Difficulty Tuning Update Dredged from the Death Gallery

Hi, it's Sookuma! Ahead of the upcoming Faith patch, I've prepared an update to smooth out our adventure's difficulty.

We looked through every entry in the 'Death Gallery'—the death records and replays you all sent in during the last demo (it doesn't contain any names or personally identifying info at all!). Watching one friend fall here and another fall there, I tracked down and fixed the unfair deaths that happened because of frustrating moments rather than a lack of skill.

On top of that, I've made the rules shared between monsters and Sookuma fair, while also packing in changes to heighten the thrill of adventure—like traps and bosses made intentionally more dangerous.

Death Gallery: Moments Behind Unfair Deaths

• Softened Pincushion Kokkok's multi-hit damage and made its behavior smarter. I lowered its Named attack bonus from 3 to 1—which previously dealt up to 19 critical damage on Floor 2 and took Sookuma down—and adjusted regular critical hit multipliers from 1.6x to 1.5x. Also, when ranged monsters (including Kokkok) strike from right next to you (including diagonally), damage is halved (rounded up), and diagonally, they will now step back or strike instead of shooting. In return, when Sookuma approaches, Kokkok flees toward allies outside Sookuma's line of sight to wake them up (12-turn cooldown), and its needles regrow one by one every 8 turns. It also acts tactically, doing things like taunting when Sookuma's swing misses or when its needle rain hits!
• Adjusted the stats of Twentynights, Mother of Lamps and Lantern Moths. I removed the Named bonus from Twentynights, Mother of Lamps, who used to cover Floor 2 with moth swarms. Lantern Moths (including those hatched from eggs) no longer receive floor bonuses; instead of their previous stats (HP 23, Attack 18), they now appear on every floor with their base stats from the first public demo (HP 12, Attack 6) to ease the pressure.
• Twentynights, Mother of Lamps now lays actual eggs that can be broken before hatching. Twentynights lays three Lantern Moth Eggs (HP 5) beside herself at a time. If left alone, they hatch into hasted Lantern Moths after 5 turns, but if you hit and break them before they hatch, nothing emerges, letting you eliminate them ahead of time. For safety, you cannot rest while eggs are in view, and the TAB key will prioritize targeting visible eggs so you can react quickly!
• Fixed The Lone-Sock Grudge's excessive melee attack power. I removed the attack modifier on The Lone-Sock Grudge, which was dealing massive damage of 15, 14, and 13 over three turns on Floor 2, adjusting it to use an Attack of 6, matching standard Sock Ghosts.
• Lowered the attack power of Sleep Wisps that ambushed alongside The Lone-Sock Grudge. To reduce situations where you collapse while trapped by stacked poison and wisps with your steps stolen, I lowered the Sleep Wisp's Attack from 9 to 6.
• Cleaned up past-run ghosts so multiple don't stack on a single floor. While the ledger keeps records of your last five runs, only the single most recent run that fell on that specific floor and branch will now appear as a ghost.
• 13 deep-floor monsters now appear on their intended floors. I fixed the issue where monsters appeared on shallow floors with deep-floor attack power. Seedwing Butterflies now properly spawn on Main Dungeon Floor 5 and Mine Floors 2 and 3 (from Mine Floor 2 onward), while Candle Spiders and Yawn Bears only appear on Mine Floor 3. Bone Archers and other deeper-floor monsters will no longer appear as regular monsters on demo floors (Ossia the Bone Archer, being a Named monster, will continue to appear separately).

Enemies Play by the Same Rules as Sookuma

• Enemy skill conditions now follow the same line-of-sight rules as Sookuma. Targeted enemy skills now require the caster's own line of sight and cannot be used through walls or statues (including The Lone-Sock Grudge's step-stealing). Untargeted area-of-effect skills (songs, spores, flashes, etc.) may be used without line of sight, but will now only trigger when the enemy is aware of Sookuma's presence!
• You can now counter the attacks of the Two-Breath Hound and Nua the Stormwool Shepherd. When the Two-Breath Hound growls, ducking behind a corner prevents it from pouncing, and while Nua the Stormwool Shepherd's dark cloud retains its guaranteed-hit check, it no longer adds extra attack power against a sleeping Sookuma.
• Monster skill power now scales with the monster's own Attack instead of floor depth. Skill strength no longer inflates based on the floor, instead scaling from the monster's own base Attack. Spell power is determined as 4 + Attack/4 (Drain power - 1), mental spell power equals Attack, Curse and Confusion duration is 2 + Attack/6 turns, and Suspicious Mold healing is 5 + Attack/2. The artificial extra modifiers (+3/+4) previously tacked onto elites, Named foes, and bosses are gone as well.
• Resistances now block matching status effects with a single 90% check. Magic resistance blocks mental status effects like Confusion, Fear, Curse, and Rooted spells with a single 90% check, while Cold resistance blocks Freeze with a single 90% check. Equipping the proper resistance means you'll almost never suffer these status effects, and without resistance, this 90% defense check won't happen at all (the existing Will checks against mental spells remain unchanged). Squeak of the First Frost's frost breath now undergoes a Cold resistance check too, and magical Drain damage can also be halved by Magic resistance!

