Spritebound · build f7.06 · Gumhollow Farm

Spritebound

The Prism that held the eight elements shattered, and its shards turned the elementals feral. Two shards are close: one in Sheafwood to the west, one in Gravelmark to the east. Your character carries over.

Needs a keyboard and mouse, or a controller.

What's new in this build

Tidemere has its own music: “Harborstone Drift”, a breezy seaside tune with guitar, accordion and flute.
Tidemere is open through Crossholt’s south-east gate (tier 2, levels 26 to 50). It has the coast, the fishing village of Saltreach, a jetty and a lighthouse. Reef crawlers, brinelashers, tidecallers and shellbacks drop tide scales, and the Tidewarden in the Drowned Ring guards the water Prism Shard.
New on the coast: dig sand (Mining 26), mine sandstone (32) and gold (35), chop saltpine (Woodcutting 35), and catch crab (Fishing 30), salmon (35) and eel (45). Gold smelts into gold bars, saltpine saws into planks, and crab, salmon and eel cook into stronger food.
Coal in Gravelmark. Coal seams (Mining 10) sit among the mesas. Smelt 1 iron ore with 2 coal for a steel bar (Smithing 25), then make steel gear, a steel pickaxe and a steel hatchet at the anvil.
The workshop follows the Item Codex. The anvil now makes bronze and iron blades, helms, chestplates, gauntlets and boots, plus bronze and iron pickaxes and hatchets. Made gear has fixed stats and a rune slot, and salvage never takes it.
Drops are named after the metal ladder: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Skysteel and up, by item level. Silver bars now need Smithing 30, and the silverstone and maple deep nodes grow back slowly.
Dock fixes. The dock no longer runs off the right edge of the screen on shorter screens (the new Salvage buttons were widening it), and armour now shows as a whole number.
Look around in the Rift Lift. The lift still opens on the whole-floor view, but now you can scroll in to get closer (the camera follows you) and hold the middle mouse button to swing it round or tilt it. Scroll back out, or middle-click, to return to the whole lift. Fixed a stone ledge of the shaft that could slide across the view after the lift rose.
Quick salvage and auto-salvage. The Bag tab has a Salvage button: click it to see how many items and how much gold, click again to turn every item that is not an upgrade and not a legendary into gold. Auto turns on salvage-on-pickup for the rarities you tick (Common, Magic, Rare); legendaries and upgrades are always kept, and junk it takes never needs a free bag slot. Wild sprites in the Rift Lift now always appear on the platform.
The Rift Lift. The Rift is now a round stone lift riding up the hollow core of the Spire. Each floor has ten gates round its rim; each gate is one set wave, and a cleared gate turns gold. From floor 4 a wave also pours from the gate opposite. Clear all ten and the lift rises: a chest pays out gold and an item, and you pick one boon of three (damage, speed, life, sprites and more) that lasts until the run ends. Every floor ends with a keeper; six hold farm animals, floors 7 and 9 guard a legendary, and Lilly waits at the top of floor 10. If you fall, start again from the bottom of any floor you have reached. The camera is fixed and fits itself to your screen, so the whole lift is always in view between the HUD panels, and you, your sprites and the monsters are drawn larger in the Rift.
The farmhand speaks the new story. Sixteen new lines in the farmhand's own voice: the star crash and meeting the sprite on the farm, the burning Hearthgate and the vow after the first Rift run, taking Apache's jobs, every horse sent home from the Spire, and the last line with Lilly.
The Rift to wave 100, and beyond. The Rift Hall is now a ring seen from one fixed camera, Brotato-style. Every wave is a set wave (the same monsters each time you reach it) that climbs out of glowing tears round the edge a second after they open, and every one must be cleared. Rescue waves have a keeper holding one of the farm's animals in an orb: the hens at 10, the sheep at 20, the goats at 30, Dodge at 40, Tommy at 50, Nav at 60, Comanchee at 80, and the Glazier with Lilly at 100. Beat a keeper and that animal goes home: horses to the Windrow stables, the rest to Gumhollow. Start a run from any tenth wave you've reached (keeper and all), and past wave 100 the Rift goes on for ever. Each Prism Shard you bring home now makes its element 25% stronger.
Crossholt jobs, repairs and Apache. After the opening, seven first jobs walk you through the game: chop and saw, fish and cook, mine and smelt, hammer nails, mend the gatehouses, reach wave 10 and win your first shard. Each one pays gold and XP and shows its steps under the minimap. Every ruined district has a builder's board by the ring road with three stages (clear the rubble, patch the walls, restore the houses), paid for in planks, nails and bars from your bag or the bank. The ruins change as you build, and a fully restored district gives its skills +10% XP. Talk to Apache on his crates in Hearthgate for a training job: a hunt, a Rift tally, an elite, or a cooked trout. The quest board lists it all.
