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Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.
I lied about there being only bug fixes from now on.
Here's some gameplay tweaks and new content too.
v1.0.0 -> v1.0.1
Fixed Butterfly's Arcane Grapple.
Fixed camera centering in certain mid-run story scenes.
Added two new post-story lore entries.
Status effect announcement text is slightly smaller.
Neutral bosses (Nightmare, Behemoth, Void of Nostalgia) now only have a chance to spawn when you've defeated that region's boss before.
Neutral bosses appear slightly more often when the above condition is met.
Certain late-game events can now appear earlier in a run.
Realm selection now shows when you haven't defeated a region's boss yet.
Edited some tutorial text for clarity.
Seagull's Alacrity now must be played on an ally, but it fast-forwards statuses for both party members.
Terrain-creating card text now consistently highlights tile names.
After nearly 3 years of working on this almost every day, the game is out in 1.0 now. Thanks for following along the journey! I hope you enjoy the full release.
If you'd like to offer additional support to me and/or the composer, you can also get the soundtrack right here on Steam, too.
I'll be around for bug fixes, so if you encounter anything strange, please report it using the in-game link.
Reviews and comments are always appreciated!
v0.9.5 -> v1.0.0
Fixed incorrect spike tile damage preview for lunge cards that don't move you.
Fixed a duplicate prologue conversation appearing in the library.
Fixed a softlock associated with banned enemies in the early game.
Cards can no longer have negative potency.
The first "item gained" trail no longer flies off the side of the screen.
Wildfire Exemplar no longer has intense time dilation on splitting.
Butterfly's Shield Collar no longer consumes stacks of Form.
Seagull's Mend no longer misses some debuffs.
Implemented Act III Scene IV.
Implemented Act III Scene V.
Implemented Epilogue scenes.
Made some minor script edits for tone and style.
Added a short animation when new enemy attacks appear in the turn preview.
Added a short highlight animation for incoming damage previews.
Added a short highlight animation for enemy reactions.
Teleporting has a new animation.
"Your Turn" and "Enemy Turn" banners fade out slightly faster.
Added new music for realms 2 and 3 of a run.
Added remastered versions of all existing tracks.
Added a sound for when previewed incoming attack damage changes.
Added late-game events that allow you to draft one character's cards into the other character's deck.
Enemies no longer block two turns in a row.
Cauldron refreshing starts off at 3 Stars rather than 2, and increases by 2 each time rather than 1.
Added a step between the closest camera zoom level and the second-closest camera zoom level (when using the scroll wheel).
Status icons above HP indicators now pulse when moused over to show that they have tooltips.
Prevented certain supplemental tutorial popups from appearing when tutorials have already appeared in the current battle, to avoid information overload.
Actions with Retain effects now simply describe them as "Each turn".
Butterfly:
Added Burden, an Action which allows you to absorb your ally's debuffs.
Added Converge, a Gambit which discards up to 2 Gambits to give you that much Flow.
Step Chart no longer has a cooldown, but only has 1 charge rather than 2.
Striation no longer has a charge limit.
Waterfall now has a 4 turn cooldown rather than 3, and starts battle on cooldown for 1 turn.
Crashing Wave now starts battle on cooldown for 1 turn.
Stonepiercer now starts battle on cooldown for 1 turn.
Arcane Grapple now has Persist before upgrade, and instead gains range on upgrade.
Rebirth now affects 3 cards for 3 cooldown/charges, rather than 5 for 5.
Seagull:
Added Interjection, a Gambit which stuns for 1, or for 2 if its target intends to attack.
Added Domain Contraction, a Gambit which pulls enemies in a large radius.
Wand of Slashing now deals 3 damage, or 5 if its target intends to attack.
Enfeeble now inflicts 3 Weakened, or 5 if its target intends to attack.
Disruption now has a 3 turn cooldown but unlimited charges, rather than a 2 turn cooldown and 3 charges.
Improvisation now has a 2 turn cooldown, rather than 3.
Keenness no longer has a cooldown.
Cricket:
Added Shoulder Charge, an Action which discards all your Gambits to deal an equivalent amount of knockback.
Added Stretch, a Gambit which temporarily upgrades all Gambits in your draw pile.
Tackle now pushes for 2 rather than 3, and starts with 2 less range.
Construction is now also a teleport card.
Dropkick has new artwork.
Crow:
Added Delegation, a Gambit which transfers your buffs to your ally.
Added Oil and Water, a Gambit which transfers your AP to your ally and your ally's GP to you.
Rekindle now gives you 3 Burn rather than 5.
Eclipse now starts battle on cooldown for 1 turn.
Ritual now starts battle on cooldown for 1 turn.
Added Reverse Tether, which lets you revive your ally by dividing your own current and max HP in half.
Added Mind Meld, which allows you to send a card to your ally's deck.
All "tear" items (max HP up) now give 10 max HP and healing, rather than 15.
Butterfly:
Added Weapon Drills, which clears 2 random stacks of debuffs on turn end.
Halfcape now gives 1 Buffer rather than 3 Nimble upon defeating an enemy.
Iron Bands now gives 10 Block rather than 15.
Seagull:
Added Golden Glint, which grants 2 Focus and Grit every 3 Golden cards you play.
Heavy Robe now procs on 8 or more Block, rather than 10.
Tether Tassel now starts at 2 extra Block, rather than 1.
Cricket:
Added Wood Shavings, which allows 2 random Copied cards to remain in your deck after battle.
Heartwood Slab now starts at 2 Resist, rather than 1.
Crow:
Added Shadow Blend, which (on every even turn) boosts your movement by 1 and turns it into a teleport.
Sheer Fabric now starts at a 1 in 2 chance to cooldown, rather than 1 in 3.
Metronome has been reworked, and now has a 1 in 3 chance to give AP on odd turns and GP on even turns.
Most swarm enemies have had their HP slightly buffed.
Many realm 2 enemies have had their damage and movement slightly buffed.
Many realm 3 enemies have had their damage and movement more-than-slightly buffed.
NOMIA is discounted by 30% as part of Steam's Deckbuilders Fest!
From May 4th to 11th, you can pick it up in Early Access at the (new) lowest price it's ever been, just ahead of its May 31st 1.0 release.
If you'd like to try before you buy, the demo remains available indefinitely here:
NOMIA will release into 1.0 on May 31, 2026.
The non-early-access version of the game will feature:
All remaining story scenes
Additional music by Will Goss
Additional audiovisual polish
Gameplay and balance improvements
As many quality of life improvements and bug fixes as I can get
Thanks for following along this journey! I hope to see you there at the finish line.
This build fixes a softlock associated with early game runs where certain enemies are forbidden from appearing.
Save files that were affected by this softlock could already continue by ending the run from the pause menu and starting a new one, but they should now be able to continue their run without having to do so.
Act III continues.
Also: Some light animation has been added to rewards for readability. Adventurers' field-generating cards now only buff allies and debuff enemies. Some enemies have been edited in order to smooth out the early game learning curve.
The next update will be the game's 1.0 release! Thanks for following along this journey. Soon, I'll have more to announce on when 1.0 will arrive.
v0.9.4 -> v0.9.5
Fixed edge case where the enemy turn wouldn't proceed if an enemy is destroyed in the middle of its turn (e.g. by stepping onto spikes).
Implemented Act III Scene III.
Added a poem to the cutscene that plays between act I and act II.
Added an effect for party members tethering out.
Made the enemy-defeated particle a little more intense.
Card rewards now have a small flip animation.
Memory rewards now have a small expanding animation.
Item rewards now have a small announcement animation.
Star rewards now have a small announcement animation.
Healing events take slightly longer before opening reward/path choice menus.
Many particles now intersect more softly with level geometry.
Added a slight shrinking effect to boss name announcements.
Butterfly's Step Chart now only buffs allies.
Seagull's Lightfield now only buffs allies.
Seagull's Drainfield now only debuffs enemies.
Cricket's Arcane Snare now only damages enemies.
Cricket's Code Rot now only debuffs enemies.
Crow's Channeling Circle now only buffs allies.
Crow's Emberfield now only debuffs enemies.
Isocahedron now applies Critical chance per hit rather than per card played.
Wood:
Bookwraith's Reading now applies 2 Vulnerable rather than 1 Vulnerable + 1 Critical.
Bookwraith's Writing no longer deals self-damage.
Apothecary no longer appears in early runs, to reduce information load.
Earth: Quake's Fluctuation now only debuffs party members.
Act III continues. Also, you can finally level up everyone's bonds to 5.
v0.9.3 -> v0.9.4
Fixed varied backgrounds toggling back and forth when going through the conversation log.
