Hey friends,

It's been a while, and we're sorry we've kept you waiting!

On August 8th, we'll finally debut the long-awaited New Game + mode, which offers extended dialogue scenes with lines not seen in the original playthrough of the game, new bosses including a giant flaming chicken, and the power to wield all four elements with Cicero.

(Yep, we said a flaming chicken.)

New localizations covering French, German, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese and Turkish language support will also be added, opening the game up to new swathes of friends!

In the meanwhile, we want to thank you all for supporting Masquerada with your playthroughs, shoutouts on reviews, forums and Discord (you good kids know who you are) and all around good vibes!

We’ve continued working on changes and bug fixes to improve the experience of Masquerada for everyone! This week, we also want to announce the release of the Masquerada Original Soundtrack by our composer Josh Whelchel, a 40-track musical tour de force enjoyed by a great many of you during the course of the game. Grab it as a DLC or tell your friends about the new Game + Soundtrack bundle!

Check out the following changes that’ve made their way into this week’s patch.


Gameplay changes

• Added an option to allow players to close the Party Select menu in most locations.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug with the boss fight in the Seimora's Throne Basement where some of the summoned apparitions do not home in towards the boss.
  
• Fixed a bug where "The Randagia" Codex Entry was visible but unobtainable at the Camps Combined.
  
• Fixed a bug where Vasco fires projectiles while playing his flute during a cutscene in The Astiguary.
  
• Fixed a bug introduced in v1.10 where Tristan can be seen observing Palov and Cicero’s brawl in The Pale Isle.
  
• Fixed a bug where some Ridiro Fey in the Misted Aisles cannot be affected by certain skills.
  
• Fixed a bug with players floating in the air after using Tradewinds on Ridiro Fey in The Assemblea, Repository.
  
• Fixed an incorrect description for Sorelle's Ward.
  
• Fixed a bug where players can cast Tradewinds and displace allies from the rock slab in The Sunken Star, Vault. You can no longer leave anyone behind. Nice try, though.
  
• Fixed several skills AI options in the party behaviour menu.
  
• Fixed collider issues.
  
• Fixed environment FX.
  
• Fixed NPC character walk speeds so that they do not appear to be sliding.
  
• Fixed a bug where characters might slide when walking during a conversation.
  
• Fixed a bug with skills that are meant to acquire targets randomly but do not end up actually doing so, and instead acquire the first target.
  
• Fixed certain singular horses that were missing shadows.
  
• Fixed issue with Grotesque sound effect being delayed.
  
• Fixed issue with Quagmire and Sorelle's Whirlpool sound loops not ending.
  
• Fixed issue with missing sound effect for Scarab's Cant.
  
• Fixed Stampede and Clarity masks not being instant cast (was 1 second).

Misc

• Skill telegraphs no longer disappear when the player uses the mouse to hover over the skill bar while using a controller to play.
  
• Improved the accuracy of the telegraph and ability radius for Sorelle's Ward.
  
• FX Improvements for Guardian’s Redoubt, Sorelle’s Ward, Tremor, Void, Tidal Wall.
  
• Updated Whispering Streets background music.

Over the last two weeks, we have made numerous changes and bug fixes based on many of your feedback. We appreciate all the feedback and bug reports that many of you have taken the time to post/email in.

We will continue to improve the game experience over the following weeks. The PS4 version of Masquerada as well as New Game Plus are in the works.

The following lists the changes that have been patched this week.


Gameplay changes

• Enemies in Story Mode difficulty now deal 20% less damage.
  
• You will now get a notification whenever a new chapter unlocks.
  
• Skill and upgrade descriptions have been updated to include much more detailed information.
  
• Shifted numerous codex unlock locations to ensure that players will not receive too many simultaneously.
  
• Added in combat map limits for the Sunken Star.
  
• Added a new cutscene to the Whispering Streets Courtyard.
  
• The skills menu tutorial now shows up before the player exits the Hall of Bearings.

