Steam Community :: The Slormancer

Store Page

The Slormancer

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

The Slormancer

Store Page

View Stats:

Global Achievements

Show

All News

Syndicated News

Official Announcements

Slormite Chronicles #59

6 Mar

Update on Progress

Hello everyone!

In case you missed it in the last Slormite Chronicles, we’ve started implementing the new class for The Slormancer directly into the game: The Whimsical Witch.

February was largely split between projects unrelated to The Slormancer and a short vacation break. For family reasons, the game's development pace often slows down during school holidays, which was the case in February.
That being said, we still managed to make progress on several aspects of the game, particularly on the Whimsical Witch. At this point, I only have two more skills left to implement. The rest are already functioning properly and mainly need a few assets and a good round of polishing.

However, the class is still quite far from being finished. We’ll have quite a bit of internal balancing to do before letting a few testers get their hands on it, people who are much more efficient than the two of us when it comes to quickly spotting technical issues and balance problems.

The Whimsical Witch, PT.II : Support Skills!

After last month’s teaser about the mechanics of the Whimsical Witch, here are a few more details about her Support Skills and Specializations.

Brew Vortex

The Whimsical Witch’s first Support Skill consists of stirring a cauldron with maximum intensity, so intensely that it creates a vortex around her, dealing continuous damage in the surrounding area. Think of it as a stationary Whirlwind that scales with area damage.

Brew Vortex also allows the Witch to automatically gather ingredients for her Potion mechanic while channeling the skill. Certain upgrades will enhance the effects or duration of potions consumed during Brew Vortex.
The specialization associated with Brew Vortex is The Potion Chef, which will, among other things, make it easier to gather ingredients and improve all effects related to the Potion system (see Chronicles 58).

Spectral Companion

Spectral Companion allows the Whimsical Witch to summon one of the three base classes (Knight, Huntress, or Mage) in spectral form to assist her. Each class performs a different attack: Whirlwind for the Knight, an enhanced Arrow Shot for the Huntress, and Rift Nova for the Mage.

The Spectral Companion lasts for a few seconds before disappearing and is initially chosen at random from the three classes. With certain upgrades, it will be possible to always summon the same Companion. Another upgrade allows the skill to be cast twice, and a final one lets you summon all three Companions at once.

We tried the version with all three Companions active, it's incredible and incredibly fun.

10/10 would recommend.

The specialization associated with Spectral Companion is The Spirit Guide, which focuses on improving all of the Whimsical Witch’s minion-related spells and increasing their duration. Through the use of Soulstones, it will allow players to either build a massive army or, on the contrary, maintain a small group of elite minions with unlimited duration.

(Above, I'm using Spectral Companion, with non-spectral placeholders)

The Third Eye

The Third Eye is a toggle skill that allows the Whimsical Witch to place a spectral eye at a targeted location. Once placed, all skills cast by the Whimsical Witch originate from the Third Eye’s location instead of the Witch’s own position.

This opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as creating new lines of sight without exposing yourself or casting melee abilities without actually being in close combat.

Since we wanted to include some mobility in a Support Skill, one of the first upgrades allows the Witch to swap positions with the Third Eye. We also planned an upgrade that adds a Second Third Eye (yes), which duplicates all the skills cast from the first one.

The specialization associated with The Third Eye is The Fortuneteller, which will provide various generic improvements to several of the Whimsical Witch’s mechanics, such as the Infection system or mechanics related to using Bryan McRipped.

We are aware that progress on additional content for The Slormancer has been a bit slower than during Early Access. After spending so much time on the game, a bit of fatigue has naturally set in, so we’re allowing ourselves some flexibility to explore other ideas and projects that excite us, some of which could potentially lead to a new game. This helps us avoid burning out completely.

Because of this, it’s difficult for us to give a precise release date for upcoming content. We’re likely going to revisit and improve a few elements of the base game and release those changes alongside the new class. We initially hoped to release it around the same time as the console versions, which should arrive sometime this year, but the timelines we’ve received are still too vague to commit to anything yet.

That’s all for today.

As always, these concepts are subject to change and are much easier to understand in-game than in a Chronicles post. I’m sharing what we currently have, and I hope you like it!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

405

Slormite Chronicles #58

6 Feb

The Whimsical Witch

Hello everyone!

In case you missed it at the end of January’s Chronicles, we’ve started implementing the new class for The Slormancer directly into the game: The Whimsical Witch.

We’re reposting the teaser we shared in the previous Chronicles, and then we’ll take a closer look at some of the Witch’s core mechanics.

Up until now, the classes we’ve worked on were almost entirely complete before we started sharing information or visuals. We usually had plenty of GIFs and in-game footage ready to show

This time, things are a bit different. Since we are currently developing the class, I’m constrained by the assets that are already integrated into the game. With HyonD, we’ve always worked in large batches: while I code all the mechanics and skills using placeholder assets and bits borrowed from other classes, he focuses on creating the final visuals. This is usually followed by a few intense days of integration, where everything suddenly clicks and becomes a lot more pleasant to look at.

We’re not quite there yet

That said, I can already talk about the skills and mechanics of The Whimsical Witch that are currently implemented in-game and are getting closer and closer to what you’ll experience in the final version. So without further ado, here are the core mechanics of The Whimsical Witch.

Life and Death

The Whimsical Witch can cast two types of Skills: Life Skills and Death Skills.

She possesses a Balance that oscillates between Life and Death, ranging from 0 to 100 degrees depending on the Skills you cast. When you cast a Death Skill, the Balance shifts 10 degrees toward Death. For example, if you were perfectly even (50 Life / 50 Death), you would move to 40 Life / 60 Death. At its extremes, you can reach 100 degrees toward Life or Death, with 0 on the opposite side.

Certain effects will trigger when you fully commit to one side, while others will activate when you maintain perfect balance. Some effects also scale directly with the Balance itself (for example: +1% Max Mana per degree toward Death).

You will also be able to Cheat Death (or Life) and distort the Balance, allowing you to temporarily reach 100 degrees on both sides at once for a few seconds.