The night the star fell, retold. After you fill the feeder the goats and sheep crowd in to eat for a moment, before you look up, see the star come down over the top paddock and feel it hit: what was that? On the way to see, something small and glowing shoots out of the crater with Apache right behind it, into the back shed. There you find it: a sprite, cold and shaking, straight out of grandad's old stories. You decide to help it, and the axe, the logs and the fire follow from that.
The opening in Crossholt. Come through the portal into a burning Hearthgate and watch wraiths carry the farm's animals up into the Rift Spire, Lilly highest of all. Fight up the Spire Road with your sprites calling out what to do, then step into the Rift and fight until you fall. You wake on the Hearthgate steps with Apache watching from a crate, and the real adventure starts. Saves from before the ring city play it once on their next visit. Also fixed: the west and east gates no longer pull you out of the city from across Greenward and Forgehold, the bag updates as you gather, and the gathering bar matches the HUD and no longer sits under the XP bar.
Crossholt, rebuilt as a ring city. Crossholt is now a round walled city about 140 m across with the Rift Spire at its heart: the Rift is through the glowing door on its south face. A ring road circles the Spire and eight roads run out to eight gates, one per region. You arrive in Hearthgate (south), by the home portal, the bank, the range and the quest board. Forgehold (east) has the mining yard and the crafters' yard, Greenward (west) the grove, Millpond (south-east) the pond and the trader, Windrow (north-west) the stables, and the Shrine Gardens (south-west) the eight shard shrines. The other districts lie in ruins for now. The west and east gates are the roads to Sheafwood and Gravelmark.
A proper bank. The bank chest no longer empties your bag the moment you open it. Your storage is on the left (All, Materials, Gear and Food, with a search box) and everything you carry is on the right. Click a bank slot to take it out and a bag slot to put it in, by 1, 5, 10 or all; right-click any slot for the other amounts, or use Deposit bag and Deposit food. Food can be banked too. The whole HUD now also scales with your screen, from small laptops up to 1440p and 4K, so everything always fits.
Food and potions get their own tab. Cooked food and potions now stack in a Food tab (H) and never take bag space; raw fish stays in the bag until you cook it, and the tab tells you what is waiting. What you wear and your tool belt moved into an Equipped tab (I), so the dock is just Bag, Skills, Food and Equipped, with no pop-up windows.
A cleaner HUD. Every piece of the HUD now shares one soft cream look, with real icons for all 18 skills and the bag tabs. Your frame has a portrait and your total level, your sprites sit under it as party frames, the combat bar sits on a tray with locks on the slots still to open, and the quest card, XP bars and tips no longer overlap anything.
A new HUD. Your bag and your skills are always on screen now, in a tabbed panel at the bottom right: Bag (B) shows all 28 slots, and Skills (K) shows all 18 skills in their three families (Combat, Field, Craft). Hover a skill for its XP and what the next levels unlock; click or right-click it to watch it, and its XP bar sits just above your combat bar. Press K again for the full skills sheet. Press I for your character window: what you wear, your tool belt and your stats, without pausing. Tools live on the belt now, so they no longer take up bag slots. Your sprites sit under your own frame, top left, and your quests sit under the minimap. The seven skills still to come (Farming, Foraging, Archaeology, Wildkeeping, Trailblazing, Crafting and Alchemy) show greyed out until they arrive.
The crafters’ yard and the stables. South of the main road, either side of the pond. The crafters’ yard has a forge, an anvil and a workbench under one roof, so you can smelt and smith in town. At the workbench you saw logs into planks for Construction XP (oak at 15, maple at 30); planks and nails are what building upgrades will use. The stables have a stall for each horse you can free, with its name over the door: Dodge (Gravelmark), Tommy (Galecrest Heights) and Nav (Emberfall). Each stall waits, ready, until its horse comes home. Roofs fade as you walk up to the front, and the Sprites panel now always sits below the minimap.
Portal Square. Step through from the farm and you land in Portal Square. Eight shard shrines ring the portal, each standing towards its region's road: they stay dark until that region's Prism Shard comes home, then light up in its colour. The new quest board beside the portal lists every road by tier (open or sealed, who is waiting out there, and where to go next). The bank and range moved a little wider and the trader to the east side of the square. Fixed: stepping through the portal at the farm now takes you to Crossholt.
Four tiers of two. The eight regions now come in level tiers, each a pair of opposites: tier 1 (levels 1 to 25) Sheafwood and Gravelmark, tier 2 (26 to 50) Tidemere and Galecrest Heights, tier 3 (51 to 75) Rimehold and Emberfall, tier 4 (76 to 100) Stormreach and Prismspire. The map, the gates and the signpost show each road's tier.