You can no longer make Copied cards into permanent cards with items such as Chirography/Muscle Memory (they would have disappeared after use anyway).
Crow's Eclipse now gains Draw 1 on upgrade (previously did not change on upgrade).
Implemented Act III Scene II.
Implemented bond level 5 conversations.
Added new lore entries.
Added more backgrounds to certain conversations.
Enemy sprites now have a red overlay that intensifies as they take damage.
Some of the more complex enemies no longer appear in the first few runs, to reduce information load.
Reward menu titles are now more direct (e.g. "Memory Upgrade" rather than "Reflection").
The Monsters tab now shows blank cards for not-yet-defeated enemies, so you can track your progress.
Act III begins.
Also, the realms look slightly better lit now, and damage numbers are now different colours when applied to enemies versus allies.
v0.9.2 -> v0.9.3
Fixed no-line-of-sight eye icon being much smaller than intended.
Implemented Act II Scene V.
Implemented Act III Scene I.
Implemented lore entries linked to the above scenes.
Implemented Act III dive intro conversations.
Adjusted lighting and colours in most realms.
Especially powerful card plays now have an anticipation effect.
Damage numbers on enemies are now white or orange, while damage numbers on allies remain red.
Vulnerable/Parry overlays now fade in when statuses are applied, and fade out when a unit is destroyed.
Status effect icons above units are slightly larger for the compact indicator style.
Background darkening when menus are open is less intense.
All reward menus can now be minimized (e.g. to use items) by clicking outside their active area.
Butterfly's Turbulent Flow and Laminar Flow have been simplified.
The story continues!
Certain statuses are now a bit more clearly communicated: Vulnerable/Parry draws an overlay on the unit, and Stable/Unstable shows a brief message when they change knockback.
I've also ironed out a few bugs: all Memories that activated on defeating an enemy now work again, certain mid-story scenes have the right sprites now, and a few typos or unclear descriptions have been fixed here and there.
From here on out, I'll be prioritizing further story updates and gamefeel improvements to lead up to the 1.0 release.
v0.9.1 -> v0.9.2
Fixed Memories that activated on defeating a unit, such as Butterfly's Armour Laces.
Fixed unavoidably exiting the keybinds menu when binding a "Back" key.
The banners on the sides of the memory draft menu now have tooltips that say "X's Build" rather than "X's Memories".
Fixed Hawk having the wrong sprites in a certain story scene.
Fixed another character having the wrong sprites in a certain story scene.
Fixed mid-run cutscenes appearing too quickly after a realm shift.
Fixed typo on Strength of the Fifth's path choice description.
Implemented Act II Scene IV.
Added lore entries unlocked by the above scene.
Added unit overlays for Vulnerable and Parry.
Damage text now notes when Fragile or Sturdy changes damage.
Added popup text for when Stable or Unstable changes knockback.
Splitter enemies no longer show damage numbers for halving HP from splitting.
Slightly shortened and darkened text when a status effect wears off.
The run summary screen now pins itself to the bottom when unveiling unlocks.
Timing between damage numbers has been extended slightly.
Cards, Memories, and Items now have different mouseover sounds from each other.
Replaced sounds for starting and ending cutscenes.
Card effects on other cards are now noted in the battle log.
Memory effects on cards are now noted in the battle log.
Replaced the "-" with "x" on certain menus so the button is more noticeable.
Added a clearer tooltip when trying to use an item with a menu open.
Added a clearer message when trying to play an empty reload card.
Cricket's Sneak Attack now Exhausts.
Crow's Eclipse now self-inflicts 2 more Fray rather than Overheating for 2.
Impetus's text now clarifies that the GP cost reduction only lasts for this turn.
Splitter enemies that start with special behaviours now also copy their special behaviours to their clones.
NOMIA is discounted by 25% as part of Tiny Roguelikes 2026!
From January 31st to February 14th, you can pick it up in Early Access at the lowest price it's ever been.
If you'd like to try before you buy, the demo remains available indefinitely here:
This build fixes an issue with some characters having the wrong sprites in certain mid-run story scenes. It also includes a few changes underneath that one, which will be fully described in 0.9.2's changelog.
Once per battle, you can now undo your turn.
This was one of the most commonly requested features! I couldn't offer the player infinite undos since that would make it optimal to repeatedly retry percent-chance effects, and it's never good to make an unfun way to play the most optimal one. One undo every battle should cover for the occasional misclick, or let the player retry an especially heinous missed attack just the one time.
Turn undo is unlocked after the first proper story cutscene, to lighten the information load on new players (and to get them used to playing their turns carefully at first).
In other news, Crow's seasonal cycle cards have been reworked since they were lacking identity, and the drafted cards that permanently give her the starting card of her day and season cycles have had their text clarified, since some folks believed the cycle cards themselves were one-time use.
Next update will continue the story!
v0.9.0 -> v0.9.1
Fixed the Gleaning menu's minimize button not working.
Promise of Renewal is no longer missing 2 potency.
Fixed chronomancer enemies redirecting the effects of certain memories.
Fixed purple trim for special behaviour enemies drawing on top of other unit sprites.
Figurines shake a little less on damage/debuff compared to banners.
Reloading a multi-realm run in progress now draws rooms according to each realm's style.
Made unit pieces smoother at farther zoom levels.
Increased screenshake (when the screenshake setting is not at zero).
Added the ability to undo a turn once per battle, unlocked early on in the story.
The boss path choice is no longer duplicated four times, and does not create a new room.
Eliminated slight delay from recreating all units when loading a run.
Increased maximum UI scale setting to 300%.
Removed the phrase "stacks of" from most cards/memories/battle logs for brevity.
Butterfly: Flair now Overheats for 2 rather than 1.
Cricket: Hone now Overheats for 2 rather than 1.
Crow:
Fireball now Overheats for 2 rather than 1.
Ritual now self-inflicts 3 Fray rather than Overheating for 5.
Moonrise, Sunrise and Equinox have had their descriptions clarified.
The season cycle has been completely reworked:
Spring now empowers all your Memories for 3(2) GP.
Summer now inflicts AoE Burn equal to 5 + 1(2) times the number of Memories you have.
Autumn now restores 1(2) charge(s) to 5 cards in hand.
Winter now debuffs all your Memories twice to deal high AoE damage.
Neutral:
Debilitate now expands its range on upgrade rather than becoming 0 cost.
Stagger now expands its range on upgrade rather than becoming 0 cost.
Earth: Buried Mark now temporarily upgrades all your Memories rather than giving 5 Resist.
White Tea no longer consumes stacks of Form when restoring Block from last turn.
Crow's Magnetic Sand no longer applies extra DoT stacks when her card misses.
Mirrorscale now inflicts Distracted after your card takes effect, not before.
Metal:
Lightning Rod now applies its Focus to adjacent units even when the triggering attack destroyed it.
Analyzer's attack is now locked, but has increased damage and area.
The "!" that appears when you catch an enemy's attention now shows after your card play, so it's more noticeable.
A major update to the game's look and core gameplay!
Adventurers are now represented by "figurines" that have multiple frames, and unit status indicators have been completely redesigned to be more compact and stylish.
In addition, party members can now move through each other, and the line of sight algorithm has been made more permissive: if you would have line of sight by moving one tile (with some caveats), you have line of sight from where you're standing.
You can also unlock the ability to manually rearrange your cards, which is important because keywords like Overheat and Discard now deterministically affect your rightmost Action or leftmost Gambit. This also means you get to choose which Action gets hit by the Curse of the Clay Devourer, and it also means you can now overheat even your basic movement action if nothing else is available.
Hopefully, all of these changes expand tactical options without sacrificing depth.
The visual changes should give the board more life and breathing room, but you can revert to the old style in settings if you prefer.
Let me know how this feels! Steam reviews are always appreciated too.
v0.8.5 -> v0.9.0
Fixed edge case soft locks involving splitter enemies and summoner enemies.
Fixed edge case when playing an AOE card that causes the unit to be defeated due to backlash damage.
Fixed enemy targeting for lunge cards when their movement options are cut off.
Fixed Trail Boots triggering on non-movement cards, and failing to trigger on terrain that disappeared after you stepped on it.
Wisdom of the Sixth is no longer missing 1 potency.
Fixed reward menu sticking on screen if you end a run with it still open.
Some outdated information in the tutorial codex entries has been corrected.
The cost icon no longer reverts to blue/purple when a card is unplayable.
Tutorial messages no longer block mouseovers when hidden.
The stars hourglass no longer briefly displays the reward count from the previous battle.
Fixed both character select portraits fading out character cards when moused over (even if only one was visible).
