you – they’ll be forced to deal with you.

Some standout abilities in Victoria’s Knight tree include:

• Eldryth’s Champion: Take less damage from, and deal more damage to, taunted enemies
  
• Valorous Charge: Gain one stack of ARMORED buff for each enemy hit by Victoria's vanguard ability.
  
• Knight: Taking hits charges your MythForce meter

As a Knight, when MythForce is activated, Victoria becomes indestructible, making her completely INVINCIBLE for its duration. If you love being the unmovable object standing between your allies and danger, the Knight class is for you.

The Commander class is all about supporting allies and weakening enemies. If you enjoy a leadership role, directing the battle through auras and buffs, this is your time to shine.

Some standout abilities in Victoria’s Commander tree include:

• Bolster: Creates a large aura upon activating Lion's Roar that buffs allies and debuffs enemies
  
• Intervene: Enemies hit by vanguard are electrified, and an aura is created on ability end that buffs allies
  
• Commander: Buffing allies and debuffing enemies charges your MythForce meter.

Activating MythForce as a Commander puts Victoria back on the offensive, granting her LETHAL damage against CORRUPTED enemies while making her allies RELENTLESS and POWERFUL for the duration. If boosting your team while crippling your foes is your playstyle, this class is your best pick.

Ready to smack first and ask questions later? The Warrior class turns Victoria into a relentless damage dealer who thrives on power attacks and charging headfirst into the action.

Some standout abilities in Victoria’s Warrior tree include:

• Pinball: Adds additional bounces to Sling Shield and inflicts burning on enemies the shield bounces to.
  
• Inner Flame: Lion's Roar inflicts burning on taunted enemies and is extended by every hit taken when active.
  
• Combat Veteran: On kill gain 2 max hp up to a maximum of 100 (sorry folks no more uncapped craziness)

When MythForce is triggered, Victoria’s power attacks become LETHAL for the entire duration, allowing her to carve through enemies like a true battlefield berserker. If high-risk, high-reward combat is your style, Warrior Victoria will be your new favorite build.


Development on the 1.2 update is progressing smoothly, and we’re still on track to launch our first playtest soon! If you haven’t already, make sure to join our Discord to get notified the moment the playtest goes live and secure your spot! If everything goes as planned, the next update you read here will be the exciting announcement that the 1.2 update is officially live for testing!

See you in the dungeon!......................(the 1.2 dungeon)