Hollowed Oath spends patch 0.20 on how combat feels

God Mode Games has posted another development update for Hollowed Oath, its old-school MMORPG, and patch 0.20 adds no content at all. What it adds is feel: Crimson Cleave, Toxin Injection, Backstab and Shield Bash now run custom animations instead of borrowed generic ones.

Staff and wand autoattacks now fire particles and sounds matched to their element, and the studio built a held-item VFX layer on top: a weapon can carry a permanent aura or light up when a spell goes off. "Flaming swords, here we go," reads the dev update. Smite's effect, previously too bright, was toned down.

The other half of the patch is the invisible kind. Shared memory cost for characters and NPCs dropped by roughly 80%, each additional character by about 97% excluding gear, and NPC spawn load by more than 90%. Cloth physics also scale down with distance.

Targeting was rebuilt as well. A click cascades through model, nameplate, capsule and proximity until it finds something valid, which makes picking one enemy out of a packed group possible. A new Always Show Names option keeps nameplates at half opacity while exploring.

On the board next: pet item loadouts, quick-use item slots, a regional reputation system and a full rebuild of the ability bar. The first two have their logic written and are waiting on UI; for the rest, the studio gave no dates.