The Necromancer's Tale news & patch notes

We are delighted to announce that The Necromancer's Tale received three awards at the Imirt Irish Games Awards 2026, which celebrated the best games made and released in Ireland during the year 2025.

• We received the 'best overall storytelling' (narrative) award

• We received the 'best overall technical achievement' award

• We received the 'runner-up art direction' award

There were a lot of amazing games released in Ireland during 2025, and we're particularly honoured to have received the 'best storytelling' award, given the intense competition from other outstanding narrative titles.

Don't forget to Follow our Steam Page to hear about upcoming games (there will soon be an announcement about a follow-up to The Necromancer's Tale...)!

•  Fixed an error whereby you could ask Barbara for something in chapter 14 before you know that you need it

• You now automatically take any coins on a body when (SPOILER)

• Fixed a possible narrative error in a chapter 10 sidequest

• Fixed an error in the journal if you obtained a (SPOILER) earlier than knowing that you’d need one

• Fixed a weird sequence that could happen in chapter 3 (SPOILER)

• Fixed the petchas (SPOILER)

* SPOILER tags don't work properly in Announcements. Please see the Community post for details on these.

Follow our Steam Page to hear about upcoming games (there will soon be an announcement about a follow-up to The Necromancer's Tale...)!

See patch notes in the community forums for further information: spoilers have been removed here. Spoiler tags don't work in Announcements. Patch Notes 1.226

• Fixed a bug which let you buy an item from a shop by dragging it on top of another item in your inventory, losing the original item. Now you can only buy by dragging to an empty slot (or double clicking/shift-clicking)

• Tied up a loose end in chapter 3

• Tied up a loose end after chapter 10/chapter 13

• Added an explanatory message if you get caught (SPOILER)

• Fixed a loose end in the chapter 8 docker sidequest

Patch Notes 1.227  

• Removed an exploit where you could  quicksave immediately after dying, and then reload and not be dead, with the combat won

• Fixed a spot you could fall and get stuck in the (SPOILER)

Patch Notes 1.228

• Fixed an issue with the ‘pickup nearby body’ command

• Fixed an issue in chapter 6 (SPOILER)

Patch Notes 1.229

• a rare combat-related hexgrid issue, hotfix

• Boerhaaven's creature health/repair fix

• Fixed an issue caused by loading a save-game while playing the prologue

• Added a manual override key (F2), to ignore game controllers

Patch Notes 1.230

• Made sure that townsfolk don’t “run out” if a lot of them (SPOILER)

• Added a list of names/jobs of the main characters in Marns, to help if you forget who’s who (it’s in the “Info” window)

• Fixed an issue with Robyn reappearing after she was (SPOILER)

Patch Notes 1.231

• Added a button to change difficulty in the Settings window (Combat section) - previously it was only in the Character window. 

• Added an Invert Camera Rotation option in the Settings window

• Fixed a journal note typo

• Fixed an exploit that could yield unlimited (SPOILER)

• Updated Unity version due to a recent Windows patch causing crashes

Patch Notes 1.223  

• Improved some wording in the chapter 4 (SPOILER) lore book

• Reduced the damage slightly from the spells (SPOILER)

• Added some extra comments of concern in chapter 5 about Diedrik after (SPOILER)

• Changed the chapter 7 Tavernier (SPOILER) so it stays around until chapter 9 rather than 8.

Patch Notes 1.224 

• Made it more clear what the effects of your words are in the chapter 15 (SPOILER) meeting with Annie or Connor

• Fixed an issue in the prologue that had text occasionally not appearing if a trust adjustment message coincided with a page turn

• Fixed an issue that could get you stuck under the basement stairs at home

Patch Notes 1.225

• Some minor dialogue changes

• Added a map indicator for the windmill during chapter 11

• Fixed a problem at the final battle if (SPOILER)

• Added a fix for non-QWERTY keyboard layout rebinding

Note that spoiler tags don't work in Steam Announcements. Please see the patch notes posts in the Steam forums for SPOILER details.

Patch Notes 1.220  

• XBox controller compatibility update

• Changed the ‘disoriented when near/in a church’ visual effect so it wears off quickly when you forward time

• Made it so that Svit will meet you again to bring you to the (SPOILER) if he brought you there before but you did not take the tree bark.

