Today is a big day for Moon Studios’ action RPG No Rest for the Wicked. This stunning fantasy game has been available in Steam Early Access for over three months, and while updates were initially fast and furious, progress has now slowed down a bit.
This is intentional, as the developers have entered a phase of development where the focus has shifted to larger features rather than solving smaller (but important) issues that arise post-release.
This latest update is the first to be released after the focus change.
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The Crucible update introduces some new content to the game, as well as major tweaks to the mechanics. As the name suggests, the focus of this game is “The Crucible”, the final event of “The Evil Dead”.
The flow of this mode has been completely changed, now leaning more towards Roguelite inspiration. The update triples the number of random rooms you can encounter, changes the look of places, adds a new echo system, and introduces new vendors.
Echoes is a system that allows you to customize your runs. It’s a collection of buffs, debuffs, and modifiers that you can choose from, effectively letting you specify certain types of builds within the Crucible itself. This is to increase the diversity of operations within the model. Echoes can be activated using Traces, a new currency dropped by enemies within.
The Steward is the new Crucible vendor where you can spend your Grom Seeds (also dropped in Crucibles). Vendors sell Corrupted Embers, refine resources, and upgrade your weapons. Even more interestingly, the Steward can even unlock functions within the Crucible.
This latest update also introduces a new enemy faction: The Gloam. You’ll encounter them in the Crucible now, but future updates will expand their influence to other parts of the world. You’ll know you’re fighting one of these because they will emit bioluminescence, a result of their infection with the plague.
If you’ve played The Evil Dead and have never tried the Crucible, you’ll be happy to know that you can now access it earlier. Now accessible after accepting Elsa’s Said and Unsaid, which can be completed after completing the first campaign mission.
In addition to the Crucible, this update also brings significant adjustments to combat. Combat is now more dynamic thanks to new visuals that better showcase the power of each strike. This even extends to the mechanics, as you can now freeze and crush enemies, rip them apart, and rip them to pieces (depending on the weapon used).
That’s not all, the update even expands many areas of the game, adding new areas and adding stray animals that you can pet! And, thanks to all the performance updates the game has received, No Rest for the Wicked is now verified via Steam Deck.
Moon Studios has revealed that they will be sharing a more detailed Early Access roadmap soon, something that has been long-awaited. The first major update should add co-op, although we haven’t gotten any details on when.
