Hello friends,

I've released one last awesome update for the demo before proceeding with work on the full version of Sick Samurai. This will be the last major update for the demo until we participate in Next Fest in many months from now. Stay tuned for updates on full version progress coming very soon!

Update notes below:

• The Katsuryoku Sake upgrade (reduced attack/dodge cooldowns) has been replaced with the Zenshin Sake upgrade. This upgrade will cause time to slow down when you dodge, making the dodge significantly more powerful and giving you ample time to set up sick plays. The slowmo slowly fades, and will be cancelled instantly when you attack, use an item, or press the dodge button again.

• The Stun Bomb is now called the Whistle Bomb and is significantly more powerful. It will kill all enemies in a small radius around the blast while stunning remaining enemies that are a bit further away.

• The power of the Whistle Bomb is balanced by its inventory slot usage. It requires 2 slots to equip 1 whistle bomb, while the kunai still only requires 1 slot per kunai.

• Attack ranges and enemy targeting have been modified to make the difference between a successful attack and a miss as clear as possible

• You can now instantly unequip and fully equip all kunai/bombs by clicking on their icon in the backpack instead of incrementing/decrementing them one by one.

• There is now an additional graphics setting called "Ultra Low". On top of all the other things the lower graphics settings disable, this mode will also disable all postprocessing fx.

• A variety of other performance optimizations have been made that are applicable to all graphics settings.

I hope you enjoy these changes, they're a lot of fun, and I hope you'll hear from me again very soon.

Solideo

First, a big thank you to everyone who's played and wishlisted the game so far! The reception has been very positive and I'm glad to see so many people digging it.

BUT.... alright, maybe the demo was juuuuust a little too hard for you scrubs. Just a touch.

After taking in all the best feedback over the past couple weeks, I'm happy to announce that a new version of the demo is now available!

-Difficulty curves, especially for new players

-A simplified, super easy to use control scheme

-New mechanics around dodging and missing attacks

-A "learn" mode for quick and easy practice and lessons

-New achievements

-Countless quality of life improvements

And for those of you with balls of steel who prefer the most relentlessly brutal version of the demo - don't worry, the option is there with all the new improvements included.

I hope this update will improve upon the already dope experience, and allow a wider audience to appreciate the thrill of the kill.

-Your attack range when smashing through a door is larger, so highlighted enemies are guaranteed to be hit even if they step out of range at the last moment.

-Missing an attack will slow down time, which will slowly transition back to normal. This effect only happens on the "Chill" and "Normal" difficulty levels. Dodging or using an item in this state will instantly restore regular time.

-Dodging now instantly resets your attack cooldown.

-The passive upgrade drink reward in the bar is no longer a movement speed upgrade - instead, it reduces your attack and dodge cooldowns.

-Bonus points are now awarded for blocking a kickable object with a kunai.

-Bonus points are awarded for destroying enemy projectiles and kickables with the Girameki technique.

-The Girameki technique will now allow your projectiles and kicked objects to continue on their path after time unfreezes.This allows them to hit enemies before they're killed, which then combines with the Girameki technique for extra bonus points.

-Slightly increased the player's maximum dash range.

-Dodging is now effective for using kickable objects.

-Improved pathfinding so enemies don't get too close to obstacles or feel like they kill you through them.

-Patrolling enemies now walk slower.

-Slightly reduced enemy attack range.

-Enemy stats and enemy and object placements in levels have been completely redone for the "Chill" and "Normal" difficulty levels for a smoother difficulty curve for new players.

-The "Sick" (hard mode) difficulty option now changes the enemies and their placements to how they were in the original version of the demo.

-Enemies now delay their reaction to you until you've landed inside of the room (instead of reacting instantly upon clicking the door).

-Most obstacles have been removed. They're still visually present, but climbable instead of stopping you.

-The remaining intentional obstacles have been made more visually obvious, and their collision is more curved, allowing you to run along them without getting stuck.

-Attacking and dodging around corners and edges of obstacles is now much more forgiving. You can cut through corners and along edges, you just can't go directly through the whole obstacle.

-Fixed some issues where using multiple dashes very quickly as you enter a new room would incorrectly fail.

-Interactable objects like doors and npcs in the bar are now auto-targeted if you walk up to them and are not manually aiming.

-If you have no target locked, attacking will be the full distance in the direction of your movement.

-Dodging is always the max distance in the direction of your movement.

-On "Chill" difficulty, targets will be locked on to based on direction of movement without any aiming required.

-On "Chill" difficulty, enemies and objects are auto-targeted based on closest distance to your cursor.

-If there are no targets locked on, you will attack to the position of your cursor.

-The cursor behaves exactly like a regular mouse cursor. “Unlock cursor” and “screen cursor” toggles have been removed since they’re now pointless.

-Added tooltips to the settings menu that explain the purpose of each toggle and difficulty level.

-Added a "swap joysticks" toggle for controllers.

-All difficulties are available by default.

The three difficulties are as follows:

Chill - Auto-targetting enabled (essentially aim assist training wheels). Also, slow-mo on miss is a bit longer.

Normal - Auto-targetting disabled. Slow-mo on miss is a bit shorter.

Sick - Auto-targetting disabled, no slow-mo on miss, faster enemies, and more challenging enemy placements.

-Added a difficulty selection button.

-Selected chapters now show the score and time needed to get a perfect rating. Different for "Sick" difficulty vs. other difficulties.

-Added a "prologue" button if you have chapter 1 selected

-The HUD now includes a cooldown meter for the dodge

-Made the music start playing again faster when it finishes in a level.

-Removed the "instant action" mode.

-Starting a new game will prompt you to select a difficulty. Difficulty can be changed at anytime in the settings menu.

-When playing for the first time, you'll be prompted to turn on hints and tips. Besides basic stuff, these tips include details on the score system and hints for higher-level strategies. Can be turned on anytime in Settings > More.

-Added a new "Learn" mode to the main menu. It immediately loads you into the first combat level and shows you all the tutorials, tips, and hints while you play. Enemies will not react to or kill you in this mode.