Fixed curse level indicator reappearing after exiting character card/memory details on the run start menu.
Adventurers are now represented by figurine-style pieces with several illustrations. (If you prefer the old banners, the "Player unit style" setting reverts this.
HP indicators have been completely redesigned to be more compact. (If you prefer the old indicators, the "HP indicator style" setting reverts this.)
Units now gently fade when highlighted/lowlighted rather than snapping to high/low opacity.
Unit emanation circles now also fade when lowlighted.
Units no longer lowlight when out of battle.
Units banners are slightly lower visually, to take up less screen space.
The yellow health-drain effect on HP indicators no longer skips its animation when previewing a new source of damage.
Changed main menu background.
The tile cursor light has been made less intense.
Tweaked lighting and colours in the Wall of Memory.
Tweaked text alignment in settings and keybinds menus.
Added tense theme for certain conversations.
Party members no longer block movement for each other.
Line of sight computation has been made more lenient.
Added additional Curses (each can also be intensified after you win a run with them active):
Curse of the Nightmare: Party members gain 2(3) Fear on battle start.
Curse of the Behemoth: Non-boss enemies have a 1 in 8(5) chance to gain 1 Stable on spawn.
Curse of the Void of Nostalgia: Starting on round 3(2), enemy attacks gain 1 potency per turn.
Curse of the Invective Scholar now triggers earlier when intensified, rather than dealing more unavoidable damage.
Splitter enemies tend to create their clones nearer to them.
New save files now start with 3 item slots by default, but this is increased to 5 with story progress.
Certain tutorials now appear even when menus are open.
Added a tutorial noting that you can use items out of battle.
Added tutorials for cards that Overheat/Discard/Exhaust other cards.
Cards that will be overheated/discarded/exhausted are now highlighted when a card is selected.
Boss soul items are now shown in the enemy detail menu.
On the pause menu, "Exit Game" is now "Save and Quit", to be more accurate.
On the pause menu, "End Run" now notes that your experience will be saved.
The Overheat keyword now adds cooldown to the rightmost playable Action rather than a random one.
The Discard keyword now discards the leftmost Gambits rather than random ones.
Cards that exhaust other cards now exhaust from the leftmost Gambits rather than random ones.
Added the ability to rearrange your cards, unlocked with story progress.
All of Seagull's cards that gain "Ignore line of sight" on upgrade now also gain 1 maximum range.
Butterfly's Crashing Wave now deals 5 self-damage when played.
Stardust now gives 8 Stars rather than 3.
Seagull's Spell Capsule now triggers multiple times if you defeat multiple enemies at once.
Void of Nostalgia now summons a Reclaimer at a certain HP threshold, but has 400 max HP rather than 500.
Behemoth no longer regains Stable if you remove it.
Water: Mirrorscale's Polish now applies Exposed to party members, but only gives it 7 Block instead of 10. (Now that all its cards target party members, its aggro behaviour is more intuitive.)
This update continues polishing the overall shape of a run. Tactic/Skill/Spell drafts have been replaced with Movement/Attack/Block/Status drafts, which are a lot more intuitive. Item events now give you one of your choice rather than two random ones.
Also, if you've won a run with any given Curse, you can now intensify it for truly absurd levels of difficulty. CL 30 (every single Curse intensified) is not designed to be fair or even possible, though CL 15 (every single Curse at a normal level) is. I wonder at which level it crosses over.
v0.8.4 -> v0.8.5
Curse of the Wildfire Exemplar now properly reduces healing according to max HP rather than missing HP.
Butterfly's Arcane Grapple can no longer target bridge tiles.
You can no longer apply assists to the tutorial.
Curse of the Invective Scholar now properly applies damage to the whole party when it defeats one party member.
Earth: Fossil's Haymaker now shows the proper tooltips for its statuses.
You can now hover over portraits in the unit detail menu to fade out the unit's cards.
Added an underwater effect when you're in early realm 1.
Added light columns when you're in realm 3.
Added slight hitstop when knocking units into obstacles.
Increased size of realm selection banners.
Made realm selection banners glow slightly when a starting path is chosen.
Replaced menu opening/closing sounds.
Replaced character and biome selection sounds on the run start menu.
With enough story progress, you may select a more intense version of Curses that you've won a run with.
Curse of the Notion of Eminence has been nerfed (enemy difficult doesn't ramp up as fast as it used to)
Replaced Tactic/Skill/Spell drafts with Movement/Attack/Block/Status drafts.
Item path choices now give you 1 item of your choice rather than 2 random items.
Created a consolidated deck + memories menu to check when drafting rewards.
Duplicate Memories will now be shown at the appropriate upgrade level during character-specific drafts.
Damage previews are more responsive.
Move speed, draw count, and starting memory level assists now go up to 3 levels, to match with the other assists.
Added a tutorial for boss soul items.
Added a tutorial for the elemental realm cycle.
Added a tutorial for inaccuracy statuses.
Added a tutorial for damage-over-time statuses.
Added tutorials for the permanent statuses (Stable, Unstable, Sturdy, Fragile).
Added a tutorial for reaction behaviours.
Multiple enemy-related tutorials can now queue up at once.
Butterfly's Arcane Grapple now has 99 range rather than 10.
All "Tear" items (max HP increase) now also heal you for the amount increased.
Extraction now gives you two upgrade items in exchange for downgrading a card.
Fire: Shielding Flame is now Phantom Flame, which doubles a unit's DoT statuses, rather than granting Resist.
Water: Smoke Ball is now Frozen Haze, which grants 5 Observant, rather than inflicting Distracted.
Wood: Axe Herb now cleanses 3 stacks of all debuffs, rather than granting Focus.
Metal: Steel Mirror now inverts all of a unit's statuses, rather than granting AP/GP + Stunned/Dazed.
Earth: Clay Weight now inflicts 2 Stunned on all enemies, rather than giving a card Persist.
Dodecahedron now increases skip rewards by 3 Stars rather than 1.
Promise of Renewal now increases battle rewards by 3 Stars rather than 1.
Seagull's Spell Capsule now temporarily upgrades a random card in hand rather than the card that defeats an enemy.
Crow's Slow Burn now starts at 2 potency rather than 1.
Metal: Steel Eater's attack now does 20 rather than 24 damage.
Earth: Landbreaker no longer regains Stable if you remove it.
Adding a tactics component to a deckbuilder means two new avenues of defense: moving out of enemy range, or taking aggro with another unit.
It also adds new restrictions on offense: your own attack range, and line of sight.
This naturally led to more defensive play.
For a while, I was thinking of a way to reward aggressive play to balance this out.
This update, I'm trying a new thing where the faster you finish a battle, the more Stars you get.
Please let me know how this feels!
Also, the third layer of Curses is implemented.
Also, the third realm should feel much different in terms of build choices.
Also, the story continues.
v0.8.3 -> v0.8.4
Per-turn and per-battle effects are reset for cards on battle end, so they don't look misleading in post-battle upgrade menus.
Fixed damage preview when an enemy would push a blocking party member off a ledge.
Descriptions for inverted DoTs now correctly state that they occur at start of turn.
Absorption Tonic now behaves as described.
Effects that boost or scale with debuffs now handle statuses that can only be gotten from inverting buffs.
Strand Eater no longer sometimes fails to act when it has no allies.
Fixed minor raycast zone issues on the run start menu.
Shard terrain now behaves as intended.
Added Act II Scene II.
Added Act II Scene III.
Added new realm banner art on the run start menu.
Added more card play VFX.
Moved max Curse level indicator to above the Bond indicator.
When you copy or create multiple cards in quick succession, they now spread out rather than stacking on top of each other.
Added slight time dilation and sound effect when defeating the final enemy of an encounter.
Large Memory sprites (e.g. in the draft and list menu) are slightly smaller.
The number of Stars rewarded in each battle is now 3 or 10 minus the number of rounds the battle took. Boss battles still always reward the full 10. The reward cannot be less than 1 Star.
Having fewer Actions now increases your chances of Actions appearing in drafts.
Actions are more likely to appear as upgrade choices.
Added additional challenge modifiers.
Curse of the Scale of Lament: Glitch terrain, which inflicts Fray to party members on step, is occasionally generated.
Curse of the Arrow of Time: Party members lose 1 max HP per room, down to a minimum of 1.
Curse of the Sum of Knowledge: Enemy abilities have increased potency.
Curse of the Notion of Eminence: Enemy difficulty ramps up faster.
Curse of the Design of Denial: Party members have a 1 in 2 chance to gain Void on battle start.
Added many new path choices for realm 3.
Gain items that permanently:
Increase a unit's movement range by 1.
