Dryad news & patch notes

Version 3.0.0 is the complete release of the game, featuring all 10 chapters with an average playtime of 8–12 hours. It includes countless improvements, polish, balance changes, and bug fixes made throughout development and the public playtest. We're excited to finally share everything we've been building and iterating on over the last seven years.

Available at Launch

• ✅ Windows

• ✅ macOS

• ✅ Linux

While Dryad is fully playable with keyboard and mouse, we recommend playing with a controller for the best experience.

Thank you to everyone who wishlisted the game, backed the Kickstarter, joined the playtest, submitted feedback, and supported Dryad throughout its development. Every bug report, suggestion, and word of encouragement helped shape the game into what it is today.

We'll also be streaming the launch live tomorrow at 6:00 PM PST as we press the green button together!

See you tomorrow! 🌿

This patch focuses on polishing gameplay, improving controller feel, expanding audiovisual feedback, optimizing performance, and addressing a large number of bugs reported during the playtest. Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback. It has helped shape the final release.

Gameplay

Balance

• Reduced Immortal Harvest cost from 3 → 2.

• Reduced Overflow cost from 3 → 2.

• Reduced Earth Bond cost from 3 → 2.

• Reduced Sniper cost from 5 → 3.

• Reworked Selfless Dryad. It now reduces Island Speed by 0.1x and grants +1 Plant Limit. Moved to B4.

• Sniper no longer requires charging to fire piercing projectiles. Popping Chrome now grants the piercing effect.

• Buffed Overcharge from 1.4x → 1.5x.

• Buffed Enhance effectiveness from 1.25x → 1.3x.

• Reduced Bloomfall and Chromefall activation frequency from 18 → 20 Solar Energy.

• Improved Charging Receptors so launched Crystals now properly trigger related trait synergies.

• Improved Heartwise and Crystal Bomb interactions by scaling projectile spawns with produce count.

• Improved interaction between Crystalline Affinity and Sniper.

• Islands now become Encumbered when exceeding the Weight Limit, reducing Island Speed by 50%. Islands now only Stall after exceeding twice the Weight Limit.

Gameplay

• Added a higher vertical jump when pressing Up while wall jumping.

• Updated analog stick movement to better match D-Pad controls.

• Prevented progression if no Sunflowers exist on the Home Island.

• Prevented bubbled Consumables from expiring during the Exploration Phase.

• Prevented picking up Obelisks like normal items.

• Favor player victory over Game Over when merging with the Dryad at maximum Solar Energy.

• Earth Bond rewards now use the same reward handling as other reward systems.

Audio & Visual

• Polished Honorhelm animations on the Wisp.

• Polished Hattie animations on the Dryad.

• Added separate Weight Flower animations depending on whether the Windmill is active.

• Added roaring effects to burning meteorites during the Elder Tree conversion cinematic.

• Added particle interactions during the Chapter G Predator encounter.

• Added sound effects for:

  • Starfall

  • Explosive Flora

  • Drop Slam

  • Sniper piercing projectiles

  • Higher-pitched hat flapping

• Adjusted the HUD Dryad portrait.

• Increased Relic command icon sizes.

• Brightened Gamepad keybinding text.

• Added explicit names to Core Plant conversion Shrines.

• Extended island end locations to better hide the map boundary.

• Further reduced visible seams during cinematic camera zooms.

Levels

• Updated B5 puzzle.

• Updated H6 puzzle.

• Tweaked G3.

• Cleanse meteorites with the Dryad's Solar Wave during E4.

Performance

• Improved gameplay performance through additional object pooling optimizations.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed random purple pop effects appearing near the Dryad in Chapter B.

• Fixed several Shadow Friend introduction animations.

• Fixed crashes that could occur during:

  • Game Over cinematics.

  • Skipping the B1 cinematic.

• Fixed lava tile inconsistencies during the Chapter H finale.

• Fixed Dryad positioning with the Elder Face in Chapter E.

• Fixed detached branches caused by Earthly Resurgence and pruning interactions.

• Fixed sorting between Grassball and its bubble.

• Fixed the Prologue respawn camera.

• Fixed Flame Orb and Archer Arrow pushing bubbled rewards unexpectedly.

• Fixed background tiles failing to appear if the Wisp died during the Predator hide-and-seek sequence.

• Fixed the Dryad Overweight notification appearing during cinematics.

• Updated and corrected various in-game strings.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the Steam Playtest. Your feedback has helped us polish Dryad into the experience we wanted to deliver.

See you on July 22 for the full release! 🌿

Version 2.4.9

This update continues our polish pass ahead of launch, bringing visual improvements, performance optimizations, UI refinements, and several gameplay fixes.

Visual Improvements

• Added animation to Sunflowers when releasing Solar Energy.

• Improved visuals for the Dryad projectiles, enemy projectiles, player projectiles, and several effects.

• Updated the Blue Crystal and Nutrient projectile graphics.

• Added launch effects to most standard player projectiles.

• Enhanced the destruction sequence in the Epilogue cinematics.

• Tweaked the G1 cinematic to flash the Dryad when casting her ultimate.

• Added a spotlight transition when entering the Final Boss.

• Updated the floating reward bubble graphics. Larger rewards, such as Relics, now use larger bubble visuals.

Performance & Loading

• Added a preloading step in the Main Menu to improve first level load times.

• Optimized UI assets and textures.

• Improved background loading reliability and cancellation handling.

• Main Menu navigation now remains disabled until loading has completed.

Gameplay & UI

• Fixed Refined Crystals granting an incorrect number of charges.

• Updated tutorial text for popping items.

• Added an "Any Key" prompt to continue from the Main Menu credits.

• Updated several Relic descriptions.

• Repositioned the Driftbloom in D5.

• Slightly adjusted Spike Shooter spawn offsets.

As always, thank you to everyone who continues to play, report issues, and provide feedback. Your support has been invaluable as we prepare for launch!

Version 2.4.8 Patch Notes

This update focuses on bug fixes, polish, and a handful of quality-of-life improvements across the campaign.

Gameplay

• Crystalcore Vessels now properly applies its effect to Totem Flowers.

• Prevented unintended level starts caused by AoE effects striking Light Boxes in Chapter G.

• Fixed an edge case where double-bashing the same target could consume an extra, unnecessary Crystal.

• Repositioned the Morning Glory reward.

User Interface & Tutorials

• Fixed the Extract button displaying incorrectly on the command map.

• Updated Prologue tutorial messaging in P6 to better introduce Rotating Seeds.

• Fixed Crystal item descriptions while Crystal Cycle is active.

• Fixed the Overcharge timer not displaying correctly on Totem Flowers.

• Removed the Collect Solar Energy task from the Prologue Defense stage.

Visual & Audio

• Removed unintended Salvager procs during the A2 and A3 cinematics.

• Fixed an animation glitch affecting Shadow Friend in E3.

• Improved camera panning during the A2 cinematic.

• Adjusted Grassball rendering so it appears in front of additional enemies.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed animation issues and crashes that could occur when skipping cinematics in Chapter H.

This hotfix includes several bug fixes and visual improvements based on player feedback.

Visuals

• Updated the Nutrient projectile visual.

