Every update, documented
April 12, 2026
Last Tuesday I was eating a Peperami in the bath when I had a vision of a medieval knight whose armour had rusted shut with him still inside it. I could hear him breathing. Slow. Wet. I got out of the bath, dried one hand, and wrote "heartbeat on the wound" on the back of an electricity bill. That's the kind of developer I am. There's a reason why Eureka was called for the first time in a bath. I'm in good company.
This update brings three full demon reworks, a new face type for dice that currently does nothing but will absolutely ruin someone's day in a future patch, and an upper bonus system that I rebuilt from scratch because the old one was, frankly, beneath me. I also added a font size slider for the scorecard because my mum said she couldn't read it. She doesn't play the game. She was looking over my shoulder while I was testing. I told her it wasn't designed for spectators. She said "well it's not designed for anyone with eyes either, is it." So I added the slider.
Three demons enter the compendium this patch. Amy sets things on fire and watches what happens. Phenex dies on purpose and comes back stronger. Sabnock cuts your dice in half with a sword. I designed all three in a single sitting fuelled by four cans of Monster Energy and a family bag of Quavers. My flatmate said the Sabnock animation was "genuinely unsettling." I told him that was the point. He said "no, I mean your cheesy quaver breath mixed with Monster Energy. It's disgusting." I don't think he understands the creative process.
April 9, 2026
I've been sleeping badly. I think it's because I spent the last week staring at a portrait of a man whose face is being eaten from the inside out by some kind of bio-mechanical parasite. Well... It's either that or the fact I've been drinking too many cans of Monster Energy Mango Loco every day.
This update brings nine demon reworks (Foras, Vapula, Stolas, Ose, Leraje, Barbatos, Bifrons, Crocell, Halphas), a full day/night cycle with nocturnal demons and cinematic nightfall transitions, a coin flip gambling mechanic, an egg-cracking minigame, petrified dice, unusable dice faces, a new mult face dice type, unique book art for all reworked demons, and a scoring resolve animation that makes every hand feel like a small thunderstorm.
I showed my mum the Crocell portrait. She said it looked like the angel statue in her garden, except "sadder and with worse posture." I told her it was a duke of Hell who turns dice to stone. She said that sounded like what happens to the biscuits when I leave them on the radiator. I have not been able to look at Crocell the same way since.
New additive mult face type. Stolas's Precious Stone ability embeds +10 mult faces onto your dice. When scored, mult faces add directly to the hand's base mult before demons contribute. A die with a mult face shows a green "+10" overlay. Separate from xMult faces - these are additive, not multiplicative.
Banished dice now show a bold "X" instead of a blank face. A new Unusable face type has been added to the dice system - any state that renders a die unusable (banished, trapped in the void) sets its face to Unusable, making it immediately obvious which dice are out of play. Future mechanics that disable dice will use the same visual.
After demon contributions finish, a new resolve animation plays. Souls and mult values spin down to zero using mechanical flip-board digit rollers. The final calculated score simultaneously ticks up, digit by digit, locking into place from right to left. A lightning crack and purple flash illuminate the screen when the final number lands. Each demon contribution now plays escalating sound effects - crystalline clicks for souls, ominous bell tolls for mult - with independent pitch escalation tracks.
"One of Occulto's testers said he wanted to 'speed run' the game. I told him he'd never beat me in a foot race, but he said actually all he needed was the hold-all dice buttons to be bound to keyboard numbers. I think he was too scared to try and best me in a 100m dash."
J.D. Vex
April 6, 2026
I bought a Zoltar machine on eBay a few months ago. I've been booting it up every evening to try and get my wish granted. My flatmate tried to curtail me yesterday because apparently "shouting 'MAKE ME BIG!' at the top of your voice at 3AM is unacceptable"... according to him. I told him it was critical research. He told me he's moving out next month. I consider this an absolute win on both accounts.
This update brings four new demon reworks (Furcas, Haures, Vepar, Orias), a full parchment UI overhaul with wax seals, unique ability sounds and core colours for all reworked demons, passive notification animations, an in-game bug report system, a death screen feedback prompt, and mandatory email verification for alpha testers.
If you encounter any issues, please use the new in-game bug report button rather than emailing me directly. The last person who emailed me directly got a four-page response about the theological implications of hexahedral probability on demonic invocation theory. They did not email again.
Each reworked demon now has a unique core colour that tints their dust and wisp particle effects and passive stats text on tooltips. Non-reworked demons retain the default purple.
Every reworked demon now has a unique sound effect when their active ability is used. Each sound has been chosen to match the demon's identity and ability theme.
Non-scoring demon passives now show floating text notifications on the demon's portrait when they trigger. Orias displays "+5 Luck" when you score Chance. Haures displays "+10 Crit Damage" when a crit fires. Passive stacks are now visible as they accumulate.
New bug report button (beetle icon) in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Click to open a report form with category dropdown and description field. Reports are sent directly to the admin dashboard for tracking.
The death screen now includes a feedback prompt: "Imagine this game is fully complete, would you pay $10 for Occulto?" with a yes/no option and a free-text field. Feedback must be submitted before starting a new run. All responses are visible in the admin dashboard.
Players are now asked to enter the email they used to sign up for the alpha. This is a one-time verification - once confirmed, you won't be asked again. Existing players will be prompted on their next launch.
April 2, 2026
I've been told, on more than one occasion, that a single developer cannot build a talent tree system, a visual effects engine, a boss AI overhaul, and completely re-illustrate eight demons in the space of a few weeks.
