Our plan is to update SpellShokked on a monthly basis, and are now gearing up for the first update. Many of the new features are still rough, but we want to give you access as soon as possible. In this release, we’ll give you access to three new spells and at least two new levels (the channeling tutorial, and the ‘darkness’ level that’s based on the tutorial. That being said, access is going to be a bit clumsy, and we’ll clean that up in an upcoming release. Also, access to the new spells is currently not across the board – some levels have them, others don’t. This gave us an idea — we plan to make that a regular feature: restricted spell use on a per-level basis, with some duel modes based on this premise.

So, when you now enter SpellShokked’s home (the hub that connects to tutorials and duels), look for the ‘Adept’ rostrum. This will transport you to the advanced studies tutorial section, currently populated by the ‘channeling’ tutorial only. Once you have completed that, make sure to check out the new ‘darkness’ level that is available from the ‘Duel’ hub. Note that that level is accessible at the same time as all other duel levels are accessible – but it becomes survivable (barely) only once you have mastered channeling. Be advised: the ‘darkness’ level is not for the faint of heart, and it does qualify as a ‘horror’ level. More than half of our testers flat out refuse to test it on that grounds.

We may also give early access to the drop-dead beautiful ‘Breach’ level, but the game mechanics for that level aren’t complete, so all you can do in this level is kill enemies and lose – a lot.