Below the Crown news & patch notes

Feeling very blessed to be announcing a 4th game. We would never have made it past game #1 without all of you in our community ❤️

We'll be dropping the extended new teaser trailer on our Youtube channel right after the show, and talking about it on the Discord. Excited to chat with you all about it :)

More post-launch updates!

v1.011 is here :)

We finally got a bunch of new music in the game to replace the tracks that had issues streaming due to Content ID fun on YouTube. We've also been busy fixing a lot of bugs that you all have uncovered including a memory leak on Linux, so THANK YOU for reporting!

We've tried to test on the Future Branch, but please continue to report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord. If anything goes horribly wrong you can always switch the the "Past" beta branch🙂

Default Branch: v1.011

• Added more music tracks

• Music for ending sequences

• Difficulty settings - Turn Assist change between Default, Always and Never

• Linux Memory leak fix

• Increased font size on Training Ground Instruction

• Added more space between lines of text on tooltips

• Added "Escape" text transition to Player challenge escape boards

• Added Left and right & up arrow functionality to the Castle menu

• WASD pans the board

• Added functionality to make Space work for the button selected in the checkpoint dialog (A button on Steam Deck)

• Bug fix: checkmate wasn't triggered when using a rook with Wrap around upgrade

• Bug fix: Rook with Wrap around wasn't triggering checkmate

• Bug fix: Bog witch wasn't validating correctly the number of spell slots available

• Bug fix: Sixth Sense dot wasn't added on top of the Wizard

• Bug fix: Enemy king resign before being killed by lava when there is no other valid movement

• Bug fix: alt-tab (losing focus) skips to the next track

• Bug fix: Problems casting slime on the steam deck

• Bug fix: soft lock fix for checkpoint file

• Bug fix: Bug fix: player frozen pieces can still be moved

• Escape key in the Daily/Player challenge menu takes you back to the castle menu

• Bug fix: Infinite mode, the checkpoint dialog wasn't obtaining the current boss data

• Bug Fix: Alt + LMB pan the board and Alt + MMB zoom the board had stopped working

• Bug fix: Bug report window popping up when naming a champion

• Bug fix: Hopper with stomp didn't converted the enemy piece

• Tutorial Bug fix: draw card transition in overlapping hand cards in lower resolution devices

• Bug fix: pieces healed dialog didn't have spaces and commas between pieces

Thx for caring about our game, more to come soon!

-Tim

Bug fixes

A few MORE last minute updates to test, THANK YOU for reporting! Be first to try the new update and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability :)

Future Branch: v1.010

• Bug fix: Infinite mode, the checkpoint dialog wasn't obtaining the current boss data

• Bug Fix: Alt + LMB pan the board and Alt + MMB zoom the board had stopped working

• Bug fix: Bug report window popping up when naming a champion

• Bug fix: Hopper with stomp didn't converted the enemy piece

• Tutorial Bug fix: draw card transition in overlapping hand cards in lower resolution devices

• Bug fix: pieces healed dialog didn't have spaces and commas between pieces

Thx!

-Tim

Linux Memory Leak and misc bugs

A few last minute updates to test, THANK YOU for reporting! Be first to try the new update and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability :)

Future Branch: v1.010

• Linux Memory leak fix

• Bug fix: soft lock fix for checkpoint file

• Bug fix: Bug fix: player frozen pieces can still be moved

• Escape key in the Daily/Player challenge menu takes you back to the castle menu

Thx!

-Tim

New Music and a lot of bug fixes

We finally got a bunch of new music in the game to replace the tracks that had issues streaming due to Content ID fun on YouTube. We've also been busy fixing a lot of bugs that you all have uncovered so THANK YOU for reporting!

Be first to try the new update and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability 🙂

Future Branch: v1.009

• Added more music tracks

• Music for ending sequences

• Difficulty settings - Turn Assist change between Default, Always and Never

• Increased font size on Training Ground Instruction

• Added more space between lines of text on tooltips

• Added "Escape" text transition to Player challenge escape boards

• Added Left and right & up arrow functionality to the Castle menu

• WASD pans the board

• Added functionality to make Space work for the button selected in the checkpoint dialog (A button on Steam Deck)

• Bug fix: checkmate wasn't triggered when using a rook with Wrap around upgrade

• Bug fix: Rook with Wrap around wasn't triggering checkmate

• Bug fix: Bog witch wasn't validating correctly the number of spell slots available

• Bug fix: Sixth Sense dot wasn't added on top of the Wizard

• Bug fix: Enemy king resign before being killed by lava when there is no other valid movement

• Bug fix: alt-tab (losing focus) skips to the next track

• Bug fix: Problems casting slime on the steam deck

Thx!

