Flare 1.15

May 3, 2026

Flare is back with a new look! Let's dive right into what's new:

New Graphics

Version 1.15 introduces remastered graphics that are intended to look best on screens between 1080p and 1440p. Everything, from the characters, to the map tilesets, to the UI, has been revamped. The process involved a lot of work to migrate the workflow to use EEVEE in modern versions of Blender. Just about everything needed to be re-textured, and several models needed mesh and animation tweaks. Replacements were also created for assets that we did not have the source models for.

To celebrate the occasion, I've created a new trailer that revisits the scenes from the 1.0 trailer.

Iron Labyrinth

The next biggest addition to version 1.15 is procedural generation of maps and items. To showcase these new abilities in the engine, the Empyrean Campaign now includes a new side dungeon, the Iron Labyrinth. Delve beneath Perdition Harbor and explore a series of ruins that are scaled to the player's level. The dungeon can be tackled at any point after completing the Krolan's Missing quest.

Within the Iron Labyrinth are plenty of opportunities to find Mastite items. These are special pieces of gear with randomized stats, and are usually very powerful. Lucky players might even find Mastite items outside of the Iron Labyrinth as rewards for tough battles.

Power Tree Updates

All three player power trees in the Empyrean Campaign have been re-balanced. Full change notes are below, but the overall goal was to increase the gained effectiveness from each upgrade level. We also wanted to make the MP curve more gradual as player's level up powers.

Each power tree also gets three new powers; two active and one passive. See the change notes below for details.
To better accommodate the extra powers, players now get 2 power points per level to spend instead of 1.

 Windows

• Installer (Engine + Game) (608 MB)
• ZIP (Engine + Game) (613 MB)
• ZIP (Engine) (39 MB)

 Linux

• AppImage (x86_64 Engine + Game) (579 MB)

 Mac OS (Intel 64-bit)

• Disk Image (Engine + Game) (585 MB)

Android

• APK (Engine) (10 MB)
• Installation instructions

Sources

• Engine source (8 MB)
• Game source (595 MB)

Changelog

Engine features

• Events
  • Events can now use ‘book=close’ to close the active book.
  • Added ‘intermap_id’ property to Events.
  • Added ‘power_level’ and ‘power_stats’ properties to Events.
  • Added ‘requires_tile’ and ‘requires_not_tile’ properties to Events.
  • Added ‘spawn_level’ property to Events.
  • Added ‘class_tip’ and ‘show_class_tip’ properties to new game menu config.
  • Added ‘show_frame_background’ property to configuration, new game, and load game menu configs.
  • Added ‘mapmod_toggle’ property to Events.
• Items
  • Add scaling based on item level/player level/primary stats to several Item attributes, such as ‘bonus’ and ‘price’.
  • Add ‘loot_drops_max’ property to Items for limiting the number of drops in a single loot event.
  • Added randomized items. Items can now be spawned with random level, quality, and bonus attributes.
  • Added ‘auto_actionbar’ property to items/types.txt config.
• Powers
  • Added support for more than one of each chain power (pre_power/post_power/wall_power) to be attached to a single power.
  • Added ‘post_hazards_skip_target’ to Powers.
  • Powers that deal non-elemental damage will now apply additional elemental damage based on the damage stats for said elements.
  • Power ‘trait_elemental’ now works with all damage types (despite the name). Any additional damage bonuses for the specified damage type will apply on top of the converted damage.
  • Added ‘percent_exact’ to requires_hpmp_state and requires_resource_stat_state in Powers.
  • Added ‘on_active_power’ to passive_trigger property and ‘can_trigger_passives’ property for Powers.
  • Added ‘passive_effects_persist’ property to Powers.
  • Added ‘expire_power’ Power property.
  • Added ‘hero_level’ / ‘source_level’ and ‘hero_stat’ / ‘source_stat’ modes to map enemy & power ‘spawn_level’ properties. They take a single value as a multiplier and are intended to replace the ‘level’ and ‘stat’ modes.
  • Added ‘state_hold_mode’ property to Powers.
  • Added ‘ignore_resist’ property to powers/effects.txt config.
  • Added ‘spawn_requires_unlocked_power’ property to Powers.
• Maps
  • Added procedural map generation.
  • Add wander_radius and waypoints support for map NPCs
• UI
  • Horizontal list widgets can now display 2 or fewer options at once
  • Added ‘default_zoom_level’ property to menu/minimap.txt config.
  • Added support for developer mode command shortcuts.
  • Added ‘powers_overlap_slots’ to menu/actionbar.txt config.
  • Added ‘background_offset’ to menu/config.txt config.
  • Added a game filter for the inactive mods list in the Configuration menu.
  • Added ‘inactivemods_filter’ to menu/config.txt config.
  • Added ‘preview_enabled’ and ‘preview_pos’ to menus/inventory.txt config.
  • Added ‘font’ property to engine/combat_text.txt config.
  • Stats on the character page are now organized by categories: Core, Offense, Defense, and Misc.
  • Speed and Attack Speed are now able to be shown in the Character menu.
  • Added ‘tab.text_padding’ to engine/widget_settings.txt config.
  • Added ‘enabled’ property to Char/Inv/Pow/Log menus for modders that wish to prevent the player from opening those menus.
  • Added ‘upgrade_button_offset’ property to menu/powers.txt config.
  • Added auto-loot configuration option.
  • Dynamically-sized dev console with new config file.
  • Added prompt for language on first launch.
  • Added ‘show_permadeath’ option to menus/gamenew.txt config.
  • Added ‘log.padding’ property to engine/widget_settings.txt config.
  • Added ‘sound.activate’ property to engine/widget_settings.txt config.
  • Added tooltip text for items that prevent use of other equip slots.
  • Added ‘enable_gamepad_nav’ property to menus/actionbar.txt config.
  • Added cinematic map title display, configured via menus/region_title.txt.
  • Added ‘sort_stock_buy’ property to menus/vendor.txt config.
  • Added optional sort button to inventory and stash for sorting by type, quality, level, and sell price.
  • Added tooltips for stat and power upgrade buttons.
  • The “Play Game” button on the title screen now goes directly to character creation if no saved games exist.
  • Added 'wrap_before' property to menus/activeeffects.txt config.
• Input
  • New mouse movment behavior. Click once to move the player to a target and, if applicable, interact with it.
  • Added game controller rumble option.
  • Added “in combat” LED effect for supported game controllers (i.e. Dual Shock 4).
  • Support using gamepad during initial launch menus.
  • Added ‘cycle_menus’ keybinding to quickly open Char/Inv and Log/Pow menus.
  • Support navigating “multi-page” books with left/right inputs when possible.
  • Android: Enabled use of external input devices (gamepads, keyboards, mice)
• Misc
  • Damage Types and Elements have been combined. engine/elements.txt is still supported, but new mods should use engine/damage_types.txt.
  • Added ‘offscreen_enemy_encounters’ property to engine/combat.txt config.
  • Added backwards compatiblity option ‘passive_trigger_effect_stacking’ to engine/misc.txt.
  • Added ‘equipment_set’ property to engine/classes.txt config.
  • Added ‘fade_wall_alpha’ property to engine/misc.txt config.
  • Added ‘active_sub_frame’ property to animation definitions.

