According to this Kickstarter update, Heroic Fantasy Games’ party-based CRPG Knights of the Chalice II is now looking at February or March 2022 for its proper release. In the meantime, the game’s latest backer-exclusive update fixes a good number of bugs and introduces some new features. Here’s more on that:
Hello everyone! Version 1.22 of KotC 2 Augury of Chaos is now available for download here for both Windows and macOS. In January, I focused mainly on the upcoming official release. I created a new five-minute video. I collected new screenshots and I created the required artwork for the store page of KotC 2 on Steam. I’ve almost finished working on Steam requirements.
I have also spent some time on bug fixing and the improvement of the interface in order to make the game as stable and polished as possible prior to the official release.
New Features in KotC 2 Augury of Chaos
- Added two new options under ‘Spells’ allowing you to skip the explosion animation of Death Throes and the animation of the Splash effects of enchanted arrows, crossbow bolts and sling bullets.
- When the Inventory Screen is displayed for one of your party members, you can now press one of the number keys to switch to the Inventory Screen of the associated party member. Also added a mention of this new shortcut in the help entries.
- When opening the Inventory Screen of a party member, the party-members box in the top-right corner will automatically centre on the selected party member.
- Revised the battles against the Sea Hags and the Evil Eye Emperor.
- In version 1.21, low-intelligence archers (those with an Intelligence score below 6) were shooting at the nearest target even when they were using the Ready Versus Spell combat action. Now, they will target the interrupted caster.
- You can now close the Decoding Interface screen by pushing the Escape key.
- The Tutorial Adventure will now let you know that the armour equipped by your characters at the start of a module does not provide any Armour Class bonus.
- Falco, the innkeeper in Finchbury, will now clarify that once you’ve booked the room, you can use it for your entire stay (not just for a single night).
- In the old Character Creation interface, modifying the Strength and Constitution ability scores will automatically adjust the displayed Hit Points and Attack Bonus.
List of Bug Fixes in KotC 2 Version 1.22
- Fixed a source of crashes in combat when creatures were swallowed whole and then brought back to the fight.
- Fixed a source of crashes in combat when the spell Energy Wall was used.
- Fixed a bug introduced in version 1.21 preventing movement in combat using the numeric keypad.
- In the Script Editor, fixed the F10 shortcut key when the list of commands is sorted alphabetically. Pushing F10 when mousing over one of the script lines in the upper box allows you to select the associated script command in the lower box.
- Fixed the script command ‘Give Condition’ when it’s used to give characters one of the ‘Ability Reduction’ and ‘Noncurable Ability Reduction’ effects. Previously, this would cause a crash.
- Fixed a dialogue script error when examining the Royal Mandate in your inventory screen in Finchbury.
- Fixed a bug in the Dialogue script of Gareth in the Tutorial Adventure when talking to Gareth after the western corridor has been opened.
- In the Tutorial Adventure, in the room of the Pool of Communion, if you chose the option to destroy the Vampire Warlock outright, the battle would take place without enemy reinforcements and Gareth’s group wouldn’t attack you. That’s because the Scene script was assigned to the Vampire Warlock, so if the vampire was destroyed through the dialogue option before the beginning of the battle, the script wouldn’t get executed. I’ve fixed this problem by assigning the Scene script (and the End-Of-Fight script) to the Mummy Wizard instead. Also fixed the Experience Point award when selecting the option to destroy the Vampire Warlock.
- Fixed the position of the upper Search box in the Script Editor in full-screen mode.
- Fixed the prone sprite of the Ratmen. It wasn’t correctly centred.
- Added a sprite that was missing for the walk animations associated with a certain shield (New_Shield1 for female characters).
- Corrected the caster’s orientation when using a healing spell to bring a character back in combat.
- Fixed a problem with the difficulty setting of older saved games. The Options screen would just display a blank line.
- Fixed an issue with the Spell Quickbar. It was keeping multiple copies of the same spell or psionic power. For example, Energy Ball and Energy Ball (Fire).
- Fixed a bug occurring when clicking inside the Search box when selecting tokens during character creation in full-screen mode.
- Fixed an error in the text description of Giant Spiders.
Next Steps for Knights of the Chalice 2
- Finish working on the update of the PDF Guidebook. It needs an update because of all the new content in Finchbury and related areas. I’ve been working on this in the last few days. Also, I don’t think a section about the Tutorial Adventure is really needed, so I’ll skip that.
- Finish working on the requirements for the Steam and GOG launch. Not too much remains to be done. I have been focusing on the Steam material, so now I need to upload similar material to GOG. Also, I have to work on the Steam and GOG material for the KotC 2 Digital Deluxe Edition, which I will call Archmage Edition. It will be the base game plus the two PDF guidebooks, extra artwork, and game soundtracks in MP3/WAV format (I will add the soundtracks to the existing PDF pack, too).
- On the website, update the KotC 2 Screenshots page and the KotC 2 Features page. Also add a link to the Nexus Mods page for Knights of the Chalice 2 to the left-side menu of the website.
- Once the release date has been set and the Steam store page is available, upload the new video on YouTube, post a new Kickstarter update, prepare a mass email for players and the news outlets, and prepare new posts for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the Steam forum, GOG forum, and the website.
- I will also contact the RPG YouTubers to see if they can review the game or do an interview, as well as other RPG developers on Twitter to see if they can do a post or two on Twitter.
I really hate having to delay the release so many times, but I guess it’s for the best. Anyway, finally everything should be in order for a release in late February or in March. I will let everybody know once the release date has been set and I will Count On Everyone to Help Spread the Good Word when the time comes!
As always, if you find bugs or if you have any feedback, thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to let me know here, or in the Forums, or by email at enquiries [at] heroicfantasygames.com.
Thank You For Your Awesome Support, Mighty Warriors, Noble Paladins and Wise Wizards! Rejoice! 🙂