• Added a little personal content for Rosario

Patch Notes 1.221  

• Improved a situation which could break the chapter 12 docker plot if you did things in the wrong sequence

• Added a wearable metal breastplate (it takes a bit of work to get)

• Added 2 more dresses (female MC only)

• Added the ability to get your hair changed (with some new options beyond the original three; 7 in total now, female MC only)

• Added some more comments from friends around chapter 10 if (SPOILER) went missing on the picnic

Patch Notes 1.222   

• Added camera shakes during thunderclaps and certain rituals

• Added more details to the (SPOILER) room in the big dungeon

• Added a couple of things you can ask Rosario to help with in chapter 15 if you meet her then

• Added more commentary/reaction from Annie, Connor, Sofia and others following the (SPOILERS) in chapters 10 and 13

** Note: Spoiler tags don't work in Announcements, so please see the community forums (Patch Notes section) for details

Nominations are now open for the Steam Awards 2025.

With your help, The Necromancer's Tale can get listed in the Outstanding Story-Rich Games of 2025 Category!

Several enhancements have been made to combat in The Necromancer's Tale since our initial launch 3.5 months ago. These have been made in response to player feedback and to opportunities we saw for streamlining and improving things given a larger set of player analytics than we had access to during pre-launch testing.

** New Spell: Mass-Activate **

In addition to the existing Activate spell (which activates one minion at a time) Mass Activate gives you a slider to pick how many minions you want to activate and auto-move all at once (still limited by your mana, of course). This is often most useful in combination with normal Activate, rather than replacing it -- e.g. you might manually move a few critical minions on the front line of combat, and then let the rest auto-move to bring up reinforcements from further back with less manual time and effort.

You can choose to prioritise activating minions close to enemies first, or minions close to yourself first.

You can also choose whether your activated minions seek to attack their closest target, or whether they will spread out their targets between them.

Players report that Mass Activate speeds up combat in a satisfying way, especially when you have a clear advantage in a certain battle. You feel more like a powerful magician with an undead horde swarming against your enemies.

** New Button: Auto-Move **

This is a new button which you click when you want your currently active character to automatically move and attack. It gives more control than Mass Activate since you are picking precisely which minions to activate rather than relying on an algorithm to pick.

** Additional **

Characters can now move through tiles occupied by units from their own side, but cannot stop moving on those tiles. This removes the frustration of having characters bottlenecked and blocked in by each other. Characters can still not move through tiles occupied by enemies. 

The To-Hit calculations are now displayed when you hover over an enemy to hit them in combat. This makes it more clear where the calculations come from and helps clarify rules such as the attack-from-behind or attack-from-flank bonuses.

Minions will now join a combat if you move close enough to where they are waiting, if they were not already in the combat (the range is 50 metres). This lets you keep a group of minions hidden nearby, to lead enemies into if required.

Patch Notes 1.216  

• Updated to the latest version of Unity (in preparation for porting to consoles)

• NOTE: a beta branch called “Legacy” has been created, for anyone using Windows 7 or Mac OSX, since the latest version of Unity is incompatible with these.

• Fixed the flickering progress bar which sometimes happens on stoves

• Made doors open/close audio only play if close to the player

• Increased the maximum range that icons first appear at if you have CTRL/RMB held, while underground

• Boosted the stats of the (SPOILER*- see patch notes in forum) in the big dungeon

• Made it so that double clicking a wearable item will swap it with whatever is already in that inventory slot, rather than doing nothing if the slot is already occupied (this was already how weapons worked, but other items did not).

Patch Notes 1.217  

• Added a takeable (SPOILER) in Boerhaaven’s basement

• Fixed an issue if you tried to test (SPOILER) on the pigs at night

• Made it easier to take Ramon’s (SPOILER) for the Awaken ritual

• Added an extra hint about checking Zelig’s (SPOILER) if you try to go into the (SPOILER) without any valid reason

Patch Notes 1.218 

• Improved a confusing step in the chapter 10 docker quest (SPOILER)

• Changed an item description (chapter 10 ritual) from ‘holy phial’ to ‘phial of holy oil’ to remove confusion with a phial of holy water

Patch Notes 1.219

• Changed combat so that characters can now move through tiles occupied by units from their own side, but cannot stop moving on those tiles. Characters can still not move through tiles occupied by enemies. 