Soulstone

By default, Death Skills generate a resource called Soulstone, while Life Skills always have at least one upgrade that consumes Soulstone to transform their effect into a Minion once the Skill ends.

For example, the Skill Spectral Bat Flight launches a Spectral Bat (a projectile) that bounces between enemies. When the Spectral Bat is supposed to disappear, with the right upgrade, and if you have enough Soulstone, it instead turns into a Minion and continues attacking nearby enemies.

By combining the right Soulstone upgrades and generators, it will be possible to build either a large but short-lived Minion army, or a smaller yet permanent one.

Infection

This is The Whimsical Witch’s Damage over Time mechanic.

Infection deals exponential damage and triggers additional effects based on the number of Infection stacks. Infection can stack up to 10 times.

Incubation Threshold (1 stack):
Infection deals 1 Skill Damage per second per stack for the next 7 seconds.

Eruption Threshold (3 stacks):
Infection deals 5% Skill Damage per second per stack, and spreads half of its Infection stacks to enemies within a 2-yard radius when the enemy dies.

Propagation Threshold (10 stacks):
The spread distance is doubled, and all Infection stacks are spread.
Infection also deals X Increased Damage, equal to your Damage over Time.

Agony Threshold (15 stacks):
If the enemy is not a Boss, it dies instantly.

As you may have guessed, reaching the Agony Threshold will require finding ways to increase the maximum number of Infection stacks. There are already several upgrades spread across different specializations that enhance this mechanic. For example:

Cluster : If a friendly or enemy at the Propagation Threshold is within 2 yards of at least three other friendlies or enemies affected by Infection at the Propagation Threshold, it spreads 1 Infection to another random enemy within 3 yards.

Transmission Vector : The Whimsical Witch and the Minions she controls can now be affected by Infection without taking damage from it.

This second Skill allows you to quickly generate Infection when Minions die, while also enabling the Cluster upgrade to trigger more easily, allowing Infection to spread rapidly without having to constantly rebuild stacks.

Bryan McRipped

This mechanic turns Bryan into a Minion that works a little differently from the others. With certain upgrades, the Witch can transfer charges to Bryan, allowing him to unleash various attacks against nearby enemies.

This mechanic has changed several times since its initial implementation, as we’re not fully satisfied yet with its feel or gameplay loop. As such, I’m intentionally keeping things a bit vague for now.

Preparing Potions

This is one of the Witch’s core mechanics.

With certain Skill and Passive upgrades, you’ll be able to find ingredients on enemies. For example, hitting an enemy with Scythe Strike has a 5% chance to drop a potion ingredient. There are three possible ingredients: Thawed Ice Cube, Beaver’s Pinion and Viper Bristle.

Once you collect three ingredients, a potion is prepared and immediately consumed, granting a buff based on the potion created. There are 10 possible ingredient combinations (for example: 3× Thawed Ice Cube, or 2× Beaver’s Pinion + 1× Viper Bristle), each resulting in a different potion, such as:

1 Thawed Ice Cube + 2 Beaver’s Pinion = “Misplaced Optimism Brew”, granting +15% Inner Fire Chance, +15% Overdrive Chance, +5% Ancestral Chance.

Potions currently last 30 seconds (subject to change once we start testing), but with the right upgrades they can last longer or even stack.

As for ingredients, there are already several upgrades that allow them to be picked up automatically or filtered more easily. Ultimately, we want at least two distinct playstyles around this mechanic:
– Collect everything and maintain as many potion effects as possible.
– Or carefully filter ingredients to prepare a single potion and stack it to maximize its effects.

That’s all for today.

As always, these concepts are subject to change and are much easier to understand in-game than in a Chronicles post. I’m sharing what we currently have, and I hope you like it!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

592

Slormite Chronicles #57

6 Jan

Happy New Year everyone!
Just like last year (and the year before that… and the one before that), this Chronicle is a recap of the past year. That said, this time we actually have quite a lot to share, so make sure to read all the way through!

A Year of Chronicles: 2025 Edition

Fun fact: You may not know this but we publish the Slormite Chronicles devlog every 6th of the month, which is the day The Slormancer was released (on April 6, 2021). Everytime we publish a Slormite Chronicles, the game gets one month older, and it is currently 4 years and 9 months old.

The actual out-of-Early Access release was on May 13, 2025, so it is actually 8 months old in its final form.

Quite a year!

Since 2025 was the year of The Slormancer’s full release, it was obviously a very intense year for both the game and us, not only in terms of workload, but also stress and preparation. Looking back, everything went incredibly well. Of course, there were a few bumps along the way, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

The year kicked off with the announcement of the final changes coming to the game, as well as the start of the full localization process across multiple languages for the entire game, back in Slormite Chronicles #46.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/497186807117513294

In that Chronicle, we announced the opening of the Experimental Branch, which was initially planned to last for nearly two months. We later went back on that decision in Slormite Chronicles #47, which understandably caused some frustration.

In hindsight, we should have given this more thought before making the announcement. However, opening the Experimental Branch two weeks before release instead of two months allowed us to better focus and concentrate our player count during that period, and ultimately proved to be a positive decision.https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/536595840131662315

Things got serious when we started updating our Steam Page with new gifs and key arts. https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532094774027485766

Before

After

A little over a month before release, we carefully planned every major milestone: the Experimental Branch, the patch notes, the final Chronicles, the release date announcement, and the unlocking of Achievements and Steam Cards, all with the goal of driving as many new and returning players as possible.

These are small details, and it’s impossible to know whether each of them truly made a difference. Still, nothing was left to chance. All of the elements below were carefully timed so we would have enough room to handle any kind of issue.

On April 24, we officially announced the release date: the future of planet Earth (or almost) would be decided on May 13, 2025.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/550109885443868211

April 27: Patch Notes go live!

April 29: Experimental Branch opens!