Crossholt is the hub of the wheel. The Rift arena is now Crossholt's own arena, and a portal in the town square takes you home to Gumhollow Farm (the rift your family went through stays open at the farm as the way back). Eight roads leave the hub, each straight across from its opposite element: Sheafwood (growth) west and Gravelmark (stone) east are open, while Emberfall, Stormreach, Tidemere, Rimehold, Prismspire and Galecrest Heights are sealed by glowing wards for now. A signpost in the square points down all eight roads.
One bag, and making things properly. Everything you carry now lives in one 28-slot bag, RuneScape style: tools, gear, ores, logs, fish, bars and food, each in its own slot (nails stack). Click an item to use, wear or eat it; right-click for Use, Drop, Salvage and Examine. Pick an item up with Use and click another item, or a fire, range, forge or anvil, to use it there. The forge asks what you want to smelt, the anvil what you want to make, and the fire or range what to cook, each with how many (1, 5, 10 or All). New: bronze, iron and silver bars, bronze and iron nails, and two new skills, Smithing and Construction.
A map of the world. Press N, or click the minimap, for the world wheel: Crossholt at the hub with the Rift and the way home, and eight regions around it, one per element, each straight across the hub from its opposite: fire and water, storm and crystal, stone and air, frost and growth. Each one holds a Prism Shard and some of your animals.
Story touches. The falling star now comes down in the west of the top paddock, so you no longer fish right beside the crash and investigate it later. When the rift pulls the animals away, it reaches for Angus and Apache too, until your sprites flare around them and pull them back down: they stay because they are with you. And before you step through the rift, you say a proper goodbye to Angus.
A cosy new look, and a map. Every panel is now a cream paper card with a wooden rim: your pack shows what you carry as painted icon tiles with counts and a fullness meter, the gear bag is a grid of icons, and Pack, Skills and Sprites are tabs of one book. The quest helper is a little card with the job in hand, and a round minimap in the top-right shows the land from above, your animals, your sprites, enemies and a gold star on the next job. Quick buttons under it open your pack, skills and sprites, and turn the sound on and off.
Your farmhand thinks out loud. A new deep, raspy Southern voice for your farmhand, and only theirs: the narrator and captions are text now. Instead of click-through dialogue, they mutter a quick thought as each job starts, and if you seem stuck they will drop a hint (“Gee, I’m hungry. Maybe I oughta catch some fish…”).
Music under the voices. The music is about half as loud as before and dips further whenever someone speaks, so every line is easy to hear; the voices are a touch louder.
New farm music. Gumhollow has new cosy farm-life themes: by day a sunny tune of fingerpicked guitar, marimba, glockenspiel and wooden flute, and after the star falls a sleepy night theme of music box, celesta and soft piano. Each has two takes that play in turn, so the farm takes four minutes to repeat.
Dark trims, steel posts. The house's handrails, balustrades, step rails and the lattice skirting underneath are a dark charcoal now instead of white, and the verandah posts are galvanised steel.
A Queenslander on stumps. The farmhouse now stands 1.2 m up off the ground on stumps, with white lattice skirting all round. A wide timber deck runs across the front, past the front door, with a balustrade and a broad flight of steps down to the yard; the back deck has its own steps. You, the animals and the camera climb the steps and walk the decks properly.
Every last prop, modelled. Rustic log-rail fencing round every paddock, a proper farm gate, timber power poles along the drive, a clipped hedge along the front garden, a stone-ringed fire pit, square hay bales, galvanised buckets in the stalls, the solar inverter on the shed wall, a green farmhouse kitchen with its butler’s sink, a clawfoot bath, an old-fashioned toilet and a washstand with a round mirror, a hall table by the front door and a chest of drawers in the bedroom.
The small things. The fire’s flames lick and flicker instead of being cones, the festoon lights hang on a real sagging wire, the crater’s rim is boulders, the sheds’ roller doors are rolled up under their headers, windows have sills, the front door has panels and a brass knob, the stall doors have rails and braces, and the rugs, runners, mats and tiles have a proper weave and grout.
Take a seat. Every chair, stump, bench and couch on the farm can be sat on: click it, and your farmhand walks over and sits down facing out. The fire pit’s garden chairs, cushioned stumps and log bench, the couch, the dining and desk chairs, the sunroom’s cane chairs, both decks and the bench by the front door. Move or click anywhere to get up.
Open horse shelter. The shelter is cattle rail all the way round now, so you can see the horses from every side, under a skillion roof that rises toward the house.
No more walking into furniture. Your farmhand’s walk, run, roll and crouch used to swing the body up to almost a metre ahead of where you really are, so it could end up in a bed or through a wall you had been stopped by. The body now stays where you stand.