• Added plant animations to the Chapter H ending cinematic.

• Fixed the missing Hat animation during the Chapter F Rest Area cinematic.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Collect 10 Plants task could fail to complete when revisiting A2.

• Fixed the Self Defense trait not activating correctly.

• Fixed a case where rain could continue being pulled in Chapter F after advancing to the next level.

Thank you to everyone who continues to play, report issues, and share feedback. Your support helps us make Dryad even better!

🌿 Version 2.4.5

This update contains the majority of the gameplay, progression, balance, and quality-of-life improvements planned for Version 3.0.0, our full release launching on July 22.

This update will not impact the current Steam Playtest. Existing playtest participants can continue playing without interruption.

Note: Older saves will continue to function correctly. However, because progression has been significantly reworked, older saves will miss several important progression buffs introduced in this update. For the intended experience, we recommend starting a new save or at least re-visiting Chapter A.

🌱 Progression Overhaul

Progression has been significantly reworked to create a smoother early-to-mid game experience. Many Relics, tutorials, and Plant rewards have been repositioned throughout the campaign.

• The Nutrients & Uproot Mobility tutorial has moved from A2 → A5.

• Crystal Cycle now refunds a Crystal Flower every 5 Crystal uses and activates from any Crystal usage, including feeding Plants.

• Crystal Cycle no longer forces Consumables to be lost and is now part of the early-game progression.

• Salvager is now awarded in A2 as a 1 Cost Relic.

• Salvager now also enables Consumables to appear when Dirt Tiles are destroyed.

• Proliferation is now awarded in D2.

• Ladder Flowers are no longer rewarded in Chapter D.

• Weight Flowers are now rewarded in D4.

• Chapter F no longer rewards Weight Flowers.

• High Yield has been removed as a Relic and is now applied automatically in every chapter except the Prologue.

• All Plants now begin with 10 Max Capacity.

• Large Reserves is granted after Chapter A (+10 Max Capacity).

• Vast Reserves is granted after Chapter E (+10 Max Capacity).

⚖️ Balance

General

• Rebalanced all Boss health.

  • Early phases generally have increased health.

  • Later phases generally have reduced health.

• Defeated enemies now grant a temporary Island Speed bonus (30 enemies = 1× Island Speed).

• Spirit Jelly damage cooldown increased 0.2s → 1.0s.

• Consumable reward appearances are now capped at 50.

• Relic costs have been reduced across the board to encourage experimenting with more builds.

• Reduce Meteorite Spawns in E3

Gameplay

• Crystallized Tiles are now cleared when an item is placed on them.

• Nutrients can now be fed directly to Plants. Nutrients now increase production progress depending what mode the player is in. Upgrades can change these effects.

  • Travel Phase: 100%

  • Exploration Phase: 15–20%

• Disabled changing the Dryad's root while rooting or when no destination exists.

• Reduced Meteor spawns in E3.

• Fixed Self Defense and companion Traits occasionally deactivating.

• Fixed Grassball layering.

• Fixed Divine Orb Boss layering.

• Removed the final boss movement jitter.

• Fixed Chapter H Firebally enemies not taking damage correctly.

• Fixed Hulking Abode not granting Max Weight.

• Duelist Oath now only activates from player defeats.

• Totem Flower now:

  • Converts Bonus Max Capacity into Charge Regeneration.

  • Receives 50% fewer Charges from Crystals by default.

  • Watchful Guardian negates these penalties.

Plants & Relics

• Farming now allows the Wisp to instantly destroy Enriched Dirt Tiles.

• Companion Grassballs now always Enrich adjacent Tiles.

• Removed Earth Vacuum.

• Windmill once again removes Charge usage from Weight Flowers, can no longer be Overcharged, and has moved to D5.

• Immortal Harvest no longer affects Expansion Flowers.

• Step Expansion and Wildbloom now affect Expansion Flowers.

• Virulence has been replaced by Heartwise.

• Heart Flowers are now Consumables and can appear as random rewards.

• Crystal Bomb now enables Crystal Flowers to appear as random rewards.

• Uproot Mobility now enables Nutrients to appear as random rewards.

• Love Unbounded now fires Nutrients at all Production Plants whenever Hearts are received.

• Added Giant's Palace (+50 Max Weight) in H3.

• Terra Hearthkeeper

  • Root Mend Range 1 → 3

  • Plant Count 1 → 2

  • Moved to F3

• Imbued Crystals moved to H5.

• Woodland Refuge Plant Count 3 → 5.

• Crystalcore Vessels now receive 50% fewer Charges from Crystals and moved to G6.

• Crystalline Affinity now automatically consumes adjacent Crystals when Plants reach 0 Charges. Moved to C4.

• Mansion moved to C5.

• Glass Cannon now instantly destroys Crystal Tiles with Wisp Bash. Moved to C3.

• Overflow now spreads excess Crystals to nearby Plants. Moved to C5.

• Terra Reaction moved to C3.

• Added Raw Crystals (+5 Plant Charges) in C2.

• Drop Slam moved to D3.

• Earth Tribute moved to D2.

• Step Expansion moved to D3.

• Terra Mastery now causes Complex Expanders to generate Crystal Tiles. Moved to D5.

• Removed Terraforming.

• Renewing Loam now fully restores Production Plants during the Travel Phase.

• Fertile Core now doubles maximum production when Nutrients are fed.

• Fixed Volcanic Flora activating from enemy Plants.

• Removed Volatile Harvest.

• Cozy Enclosure moved to E5.

• Fallen Blossom moved to E2.

• Earth Armor moved to F4.

✨ Cinematics & Quality of Life

Visuals & Audio

• Updated the main menu artwork and title screen.

• Added water movement while the island travels during the Prologue.

• Restored animated clouds in Chapter Select.

• Updated Chapter F and G transition clouds.

• Updated ambience for Old Valhalla (Chapter B).

• Added lower-pitched cavern ambience for Chapter H.

• Added a sound effect when Crystal Cycle activates.

• Updated Dryad reaction icons.

• Updated Wisp cinematic animations.

• Improved Wrapping Growth to wrap around the island more accurately.

• Tweaked chapter backgrounds to reduce pixel stretching.

Tutorials & UI

• Prevented the Wisp ally from damaging Prologue Tiles.

• Moved the Relic tutorial closer to the player's first Relic.

• Added conditional Feed Sunflower Task tutorials in A1 and A2.

• Updated Inventory Item Description positioning.

• Display Overcharge duration on Seeds while the buff is active.

• Added Island Stat alerts when:

  • the Dryad needs to merge with the Wisp.

  • the Dryad needs to root.

Cinematics

• Removed the opening Prologue attack cinematic.

• Delayed F2 enemy spawns to give the Archer Introduction cinematic more time.

• Added a Solar Flower introduction sequence after completing A2.

• Added a new Chapter E Rest Area Cinematic Sequence.

• Updated Chapter H cinematics and Shadow Friend timings.

• Added a visual pop effect when Shadow Friend escapes.

• Added an end-of-game Thank You message.

• Fixed Salvager activating during cinematics.

