by theygamesWe’ve described Vellum in the past as a mix of Risk of Rain 2 and Hades, thanks to its distinctive looks and roguelike gameplay. That gameplay has now gotten even more roguelike thanks to its latest update, which allows players to keep their runs alive as long as they dare, by facing the dreaded Appendices.
Vellum is a cooperative PvE roguelike game in which players choose upgrades and abilities for their enemies as they fight their way through ancient magic tomes. Using ink-based spells and abilities, you (and possibly your team) must push back against the monochromatic evil that is trying to infect these powerful books. By adding additional “bindings” you increase the power of your foes, but also stand to reap greater rewards if you succeed in defeating the boss at the end of each tome.
Now, however, you don’t have to call it a day when you’ve dusted the boss. With the new “Face the Appendices” update, you now have a choice: either head back to the library and start a new tome, or keep going to take on even more challenging Torn enemies and bosses. You’ll be able to choose one of three randomly rolled Appendices each time you defeat a boss, and each of these will include two standard chapters and a boss chapter. Defeat the boss, and you’ll get another chance to choose between heading back and delving deeper.
Face the Appendices unlocks once you’ve played your first game with bindings applied. Another new feature that arrives in this update is Ascension, which is the Vellum version of prestige. Once your scribe reaches level 30, you can opt to take a new special cosmetic reward and start over, keeping your cosmetics, gildings, and codex progress intact.
The update also adds two new spells. The first is Blossom, which uses two mana and causes deadly flowers to sprout in an area of effect centered on the caster, damaging any enemies caught in it. The second is Ghostwrite, the game’s first new movement spell. This ability briefly turns the caster into a non-corporeal ball of energy that can dash and cause knockback. The caster also takes reduced damage while in this form.
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