Sookuma's Combat and Equipment Handling

• Established melee strike rules for bows and staves and expanded proficiencies. Striking in melee with a Bow or Staff now deals half damage (rounded up). Hitting in melee with a Bow grants a small amount of Bow proficiency while also raising Mace proficiency. In addition, there's a brand-new Unarmed proficiency that levels up when striking enemies bare-handed.
• Reduced shield equipping turns and polished the Shield's full-block effect. Equipping and swapping shields now takes 1 turn (down from 2) just like weapons, and you can raise one right in front of enemies without a confirmation prompt (accessories remain 3 turns, armor remains 5 turns). Also, when your Shield completely blocks an enemy attack, a notification reads 'Shield negated the damage' with no critical text or wounds left behind!

Named Monster Overhaul and New Tough Foes

• Retired nameless elites and unified Named monster stats. Named monsters now appear in place of nameless elites, inheriting their racial skills. Named foes possess consistent stats across any floor alongside fixed weapons (such as Ossia the Bone Archer's shortbow; Celune, Star of the Ceiling's glass star staff; Moriel of the Spore Hymn's bare hands, etc.), never inflating their stats or picking up weapons based on the floor.
• 9 Named foes with brand-new gimmicks join the fray donning gold rings. Now appearing: Hum the Resonant Conch, who reflects half of incoming damage; Nod the Drowse Master, who receives Shields from disciples; Squeak of the First Frost, who grows spikes on Frost Mice (Main Dungeon Floors 2–4); Peep the Doorcrack Eye, who ambushes then hides; Grin the Smiling Mask, who swaps positions when struck; Gulp the Coin-Swallower, who steals gold coins and flees; Toot the Horn Captain, who shoves a confused Sookuma (Main Dungeon Floors 4–5 and Beehive Mine); Tick the Wound-Up Charger, who charges relentlessly (Main Dungeon Floor 5 and Mine Floors 2–3); and Buzz the Guard Captain, who awakens hives to reveal your location (Beehive Mine Floors 1–3)!
• All Named monsters in the demo are reborn with dedicated pixel art. Along with the 12 existing foes that previously only wore gold rings on their racial sprites (the four on Floor 2; Ossia the Bone Archer; Celune, Star of the Ceiling; Sereno the Sleeptalker; Nua the Stormwool Shepherd; Numo, the Erased Scribe; The Tide-Lantern Oracle Crab; Two-Breath Hound; Kin of Hearth-Ash), all 9 new Named foes (Hum the Resonant Conch; Nod the Drowse Master; Squeak of the First Frost; Peep the Doorcrack Eye; Grin the Smiling Mask; Gulp the Coin-Swallower; Toot the Horn Captain; Tick the Wound-Up Charger; Buzz the Guard Captain) have received dedicated sprites. Now, every Named foe in the demo stands tall with unique pixel art distinct from standard monsters.
• Vaults and shrines are now guarded by Named foes, and staying over 400 turns is far more perilous. Floor vaults and shrines are now guarded by that floor's Named monster (except Floor 1). Also, enemies that seep in when staying on a single floor for over 400 turns have been intentionally tuned to be tougher, with two of the same species capable of appearing at once (3% on Main Dungeon Floor 2, 30% from Main Dungeon Floor 3 onward and in the Mine; no loot drops).

Traps and Pits: More Dangerous the Deeper You Go

• Traps are intentionally deadlier the deeper you go, and enemies and allies can fall into pits too. Trap counts in the Main Dungeon and Mine have increased (12–20 in the Main Dungeon, 18–20 in the Mine); dart, poison dart, and fall damage are stronger starting from Main Dungeon Floor 3 and on every floor of the Beehive Mine; and spike traps and miasma traps now appear from Main Dungeon Floor 3 onward as well as all Mine floors (including Mine Floors 1 and 2). Enemies and companions (except giant bosses) can also fall into pits, taking the same fall damage and remaining on the floor below (companions must be spoken to again to rejoin), though pits will not appear on final floors like Mine Floor 3!