• Note that (SPOILER) tags do not work in Steam Announcements. Details of these items can be found in the forums, in the Patch Notes section.

The Necromancer's Tale is Discounted in Steam Scream IV.

Halloween is the perfect time to dabble in some black magic and learn how to raise the dead...

WHEREVER YOU SEE (SPOILER), FOR DETAILS PLEASE GO TO THE DISCUSSION FORUM IN STEAM, PATCH NOTES SECTION. SPOILER TAGS DON'T WORK IN ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Patch Notes 1.212

• Fixed a bug with the new “give me the body” minion command

Patch Notes 1.213

• Changed the effect of the minion command “All nearby follow me” so that now, if you are inside a building/cave/crypt/dungeon, all minions inside that space follow you regardless of their distance from you. This will help you find missing/stuck minions (they’ll follow you out the door to the overworld)

• Added Tension rises in a few places where companies of soldiers are killed

• Wrote text for some letters which were not previously readable

• Fixed an issue with Nikos’ chat

Patch Notes 1.214

• Added a setting for faster running (while outdoors)

• Made doors opening/closing a bit quieter

• Fixed an issue that had minions in your basement visible when you’re in the main house

• During the chapter 4 docker plot (SPOILER), you can now ask Sofia about other matters even if you don’t want to advance the docker plot first.

• Fixed the wording in the (chapter 5) (SPOILER) ritual

• Added Annie and Connor as potential (SPOILER) donors in chapter 11

• Added an outcome for passing the final constitution check while dancing with (SPOILER)

• Added a journal note in chapter 13 (SPOILER) to remove a point of confusion about what to do next

Patch Notes 1.215 

• Added the possibility of saving (SPOILER) from execution in chapter 13

• Added more variations and nuance to the chapter 16 outcomes regarding Aldis

• Changed the sequencing of some options in the final scenes, to make alternative choices more obvious

• Fixed an issue in chapter 16 with (SPOILER)

• In chapter 15, improved a potential source of confusion about (SPOILER)

Patch Notes 1.208 (this was applied 4th October)

• Removes the Unity security vulnerability which was announced yesterday.

NOTE: WHERE YOU SEE 'SPOILER' BELOW, PLEASE REFER TO THE PATCH NOTES IN THE DISCUSSION FORUM. SPOILER TAGS DON'T WORK HERE IN ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Patch Notes 1.209

• Improved the pathfinding around the steps of the ruined tower

• Added a hint if you boil the fly agaric on a stove that the SPOILER ritual should instead be done at SPOILER

• Added the option to ask Diedrik and Sofia for personal items for SPOILER

• Added some extra wording when you first set the SPOILER TRAP so it’s clearer that it worked

• Fixed a bug that occasionally had bodies in your basement disappear

Patch Notes 1.210 

• Added a warning (chapter 12) before going into the war council that it will cancel the SPOILER

• Fixed an occasional bug that let you walk through the locked plague wing door in chapter 12

• Added an option to try Repair on zombies (once), so that you know that it does not work on zombies and is not a bug

• Added a command for a minion to give you the body they’re carrying, rather than having to get them to drop it so you can pick it up

• Added some more conversation for zombie SPOILER

Patch Notes 1.211

• Fixes an issue with the chapter 12 docker quest ‘Button Men’

• Fixes an issue whereby inventory items were occasionally going missing

• Your minions will now join a combat if you move close enough to where they are waiting, if they were not already in the combat (the range is 50 metres). If you have human allies in the combat, this doesn’t apply.

• Improved the wording in one of the choices in chapter 15 SPOILER

Patch Notes 1.203 

• Made the seat in the docks tavern easier to see/click for the fishguard (SPOILER- SEE PATCH NOTES IN FORUM)

• Added another option to the “Mass Activate” spell– now you can choose whether your activated minions seek to attack their closest target, or whether they will spread out their targets between them

• Fixed a rare bug that had Rebeka in the wrong place for the di Gradi sequence

• Fixed a bug that sometimes had dead characters in standing pose after a game reload

Patch Notes 1.204-1.205 

• Improved the Unstuck command’s calculation of a valid place to move you to (it should be robust now)

• Increased the range of food items you can coax pigs and goats with

• Fixed a logic error in Gerhardht’s conversation

• Improved the sequencing of journal notes related to Séance

• Added an extra nudge to help you with the chapter 9 (SPOILER) if you’re not making progress

• Since chapter 12 can start unexpectedly, changed the picnic date so that it doesn’t switch to “stood up/abandoned” status until chapter 13.

