Surprise update, happy Halloween!

New content:
Added blood level 10.
Added super boss battles unlocked on blood level 10.
Balance fixes:
Reworked the Mad Scientist enemy ability.

Bug fixes:
Quite a few, I didn't really keep track. It's been a while.

Changed the Shapeshifter enemy ability to reduce class cards by 2 instead of 1

Fixed the unlock condition for Amnesia not showing properly
Fixed Doppelganger points not resetting between rounds and cards not respawning
Fixed Speak Softly wrongly showing x4 Night when it was nerfed to x2
Fixed Diversification only working once per round
Fixed cards that cost more then normal showing up as green instead of red
Fixed Any Means Necessary only drawing one card
Fixed mashup shapeshifter cards showing up for other shapeshifter variations
Fixed Defile's non-spell half happening again during the spell cast
Fixed the various Shapeshifter X's proliferation cards not working with each other

It's the one year anniversery of The Monster Within releasing into early access! And we're celebrating that with the gaming coming out of early access! Yes, this is the full release! All ten monsters, all ten mashups, almost 400 cards, almost 50 afflictions, less bugs (hopefully), it's all here.

Thank you so much to everyone who's bought and played the game so far. None of this would be possible without you. This game has been a labor of love from both the artist and I, and we've done out best to make it as enjoyable and fun as possible. In the end, it's up to you to decide if we succeeded.

2.0:

New Content:
Added new monster, Cultist
Added monster new theme pack, CultistEX
Added new Cultist-Warlock monster, Mummy
Added new Cultist-Werewolf monster, Lunatic
Added new Shapeshifter-Parasite monster, Doppleganger
Added new Mad Scientist-Wraith monster, Homunclus
5 new Afflictions, 1 generic, 2 for Shapeshifter, and 2 for Cultist

Bug Fixes:
A lot. I kind of stopped keeping track.

So now that the game is out of early access, what's the plan for the future? Well, there's a few features that had to be cut for time. Blood level 10 and the final boss didn't make the cut. There's some planned card sets that didn't make it in either. And a good amount of skits that don't exist that should. Will this stuff be added eventually? Hopefully, it kind of depends on demand. The skits definitely, that was just me running out of time. We've spent a lot of time on this game and if people really want more, we'll provide it. But both the artist and I feel like moving on.

What's next for GMO Free Games? Well, we made a deck building card game about 1950's horror comics, so the next obvious step is... a pixel art game about guiding a princess that's a direct homage to Princess Maker II and mid-90's PC games! Basically same genre and aesthetic, I'm sure there will be no consumer confusion at all.
Coming in about a year, whatever this game ends up being called!

Thanks again to all our players, we love each and everyone of you.

Content Additions:
Add Shapeshifter skits

Balance Changes:
If you play as Shapeshifter, the Sociopath Affliction is unselectable (because it's way too OP with her)\
Devoted Lackey now costs 5
Put on the charm now costs 6
Ghoul School now costs 8
Speak Softly nerfed to only double Night
Lowered the spawn rate of shapeshifter cards (about 1/3 less)

It's been a month since Shapeshifter came out and we've been hard at work to keep up the momentum and finish the game. We've been in early access for a year, but the light at the end of the tunnel is almost here! Just a few more weeks and that tag will be gone from the game. We're talking full release!
The final monster for The Monster Within is almost here, the Cultist! This won't be the final update, but it will be the last big content release. Maybe. We'll see what the future holds but we here at GMO Free Games are kind of monster'd out after working on this project for almost three years at this point.

So who is the Cultist? She's a character we've saved for the end because she's kind of complex. Like Werewolf she has two forms, pure and corrupted. But unlike Werewolf, you don't choose when you switch back and forth.

Instead, each turn you'll gain corruption. You have cards that reduce it, but if you don't eventually she'll be overcome with the ancient, evil energies she's been fighting against and become it's servant!
When that happens, all Cultist cards change. Different art, different effects, different costs, it's like become a completely different character. Instead of reducing corruption, you get payoffs for fostering it. Pure Cultist is a day focused character, while cultist is night/monster based. You can try to stay untainted, or intentionally let corruption build up to get to the corrupted form faster. Maybe you'll buy certain cards when pure you don't need right then, but will have beneficial effects when corrupt. There's all sorts of ways to play it!
Also coming in the final update is the final four mashup monsters. Doppleganger (Parasite-Shapeshifter), Mummy (Warlock-Cultist), Homunculus (Mad Scientist-Wraith), and Lunatic (Cultist-Werewolf)
There's a lot of work still to be done here. The delay with Shapeshifter messed up our timelines a lot. Worst case, a few features will be missing from the full release we'll patch in later. But we're pretty committed to getting it our for Halloween. Thanks to everyone who has played and enjoyed the game this past year, we're almost to the finish line!

Art by Digsaw.

UI Changes:
Updated and improved graphics in some menus
Changed the Warlock spell banner to look good and less like a stretched piece of art the programmer made
Improved Shapeshifter form icons to be more distinct from each other

Bug Fixes:
Fixed the game over animation playing when in the character select screen
Fixed Contraction saying it gained form points, rather than losing them.
Fixed Serpent Coil saying it added shield equal to monster, rather then shield equal to attack
Fixed cards that depend on the last damage taken not working against bosses.
Fixed Grin and Bear It coasting 3 instead of 4
Fixed Serpent coil having misaligned icons
Fixed monsters having misaligned text in their unique resource icons
Fixed the first and third Blob-Werewolf skits not advancing to the next scene until extra clicks had been performed

After a two month delay, she's finally here! The Shapeshifter!