May 6: Final Slormite Chronicles in Early Access

May 12: Achievements and Steam Trading Cards are activated

May 13: We hit the “Release” button… and start sweating.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091313https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091366https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091356https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091315https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/497186807117513397Two weeks after release, we published a Slormite Chronicles dedicated to the launch, reporting a peak of over 10,000 concurrent players, strong positive coverage from content creators, and more than 250,000 copies sold.https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/822580849468770007

With the release behind us, we could finally take a step back and start discussing the future of the game and our plans for what comes next.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532100473328502926At the same time, as mentioned in the following Chronicle, my goal was to fix as many bugs as possible. With so many new and returning players jumping into the game, the number of reported bugs was astronomical, so it was time to roll up our sleeves for one last sprint.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532102384016429353https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532100473328504097https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532104542613931902

Then, holidays!https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532105554615601900

By the time September rolled around, we were more or less rested, with the release behind us and most of the feedback either addressed or waiting for a future update. It was finally time to look ahead and focus on new content.

Looking back, this next series of Chronicles is actually quite funny. Here’s a quick summary:

In Slormite Chronicles #53, we talked about our plans for the future, including a new mode called “The Rogue Mode,” which was meant to introduce a roguelike way of exploring the game’s content. The feedback was positive, and players were interested.

In Slormite Chronicles #54, we went into more detail about the mode, and the feedback was almost unanimous: nobody wanted it. Oh. Well.

Since we weren’t fully satisfied with what we were building either, we ended up agreeing with the players (Slormite Chronicles #55) and decided to take a safer route instead: a brand-new class, which we started teasing in Slormite Chronicles #56.

https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532108725302855529https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/524229329545071629https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/563639634283725125https://testx-steam.c5game.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/493836377652201086

The Whimsical Witch

December brought some real progress! All the abilities are now ready to be implemented in-game, and on my side I was waiting for the few animations needed to start integration. At a minimum, we needed an idle animation, a walk cycle, and a few attack poses to begin farming our first enemies.

And HyonD didn’t waste any time, most of the class’s animations are ready. All that’s left is to integrate them into the game so we have the core of the class in place before focusing on the animations and effects for each ability. Things are really taking shape!

Without further ado, here’s a little visual teaser for the new class: The Whimsical Witch.

That's about it!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

593

Slormite Chronicles #56

6 Dec, 2025

Hello everyone and welcome to The Slormite Chronicles #56!

This month, we’re taking a look back at the work we've accomplished in November. As mentioned in our previous Slormite Chronicles, we started from scratch on a new class. This time, unlike our experiments with the Rogue Mode, there were no nasty surprises, everything turned out to be quite smooth and straightforward. We weren’t sure what challenges we would face, nor were we certain this would be the class we’d add, but for now, all signs are green.

Creating a Class

The design of the first three classes dates back nearly two years before Early Access, more than six years for us, and it’s really interesting to revisit that. The game has evolved a lot since then, and the constraints are no longer the same. Back then, we had almost none of the other layers that now make up the game: maybe a few Slorm Reapers (in their very first version), but no Ultimatums, Traits, Ancestral Legacy, Legendaries, Runes, Inventory, etc.

This actually makes class creation much easier. Back then, we had to be cautious with more generic effects that we preferred to reserve as the base for Slorm Reapers or legendary effects. Now that everything is in place, it’s fairly simple to navigate and fill in the gaps with what’s missing, or at least take into account what already exists and avoid redundancy.

A class consists of 8 Active Skills, 3 Support Skills (with their specializations), one class mechanic, and between 3 and 4 sub-mechanics. In total, there are roughly 220 effects (Active, Upgrades, and Passives) to design. It’s a lot.

We started by laying the foundations of the class mechanic, then the sub-mechanics the class would have. Once these were in place, the identity of the class became clear, and we could quite easily design skills based on all these ideas.

Where We Stand

The first step was creating a big spreadsheet with all the ideas for mechanics and skills thrown together. Then we cleaned it up, because writing the tooltip that will appear in-game requires a good deal of clarification and helps us ensure that we’ve accounted for all the parameters of a skill (mana cost, duration, range, etc.). With a well-written tooltip and a clear logic, almost half of the coding work is already done since I know exactly what needs to be implemented.

We’re currently at this stage. About 75% of the effects exist in a more or less rough form, which we’re now refining. In doing so, the remaining missing effects usually become obvious. For example, if two upgrades of the same tier are useful for two very specific builds, adding a third, more generic upgrade that is useful by default becomes quite easy.

Once everything is polished in a first version, I can jump straight into coding. But since the brainstorming is done by both of us, the art side only kicked off in mid-November when I started finalizing the tooltips on my end. We already have the base sprite (idle, no animation) and a design we really like, distinct enough from the other three classes but still keeping the Slormancer spirit.

So… What Is This Class?!

Spoiler alert: Names, mechanics, and effects are all still very much subject to change. Between finalizing, implementation, and testing, we’re far from the final effects.

The class we’re working on has the codename “The Whimsical Witch.” She wields a Scythe and casts witchy spells. Among other things, she can: gather ingredients to brew potions with various effects, spread Infection and disease around her, or open a third eye to cast spells from another position.

We didn’t necessarily aim to fill a gameplay gap in the game, since we feel it’s relatively complete at this point. Even though the Necromancer class is highly requested, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. We wanted to build a unique class with its own mechanics, with a possible minion-focused build and a more passive gameplay style.

That said, given The Slormancer’s constraints and our desire for all Slorm Reapers to be playable with this new class, we kept a classic foundation with melee attacks, projectiles, and AoEs.

A Little Teaser: Soulstones and Minions

For minion enthusiasts, one of the Witch’s class mechanics (similar to the Mage’s Clones) allows certain spells to be converted into more or less permanent Minions. Here’s how it works in more detail:

The Whimsical Witch has some spells with the keyword “Life” that launch projectiles or AoEs. For example, “Spectral Bat Fling” launches a bat at an enemy. It’s a homing projectile that applies a DoT on hit. With the right upgrade, once the projectile finishes, the Spectral Bat becomes a Minion that can autonomously attack nearby enemies for a short duration.

This duration is determined by your Soulstone reserve, which fills up when casting “Death” spells. By building your character with the right upgrades, it’s possible to reduce Soulstone usage and gain them passively, allowing for a more or less passive Minion-focused build depending on your preference.

