Noctiria has spent the past few months gradually getting bigger ahead of its Steam launch. The demo has been updated, new mechanics have been added, and just this week another three languages joined the five already supported. Now the full descent can begin.
Developed by Daniele Doesn’t Matter, Noctiria launches today. The horror roguelite deckbuilder takes place in a decaying 1990s city, with six playable heroes, four acts to survive, plenty of cards to build your deck around, and a Corruption system that can make even stopping for a rest considerably more complicated.
Six Ways to Survive
There are six heroes available in the full game including Shadow, Mist, Void, Parasite, Abyss, and Reflection. Each comes with their own starting deck, cards, archetypes, and mechanics, changing how you’ll approach combat. One build might concentrate on dealing as much damage as possible, while another can stack status effects, build defenses, manipulate Mana, or prepare combinations that take several turns to pay off.
There are quite a few status effects to work with too. Poison, Burn, Decay, Paralysis, Drowning, Rust, and several others can be stacked, triggered, and consumed, with different effects interacting to create considerably nastier combinations.
Enemies won’t keep their plans completely secret. Their intentions are visible during turn-based battles, giving you a chance to prepare for what’s coming next. Whether you can actually do anything about it is another matter.
Corruption Changes the Rules
Health isn’t the only thing you’ll need to keep an eye on while exploring Noctiria. Corruption is tied into several of its systems and can change the risks, costs, and probabilities you’ll encounter during a run. Resting can come with consequences, merchant prices can increase, and managing your Sanity might suddenly take priority over buying something considerably more exciting.
Even recovering after a battle involves a decision. You can play things relatively safe, attempt a deeper recovery with additional risks, skip healing to upgrade a card, or sacrifice some of your health for a more substantial upgrade.
Those upgrades can be permanent too. Cards have three upgrade levels that remain unlocked for that hero across future runs, gradually improving the deck you begin with.
Choose Your Way Through the City
Each of Noctiria’s four acts takes place across a handcrafted branching map. Different paths lead to regular battles, Elite enemies, bosses, merchants, treasures, rest areas, and unknown events. You won’t be able to visit everything, leaving you to decide whether that dangerous-looking detour is worth whatever might be waiting at the end.
Relics can make those decisions a little easier. You can carry four at once, with effects ranging from healing and generating Shield to providing extra Mana, drawing cards, and attacking every enemy. They’re consumable, though, so eventually you’ll have to decide when something is worth using.
Saving everything for later isn’t much help if you don’t make it to later.
The Full Descent Begins Today
Today’s release follows months of development and feedback from players who tried the free demo, which contains the complete first act, The Cursed Forest, with Shadow available as its playable hero. The full version expands that to all six heroes and four acts, alongside permanent progression, more deckbuilding possibilities, consumable relics, and the complete Corruption system.
Noctiria has also expanded its localization just before launch. Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Brazilian Portuguese were added this week, bringing the total number of supported languages to eight.
Noctiria launches on Steam for Windows PC, while the free demo remains available for anyone who wants to take a look at The Cursed Forest first.