Greetings, Guildies!
Our first major update has arrived—and it brings fire, mystery, and game-defining changes.
From the burning fields of the Furrowstead to a hellish new realm, from deadly new mechanics to foundational system overhauls, this update is packed with systems changes and additional content to deepen your journey across Respite.

We continue constant work towards the 1.0 release, and are excited to open up more of the existing content for players to experience.

🔥 Fight Through the Furrowstead
Those of you that played Early Access will know that the havoc on the local farm has been the talk of Gladeheim, and the local militia had barred access. The gates to the Furrowstead have now opened (once progressing far enough in the Heart of Corruption questline).

This level 7–8 region is our largest combat zone yet, featuring:

• Two unique boss-tier encounters
  
• Over ten new enemy types
  
• Standalone sidequests and environmental puzzles
  
• A twisting narrative steeped in corruption and dark experiments
  

Once a quiet farmstead, the Furrowstead now teems with unnatural forces. Will you uncover the truth behind the spreading corruption—or be consumed by it?

🧬 New Companion: Persephone
If you’ve discovered her on your travels, you can now recruit Persephone into your party.
The daughter of General Zillfred and a victim of the Azure Company's experiments, Persephone brings unique and powerful abilities—along with a past that may hold the key to unraveling Gladeheim’s darkest secrets.

Swap her into your lineup to unlock a new playstyle and character-driven interactions.

🔨 Crafting & Itemization Overhaul
Crafting has received a complete rework focused on exploration, strategic decision-making, and build diversity:

• Dynamic Recipe Discovery: Learn recipes organically by gathering ingredients, reading books, or speaking to characters.
  
• Unique Crafted Gear: Find rare key components to forge powerful weapons and armor that can't be found elsewhere.
  
• Rebalanced Food & Potions: More meaningful effects—accuracy boosts, crit enhancements, resistances, and more.
  
• Jewelry Crafting: Create skill-granting rings to tailor your party’s capabilities, using rare gems and ores.
  

In total, over 100 new items unique to the crafting system (not lootable) have been added across Alchemy, Archivism, Cooking, Jewelcrafting, and Smithing.

⚔️ New Combat Mechanics: Attack of Opportunity & Threatened
Positioning now matters more than ever.

• Attack of Opportunity: Characters with melee weapons can interrupt enemies that pass adjacent to them, delivering a basic attack.
  
• Threatened Status: Standing adjacent to an enemy capable of an attack of opportunity now reduces your accuracy with ranged attacks. Use your frontline tactically to suppress enemy archers and casters!
  

🚢 Expanded Player Ship
Your vessel is becoming more than just a mode of travel.

• A visual overhaul with new interior spaces
  
• Companion Hangouts — benched party members now relax aboard your ship (or the Gladeheim tavern, early on)
  
• Watch as your ship develops over time, evolving with your journey
  

📝 Full Changelog
Combat & Mechanics

• Attack of Opportunity implemented for players and enemies
  
• Threatened Status debuffs adjacent ranged characters' accuracy
  
• Tactical Reposition: 1AP skill lets any character swap with an adjacent ally once per turn
  
• Game Speed modifier added
  
• Initial implementation of Tactician Difficulty (future iterations will add smarter AI and skill variations)
  
• Pickup and place objects like explosive barrels, both in and out of combat
  
• Formation Logic updated: formations are now based on the controlled character pre-battle, and custom formation is applied at the start of combat
  

Character Creation

• Expanded and revised backstory options
  
• Backstories now provide attribute bonuses, adding meaningful strategic choice
  

Attributes, Skills & Items

• Attribute system rework: removed weapon-specific stats in favor of core combat attributes (accuracy, evasion, crit, block)
  
• Added block chance and block multiplier to all characters
  
• Skill level requirements added for learning and usage
  
• Major rebalancing of skills and items to promote build diversity and creativity
  

Surfaces & Effects

• Added Ice, Blood, Frozen Blood, and Electrified Blood surfaces
  
• Ice-based skills now introduce unique movement-altering effects
  

Crafting & Loot

• Recipes are now discovered, not static
  
• Jewelry Crafting added
  
• Rebalanced food and potions for greater strategic impact
  
• Unique gear now available only through crafting with rare components
  
• 100+ new items
  

UI, Performance & QoL

• Combined inventory display in merchant and crafting menus
  
• Dialogue and examine text now scale with font size
  
• ALT functionality improvements (click object highlights to loot, etc.)
  
• Look direction indicators and early AoO warning overlays
  
• Respec your characters at a new NPC in Gladeheim
  
• Major engine upgrade improves load times and performance
  
• Initial portuguese-Brazil localization
  

New Content & Encounters

• Furrowstead combat map (level 7–8)
  
• Fire Realm combat map (level 8-9) with unique fire-themed enemies and hazards
  
• New bounty: bloodthirsty crab encounter
  
• New companion: Persephone, with custom skills and story integration
  
• New ship design, interior, etc.
  

Bug Fixes

• Resolved issues with skill levels, summons, and damage calculations
  
• Various skill/item functionality fixes
  
• Dozens of minor quality-of-life improvements
  

That’s everything (for now)!

We're incredibly excited to share this update with you, and as always, your feedback helps shape the path forward. Tell us what you think, share your builds, and report any bugs you uncover—we're listening.

See you in the Furrowstead—and beyond.
—The Guild Saga Team