Bosses and the Crystal Echo

• Locked boss stats and intentionally buffed the Crystal Echo. Area boss stats—including Sewer King Gurgleguts, Wax Queen Hanibera, and the Guardian of the Dream Heart—no longer scale with the floor and are now locked to fixed values (e.g., Guardian of the Dream Heart HP 300). Meanwhile, the Crystal Echoes summoned by the Guardian of the Dream Heart have been intentionally empowered to stand in complete form with HP identical to the original bodies (Wax Queen Hanibera's Echo HP 116).

Beehive Mine Ecosystem Overhaul

• Added Worker Bee swarms and the new 'Bee Venom' status effect. Swarms of swift, tiny Worker Bees (HP 8, Attack 3, in groups of 10–14) now appear in the Mine; they sting, inflict Bee Venom, and perish (no loot drops). Bee Venom stacks up to 6 times per sting, dealing 1 damage each turn and causing an action delay of 0.05 turns per stack, though poison curing and poison resistance apply.
• Added Soldier Bees and Wax Golems, settling the Mine's ecosystem. Starting on Mine Floor 2, you'll encounter Soldier Bees (HP 16, Attack 5) that alert others to Sookuma's location, alongside sturdy Wax Golems (HP 72) that are weak to fire (1.5x damage) but have a 30% chance to inflict 2 turns of Rooted. Bees and golems reside solely in the Mine while Lantern Moths have departed the Mine entirely, and the guard bees from the Beeking Diligence covenant scale to Sookuma's level (from Level 1 HP 8, Attack 3 to Level 10 HP 26, Attack 16)!

Unified Action Time and Speed Rules

• Every action takes its proper time, and speed rules are now unified for monsters and Sookuma. Every action now takes its own distinct amount of time, and monsters move consistently according to their individual speed without random rolls—you can even check their movement speed via the indicator above their heads. Haste and Slow follow identical rules for both Sookuma and monsters: Haste sets action time to 2/3 (acting 1.5x faster) and Slow sets it to 3/2, completely eliminating the old odd/even rhythms and enemy skip turns.
• Weapons now use actual swing times, removing RNG-based extra attacks and openings. Previously, fast weapons had a chance to strike once more ('Quick hands - once more!'), heavy weapons had a chance to leave an opening after swinging that let enemies take an extra turn ('A heavy weapon held your hand - an opening appeared!'), and Quick Reflexes follow-up arrows also triggered by chance. Now, all of these random chances are gone, replaced by the actual swing time of each weapon. Daggers take 0.8 turns, Bows take 1.1 turns, Polearms take 1.15 turns, Maces take 1.25 turns, and other weapons take 1 turn. As weapon proficiency rises, this can be reduced down to 70% of the base time, but never below 0.7 turns!
• Steps and summons follow the same time rules, letting you see action time costs right away. Whether walking manually, auto-exploring, or mouse-walking, each step takes exactly 1 turn, rough terrain like Mud costs 1 extra turn, and Bee Venom directly adds delay to every action. Summons and companions follow the same speed rules—a hasted summon acts three times across two turns—and the character info window displays total time and the time spent on your last action, such as 'Time: 12.3 (0.8)'.

Faith Tuning, Bestiary, and Quality of Life

• Ahead of the Faith patch, available deities to worship in the demo have been streamlined to five. You can now worship Dreamguide Maze, Beeking Diligence, Ember, Redfang, and Gambler All-In, while Quiltmother Snug, Sporemother Mycelia, Rumble, and Hoarder Oddments are temporarily locked (altars and statues remain, and effects from runs where you were already worshipping them will persist).
• Added statuses to the Bestiary and polished game terminology and spell visuals. You can now look up status duration and stacking rules in the Bestiary (K), neatly aligned with standard terms players know—like Invisibility, Rooted, Exhausted, Elemental Resistance, check, counterattack, cooldown, and range. We've also polished the ground-cracking visual for Earth Tremor, the jump and 4-target hit preview for Chain Spark, and finalized the naming for Starfall Rain!
• The step where auto-explore stops now properly consumes 1 turn. When auto-explore stops over valuables, treasures, or items you cannot pick up, that final step now properly consumes a full 1 turn (fixing an issue where time previously didn't pass on that step, preventing enemies from moving).

Have fun taking on new challenges in a fairer, even more thrilling Dream Dungeon, and feel free to share your thoughts on the Steam Discussion boards!