July 19, 2026

New stable build! - Valmora

Hey everyone,

New build is out. This one's heavy on performance, lighting, and quality of life, plus a lot of fixes to things that were getting in the way. Here's what changed.

Performance
We put a lot of work into map performance this build, and it should feel noticeably better across the board. AI pathing is also lighter on your hardware now without losing much functionality, and the grass and foliage system got optimized too. You'll also find an FPS limit option under Settings → Video Settings, and the game now auto-detects your video settings on first launch (you can also force it manually).

Lighting & atmosphere

  • Added a fully scalable torch system

  • Torches and braziers got a makeover: lighting now runs on a performance-focused system that keeps the VFX light while improving the atmosphere

  • Added an equippable item that gives you a dancing light following you around, lighting the area in front of you and slightly around it

  • Added volumetric zones so your following light knows where to work and where not to

Combat & archery

  • The sword combat animations have been overhauled. We're still testing them, so they may change

  • Added new arrow types: Iron, Tempered Iron, Steel and Blacksteel

  • Arrows now last longer and correctly hit distant targets if you aim well

  • Removed the horizontal offset on arrow shots, gravity offset stays

  • The bow string now moves when you nock an arrow

  • Fixed wrong player rotation after an execution from behind

Horse & riding

  • Overhauled horse movement to feel less stiff and more consistent

  • You can now pause the game and open the map while riding

  • Fixed issues when attempting to mount

  • Tweaked sprint speed

  • Removed horse attacks. We'll look at mounted attacks for the player later, but attacks from the mount itself are being dropped

Followers
Followers now stay closer to you, and we reworked all their movement states and alignment so they move more reliably, keeping distance low and adapting to your speed.

Quests, NPCs & dialogue

  • Reworked world dialogues, especially for vendors

  • Quest markers now pathfind properly when needed, mainly toward NPCs

  • Increased quest marker render distance from 1000 to 5000

  • Optimized the item collection tracker so progress bars hide correctly and don't overlap between gathering quests

  • Fixed an interaction problem with the Quest Board in the village

  • Fixed a bug that sometimes left vendors without wares

  • Fixed a rare bug preventing interaction with NPCs and items during gameplay

  • Fixed dialogues staying open after ending due to the skip key

  • Dialogue volume now follows the settings menu correctly

  • The "enemies killed" and "items to gather" widgets now hide during dialogue and come back after, like the rest of the UI

Tutorial & menus

  • You can now choose whether to see the tutorial when starting the game

  • Expanded the tutorial with the Guild section, plus Attributes and Skill Points

  • Added a tutorial for sleep and wait

  • Overhauled the Skill Tree menu for easier navigation and selection

  • Fixed tutorial wording and added spacebar to exit tutorial dialogue

  • Lowered tutorial volume and linked it to the Effects audio setting

  • Fixed key bindings in the settings menu, removed unused actions and added missing ones

  • Fixed inputs for map quick access and skill menu

  • Fixed a bug that bugged the screen resolution while changing Video settings

Other

  • EXPERIMENTAL: added a new water system with buoyancy and water flow

  • Added a wait action (default Y key)

  • Fixed save/load for the player, followers and enemies

  • Fixed the sleep popups stacking up and preventing you from getting to bed properly

  • Tweaked breast physics

Dark Acolyte and above can grab the build here: [LINK ]

Become a Patron

— Iron Leaf Team