Release Notes

The Castle of Blackwater team is attentive to your feedback. We will continue to release patches to enhance your experience within the Castle. An overview of all new updates and bug fixes in the list below.

RELEASE NOTES CASTLE OF BLACKWATER 2.0.1

Thanks so much for your patience, we know it’s been a while since the last update, but we’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring this one to life. First off, a huge shoutout to everyone who shared their feedback. Your voices have been absolutely instrumental in shaping Castle of Blackwater, and we truly wouldn’t be here without you. Also a big shout out to our dev team for working those long night hours to make this happen! Now, we’re beyond excited for you to dive into this update. It’s packed with long-awaited improvements… and yes, it looks absolutely stunning.

Map & Environment Overhaul

• New dynamic and interactive lighting system added in the waiting lobby, castle and safe zone.,

• Castle map has been resized for better player interaction and fewer dead zones.,

• Safe zone reduced in size and redesigned for clearer movement flow.,

• Door teleporters have been replaced with magical mirrors for a more immersive fantasy feel.,

• Some task locations have been rearranged to improve gameplay flow and balance.,

• Dragon lobby interaction: In the waiting area, you can now toss meat to the dragon to avoid getting scorched. Feed it or face the flames!,

Map & Environment Overhaul

• Forgotten faction can now win independently of other factions.,

• Forgotten players (like the Werewolf) are now true solo roles. They can no longer “collude” easily with other factions for shared victories.,

• Werewolf role made slightly harder, but more rewarding as a solo winner.,

Safe Zone Mechanics Update

• New cost mechanic introduced for entering the safe zone. First night is free, increases with 1 soul per night.,

• Encourages risk-taking and castle exploration at night.,

• Aims to balance safe zone vs. castle dynamics for all factions.,

Clarity & Visual Improvements Improved visual clarity of abilities for better in-game understanding. Reworked animations for the Vigilante, Knight and Mentalist. Easier to see when and how abilities are used. Focus on making gameplay more intuitive without relying solely on tutorials.

Character Ability Reworks

Lumberjack’s Active Ability

• Instantly could complete any active task every cycle. (often used for self-confirmation at start game),

• New Ability: Collect bonus XP by completing tasks. Once per game, can claim saved XP. The longer he waits, the higher the reward but riskier.,

Record Keeper Active Ability Rework:

• Can no longer share free speech (used for easy self-confirmation).,

• Now visually shares suspicion about one player’s faction.,

Passive Ability Rework:

• Now shares a copy of the Challenger Log, increasing the importance of accurate record-keeping.,

Performance & Stability Major improvements

• Game stability,

• Visual polish,

• Core balance tweaks for smoother overall gameplay,

Keep joining our game nights, sharing your ⁠suggestions, and helping us shape Castle of Blackwater into something truly special. And don’t blink, there’s a lot more exciting updates coming soon!

Castle of Blackwater v1.1.0 Release Notes

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes, making Castle of Blackwater a smoother, more intuitive, and more stable experience for everyone, especially for first-time players stepping into the castle for the very first time.

From quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes to polish passes and UX upgrades, this update is all about boosting clarity and stability without compromising on the charm and chaos you know and love. We’ve also focused on continuing to improve the experience for our returning players with a mix of requested tweaks, fixes, and behind-the-scenes tuning. 

Chatting with so many of you in Discord has been awesome. Your feedback, bug reports, and spicy hot takes have been a huge help. We hope you spot your suggestions and ideas in this update, and if not, don’t worry; there’s more coming.

Without further ado, here’s what’s new in Build 1.1.0

Game Development

• Upgraded Unity Engine – We’ve upgraded our Unity version to improve overall stability and reduce random crashes. This also unlocks exciting new tech we’re looking forward to experimenting with soon.

• Upgraded Photon Networking – Our new Photon version comes with better networking performance and lays the groundwork for potential reconnect features in the future.

• Refactored Sound System – We overhauled our sound system for better consistency, performance, and creative flexibility in future sound design.

• Temporary Character Size Increase – Characters are now 20% larger, making it easier to traverse the map and show off your latest cosmetic drip.

• Safe Zone Minigame Fix – The Safe Zone pop-up no longer interrupts active minigames.

• Visible In-Game Lobbies – Players can now see lobbies that are currently in progress to decide whether to wait or search for another.

• Body Report Sound – A new global bell sound plays when a body is reported, slightly buffing the Sheriff and turning up the tension.

• Player Audio Settings – New settings UI allows players to individually mute or adjust the volume of other players.

• Ghost Projectile Diminishing Returns – Getting hit by multiple ghost daggers now has diminishing effects, reducing the chance of spam kills.

• Werewolf Sound Fix – Players in the Safe Zone will no longer hear the werewolf howl when a transformation occurs.

• Push-to-Talk Added – Now available in the settings for those who prefer more controlled voice chat.