The Shapeshifter works differently from any other monster in the game. Your health level doesn't matter for seeing her cards. All that matters is how many form points you buy.

Ghoul points seed cards that generate Night.
Bear points seed cards that generate Shield.
Snake points seed cards that generate Attack.

Put it all together and you can build your Shapeshifter anyway you like!

Also in this update is the Blob-Shapeshifter mashup monster, the Morphling! This adds a fourth form, Goop. Goop cards generate Monster points.
1.4:

New Content:
Added new monster, Shapeshifter
Added monster new theme pack, ShapeshifterEX
Added new Blob-Shapeshifter monster, Morphling

Changes and Bug Fixes:
The game now auto generates backup saves at the start of your play session. If losing power causes your save to be corrupted, you can manually replace the corrupted save with the backup. This is a temporary stopgap measure and we hope to be able to find a solution to the save corruption in the future.
Waxing Anger, Two Wolves, and Rush of Adrenaline now only have an effect if you're at less than 50 health. This will stop you from gaining negative resources if playing them at a higher health level

Because of the delay, Cultist will now be coming out in the final update of the game bringing it out of early access this October. The full roster of ten Monsters and all ten Mashups will be ready to paint the town red this Halloween!

Art by Befish. https://twitter.com/befishprod

Where's Shapeshifter?

Yes, Shapeshifter should have been out already. But unfortunately, the game's amazing and talented artist has been sick and unable to make said amazing art lately. Unless people are okay with a shift in artistic direction to the drawing above, it'll still be a little bit.

Shapeshifter as a monster has more art needs than any before with her unique mechanics, so until that cool art is done, she'll remain lurking behind the scenes. She could be anywhere, anyone...

So let's talk about what the Shapeshifter actually is as a character. As the shapeshifter, you can spend your Day/Night/Monster on form points. How many of the form points you have represents what shape you're shifting into. Cards for that form will only show up as you buy form points, the more you buy the more and better cards you'll see.

There's three forms; Serpent, Bear, and Ghoul. Serpent form is all about striking your foe with deadly speed, so if you're after attack, that's the form to go after. On the opposite end, Bear form is all about enduring damage. If your foe can't hurt you, well they're not in for a good time. So Bear form's cards give you lots of shield. Ghoul form is the form of cunning and underhanded dealings. Hiding in the shadows you'll gain the resources you need to take down any who oppose you. Night generation will be a piece of cake if you specialize as the Ghoul.

https://www.instagram.com/artistrayph/ Art by Artistrayph

But you don't have to go all on on one of the three, you can mix and match as you please. All of Shapeshifter's cards can be bought with any resource, so she can played at any health level you like. But she plays best with Night cards as the only resource she can generate to buy things are Night points with the Ghoul.

But those three forms aren't the only ones you'll get to play with in the update. There's also the Shapeshifter-Blob mashup monster, the Morphling! Who needs to hold a definitive form when you can be a mass of goo that can take whatever shape it wants. With Goop form you won't be very strong, or resilient to damage, or cunning, but you will be very monstery! Become the biggest and goopiest ball of slime you can and show them what a real monster looks like.

We don't have a definitive timeline for when Shapeshifter will be done, but we hope she'll be showing her faces by the end of July.

Art by the amazing Adam Burnier.[www.adam-burnier.com]

Balance Changes:
Lowered base damage scaling one stage

UI Changes:
Small prettification changes and polish

Bug Fixes:
Fixed Inner Darkness having a giant monster icon
Fixed Epiphany showing alternate art if you have any night cards in your deck.
Fixed some elements of mashup mode persisting on a new run after winning/losing
Fixed Warlock and Swampkin being called "Werewolf" on the win round screen
Fixed the Warlock -> Swampkin skit not playing
Fixed the Werewolf player death animation showing Werepire art
Fixed some typos

Sinister whispers, dark patrons, unleash powers from beyond this world with the next monster for The Monster Within!
It's the Warlock! The Warlock is a monster all about string together spells to form combos. Can you master his cards to smite your enemy with righteous fury?

Also in this update is the Warlock-Plant mashup monster, the Swampkin! Letting you use Warlock's spells as a Day focused strategy as well!

Lastly, there's a new theme packs in this update, unlocked by winning on blood level seven or higher. Here's a full list of the changes:
1.2:

New Content:
Added new monster, Warlock
Added monster new theme pack, WarlockEX
Added new monster theme pack, Harmony
Added new day theme pack, Darkness
Added new Warlock-Plantmashup monster, Swampkin
Added two new Warlock specific afflictions
Added new skits for Warlock

Changes and Bug Fixes:
Increased base paper to 50
Politics is now a default day set and religion is now unlockable
Replaced Mental Mastery with Epiphany: 7 day, double all basic resources
Changed how the Parasite's enemy trait works. Instead of halving attack added, halves damage done
Fixed winning as a mashup monster not counting as winning as the base monster for some things (like achievements)
Fixed werewolf showing vampire during the defeats scene

I hope everyone is enjoying these new monsters, we've got two more to go before the full release of the game!

Art by JoCrow. https://twitter.com/JoCrowArt