The big shed and its carport. The back shed’s roof now runs straight on over a proper open carport at its east end, held up by two posts, with the firewood stacked against the shed’s clad wall; the shed itself has three roller doors.
No more phantom labels. The “Sit on” and other pointer labels only appear for things actually on screen and under the pointer, never for something just past the edge or while the pointer is on the action bar.
Gumhollow, fully dressed. The farm’s last plain boxes are real things now. Outside: the red quad bike and the ride-on mower in the sheds, a workbench with its pegboard of tools, steel shelving, the firewood stack, the goats’ cable spool, crates and pallet box, hay racks in the stalls, the fire pit’s yellow garden chairs, cushioned stumps and log bench, pot plants round the house, a barbecue and timber tables and chairs on both decks. Inside: patchwork-quilted beds, a sage-green couch, the TV cabinet and coffee table, a farmhouse dining set, the study desk, bookcases, a retro cream fridge and cane chairs in the sunroom. The wild rats and wolves are proper animals, and magpies hop about the lawn. The house has weatherboards, the floors are boards, every bit of timber has grain, and the sheds have concrete floors and galvanised steel.
Animals that move like animals. No more fast waddling: when the animals hurry, their steps stop quickening at a natural rate and they lope instead, the body lifting and rocking in time with the legs. They also amble about at calmer speeds.
Both arms, in every outfit. The farmhand model was made with a stunted left arm and every outfit inherited it (a crinkled claw, a spike). Each outfit’s left forearm and hand are now rebuilt as a mirror of its right ones, and the animations no longer twist the left wrist backwards.
Try turning the camera (experimental). Hold the middle mouse button and move the mouse to swing the view round your farmhand and tilt it up or down; the keys and stick still move you up the screen. A quick middle click puts it back facing north.
See yourself behind things. A tree you walk behind stays as a see-through ghost instead of vanishing, and whenever a tree, wall or roof hides you, you show through it as a soft blue silhouette.
Farm fixes. Apache’s back is now her real light mousy, almost cream colour. The horse shelter is taller, so the Clydesdales’ heads no longer poke through the roof, with galvanised cattle rails for its sides and stall dividers instead of walls. Apache and Angus no longer start inside the hedge or the parked ute, and the animals keep out of solid things when they pick where to go.
Calmer dogs. Lilly and Angus no longer spin their heads (or tails) round and round, and when they sit they sit up properly on their haunches instead of sinking into the ground. Fixed a rare freeze on the farm when the animals went looking for a way round something before you had ever clicked to walk.
A proper farm yard. The driveway now opens into a big worn gravel turnaround: cars loop round a grassy island under the old shade tree, with wildflowers and edging stones at its foot, wheel ruts pressed into the gravel, weeds coming up in the quiet corners and soft grassy edges. The old blue ute is parked nose-in at the hedge with a round bale on the back, and a wheelbarrow of straw waits by the veggie beds.
Animals you can pet. Click any animal on the farm to walk over and give it a fuss: Dodge and Tommy the Clydesdales, Nav, Lilly the shepherd, Angus, Apache and Comanchee each react in their own way. Every animal now has a real skeleton: they walk properly, find their way round sheds, trees and fences instead of walking into walls, keep their noses and tails out of buildings, graze, turn to look at you, wag, and sit or lie down with their legs folded under them. Apache has her real colouring: a mousey tabby back, white underneath, a black cap and a banded tail.
A farmhand who becomes an adventurer. The hero is now a fully animated farmhand, and what you wear is what he wears: helm, chest and boots each change his hat, coat and legs, in six outfits that follow your combat style (Drover and Marshal for melee, Ranger and Sharpshooter for ranged, Sprite-caller and Lantern Sage for arcana; rare and legendary pieces give the advanced look). Mix them freely. Stepping through the rift dresses him as a drover, and he now holds the axe, pickaxe or rod while he works and his weapon when he fights.
A living farm. Every animal is a real model now: two Clydesdales and the racehorse, the sheep and goats, Angus and the shepherd, Apache and the fluffy cat, and the hens. So are grandad’s forge and anvil, the hay feeder, the round bales, the chook coop and the water tank.
Voices, music and night. The opening is voiced: a narrator and your farmhand speak their lines. The farm has its own music, a dusk theme and a night theme after the star falls. At night crickets and frogs sing from the dam, a boobook owl calls, and fireflies drift over the grass.