Increase an Action's charges by 1.
Remove the Exhaust keyword.
Turn a movement card into a teleport.
Increase an attack card's potency by 3.
Increase a status card's potency by 1.
Reduce a Gambit's cost by 1.
Increase a push/pull card's knockback by 1.
Add the Innate keyword.
Reduce an Action's cooldown by 1.
Add the Persist keyword.
Increase a unit's draw count by 1.
Gain 10 Stars.
Gain 15 max HP and heal.
You can now only stay in the same realm (after beating a boss) once per run.
Statuses now show their source in the battle log.
You can now click a button next to "X steps until \ approaches" to examine the upcoming boss, if you have defeated it before.
The camera controls codex entry now also describes smooth rotation.
The current Curse level is now shown on the Curse selection menu.
Cards are deselected after using an item to destroy them.
On the card draft menu, Mighty choices are now always to the left, while Magical choices are now always to the right.
The game now defaults to the cursor only seeing tiles.
Butterfly's Impatience has been reworked: It now starts at 30 potency and decreases each turn, rather starting at 5 and increasing each turn.
Seagull's Keenness now has 2 charges rather than infinity, but its cooldown has been reduced by 1.
Overthrow now Exhausts rather than shuffling a curse into your draw pile, and it now steals 5 stacks of all buffs rather than 10.
Discarding an item with multiple uses now multiplies the Stars given by the uses discarded.
Intimidating Aura now works for pull cards too.
Water: Splashbolt is now given as 1 use rather than 3, but it now increases a movement card's potency for the entire battle rather than just one turn.
Promise of Renewal has been reworked: Battles award 1 more Star.
Resilience now grants 3 Form instead of 3 Grit per 3 attacks taken.
Sunflower Seed now grants Block before DoTs tick.
Seagull:
Polishing Cloth now gives 3 Focus per 3 ally-targeting cards played, rather than 5 per 5.
Sharpened Wand now gives 3 Focus per 3 zero-cost cards played, rather than 1 per 1.
Behemoth:
Telegraph now gives 2 Critical and Exposed rather than 3.
Wild Swing now does 14 damage twice rather than 16.
Shell Guard now removes 1 Dulled rather than 4 Dulled.
Fire: Rebalanced several enemies to have slightly lower HP but spawn slightly more numerously.
Wood:
Pedant's attack starts off weaker, but its Pause now gives it Focus.
Dampener's attack starts off weaker, but its moves now give it Critical.
Strand Eater has slightly lower HP and is more likely to buff its allies rather than giving the player Banes.
The second layer of Curses has been implemented! This update also brings a number of assorted quality of life and battle improvements.
Every Memory that gives Block or defensive statuses now ticks before DoTs do. Seagull's Duality now truly inverts every status, even those whose opposites can't be gained in any other way. Enemy AOE indicators have been redrawn to be more readable. Chronomancer enemies no longer act on the enemy turn. Certain bosses will now summon adds when they've taken enough damage.
There's not really a theme to this update, because behind the scenes I've been focused on writing. More story content is coming soon!
v0.8.2 -> v0.8.3
Fixed Invective Scholar's Mind Empty card reading "1 copies".
Fixed Cricket's Vice Grip showing cards on screen before he was selected.
Made capitalization consistent across path choice descriptions.
Enemies with Witness no longer copy Banes.
Fixed Tab causing the selection light to flicker on and off when the expedition has already ended.
Fixed run-end stats not appearing for retreated party members on save and load.
Realm poems now only appear for realms 2 and 3, to smooth out the start of the run.
Home-base poems only appear the first time the run start menu is opened.
The term "centimoon" is now "hundredmoon", and "decamoon" is now "tenmoon".
Redrew enemy AOE indicators with round corners so they're easier to read when overlapping.
Wood: Made pillars contrast more with the floor.
Added more card play VFX.
Added final art for Heat Haze, Slipstream, Catalogue, Mercurial, Compactor, and Reclaimer.
The Transmute event now has its own firework effect.
Slightly increased the number of atmospheric particles.
Stray battles no longer announce "Dream Stabilized".
Added additional challenge modifiers.
Curse of the Wildfire Exemplar: Party members only heal 75% of max HP after defeating a boss.
Curse of the Glass Leviathan: Enemies gain 1 Dodge on spawn.
Curse of the Invective Scholar: After the first three rounds of combat, both party members take 1 unblockable damage each turn.
Curse of the Horde Foundry: Enemies have a 1 in 2 chance to gain 2 Resist each turn.
Curse of the Gravestone Quarry: Rerolls and refreshes cost 1 more Star.
The first boss now only rewards a golden card, and the second boss now only rewards a golden Memory.
Rest events now also increase both party members' max HP by 5.
Stray threats now also reward 3 Stars.
Once all realms have been unlocked, you can now stay on the same path after defeating a boss.
Enemies that take a turn as a reaction to your card plays now show a warning before you play a card that would cause them to take their turn.
The maximum curse level cleared by each pair is now displayed.
The number of each enemy you have ever defeated is shown in the monster library.
Seagull's Duality can now invert Form, Dodge, Blinded, Distracted, Rally, Recovery, Burn, Bleed, and Poison. The inverted versions of these statuses currently cannot be gained in any other way.
Earth: Mote of Gravity now applies 5 Bound rather than 2.
Instinct has been reworked: Each turn, gain Block equal to 10 minus the number of Actions you have.
Enlightenment has been reworked: The first 2 turns of battle, Copy a Gambit from your unlocked pool.
Absorption Tonic now converts every debuff into Poison, not just DoTs.
Seagull's Spectacles now give Block before DoTs tick.
Seagull's Star Leggings now give Block before DoTs tick.
Fire: Scale of Lament now summons Kindlings when enough damage has been taken.
Water:
Glass Leviathan starts with 3 Dodge rather than gaining Dodge each turn, but it now summons Fogdwellers when enough damage has been taken.
Skipper and Arrow of Time no longer act on the enemy turn.
Wood: Invective Scholar's Mind Flood now inflicts 2 Fray instead of 2 Exposed, and it summons Bookwraiths when enough damage has been taken.
Earth: Gravestone Quarry now gains 1 Vulnerable when playing its non-attack cards, but it now summons Stonescribes when enough damage has been taken.
This update introduces the Curse system, which lets you increase the difficulty of each run at will.
After your first winning run (and certain story progress), each realm cleared will unlock the associated boss's Curse, a unique modifier that will make the run harder.
Currently only the first of each path's Curses is implemented, but I plan to have the others ready in future updates.
A few new Assist Mode options have also been added, in case you would like to tune the difficulty the other direction.
In addition, the shape of the run has been further tuned to increase the diversity of Memories, and some bosses have been rebalanced.
v0.8.1 -> v0.8.2
Fixed edge cases where the run progression would lock up if one character was already defeated.
Fixed card hitboxes occluding part of the "Confirm Upgrade" button.
Cards no longer stay on their hovered size when opening a new menu.
Mighty Clarity and Magical Clarity are no longer available in the Cauldron.
The deck summary menu is no longer missing cards when a character has some in hand.
Gambits no longer block Actions being added to hand due to max hand size (the rightmost Gambit is discarded instead).
Action charges and cooldowns are reset on battle end (so they don't display weirdly on the upgrade menu).
Metal: Analyzer's Disjunction is no longer unplayable on copy.
Fixed one particular warning message saying the range of your movement card is 0.
Fixed Memory upgrade menu not removing character portraits when choosing one.
Fixed cards/memories that inflict Stunned having the ally version tooltip in certain contexts.
Added single-character variations of mid-run cutscenes.
Added final art for Hearth, Cleanser, Cambium, Analyzer, Quake, and Crystalline.
Added additional challenge modifiers unlocked after beating specific bosses, available at a certain point in the story.
Curse of the Eternal Pyre: The Magical starts with a Bane that gives them 5 Burn when retained.
Curse of the Spider Kraken: Party members gain 2 Exposed on battle start.
Curse of the Paper Hydra: Enemies have a 1 in 4 chance to gain 1 Critical each turn.
Curse of the Titan Walker: Enemies have a 1 in 2 chance to gain 1 Buffer on spawn.
Curse of the Clay Devourer: The Mighty overheats their rightmost Action for 2 turns on battle start.
Added additional assist mode options.
Starting movement speed
Starting draw count
Starting memory upgrade
Starting Stars
Encounter chances have been slightly increased.
Statuses gained from retaining cards now trigger after turn end. This means DoTs from these cards don't take effect until next turn, and statuses that decrease on turn end don't immediately tick down.
Memory draft and upgrade choices are more likely to appear.
