Well, look who’s back! It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Hero’s Spirit first hit the scene, right?

Hero’s Spirit has always been a true passion project—a labor of love. But, oh boy, what a journey it’s been. There were ups and downs, some things that didn’t quite land, and a whole lot of engine rewrites (seriously, I lost count). We’ve poured countless hours into the game, fine-tuning every little detail. And honestly, if things had gone any differently, Hero’s Spirit wouldn’t be this Hero’s Spirit. But hey, we’ve learned a ton—about user experience, accessibility, community, and managing a project this big. Sometimes, we weren’t putting our best foot forward (though we thought we were!), but the great thing is, we’re always improving. And we’re nowhere near done yet.

Now, let’s talk about what’s new. The last couple of years may have been quiet here on Steam, but behind the scenes? Pure chaos. Even more engine rewrites, and the art team has been hard at work. And before we knew it… yeah, years had flown by. The “future” we were building wasn’t quite ready to deliver, but we couldn’t just leave you all hanging forever. So, we dug around the repos, grabbed the best of what we’d worked on, and put together a fresh branch to move forward with. (By the way, this isn’t the “DX” upgrade people have been talking about—we’re still cooking something up, but we didn’t want to leave you waiting around.)

And now, drumroll, please... here comes Update++! This update is a game-changer (lol), with major quality of life improvements across the board. You’ll see a new “memory” system for areas outside your line of sight. There are new shaders to pick from in Settings. The story has been expanded, and the rabbit hole now has a proper, satisfying end. There are two brand-new unlockable game modes—one’s an auto-runner, and the other’s a hardcore challenge mode for those ready for an even greater difficulty. Oh, and there are tons of small quality-of-life improvements throughout the whole experience. And certainly not least of all, a whole bunch of shiny new achievements to unlock!

Alright, enough talk. Let’s dive into the CHANGELOG!

• Fixed several instances of incorrect tile colorations during special events
  
• New very-late-game event is available in the Tundra map, and leads to further content
  
• Improved snake-type enemy behaviors
  
• Adds a new unlockable auto-runner mode (unlocked the same way as the BFF achievement)
  
• BFF achievement is no longer earned for dead/undead pets
  
• Can no longer leave mounts in boss fights (or in some cases, take them in at all)
  
• The main game has multiple new endings
  
• North and South Mundeman are now combined into a single "Mundeman" map during a certain game mode
  
• Flower tiles are now colorful and much easier to identify
  
• Completion display is no longer garbled if negative
  
• New "mode selection" submenu is available when starting the game once more than one mode has been unlocked
  
• Rom path is now specified via 'rom.txt' in the game's directory
  
• Tons of object cleanup on the backend of things
  
• Base resolution has changed - the game is now 16:9 by default, and is considerably more flexible in letter/pillar-boxing
  
• The game now has basic support for multiple monitors. You should be able to fullscreen the game (F11, or Alt+Enter) to any monitor
  
• Added "Heroic Hardcore" mode. This is automatically unlocked at the game's final ending, or you can type "HEROIC" on the new mode select submenu (once unlocked) to unlock it at any time
  
• The Eye of the Collector is now context-aware and will not point to items that are conceptually in a different region
  
• The Eye of the Collector now seems to point to doors that can be opened, if it's got nothing better to do
  
• Retro/CRT shader now defaults to off. There is also a new Smooth shader that can be used instead
  
• There may be yet another secret game mode (or two)
  
• There is now a rain effect that will be present in a couple maps
  
• Fixed map load time issues in some circumstances, should be more consistent
  
• Removed V-Sync- the underlying library has a troublesome implementation that behaves inconsistently. We'll just have to do the best we can without it, and revisit this in the future
  
• Added tameable horses
  
• Reworked the convergence maps and the relevant boss fight
  
• Fixed several bugs related to Cat kills
  
• Fixed a flaw with step counts in a certain circumstance
  
• Reworked completion % calculation to be slightly less arcane and slightly more intuitive
  
• Reworked game mode progression; as a general rule, progression now revolves primarily around just reaching the appropriate/relevant ending
  
• The numbers matter
  
• Probably fixed "item skipping" with some fancy shoes
  
• Fixed numerous texture leaks (and a texture corruption bug), should reduce VRAM footprint
  
• Color swords/shields are now progressive, and you will always find whichever is next in that slot's progression
  
• Rumor has it that a new tier of Color swords/shields is now legitimately obtainable
  
• Cosmetics now properly support lava and death colorations
  
• New unlockable cosmetic options have been added, one of which has special effects
  
• Volume settings have been reimplemented in a more balanced way- should be easier to configure and more in line with other applications
  
• Visual cues have been added to some puzzles, like switches or breakable walls
  
• "Windroutes" have been smoothed and shortened in most cases
  
• Countless tile adjustments, polish, and fixes
  
• The shrine can be re-sealed after the relevant event has ended
  
• The bloodmoon event now has a playlist of new music instead of a single short track
  
• Tons of new music (the soundtrack doubled with this update)
  
• 35 new achievements are now available to earn (bringing the total to 50), spanning the entire game