Bonding that keeps going, and hungry sprites. Once you have met a kind, more of it keep turning up as kindred sprites: bond with one and your own grows stronger instead of a duplicate. Bonding XP from a bond now grows with your Bonding level, and your sprites share more of what they learn with you. Sprites also eat: every few minutes they help themselves to cooked food from your pack, and if there is none they get Hungry and hit softer and move slower until fed (a fullness bar sits under each one).
Skills attract sprites. Now and then good work draws a wild sprite of that skill’s element: Woodcutting brings Growth, Mining Stone, Fishing Water, Cooking Fire, Smithing Crystal (at most one every 90 seconds). In the opening, Gleamkit springs out of the star metal at the anvil and the story says why.
Dialogue, a farm HUD and New Game. Story lines now come through one dialogue box with painted portraits for you, Angus, Apache and the Old Grey Wolf; click or Space to go on, and Esc twice skips a scene. Pick up a tool or gather something and a painted icon pops up with its name, a tag floats over whatever the story wants you to click, and on the farm the HUD drops the Rift counters and only shows skill slots you have earned. The title screen has Continue and a New game with your farmer’s name.
Fists first, then the blade. The axe is for wood, not fighting. The rats at the chook pen are too much for your bare fists, until Apache, the farm’s killer cat, leaps in and takes them all. That is why you forge the Starfall Blade, and with it you defend the pebble sprite at the crater. Also: felled trees now fall properly (no tree left over its stump), you cast a rod at the dam for redfin perch, and walking anywhere on the farm finds the way round fences and buildings.
Forge in the machinery shed, and your pack. Grandad’s forge and anvil now stand in the small machinery shed on the left of the house, with his hammer on the workbench: smelt, take the hammer, then forge. The Inventory (I, or the bag button by the Sprites panel) now has a Pack section showing your tools, hay, materials and cooked food.
Angus and the evening feed. Angus, the black poodle, now leads you through the opening: he runs ahead to each job, barks when you dawdle and reacts to everything that happens. A glowing beacon marks what to do next. Dusk is now feeding time: carry hay from the big shed to the three horses in their stalls, then fill the feeder for the sheep and goats. When the animals are taken you watch it happen, with every one of them lifted into the air and drawn down the driveway into the rift. Scenes play with black bars and captions, and new sounds for Angus, the horses and the flock.
A story to start. A new hero begins on an ordinary evening at Gumhollow, shutting the hens in, until a falling star cracks the sky over the dam and the power dies. The cat chases a hurt little light into the back shed. Light the fire to wake your first sprite, fish and cook, fight rats at the chook pen, mine the fallen star and forge the Starfall Blade at grandad’s anvil. Then the animals are taken through a rift at the front gate, and the adventure begins. Already past the farm? Replay the opening from the pause menu (Esc).
Fine-tuned layout. The house moved back a little behind a shorter front hedge, the fire pit moved up beside the top paddock (its east gate is now fenced off), a round shrub moved over by the solar shed, two trees moved, and you now start the game just in front of the hedge.
Walk-in buildings. Step inside the house, the sheds or the horse shelter and the roof lifts away while the walls drop to waist height, so you can see every room as you walk through the doors. The house has its bedrooms, bathroom, study, hall, living and dining room, kitchen, entry, sunroom and two decks, laid out as drawn on the building plans, and each room names itself as you walk in.
The deck is back. The east end of the house is the covered deck again, as in the photos: timber floor under its own gable, posts and a rail, steps down to the lawn, glass doors from the house and a table to sit at. The power line runs down the right-hand side of the driveway again.
Clearing and gates. Seventeen trees are gone, including the three over the fire pit (the festoon lights now hang from posts). Two new gates lead into the top paddock by the fire pit, another joins it to the east paddock, and the sheep paddock gate now opens from the east paddock.
The wild edges of the farm. The farm now spans the whole property as marked: a top horse paddock with the shelter and the dam, an east horse paddock, the sheep paddock by the driveway, and the driveway running south-west to Freeman Rd. Past the fences lies wild scrub where wild rats and wolves live, led by the Old Grey Wolf. Two cats have moved in: a fluffy white one who naps about the house, and a cream, white and black one who stalks the birds on the lawn and goes after any rat she sees.
The farm, true to life. Gumhollow Farm is laid out over the real satellite photo, building by building: the long house with its short north wing and back deck, the hedge out front, the solar shed and carport beside it, the black-roofed back shed with its round water tank, the horse shelter and the dam up in the horse paddock, which wraps round the yard, the goat yard with its hay-and-crate playground, and the driveway leaving from the parking spot.
