Hello All, This next update for The Baleful Tower features the addition of the 10th playable character class, the Pugilist. The Pugilist is unlocked by killing enemies with melee attacks, which is fitting, since it is very much a melee oriented class. Pugilists specialize in quick melee attacks, allowing them to deal considerable damage in a short period of time. Their abilities consist of Flurry of Blows, a combo of ten rapid strikes, Flaming Fists, which allow all their melee attacks to have a good chance to burn enemies and the Flying Kick, which sends them soaring across the map, damaging all that fall in their wake. In addition, the Pugilist has an incredibly useful essence: whenever they are hit by a melee attack, there is a chance that the Pugilist automatically lands a counter on the attacker. I really had a great time playing this class in my testing prior to release, and I think you all will too.
In addition to the Pugilist, there is now also the new Rock Biome, lorded over by the Gorgon boss on Floor 80. The Rock Biome is home to three powerful exclusive enemies: the Rock and Roller, a tag team partnership between two enemies, the Eye Blight, whose ominous gaze has a chance to Petrify players where they stand, and the Golem, a powerful lumbering melee attack who swings its giant stone fists at players. In addition, there are also seven other new enemies added in this update, such as the Radslug, which leaves behind a toxic trail that players must avoid, the Medic, who instead of attacking the player heals its allies, and Groovy, a sentient disco ball that, when it gets the party started, compels all nearby players to cease fighting and start dancing.
The Rock Biome culminates in a fight with the powerful Gorgon. Like the Eye Blight, the Gorgons gaze can Petrify players, leaving them immobile and vulnerable to incoming attacks. In fact, the 80th floor is filled with previous adventurers who suffered from the Gorgons might. At first, the two dozen statues of different adventurers remain static, potentially obstructing the field of play for the two combatants. But soon after the fighting starts, some of the statues will reanimate and attack the players on behalf of the Gorgon. Similar to the Zombies that populate the Tower after an adventurers death, these statues use the same attacks and abilities that players have turned against the vile creatures theyve encountered on their quest. Unlike those enemies, however, these statues cannot die. Instead, when they have received enough damage, they return to their static state, but they will almost certainly be reactivated soon thereafter. The amount of statues that get activated is inversely proportional to the Gorgons health, to the point that as it gets perilously close to death, all 24 statues will bear their full might on the players. I think this is a really fun and exciting boss fight, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.
As you can see, development of The Baleful Tower is proceeding wonderfully. I really enjoy making this game and getting to share it with you all. Thank you so much for playing it. We are getting close to the end of the features I have planned, and look forward to releasing the official version 1.0 sometime in the future. Enjoy, Grant

• Added the Pugilist Class
• Added Rock Biome and Gorgon Boss
• Added 10 new enemy types
  • Nightclaw
  • Centurion
  • Radslug
  • Groovy
  • Lich
  • Spineback
  • Medic
  • Rock and Roller - Rock Biome Exclusive
  • Eye Blight - Rock Biome Exclusive
  • Golem - Rock Biom Exclusive
• Added new Petrify ailment
• Doubled Rogue Essences impact to triggering Precise Shots
• Doubled Barbarian Essences impact to triggering Brutal Strikes
• Increased Bard Essence impact to Gold collected by a multiple of 5
• Doubled Assassin Essences impact to Critical Hit chance
• Fixed missing melee collider in Blaze enemy
• Fixed Zombie Barbarian only playing animation to catch Spinning Ax on server and not clients
• Fixed Zombie Bard never playing animation to catch Harp Throw
• Zombie Bomb abilities now scale their attack with the Zombies stats
• Fixed inconsistent behavior of Esc key in game
• Fixed bug where some Bestiary kills would not be saved between game sessions