Beyond Bats, The Whimsical Witch can also summon Toads, Spiders, and Ghosts, which, once their skill effect ends, can become Minions.

That’s it for this first teaser.

See you in 2026 for another year full of Slorm!
Merry Christmas!

Cheers!

The Slormancer

540

Slormite Chronicles #55

6 Nov, 2025

Hello everyone and welcome to The Slormite Chronicles #55!

A Little Word About the Slormite Chronicles

Since the game’s release, we’ve stopped following a strict roadmap like we did during Early Access. We also don’t have a specific “end goal” in mind that would mark The Slormancer as “complete” or signal a point where we should stop developing updates.

Right now, we’re simply trying to follow our inspiration. Without a clear post–Early Access plan, that means we’ve been experimenting here and there, trying things that don’t always lead to meaningful or well-integrated content.

Back in Early Access, creating new missions or Slorm Reapers felt natural, we were filling gaps in the game. Now, the game doesn’t really have gaps anymore. It’s technically “complete.” We could keep adding more, but at this point, we’d just be filling an already full glass.

Back to the Drawing Board

In many ways, we’ve gone back to where we started, taking time to brainstorm and test ideas that sometimes turn out... not that exciting. That’s why it’s been hard for me to write new Slormite Chronicles with genuinely thrilling news to share.

Apart from “We’re thinking hard!”, there’s not much I can say right now. And I’ve always regretted revealing things too early. And at this stage, everything still is too early.

I often put pressure on myself to make each Chronicle exciting. But sometimes, that leads to announcing things too soon just to keep it interesting. I’d like to stop doing that.

From now on, some Chronicles, like this one, might be shorter and less packed with new content. That’s simply because we don’t have much to show yet. We’ve even taken a small step back in some areas (more on that below).

The Chronicles were a perfect format back when we released updates every two or three months. That’s less true now. Still, I don’t plan to stop writing them, I want to see this development through to the end, even if that means some Chronicles are just about “We’re thinking hard!”

And since we’re now leaning toward an Expansion model rather than smaller DLCs or frequent updates, most of what we’re working on isn’t something you’ll see in the next few weeks anyway.

But instead of pausing the Slormite Chronicles completely, I’d rather keep posting shorter updates like this one, just to give you some news.

About That Rogue Mode

Speaking of things we’re thinking hard about, let’s talk about the Rogue Mode.

Back in Chronicles #53, we mentioned the possibility of adding one, and most comments were enthusiastic. Then, in Chronicles #54, when we got into more detail, many of you raised very valid points against the idea.

After reading through all the feedback, our conclusion was: “There are already so many great roguelikes out there. Why try to make another one that might end up being mediocre, instead of focusing on content that truly fits The Slormancer?” And, honestly, that’s true.

When I tested the first prototype, I found myself raising more questions than I could answer. It wasn’t just your feedback, we also felt it internally. It became increasingly difficult to adapt all the game’s systems to fit a roguelike structure.

So, for now, we’ve decided to pause development on the Rogue Mode and go back to simpler, more interesting, and easier-to-implement ideas.

A New Class (Maybe)

I can’t share much at this point, no screenshots, no visuals, because we’re still at the Excel spreadsheet stage. It’s way too early to promise anything, or even guarantee it’ll make it into the game, but yes, we’re sketching out a new class.

Console Port

And finally, a little piece of news that is quite exciting: the console port is progressing well!

Lately, we’ve implemented trophies for PlayStation, as well as achievements for Xbox. Also, alongside the Nintendo Switch, The Slormancer will also be coming to Switch 2!

No release date yet, but things are moving forward nicely.

That's about it!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

488

Slormite Chronicles #54

6 Oct, 2025

Hello everyone and welcome to The Slormite Chronicles #54!

In the last Slormite Chronicles, we talked about several questions we were asking ourselves regarding the future of the game’s development, things like our sales model (DLCs, paid cosmetics, expansions, etc.) and the direction for the fifth game mode. We received a big number of responses, probably more than ever before in a Slormite Chronicles. It was really interesting to read through them all, and it helped us make some key decisions.

Toward an Expansion
As for updates and the overall development model, we’ve decided to focus on creating a large expansion that will include everything we’re currently working on, as well as everything planned for the coming months. It’s not impossible that we might release a small update in between, but that’s not the plan for now. Nor is it impossible that we’ll change our minds mid-development, that’s not uncertainty, that’s agile development!

Progress on the Rogue Mode
On the development side, we’ve started exploring ideas for The Slormancer’s “Roguelike” mode. I spent some time experimenting with an idea where the player would control Bryan (the little blue orb) and issue commands to the hero, who would move semi-automatically, something like a Survivors-like. Long story short, it didn’t work. There wasn’t much interesting happening on-screen or for the player, so I quickly abandoned that concept.

We’ve now moved toward a more traditional roguelike idea. We believe we have a lot of horizontal content worth exploring, and the goal of this mode is to let players build complete, interesting setups in about 30 minutes by cleverly combining the elements they’re given.

I’ve had a pretty busy month with real-life obligations, so we haven’t progressed as much as we’d hoped, but things are picking up again.

We’ll enter production once we’ve nailed down everything needed to make this mode solid. After a few prototypes and brainstorming spreadsheets, we should be ready to move forward.

We can’t completely recreate a roguelike at the level of a game built from scratch around that concept. We have constraints tied to what’s already in the game, which limits what’s possible. We also want to make sure this mode is accessible, even for players who’ve never tried The Slormancer before.

When launching the mode, you’ll start from scratch, level 1, a basic Slorm Reaper, and your class’s first skill. From there, you’ll have to build an efficient setup based on the elements the game offers you.

The run will take place across floors similar to the Battlefield. At the end of each floor, players will get to choose their path forward by selecting between three different floors, each with distinct rewards and bonuses. Every few floors, you’ll face a boss (campaign bosses, not procedurally generated ones), until you reach the final boss.

