Halls of Torment Developer Expects to Announce The Lost Archives Release Date Within 4 Weeks
The preview details Kill Mode unlock requirements, a Fragile and Affliction rework, and the Blood Apostle character.
Halls of Torment’s next free update and The Lost Archives DLC are moving through quality assurance, localization, and console testing, and Chasing Carrots expects to announce their release date within the next four weeks. The developer shared the timeline in its September 4 Steam announcement, while noting that work is happening in parallel across the versions it manages.
Players still do not have a specific launch date, but this preview fills in several of the systems arriving with the update and DLC. Earlier release plans called for a free update alongside The Lost Archives, with the date still unconfirmed.
Kill Mode Will Add More Control to Long Runs
Shorter runs helped drive the decision to make Kill Mode available for late-game and endgame play. When a build overwhelms the enemy stream, a run can end much sooner than expected, so the mode will offer long-term players another way to add pressure and keep the action moving. The Kill Mode toggle will be found in the Shrine of Torment.
Unlocking the option will require players to finish a quest on each map. In most cases, that will be the first damage quest, which serves as a check that a character can defeat enemies quickly enough for a Kill Mode run to keep moving. Required kill counts have been balanced around the demands of later kill quests, and new interface feedback will make it clearer when the lord is due to spawn.
Two Archives artifacts will also let players raise the monster spawn rate. They are the Ritual Dagger and the Ferryman Purse, giving players more ways to increase the number of enemies appearing during a run.
Fragile and Affliction Will Affect All Damage
The free update will also rework Fragile and Affliction so both effects apply to every type of damage. Fragile will increase Effect Damage, while Affliction will also affect direct Damage.
Fragile will increase damage by a base of 20% per stack and will have a slow falloff. Its stacks will not have a hard cap, and applying Fragile will always happen before damage when an attack applies the effect and deals damage at the same time.
Affliction will work in a similar way but will begin at 10% per stack. When an enemy carrying Affliction dies, 50% of the applied stacks will spread to a nearby enemy. New characters and items will also have cross-interactions with both effects, giving the reworked systems a larger role in future builds.
The Blood Apostle Trades Health for Power
The Archives will introduce the Blood Apostle as one of two new characters. Her main attack, Blood Pulse, sacrifices HP to deal heavy damage in the direction she is aiming, while her secondary attack spreads Affliction within Pick-Up range.
She has no natural health regeneration. Instead, the Blood Apostle recovers HP when enemies affected by Affliction die within her Pick-Up range. The upcoming content will also add a dedicated Sacrifice ability, along with items and upgrades for existing abilities.
Sacrifice effects become more powerful when the character has more health, but repeated use can leave her dangerously low. Recovery tools will be important for anyone building around the mechanic. Safeguards will prevent a sacrifice from killing her when it uses a relative amount of current health, although effects that use an absolute number, such as the existing Mask of Madness, remain an exception.
Chasing Carrots plans to share more details about the remaining mechanics and content before announcing the release date. Share your thoughts on Kill Mode and the Blood Apostle in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, Telegram.
Halls of Torment
Developed by Chasing Carrots
Slay hordes of terrifying monsters in this casual roguelite action rpg. Descend into the Halls of Torment where the lords of the underworld await you. Treasures, magic trinkets, and a growing cast of heroes will grant you the power to vanquish the horrors from beyond. How long can you survive?
- Genre Role-playing (RPG), Indie
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, Linux, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, PlayStation 5
- Perspective Bird view / Isometric
- Modes Single player
- Release August 26, 2024
- Publisher Chasing Carrots, Erabit Studios
-
Age Rating
