- Effulgence RPG has joined Steam Party-Based RPG Fest! - 14 September 2026
Effulgence RPG has joined Steam Party-Based RPG Fest!Build your party, turn enemies into resources, and explore a world made of symbols.The 25% launch discount is still live!I'm also working on the first post-launch update with fixes and improvements. Thanks to everyone who has been playing and sending feedback!
- Effulgence RPG 1.0 is out now! - 10 September 2026
Effulgence RPG has officially left Early Access and reached version 1.0!Thank you to everyone who played, tested, reported bugs, and helped shape the game during Early Access.The full adventure is now complete, including all locations, bosses, mini-games, achievements, and 1.0 improvements.See you in the game!
- Update 28801 - 4 September 2026
Release Candidate UpdateAdded the ability to rename heroes.Added Veteran Run and Master Mode for additional playthroughs.Fixed several XyComb AI issues with card abilities and blocked glyphs.Fixed an ambiguous HACK puzzle case with odd-length words in Plasma Field.
- Play the 1.0 Release Candidate now! - 1 September 2026
Effulgence RPG 1.0 is almost here - the official release is on September 10.But Early Access owners can start playing the 1.0 Release Candidate right now and help me with the final testing before release.Important information about saves.Saves from older Early Access versions are not supported and will not be compatible with version 1.0. You will need to start a new game in the Release Candidate.However, everything you do in the Release Candidate will carry over after the September 10 release:savesachievementsgame statisticsThis means you can start a full version 1.0 playthrough right now and continue it after the official release.The Release Candidate contains the release content for version 1.0, but until September 10 I may still fix any issues that are found and make small technical changes.How to enable the Release Candidate:Open your Steam Library.Right-click Effulgence RPG and sel…
- Effulgence RPG 1.0 launches September 10 - 30 August 2026
Effulgence RPG will leave Early Access and launch its 1.0 version on September 10!The game has grown a lot during Early Access. The first Early Access release was around 1–1.5 hours long. Version 1.0 is around 5–7 hours long, with many new locations, enemies, bosses, story content and tactical options.Version 1.0 will launch with a 25% discount.Thank you to everyone who played the game, reported bugs and shared feedback during Early Access.See you on September 10!
- Localization Fixes and Development Update - 22 July 2026
▓▒░ This update fixes a major mix-up between the Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese translations. Going through all affected text was a large and painstaking task, but the localization should now be much more consistent.▓▒░ I have also finished all game locations. My current goal is to complete all remaining content by my birthday on August 26. After that, I will move on to testing, balancing, and polishing, with the full launch planned for September.▓▒░ Thank you for following the development!
- HACK Mode + Glyph Rendering Fix = Update 9602 - 11 May 2026
New feature: HACK modeWhen bosses die and fall apart into symbols, hidden code words can appear in the battle background.Open HACK mode, find a code word, decode it with the current filter, and run a patch.Patches are useful combat effects: they can delay enemies, restore resources, reduce PING, aim all heroes, or bend the battle rules in unexpected ways.The battlefield is made of symbols. Now you can hack them.I also fixed an issue with incorrect glyph rendering in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. In the previous update, I made some rather fanatical optimization work and accidentally mixed up the glyph textures for these languages. Because of that, some characters were displayed incorrectly.This should now be fixed, and Chinese, Korean, and Japanese text should display properly again.Sorry about that, and thank you for your patience!
- A sketch of the lower half. What kind of front part would fit this boss best? - 20 April 2026
Made a fun sketch of the lower half of the final boss for my ASCII game. The motion is fully procedural. Everything is calculated in real time.Does the movement look interesting?Now I need to make the front half really weird and cool.What kind of front part would fit this boss best?P.S. Also working on a fix for the hieroglyph bug. Thanks for supporting the project!
- Effulgence RPG is 20% off and still at its Early Access price - 19 March 2026
If you checked Effulgence RPG during the previous sale but decided to wait, now is a good time to look again.The game is now more polished, with major performance improvements, a new custom font, and new visual modes.It is also still available at its Early Access price, with a price increase planned closer to 1.0.Effulgence RPG is now 20% off during the sale.
- Engine Upgrade: 50–100% Faster + New Fonts & Display Modes - 4 February 2026
Over the last month I've been working on a serious low-level refactor of the Effulgence RPG engine.The game might look almost the same at first glance but under the hood, a lot has changed. The goal was simple: push performance and remove technical limits so I can keep shipping new graphical ideas without fighting the engine.What's new50–100% performance improvement in many scenarios (depending on the scene and your hardware).Multi-script rendering is now possible: the game can display characters from multiple languages at the same time including CJK ideographs.A brand-new font built specifically for Effulgence RPG.New experimental visual modes, including LCD-style screens and a Black Paper mode.Why this mattersEven if today's update doesn't drastically change what you see moment-to-moment, it's a major step forward for the project. This work lays the foundation for more ambitious ASCII…
- Effulgence RPG Big Update 9600 (Milestone #1) - 1 January 2026
Effulgence RPG Big Update 9600 (Milestone #1)Important: this update touches a lot of systems, so old saves won’t carry over — you’ll need to start a new game. Sorry for the inconvenience.New combat location "Old Station". Tentacle-like grass tries to strangle your heroes. The finale is a huge, very strong, but slow boss.Resource Bag. Resources earned in combat can now be taken with you and spent later (printing/healing/purchases).Trading at the Smugglers' Glade. You can buy schematics and ready-made items.Glyph Bomb. Built right during combat for the bosses currently on screen. The more matching symbols it has (the symbols the bosses are made of), the stronger the effect. One use per location.Resupply after defeat. A safety net against dead ends: the game grants support (ammo/weapons). The worse your situation, the bigger the resupply.The Inn heals up to 110% HP for resources. Wells res…
- Pre-release build of the major update - looking for feedback - 30 December 2025
I'm rolling out the major update a bit early so I can calmly catch issues and ship hotfixes before January 2. Important: This update includes many changes, so old saves are not compatible - you'll need to start a new run. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you notice bugs, odd balance, or rough UI edges, please report them in the Steam Discussions or in Discord (if you're in it). The more precise the reproduction steps, the faster I can fix it. Over the next few days I'm planning to push a few hotfixes based on your feedback. Thanks to everyone already playing and helping me polish Effulgence RPG.
