"Week two: what the altar wants"
Another week of builds. This one went deep instead of wide: things you already had got better, and one new choice got very dark.
What the altar wants
There is a salt-white stone on the Landing's waterfront that the Ferry Folk keep fed. Once they trust you, they ask you to help: a gift a day, and they pay you for each one. We will not say what the last gift is. It is a choice, and it costs you something whichever way you go.
Gear you wear, not carry
Armor and weapons have their own character screen now, a paper doll in a lit alcove, with you standing in the middle wearing your metals. Nothing you wear takes bag space. Your weapon gets its own Attack button, with a spare you can swap to.
Weapons that feel different
Every weapon has a combo now. The blade cuts back and finishes with a heavy gold-edged swing. The spear's third thrust lunges. The maul's second blow slams the ground in front of you. The whip snaps further and drags even the big ones in. Stand still with the crossbow and the next bolt hits harder. The shotgun is brutal at point blank. Each one lands with its own spark and sound.
A cabin you can walk into
Your cabin has an inside now, and it grows with every upgrade: a kitchen nook, a cellar trapdoor, a ladder up to the watch loft. Furniture goes inside, and there is a Decor Codex to fill as you find blueprints.
The Thinning heals
Keep coming back from a place past the wall and it starts to heal. The fog thins, fewer of them wait for you, and eventually someone moves in and makes a camp. Bring them what they wish for.
More out past the wall
Trips into the Thinning turn up more surprises now. The Wardens left cairns out there before the wall, three to a place. A great pale moth sometimes settles in the fog and will not let you near for long. And on the shores, boats still wash up, stove in, with salvage aboard and something asleep under the hull. Your field journal keeps a log of what you have seen.
And more
Two new people you can fall for, a second island off the Bay, a coast tram, animals born strange, benches you can upgrade, and a very long list of fixes: swings and shots no longer pass through fences or water, couch co-op sounds and shakes belong to the right player, and big raids on a built-up farm run lighter. The test build updates itself.
See you in the fog.