Version 2.4.0 Preview

This update serves as a preview of Version 3.0.0, our full release launching on July 22. While we're still putting the finishing touches on the game, this patch contains the majority of the gameplay, progression, balance, and quality-of-life improvements planned for release.

This update will not impact the current Steam Playtest. Existing playtest participants can continue playing without interruption.

Note: Older saves will continue to function correctly. However, because progression has been significantly reworked, existing saves will miss several important progression buffs introduced in this update. For the intended experience, we recommend starting a new save.

General

• Removed the first scene where the Dryad is attacked in the Prologue.

• Delayed F2 enemy spawns to allow more time for the cinematic.

• Dimmed the Blaster Boss slightly more while it is in the background.

• Added a water movement effect while the island moves during the Prologue.

• Fixed additional layering issues with the Divine Orb Boss.

• Fixed a case where the "Feed Sunflower" tutorial message appeared after the Sunflower had already been fed.

• Updated the Inventory Item Description position so it is completely hidden when untoggled.

• Removed the final boss movement jitter.

• Updated Wisp animations to look upward during certain cinematics.

• Disabled holding to change the Dryad's root location while actively rooting or when no valid root location exists.

• Added the Chapter E End Screen.

• Tweaked chapter backgrounds to prevent pixel stretching.

• Restored the animated clouds in Chapter Select.

• Added a sequence for the Solar Flower to appear after completing all tasks in A2 (can be skipped).

• Added conditional "Feed Sunflower" tutorial steps for A1 and A2.

• Moved the Relic tutorial closer to when the player first obtains a Relic.

• Fixed a case where Self Defense and companion traits were incorrectly deactivated.

• Added a visual pop effect when Shadow Friend escapes.

• Updated ambience for Old Valhalla (Chapter B).

• Added lower-pitched wind ambience for the Chapter H Caverns.

• Prevented the Wisp ally from damaging tiles during the Prologue to ensure the player strikes the tile three times.

• Crystallized Tiles are now cleared if an item is placed on top of them.

• Updated the screen cover clouds for Chapter F and Chapter G.

• Improved Wrapping Growth to wrap around the island more accurately.

• Added a sound effect when Crystal Cycle activates.

• Updated Nutrients so they can be fed to plants to accelerate production.

  • Travel Phase: 100%

  • Exploration Phase: 15–20%

• Rebalanced all Boss health.

  • First phases generally have increased health.

  • Second phases generally have reduced health to better match the first.

• Fixed Grassball layering with the Dryad and Wisp.

• Increased the damage cooldown applied by Spirit Jellies from 0.2s → 1.0s.

• Updated Dryad reaction icons.

• Updated Chapter H cinematics and Shadow Friend animation timings.

• Added an end-of-game "Thank You" message at the Rest Area.

• Added alert notifications to the Island Stats UI when:

  • the Dryad needs the Wisp to merge.

  • the Dryad needs to root to the island.

• Fixed Chapter H Firebally enemies not receiving damage correctly.

• Fixed Hulking Abode not properly granting Max Weight.

• Capped maximum Consumable reward appearances at 50.

• Duelist Oath now only activates when enemies are defeated by player sources.

• Defeated enemies now grant a temporary Island Speed boost, similar to Earth Tribute (30 defeated enemies = 1× Island Speed).

• Totem Flower now:

  • Converts Bonus Max Capacity into Charge Regeneration (0.1 Regen per 10 Max Charge).

  • Receives 50% fewer Charges from Crystals by default.

  • Watchful Guardian negates these default effects.

Progression

Progression has been significantly reworked to provide a smoother early-to-mid game experience. Many Relics, tutorials, and Plant rewards have been repositioned throughout the campaign.

• The Nutrients & Uproot Mobility tutorial has moved from A2 to A5.

• Crystal Cycle now refunds a Crystal Flower every 5 uses and activates from any Crystal usage, including feeding plants. It no longer forces Consumables to be lost and is now intended to be part of the early-game progression.

• Salvager is now awarded in A2 as a 1-cost Relic. It continues to refund Consumables when popping Dirt Growth (50%) and now also enables Consumables to appear when Dirt Tiles are destroyed.

• Proliferation is now awarded in D2, allowing Earth Flowers to become Consumables and enter the random reward pool.

• Ladder Flowers are no longer rewarded in Chapter D. Weight Flowers are now rewarded in D4. Chapter F no longer rewards Weight Flowers so it can focus on introducing Stone Tiles.

• High Yield has been removed as a Relic and is now automatically applied in every chapter except the Prologue. It no longer grants Max Charge Capacity.

• All plants now begin with 10 Max Capacity.

  • Large Reserves is granted after Chapter A (+10 Max Capacity).

  • Vast Reserves is granted after Chapter E (+10 Max Capacity).

Balance

• Farming now enables Wisp to immediately destroy Enriched Dirt Tiles. Tiles destroyed this way grant Nutrients.

• Companion Grassballs always Enrich adjacent tiles

• Removed Earth Vacuum.

• Windmill once again removes Charge usage from Weight Flowers, can no longer be Overcharged, and has moved to D5.

• Immortal Harvest no longer affects Expansion Flowers.

• Step Expansion and Wildbloom now affect Expansion Flowers.

• Virulence has been replaced by Heartwise.

  • Heart Flowers become Consumables.

  • They can now appear as random rewards.

  • Popping one restores 1 Heart to the Dryad.

• Crystal Bomb now enables Crystal Flowers to appear as random rewards.

• Uproot Mobility now enables Nutrients to appear as random rewards.

• Love Unbounded now causes the Dryad to fire Nutrients at all Production Plants whenever Hearts are received.

• Added Giant's Palace (+50 Max Weight), located in H3.

• Improved Terra Hearthkeeper.

  • Root Mend Range: 1 → 3

  • Plant Count: 1 → 2

  • Moved to F3.

• Imbued Crystals moved to H5.

• Woodland Refuge Plant Count increased 3 → 5.

• Crystalcore Vessels now receive 50% fewer Charges from Crystals and have moved to G6.

• Crystalline Affinity no longer enables Crystal extraction from tiles. Plants now automatically consume adjacent Crystals when they reach 0 Charges. Moved to C4.

• Mansion moved to C5.

• Glass Cannon now causes Wisp Bash to instantly destroy Crystal Tiles. Moved to C3.

• Overflow now spreads Crystals whenever excess Crystals are fed to a plant. Moved to C5.

• Terra Reaction moved to C3.

• Added Raw Crystals (+5 Plant Charges), available in C2 for 3 Cost.

• Drop Slam moved to D3.

• Earth Tribute moved to D2.

• Step Expansion moved to D3.

• Terra Mastery now causes Complex Expanders to generate Crystal Tiles. Moved to D5.

• Removed Terraforming.

• Renewing Loam now fully restores Production Plants with Nutrients during the Travel Phase.

• Fertile Core now doubles maximum production whenever Nutrients are fed to Production Plants.

• Fixed Volcanic Flora activating from enemy plants.

• Removed Volatile Harvest.

• Cozy Enclosure moved to E5.

• Fallen Blossom moved to E2.

• Earth Armor moved to F4.

• Relic costs have been adjusted and reduced across the board to encourage experimenting with more builds.