-Tim

More Languages

In response to our fans across the Pacific (and with the help of our publishers at Shochiku), we're we are thrilled to announce that localization for Below the Crown is officially underway!

Soon to be supported languages: Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Planned Release: 2026

We are working hard to bring the world of Below the Crown to more players around the globe. Stay tuned for further updates and thank you for your incredible support!

Review Goal Achieved!

We asked and you delivered, 50+ reviews. What we didn't ask for was to be 100% positive on recent reviews and 96% positive overall! THANK YOU so much!!

More updates soon!

- Tim

Post launch updates!

v1.007 is here :)

Steam Deck Verified, Controller support via Steam Input

We got that little green checkmark, so you're good to go on Steam Deck :)

We also set the game up to work with Steam Input by default, so it should work when you try to uses a controller but we haven't tested this thoroughly and we're new to Steam Input so let us know if there are issues.

Music and Streaming

We had some fun with Youtube that led to streamers having monetization issues, so we removed some of the troubled tracks and replaced with freshly composed new ones! We still have a few to add in, so pardon the momentary lack in variety - we'll close the gap soon!

Fixes

Thank you all for reporting!

• Bug fix: Pure Escape achievement was obtained in the first board of the tutorial

• Mimic boss was using the wrong difficulty and was taking forever to take it's turn

• Bug fix: swamp couldn't be casted adjacent to the wizard

• Bug fix: Stun wasn't refreshing correctly in the AI simulation

• ug fix: enemy didn't started their turn

• Emperor spell card description adjustments

• Bug fix: Hopper wasn't a threat if landed on a swamp tile to capture a piece

Please continue to report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord. If anything goes horribly wrong you can always switch the the "Past" beta branch🙂

Please give us a review!

We're trying to get to 50 and we're only a few away!

Thx for caring about our game, more to come soon!

-Tim

Hey all, we did a hotfix this morning (both future & default branches) because it was reported to us that there were issues uploading videos to YouTube due to some of the music tracks in the game. We've since pulled those tracks so that streamers wont have to deal with that, but it means, temporarily, the game will have less music variety. Don't worry - we're on it, and hope to have the same number of tracks soon!

We happened to have some Steam Deck updates in there that got pushed out, one is that touch should work better when selecting pieces (though I'd still recommend using the cursor due to tooltips etc.)

As always, please report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord feedback channel.

1.0 is Here!

After a winding journey through Early Access, Below the Crown 1.0 has officially arrived!

Check out the cool new tailer:

Our IGF-honored love letter to chess-inspired dungeon crawler couldn’t have reached this point without all your feedback, bug reports, and suggestions. Also, stop beating me at the Daily Challenges!

Notable additions to 1.0:

• Wizard Queen

• Battle the Emperor!

• Reach the ending (there's more than 1!)

• Steam Deck, Steam Cloud Saves, Achievements

• Moar Music, Moar Difficulty Settings, Moar stuff!

Bundles & Deals...

I'm super excited to unveil our FIRST EVER Misfits Attic Anthology Bundle! Can you believe we now have THREE launched games?! And we put them all on sale!

Prefer more chess? Check out these two new bundles with Below the Crown:

Please Review ːhappyTomː

Please consider taking the time to review – we’re close and hoping to reach our launch goal of 50. Thanks so much to everyone that's taken the time to write one so far!

What Next?

Stay Tuned!

We've got more updates in store, both for Below the Crown, and Misfits Attic :)

-Tim

One week till launch!

Help us get 1.0 stable enough for everyone else :)

Be first to try the 1.0 features and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability 🙂

Future Branch: v0.206 (just some of the updates)

• Misfits Attic & Shochiku splash screens (can turn off in settings)

• Fix exploit where undo-ing and re-capturing a spell giving enemy gives you different spells

• Ensure you never get a choice of two of the same spells

• Help menu added to the pause Menu (removed old help menu)

• New music tracks, removed ambiance tracks from dungeon (still in castle scene)

• Steam Deck: LOTS of improvements to make it hopefully verified soon.