Animals on the farm. Two Clydesdales and a brown racehorse graze the horse paddock, eight sheep and five goats wander the new paddock by the driveway, and two dogs, a black poodle and a German shepherd, roam the property, come to say hello and run barking at any pest. The fire pit now sits under three big shade trees with painted chairs, cushioned stumps, a log bench and festoon lights, and the shed has moved further from the house.
The farm, as you marked it. A big black-roofed shed and a horse stable up the north end, the machinery shed and solar carport joined under one roof, the fire pit moved behind the house, the lawn south of the house cleared to grass, and a horse paddock fenced down the east side. The hut is gone.
Gumhollow Farm, your home. New characters now start on the family farm: a long homestead with a white tin roof and a red front door, a solar carport and sheds, a round water tank, a fire pit, a chook pen with hens, a dam among the gum trees, paddocks with post-and-wire fences, and a long gravel driveway down to the road. A short list of chores teaches the game: walk, chop, mine, fish, cook, clear the burr pups, win your first Bond Trial at the dam and chase off the Old Bramble Boar. Then take the road at the bottom of the driveway to Crossholt. Existing characters can visit by the signpost on the south side of Crossholt.
Sprites are your class. Every skill now comes from a sprite: 8 elements with 6 sprites each, 40 skills and 8 Hearts. Carry up to 8 (3 to start; Bonding 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 open the rest), pick one per element and play the class you like. Every sprite follows you, fights on its own and uses its skill at 40% when you don't, and gathers when you stand still by a rock, tree or fishing spot. A Heart gives no skill but makes the whole pack stronger. Sprites level to 100 from what they do and unlock their element's milestone every 10 levels (Stone 20: ore goes straight to the bank). Wild sprites are only kinds you don't own yet; one in 300 is Prismatic and leaves Essence you give to any sprite. All skills now go to 100. Skills are on 1–8 (right click = 1); Rally and stances are gone.
Waves never stall. Fixed the Rift waiting forever after a cleared wave: monster camps out in Sheafwood and Gravelmark were waking up on their timers while you were in the Rift and counted as enemies still alive. Camps now stay asleep while you are in the Rift, Bond Trial hunters always appear inside the arena, and auto retaliate also fights enemies going for your sprites.
Auto retaliate, smart pathing, smooth waves. Standing still, you now fight back whatever is attacking you and move on to the next attacker by yourself (turn it off under Settings, Auto retaliate). A click walks the way round trees, rocks, houses and the brook instead of pushing into them. New waves no longer stall: a waiting wild sprite only pauses waves during its Bond Trial, the wave bar counts down to the next wave, and the freezes when new enemies or a sprite first appeared are gone.
Golden Thornreach, brighter Deepwood. Thornreach's turf is dry golden straw now, path edges included, and Deepwood's floor and light are brighter and warmer, closer to their pictures.
Golden light and flowers in every zone. Warmer sunlight with each zone keeping its own mood, and new tall plants in clumps: sunflowers and hollyhocks at the farmhouse, foxgloves and big ferns in Deepwood, lupins by the falls and on the ridge, golden grass, red shrubs and curling thorn loops in Thornreach. The waterfall is wider and whiter with a rainbow in its spray, the shards glow violet on the ground, and the ring under every tree you can chop and rock you can mine now shows.
Each zone dressed to its picture. Deepwood's floor is forest floor now, with a path into the stone circle and mossy boulders and ferns round it. Brookhead Falls' pool is ringed with big mossy boulders and a blue crystal glints in the cave beside the fall. Watch Ridge is open turf with paved paths up both ramps and along the edge to the watchtower. Thornreach's ground is dry gold. Hearthmeadow's farmhouse has a fenced vegetable garden, hollyhocks along its front and two apple trees behind it. Leaf litter is smaller and no longer reads as red stains.
Sheafwood laid out properly. Big oaks, birches and tall pines now line both sides of every road a few metres back (fewer and further back on the side nearest the camera), wall in the region's edges two rows deep, and grow as real groves in Deepwood, so the roads lead you through the land. The small trees are the ones you chop, and each tree and rock you can gather has a soft ring of light under it as you come near. Ferns, mushrooms, logs, stumps and mossy rocks now gather under the trees, along the banks and at the verges instead of dotting the open meadows; nothing stands on a road; bushes, cliff rubble and Gravelmark's crystals are solid now. Grass and flowers are thinner, ground patches are softer, and the hazy sunbeam streaks are gone.
Sound and music. Every swing, hit, spell, footstep, creature and menu now has a recorded sound (ElevenLabs), with four takes of the common ones so nothing repeats. Each place has its own music: a gentle title theme, Crossholt's market tune, Sheafwood's pastoral theme with a livelier track when a fight starts nearby, Gravelmark's canyon theme, the Rift's battle music and the Thornwarden's boss theme. Forest, meadow, brook, waterfall, village, canyon and rain ambience follow where you walk. New setting (Tab): ambience volume.