• Musical Flames Rework – Slightly simplified and sped up: one fewer step and faster timing.

• Voting Round Duration Increased – Discussion time increased from 45s → 60s and defense time from 10s → 12s.

• Ghost Soul Economy Rebalancing – Reduced ghost soul spawn rate and increased prices for some ghost powerups to tighten the late-game loop.

Bug Fixes

• Vigilante Blood Effect – Vigilantes now get blood on their hands after a successful kill.

• Ability Use Bugs Fixed – Fixed several bugs where player abilities couldn’t be used in specific areas.

• Sound Glitches Resolved – A broad sweep of sound-related bugs has been resolved for cleaner, more immersive audio.

• Tutorial Stability Pass – Fixed multiple issues that could cause the tutorial to break or leave players stuck.

• Ghost Dagger Debuff Timing – Fixed a bug where the confusion effect lingered too long after being hit by ghost daggers.

• Room Names on Mini-map – Fixed display issues where room names weren’t appearing on the mini-map.

• Disconnected Bodies Reporting – Dead bodies from disconnected players can now be reported correctly.

• Book of Tasks Exploit – Patched an exploit allowing players to open the Book of Tasks just before teleporting after a vote.

• Psychic Ability Safe Zone Bug – Psychic ability now properly renders the correct map, even when used in the safe zone.

• Localization Fixes – Numerous language/localization issues across different UIs have been corrected.

• Record Keeper Note Bug – Fixed an issue where the death note would appear multiple times.

• Outfit Save Issue – Fixed a bug that prevented players from saving new outfits in the lobby inventory screen.

• Rematch Lobby Fix – Public games now correctly stay public after a rematch.

• Dead Ghost UI Bug – Ghosts can now properly interact with all components in the player list UI.

Known Issues

Just a quick heads-up: a few issues remain to be fixed. We didn’t want these to prevent us from uploading before the weekend, but keep this in mind and don’t worry about reporting these known issues:

• If the host player (the one who started the lobby) disconnects from an active game, the whole game will crash for everyone left in it. (this is a complex networking issue that we’ll fix next week)

• Sometimes, some players won’t see the time in the voting round

• The ghostly dagger, although better than yesterday, isn’t as smooth as we want it to

• The player menu in the settings panel doesn’t save your preferences when you close it.

If you find any other issues than the above, please let us know!!

What’s Next?

As always, while we’ve squashed a lot of bugs and made big improvements in this patch, we know the work isn’t done. Our next area of focus revolves around making a new smaller map, implementing a cool new system for environmental lighting, and making a lot of improvements to mechanics and abilities to increase their clarity in gameplay. After that’s completed, we’ll move on to the next phase, which will include host settings, new characters, and more retention systems

Thanks for being part of the journey and helping us shape Castle of Blackwater into the best version it can be.

We’ll see you in the castle!

Castle of Blackwater v1.0.6 Release Notes

Hello villagers!

We’ve been blown away by your response and enthusiasm. We’re dedicated to quickly addressing your feedback and ensuring everyone has a smooth and enjoyable experience in the castle.

Thank you for your patience and reports as we work to swiftly squash bugs and implement improvements!

Hotfixes & Improvements

• Ghostly Footsteps Silenced – Ghost players will no longer incorrectly hear footsteps from the living, improving immersion.

• Lobby Code Copying Fix – Fixed the issue causing copied lobby codes to show up incorrectly as “***”.

• Fixed Vigilante kills not showing as blood on hands from the Mentalist ability.

• Satanic Chat Notifications – Satanic chat now correctly displays notifications, making it easier to communicate secretly with teammates.

• Disconnected Stability Improvements – Fixed critical issues causing the game to break when players disconnected unexpectedly.

• Role Reveal Screen Bug – Addressed an issue causing the game to occasionally freeze at the role reveal screen.

• Public Lobby Rematch Fix – Public lobbies will now correctly remain public when rematching after a game ends.

• Cosmetic store animations are looping incorrectly.

• Various UI and visual glitches in the cosmetics and inventory screens.

• Items purchased sometimes not appearing immediately in inventory.

• Persistent Phantom UI icons on the home screen.

• Book stacking is more stable and less volatile

• Fixes to the FTUE to prevent players from getting stuck.

• Fixed mentalist ability sometimes targeting dead ghosts

• We temporarily removed “Confusion” and “Message from the Dead” from the Dead Ghost Powerup Shop for rebalancing.

Keep Your Feedback Coming

We greatly appreciate your reports and are actively monitoring our Discord channels. Please continue sharing any issues you encounter or suggestions you have. Your feedback is essential as we strive to perfect Castle of Blackwater!

Thanks again for your incredible support and patience. We’ll keep rolling out patches and improvements as quickly as possible. Join our Discord community and come play with us!

See you in the Castle! 🏰