**The Big Experiment was a success. With lots of small ongoing tweaks to items, the +2HP experiment is really fleshing out the damage model without changing the core of the game. It's also giving me a lot more leeway to differentiate items, so it's very, very exciting. With that out of the way, I'll get to the regular update:

This update is a little different. The paid game has only gotten one big change Shield Recovery, one quality of life change, and lots of small changes for balance. But because the demo was last updated at the beginning of December, I decided to update the game to show of all the cool new changes for you followers who haven't taken the plunge (yet!).

Broken shields can now be recovered by pressing the assigned Shield Button. It takes a second, but it will refill the shield's durability to max. The second of vulnerability is a very dangerous moment, but you may be able to press out a block at the last moment. Shield durability has changed to reflect the change in effectiveness of now-recoverable shields.

The QoL change is mirroring your last active item onto the rest of your empty buttons. For example, if you are playing Tree Lord and your shield is on your slot 2 then slots 3 through 5 will also be shield. This should prove useful for accessibility and discourage claw grip injuries.

As far as the rest of the changes: they're just small changes to make the weapons work better with the updated max HPs. Some weapons have been given power attacks or armored attacks. Please check your favorites to see if they're working better (or worse!). If you have anything to say about item balance, there are a number of topics in the forums.

But the biggest need for the update is the demo was just really far behind. The big overhauls since the demo:

• +2 HP Boost
• Shield Recovery
• 2 new maps
• Adjusted jumping
• Bolt Javelin, Broadsword, Sunstick, Dragoon, Drop Goo
• Removed the explorer and added its abilities to the Pistol and Crossbow (and Dragoon)
• Adjusted Walk Speeds
• Adjusted Dash Speeds
• Adjusted Dash Speed Penalty

The demo should help get new players up to speed on the changes, but, it also features a different set of characters and items for you to play with. I've rotated the available characters and items so you can try something new --- even if you can't mix and match with the whole set. Just so you know where I'll be coming next: Indie Arcade 2 is February 15th, VGM Con March 2-4, and one more unannounced one. The unannounced one is my biggest event yet, so I'm super stoked. Let's do it!