A cleaner, modern interface. Smoked-glass panels with thin gold lines, clear type, floating ability slots with painted icons, glass life and Rally orbs, and menus that ease in. The world is cleaner too: grass and flowers sit at knee height, the colour grade has more contrast and less yellow haze, paths are a natural tan, and trees between you and the camera dissolve into leafy gaps instead of a dotted screen.
A gentler pace. Everything runs at 80% speed: you walk and swing a little slower (each blow hits harder, so fights take about as long), creatures move, wind up and attack more slowly, gathering ticks are longer, there is more breathing room between waves, the camera glides more softly and shakes less. A new setting (Tab), Game pace, sets it anywhere from 60% to 120%.
Things move like they mean it. The hero has a real walk and run whose feet stay planted at any speed, an overhead heavy cut, a forward dive for the roll, a cast, a flinch, a cheer when a skill levels up, and a proper fall. Thornlings, Gravelings and Mossbacks have skeletons now: they trot on real legs, drop their heads as they wind up, snap forward to bite, jerk when hit, wag their tails and fold their legs when they fall. Bloomcallers, Sporecaps and Shardslingers walk, idle, cast, throw, flinch and collapse with their own motions. The Thornwarden keeps its old moves.
Painted effects. Ten hand-painted animated effects replace most of the glowing blocks: the sword's crescent on every swing, hit sparks, green growth magic, bursting leaves, spore clouds, rock dust from charges and slams, rising healing light, a golden level-up column, loot beams for Magic, Rare and Legendary drops, and a burst of light and fragments when an enemy dies, tinted by its element. Footsteps kick up dust, and splash where you wade the brook. New setting (Tab): painted effects.
Real light. Creases, roots, the bases of stones, walls and trees now darken naturally, worked out from the shape of the scene. Sunbeams fall through the gaps between trees, roofs and cliffs, strongest in Deepwood and gone in the rain. Things further away fade a little into the sunlit air. Shadows near you are about twice as sharp. Shadows and the undersides of things pick up the colour of the ground they stand on: green in the woods, gold in the farmland, mauve in Thornreach, orange in Gravelmark. The brook shows its sandy, pebbly bed in the shallows with light rippling over it, lacy foam along the banks and the green banks mirrored beside them. Grass and flowers bend aside as you walk through them. Two new settings (Tab): soft shading in creases, and sunbeams.
Sharper models, and everything sits in the ground. The most-seen models are remade with twice the texture detail and no painted-on shading, so the game's own light shapes them: oaks, pines, tall pines, grand oaks, birches, young trees, bushes, every rock and ore rock, both kinds of cliff, the cottages and townhouses, and the Thornling and Graveling. Roads are now edged with border stones and grassy verges, the brook has earthy banks and stony shores, cliffs and mesas have rubble at their feet, big trees grip the ground with their roots, and walls and houses have mossy footings. Fallen leaves, pebbles, moss, worn earth and cracked ground lie under trees, along roads, round rocks and at every camp. The meadow, forest floor and dirt paths are repainted for the closer camera.
Sheafwood is a designed level now: five zones, each with its own look, enemies, materials and secrets. A banner names each zone as you enter, with its level range, and the light, fog, ground and grass change with it. Hearthmeadow (level 5–9): the farmland you arrive in, with a windmill on its hill, a thatched farmhouse with a well and vegetable garden, dry-stone walls along the road and an apple orchard. Brookhead Falls: a waterfall pours from a mossy cliff into a pool you can cross on stepping stones. Deepwood (10–14): the old forest, darker and cooler, with giant mushrooms, fallen-log arches over the paths and a stone circle round the Growth shrine. Watch Ridge (15–18): a plateau behind a cliff, reached by two ramps, with a ruined watchtower, a warden's camp and red banners. Thornreach (16–20): faded grass, bramble walls, violet Thornshard crystals and, at Bramble Hollow, the glowing shard of the Prism itself.
Two new enemies in Deepwood and on the ridge. The Sporecap keeps its distance and drops spore clouds that poison and slow you; step out of them. The Mossback lowers its head (watch the long line on the ground) and charges; dodge sideways, and if it runs into a tree or rock it stuns itself for a few seconds.
New things to find. Five hidden chests with rare and legendary loot, five lore stones that tell the story of the shard (+40 Bonding each), and the Growth shrine, which heals you and lends you 15% speed for five minutes. Mine Thornshard (Mining 20) in Thornreach; brambles there scratch and slow you as you push through.
Fixed: the camera now rides up hills and onto the ridge instead of sinking into them; trees, cliffs and tall buildings between you and the camera now fade properly instead of blocking the view; falling leaves no longer drift across the lens.