• In chapter 13 you can now to speak to (SPOILER)

• Improved the wording if your meetings with Haelan are in an unusual sequence

• Improved Aldis’ throne (visually)

Patch Notes 1.206 

• Added dialogue with Nikos the gardener, where you can learn more about Zelig

• Finished the Fen romance arc. Also in the end-game (SPOILER)

Patch Notes 1.207

• Removed confusion about how to progress at the end of chapter 11, in some circumstances

• Added some subtlety to the fate of (SPOILER)

• Fixed a logical error that can happen when bringing support to collect the Devil’s Wood bark

• Changed it so that the camera doesn’t keep trying to re-centre on the player in between minion activations in the Mass Activate spell

• Changed it so that high-priority (core plot) journal entries are written in bold text

Patch notes 1.199

• Added a Mass Activate spell and an Auto Move button, both intended to speed up large combats and reduce micro-management (see explanation below)

• Fixed melee attack ranges (previously, sometimes 1-hex weapons were able to hit at a distance of 2, and sometimes 2-hex weapons were able to hit at a distance of 3)

• Put an extra dead-zone around the combat speedup slider to avoid accidental move-clicks when trying to slide it

• Improved enemy moves in combat so if their path is blocked they still move as close as they can get, rather than standing still

** New Spell: Mass-Activate **

In addition to the existing Activate spell (which activates one minion at a time) this gives you a slider to pick how many minions you want to activate *and auto-move* all at once. This will probably be most useful in combination with normal Activate, rather than replacing it -- e.g. you might manually move a few critical minions on the front line of combat, and then let the rest auto-move to bring up reinforcements from further back with less effort.

** New Button: Auto-Move **

This is a new button which you click when you want your currently active character to automatically move and attack. It gives more control than Mass Activate since you are picking precisely which minions to activate rather than relying on an algorithm to pick.

Patch Notes 1.200  

• Fixed the issue where items delivered to your house by Ilona and Gustav kept re-appearing after you had taken them

• Fixed a bug with Klaus not being in place for the ambush if it was already evening when you arranged it

• Fixed Diedrik’s conflict between the picnic date setup and the ‘sometimes dead is better’ plot in the library

• Fixed a bug which occasionally had the MC stuck in a reloading animation after a combat had finished

• Improved the wording/motivation around the initial gathering of (Spoiler) to search the (Spoiler)

Patch Notes 1.201  

• Added an option in the new Mass Activate spell so you can choose to prioritise activating minions close to enemies first, or minions close to you first

• Fixed a point of confusion when translating the (Spoiler) ritual page

Patch Notes 1.202  

• Enabled rebinding of Quicksave and Quickload shortcut keys. Also enabled the Function keys to be used during rebinding generally.

• The game now saves any modification you have made to the UI scale, to default back to when you next start up the game

• The game now saves your “Speedup” setting in Combat, and sets to this value when you next start up the game

• Made it so you don’t have to keep choosing to use the ‘enhanced’ Animate ritual, i.e. it’s automatic after you first use it

• Guards on the city walls now have vision arcs and can witness you committing crimes (apart from Mr. Sleepy near the picnic spot)

• Minions who are following you can now also be spotted by NPCs, and attributed as a crime to you, if they’re quite close to you

• The To-Hit calculations are now displayed when you hover over an enemy to hit them in combat

Patch notes 1.195 

• Fixed a conflict between two mid-game quests in the Academy

• A click that closes the conversation window should not be a click on a world object in that same frame

• Fixed a bug that was not displaying the name of some objects in a chest

Patch notes 1.196  

• Fixed a bug in combat if you tried to use the MC’s equipment window while controlling someone other than the MC

• Fixed some bugs in the new minions-carrying-bodies system.

• Improved the wording when you’re looking for a séance witness but it’s too early.