• Replay button

• +1 party size difficulty setting implemented

• Misfits Attic logo in Title Screen w/ web url

• Escape board title - Added delay before moving out the text

• Additional Challenges: TA on till rune 7, Gold not reduced, Spell Chance slightly changed, Undo Chance adjusted

• Mimic boss - randomize boss position with the other mimics when an undo token is used (goodbye exploit?)

• Threaten animation plays delayed if you threaten enemy and they also threaten you (so you don't miss it)

• Can now teleport onto Slime

• Bug fix: checkmate not recognized when a fog tile was in the middle

• Fixed: Teleporting on tile with Gold or Undo was not picking up item

• Bug fix: Hopper doesn't change enemy colorblind outline

• Fixed: Sometimes undo could spam the reserve deck because the Virtual Board was mistakenly adding cards to the starting reserve board list

• Bug fix: Hopper doesn't change enemy colorblind outline

• Bug fix: Sash disappeared after moving to the third board of the tutorial dungeon

• Bug fix: Wrap around animation could cause a soft lock

• Many bug fixes.

Please give us a review!

We're trying to get to 50 for launch :)

Thx!

-Tim

Below the Crown launches April 21st!

So says our nifty trailer remix:

Help us get 1.0 stable enough for everyone else!

Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in our Discord's ⁠feedback channel. Keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability ːhappyTomː

Please DO NOT post any of the 1.0 features publicly since we will have a press embargo. This is mainly the Wizard Queen, the Emperor boss battle, and the endings.

Thank you SO MUCH to all those who have helped with all the bug reports so far!

Please give us a review!

We're trying to get to 50 for launch :)

Thanks so much, excited to bring our THIRD game to the world!

-Tim

Our last major update before launch! Here's a quick video describing some of the new features:

Hop on in: converse with the Emperor, save your replays, make things easier with new difficulty settings, and try the infinite dungeon! Feedback is always appreciated via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind they'll likely be some bugs. We also have a FUTURE beta branch for those always looking to help us test the latest features!

Here's a more detailed list that includes the bigger changes since our December Update:

Default Branch: v1.91

• Save/View Replays and a new Replay Room

• New Emperor Narrative elements (when you return from runs - playing with a clean save file will give the full experience)

• Infinite Dungeon Mode (we haven't really tested this much so beware!)

• New difficulty settings to make things easier for players that need it

• Escape Rooms overhaul (Key added, rebalanced)

• So many new animations and artwork (stores, victory, etc.)

• New Scoreboard & info window

• New opening song (do you like it or prefer the old one?)

• Store Screens Overhaul

• Rebalanced Wizards

• New Dungeon Boards

• Piece movement tweaked (feedback on whether it looks right appreciated)

• Knight King boss got new animation for Lightning ability

• Gave Knight piece to Rook Wizard (feel strong enough?)

• At Spell Store, see your empty Spell slots

• Fog hazard visuals redone

• All victory/loss dialog should now go down to the bottom of the screen, not blocking the Board

• New Death animations

• Game Over Animation

• New Audio sound effects

Thanks so much for all the support, looking forward to launching in April!

- Tim

Be first to try the Beta update (our last update before launch!) and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability 🙂

Future Branch: v1.89

• Save/View Replays and a new Replay Room

• New Emperor Narrative elements (when you return from runs - playing with a clean save file will give the full experience)

• Infinite Dungeon Mode (we haven't really tested this much so beware!)

• New Piece to unlock: the Hopper (bringing checkers into Chess!)

• New difficulty settings to make things easier for players that need it

• Escape Rooms overhaul (Key added, rebalanced)

• So many new animations and artwork (stores, victory, etc.)

• New Scoreboard & info window

• New opening song (do you like it or prefer the old one?)

• Store Screens Overhaul

• Rebalanced Wizards

• New Dungeon Boards

• Piece movement tweaked (feedback on whether it looks right appreciated)

• Knight King boss got new animation for Lightning ability

• Gave Knight piece to Rook Wizard (feel strong enough?)

• At Spell Store, see your empty Spell slots

• Fog hazard visuals redone

• All victory/loss dialog should now go down to the bottom of the screen, not blocking the Board

• New Death animations

• Game Over Animation

• New Audio sound effects

Thx!

-Tim

Below the Crown has been named an Honorable Mention as part of this year’s IGF selections! We're honored, and love the trend as our last game (Duskers) was nominated by IGF for Excellence in Design :)

To celebrate, we’re re-running our Early Access launch discount for the next week!