🌿 Dryad Playtest Update 2.3.5

✨ New Features

• Added Dryad's Blessing and Nature's Stand traits.

• Added Chapter and Level-specific transition clouds.

• Added Forest Ambience.

• Added SFX for Geode Farming and Salvager procs.

• Added new Prologue intro sound effects.

• Added Adamant Spine proc SFX.

• Added a visual indicator for the next Terraforming Growth proc.

• Replaced the CH E Rest Area cinematic with a new sequence.

• Added a CH HR Rest Area cinematic based on the original CH E sequence.

⚖️ Balance

General

• Reduced Virulence Cost.

• Increased cooldown for Grassballs consuming Solar Energy while flying.

• Updated Predator Phase 1 hide-and-seek spawns to match later phases.

• Homing Crystals now automatically target enemy Seeds.

• Duelist Oath now grants higher-tier Growth rewards when corresponding traits are equipped.

• Updated Strong Winds strength for the Flying Grassball boss.

Totem Flower

• Charges required to fire increased from 10 → 15.

• Base Charge Regeneration increased from 0.3 → 0.5.

• Maximum Charges increased from 10 → 20.

Refined Crystals

• Now grants +5 Charges (from +10).

🧩 Level & Progression

• Moved Mending Flower reward from B2 to B1.

• Updated the B5 puzzle for easier baiting.

• Updated the C2 puzzle to prevent unintended travel by locking Driftbloom harvesting.

• Updated the G6 puzzle.

• Removed Colossal from H3 and replaced it with Imbued Crystals.

• Moved Fertile Core from H3 to the end of Chapter G and replaced it with Nature's Stand.

• Hid undesirable X tiles in Chapter D pillars.

• Tweaked Chapter C to prevent Turret Flower popping.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that could occur if B2 was completed out of order.

• Fixed skipping the B2 cinematic destroying player tiles.

• Fixed Duelist Oath granting rewards during cinematics.

• Fixed Glass Cannon destroying Consumables when equipped.

• Fixed Glass Cannon incorrectly granting bonus damage.

• Fixed portal closing SFX timing in Chapter E.

• Fixed Homing Crystals repeatedly targeting the same Meteorite.

• Fixed Chrome placement conditions not correctly reflecting equipped traits.

• Fixed the Final Boss becoming stuck on the Dragoon Platform.

• Fixed music briefly playing at the start of G3, Rest Area, A5, B5, C5, and D5.

• Fixed Chapter Select not playing menu navigation SFX.

• Fixed Ladder Flower graphics.

• Fixed an ally Wisp moving unintentionally in P0.

🎮 Quality of Life

• Added more precise horizontal movement while looking downward for easier positioning.

• Added grace invulnerability period of 1 second when Wisp exits Dryad

• Increased Dryad Hurt SFX cooldown to 2 seconds.

• Updated redirected energy to reach dying targets before returning to the Dryad.

• Slightly increased global volume and adjusted other audio levels.

• Skipping the Building Tutorial cinematic in P6 now immediately grants access to the Driftbloom.

• Improved Rich Text performance and caching during gameplay.

• Cleaned up ending scene rendering.

• Updated statue draw sorting to render in front of the Wisp.

• Updated menu navigation SFX.

• Muffled additional Shadow Friend audio during Chapter H cinematics.

• Removed the animated star layer from the Epilogue rooftop background.

• Added missing outlines to the Chapter E boss.

Thank you for continuing to help shape Dryad through the Steam Playtest. Your feedback has been invaluable in polishing the game ahead of launch! 🌿

Gameplay & UX

• Added a confirmation timer when moving the Dryad to a different root location. Players must now hold the command for 0.5 seconds before rooting.

• Added a seed collection timer and new Wisp animations when uprooting seeds to reduce accidental collections.

• Updated Prologue tutorial text to reflect the new hold-to-confirm commands.

• Plants are now rendered behind the Wisp and Dryad.

Balance & Content

• Reduced the cost of Renewing Loam.

• Added the Charges tag to Refined Crystals and Imbued Crystals.

• Gigantism and Colossal now work correctly with Chrome consumables.

• Updated the Chapter Select background artwork.

Fixes

• Fixed Obelisk not properly applying Druidic Empathy.

• Added additional safeguards to prevent puzzle bricking in Chapter A2: Uproot Mobility.

• Adjusted Chapter B3 to address player spawn edge cases.

• Fixed issues in Chapter H7.

• Fixed Spike Shooters in Chapter D occasionally missing the Dryad.

• Enabled the game to run without audio hardware connected.

Thank you to everyone participating in the Steam Playtest and sharing feedback. Your reports continue to help improve the experience ahead of launch.

The wait is over! We've granted playtest access to everyone who signed up, and the Dryad Steam Playtest is now available to download and play.

This will run up until July 20 before release.

This playtest includes the full game experience currently available, featuring handcrafted chapters, island-building, exploration, combat, and plenty of opportunities to discover bugs, balance issues, and unexpected strategies.

As you play, we'd love to hear your thoughts on:

• Gameplay and progression

• Difficulty and balance

• Performance and stability

• Bugs and technical issues

• Features you'd like to see improved

Your feedback will directly help shape Dryad as we continue development toward release.

Please join the Discord and talk to us directly! https://discord.gg/qmCx7dnx8

Thank you for taking the time to help test the game and be part of its development journey. We can't wait to hear about your adventures on the floating islands.

Happy testing!

~The Dryad Team

We are locked and loaded! the builds are uploaded and we’re excited to kick off the playtest.

The Dryad Steam Playtest begins at 10:00 AM PST.

If you’re participating, please join our Discord and use the feedback channels to report bugs, share thoughts, and help shape Dryad into the best version it can be this year.

Tomorrow at 10:00 AM PST (06/18), we'll be opening access to the full game through our Steam Playtest, and we're looking for players who want to help shape Dryad's development.

We're especially interested in feedback on:

• Bugs and technical issues

• Balance concerns and broken combinations

• Progression pacing

• General gameplay feedback

If you're interested in participating, sign up now on the Steam store page:

Playtester Credits

As a thank you for helping us improve Dryad, eligible playtesters will be listed in the game's Credits under our Special Thanks section.

To qualify:

• Join our Discord and let us know you've signed up for the playtest.

• Complete at least two Chapters of the game (including the Prologue).

• Submit the playtest survey with the link in game.

We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing how far you can push Dryad's systems. Thank you for helping us make the game better!

This update serves as a preview of the upcoming 2.3.0 release and introduces several major features, balance adjustments, visual improvements, audio enhancements, and bug fixes.

Major Additions

• Added Chapter Select (additional improvements planned)

• Added ending credits and updated main menu credits

• Added Relic Favorites to quickly access preferred relics

• Added new range indicators for:

  • Self Defense

  • Totem Flowers

  • Mending Flowers

  • Morning Flowers

  • Earth Vacuum

• Added indicator showing when the final boss can be damaged

• Added Game Over menu options

Audio & Ambience

Every major chapter now features unique environmental ambience.