During the run, the player will build their character based on what they acquire:

When leveling up: choose 1 new Skill “card” (see the menu below) from 3 options.
When closing a Breach: gain 1 stat bonus from 3 options.
When closing a Cataclysmic Breach: gain 1 Ancestral Skill from 3 options.

…and so on.

Simplified Character Building
We started with an accessibility constraint: the entire build must fit into a single menu. For a rogue mode meant to be played in around 30 minutes, there should be no need to juggle the 6 or 7 different interfaces usually used to manage your build.

To keep things simple, there won’t be gear management. Instead, you’ll gain regular stat boosts that can easily be directed toward the attributes most useful for your current build. Legendary effects will appear separately as passives.

We’ve also separated elements that can stack indefinitely (like Ancestral Tree passives or stats) from elements that replace one another, such as Slorm Reapers or Primary Skills.

Here’s a look at the build menu prototype:

Imbue Skills and Ancestral Skills are grouped as “cards,” just like class skills, and replace the previous configuration when selected.

One issue we had to solve was related to the game’s many stats. There are dozens, and not all are inherently useful in this mode. However, most of them have at least one synergy or Slorm Reaper that gives them a reason to exist. So we decided to keep all stats in the game but simplify how they’re obtained. If we had removed some stats, certain Slorm Reapers or legendary effects would have instantly become obsolete, which we wanted to avoid.

A roguelike usually ends in one of two ways: either the player dies, or they reach the end of the run. The question of player death came up, because once you reach a certain point, the game isn’t particularly efficient at killing experienced players. During the campaign, once you find your first Life Regen or Life on Hit stat, difficulty drops sharply.

To avoid that, while still keeping Life on Hit, Leech, etc., we’re changing (in this mode only) how and when health can be recovered, making fights more tactical than in other modes. Limiting out-of-combat healing is being strongly considered.

We also ran into another issue with mana. If a player picks a skill they can’t actually afford to cast, they can’t immediately or reactively adjust their mana pool, regen, or reduce the skill’s mana cost by removing an upgrade. In this mode, if the player runs out of mana, the skill will still cast, but its damage will be reduced in proportion to the missing mana. The idea is that if a player’s mana management isn’t great early on, it can improve as the run goes on, and the skill will become more effective over time.

These are just a few of the design problems we’re thinking through. For now, we have a system that feels robust enough to enter production. We’ll no doubt face many challenges along the way, so the more stable the foundation, the better.

We haven’t yet tackled certain topics such as Skill upgrades, Slorm Reaper upgrades, NPCs and their utility during a run, various events that may occur or metaprogression. I’ll save those for the next Slormite Chronicles. First thing first, we now need to make sure that our idea is working as intended.

That’s all for now!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

533

Slormite Chronicles #53

6 Sep, 2025

Hello everyone and welcome to The Slormite Chronicles #53!

We’ve been back at work since Monday, and as you can imagine, we haven’t made huge progress in just five days. Right now, we’re mostly at the brainstorming stage, not only about a potential upcoming update, but more broadly about how we want to organize the future of The Slormancer’s development and the new content we’d like to add.

It’s always a bit tricky to talk about possible additions. Whenever we say “we’d like to add this or that,” many players understandably take it as a promise. So here’s a quick disclaimer: everything we’ll talk about today is still just ideas. Nothing is final, we’re simply sharing what’s on our minds.

We’re asking ourselves: what kind of content would feel fresh for players, while also being exciting for us to develop? Then comes the question of structure: how to organize updates, how big they should be, and even when to eventually put a final bow on The Slormancer’s development. That day is still far away, but given how long game development takes (and the fact that we’d like to make new games in the future), we need to keep in mind the sustainability of creating updates for The Slormancer. The goal is to ensure we don’t run out of resources before finishing this project, and also leave room for the next one. That said, there’s still plenty of time to deliver meaningful updates before saying farewell.

Adding a New Game Mode

That empty slot at the bottom of the Expeditions menu? It’s meant to be filled at some point. We’re currently exploring different directions for this last game mode. The main idea is to leverage the full horizontal variety of the game.

One of the challenges of making an RPG as a small team is that it’s not always “profitable”: players usually pick a single class and stick with it, which means they miss out on two-thirds of the content. Most don’t fully explore the Slorm Reapers they find, or try all the Skills available. In the end, someone rushing through The Slormancer might only see 10% of the effects and mechanics we’ve built.

That’s not necessarily a problem, but we’d love to give players fun, quick, and easy ways to discover all that content in different ways.

Rogue Mode?
One idea we’re considering is a roguelike-style run, where the hero starts from scratch (like in Hades or Dead Cells) for the duration of an Expedition. After each floor or level, players would pick upgrades, Skills, Reaper effects, Legendaries, Ancestral Skills, etc.... focusing only on short-term synergies for that run, without worrying about long-term progression.

Survivor Mode?
Here’s another concept we’re excited about: “Bryan’s Training Camp.”
In this mode, players would actually control Bryan, whose role is to keep the hero alive with supporting skills, while the hero moves and fights automatically (and often recklessly). Players could give simple orders or directly assist with Bryan’s arsenal of attacks and support spells.

This is the first idea we want to prototype, to see if the concept feels fun. We’re already imagining build options for Bryan through meta-progression, and for the hero via simple in-run choices.

Think of it as a system where the hero auto-casts skills (not limited to three) every X seconds, like Vampire Survivors.

This would be an entirely optional fifth mode, offering an alternative way to play alongside the existing content.

Other Ideas?
If you have suggestions, now’s the perfect time! We’re deep in brainstorming, so every bit of feedback helps.

No matter the mode, the goal would be to push as far as possible in each run, with rewards that feed back into the main game, an alternative to the Battlefield or Forge for farming gear, goldus, and more, but in a less repetitive way.

The goal is not to add another layer of endgame power creep. Instead, we want a fun alternative that lets players quickly experiment with everything, while still earning rewards.

The Business Model

We’re also thinking about how best to release new content. Two models we really like are:

Old school: a paid “expansion” with a large chunk of new content released all at once.
Free-to-play style: new content released for free, alongside optional cosmetic skins to support development.

