Evolution – Beta 2.0

Beta 2.0 is a major balance and gameplay clarity update. Both existing stories have been extensively tested and rebalanced, combat rules are now explained through a complete in-game tutorial, and several mechanics have been refined to encourage thoughtful deckbuilding instead of relying on a few overpowered cards.

Story and Enemy Balance

• Completed a full balance pass for The Infested Wilds
• Completed a full balance pass for The Rot Below
• Rebalanced all regular enemies, bosses, and superbosses across both stories
• Increased the importance of choosing suitable card rewards and improving the active deck
• Bosses and superbosses now require more deliberate deckbuilding and better responses to enemy intents
• Reduced several difficulty spikes and corrected encounters that were either too weak or disproportionately punishing
• Rebalanced enemy health, attacks, defensive actions, status effects, and intent probabilities
• Improved early-game progression so the first encounters are challenging without requiring an already-developed deck
• Adjusted several Story 2 enemies, including a significant rebalance of Mycel Weaver

Card Balance

• Completed a broad balance pass across the current card collection
• Rebalanced card damage, Block, healing, energy costs, status effects, and evolution levels
• Reduced several cards and evolutions that provided too much value
• Strengthened cards that were too situational or underpowered
• Improved the identity and usefulness of several Fungi cards
• Reworked Mycelial Convergence into a powerful Symbiosis damage card
• Improved card progression so evolving cards remains rewarding without making individual cards overwhelmingly strong
• Updated card titles and title positioning for improved readability
• Improved the card frame so decorative artwork no longer interferes with the title area

Combat Mechanics

Bleed and Infect

• Bleed and Infect damage now bypass Block
• This applies consistently to both the player and enemies
• Damage-over-time effects are now more useful against heavily defended enemies
• Defensive decks must now account for status effects instead of relying entirely on accumulated Block

Prey and Block

• Gaining Block now reduces Prey
• Block reduces both the remaining Prey duration and its damage bonus
• This gives defensive cards an additional tactical role when the player is marked as Prey

Overflow

• The maximum hand size remains limited to 9 cards
• Cards drawn beyond the hand limit now Overflow directly into the Discard pile
• Overflow is now treated as a distinct gameplay event, creating a foundation for future card interactions

Enemy Intent Presentation

• Added a dedicated intent preview before the enemy begins its turn
• Enemy intents are briefly enlarged and brought forward before actions resolve
• Intent previews support enemies performing several actions during the same turn
• Player input is temporarily disabled during the preview to prevent accidental interactions
• Improved the sequencing between intent presentation, enemy effects, damage, and death resolution
• Removed unwanted backgrounds and visual boxes from enlarged intent elements

Tutorial

• Replaced the old tutorial sheet with a complete multi-page tutorial
• Added explanations for basic combat, card effects, status effects, enemy intents, and progression
• Added dedicated information about:
  • Damage and Block
  • Bleed and Infect
  • Prey and Ferocity
  • Weak and Regen
  • Spore and Symbiosis
  • Card Rot
  • Overflow
  • Multi-hit and mixed enemy intents
  • Card evolution and boss rewards
• Added practical combat and deckbuilding tips
• Updated the tutorial to explain that Bleed and Infect bypass Block
• Updated the tutorial to explain how Block interacts with Prey
• Improved tutorial navigation, layout, readability, and text alignment

User Interface and Visual Improvements

• Improved card title centering and positioning
• Improved support for unusually long card names
• Refined card frame artwork around the title area
• Improved enlarged intent presentation
• Improved text alignment on story and encounter screens
• Improved interaction handling while introductory and combat overlays are active
• Added several smaller visual and readability improvements throughout the interface
• Added hover previews for the Draw, Discard, and Rotted card piles
  
• Hovering over a pile now displays its cards for easier combat planning
• Improved visibility and understanding of cards currently outside the player’s hand
• Added hover previews for selected cards in the Deck Builder
  
• Selected cards can now be inspected directly from the active deck list
• Improved deck editing by making card effects and evolution levels easier to review

Technical Improvements and Bug Fixes

• Improved separation between normal mouse input and modal battle presentations
• Fixed interactions that could occur behind story, encounter, or intent overlays
• Fixed visual backgrounds appearing around enlarged transparent assets
• Improved damage handling for effects that bypass Block
• Improved status-effect resolution for both players and enemies
• Improved combat sequencing and state handling
• Various bug fixes, cleanup, and stability improvements

Current State

The two available stories and their current card pools are now considered broadly balanced for this stage of development.

Players should expect to lose some encounters, adjust their decks, collect useful rewards, and respond to enemy mechanics in order to progress. Later cards and future content may still require additional balancing as the game continues to expand.

Thank you to everyone who has tested Evolution and provided feedback.

Beta 2.0 brings the current demo much closer to the intended experience: challenging, tactical, and built around meaningful deckbuilding rather than simply repeating the strongest cards.