- Animated Profile Frame is Live + Jan 2 Update Preview - 23 December 2025
Happy holidays!The Animated Profile Frame for Effulgence RPG is now available in the Steam Points Shop.I'm also pushing toward a major update on January 2. The highlights:10+ weapon twists: I'm making sure every weapon has a gameplay hook, not just different numbers. Designed the old-school way - in my notebook (image below).New location: a fresh battlefield to fight through.Rebalanced: a full balance recalculation for a better flow and difficulty curve.Thanks for supporting the project - see you on Jan 2 with full patch notes.
- Cloud Saves, Player Stats, and the First Achievements Are Live - 15 December 2025
Hello everyone!I've just pushed a small "systems" update focused on infrastructure features that will keep getting expanded on the road to 1.0. What's new:⚙ Steam Cloud Save is now enabled.This is the first release of it, so I'd really appreciate testing: if you play on multiple PCs or Steam Deck, please let me know whether your save synced correctly.⚙ Steam User Stats are now tracked and stored.You can already see your numbers, and I'll be adding a lot more as the game grows.⚙ First Achievements are in.You can view them on your Steam profile, and in-game they also have animated 3D-like presentation.This is just the start: stats and achievements will expand significantly as Effulgence RPG gets closer to 1.0. Thank you for playing and for helping me validate these features.
- Update (301) is live! - 12 December 2025
I'm happy to share a small update for Effulgence RPG (301):Hero position swapping in combat. You can now swap the active hero's position with another hero during battle. Swapping adds PING (delay until the next turn). The PING cost for swapping is one third of the PING cost for skipping a turn.Lower PING for unique abilities and injectors. Unique skills and injectors now cost less PING. You'll much more often end up in situations where using a unique ability or an injector still leaves the turn with the same hero. You can always see whose turn comes next in the PING timeline at the bottom of the screen.Holiday screensaver. A festive screensaver has been added, and you can launch it from the main menu.A handful of small fixes and tweaks.Thanks for playing and for all the feedback.
- Steam Trading Cards and Animated Profile Background are live - 10 December 2025
You can now collect Steam Trading Cards for Effulgence RPG and craft a badge with ASCII-themed profile rewards.Playing the game will drop cards that you can turn into a badge, emoticons, and profile backgrounds. It's a small extra for everyone who decided to support the game in Early Access.I've also added an animated profile background to the Steam Points Shop, built entirely from in-game ASCII scenes. If you enjoy customizing your profile, you can grab it with Steam Points here:Point Shop
- New poll: Swap hero positions in battle? - 9 December 2025
I'm working on the first update for Effulgence RPG and I'd love your input on one potential feature: letting you swap heroes between positions on the battlefield. It could make controls a bit more complex, but also open up new tactical options.Please share your opinion in the poll here:Link to the poll
- Steam Trading Cards are on the way - 6 December 2025
I'd like to share a small update - Steam has enabled trading cards for Effulgence RPG, and I'm working on them right now.So far I've already:drawn the first set of cards,prepared profile backgrounds and emoticons,sent everything to Steam for review.For now, the cards don't drop yet and aren't visible in your inventory - they'll only appear in the game after Steam approves and enables them. If everything goes smoothly, I'll post a short separate update with the date and details.P.S. For a small solo game with text-based graphics, this feels like a tiny but very joyful milestone. Thank you for playing - without you, we wouldn't have reached the trading card stage at all.
- What should happen when you lose a battle? - 5 December 2025
Hi! I started a new player poll about an important gameplay question: what should happen after you lose a battle?Right now, if you lose, you go back to the planet map, but lost weapons stay lost.I am also thinking about another option: after defeat, restore your state from before the fight (like an auto-save).I made a pinned discussion where you can read more and vote for your preferred option (or suggest a third idea): Link to the discussionYour feedback is very important in Early Access. Thank you for helping me shape the game!
- 1,000 copies sold - thank you! (+ new "almost official" trailer) - 3 December 2025
Effulgence RPG has just passed 1,000 copies sold in its first days of Early Access, and I wanted to say a huge thank you. For a niche ASCII tactical RPG made by one person, this means a lot and literally keeps the project going.I launched into Early Access with a compact, focused slice of the game so we can shape the future together. I'm already reading your feedback and planning the first updates: small fixes, quality-of-life improvements and then new content step by step.To celebrate the launch, I also made a new "official-ish" trailer: it starts with my wife and me in live action (pistol + mage duo), then ASCII slowly takes over the screen and it transitions into the in-game trailer. I'd love to hear what you think about it:Thank you again for the support, wishlists, reviews and bug reports - they directly influence what I focus on next.