We’re exploring other possibilities, but it will probably be one of these two. Seasonal events and “games as a service” aren’t really our style, so that’s not the direction we want to take.

One thing Early Access has taught us is that each update delays development by 2–3 weeks (testing + bug fixing). For us, a full expansion would likely be the fastest way to deliver the final content we want to add.

Did Someone Say “Expansion”?
Yes, and of course, no expansion in a hack’n’slash would be complete without… new classes. Alongside a new game mode, new classes are something we’re strongly considering (but again, read the disclaimer, no promises yet!).

We’re really excited about this, since designing classes is honestly one of the most fun things for us. Now that the core game’s features are complete, it’s much easier to fit in new skills that work within the existing system.

Did someone say Necromancer?

A Pile of Ideas

As you can see, things are still very up in the air, even for us. The next few weeks will mostly be about iterating on these game mode concepts to see what sticks.

In parallel, we’re also continuing work on new skins. Some concepts already exist, though nothing we can show just yet.

That’s all for now!
Cheers!

The Slormancer

712

126

Slormite Chronicles #52

6 Aug, 2025

Hello everyone and welcome to The Slormite Chronicles #52!

We’re dropping in with a little Chronicle before vanishing once again into the warm embrace of summer. It’s official: we're on vacation! 😎

A few weeks ago, we released a patch mostly focused on bug fixes (which may have sneakily introduced a couple of new bugs). Since then, my biggest achievement has probably been the creation of the highly artistic banner for this Chronicle, a true masterpiece.

Apart from that, we haven't made any serious progress, we’ve been recharging our batteries and taking some time away from the game. And honestly, it feels great after 8 years of development.

While taking this short pause, we’re still keeping an eye on both the Steam forums and Discord to make sure we don’t miss anything important. Your feedback and bug reports are still being read and added to our to-do list.

From now on, with the last wave of bug fixes behind us, we'll resume working on bug fixes and QoL improvements, more likely through larger, more content-focused updates rather than frequent small patches.

Also, as you may have noticed in the latest Slormite Chronicles, we're currently implementing color schemes for our classes, and we’re working on adding skins as well. As you can imagine, designing skins requires a lot of effort as pixel art and hand drawn animations are very time consuming, and our art department (that one guy HyonD) is already running at full capacity. That’s why we’ve been looking for an additional artist to join the adventure. We’ve found someone promising, though it's still too early to say whether it will lead to glorious new skins for the three classes, but it’s a step forward, and an exciting one!

300 000 Sales!

In the meantime, we also have some incredible news to share:
The Slormancer has officially sold more than 300,000 copies!
An unbelievable milestone for us! Thanks again to everyone who gave The Slormancer a try!

The Slormancer is on discount!

Oh, and one last thing:
The Slormancer is currently 25% off for one week!
So if you have friends who haven’t tried it yet, or if you'd like to gift the game to someone, say, your stepfamily, now’s the perfect time!

That's about it for now!
We’ll be back soon, rested and ready for what’s next.
Until then, take care and enjoy your summer.

Cheers!

The Slormancer

508

The Slormancer v1.0.2: is now available

21 Jul, 2025

Hello everyone!
The 1.0.2 patch is now live on the Default Branch. Mostly focused on fixing bugs.

Changes and Additions

Added a new setting called "Dynamic Casting":
- Enabled: The Skill is cast at the current position of the cursor when the animation ends. This is the default setting.
- Disabled: The Skill is cast at the position of the cursor at the moment of activation.

Bugs Fixes

Important

Fixed the issue preventing the game to start at fullscreen (I think).

General

Defeating an Obelisk of Illusion should now immediately grant 3 Choices for the next Challenge in The Great Forge.
Life and Mana Lock greyed parts should now be displayed properly.
The Gravity Cataclysm should now properly slow Projectiles with a modified Projectile Speed.
Ghosts (Suffering Souls) can now be dodged.
Ancestral Strikes from DoTs can now properly trigger Ancestral Effects (such as Gazloka's Conquest)
War Chests should no longer spawn when switching classes or loading other saves.
Achievements tracking Maxxed out Skills will no longer be removed once they have been awarded if players rank down a Skill. Same goes for Ancestral Skills and Attributes.
Achievements counting Floors in specific Environments will now also count Floor done inside The Netherworld.
Cataclysm : Reconstruction should now work properly and the timer should be reset on every hit.
On the Netherworld Map, Expeditions completed by other classes should now appear with the proper gold border.
"Map Transparency" is now called "Map Opacity".
Damage Numbers should now appear at the correct location even when using higher resolutions such as 2k and 4k.
Keybinds should now appear at the proper size when using higher resolutions such as 2k and 4k.
Automatically picking up lots of loot (and materials) should no longer slow the game down (at all).
Influence gained should now display the proper value on the result menu.
Fixed a rare crash occuring when displaying Enemies Buffs Icons.
Fixed a rare crash occuring when exiting the Blacksmith.
Fixed a bunch of typos.

Attributes

Willpower 45 should now grant the proper amount of Minion Increased Damage per minion.
Attributes with a condition such as "less than X% Mana" or "less than Y% Life" will now trigger when Life / Mana is less or equal. This includes:
- Determination 60.
- Toughness 60.
- Savagery 30.
- Willpower 15.
- Dexterity 45.

Ancestral Legacy

Elemental Synergy should now count every equipped Aura.
Life and Mana per Second Skills should no longer display an incorrect Life / Mana Cost value when Elemental Swap is toggled on.
Elemental Pact is now properly set as a Conversion.
One Last Round now properly increase the stack limit of Enfeeble.
Power Surge now interracts properly will Skills scaling on Mana on Hit such as Arcane Missile / Voracious Missile.
To prevent people from going crazy, The Judge of Light's sound will stop looping after a few seconds.
Comfort Zone should now work properly with Indirect Damage.

The Mighty Knight

Grappling Hook / Commandeer should now have the proper Mana Cost.
Grappling Hook / Commandeer should no longer work on Obelisks.
Deflect should now properly deflect Projectiles from Light Totems.
Ascension / The Flying Man should no longer remove "cooldown debuffs" such as Reaper of the Bloodthirsty Beast passive effect.