• Chapter C — Indoor wind ambience

• Chapter D — Sandy wind ambience

• Chapter E — Fiery wind ambience

• Chapter F — Rain ambience

• Chapter G — Winter wind ambience

• Chapter H — Volcanic ambience

Additional audio updates:

• Added menu navigation sound effects

• Added sound previews while adjusting Sound Volume

• Added sound effect to Wisp's Hammer action

• Prevented duplicate sound effects from stacking excessively

• Adjusted default sound and music volume levels

Controls & Keybind Updates

Added

• Cycle Item Backwards

  • Keyboard: Q

  • Controller: LT

Updated

• View Details

  • Keyboard: F

  • Controller: LT → R3

• Rotate Seed

  • Keyboard: Q → Down Arrow

  • Controller: LB

Balance Changes

Bosses

• Bosses now release 100 Energy instead of 50 depending on level length

• Increased final boss Phase 1 health

• Reduced final boss Phase 3 health

• Final boss Phase 3 becomes attackable sooner

• Reduced laser damage dealt to the Wisp

Traits & Relics

• Earth Vacuum can now pull enemy projectiles toward Overcharged Weight Flowers

• Morning Flowers

  • Range increased to 2

  • Overcharge range increased to 3

  • Effectiveness reduced to 1.25x

• Production penalties from Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz Veil increased to 20%

• Earth Tribute

  • Front Tiles only

  • Reduced to 30 tiles per 1x speed bonus

• Bountiful Harvest now grants +2 Produce

• Added Greater Harvest (+1 Produce) to F4

• Sniper now triggers Crystal Cycle on the first target hit

• Sorceress now redirects player projectiles toward Meteors while her spell is active

Relic Progression Changes

Added

• New A2 task to inform players to equip newly unlocked relics

Relocated

• Terra Geodekeeper → F2

• Stone Attunement → F3

• Martyrdom → F4

• Cozy Enclosure → F4

• Refined Crystals → G4

• Mansion → C3

• Overflow → E1

Renames

• Expanders → Growth

• Expansion Flower → Earth Flower

• Resurrection Flower → Revival Flower

Visual & UI Improvements

• Improved Relic Window category highlighting

• Updated tutorial instruction font pass

• Improved Prologue ending fade transition

• Updated Elder Tree artwork:

  • Body

  • Face

  • Arms

  • Branches

• Save Menu now remembers the currently loaded save

• Immortal Harvest and Savior Eternal now visually update affected plants

Gameplay Improvements & Fixes

Quality of Life

• Added additional opportunities to skip cinematics

• Prevented Wisp from bashing tiles containing consumables

Gameplay Fixes

• Fixed Respawn and Skip Cinematic pause menu options displaying incorrect availability

• Enemy seeds now require a Crystal to destroy

  • Wisp Bash can still stun plants

• Prevented Cleansed Wall Huggers from dying to friendly fire

• Reduced pillar width in Chapter F to interfere less with rainfall

Visual Fixes

• Fixed numerous Shadow Friend sorting issues

• Fixed level-transition sorting issues while flying between stages

• Fixed cinematics where the Wisp faced the wrong direction

• Fixed end screen artwork dimming after repeated viewings

Audio Fixes

• Fixed music and sound effects continuing to play when volume was muted

Release Roadmap & Playtest Sign-Ups

Hello everyone!

As we continue our march toward launch on July 22, we wanted to share our release roadmap and announce an exciting opportunity for players who want to help shape the final version of the game.

Release Roadmap

🌱 Now

• Internal Playtests wrap-up

• Steam Playtest sign-ups open

🧪 June 18

• Playtest access begins

🚀 July 22

• Full game launch

Steam Playtest Approved

We're happy to announce that our Steam Playtest has been approved!

Players can begin signing up now, and those selected will receive access to the game beginning June 18.

This playtest is our final major testing phase before launch and will help us polish the experience, identify issues, and make sure everything is ready for release.

Help Shape the Game

Playtest participants will have the opportunity to:

• Play the game ahead of launch

• Submit feedback through our Discord community

• Complete a playtest survey

• Help us identify bugs, balance concerns, and quality-of-life improvements

• Be credited in our Special Thanks section for helping us improve the game

Every report, suggestion, and piece of feedback helps us make the game better for everyone.

We're incredibly grateful for all of the support, feedback, and encouragement we've received throughout development. The finish line is finally in sight, and we're excited to share the game with all of you.

Thank you for being part of this journey, and we hope you'll join us for the playtest!

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.11 is now live!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚖️ Balance Changes ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Hide-n-Seek mechanic now has Player's Island moving to produce resources even when Solar is capped, reducing situations where players become unable to escape. • Reduced Weight Flower charge regeneration. • Weight Flower charge durations are now affected by Island Speed. • Reduced the effectiveness of Overcharge and Enhancements from 1.5x → 1.4x. • Increased Drop Slam damage to 40. • Updated Suncharged to reduce Morning Flower pop time to 0.5s. • Glass Cannon now launches crystals from destroyed crystallized tiles. • Terra Geodekeeper now spawns crystals in random Stone Tiles at 20%. • Terra Reaction now allows plants to consume crystals in tiles every 4 seconds. • Earth Vacuum now allows Weight Flowers to be Overcharged. • Virulence no longer damages the Dryad and now also applies through Gifting Hearts. • Crystalcore Vessels now halves plant charges when acting as an extractor and no longer resets production progress on other plants. • Placed Imbued Crystals before the Epilogue.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎵 Audio & Visual Updates ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Tweaked Chapter A theme music. • Fixed Chapter F theme transitions between corrupted/uncorrupted boss phases and peaceful/intense variants. • Added Undead Disturbed SFX to the end of the Chapter B cinematic. • Added a softer sound effect when consuming consumables. • Added sound effects when Enhancement buffs are applied. • Added burning VFX when mechanical bosses are falling or destroyed. • Updated Force Field visuals while growing or shrinking during cinematics. • Fixed strange sound effects when Sunflower blooms in the Prologue.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎬 Cinematics & Presentation ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Water Wanderer spawning allies during cinematics. • Fixed Demon Eye remaining targetable during cinematic laser sequences. • Fixed the player Wisp not appearing during the G2 Accidents cinematic. • Fixed several Wisp facing direction issues across cinematics. • Properly offset Dryad energy particles released during cinematics.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ Fixes & Improvements ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Doors not taking burn damage from Burning Curse. • Fixed Water Wanderer incorrectly spawning rewards from Duelist Oath. • Tweaked F3, B5, C5, F4, and D3, including relic reward updates. • Updated various game strings. • Properly display charge regeneration modifiers from Overcharge and Enhancements. • Added a warning popup when disabling relics that could kill plants. • Implemented content caching for common resources to improve average gameplay loading times. • Hooked up remaining Steam Achievements for the Prologue through Chapter H. • Added a Discord link to the Main Menu options.

Thank you to everyone continuing to test and provide feedback! 🌱

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.9 is now live!