Memory draft rarity probabilities have been rebalanced.
The reward after entering realms 2 and 3 is now a Memory draft.
Character-specific Memory drafts are now much more likely to offer Memories unique to that character.
Universal Memory drafts now have a small chance to offer character-specific Memories, which can be chosen for either party member.
Added setting for text scroll speed.
Added setting to toggle text skipping between instant and fast-forward.
In the character examine screen, you can now see how many copies of a card a character starts with.
Unplayable card warnings no longer appear when not in battle.
Noted on item path choices that rare/golden items often have permanent effects.
Seagull's Alacrity now rushes to ally's side from a great range rather than ignoring line of sight. It can still be played on self.
Virtuosity now spreads to more cards on upgrade, rather than further upgrading a single Action.
Butterfly's Shield Collar now gives Block before DoTs tick.
Seagull:
Tactical Tome now spreads to more cards on upgrade, rather than reducing one card's cost by more.
Maneuver Manual now also behaves as above.
Cricket:
Gambeson now gives Buffer every 3 turns rather than 5 turns.
Heartwood Slab, Synesthesia, and Veneer Sheet now grant Resist/Block before DoTs tick.
Bosses that start with Sturdy now lose all stacks of Fragile after being attacked.
Fire: Heat Haze's Fervor can now be played on empty ground when copied, since it is an AOE.
Water: Arrow of Time:
Sand Grains now gives 1 Resist rather than Buffer.
Entropy now deals 3 Poison rather than 7.
Smooth Stone now gives 5 Block rather than 1 Parry.
Metal: Notion of Eminence's given cards are now Ephemeral just in case.
Earth: Design of Denial now prioritizes playing Spines even when you are out of reach, and Spines now grants Focus rather than dealing direct damage.
This update focuses on tuning the overall shape of a run and giving the player more control over their build.
Previously, the math worked out where a run would include between 9-10 "breather" battles (realm-start battles and stray threats) and 14-15 "full" battles (including bosses).
This has been reduced to 4-5 "breather" battles and 10-11 "full" battles. The exact placement of fights still varies between runs, but now it's expected that about one third of rooms lead to a fight, rather than about two thirds. The 100 Stars achievement is still quite attainable under these conditions, but to compensate for their being fewer battles, you now also gain 1 Star by default for discarding an item.
Cauldrons are now guaranteed to offer an upgrade and a removal, which do not refresh.
Card removal events now give you an item that lets you remove a card, rather than having you choose one of five.
Items and neutral cards in general have been buffed to balance the fact that you have less control over which ones you get.
Items that give cards have had their max HP cost dramatically reduced or eliminated, and new items have been added that allow you to destroy Actions for some benefit, or remove Gambits with some minor drawback.
Golden neutral cards' Banes are now temporary, and many other neutral cards have been strengthened to fit their role as powerful single-use cards.
v0.8.0 -> v0.8.1
Fixed cards getting stuck in the middle of the screen when closing the card menu during the animation.
Fixed boss-defeat achievements automatically unlocking (they will be properly unlocked upon opening the Library if you've already done so).
Fixed Serration's backlash showing damage on preview for non-attack cards.
Fixed some unintended behaviour with the Cauldron when one party member has retreated.
Fixed tutorial behaving weirdly if you were defeated during it.
Fixed edge case that caused swarm enemies to sometimes receive special behaviours.
Cards destroyed via card-destroying items are now counted in the post-run cards purged stat.
Fixed some cases where examining statuses would display the version for the wrong team.
Added several more lore entries, unlocked through certain conversations.
Martial arts
Magical arts
Roguecraft
Puppetry
Barrier Band
Sheltrite
Nullgrass
Tether
The single target arrow no longer obscures the indicator cluster in tactical view.
Added final art for final bosses.
Rebalanced encounter frequency across the run. Encounters are less likely to happen multiple times in a row.
The Cauldron now guarantees removal and upgrade items, and now has 3 Cauldron-specific items and 2 realm-specific items (rather than the other way around).
The Cauldron now only refreshes cards and memories.
Cards from the Cauldron go into your hand first rather than your deck, so you can use items on them immediately.
Character-specific path choices now show up later in a run.
Card removal path choices now show up later in a run.
Card removal path choices now give an item that removes a card, rather than having you pick a card to remove from a selection.
Action drafts can now appear at any major choice, rather than only every 9 rooms.
Actions are slightly more likely to appear in regular card drafts.
Type-specific draft choices now show up earlier in a run.
Stray threats are even less likely to happen later in a run.
Stray threats no longer increase the likelihood of a full encounter happening.
Adjusted chance of finding items after battle to account for there being fewer battles.
Boss battles no longer drop items, as the boss itself drops an item.
Enemies are slightly more likely to come from neighbouring realms.
Several settings have been reworded to be more clear, with descriptive toggles rather than checkboxes.
By default, hovering over enemies now also displays their "permanent" statuses (Sturdy, Fragile, Stable, Unstable). This can be changed in the settings.
Added codex entry detailing how damage statuses work.
Added tutorials for enemy AOE indicators (attacking, debuffing, buffing).
Re-added tutorial for opposing statuses.
Seagull:
Rescue now gives a flat 2 Rally with 2 Overheat.
Save now discards a maximum of 2 cards rather than 3.
Inquiry now retreats for 1.
Lever now rushes to your ally's side rather than pushing your ally.
Gambits are no longer immediately shuffled back into the deck on battle end, to allow you to use items on them after battle.
Many neutral cards have been buffed.
All golden neutral cards' associated Banes no longer remain in your deck after battle.
As a result of the above, the Rest event no longer removes Banes (there are none to remove).
Stabilize now removes all Banes from your entire deck, rather than just your hand.
Alignment and Stance now purge 5 stacks of their associated debuffs rather than 3.
Evade now gives 2 Dodge rather than 1, and no longer gives you Fear.
Rush now walks for 5 rather than 3, and Vault now jumps for 4 rather than 3.
Bewinder and Blunt now inflict 5 stacks of debuffs/strip 5 stacks of buffs, rather than 3.
Brace now gives 2 Buffer rather than 1.
Fortify and Sharpen now give 5 Grit/Focus rather than 4, but no longer remove Vulnerable/Dulled.
Suspension and Tunnelling can now be upgraded, gaining Draw 1.
You now gain 1 Star by default for discarding an item.
Water: Triple Point now skips 5 turns of cooldown rather than reducing Overheat by 1.
All items that draft Actions have had their max HP costs reduced (5/3/1 rather than 15/10/5).
All items that draft Gambits no longer cost max HP.
Intuition can now be used to destroy any Action, not just the rightmost one.
Clarity and Lucidity now immediately destroy cards/actions rather than giving them the Destroy keyword.
Loose Shackle now gives 3 Burn rather than 3 Fray.
Fire: Cold Ash now gives 1 Rally in addition to immediately destroying the selected card.
Added a new item to each realm that immediately destroys an Action for a unique benefit.
Fire: Burning Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 5 Focus.
Water: Flowing Mark, which destroys an Action and heals for 20.
Wood: Rising Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 3 AP + GP.
Metal: Polished Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 20 max HP.
Earth: Buried Mark, which destroys an Action and gives 5 Resist.
Added a new item to each realm that applies Destroy to any card with a certain drawback.
Fire: Passionate Offering, which applies Destroy to any card at the cost of 3 Burn.
Water: Calm Offering, which applies Destroy to any card at the cost of 1 Blinded.
Wood: Reflective Offering, which applies Destroy to any card at the cost of 3 Weakened.
Metal: Dry Offering, which applies Destroy to any card at the cost of 1 Vulnerable.
Earth: Stable Offering, which applies Destroy to any card at the cost of 1 Dulled.
Cauldron items are now shown in the neutral items list.
Memory draft events now let you pick one of two.
Character-specific memory draft events now let you pick one of three, rather than one of two.
Dodge stacks on enemies are now always consumed, even if your attack hit.
Water:
Mirrorscale's attack is no longer locked, but has been slightly nerfed to compensate.
Arrow of Time's Entropy is now a non-locked card that inflicts Poison, rather than a locked one that inflicts Exposed.
Most realm 2 and 3 enemies do slightly more damage to compensate for there being fewer battles overall.
NOMIA is now available in Early Access!
See here for what you can expect in this period:
And see here for the latest update's patch notes:
Please enjoy! - T
Welcome to the Early Access versions! This update focuses on further improving the clarity of the tutorial and fleshing out the whole run.
Additional conversations have been added that bridge story beats, and realm 3 enemies have been implemented (albeit mostly with placeholder art, due to me losing a significant chunk of dev time to a motherboard failure).