Companions

• When AI is disabled for a companion, the AI will now autoattack any enemies in range (without moving) instead of doing nothing while there are no active commands.
  
• Kalden and Tiziana now focus on targets nearest to them rather than focusing on targets with the highest threat.
  
• Vasco's auto attacks are less frequent but hit harder. Number of attacks reduced from 12 to 8. Auto attack damage increased from 2 to 4.
  
• Amadea's auto attacks have a slight increase in damage. Light Attack increased from 6 to 8 damage. Heavy Attack increased from 14 to 16 damage.
  
• Increased Cicero's Dirge auto attack overall damage per second.

Enemies

• Dactite Bruisers now take 1.5 seconds to cast their AOE attack (previously instant) to give a better warning to players.
  
• Enemy homing projectiles are easier to evade.

Abilities balance changes

• The following abilities have FX Improvements: Buratti’s Thunderblast ability, Maelstrom Mask, Rebirth Mask, Aegis Mask, Attune Mask, Buratti’s Ice attacks, Quagmire Mask, Grotesque Mask, Embroil Mask, Flame Herald Mask, Meteor Storm Mask, Clarity of Mind Mask, Stampede Mask and Chimera Fey’s Water Bloom.
  
• Renamed "Rattle" to "Silence" and "Ensnare" to "Root" to better indicate what the effect does.
  
• Summoned units now correctly benefit from the summoner's damage scaling over the course of the game. For Transpose and Spouthound, their base health and damage have been reduced to compensate.
  
• Reduced Transpose summoned units heavy auto attack damage from 12 to 10.
  
• Spouthounds base health reduced from 150 to 100.
  
• Hound Master Upgrade: Health buff reduced from 100 to 50 and reduced damage reduction buff from 20% to 10%.
  
• Requiem's base damage increased from 6 to 8 damage per second.
  
• Requiem's cast range increased from 10 to 15.
  
• Requiem Haunt Upgrade: Base Damage increased from 7 to 10 damage per second.
  
• Requiem Invigorate Upgrade: Focus restore increased from 2% to 3% of max focus.
  
• Requiem Serenade Upgrade: Base Damage without Haunt increased from 8 to 10 damage per second, with Haunt increased from 10 to 13 damage per second. Focus restore with Invigorate upgrade increased from 3% to 5%.

Mask Ultimate abilities balance changes

• All Mask Ultimate ablities are now instant cast.
  
• Reduced the cost of expensive mask ultimates. In general, players will find that they should have an easier time casting the mask ultimates that have a higher cost.
  
• Forbearance cost reduced from 240 to 190.
  
• Attune cost reduced from 180 to 160 and duration reduced from 15 to 10 seconds.
  
• Maelstrom cost reduced from 180 to 160 and the duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
  
• Clarity of Mind cost reduced from 240 to 190.
  
• Rebirth cost reduced from 240 to 190.
  
• Flame Herald cost reduced from 240 to 190.
  
• Meteor Storm cost reduced from 180 to 160.
  
• Moltenskin cost reduced from 180 to 160.
  
• Tectonic Phase cost reduced from 180 to 160 and duration reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.
  
• Grotesques cost reduced from 240 to 190 and now applies a taunt for the duration of ability. After the player is healed, the effect of the taunt dissipates and threat returns back to normal.
  
• Kilgen Affinity cost reduced from 240 to 190. Summoned units auto attack now applies a movement speed and attack speed reduction of 20% for 3 seconds.
  
• Shroud cost reduced from 180 to 160.
  
• Wind Storm cost reduced from 180 to 160 and duration reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.
  
• Stampede cost reduced from 240 to 190. Stampede Damage has been changed to better reflect the damage it is doing as per stated in the tooltip. It now does a one time application of 60 damage per horse.
  
• Ridiro Affinity cost reduced from 180 to 160.
  
• Chakra Mask Ultimate damage increased from 10 to 15 damage per second.
  