Gameplay & Puzzle Updates

• Reduced the chances of taking Miasma damage during P5

• Tweaked the B2 Mending Flower puzzle

• Adjusted the A1 Mending Fruit puzzle to accommodate additional valid solutions

• Updated the H3 puzzle to reduce the possibility of bricked states

• Updated the H4 puzzle

• Lower-tier Expanders can now be planted in Stone Tiles when Rockbender is active and Steel Tiles when Natural Steel is active

Audio

• Updated Main Menu music

• Updated Chapter A music (Peaceful and Intense variants)

Cinematics & Visuals

• Added visual pop effects when enemies spawn in

• Improved multiple Chapter H cinematics with updated camera timing

• Fixed Chapter H cinematics where Gates were not destroyed properly

• Fixed rendering artifacts during the Obelisk summoning sequence

• Added burn trail effects to mechanical boss defeats

• Tweaked the Sorceress Epilogue ending sequence

• Tweaked the timing of when Shadow Friend raises its hand during the Epilogue ending sequence

Epilogue Updates

• Updated Epilogue 2 Nutrient Chest rewards

• Fixed Epilogue mini-boss orbiting cannons not removing their colliders on death

• Fixed fading directly to the ending after the Epilogue Finale

Fixes

• Fixed Door tiles being immune to Crushing damage

Thank you for playing Dryad and for continuing to share feedback and bug reports!

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.3 is now live on the main build!

This update focuses on cinematic polish, gameplay improvements, progression updates, stability fixes, and the first wave of Steam achievements.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎬 Cinematics & Visual Improvements ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed reaction icons from Obelisks appearing prematurely during cinematics • Hid Dryad Summons at the start of levels with cinematics • Fixed several screen faders triggering prematurely during cinematics • Minimized seams appearing when zooming in and out during cinematics • Reduced intensity of flashing red screen faders • Fixed improper background distortion during the Sorceress entry • Added new VFX for destructive and corrupted attacks • Added a hit response effect when Burning Curse is cleansed from a tile

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚔️ Gameplay Changes & Balance ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Integrated Windmill into Weight Flower's base effect • Reworked Windmill to spread crystals when consuming charges • Increased nova damage from Earth Armor • Slightly reduced base speed granted from Momentum • Earthly Resurgence now respawns Dirt Tiles at 50% health • Updated Eye Laser Beam tracking to be less obnoxious • Fixed the Eye Blast origin for the Demon Eye in Phase 3 • Tweaked F2

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🗺️ Levels & Progression ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed lava pillars not appearing in H2 after restarting from checkpoint • Added Dryad merge instructions in H3 to continue the cinematic • Added Expansion Chests to Epilogue 2

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧩 UI & Relics ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Added experimental categories to the Relic Tab (pending feedback) • EQUIPPED — Filters to all currently equipped relics • Fixed improper categorization of the Virulence trait

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ Stability & Technical Fixes ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed a crash that could occur when: • Restarting Level • Exiting to Chapter Select • Returning to Previous Level during a level transition

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🏆 Steam Achievements ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Added a Steam achievement for completing the Epilogue • More achievements are planned for future updates

Thank you for all the feedback and bug reports. Every update helps us continue polishing Dryad as we move toward release.

Hotfix Patch

This is a small hotfix patch verifying our live release process. We are testing our capabilities as a team to respond to any issues as we near our release date.

🛠️Changes

• Updated main menu text

• Resolution width and height settings are now disabled when Borderless or Full Screen display modes are selected

• Added a Quit to Main Menu option to the pause menu

Thank you for your patience as we continue preparing for release. These tests help ensure we can provide timely fixes and support when it matters most.

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.5

This update focuses on UI improvements, gameplay polish, trait balance adjustments, and fixes for issues reported throughout the adventure.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ UI & VISUALS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Made a pass on the Keybinds screen • Made a pass on the Pause screen to better match the UI overhaul • Updated splash graphics for Wisp Bash, Wisp Hammer, Sniper Trait, and Turret Flower effects • Updated Wisp recovery animations after Bash and Hammer to use the Wisp's closed-eye frame • Updated Seed Chest icons to match their actual graphics • Added a special visual effect around Wisp when gaining Crystal Cycle charges • Updated the level transition screen cover with additional texture • Added a notification when save data fails to load

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ GAMEPLAY & BALANCE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Reduced bouncing Firebally damage to Wall Tiles in CH H • Slightly increased the nova radius from tiles affected by Adamant Spine • Reduced the trait cost of Cheerleader, Pain Attunement, Savior Eternal, Water Wanderer, Watchful Guardians, and Suncharged • Improved horizontal wall jump controls by checking directional input on the second frame instead of the first • Added a light ray indicator to Solar Boxes in CH G to help locate orbiting targets during the Hide-n-Seek mechanic • Moved the Obelisk to a protected area during the initial Hide-n-Seek mechanic • Moved Pandemonium to E3 • Replaced Pandemonium in H2 with Earthly Resurgence

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ BUG FIXES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Earthbender not properly triggering when bashing Dirt tiles along the right side • Fixed another case where Grassballs could become stuck in infinite flight and remain uninteractable • Fixed Shadow Limb not properly applying its effect during all boss battles • Fixed plant progress bars from previous levels lingering on screen • Fixed Totem Flower growth patterns not appearing in tile predictions • Fixed cases where screen post-processing effects conflicted with each other during CH G cinematics • Fixed a crash when revisiting the Rest Area after completing older chapters and CH H • Fixed Self Defense continuing to fire during level completion

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ CONTENT & POLISH ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Updated Volcanic Flora to use the same nova effect as dying plants • Added new ending animations for Shadow Friend in the Epilogue • Updated relic descriptions and strings for clarity • Updated some chapter backgrounds to parallax horizontally only • Improved Totem Flower growth behavior to more consistently grow downward along island sides

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.4

This update focuses on resolving a blocking issue in the Demo related to introducing Mending Flowers. These fixes and balance updates are now available on both the Demo and Main Build. The Demo version also includes all recent updates from the main branch.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ LEVELS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Morning Flower not being granted in B2 • Fixed cases where Dryad unroots to an incorrect position when greeting Archer in F2 • Prevented a softlock when popping Mending Flower and Totem Flower during tutorials • Updated G1 instructions to “Continue without Solar” • Added handling for cases where the player Wisp is not at the intended location during the cinematic in G2 • Moved Step Expansion relic closer to the left side in D5

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ ENEMY BEHAVIORS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Firebally unintentionally bouncing off bubbles • Fixed awkward movement of Wall Huggers along the Elder Tree

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ FINAL BOSS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed the final boss not firing its laser blast at the Obelisk • Fixed the final boss immediately updating Wisp Aggro if exposed during an ability cast • Prevented the main eye from being targetable after the current phase is defeated

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ RELICS & VISUALS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Sorted Honorhelm graphic in front when falling off Wisp • Improved Sniper charge rate by doubling its speed • Reduced cost of Obsidian Affinity • Fixed Hoverbubbles not applying auto-hover while holding the jump key • Totem Flowers now fully play their animation while in cooldown • Fixed Refined Crystals granting more charges than intended • Updated Adamant Spine attack visuals and adjusted its damage and attack radius

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.2

⚠️ Note: These changes currently apply to the main build and are not yet available in the demo version.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧩 GAMEPLAY & BALANCE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Updated most intro levels to have a slower start (Stages with 1 Solar Energy requirement)