Thanks for following this journey! The rest of the story will unfold in future updates.
I plan to continue updating and expanding the game mechanics throughout Early Access.
v0.7.5 -> v0.8.0
The game speed setting arrow properly reflects the speed when it is reset between runs.
Cards on the enemy examine screen no longer have the AP cost icon.
Cards on the enemy examine screen can no longer be examined for upgrades.
Anti-aliasing setting no longer resets to default when returning to the main menu.
Enemies no longer announce attacks after the party is already defeated.
Camera reset no longer centers on a point far away from the board when the party is already defeated.
Apothecary no longer has a chance to do nothing when it has no allies left.
Poems now auto-skip again after being viewed for the first time.
Units are now deselected when a cutscene begins.
Fixed memories drafted stat behaving weirdly on save and load.
Prevented a few minor sequence breaks during the tutorial.
Fixed slight fade in and out when the conversation background hasn't actually changed.
Added small cutscenes that occur when you clear your main objective depth.
Losing a run now has a different stinger than clearing a realm.
Updated the Tower theme to a version with live cello.
Added path choices for upgrading Memories (realm 2 and onwards).
Added path choices for transmuting cards (realm 2 and onwards).
Path choices that could be chosen 3 times in a run can now only be chosen 2 times.
Character-specific path choices that could be chosen 2 times in a run can now only be chosen 1 time.
Stray threats no longer happen when encounter chance is 0%.
Terrain effects now overwrite existing terrain effects.
Tactical view now persists between rooms.
Most menus can now also be closed by clicking anywhere outside the menu space.
Memories and items are now larger in list menus.
Reworded "Snap camera" as "Turn camera".
Split Instant Camera Turn setting between tactical view and rotation.
When a card is selected, choosing an out-of-range or out-of-sight target now explains why the target is invalid rather than deselecting the card.
Added a setting to use the previous behaviour for the above (automatically deselecting).
Made "Tactical View" indicator fade like character names.
ESC now deselects cards before opening the pause menu.
Re-added the tutorial for deselecting cards.
Added a tooltip for AP/GP indicators.
Early tutorial enemies no longer act (and thus show intent indicators), to reduce information overload.
Selecting enemies in the tutorial no longer brings up their portrait.
Simplified tutorial enemy types.
Required cards in the tutorial now indicate their required targets when not played on them.
Added a tutorial section to show that both characters have Actions as well as Gambits.
Clarified some tutorial tooltips.
Resources now refill when enemies spawn in partway through the tutorial.
Tutorial modal "ACKNOWLEDGE" button is more noticeable.
Tutorial checkboxes are slightly closer to the middle of the screen.
Most tutorial popups now automatically acknowledge when a card is played.
Hornet's Shield Bash now has a cooldown of 3, but pushes for 4.
Hornet's Swarm now deals 5 damage in addition to granting 1 Critical.
Replaced Hornet's Hive with Shield Punch, which gives 10 Block and deals 5 damage.
Replaced a few of Hawk's cards in the tutorial with more Talons, which also now cost 1 GP.
The tutorial path choices are no longer 3 duplicate encounter choices.
Hid Library button on character select just after the tutorial.
World tooltips no longer appear through screen-hiding tutorials.
Screen-hiding tutorial messages no longer let you play cards underneath them.
Dialogue text now dramatically speeds up rather than instantly appearing after clicking.
Cricket:
Hammer now does 4 damage rather than 6.
Chisel now has a cooldown of 2 rather than 1.
Mallet now does 3x2 damage rather than 4x2.
Mortise now has a cooldown of 1 rather than 0.
Added the final boss for each realm.
Fire: Added Scale of Lament.
Water: Added Arrow of Time.
Wood: Added Sum of Knowledge.
Metal: Added Notion of Eminence.
Earth: Added Design of Denial.
Universal: Added Void of Nostalgia.
Fire:
Added Hearth.
Added Heat Haze.
Water:
Added Cleanser.
Added Slipstream.
Wood:
Added Cambium.
Added Catalogue.
Metal:
Added Analyzer.
Added Mercurial.
Earth:
Added Quake.
Added Compactor.
Universal:
Added Crystalline.
Added Reclaimer.
After a 2.5 year long GitHub streak, an inopportune broken motherboard very close to release time, and lots and lots of feedback, NOMIA will be releasing in Early Access October 10th, 2025.
Whether you've been here since the very start or are just hearing about this for the first time, thank you for being here!
In the Early Access version, you can:
Unlock all 4 playable characters and their combined 250 cards + 160 memories
Play entire 3-realm runs, rather than being cut off after realm 1 as in the demo
Experience the entirety of Act I of the story, and the first bit of Act II
See the first four bond conversations between each pair of adventurers
In addition to ongoing updates and tweaks to gameplay, the following are still works in progress:
The rest of the main story, bond conversations, and lore entries
Some late-game enemies still have placeholder art
Challenge modifiers and more run events
Overall card, item, memory and enemy balance
I want to make this release a fairly complete experience from the gameplay side, but still give enough space before 1.0 for feedback to make a meaningful difference. As always, all discussion and bug reports are welcome in the forums, or via this form.
Reviews are extremely helpful for a solo developer project like this one! If you have the time to write one for the full game when it releases (or the demo anytime), I would truly appreciate it.
Hi everyone,
NOMIA is featured in the GDoCExpo Direct 2025.
Welcome to those coming from the event! The demo can be found right here:
Please also check out the other amazing games showcasing in the Direct!
NOMIA is a story-rich tactics roguelike where you play two heroes at once.
Each adventurer has two decks -- a reliable Action deck and an unpredictable Gambit deck, which create wild synergies.
Its battle system shows enemy intents and incoming damage before you commit any moves, giving you all the information you need to execute brilliant tactics.
It is a tale of purpose and perseverance, set in a dreamlike world where adventurers battle the past to sustain the present.
I love the power of fantasy to envision a different way of being, but I am sometimes frustrated by the baggage of the genre -- a duality that made me want to try contributing my own take.
I was born in China, and moved to Canada at a young age -- a duality I embody.
In Chinese poetry, a Duilian is a couplet that follows certain rules -- a duality made succinct by structure.
NOMIA is my attempt to make something that explores duality in its themes and mechanics, and to challenge myself to write some metrical couplets of my own.
GDoC is a place where these dualities are celebrated, and I'm grateful to be part of its showcase.
Design, art, writing, and programming are by me, Tangleworm.
Music is by classically trained composer Will Goss.
The demo features:
✨All 4 unlockable characters
✨200+ cards
✨100+ items
✨50+ enemies
✨20+ story scenes
✨Save file compatibility with the full version
The demo will remain up indefinitely, so you can play it at your own pace.
Any feedback is welcome as I continue to build the game into the best tactics roguelike I can before its October 10th Early Access launch.
Cheers, T
The game now has a lore section! All the worldbuilding that would be inconvenient to convey through dialogue goes here.
Generally, lore entries are written for knowledge that the characters would have in-universe, but wouldn't specifically talk about given the events that are happening.
I tried to keep these from being redundant with the existing conversations, in order to enable dialogue to focus on story rather than backstory.
In addition, you can now examine enemies in detail by clicking them in the monster library or on the run-end summary.
Items both neutral and realm-specific can also be referenced under neutral memories list button, or by right-clicking a realm in the elemental cycle reference.
v0.7.4 -> v0.7.5
Fixed camera briefly moving back and forth when a battle starts.
Scrolling no longer gets stuck when mousing over settings menu buttons.
Implemented bond level 4 conversations (not accessible in the demo, but they're written).
Added a Lore tab to the Library.
Casting a buff/debuff now casts a small light.
Defeating an enemy has a new particle effect.
Added a stinger when clearing a realm or ending an expedition.
You can now check neutral items from the character select menu.
You can now check realm-specific items from the elemental cycle menu.
Block no longer obscures a unit's HP number.
Improved performance.
Seagull's Lightfield now applies 3 Grit rather than 2 Focus and 2 Grit, and only disappears after 2 turns.
Seagull's Drainfield now applies 5 Weakened rather than 3 Weakened and 3 Fear, and only disappears after 2 turns.
All items now stack to 99.
You can now click on enemies in the monster library or end-of-run summary to check their cards.
Certain enemies now only appear later in a run, but have become stronger.
Rebalanced enemy distribution.
Water: Mirrorscale's Polish now gives itself 10 Block instead of 1 Parry.
Earth: Landbreaker's Root now gives itself 8 Block instead of 1 Buffer.
Wood: Splinter's Chaos Rend now inflicts Bleed rather than Void (so it shows the DoT intent).