• Eye of the Storm Mask Ultimate ability increased mask charge regen from 5 to 7 per second.

Ability bug fixes

• Maelstrom Mask Ultimate now has the proper cast animation.
  
• Mira Bas and her Songstresses are now immune to the effects of Tradewinds.
  
• Fixed a bug where units might accidentally teleport out of the map boundaries in the final boss fight.
  
• Fixed a bug where the health regen from the Jack of All Trades Passive is not being applied.
  
• Fixed Grotesques Mask Ultimate where the last tick of healing did not apply.
  
• Fixed an issue with Grotesque Mask Ultimate being recasted automatically.
  
• Fixed Rebirth Mask Ultimate where Tiziana's health does not go below 1 hp for a short duration if Rebirth is triggered early.
  
• Fixed Ridrio Affinity summoned minions where their projectiles does not get destroy after hitting an enemy unit.
  
• Fixed Zephyr's Momentum Upgrade damage boost that was not being applied properly.
  
• Fixed Cicero's Passive Tactician upgrade which was causing performance issues.
  
• Requiem graphical effects now display the correct size based on the upgrade that the player has chosen.
  
• Cadence upgrades that increase the number of orbs fired now fire orbs with more consistency.
  
• Fixed potential game-breaking bugs with Zephyr and Tradewinds.
  
• Minor bug fixes with a number of other player and enemy abilities.

Bug fixes

• Fixed various game crashes when trying to play a cutscene and when loading the next scene.
  
• Fixed white screen when trying to play cutscenes and failing.
  
• Fixed graphical issues when toggling VSync and/or Fullscreen mode.
  
• Fixed a number of art layering issues, environmental effects, collider issues and floating animals in multiple scenes.
  
• Fixed scrolling text not appearing sometimes when switching stance while the game is paused.
  
• Fixed rare cases of tooltips sometimes going offscreen.
  
• Fixed a few character animations not playing correctly.
  
• Fixed issue with final boss's attack being rendered incorrectly.
  
• Fixed Shroud’s FX not showing up.
  
• Fixed the cinematic trailer's audio track from 24kHz to 48kHz.
  
• Fixed and improved lipsync/character postures on a large number of dialogues.
  
• Fixed a bug where equipping a mask in the Astiguary was not updating the tooltip.
  
• Added missing environmental mist FX to The Spire Act 4 scenes for consistency.
  
• Fixed ability animation timings to be consistent with the skill actually used.
  
• Fixed summoned units spawning in invalid locations.
  
• Fixed units getting stuck when issuing certain invalid ability commands.
  
• Fixed flickering shadows on units.
  
• Fixed Chimera's Bloom sound effect not playing.
  
• Fixed Beniva's Choke/Ice Prison sound effects not stopping. Fixed babies not crying in the fight.
  
• Fixed a bug where Amadea keeps singing if the player skips the dialogue too early.
  
• Fixed a bug where players can hear Mira Bas' singing when transitioning from Hall of Songs to Pale Isle.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Pale Isle Tavern where the player will be able to move down past the camera limits after fighting Palov.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Golden Canvas Alley where the player will see the defeat screen before transiting to the next scene.
  
• Fixed the wrong audio playing for Vasco's overhead dialogue in the Hall of Songs.
  
• Fixed missing localization texts in the Misted Aisles and The Withering Mast Nursery.
  
• Fixed a bug where the carriage would teleport in the Pale Isle in Act 1.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Elemental Tags to not appear on the Training Dummies and Barrels in the Training Grounds.
  
• Fixed the Purple interaction in the Whispering Streets Courtyard that does nothing.
  
• Fixed a bug where the party will enter combat before the dialogue finishes playing in the Whispering Streets Courtyard.
  
• Fixed a bug where the player's party members will get stuck when moving up the stairs in The White Spire Upper Hallway.
  
• Fixed a bug where certain enemies will run past the player to a designated spot before engaging in combat.
  
• Fixed grammatical and spelling errors.