• Made the Activate Minion battle magic spell less likely to fail at distance

• Made a slider to control the opacity of the circle at characters’ feet, since some people don’t like it. It can be made low opacity or invisible.  Note that during combat these circles are always visible.

Patch notes 1.197 

• Boerhaaven now comments on (SPOILER: see Patch notes in forum if you want details)

• Improved some comments from Albrecht when he sees you doing suspicious things

• Fixed a glitch when trying to squeeze through (SPOILER: see Patch notes in forum if you want details) in the hospital

• Fixed a couple of journal notes that should be removed in certain circumstances but which were not

• Fixed a couple of incorrect comments from NPCs in specific circumstances

• Made shops refill every time they’re opened, rather than daily (e.g. so you can buy several weapons of the same type)

• Zelig’s ashes are now an option for the (SPOILER) ritual 

• Made Hu’anthu’s voice a bit louder

• Added a note in the Inventory Info for a ranged weapon if it needs loading

• Fixed a game crash that happened if you tried to load a different save file while the auto-combat window was onscreen

Patch notes 1.198 

• Made bodies that you are carrying easier to click (in order to drop them)

• Fixed a bug if you were caught carrying dead bodies and went to court

• Fixed a softlock if you saved immediately after the di Gradi combat but before the interrogation

• Made it clear when you interact with a grave if you have previously dug it looking for a body, so you don’t need to do it again

• Fixed a problem where maps and other single-page popups could be too zoomed-in on certain screen resolutions

• Moved many of the Prologue sketches to appear before their related text rather than after it

• Added a short romance arc for (SPOILER) (docker path only)

We're excited to announce that The Necromancer's Tale has been shortlisted as a finalist in the prestigious TIGA Awards 2025, in the Narrative & Storytelling category! The awards ceremony is in November.

The Necromancer's Tale has been selected as part of the Hungry Ghost festival!

To celebrate, we're discounting the game this week.

The Necromancer's Tale is headed to Cologne! We'll be there with all our skeletons and zombies.*

If any of you are visiting Gamescom, come say hi! It would awesome to meet you.

We're going to be demoing The Necromancer's Tale in Hall 10.2, Friday 22nd through Sunday 24th Aug, as part of the Indie Arena Booth Official Selection.

* appearance of the Undead is contingent on airport security. Clarence Pew promises not to whisper too scarily at any security officials, and Hu'anthu promises not to eat any.

We're bringing along this custom-made headphone stand and will be doing a giveaway on social media. So keep an eye out on X/BlueSky etc. during Aug 22-24. We'll post it to the winner where ever they are; you don't need to be at Gamescom to enter.

Patch notes 1.190 

• Added into the home basement a small laboratory (see spoiler in patch notes in Discussion forum- spoilers are not enabled in announcements)

• Removed a potential soft-lock in chapter 14 (see spoiler in patch notes in Discussion forum)

Patch notes 1.191 

• Fixed the descriptions of some items that were not listing their mana boosts when worn/held

• Removed shadows being cast from (some) ghosts

• Removed a potential soft-lock in chapter 9 (see spoiler in patch notes in Discussion forum)

Patch notes 1.192 

• Added a minion command “all followers move to…”

• Added shortcut (CTRL+Click on mouse+keyboard, or LeftTrigger+Click on game controller/steam deck) for a minion to follow/unfollow

• For game controller, mapped D-Pad left+right to move the mouse pointer across the control bar icons (except during conversation, or when then the D-Pad is being used to move through a menu, etc.)

• During combat, up+down on the D-Pad moves between the magic bar and the main control bar

• Fixed a couple of issues that could happen if you interact with someone too quickly after entering/exiting a building when a scripted sequence (cutscene) is about to happen

• Fixed a possible soft-lock during the 1st night drinking with Diedrik scene, if you’re clicking very fast through the conversation

• Fixed it so you don’t remove the death-shroud after Repair or Rejuvenate, if you were wearing it when starting the ritual

Patch notes 1.193  

• Added an ‘unstuck’ button in the Escape menu, to use if you’re stuck somehow on world geometry- you get moved to a nearby valid spot.