We also just announced that 1.0 is coming in April with a new trailer remix!

And in a few weeks we'll have we'll have our final Early Access update with our Beta Update. Here's a quick look at the big ticket items coming in the Beta Update:

• New Piece: Hopper

• Save and watch Replays of your battles!

• Infinite Dungeon

• Escape Room overhaul

• Reworked stores, animations, & sounds

• Rebalanced Wizards

• Narrative: The Emperor makes an appearance and more psych evaluations...

In a week or two we'll update the FUTURE beta branch for those looking to help us test the latest features before we launch the Beta Update.

Special thanks goes out to everyone that has sent along their support, thoughts, feedback, etc. during Early Access. If you haven’t already, please consider leaving a user review for the game as it allows more folks to discover it on Steam.

More updates on the way, stay tuned!

- Tim

The holidays come early for the wizards exploring Below the Crown. Here's a quick video describing some of the new features:

This is our first major update since Early Access, so we're excited to hear what you think. We've got a ways to go before 1.0 so feedback is appreciated via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind they'll likely be some bugs. We also have a FUTURE beta branch for those always looking to help us test the latest features!

Here's a more detailed list that includes the bigger changes since our Early Access launch:

v1.84

• 2 more runes opened up

• Rook Wizard unblocked

• Mad Queen piece

• Teleport Spell

• Explosive Upgrade

• Protect Upgrade

• Medic Skill

• Spell Junky Skill

• Changed Bishop Wizard to start with Teleport Spell, Rook Wizard to start with Return Spell

• Escape Rooms: Spawn embers/lava sooner, Board Gold reward Increased

• Fixed bug report

• Knight King nerf: Act 1 version no longer spawns slimes over time.

• SFX Volume update

• Daily Challenges were inconsistent if statues were present

• Replay file was duplicating turns

• Warning for users on Steam Deck/Linux (letting them know not "officially" supported yet)

• New error dialog if we detect certain AI issues

• Linux/Steam Deck memory leak improvement, but not totally gone :( - Note that we still don't "support" Linux, but this takes a step toward it

• AI updates: hopefully fixes some odd checkmate issues - please report any funny business!

• Make choosing a Champion less confusing

• Training ground notification Icon when a new category is unlocked

• Demoting a piece could get you locked pieces (pieces which then have bugs we haven't fixed...)

• A hidden animation in plain site

• Lot's of AI & Replay bug fixes

• Misc Bug Fixes (snoooooze)

Thanks so much for all the support, Happy Holidays!

- Tim

Be first to try the December update and help us get it stable enough for everyone else! Hop into the FUTURE beta branch and report any issues via the in-game bug/feedback button, on the Steam forums, or in the Discord - keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability 🙂

Future Branch: v1.81

• Teleport Spell

• Lure Spell

• Explosive Upgrade

• Medic Skill

• Spell Junky (Spell)

• Changed Bishop Wizard to start with Teleport Spell, Rook Wizard to start with Return Spell

• Escape Rooms: Spawn embers/lava sooner, Board Gold reward Increased

• Fixed bug report

• Knight King nerf: Act 1 version no longer spawns slimes over time.

• SFX Volume update

• Lure adjustments

• MANY bug fixes (mostly for the new stuff)

And don't forget about all the features added by Future Branch: v1.77

• 2 more runes opened up

• Rook Wizard unblocked (we need to adjust the new "Escape" rooms)

• Mad Queen piece unblocked (we need to fix replay issues)

• Daily Challenges were inconsistent if statues were present

• Replay file was duplicating turns

• Warning for users on Steam Deck/Linux (letting them know not "officially" supported yet)

• New error dialog if we detect certain AI issues

• Linux/Steam Deck memory leak fixed and the apparently not :( - Note that we still don't "support" Linux, but this takes a step toward it

• AI updates: hopefully fixes some odd checkmate issues - please report any funny business!,

• Make choosing a Champion less confusing

• Training ground notification Icon when a new category is unlocked

• Demoting a piece could get you locked pieces (pieces which then have bugs we haven't fixed...)

