Following the recent surge in attention after the release date trailer, I used the opportunity to run a focused refinement sprint - addressing optimized performance, quality-of-life improvements, and final balancing ahead of launch.

Combat & Balance

• Adjusted enemy TTK based on feedback: enemies drop faster, especially on headshots, while overall spawn rates were slightly increased to maintain pressure. Enemies also deal slightly more damage now, meaning stakes were somewhat raised on a global level.

• Refined weapon balance for all guns.

• Improved enemy behaviour: enemies now raise a defensive arm pose when their head is targeted

• Re-added a prior cut enemy feature where they sometimes explode violently after being killed.

• Better visual feedback during the end boss fight, making phase transitions and states more readable.

Audio & Feedback

• Improved gunshot sound variety across the squad to reduce repetition and auditive phase-issues during firefights.

• Additional player damage feedback with a brief blood flash on screen.

Quality of Life

• Added a grenade trajectory preview to make throws more predictable when the throw button is held down.

• Weapons can now also be switched directly using buttons 1 / 2.

• Added a VSync option.

• Added an optional compass UI element to aid navigation.

Accessibility & Visual Customization

Additional options were added so players can tailor the visual experience to their preference:

• Adjust Fog intensity

• Adjust Screen shake intensity

• Adjust Motion blur

• Toggle Bloom

• Toggle Blood spills / water droplets

• Toggle Near-death effect aka. "Vaseline"

• Toggle Low stamina effect

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where exposed fungi on enemies didn’t affect the player at close range.

• Fixed a crafting bug that allowed crafting of a fourth medical/grenade item despite all slots being occupied.

• Optimized pathfinding so AI is less likely to become stuck on elevated geometry.

• Fixed a bug where major lag spikes occurred when dead enemies were despawned.

• Fixed a bug where the savegame transitions became unstable, when pressing the load button multiple times in a short duration.

Pricing

• Adjusted the game's price per region/country to account for local purchase power.

This pass was all about delivering the most stable, readable, and responsive version of Death Scourges possible at launch. Thanks to everyone who shared feedback and helped shape these final refinements.

👉 Join the Community Discord to help shape Death Scourges in the future: https://discord.gg/4QWgbubzkG

Prepare for descent: Death Scourges launches on March 05, 2026.