Skills, inventory and movement update

This test update brings direct skill-button assignment, clearer item details and control indicators, walking corrections and mobile browser rotation recovery. Refresh the launcher to load the updated build.

In Skills → HUD & Control Layout, choose Reassign beside an ability and pick its control directly. Each choice shows the PC binding, controller button and ability already assigned there. Occupied controls swap, and your choice is saved for that hero. Cancel keeps your layout.

Item details make better use of the screen: less blank space, measured headers and more room for stats. Comparisons keep their changes and warnings without repeating the item's stats and perk description. Ordinary items fit without scrolling; long effects and comparisons retain a visible scrollbar and fixed action buttons.

The game's code has also been cleaned up to make future updates easier to maintain. Combat, character saves and the latest early-level XP tuning keep their current behavior.

PC shows one light-blue XP bar along the bottom edge. The second XP meter beside the portrait is removed, while the level badge and compact mobile presentation remain.

Early levels earn a little more XP so new heroes feel progress sooner. This update also retains controller A interactions, Xbox-coloured button badges and round mobile skill icons, the shorter Sweatbox Gaming Cafe route, and Lightstorm's walking and Bitsy's facing fixes.

Faster early progression

• Levels 1–3 earn 40% bonus base XP, up from 20%: about 16.7% more XP than the previous build.
• Levels 4–5 earn 25% bonus base XP, up from 10%: about 13.6% more XP than the previous build.
• Levels 6 and above are unchanged. The existing Hard and Inferno XP bonuses still combine with the early-level bonus.
• Level thresholds, Overclock, equipment and existing saves are unchanged.

Controllers

• PC skill controls use larger, bright key labels on dark keycaps. The Skills, Inventory and Options shortcuts are brighter and bolder.
• Xbox Series X-style HUD indicators use dark circular face buttons with green A, red B, blue X and yellow Y letters. Triggers and bumpers use clear neutral capsules. This styling follows the active input device and each hero's saved assignments; a keyboard A key stays a keyboard keycap.
• A opens chests and uses terminals, services and other prompts when no gear is in reach. LB still works. Beside a portal during a fight, A keeps attacking so you don't leave by accident.
• Browser controller polling handles pads already connected and recognized Backbone controllers reported without a standard mapping.
• Windows adds an Xbox-compatible XInput fallback when Unity does not expose an enabled native gamepad.
• Disabled controllers release input ownership. Saved skill assignments, A attack/loot, X Core, movement, menus and mobile input switching remain available.

Campaign

• Chapter 2, Sweatbox Gaming Cafe, follows a direct route. The optional annex detour and its caches are removed, the VIP room and storage hallway are quick walk-through checkpoints, and the Titan approach has one wave instead of two. Saved checkpoints and story progression carry over unchanged.
• The direct cafe route now preserves its solid outer walls when connecting rooms. Passage openings remain usable, and the route's floor no longer extends through the drawn perimeter. Wall and doorway checks passed at three recorded map seeds.

Equipment and skills

• Picked-up equipment fills eligible empty slots and replaces starting gear with its first suitable upgrade. Later upgrades remain in the backpack.
• Respec lets you select an individual learned skill to unlearn and refund. The confirmation lists affected keystones and mastery; Cancel is selected first.
• The desktop Overclock badge is now a subtle class-coloured hexagonal chip, distinct from the normal round level badge. Its compact footprint keeps the ultimate skill slot clear.
• Visible, draggable scrollbars show overflowing inventory stats, item details and other menu content. Compact grids also show horizontal overflow.
• On-body weapon and armor looks are hidden in play while they are redrawn to follow each animation frame. Heroes show their original look; equipment still grants its full stats, and Lightstorm keeps her staff appearance.

Help improve Deadcode

Enable Share testing stats on the launcher and choose an optional nickname. A persistent ID identifies this browser profile. Sharing reports active browser play time, device category, hero, equipped items, skill ranks and Overclock allocation. You can turn sharing off without affecting your game.

Download statistics measure requests and bytes served. They do not prove an installation or record offline Windows play.

Inventory and hero presentation

• Keep your hero's face portrait alongside the full character and equipped weapon.
• Browse aligned stat cells, readable perk rows, clearer Backpack and Stash headings, and refined hero-specific inventory panels.
• Earned appearance choices stay saved and return to the body once the redrawn art is ready. Lightstorm retains gear-driven staff appearance. The inventory default-look option remains available.
• Moving character corrections restore NightFire's walking legs and improve Codebreaker's waist connection during attacks.
• Lyra and Codebreaker's human forms use alternating leg strides built from their existing accepted artwork. Their feet plant along both travel directions, while faces and upper bodies remain steady. Moving attacks retain their action poses, held weapons and visible bodies. Actual captures cover eight directions, turns, stopping and moving attacks.
• Lyra's mech and replacement-gear animations keep their existing presentation. Their remaining animation work, and the broader hero and NPC overhaul, are still ongoing.
• Lightstorm's boots now step under her robe when she walks away from the camera; hand-drawn frames will replace this later. Bitsy faces the same way as Lightstorm while resting at her heel.

Watch the current Lyra and Codebreaker walking capture — an automated in-engine check, with no audio; this is not a manual mission clear.

Normal endgame and Inferno New Game Plus

• Normal endgame retains its existing activities and adds shortened campaign farming routes with corrupted bosses.
• After completing the original campaign, begin a permanent Inferno New Game Plus journey for that character. Your build carries over, and other heroes keep their own progression.
• Remixed Inferno chapters award hero-specific Breakline Echo skill sidegrades. Complete this character's Inferno campaign to unlock its Inferno endgame and first-completion rewards.
• Hard grants increased XP without a death XP penalty. Inferno grants more XP and retains its death XP penalty.
• New item signatures, class sets and eligible endgame rarities expand build options.

Mobile and testing

With a controller connected on mobile, each touch button shows the same Xbox Series X-style indicator: dark face buttons with coloured A/B/X/Y letters, and clear neutral badges for bumpers, triggers and menu buttons. Their compact size and existing positions are preserved. Skill icons are round to match their buttons.

Landscape play, the circular mobile map, separate compact layouts and controller input switching remain available. Endgame Test is directly below New Game on the game main menu.

Android Facebook browser rotation handling refreshes the page layout after rotation and can recover when the browser keeps reporting an old orientation. Portrait still pauses gameplay and menu input; rotating back requires fresh input so held actions cannot resume accidentally. Physical Android Facebook verification remains pending.

Windows and WebGL compile cleanly, and fourteen automated Windows checks pass on the current build. Physical Android Facebook, Backbone, Safari and PC-controller checks still need hardware testing. Claude is handling broader gameplay, device, balance and visual testing, plus new recordings. The complete animation overhaul, equipment visual corrections and Claude's separate cutscene work remain ongoing. Previously published videos show an earlier build; the walking capture above shows these latest corrections.