The first No Rest for the Wicked patch notes are here, following a troubled launch that has seen the new RPG game land to ‘mixed’ Steam reviews. The ambitious ARPG blending the perspective and loot of Diablo with Dark Souls and Elden Ring style stats and combat has been a long-awaited passion project from developer Moon Studios, best known for the fantastic pair of Ori games. Despite a mostly positive response to its setting and concept, early performance issues and balance concerns have troubled players, but the dev is already hard at work with its first post-launch update targeting some major complaints.
Moon Studios has been up-front that the launch of its new RPG game is very much an early access proposition, with co-founder Thomas Mahler stating that it’s “at a point where we need your help to shape and build No Rest for the Wicked into the best game it can possibly be.” While some of the early performance woes and issues such as a lack of key bind options are a little harder to swallow, the developer is showing its intent to respond rapidly to community concerns by delivering changes to many of the most common complaints about gameplay balance.
“Today’s hotfix is the first of many upcoming patches and updates to improve No Rest for the Wicked on the road to our 1.0 release. We hear you,” the developer writes, “While we are hard at work on performance improvements and controller remapping, which are coming soon, please be sure to check the resolution settings for the game to be able to get the best experience in the meantime.”
This first hotfix, then, is very much focused on balance and loot changes, although there are a number of bug fixes, a tweak to improve inventory navigation, and a fix for a crash that could occur when quitting the game to the main menu. Durability damage has been lowered, with repair costs reduced, so you’re a little less beleaguered by needing to constantly repair your gear between attempts. Repair powder will also drop more frequently to help in that regard.
Stamina costs have also been reduced, and the fall damage curve has been lowered to punish you less drastically for dropping down from high ground. Fallen Embers will drop slightly less frequently, the Horseshoe Crab and food that uses it has seen its cost lowered, and Corpse-Smeared Blade will now start at tier one rather than tier two.
There’s also been a balance update for the boss of the Cerim Crucible dungeon, the replayable endgame dungeon that becomes available after you finish the game’s first campaign act. Finally, Blacksmith Fillmore’s early loot table has been expanded with more weapons, which should allow you to pick up a wider variety of gear early on.
All of this shows that Moon Studios is eager to experiment and find the right balance – and while you might be for or against some of these changes, there’s always room for future adjustments in either direction. A willingness to make changes and respond quickly to feedback should help No Rest for the Wicked reach its full potential. Hopefully the performance boosts and other quality-of-life features are quick to follow; we’ll be sure to let you know when they do.
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