• Fixed a problem with Sofia or Albrecht following you at home and trying to walk into the basement

• Stopped Sofia getting stuck in the hug animation

Patch notes 1.194 

• Fixed a bug that made you lose story-mode (auto resolved) combats if your opponents’ total combat rating was negative

• Made it so that autosave doesn’t happen during an inventory-item-drag

• Fixed a logic error in the narrative that could stop you being able to cut Vittoria’s hair

• Added a message to explain why you can’t talk to (most) NPCs if you have undead minions nearby

• Fixed the internal door in the keep leading to the ballroom (it should be closed during chapter 9 and open during chapter 10)

Still working away here, adding quality-of-life features, small narrative additions, and bug fixes. Thanks so much for your continued support and reviews- they really help and it's amazing to see how much people are enjoying the narrative! :-)

Patch Notes 1.185-1.186

• Minions can now carry bodies (this is a bit complex so hopefully no bugs)

• Fixed a bug with the Animate ritual

• Added an extra hint that the chapter 8 double-date is in the North Gate Tavern, not Garnet’s

• Made skillchecks in the picnic a bit easier

• Added automatic data on any errors that happened leading up to a bug report being sent in-game– hopefully this will assist diagnosing some issues

Patch Notes 1.187 

• Added wall torches in your basement and crypt, that can be turned on/off

• Added wilderness map labels (added as you discover important locations) and wilderness fast travel (but only from chapter 14- there’s too many trigger spots prior to that, so teleporting around wouldn’t be a good idea).

• Fixed a bug that was occasionally breaking the final scene in the throne room in chapter 16

Patch Notes 1.188 

• Fixed some places where zombies might inadvertently walk off into the city and get captured  while following you around the perimeter wall

• Stopped the player from accidentally leaving the barracks too soon while doing their evil thing there

• Fixed a bug with the “Sometimes, Dead is Better” plot (Sybil)

• Fixed a bug when switching an unloaded missile weapon from inventory to equipped during combat - military benefit was not being applied to reload APs

• Fixed a bug whereby you could talk to the guards at the Grim before meeting them

• Added an extra hint about how to use Dominion of Phobos

• Cleaned up Rosario’s woodland allies after the chapter 13 combat

• Cleaned up some inconsistencies in Fen’s conversation if Varenth has left

• Fixed a bug that sometimes had NPCs not pause walking while talking to you, which could cause knock-on-problems with e.g. hugging animations

• Fixed invisible text in the save-game renaming window

Patch Notes 1.189 

• Added the option to change your mind about refusing Gustav’s offer for the paintings. If you refused to even let Balaban look at them, though, there’s still no way back.

• Fixed a bug where cancelling a ‘save as new file’ would save anyway (into your current slot)

• Your known battle spells are now listed on your character sheet

The game also got officially "verified" for the Steam Deck by Valve this week. Awesome!

We're delighted to announce that Valve has now certified The Necromancer's Tale as "verified" on the Steam Deck! As big fans of the Steam Deck, we put a lot of work into this so it's great to get through this rigorous review process.

Controls

The schematic below shows the game controls for the Steam Deck. You can play the game entirely using the two joysticks and buttons.

The joysticks move your character and virtual mouse pointer. During normal play the D-Pad is used for cycling through nearby hotspots (and you can use A to interact with one and automatically walk up to it). The D-Pad cycles through your chat choices during conversation, and through menu buttons etc. The triggers and bumpers do a variety of camera controls and other in-game things that you would normally do with the mouse buttons/wheel.

Virtual Mouse

The right stick controls the mouse pointer. We have found this to be a very good replacement for mouse/touchscreen, and it's generally only needed during combat, inventory management, and on the settings window (when the D-Pad is a bit too limiting). In general, ‘A’ is equivalent to clicking the left mouse button, and ‘B’ is equivalent to pressing Escape.

Keyboard

An onscreen keyboard appears when you need to enter text (which is rare- it’s generally just at the start when naming your character, when renaming a save file, or when making entries in your journal). You can use the virtual mouse (or of course the touchscreen) to type.

Steam Cloud

The game saves to Steam Cloud so you can move seamlessly between Deck and PC play.

Touchscreen

The Deck's touchscreen works just fine, of course, if you wish to use it, but the game plays perfectly without it.

X Box Controller

If you're playing on PC, all of the above should work on your X Box controller too.

This post gathers together the patch notes from the last week.