The Fierce Huntress

Smoke Screen / Fairy Dust should now be properly removed when Smoke Screen ends.
Smoke Screen's damage buff should now work properly with Heavy Explosive Projectile.
Ravenous Daggers should now properly deal Additional Damage when being merged.
Using Steel Manipulator and Amulet of Transferance should no longer mess with Immortal Arrow's tooltip.
Fist of the Wild / Double Palm should now properly target two different enemies.
Void Arrow / Netherfire from the Void can now properly deal damage when dealing only Elemental Damage.
Self-Control now reads: "You have +25% Attack Speed. While Tormented or Delighted, this effect is disabled." (On top of making it clearer, this is also quite a buff)
While using Click to Move, Tumble should now always be cast toward your cursor.
Wandering Arrows should no longer be visible when not attacking inside The Netherworld.

The Mischievous Mage

Attunement Pulse / Reshape : Should now properly grant the "Projectile" tag to Attunement Pulse (and properly interact with effects such as Drum-Reaper of War).
Attunement Pulse / Elemental Weakness should now properly increase Elemental Weakness.
Orb of the Arcane Master / Drunken Master: Should now properly cast Additional Projectiles granted from % Additional Projectiles.
Arcane Clones now also benefit from your Attack Speed.
Chrono-Puncture / Chrono-Speed now properly displays Cooldown Reduction instead of Attack Speed, and now properly grants 2% per stack instead of 3%.
Arcane Breach / Arcane Explosion should no longer deal insane damage when casting Arcane Breach on top of an Orb of the Arcane Master.
Orb of the Arcane Master / Drunken Master should now cast the proper amount of projectiles no matter the Legendary effect or Reaper used.
Arcane Clones should now work properly with Drum-Staff of War.

Slorm Reapers

Equipping a Slorm Reaper will now reset Shield back to 0.
Reaper of the Untouchable One: Untouchable Dash should now always trigger when the key is pressed.
Reaper of Benediction should now heal the proper amount of Life.
Altior, Arah's Perfect Reaper should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Primordial Reaper of the Many's Life Projectile now deal the proper damage.
Heals from Reaper of Benediction should no longer be dodgeable.
Vengeance, Ohm Agad's Cursed Reaper should now properly apply its Max Life buff.
Reaper of the Many: Orbs of Life should now properly set damage to 0.
Reaper of Resonating Thunder should now properly calculate Ancestral Strike Chance.

Legendaries

Avg Skill Damage when using Steel Manipulator and Amulet of Transferance should now be properly calculated.
Arnaldow's Shimmering Pauldrons should now behave properly when Area Rapid Cast is off.
Celestial Shackles should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Celestial Shackles should no longer toggle itself off when leaving a map.
Chest of Immense Vitality should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Ultrasonic Bracers should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Immortal Grasp should now heal based on Skill and Elemental Damage.
The Awoken: Reaching Tormented by using a Support Skill will no longer trigger it twice.
Gloves of the Unleashed Surge should no longer trigger when casting Support Skills.
Armor of the Unstoppable Shaman will now trigger the Mini-Keeper.
Fulgurorn's Might should now properly trigger every 0.5 second.
Ultrasonic Bracers should no longer toggle itself off when leaving a map.
Boots of Extreme Confidence should now always work regardless of the direction.
Stacks from Ring of the Blood Seeker should now be properly removed when unequipping the Ring.
Damasius Awareness should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Aiming Assistance Pads should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Lowey's Wave of Fervor should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Sahrusiel's Barrage: The Holy Spirit should no longer receive damage and / or die.
Steel Manipulator is now properly set as a Conversion.
Skyward Guardian Girdle's Celestial Protection should now work properly (and no longer disappear after 5 seconds).
Midos' Collector's Bracers should no longer slow the game down.
Inextricable Waistguard should no longer work on Bosses.

Edit: 1.0.2c

Fixed a crash occuring with The Fierce Huntress using Poison.
Fixed the Discord link in the menu.
Achievements linked to Slormites should no longer count Slormites that are being transfered back from The Slormitizer.
Coward's Belt should now work properly with Vengeance, Ohm Agad's Cursed Reaper.
Rune of the Shaman should now properly display Wood Sticks instead of Mighty Swing.

Cheers!

The Slormancer

691

The Slormancer v1.0.2: Patch Notes

9 Jul, 2025

Hello everyone!
The 1.0.2 patch is now live on the Experimental Branch. Mostly focused on fixing bugs.

Just in case I've broken something while fixing another, this patch will stay on the Experimental Branch for a few days, until I'm sure that everything is working properly.

Changes and Additions

Added a new setting called "Dynamic Casting":
- Enabled: The Skill is cast at the current position of the cursor when the animation ends. This is the default setting.
- Disabled: The Skill is cast at the position of the cursor at the moment of activation.

Bugs Fixes

Important

Fixed the issue preventing the game to start at fullscreen (I think).

General

Defeating an Obelisk of Illusion should now immediately grant 3 Choices for the next Challenge in The Great Forge.
Life and Mana Lock greyed parts should now be displayed properly.
The Gravity Cataclysm should now properly slow Projectiles with a modified Projectile Speed.
Ghosts (Suffering Souls) can now be dodged.
Ancestral Strikes from DoTs can now properly trigger Ancestral Effects (such as Gazloka's Conquest)
War Chests should no longer spawn when switching classes or loading other saves.
Achievements tracking Maxxed out Skills will no longer be removed once they have been awarded if players rank down a Skill. Same goes for Ancestral Skills and Attributes.
Achievements counting Floors in specific Environments will now also count Floor done inside The Netherworld.
Cataclysm : Reconstruction should now work properly and the timer should be reset on every hit.
On the Netherworld Map, Expeditions completed by other classes should now appear with the proper gold border.
"Map Transparency" is now called "Map Opacity".
Damage Numbers should now appear at the correct location even when using higher resolutions such as 2k and 4k.
Keybinds should now appear at the proper size when using higher resolutions such as 2k and 4k.
Automatically picking up lots of loot (and materials) should no longer slow the game down (at all).
Influence gained should now display the proper value on the result menu.
Fixed a rare crash occuring when displaying Enemies Buffs Icons.
Fixed a rare crash occuring when exiting the Blacksmith.
Fixed a bunch of typos.