To those people I say: you clearly haven't met me.
This update represents what I consider to be the most significant leap forward in Occulto's development. Not because of the volume of changes - though there are, I should note, rather a lot of them - but because this is the update where the demons became real. They have faces now. Unsettling ones. They have talent trees. They have visual effects when they cast their abilities. They have, dare I say it, personality.
I spent three days staring at portraits of Andras until his raven skull started appearing in my peripheral vision during breakfast. I consider this a sign that the art direction is working.
Several testers have reported that the new demon portraits make them "mildly uncomfortable." One described Shax as "the thing I see when I have sleep paralysis, except somehow worse." I have framed this feedback. It hangs above my desk.
There are now 150 of you testing this game. I did not expect that. I'm not sure any of you expected Occulto, either. We are all, in our own way, unprepared for what comes next.
Enjoy the update. Or don't. The demons don't care either way. They're watching regardless.
"The boss AI used to play like a first-year university student - always going for the flashiest option regardless of whether it made any sense. I've taught it restraint. Humility. The willingness to take a zero in Ones so it can devastate you with a Full House later. It's still an angel. It just plays like one who's been through some things."
J.D. Vex
Andras's passive trigger chance reduced from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5. Before you riot: the new talent tree's Crimson Eclipse capstone restores it to 1 in 3. You just have to earn it now.
Full 20-node talent tree across Blood, War, and Ritual branches. Blood Oath prevents bloodmarked dice from rolling below 3. Sacrificial Lamb discounts shop prices. Blood Money capstone gives each held bloodmarked die a chance to generate sigils.
"Andras was, previously, what I would describe as 'a guaranteed win condition with no counterplay.' Some developers would call that a balance issue. I call it a learning experience. For the players, obviously. Not for me. I knew exactly what I was doing."
J.D. Vex
Morax's base numbers have been rebalanced around his new talent tree. Passive souls per extra die reduced from 50 → 10. Chaos Dice multiplier per die reduced from x0.5 → x0.1. The base kit is weaker on its own now, but the Forge, Arsenal, and Chaos talent branches scale these values back up and beyond. You just have to invest to get there.
Seere's base numbers have been rebalanced around his new talent tree. Passive souls per banished die reduced from 50 → 10. Seere Banish multiplier reduced from x2 → x0.5. Banished dice now stay "unstable in the void" for the rest of the trial. Like Morax, the raw power has shifted into the talent tree - the Exile, Spirit, and Sacrifice branches reward commitment.
All eight reworked demons have new portrait art. The old portraits were too polished, too clean, too... comfortable. The new ones are eerie. Unsettling. Close-up faces in near-darkness, features that are almost human but deeply wrong. These aren't demons you'd put on a heavy metal album cover. These are demons you'd see in a sleep paralysis episode.
Andras
Morax
Seere
Berith
Halphas
Shax
Haagenti
Dantalion"I wanted the game to feel like something that watches you back. The old portraits were too friendly. Too approachable. Nobody should feel 'at ease' playing Occulto. That's not the experience I'm curating."
J.D. Vex
"I don't like the word 'bug.' I prefer 'unintended feature that I have graciously corrected.' The dice crash, for instance, was technically the dice expressing free will. I've put a stop to that."
J.D. Vex
March 8, 2026
Solomon's workshop has been cleaned up. The shop gets a visual overhaul, the scoring system gets smarter, demons come alive during boss fights, and the whole game gets a fresh coat of pixel art.
Halphas no longer requires 3 upper section scores in a single trial to trigger. Instead, once you've scored 6 total upper section categories across your entire run, Halphas grants you an extra die. This can be retriggered as many times as you want - every 6 upper scores earns another die.
The old version was nearly impossible to trigger consistently. The new Halphas rewards a long-term upper section strategy and pairs naturally with the upper bonus threshold - the same scores that push you toward the x1.5 upper bonus also fuel Halphas's die generation.
Bloodmark multiplier gain is now a 1 in 3 chance per held bloodmarked die, instead of guaranteed every roll. Andras was snowballing too fast in the mid-game - a few bloodmarked dice held over consecutive rolls would generate absurd multipliers with zero counterplay.
The RNG element adds risk to the bloodmark strategy. You still want to hold bloodmarked dice, but you can't count on every roll being a guaranteed mult ramp. High rolls feel exciting, dry streaks force you to adapt. Andras is still strong - just less of a guaranteed win condition.
March 3, 2026
The seal is broken. Solomon's first ritual takes shape - a structured journey through trials, shops, and choices, ending in a head-to-head battle against an angel sent to punish his hubris. Survive the ritual, and the endless grind begins.
March 2, 2026
Control returns to the summoner. A proper settings menu replaces the old corner buttons, and your runs now save automatically so you never lose progress to a stray alt-F4.
March 2, 2026
Order crumbles. Two more demons have been fully reworked, the scoring system has been overhauled, and new sounds echo through the halls.
Two new demon reworks, a completely reworked upper section bonus, new sound effects throughout, and a wave of bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements.
February 28, 2026
The pact is sealed in blood. Your dice remember every mark, every sacrifice. The shop has been rebuilt from the ground up - darker, sharper, dripping with intent. Three more demons have awakened.
Three new demon reworks, a brand new dice marking system, a completely overhauled shop, and 9 new music tracks. Shax, Seere, and Andras join the reworked roster with unique kits that change how you build your runs. The Bloodmarked system introduces persistent dice tags that last the entire run, and the shop has been redesigned from header to packs with new artwork, effects, and layout.