Greetings, Children of the Night.
My master, Vladimir de La Ligne, heard one complaint above all the others: minions that would not serve, that froze mid-step, that carried a corpse in circles and never set it down. He handed me back the ledger and pointed me at the cellar door. So down I went again, and I did not climb back up until the bar ran as it should.
🕯️ New Comforts for Your Establishment
A blood shortage now raises its own alarm, one badge per blood type in the top-left corner, each wearing the mark of the blood that ran dry. Click it to open the shop straight to the shelf you must refill. It only cries out for blood you can actually obtain, so a vintage still locked behind research never nags you.
Papa Grenier speaks up when a vampire leaves thirsty for want of blood, prodding you to restock before the grumbling spreads. He waits on the same notification delay as the rest, so if you mend the shortage yourself he holds his tongue.
A nudge when you leave a bar shuttered. Close up and forget to reopen, and a reminder finds you (the first after about 30 seconds, then again every 60 while the doors stay shut), instead of a silent empty room and a night with no coin.
🩸 Bugs Banished
Service & Minions
Your minions serve again. Here was the worst of it: a minion would hold the very blood an order had set aside, then refuse to pour it because the open shelf behind it read empty, and stand idle while a thirsty guest waited. A drink now honors the blood reserved for it the moment the order is placed, so once a guest orders, the pour goes through even as the loose stock runs low. No more frozen minions, no more guests seated and forgotten.
Stuck orders clear up. An order that claimed the last unit of a blood no longer reads as empty and hangs forever unserved, and an order whose blood cannot be set aside is now turned down cleanly (the guest leaves unhappy and the shortage sounds) instead of lingering as a phantom the bar can never fill.
Progression & Quests
The "build a room for minions" task now ticks itself off when you had already set a room aside for your minions before the quest thought to ask. No more staring at a finished job the game refused to bless, clicking the same room in vain.
The quest that teaches you the Arcade Trap no longer runs ahead of itself. Before, it ordered you to place the trap and snare a guest while the contraption was still locked behind research you had not yet done, so you stood there told to build something you could not buy. It now shows only the step in front of you and reveals the later ones the moment you unlock the trap in the tech tree.
The quest that hands you the Bloody Ice Crusher learned the same manners. It used to demand that you set up the machine and serve its frozen granitas while the contraption was still locked away in research, a task with no first step you could take. It now shows the research goal on its own and unveils the ice crusher and its deliveries the moment you have gathered the research it asks of you.
The style percentages you see and the "decorate a share of your bar in a style" quests now count the same way. Before, the meter showed a style's share of your top few styles while the quest judged its share of your whole bar, so the meter could read higher than the quest would credit and a goal you seemed to have met stayed stubbornly unfinished. You could stare at 49% dark and still be refused a 45% dark quest. The meter now reflects your whole bar, matching what the quest measures.
To go with that fix, one quest was eased. On the Seaside Haven bar (chapter Bloody Waters), the quest "Remember Where You Came From" and its "Decorate X% in Dark" step now asks you to reach 40% instead of 45%.
A cosmetic reward that failed to pay out no longer jams the opening chapter. Before, it could abort a quest's closing step, so the chain stalled and the Vamp'Hire Agency never opened its doors. Your progress no longer hangs on a bit of confetti.
Minions & Machines
A worker of exactly the minimum wit now scrapes together research points at the machines, at the humblest rate, instead of being turned away for a single point too few. Their cleverness still climbs as they level, so the sharper minds pull ahead.
One caveat, and this one is yours to own: a worker carrying the Naive trait (Effect: -10 Intelligence) is still too dim to research at level 1. Sit a fool at the workbench and the workbench stays idle. Blame the hire, not the machine.
A worker sent to dispose of a corpse no longer locks up with the body still in its arms. Before, it could set its mind on the nearest morgue or disposal machine even when no path led there, then stand rooted in place, its vigilance climbing all the while, until you had no choice but to dismiss the wretch to break the deadlock. It now hauls its grim cargo to the nearest morgue or machine it can truly reach, and no longer throws a fit as it sets the body down.
A minion leading a hypnotized guest to a cell or machine no longer wanders off halfway to fetch a drink or drag away a corpse. Before, if another task ranked higher on its list, it would drop the escort, the trance would break, and your captive would come to its senses and bolt. While a minion holds a soul in thrall it now finishes the delivery first, and only then returns to its other duties.
Interface & Stability
The staff-wide "Priorities" panel now lets you drag a chore to reorder it, so the one on the left is done first and the one on the right is done last. When the master demands you hunt above all else, you can drag Capture to the front and have the order stick, right from the bulk panel where before you could only switch chores on and off. The chevrons at each end of a row now tell you what they mean when you hover them, in every tongue the game speaks.
Guests caught short now make for a privy they can actually reach. Before, one might fix on a stall walled off from the floor, shuffle halfway, and then stand rooted in place with a full bladder and nowhere to go. They now pass over any toilet they cannot walk to and head for the nearest one they can.
Dialogue & Pop-ups
The voices of the bar no longer fall silent. Before, the instant any conversation played, every character pop-up (Sophie, Papa Grenier and the rest) could go quiet for the whole session, and only reloading your save would wake them. They now return at their usual pace after any dialogue, with no reload needed.
A character portrait no longer lingers on screen with no words beneath it when a dialogue opens while a pop-up is showing.
A pop-up waiting behind a dialogue no longer stalls while the game is paused (construction mode, or speed zero); the line arrives once you let time run again.
Papa Grenier speaks for your coffers again in his own voice. Before, Andrea Reyes would turn up in his place, reciting money lines meant for a later chapter.
🦇 Keep the Reports Coming
A confession: my ledger of bugs is nearly bare. That is your doing, and I thank you for it, but a servant with nothing left to fix is a servant the master sends back to the coffin. If you want these nights of patches to keep coming, keep the reports coming with them: every bug you catch, and every idea that would make the bar crueler or smoother. Send them through the in-game report tool, or better, join our Discord coven where I lurk most nights. If you must use the old ways, the scroll reaches me at [email protected].
If the game spared your sanity tonight, leave a positive review. It feeds the Steam algorithm, and it keeps me out of the coffin a little longer.
🍎 A Note for Mac Players
NB: this patch isn't live on Mac yet. I'd rather not ship it until I can test it on a real Mac, and I'm still arranging to borrow one. Thanks for your patience. When the Mac update lands, it'll bundle every change from these patches into one big update. Sorry for the delay.
In my master's service,
Ludovic
Devoted servant of Vladimir de La Ligne
Praise Vladimir.