• A hidden animation in plain site

• Lot's of AI & Replay bug fixes

• Misc Bug Fixes (snoooooze)

For the brave souls that want to be where the magic happens - hop into the FUTURE beta branch to see the latest! Keep in mind this may be unstable, but you can always revert to the default branch if you want stability 🙂

Future Branch: v1.77

• 2 more runes opened up

• Rook Wizard unblocked (we need to adjust the new "Escape" rooms)

• Mad Queen piece unblocked (we need to fix replay issues)

• Daily Challenges were inconsistent if statues were present

• Replay file was duplicating turns

• Warning for users on Steam Deck/Linux (letting them know not "officially" supported yet)

• New error dialog if we detect certain AI issues

• Linux/Steam Deck memory leak fixed and the apparently not :( - Note that we still don't "support" Linux, but this takes a step toward it

• AI updates: hopefully fixes some odd checkmate issues - please report any funny business!,

• Make choosing a Champion less confusing

• Training ground notification Icon when a new category is unlocked

• Demoting a piece could get you locked pieces (pieces which then have bugs we haven't fixed...)

• A hidden animation in plain site

• Lot's of AI & Replay bug fixes

• Misc Bug Fixes (snoooooze)

After almost a decade since our last launch (Duskers) - Misfits Attic is super proud to launch Below the Crown into Early Access!

We also made a new Update Video (below) showing all the new features that have been added since the demo. Speaking of which, we're now taking down the demo as we focus on updating the main game - so please join us over at the base game from now on :) And if you've played the playtest/demo and buy the game - please give us a review!

We're launching with a large discount to say thank you to all of those in the community that have helped us get to this point. So proud of how far this game has come. Still so much to build and explore together!

This is the final weekend where the Below the Crown Demo will be available!

Below the Crown will launch into Early Access on Monday :)

Main Fixes:

• Resolution update AGAIN that should fix any issues when resetting your data,

• Sadly we've removed the Protect Upgrade and the Mimic Boss due to various bugs making them unstable for the demo - but they shall return in Early Access!

• Cleaned up logs a bit to help slower machines

Just a quick resolution adjustment, One more phrasing try for archer info text, and trying to ensure the daily's will be fun for the week.

Please help us test this before Steam Next Fest arrives!

So many fixes:

• Resolution update AGAIN that should fix odd selection issues with certain monitors and the Steam Deck

• Enemy AI: took a crazy long time when Embers(Lava) started spawning on the board to push things toward a conclusion

• Limiting frame rate to 60fps for now so menus don't make it go crazy

• New Player Challenges were showing a score of 0

• New color blind mode (eventually hope to integrate this into main game's color scheme)

• Updated Archer text again

• Merchant Store door description updated

• Resetting data asks to confirm now :smile:

• Training Ground "not in demo" tooltip goes away now

• Remove odd text saying you can't apply upgrades to pieces that you can

What an exciting weekend ːdroneː

Hopefully this gets us back to stable, with all the other fixes intact :)

Never fun to work on the weekend, but it felt worth it to solve this one for folks, and get it in before it made the daily's different across builds. SUPER thanks to the team ːsteamthumbsupː

- Resolution update that should fix odd selection issues with certain monitors and the Steam Deck

- Removing some pieces/skills from the Daily Challenges to try to make them more stable.

- Updated Archer text to make it more understandable (thanks discord community!)

For those experiencing the issue with not being able to click certain UI elements in the game, could you try to a fix that we put into the "future" beta branch (From the BtC Demo entry on the left sidebar on your steam library: right click->Properties->betas->future)? After download - the game should say v1.50 in the bottom right corner. And please let us know if that is fixing things, and if not, try changing the resolution in the game (we know the right arrow isn't working but the left one is :D ) and see if that helps? Thx!

This is just a quick fix to help the daily and player challenges display correctly, as well as some bug fixes in the daily challenges. We also ensure the store before the boss only offers upgrades that could be applied to your pieces.

We're now working on an odd resolution bug affecting certain monitors and the Steam Deck where for certain UI elements the cursor and what's selected is offset.

Our nerdy love letter to Roguelikes, Chess, and Dungeon Crawlers is here for everyone to try!

🔸Take the Wizard King below in our procedural dungeons.

🔸Spells, Upgrades, Bosses ...and Psychological Testing!

🔸Daily & Player Challenges for the community.

We've been working hard to get you a taste of what's to come with Below the Crown, and it' almost here!

To hold you over till October 1st, we've released our first Gameplay Trailer. Let us know what you think and what you're excited about :)

-Tim (BtC creator guy)