• Reduced light damage dealt to Wisp for better player response times • Updated puzzles in E2 and E5 to reduce tedium and breakage • Updated G3 to better introduce Totem Flowers • Updated F2 with Hit Switches placed in more manageable areas • Updated F3 and F5 to reduce tedium and breakage • Reworked Earth Vacuum: now increases Weight Flower Max WT Bonus but expends charges faster • Reduced Weight Flower Base Max WT to 30 • Tweaked C3 • Revamped B5 puzzle • Revamped D2 puzzle • Increased reward chances for Geode Farming, Salvager, and Duelist Oath

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✨ VISUAL UPDATES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Integrated a new Settings Screen design • Offset Hoverbubbles visuals to animate properly below Wisps • Added Totem Flower attack animations • Updated Totem Flower visuals to better distinguish them from Dryad banish wave effects • Added visuals for miasma being pushed back by Totem Flower nova effects • Updated L3 and R3 graphics for gamepads

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌱 QUALITY OF LIFE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Rest Areas with Infinite Expansion now retain Expander rotation when planting • Updated and fixed relic description strings • Categorized the Door Seed as a “Unique Plant”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ FIXES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed a crash when using Fallen Blossom with Crystal Cycle • Fixed End of Chapter D containing a support tile • Fixed meteorites from Elder Tree Arm becoming stuck in Player Wall Tiles • Fixed camera initialization issues in E6 • Fixed Predator Boss retaining its trail image effect during hide-and-seek in G4 when skipping the cinematic

Thank you for all the feedback and bug reports! 🌿

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.1

⚠️ Note: These changes currently apply to the main build and are not yet available in the demo version.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧩 RELICS & PROGRESSION ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Mass Coverage moved to a more accessible location in CH G • Moved Geode Farmer to G2 • Moved Cleansing Fruit to H1 unlock • Moved Followers Blessing to F3 • Replaced Heavy Hit with Obsidian Affinity in H2 • Placed Pandemonium in H2 • Updated Volcanic Flora so any plant explodes upon death, now moved to G4 • Updated Crystalline Affinity to allow extraction of Crystals from tiles • Updated Crystalcore Vessels to reset plant production when moved to prevent potential softlocks

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚔️ COMBAT & GAMEPLAY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Reduced Charging Receptors damage threshold required to receive charges • Improved control of Bash with Hoverbubbles, now requiring only a short cooldown before refreshing • Cavern Walls now damage the Wisp for consistency with other crushing boss mechanics • Updated Chapter G boss Hide-n-seek mechanic to visually show stolen Solar Energy from the energy bar • Solar Boxes now restore a portion of stolen Solar Energy during the encounter • Chapter H boss can no longer triple slam the island • Reduced intensified laser damage from the Demon Eye boss binary laser attack • Updated Crystal Bomb to fire homing projectiles after popping Crystal Flowers • Fixed Earth Bond and Earthbender not one-shotting Meteorites • Prevented tile spreading from Burning Curse tiles destroyed by the Wisp • Added visuals showing miasma being pushed away when the Dryad casts her ultimate

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🗺️ LEVELS & WORLD ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Revamped Chapter H puzzles and levels • Added in-world descriptions throughout the Rest Area • Removed Sorceress’ miasma shield during the H3 cinematic to better represent the past • Added additional basic plants for recovery near the end of each chapter

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎮 UI & QUALITY OF LIFE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Made a pass on the Main Menu and Save Menu screens (more to come) • Renamed the “Primary” relic category to “Core” • Added Threat Level display to Island Stats UI, primarily based on active Sunflowers • Improved Relic Menu navigation so Page Down jumps to the last element when already on the final page • Players can now collect chest items using the extract key • Cosmetics and companions now hide during cinematics

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛠️ FIXES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

• Fixed Obelisk not applying its mending effect from its roots • Fixed Final Boss Dragoon Entry potentially clipping into the Player Island • Fixed some Purple Orbs remaining after the Orange Dryad encounter • Grassball now properly respawns between levels and when toggling the trait • Fixed Selfless Hearthkeeper not updating Plant Limit on activation • Fixed Ladder Flowers blooming when not at full length

🌿 Dryad Update 2.2.0

The latest demo update is now live! This patch includes expanded Prologue content, gameplay balancing, visual improvements, UI updates, and a large number of fixes across multiple chapters.

🧩 Chapter Updates

• Inserted a new Prologue defense scene featuring a larger Purple Orb encounter as an early tease for future threats • Updated Prologue scenes to introduce growing and harvesting Crystal Flowers earlier • Removed Nutrients from the Prologue and moved its introduction to A2 • Added protection against early miasma closure during Prologue stages to give players more time to react • Updated CH H descent encounters to include ranged enemies • Updated puzzles in B3, H3, and H5 • Fixed navigation exploit in B2 • Added CH G end screen graphic • Updated Epilogue end screens • Disabled early start island movement in the Rest Area • Reduced damage of Drilly Bugs when attacking tiles • Reduced damage of Burning Curse ticks on tiles

⚖️ Controls

• Improved harvest and merge reliability by limiting maximum Wisp interaction targets during bashes • Updated controls to prevent recoil while hammering against wall edges

🌱 Trait Updates

• Set base charge capacity of Turret Flowers and Mending Flowers to 10  ◦ High Yield in CH A now grants this capacity increase • Balanced healing reduction of Adamant Spine • Added the Renewing Loam trait and updated reward locations • Improved Chromefall, Bloomfall, and Grovekeeper targeting logic to better prioritize accessible open tiles • Adjusted relic costs for Auto Recovery, Wildbloom, and Gigantism • Moved the Solar Temptation Relic to a later point due to its advanced balance implications

✨ Visual & Animation Updates

• Updated Shadow Friend transformation animations • Improved Shadow Friend cinematic animation consistency • Added visual particle response effects when Wisps bash and collide with tiles • Added gradient effects to corrupted water during Prologue cinematics • Updated the CH E Ash Particle System with controlled wind resistance for more natural falling leaves • Fixed visual glitches during final boss phase transitions • Fixed visual issue with solid miasma disappearing after fully consuming the camera

⚔️ Fixes

• Fixed Demon Eye not initially being targetable • Fixed Obelisk not correctly applying Miasma Vulnerability • Fixed Archer Boss arrows dealing friendly fire • Fixed homing projectiles occasionally cycling infinitely around targets • Fixed hit switches not fully destroying after connected tile branches were severed • Fixed hammer targeting priority to correctly hit player background tiles • Fixed Cluster Flowers generating Chrome Petals in the wrong order • Fixed Crystals spawning inside door tiles • Fixed Wrapping Expansion stems not growing to intended length • Fixed heart calculation scaling for Dryad healing • Fixed character positions during the finale sequence • Fixed fullscreen issues with high DPI monitors

🖥️ UI & Accessibility

• Added a warning prompt when Chapter Select could result in lost progress • Added color coding and font styling improvements to relic and item descriptions • Improved grammar and wording across various UI descriptions

Thank you for playing the Dryad Demo and continuing to share feedback and bug reports. 🌿

We are armoring to catch as much low-hanging fruit while implementing the rest of the in-game parts. Chapter Select remains our core focus to flesh out for the next month.

