This is the monthly update build for February 2026. This one adds a ton of polish and new art to the final combat scene in Animus. It also sets up all of the components to work on new areas in Jotunheim. Next months update will be focusing on Muspelheim which is the lava area accessible by being more curious throughout your run and choosing the world on the right during world selection. I will also be adding a number of routes, minigames, and new dialogue to this combat encounter as we go forward as soon as Shaye finishes the art for it.

I wanted to do a lot more this month but I hurt my back quite badly. Had to take over a week off of doing anything and just lay in bed like a slug. Sorry if you don't find this content to be enough of a patch as a result. Stay tuned for next month.

Known Issues
• Russian language has not been updated past Fern/Rhode in Animus.
  
• English is the only language past the Mossbacks.
  
• There are missing mini-game variants in the fight with The Aspects.

New Content
• Combat with The Aspects has been updated with new dialogue.
  
• Misery now has a health indicator animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Misery now has an idle animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Misery now has a charge up animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Misery now has a laser animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Mania now has a health indicator animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Mania now has an idle animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Mania now has a charge up animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Mania now has a laughing animation in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• There is now health border art in the fight with The Aspects.
  
• The fight with The Aspects has been split into three major phases to better introduce the characters.
  
• Setup tracking components for all of the choices in The Clash to make them matter for characters showing up during the fight with The Aspects.
  
• Redesigned the puzzle beyond the Great Iron Gate in Muspelheim.
  
• The ARG has been updated with additional content.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed a softlock during combat with The Aspects when dying during the same combat action as winning the encounter.
  
• Improved combat performance by reducing the number of objects allocated for damage when total damage is 100 or more.
  
• A minor texture error was fixed for the shadowed version of Mania.
  
• Properly spoiler tagged this months update for those who wanted it done.

Bug Reporting
• Please report any issues on our official Discord at https://discord.gg/piratesoftware
  
• There is a channel called #heartbound-ticket where you can report stuff!
  
• Include a screenshot, it makes things much easier to fix!

Upcoming Content
• Muspelheim initial exploration and puzzle room.
  
• Additional mini-games in the fight with The Aspects.

Here are some ancient bonus doodles of Muus and Snifl from the upcoming chapter. Been looking forward to sharing their stories with you for a long time now. With Animus wrapped up we can finally get moving on this. Don't forget the penguins either.