Misc

• XInput has been enabled to support a much larger range of controllers as well as Steam Link.
  
• Controller support has been added to the tutorial (the tutorial still lists keyboard keys), Options menu and Codex.
  
• Added a game option to pan the camera to the selected character (when switching characters) while paused. Default is off.
  
• Tooltips now scale with screen size so they are no longer tiny at high resolutions.
  
• Added a sound effect when mask ultimate is usable.
  
• Added an unrolled bundle of cloth to the bed after the cutscene where Sable throws the bundle.
  
• Shifted the position of the Maskrunner's body after the Antiquarian attacks her.

Since Masquerada's launch, we have worked hard to remove bugs and improve the gameplay experience for all players. Over the next week, we intend to tweak some of the skills of your party members to make them more useful/impactful, adjust the difficulty of Story Mode, tweak the AI of your party companions, and show more information regarding each skill and their upgrades.

The following lists the changes that have been patched this week.



Bug fixes

• Fixed game-breaking bug introduced in patch v1.01. Players were unable to exit the room after talking to the Crown for the second time in Seimora's Throne.
  
• Props at the Registry Courtyard are no longer breakable by the Portieri soldiers undergoing training.

Gameplay changes

• Added additional skill reset interactions to all Astiguary Interior scenes. You can still reset your skill points at the Training Grounds.
  
• All codex entries in the Gameplay subcategory under the Lore category will now unlock if you revisit or reach the second chapter in Act 2 (A Bitter Sea). This allows players who started playing Masquerada on v0.95 to easily obtain these Codex entries that were added in v1.00 without needing to replay Act 1. Please note that revisiting an earlier Chapter will overwrite your last saved checkpoint and you cannot return to it.
  
• Reduced the damage done by the Mangiatore's Gas attack from 100 to 25. Mangiatore's Poison attack now extends to the rest of area behind it.
  
• Increased the cast time of Brehon's dive from 0.5s to 1.5s so that players can dodge it more reliably.
  
• Reduced cooldown of the final boss's AoE skill from 20s to 12s, and directional attack from 15s to 12s. Light Orbs now have reduced health but heal more when it explodes.
  
• Increased Creed's radius by 2. Increased Cauterise upgrade's healing amount by 5%.
  
• Adjusted the gauntlet battle in the Quiet Order's Back Alley to be easier.
  
• A number of Kilgen Fey and Shadow Fey have slightly lower HP and damage.
  
• Companion AI will no longer cast spells on targets/locations out of range. That is, if it requires movement to get into range, the AI will no longer consider that target/location.
  
• Companion AI will more intelligently remember your last attacked target and stick to it.

Misc

• Updated Evensong’s texture to a higher resolution.
  
• Increased volume of dialogues in the Prologue.
  
• Tristan has an updated injured walk animation.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a game-breaking bug where Nahl did not die for the Revive tutorial in the Prologue.
  
• Fixed the bug causing the error "Unknown targeting behaviour" to show up when attempting to use Lightning Blade and Fire Blade while the game is paused.
  
• Fixed a bug causing reviving companions not to work on controllers.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented many keyboard keys from being re-binded with the error that the key is already in use.
  
• Fixed a potential Game Over if Cicero takes over 60 seconds to be defeated by Palov.
  
• Fixed a potential Game Over in Razitof's House if the Paper Fey was killed too quickly and triggered the next cutscene before the second wave of Fey spawned.
  
• Fixed a number of art layering issues in multiple scenes.
  
• Fixed Fireguards shadow rotation.
  
• Fixed texture errors for Forbearance mask FX.
  
• Fixed an unnamed Ice Tomb unit in the Beniva fight.
  
• Fixed Antiquarian telegraph to correctly reflect the location of its attack.
  
• Fixed Creed's Enkindle upgrade that was healing more than intended.
  
• Fixed a number of small UI bugs (things that were slightly out of position, displaying incorrectly, etc).
  
• Fixed drifting of characters in dialogue banners when they fade in.