New & Improvements

• Added a screen cover placeholder for smoother transitions (final version coming soon)

• Updated tutorial text and improved timing for harvesting Crystal Flowers

• Added crash logging settings

• Enabled cloud saves

• Added confirmation pop-ups for:

  • Survey

  • Applying keybind changes

  • Exiting gameplay from the pause menu

• Added first-time tutorial modal for Rest Areas

• Converted End Screen to new HUD framework

• Added more Shadow Friend SFX

• Added uncorrupted track for CH F boss

• Added tile damage display for Burning Curse

• Improved CH E boss meteorite visuals and feedback

• Added Dryad look-up animations when moving vertically

• Island now continues moving if no Sunflowers are active

New Trait

• Grovecaller (0 Cost)

  • Spawns Basic Plants if Plant Count is below 6

  • Acts as an early-game safety net, scaling down in effectiveness over time

  • Granted for free in CH A

Balance Changes

• Reduced effectiveness of G2 boss damage against Dryad

• Adjusted Sorceress meteor behavior to reduce player effectiveness

• Added mending reduction to Adamant Spine

• Reworked Earth Armor to consistently apply to AoEs affecting enemy seeds

• Adjusted and repositioned late-game traits

• Removed weight cost from Door Tile

Fixes

• Fixed Bottomless Wisp trait not initializing in HUD

• Fixed enemy plants being interactable with the Extract key

• Fixed Dryad starting health not scaling with Sylvan Fortitude

• Fixed inward boost recoil not triggering on background tiles

• Fixed Crystalcore Vessel interactions while traveling

• Fixed Earth Armor unintentionally granting knockback immunity

• Fixed players descending into water in P0 via boost exploit

• Fixed Meteorite overlap interactions in CH E

• Fixed Sunflowers in P5 not returning if converted but not collected

• Fixed softlocks in CH E boss encounters

Optimization

• Improved island transition performance (Travel Phase cleanup)

• Capped and optimized meteorite spawning in CH E

• Updated G2 encounters and enemy behaviors

Other Changes

• Enabled Wisp to destroy tiles during cinematics

• Updated Obelisk reactions and SFX to match Dryad notifications

• Renamed Geode Farming → Salvager, with Geode Farming repurposed for later content

More polish and improvements are on the way. Keep the feedback coming 🌿

✨ Demo Update – Early Game Improvements

This update focuses on smoothing out early progression and improving the testing experience.

🔧 Changes & Fixes

• Fix a memory leak in P5 and P6

• Resolution Options Updated Improved resolution settings for better compatibility across different displays.

• Prologue Instructions Updated (P5) Clarified early-game guidance to make progression more intuitive.

• Crystals No Longer Expire in P6 Adjusted mechanics to prevent early frustration and allow more flexible play during testing.

🌿 Prologue & Core Flow

The Prologue has been reworked to introduce Basic Plants earlier.

Crystal Flowers are now provided sooner and are grown before the island is built. This helps players better understand the core gameplay loop and the transition between Exploration and Travel.

🎨 Visual Improvements

• Tiles now feature a 2px border edge, clearly separating different tile types while preserving grid readability

⚙️ Changes & Improvements

• Sunflower placement puzzles removed to reduce tedium • Buffs like Overcharge now appear in item details when active • Pillar protection removed from Levels B4 and B5 • Cleansing Fruit Auras now push back miasma • Back keybinds now exit the Pause Menu and Relic Window • Energy bar hidden at the end of chapters (second-case fix) • Left Thumbstick enabled by default for movement • Blaster in A3–A5 now arrives from below instead of above • Driftbloom effects now render in front of most objects • Rest Area must now be visited to progress past Chapter A • Starting tile requirements reduced in the building tutorial • Sunflower base charge capacity set to 10 • High Yield now grants +20 maximum charges to Sunflowers • Resurrection Flowers now only appear in Chapter A if core plants are lost • Item descriptions updated with buff icons

🛠️ Fixes

• Fixed Relic Window controls not applying properly • Fixed camera jitter edge case in the Prologue (Wisp death before trigger) • Fixed hearts being granted while at full health • Removed awkward dirt tiles from Shadow Friend areas

🔄 Trait Updates

• Bottomless Wisp updated • Geode Farming updated • Fertile Core updated • Pandemonium traits updated • High Yield updated

DRYAD Demo Update

Content Update & Polish

This update introduces new relics, visual improvements, and quality-of-life changes, along with added clarity across core systems. We are working to push playtesting towards the middle of the game involving Chapter B, C, D, E, F, and G.

🎨 Visual & UI Improvements

• Updated Shrine visuals to better distinguish them from standard tiles

• Renamed Solar Flower to Driftbloom, with a revamped design to better differentiate it from Sunflower

• Added a glimmer effect to Relic Tiles and Relic Rewards

• Unified root panels with down-arrow indicators to clearly show valid rooting locations

• Updated graphic for Hearts and Crystals

• Converted Chapter Select to the new UI framework (new design coming soon)

🌱 Gameplay Additions & Changes

• Added Radiant Gift Relic to A3 to better introduce Dryad healing in Chapter A

• Introduced Super Heart in Rest Areas:

  • Fully heals all tiles

  • Restores all plant charges

• Added Rest Area buff:

  • Expanders no longer expire when placed

• Replaced Glass Cannon with Crystal Cycle:

  • Every 3 crystals launched refunds a Crystal Flower

  • All consumables are destroyed on death

• Added Bloomfall & Chromefall effects:

  • A star marks where seeds will land

  • Seeds now prefer landing near the top of the island

  • Effect also used to recover Core plants during Travel Phase

🔊 Audio & Presentation

• Added a new welcoming soundtrack to the Prologue opening

• Added Wisp reaction sfx in the Prologue opening

• Dryad ice block now flashes on each bash for added impact

⚖️ Balance & Tuning

• Slight delay added to Purple and Red Puff projectiles when consuming Solar Energy

• Updated, added and rebalanced relics, including:

  • Tumbleseed Token

  • Farming

  • Gigantism

  • Chasmophyte

  • Cleansing Fruit

  • Terra Mastery

  • Druidic Empathy

🛠 Quality of Life & Fixes

• Added a loading screen

• Replaced all “WT” text with “Weight”

• Added additional soft-lock prevention and messaging in the Prologue

We’ve just released a new update focused on improving gameplay flow, clarity, and smoothing out progression across several levels.

🧭 Level & Tutorial Improvements We’ve made updates across multiple levels to improve usability and reduce friction:

• Refined tutorials and object placement in P4–P7

• Improved guidance with new directional key prompts (P5)

• Added item detail instructions (A1)

• Adjusted level geometry for better accessibility (PEnd)

• Added a return path pillar to make navigation smoother (A5)

• General puzzle tweaks and visual improvements (B3–C4)

• Shrines now stand out more clearly from surrounding tiles

🧩 Items & Relics

• Increased spawn chance for Duelist Oath

• Updated item descriptions for better consistency

🛠 Fixes

• Fixed an issue where enemy seeds could be collected

• Fixed a soft-lock preventing puzzle completion (A1)

• Fixed relic equip restriction message persisting on screen

• Fixed energy bar appearing at the end of a chapter

Thanks for playing the Dryad demo and helping us improve the experience 🌱