The revamped tutorial is complete! It seems like folks like the game more when they get to punt something off a cliff, so now punting an enemy off a cliff is the first thing you get to do.
Some terrain effects are also triggered on turn-end rather than on step, to encourage movement rather than staying still. To support this, damage preview now also accounts for terrain effects and lunge movement.
I'm working on a run-modification system to support ascension-like challenge levels, but I'm still designing what those challenges should be.
In the meantime, this system is used for assist features that make battles easier, for players who would like that.
Next update, I'll try improving the CPU/GPU/memory performance of the game. It's been a while since I've dedicated some time to optimization.
v0.7.3 -> v0.7.4
Paper Hydra can now properly play copied lunge AOEs like Puncture and Stonepiercer.
Paper Hydra now properly previews copied wide AOEs like Surging Tide.
Fixed lunging AOEs' inconsistent behaviour when lunging to an empty tile.
Fixed swarm enemies still gaining special behaviours in rare occasions.
Tab to switch no longer requires multiple taps when one party member has retreated.
Further fixed some edge case z-fighting.
Implemented bond level 3 conversations (not accessible in the demo, but they're written).
Rewrote the tarot cards after the first dive with Butterfly and Seagull, to add more context.
Added some floating particles in the air.
Enemies with fields around them (e.g. Dampener, Behemoth) now have a circle indicating this field.
Damage from moving to terrain is now previewed (as is damage from standing on terrain with end-turn effects).
Lunging now also previews incoming damage and intents for where you end up.
Cinder and Soulfire terrain now inflict 3/6 Burn if you end your turn on it, rather than 2/5 if you move to it.
Shard terrain now deals 15 damage if you end your turn on it, rather than 10 if you move to it.
Spores terrain now inflicts 8 exposed if you end your turn on it, rather than 5 if you move to it.
Added some assist mode features in the settings menu (these apply at the start of a run).
You can now view a character's deck from the memory draft menu.
Added a reminder for quickplaying cards.
The tutorial is now more guided and has a gentler learning curve.
"Range 0" is no longer written on cards since their areas of effect are described in card text.
Hid the neutral card and memory buttons in the character select when embarking on the first real run.
Realm select buttons are hidden until party members are selected (when embarking on the first real run).
Butterfly Leap now has 4 range rather than 3.
Seagull's Inquiry now does 12 damage rather than 10.
Many enemies do slightly more damage or are slightly sturdier.
Most lunges can now be played on empty tiles too! They can still be double-clicked if there's only one target.
I've rewritten and redrawn the intro cutscene to establish the setting a little more. This will eventually join with a revamped tutorial.
In the meantime, please enjoy various clarity improvements, like being able to see which of an enemy's cards is a locked AOE.
v0.7.2 -> v0.7.3
Tooltips no longer persist when exiting to main menu.
Fixed water foam effect causing z-fighting with certain terrain.
Fixed a typo in Glass Leviathan's flavour text.
Implemented act I scene V and act II scene I (not accessible in the demo, but they're written).
Rewrote the intro cutscene.
Shortened post-tutorial cutscene.
Cutscenes fade in and out a bit faster.
Added an effect to cards that are changed mid-battle.
Added an effect when memories are activated.
Tooltips have a distinct colour depending on whether they're for units, statuses, or terrain.
The path choice menu now darkens and blurs the world when it first appears, not just when it reopens.
Adjusted mix of path choices and encounter types across the run.
You can now click outside the card upgrade/removal preview window to close it.
You can now click outside the path choice diamonds to close the menu.
Examining enemy cards now shows which are locked AOEs.
Certain tutorials no longer appear when it is clear the player already knows what they teach.
When status tooltips on units are disabled, hovering over a unit will show its Block in its HP tooltip.
The item tutorial message now specifies that items can be used both in and out of battle.
Most targeted lunges/retreats are now non-targeted lunges/retreats. This means that you can now use them as mobility cards.
Cricket's Woodchipper now exhausts.
Swarm enemies can no longer gain special behaviours. They generally don't survive long enough to make use of them.
Enemies that split when attacked now copy all their statuses to their clones too.
Wildfire Exemplar no longer applies Burn, Focus or Grit. Instead, its cards gain potency when cast.
Split copies are no longer counted in the end-of-expedition enemies defeated counter.
Added Mote of Luminosity, which doubles any unit's Block.
Added Mote of Saturation, which doubles all of a unit's statuses.
Enemies now emphasize space control a little more, with more locked AOE attacks and terrain-generating effects in place of applying statuses.
They also now show a damage-over-time intent distinct from the debuff intent, and several visual elements have been tweaked to reduce noise.
Per community feedback, the party member closest to the action is now automatically selected at turn start (this can be disabled in settings if you preferred the old behaviour).
To ease the learning curve, many of Butterfly's Momentum/Pressure/Balance generating cards now only do so on upgrade, and their original upgrades are now part of the base card. I'll be revamping the tutorial soon to make onboarding even smoother, but hopefully I can continue tweaking the card and enemy definitions to push the more complex behaviours to later in a run, when the player has had time to get used to their build.
Next update, I'll be focusing on more visual polish and clarity!
v0.7.1 -> v0.7.2
Intent displays no longer temporarily disappear after failing to play a card due to unmet conditions.
The deselect key no longer deselects cards/units when a menu is open.
Fixed inconsistent results with diagonal retreats.
Lightning Rod's Conductivity no longer activates for non-attacks.
Memory acquire effects now trigger again when the potency of a memory is boosted by an item.
Wrote act I scene IV (not accessible in the demo currently, but it's written).
Hornet has new conversation portraits post-tutorial.
Added a serious expression portrait for each party member. Except Crow, she always looks serious.
Added key art to the title screen.
Water now has foamy edges.
Wood realm floors have fewer gold lines, to reduce visual noise.
Enemy intent preview lines are less visually noisy.
Turn-start banners are slightly more fancy.
Area intro and boss intro text is moderately more fancy.
Removed tooltips for a Bridge + Impassable tile, since that acts just like a regular floor.
Updated title theme mix.
At the start of your turn, the party member nearest to an enemy is now automatically selected (can be toggled in settings).
Pressing Tab with no unit selected also uses the above logic, rather than always selecting the Mighty.
Enemies now show a damage-over-time intent distinct from the debuff intent.
Cinder Brake no longer generates Acid terrain, and generates less special terrain in general (due to enemies generating more).
The Blacksalt Sea no longer generates Ice terrain, and generates less special terrain as well.
The Infinite Library no longer generates Mist terrain.
The Silvergrass Ruins no longer generate Thorns terrain.
The Wall of Memory no longer generates Energy terrain.
Bridge tiles are no longer considered special terrain by Trail Boots.
Special terrain takes longer to appear in a run.
Draft and upgrade menus no longer briefly leave the screen after picking your first card.
Non-targeted lunges can now be quickplayed if there is only one unit that could be affected.
Added tutorials for journey log and battle log.
Hid journey and battle log corners in the tutorial.
Hid "End Turn" button in the tutorial until the player has played a card with both characters.
Made tutorialization a little less obstructive in general.
Tutorial checkboxes reappear when saving and loading a run (previously only reappeared next turn).
Pressing ESC while examining a party member on the selection screen now stops examining them rather than opening the pause menu.
Stars-generating items now preview how many Stars they'll create.
"Abandon Run" is now labeled "End Run" since it keeps your experience gained.
Added a toggle for whether camera reset also resets rotation.
Reworked a number of enemies to emphasize space control.
Fire:
Censer's Gutter now creates Soulfire terrain, which applies 5 Burn to the party if they move to it. It also no longer gives Block.
Calcine's Flare now creates Soulfire terrain instead of giving it Focus.
Water:
Ink Well's Overflow now creates Ink terrain, which applies 2 Blinded to the party if they move to it. It no longer inflicts Fragile.
Aquifer's Stain is now a locked AOE, but creates Ink terrain as well. It no longer deals direct damage.
Mirrorscale's Glare is now a long-range locked attack and deals more damage. It also no longer gains Focus.
Cascade's Downpour is now a long-range locked attack and deals more damage. It also gains Dodge rather than Block, and no longer inflicts Distracted.
Glass Leviathan's Jet Cutter is now an AOE that creates Shard terrain, which deals 10 damage to the party if they move to it. It no longer gives Focus.
Wood:
Bookwraith's Writing no longer gives itself Bleed, and it no longer has Inkspill.
Litany's Scribe no longer inflicts Dulled, and its Memorization now applies 3 Focus to itself but no longer applies Exposed.
Apothecary's Miasma no longer deals direct damage or inflicts Weakened, but its Poison has been intensified. Its Redolence now also applies to any unit.