Since the spoiler tag doesn't seem to work here, I'll refer you to the Steam forums in a few places. You'll see more details on some of the specific patches there, marked as spoilers.

Patch notes, 1.177 - 1.178

• Fixed a bug with the new (SPOILER-see Forums) sequence in chapter 13

• You can now rename your minions

• Made it so you can’t save your game if a court case is scheduled (as this could be a soft lock if you are (SPOILER-see Forums) following the court case)

• Added a reminder to bring your (SPOILER-see Forums) in chapter 13, if it’s not in your possession.

• Added a setting  to show all icons all of the time (rather than having to hold RMB to see some the less important ones)

• Made it so that double-click/shift-click on a weapon does *not* equip it as it normally would if you’re currently trading with a merchant. This is to avoid accidental Trust depletion.

• Added scaling buttons to resize the Control Bar at bottom centre of screen (synchronises with scaling of Equipment/Inventory windows and Magic Bar)

Patch notes, 1.179

• Chapter 16: Added extra end-game narrative in two places (SPOILER-see Forums)

• Expanded the Chapter 11 (SPOILER-see Forums)

• Improved the wording in a couple of quests, for better clarity

• Fixed a bug with the new “show all icons” option

• Reduced size of character stats at side of screen in prologue on 16:10 aspect ratio so they don’t overlap the book

Patch notes, 1.180

• Fixed bug when removing suspicious items/weapons for safekeeping while you are in hospital

• Fixed a bug that would block you from saving if there is a court case scheduled but (SPOILER-see Forums)

• A bunch of work on Steam Deck compatibility (we’re in the review process at the moment)

Patch notes, 1.181

• Improved the spell failed sounds

• Fixed minions getting stuck on the basement stairs at home

• Made combat easier to win in Story Mode (it’s important that you still need to build up your minions, as that’s core to the narrative, so we can’t remove all combat calculations and auto-win them)

• Allows the camera to get a little lower (always) and a little high (in combat)

• Fixed a bug that had some NPCs visit the cemetery after dark

• Added a note in conversation that NPCs whose hair (SPOILER-see Forums)

• Fixed a bug caused by two overlapping cutscenes being possible at home in chapter 5

• Added some extra wording in chapter 4 (SPOILER-see Forums)

• Improved Albrecht’s explanation around the sale of items

• You can now combine the strange trinket (with the skull design on) with silk or string to make a necklace

• Added a full-detail information panel in shop container windows, so you can see weapon stats before buying them, etc.

• Removed an exploit where you could sell items from a shop to itself and earn money. Jokob’s onto your little game!

Patch notes, 1.182-1.183

• Fixed a bug that could stop nausea from ever clearing

• Made CTRL/RMB (see all icons) ignore camera angle/visibility of objects while showing icons- to help see occluded objects

• Removed the ‘all interaction icons on’ setting for now due to bugs with it

• Fixed doors so they open properly rather than go invisible when someone walks through them

Patch notes, 1.184

• Sent the kids back to class after hide and seek in chapter 7

• Made the number of save slots visible in the save window unlimited

• Added a hotspot for (SPOILER-see Forums) , in chapter 9

• Fixed two places in the chapter 9 (SPOILER-see Forums) where clicking too fast through dialogue could break the cutscene

• Added options to use (SPOILER-see Forums) to bypass some strength checks

• Improved some logic around the chapter 13 combats

It's great to be adding new features now, rather than just fixing bugs. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments - it's amazing to hear how many of you are enjoying the game! Thanks also for the bug reports - these are really important so we appreciate you taking the time to send them.

This is a summary of the last 5 patches, since we last did an announcement.

Patch notes, 1.172

• Load a game without exiting to main menu

• F8 now saves into a dedicated quicksave slot rather than over-writing the current ‘main’ save file

• You can now save over another save slot rather than having to save as new slot then delete old slot

• Added a label to draw attention to player-notes feature in journal

• You can now milk goats even if your character doesn’t specifically need goats milk right now

• Labelled the keyboard remapping controls more clearly

• Fixed the issue with the hole into the fever ward being gone in subsequent playthroughs

Patch notes, 1.173

• Fixed a bug that had dead Robyn taking part in the hide-and-seek game

• Added a door so that the guard at the east (slums) gate can let you through when the gate is locked (from chapter 3)

• Fixed bug that was causing various objects to be absent from the world on subsequent playthroughs (note: if you are currently playing a game with this problem already saved in its file, this won’t fix it- the bug was when a new game was started after exiting to menu from a previous game). If anyone is in a playthru and needs their save file fixing, please contact me in our Discord.