Six new models for the glade. A light plank footbridge at both crossings, grey boulders and stones with green moss caps along the brook and the roads, a wheat field that rises in 3D with rows of tall wheat along its edges, a great gnarled oak with mossy roots over boulders in the glade, and rocky steps at the little falls.
The picture A pass. The camera sits closer and lower, like the picture. A low golden sun from the right, softer olive shadows and a warm haze. Soft dark shading under every rock, tree and prop. Sunbeams, golden motes and leaf-shaped falling leaves. The river is now a narrow rocky brook with three little falls and deep teal water. Roads are wider and ochre, with daisies and lupins along the verges and big trees lining them. The wheat field sits by the road at the first bridge, laid out like the picture: a great oak with mushrooms between the brook and the field, birches, mossy boulders on both banks and a plank footbridge. Wood is weathered brown, not orange. Scroll to zoom out if you want the old view.
The world dressed. Ferns, mushrooms and fallen logs under the trees; lavender meadows; rock clusters along every road and against the cliffs; white birches by the river; grand oaks and tall pines in the forest. The wheat field has a fence, stooks, a scarecrow and a cart. Signposts stand at the forks; lanterns and barrels line Crossholt's plaza and roads; carved standing stones ring the Cragmaw Pit. Chopped trees leave a real stump.
Art-style pass. A lower, closer camera (scroll to zoom), golden afternoon light with softer painted shading and warm rim light, soft shadows, a winding river with rocky banks, gentle rolling ground with banks that dip to the water, and grass three times as thick, stopping at the path edges where stones line the way. Rain is gentler too.
The world in models. Oaks, pines and birches; boulders and crystal veins on every ore rock; cottages and a townhouse; Crossholt's walls, towers and side gates; mossy and sandstone cliffs; mesas; arched bridges; thorn-wrapped standing stones round Bramble Hollow; ruined walls and broken pillars in the Rift; bushes along the forests and the river; stones round the pond. A chopped tree now leaves a stump.
Painted ground. Meadow, forest floor, dirt paths, cobbled roads and plaza, sun-baked gravel, sandstone and violet Rift flagstones, all painted to match picture A and laid so the repeats don't show. The hills beyond the walls wear them too.
Painted water and plants. The river flows, the pond is round, and swaying grass, daisies, buttercups, clover, lupins, ferns, cattails and a wheat field replace the cones.
The whole slice in real models. All 18 sprite forms, from Sproutling to Bastion, each line growing up as one creature; the Shardslinger and Bloomcaller; the Cragmaw and the Thornwarden's Bloom Pods; and Crossholt's Rift gate, bank chest, cooking range and trader's stall. Sprites load when you first meet a form, guardians when you first fight one.
Real models (look test). The hero, the Sproutling, Thornlings, Gravelings and the Thornwarden are now 3D models built from the approved sheets. The hero idles with a recorded motion; walking, swings, rolls and casts move its real skeleton. Creatures stride with moving legs.
Art direction chosen: bright painted fantasy. Sheafwood now has the picture's golden afternoon; rain and the Rift switch to the darker mood, where sprites and magic glow brightest.
True colours. Everything now shows the colour it was meant to be, instead of a washed-out pastel.
Glow and colour grading. Magic, eyes, sparks and sprites glow; each region has its own colour mood, and rain greys it down.
A living world. Worn paths and clearings, softly rolling ground, layered cliffs, hills beyond the walls, grass and trees in the wind, falling leaves, drifting dust, and birds that scatter when you come close.
Spell effects. Hit sparks, impact flashes, ground cracks and scorch marks, a golden Bulwark bubble, a Whirlwind band, glowing Volley and Orb trails, and freed sparks that fly into you when an enemy falls.
Contact shadows under everything, so floating sprites show how high they are, plus icons on the skill bar.
Fixed: Thorn Volley and Arcane Orb no longer fizzle out in Sheafwood and Gravelmark.

Controls

Move	Left click the ground (hold to keep walking) · or `WASD`
Attack · use	Left click an enemy, rock, tree, spot, chest or stall · `Shift` + click attacks where you stand
Skills	`1`–`8`, one per sprite you carry; right click = slot 1. They aim at the cursor
Roll	`Space`. Breaks snares; nothing hits you mid-roll
Ride	`V` saddles your freed horse, or gets you down
Potion · Food · Offer	`Q` · `C` · `E`
Sprites	They fight on their own, and gather when you stand still by a rock, tree or fishing spot
Gear · Skills · Sprites	`I` · `K` · `P` (the game pauses)
Tuning · Pause	`Tab` · `Esc`
Mute	`M`, or the speaker button by the Sprites panel
Controller	Left stick move · X/RT swing · B Y RB LT LB skills 1–5 · A roll · L3 offer · R3 food · D-pad: up potion, left gear, right skills, down sprites

Enter the Rift?

Spritebound

Paused

You fell

Inventory

Worn

Bag

Pack

Your stats

Skills

Levels

Training routes

Sprites

Your eight slots

All sprites ·

Bank

Trader

Buy

Sell