Dev Diary #1 – Our Second Update Is Live NOW!

Hello Immortals!

Welcome to the very first entry in our Dev Diary series! 😄 In these blog posts, I’ll take you behind the scenes of 33 Immortals’ Early Access. I’ll share what we’re currently working on, how we design new content, I’ll give you sneak peeks at what’s coming next, and I’ll also answer some of the most asked community questions.

I’d love to hear what you’re most curious about! If there’s anything you’d like me to cover in these blogs, feel free to reach out via Discord or Reddit.

Ok, let’s jump in!

UPDATE #2 IS LIVE NOW!

We just released our latest update! In this update we’re focusing a lot on community requested features, including reworking the previously nerfed weapons (ahem… we heard you loud and clear on that one). We’re also including a revamp of the perks, and promoting the Beyond’s cutest monster to Elite status.

Community Requests

1. (Re)rebalancing Weapons

Oh boy, there’s a lot to cover here! I’ll try to keep it short…

After the first few weeks of Early Access, we noticed that some specific builds were overwhelmingly popular, resulting in some weapons having a way higher DPS than anticipated, and some weapon upgrades being almost never used. We wanted to bring all weapons to an equal ground, and decided to nerf the most used builds while buffing the Sword of Justice which was lagging behind.

We instantly received a lot of feedback voicing concerns and frustration, saying that playing your favorite builds didn’t feel fun anymore, and to be fair, that was a very valid point! We agree that we have overcorrected and after analyzing your feedback, we decided to do another round of balancing and buff weapons and upgrades that were nerfed too much. Some nerfs were reverted, some others were adjusted, and we feel like we found a sweet spot that’ll make you feel powerful again with your favorite builds!

That being said: remember that 33 Immortals is still in Early Access, and builds are subject to change. Buffs, nerfs, and balance tweaks will happen, and Early Access allows us to refine things with you. We’re very grateful to get to shape the game’s future with our community and we sincerely want to thank you for being part of this journey with us!

2. “Hold To Attack” Has Arrived! 

No more painful wrists, no more wrecked controllers: hold to attack is here! This was by far the most requested feature and we’re happy to finally have it in-game. Hold-to-attack seems like an easy enough change to make, but it’s actually not because… all I can say is that we have more things in store for you in the upcoming months, combat-wise. So we had to keep that in mind when remapping to make sure everything feels cohesive with our combat intentions for the future. Our next step is to work on ways to make Heavy Attacks feel more impactful, with more incentives for you to use them. Stay tuned!

3. New Emote Wheel = Better Communication!

A few weeks ago, we polled the community to ask how we could improve the emotes used to communicate in 33 Immortals. We asked you to rank the emotes you used the most and the least, and the results spoke for themselves:

Two requests we saw a lot were the ability to ask for specific help, and marking points of interest for other players. The community also mentioned needing emotes that convey commands more clearly.

You’ll now have access to brand new emotes to indicate Chests, Lucidos and Altars, as well as emotes that say Assist, Focus and Wait! You’ll also be able to set which Emote Wheel will be the default in your settings.

That said… let’s be honest: none of this really matters, because the only emote you truly need is the Thinking Blob. It’s the best. Or is it maybe that new little guy?

4. Accessibility & Compendium Entries

Love the cute little pets but don’t want to take them along because they add visual clutter? Rejoice! Familiars will now hide while you’re engaged in combat and will return shortly after! However, they’ll still be left behind at the Ascension Point after you Ascend, either giving you the sad puppy eyes, or the typical “whatever, I’m a cat” attitude.

Last community request but not least: status effect entries have been added to the Compendium, as well as boss mechanics, including STACK! Also, if you’re still wondering “what does Empathy do?”, it’s been in the Compendium all that time. Go read it, yeah?

Other Major Changes

1. Perks! 

We noticed that some perks don’t feel rewarding enough, leading them to be underused. Take a look at the Perks pick rate graph below (you guys really like Attacking) and you’ll see just how underutilised some Perks have been.

To encourage build variety, we’re changing the effects of the less used Perks to make them more impactful. The full list of changes can be found in today’s Patch Note. We’ll be monitoring your utilisation of Perks and tracking their impact on 33 Immortals’ gameplay!

Here’s a cute Lucido dummy you’ll find in Dark Woods to test one of the new Perk traits: Deal more damage to Lucidos and get indicators for nearby Lucidos.

Speaking of Lucidos…

2. Elite Lucidos and Lucido Hunting Party! 

They’re cute, they’re annoying, and they just got an upgrade! Lucidos are the loot monsters that you hunt down and try to kill (emphasis on try), in exchange for lots of loot. But they’ve been a little too tricky to find and take down, more than we originally intended. So, we’re making standard Lucidos slightly easier to find and defeat, and for those craving a tougher fight, say hello to Elite Lucidos! These beefed-up versions are bigger, stronger, and will require some serious teamwork to bring down! Of course, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.

To celebrate Elite Lucidos, we’re hosting a special event: Lucido Hunting Party! All you have to do is go on a lizard hunt with teammates and slay as many Lucidos as you can. If the community manages to slay 33,333 Lucidos, whether Regular or Elites, you’ll unlock a goofy an adorable Lucido Familiar, and a beautiful Lucido Halo. This event has no time limit and the rewards will be distributed through a redeem code once the goal has been reached!

We have more in store for you in this update, go read the full patch note here!

Community Questions

Why does it take so long to release content?

That’s a question we get a lot and I feel it’s important to address it. Game development, especially when done with the level of quality we aim for, takes time. We’re a small team, and we’re not just focused on creating new content: we’re also improving existing systems, fixing bugs, and responding to community feedback along the way.

It’s also worth noting that we’re not a live-service game. That means our development cycle is at the opposite end of what people can experience with games like Fortnite or Marvel Rivals, games that are built around frequent content drops and massive support teams. Those comparisons simply don’t reflect the reality of how 33 Immortals is being made.

Early Access is an opportunity to build this game with the community: testing, refining, shaping it into something that resonates with you. This approach isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s totally fine! We’re grateful for your patience and support as we shape this game together!

You promised a Legendary Pet after the Race to Immeowtality event. When will we get it?

Back in April, we hosted the Race to Immeowtality event, where players had to collect stardust with a Cat or Dog equipped. The first familiar to reach 33,333,333 stardust would get a Legendary Familiar skin in-game. Team Cat won (is that really surprising?) and we’re happy to announce that a new Legendary Cat will be available in Update #3 later this Summer! Here’s what the Legendary Cat will look like. How cute is it??

As for the Race to Immortality event rewards (we do like events): the Altar of Immortality will be added to Dark Woods in the next update too, and the Legendary Weapon skins are aimed to release this Fall. More info soon!

When will we get new weapons?

We’re currently actively working on two new weapons! While I can’t share a date with you yet, what I can say is that we’re currently working on combat design and co-op powers concepts, and exploring weapon upgrade ideas. While we’re far from being done, the team is very excited and I can’t wait to tell you more when the time is right! These two need more time in the oven, so thanks for your patience while we keep cooking! 👩🏻‍🍳

That’s all for today! Let me know what you think about this format (you can reach out on Discord and/or Reddit), and if there are topics you’d like to read about next time! Until then, please share your feedback about our latest update via this form, and feel free to join us tomorrow (July 16th, 11am EDT) on Twitch to ask us questions during our Dev Livestream. We’ll be joined by Malo, one of our Game Designers!

Happy Lucido Hunting and see you soon in the Dark Woods!

– Alison & The 33 Immortals Team