Patch Notes, 1.174

• Added a wilderness map

• Separated Load from Save in the escape menu

• Fixed Ramón in the “Breached!” docker plot

Patch Notes, 1.175

• Fixed a potential softlock in the grand ball

• Fixed a problem that was stopping minions from following you out of the small north-east cave after chapter 14

• Added new narrative content for Barbara and Janez- an opportunity to find out more about Zelig, if you’re willing to kiss and tell a little.

Patch Notes, 1.176

• Added a better sequence around chapter 13's big events

• Made another small improvement to how Sofia tracks you down in chapter 8 for the thing in the North Gate tavern

• Fixed a bug that was making dead bodies sometimes disappear from where you had stashed them, when you re-loaded a save file 

• You can now reload from the current save slot as well as other slots, while in-game

• Added space for more save slots in the load/save window

• Added F9 to quickload from the (F8) quicksave slot 

• Put in a safeguard to stop you taking an item multiple times by spam-clicking it

• Put in a safeguard to make sure all combat mugshots are cleared out after a combat

• Fixed an occasional bug with the Rejuvenate and Repair rituals which would leave the player unable to move

• Fixed an error with Ilona’s audio

Here's a round-up of the tweaks and fixes from the 2nd half of the week since we launched. Was it just a week ago? Oh my.

• Fixed two glitches with protection rituals (Grave Myst, Dominion of Phobos) at the cemetery - they weren’t stopping the Animate ritual paraphernalia from being discovered when you forward time, nor were they protecting any minions you had left standing around the cemetery.

• Improved the explanation and logic around the two core combats of chapter 13, to better justify plot progression.

• Added trust ratings in your character sheet.

• Fixed a few little bugs including one where the spacebar (to end turn in combat) would stop you reloading.

• Improved flow and wording around Clarence Pew prior to chapter 6

• Fixed a bug in the final chapter that was blocking you from completing the final ritual in some cases

• Improved the wording of grave myst to make it more benign – rather than an unreasonably-early detour into serious black magic, it should now seem more reasonable

• Fixed the wording in a few places in some sidequests, generally to improve their clarity and avoid confusion

• And of course a few small bug fixes.

Thanks again everyone for your awesome messages and bug reports. It's amazing to hear players' opinions and analysis of the gothic story trajectory, and to see how people really get what we were trying to achieve with it.

I haven't managed to deal with all the bugs yet but have been ranking them by priority as they arrive.

Firstly, thank you so much to all the players! We've been overwhelmed by the response to the game, and have been trying to stay as active as possible in the forums here and on our Discord - mostly offering hints and taking note of bugs etc. Despite us doing a full 6-months of playtesting before launch, it was inevitable that new issues would appear once 350+ simultaneous players were playing. Thank you for your patience and good nature as we worked through these! A few notes on what the patches have been about, over the last 4 days: - fixed a few softlock situations related to skillchecks or unusual play styles (the mid-game in particular is quite complex with quite a few plots which can overlap and run in different sequences- so some new issues that we hadn't seen before became apparent) - we also added a facility so that you can attach your save-game file to a report which you send in-game, which can sometimes be really useful in diagnosing issues as it lets us see precisely what state all of your quest variables are in, etc. - some issues fixed in dialogues and cutscenes - some additional thoughts/comments from the player character or NPCs in places where some players find things unclear - some additional conversation from NPC in various places - some combat balancing Finally, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed the game. This is so important to us and we appreciate it!

The Necromancer’s Tale will officially launch on July 17th. To mark the occasion, we have released a brand-new release date trailer and an in-depth, narrated 7-minute overview covering the core mechanics, combat, and other systems in the game:

To celebrate our participation in Steam Next Fest, we have added to the demo a dungeon-crawl from mid-game. Try out some exploration, combat and battle magic with skeletons and zombies to protect you! The ~3 hours of content from the start of the game remains in the demo too.

See you in July for our full release!