Pedant's Shout is now a locked AOE and no longer inflicts Void, but deals more damage.
Metal:
Lightning Rod's Thunderstrike no longer gives it Blinded, and its Conductivity no longer applies Burn.
Ingot's Radiate is now a long-range locked AOE and deals more damage.
Steel Eater's Abrasion now inflicts 3 Fear instead of 1 Void, and its Steal Strength no longer inflicts Bleed but deals more damage.
Earth:
Rocksplitter's Headbutt no longer gives it Parry, but now deals 1 more damage and gives 1 more Block.
Stonescribe's Rest the Chisel no longer removes its Critical and Vulnerable.
Monument's Scan now only gives Resist, its Enhance now only gives 2 Critical rather than Focus and Resist, and its Quake now deals 2 hits of damage.
Geode's Rumble is now a larger locked AOE that only gives 10 Fragile to itself, and it has a new card that blocks and purges its Fragile stacks.
Landbreaker's Crush no longer applies Vulnerable.
Gravestone Quarry's Clenched Fist now expands outwards by 1 each turn, rather than 2.
Universal:
Bloom's Refract is now a locked AOE that creates Spores terrain, which gives 5 Exposed to the party if they move to it.
Spore Tower's Choke card now creates Spores terrain as well, and its Clear card removes special terrain.
Butterfly:
Spear now gains line AOE on upgrade rather than direct damage.
Surging Tide and Ebbing Tide are now AOEs by default, and instead gain Momentum/Balance generation on upgrade.
Shaft Strike is now a targeted lunge by default, and instead gains Pressure generation on upgrade.
Leap now gains Momentum generation on upgrade rather than flat range.
Trip now gains Pressure generation on maximum upgrade.
Seagull:
Pincer Bolt now gains chain AOE on upgrade rather than increasing the number of hits.
Impulse and Recall no longer add Stress.
Anamnesis now gives 2 cards before upgrade.
Cricket:
Blinding Speed now gives 1 Dodge always, and 1 additional Dodge if the target has any debuffs.
Crow:
Daybreak now scales by 3 Block per exhausted card rather than 2.
Nightfall now does damage based on the number of exhausted cards rather than inflicting Blinded.
The Ephemeral keyword is no longer written on the card, just implied by the translucent background.
Non-Ephemeral Banes now specify in their text that they stay in your deck after battle.
Bane card text has been further clarified for some of them.
Reduced the penalty of all max HP increase items.
Roborant now heals and weakens for 10 rather than 15.
Added Wit, which permanently increases draw count at the cost of 10 max HP.
Added Grasp, which permanently upgrades a Gambit.
Item text generally now states when the item's effect is permanent.
Hey, new trailer and key art!
More importantly: Early Access will be available October 10th, 2025! Hope to see you there.
For this update, Act I Scene III has been added. I was originally saving this for early access, but I think it's a nice story beat to include in the demo.
Work continues on the visuals, and I was able to iron out a few bugs as well.
More functional changes are coming next update.
v0.7.0 -> v0.7.1
Character select portraits no longer overflow past the screen edges on high UI scales.
Title screen spinning circles now respect UI scale.
Tutorial checkboxes no longer appear for things that have had their keybinds removed.
The cutscene skip prompt no longer appears in the top left if you've unbound the key for skipping a cutscene.
The cutscene skip prompt now reflects the correct key when rebound.
Card numbers are no longer shown above them when their key is unbound.
Fixed some key rebinds not getting saved properly.
Fixed a tutorial-seen issue that prevented the opposing statuses tutorial from showing.
Fixed soft lock when Cricket copies a card from the attack that causes him to retreat from the expedition.
The see-through shader now deactivates when the cursor goes outside the battlefield, or when a menu is open.
Fixed camera being slightly too low when focusing on a unit.
Fixed particle weirdness when gaining/losing stars in quick succession.
Fixed special behaviour purple trim not dithering at the bottom in tactical view.
AP and GP granting items now also announce their effects above the selected unit.
Wrote Act I Scene III.
Item gain is much more noticeable now.
Cards on the reward, preview, and cauldron menus are slightly larger.
The monster library tab now unfurls over several frames.
When an enemy plays a card, the camera now frames its action rather than centering on just the enemy.
The camera tweens slightly faster by default, and is now affected by camera speed.
The purple trim for enemies with special behaviours is more noticeable.
The Play and save slot buttons on the main menu are more prominent.
Added settings to invert X and Y camera rotation direction.
Removed Stars in the tutorial for simplicity.
Removed the tutorial popups for pausing and checking the codex (these are self-evident)
Abandoning a run no longer goes through the animation of reducing the party's HP to zero.
Added some motion dampening on WASD camera panning.
The character select screen now shows the selected character's starting stats.
Status tooltips when hovering over an enemy now default to off.
All items that give Gambits now cost significantly less max HP.
Hey, a new logo!
I tried tackling more of the remaining Next Fest feedback in this update.
The camera has been overhauled with free rotation and a tactical overhead view. Visuals have been polished. The enemy roster has been expanded and tweaked for greater variety.
One thing that came up in playtesting was players always choosing upgrades, since they felt the safest.
Repeated upgrades are less interesting than drafting new cards and synergizing with new memories, so let's try swapping the rarity of upgrades and memories.
In addition, very few people were using items regularly, so I've removed the one-per-turn limitation on them.
Per community feedback, Dodge is also now only consumed on success, to make Dodge builds more viable.
Many other changes are detailed below!
v0.6.5 -> v0.7.0
Fixed a number of card effects still triggering when a card was dodged.
Fixed certain cards not being affected by hit chance as intended.
Keybind menu buttons no longer stop the scroll wheel when moused over.
Nimble and Bound no longer compound after save and load.
Camera now resets properly when starting a run after abandoning a run.
Enemies no longer skip their turn if Rally would heal them to the point where DoTs don't destroy them before they act.
Fixed draw pile and discard icons overlapping your cards at higher UI scales.
Cutscenes can now be skipped before you've watched them once.
Units now cast shadows on the world.
Shadows from clouds have been intensified.
Decorative tiles now appear underneath levels.
Menu buttons like reroll/skip/confirm upgrade are now higher contrast with the background.
Damage/healing numbers have a new font and tweaked animations.
AP and GP gain/losses outside of turn start are now announced above a unit.
Some shiny surfaces have been tweaked so they don't blast you with overwhelming glow under certain lighting conditions.
Changed damage AOE indicators.
Locked AOE indicators are now different from regular AOE indicators.
Enemy AOE indicators are now hidden when an enemy-targeting card is selected, and when previewing an enemy's attack range.
Remade the title logo.
The card fan has slightly increased maximum width.
Added sounds for camera movement.
Updated battle theme.
End Turn now requires a double click when not all party members have acted.
Increased frequency of Memory choices and decreased frequency of Upgrade choices.
Added a golden Memory path choice.
Character-specific card draft choices are no longer limited per run.
The standard upgrade reward can now only be chosen 3 times per run.
Character-specific upgrade rewards can now only be chosen 2 times each per run.
Stacks of Dodge are now only consumed on successfully dodging an attack.
Rally now heals a fifth of missing HP rather than a tenth.
Enemy generation parameters have been adjusted to increase encounter variety.
Ironically, also reduced enemy variety for the very first post-tutorial run to prevent information overload.
Items are no longer limited to one per turn during battle.
You can now press T (rebindable) to toggle an overhead tactical view.
You can now press R (rebindable) to reset the camera.
You can now remove keybinds by right-clicking them.
You can now freely rotate the camera by dragging right-click.
Game speed buttons in the top right have been condensed to a single toggle.
All "increase by half" status tooltips have been rephrased into "1.5x potency";
Rephrased tutorial bubbles to be more concise.
Several tutorial bubbles now trigger under more intuitive conditions.
Unplayable card explanations are more informative.
"OK" buttons are now "ACKNOWLEDGE" buttons (easier to click).
Intent descriptions on examine tooltips are more concise.
Seagull can now use Duality to invert their own statuses.
Fire: Added Hot Coal.
Water: Added Aquifer.
Mirrorscale now has an additional defensive card.
Wood: Added Splinter.
Metal: Added Cold Iron.
Earth: Added Monument.
Universal: Added Resonator.
Wisp now does 10 damage rather than 5.
Stray Threats are now more likely to be swarm encounters rather than single enemies.
Many swarm enemies have less movement, to allow for easier tactical positioning.
Many swarm enemies' max HP and challenge rating have been reduced.
Slightly increased some early enemies' attack damage to compensate for the above.
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for NOMIA, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main NOMIA statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.