Attributes

Willpower 45 should now grant the proper amount of Minion Increased Damage per minion.
Attributes with a condition such as "less than X% Mana" or "less than Y% Life" will now trigger when Life / Mana is less or equal. This includes:
- Determination 60.
- Toughness 60.
- Savagery 30.
- Willpower 15.
- Dexterity 45.

Ancestral Legacy

Elemental Synergy should now count every equipped Aura.
Life and Mana per Second Skills should no longer display an incorrect Life / Mana Cost value when Elemental Swap is toggled on.
Elemental Pact is now properly set as a Conversion.
One Last Round now properly increase the stack limit of Enfeeble.
Power Surge now interracts properly will Skills scaling on Mana on Hit such as Arcane Missile / Voracious Missile.
To prevent people from going crazy, The Judge of Light's sound will stop looping after a few seconds.
Comfort Zone should now work properly with Indirect Damage.

The Mighty Knight

Grappling Hook / Commandeer should now have the proper Mana Cost.
Grappling Hook / Commandeer should no longer work on Obelisks.
Deflect should now properly deflect Projectiles from Light Totems.
Ascension / The Flying Man should no longer remove "cooldown debuffs" such as Reaper of the Bloodthirsty Beast passive effect.

The Fierce Huntress

Smoke Screen / Fairy Dust should now be properly removed when Smoke Screen ends.
Smoke Screen's damage buff should now work properly with Heavy Explosive Projectile.
Ravenous Daggers should now properly deal Additional Damage when being merged.
Using Steel Manipulator and Amulet of Transferance should no longer mess with Immortal Arrow's tooltip.
Fist of the Wild / Double Palm should now properly target two different enemies.
Void Arrow / Netherfire from the Void can now properly deal damage when dealing only Elemental Damage.
Self-Control now reads: "You have +25% Attack Speed. While Tormented or Delighted, this effect is disabled." (On top of making it clearer, this is also quite a buff)
While using Click to Move, Tumble should now always be cast toward your cursor.
Wandering Arrows should no longer be visible when not attacking inside The Netherworld.

The Mischievous Mage

Attunement Pulse / Reshape : Should now properly grant the "Projectile" tag to Attunement Pulse (and properly interact with effects such as Drum-Reaper of War).
Attunement Pulse / Elemental Weakness should now properly increase Elemental Weakness.
Orb of the Arcane Master / Drunken Master: Should now properly cast Additional Projectiles granted from % Additional Projectiles.
Arcane Clones now also benefit from your Attack Speed.
Chrono-Puncture / Chrono-Speed now properly displays Cooldown Reduction instead of Attack Speed, and now properly grants 2% per stack instead of 3%.
Arcane Breach / Arcane Explosion should no longer deal insane damage when casting Arcane Breach on top of an Orb of the Arcane Master.
Orb of the Arcane Master / Drunken Master should now cast the proper amount of projectiles no matter the Legendary effect or Reaper used.
Arcane Clones should now work properly with Drum-Staff of War.

Slorm Reapers

Equipping a Slorm Reaper will now reset Shield back to 0.
Reaper of the Untouchable One: Untouchable Dash should now always trigger when the key is pressed.
Reaper of Benediction should now heal the proper amount of Life.
Altior, Arah's Perfect Reaper should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Primordial Reaper of the Many's Life Projectile now deal the proper damage.
Heals from Reaper of Benediction should no longer be dodgeable.
Vengeance, Ohm Agad's Cursed Reaper should now properly apply its Max Life buff.
Reaper of the Many: Orbs of Life should now properly set damage to 0.
Reaper of Resonating Thunder should now properly calculate Ancestral Strike Chance.

Legendaries

Avg Skill Damage when using Steel Manipulator and Amulet of Transferance should now be properly calculated.
Arnaldow's Shimmering Pauldrons should now behave properly when Area Rapid Cast is off.
Celestial Shackles should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Celestial Shackles should no longer toggle itself off when leaving a map.
Chest of Immense Vitality should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Ultrasonic Bracers should now properly benefit from Aura Increased Effect.
Immortal Grasp should now heal based on Skill and Elemental Damage.
The Awoken: Reaching Tormented by using a Support Skill will no longer trigger it twice.
Gloves of the Unleashed Surge should no longer trigger when casting Support Skills.
Armor of the Unstoppable Shaman will now trigger the Mini-Keeper.
Fulgurorn's Might should now properly trigger every 0.5 second.
Ultrasonic Bracers should no longer toggle itself off when leaving a map.
Boots of Extreme Confidence should now always work regardless of the direction.
Stacks from Ring of the Blood Seeker should now be properly removed when unequipping the Ring.
Damasius Awareness should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Aiming Assistance Pads should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Lowey's Wave of Fervor should now work properly with Indirect Damage.
Sahrusiel's Barrage: The Holy Spirit should no longer receive damage and / or die.
Steel Manipulator is now properly set as a Conversion.
Skyward Guardian Girdle's Celestial Protection should now work properly (and no longer disappear after 5 seconds).
Midos' Collector's Bracers should no longer slow the game down.
Inextricable Waistguard should no longer work on Bosses.

Edit: 1.0.2c

Fixed a crash occuring with The Fierce Huntress using Poison.
Fixed the Discord link in the menu.
Achievements linked to Slormites should no longer count Slormites that are being transfered back from The Slormitizer.
Coward's Belt should now work properly with Vengeance, Ohm Agad's Cursed Reaper.
Rune of the Shaman should now properly display Wood Sticks instead of Mighty Swing.

Cheers!

The Slormancer

186

See More Content

No more content. So sad.

You can help: share a screenshot, make a video, or start a new discussion!

Returning to where you were last on this page...

Cancel