Engine fixes

• Crashes & Memory Issues
  • Fix potential crash in WidgetTabControl when trying to set an active tab when there is no tab already active.
  • Fix potential crash when tileset image can’t be loaded.
  • Fix leaked effect animations when an effect’s animation property was redefined.
  • Fix invalid memory access when consuming a corpse after a map change
  • Fix crash when a book has a blank text item
  • Fix memory leak from dropped loot
  • Fix memory leak when a power’s animation property was redefined.
  • Fix leaked animation when Power entire power was redefined.
  • Fixed crash in Power tooltips when base_damage was not defined.
  • Fixed infinite INCLUDE recursion in FileParser.
  • Fixed a crash when action bar slots weren’t defined.
  • Fixed potential crash if a hazard was created before the map loaded.
  • Fixed infinite loop caused by trying to move an entity before the map loaded.
  • Fixed crash in action bar when less than 12 slots were defined.
  • Fixed divide-by-zero crash when using NPC dialog groups.
• Exploits
  • Fixed bug where closing the game with the “Enter Amount” dialog open allowed for item duplication.
  • Fixed item duplication when mouse dragging an item while “Do not use mouse” is set.
• Gameplay
  • Fix bonuses to primary stats being incorrectly assigned when arbitrary resource stats are used.
  • Fix power.target_neighbor not using the starting_pos as the origin point.
  • Fixed behavior of target_neighbor when a Power wasn’t using ‘starting_pos=source’.
  • Fixed Power target validity not respecting the ‘movement_type’ property.
  • Fixed the origin point of post powers in some cases that would have them incorrectly use the caster’s position otherwise.
  • Fixed the direction of moving powers when the origin and target are the same point.
  • Fixed cooldowns not applying to the base power when using replace_by_effect.
  • Fixed replace_by_effect changing the active AI power mid-animation.
  • Fix regression that caused save_onload=false to have no effect.
  • Fix being able to talk to NPC allies after they die.
  • Prevent summons with zero base speed from teleporting with their summoner.
  • Added validation to player XP table parsing to ensure that XP thresholds are not less than those for previous levels.
  • Fix “resist_all” status effect causing unintended resource stat stealing.
  • Fix passive post powers activating even when their parent passive power is not active.
  • Fixed ‘ground’ movement type hazards not colliding with pits and small objects.
  • Fixed entities not entering death state when negative HP regen reduced their HP to 0.
  • Fixed corpses not disappearing into pits when killed with a critical strike.
  • Fixed incorrect speed of repeater powers when using a non-60 FPS cap.
  • Fixed incorrect activation of passive powers on death.
  • Fix unintended stacking in active effects display for effects that don’t have the same icon.
  • XP gain is now prevented after the initial death frame. This still allows for the player to revive if they die and level up on the same frame.
  • Fix bug where new saves were the wrong class and couldn’t attack when using a controller.
  • Fixed repeater powers having no effect if the first hazard hit a wall.
  • Fixed incorrect max summon limits when a power was unlocked/locked.
  • Fixed off-screen enemies not realizing they were dead until the player got close enough.
  • Non-stacking effects of the same magnitude are now ignored if the duration is shorter than the time remaining on the existing effect.
  • Fixed power ‘speed_variance’ behavior being dependent on max FPS.
  • Fixed ‘event.loot_count’ not working correctly when used in multiple events during the same frame.
• UI
  • Fixed equipment not being visible on the load game menu in cases where an item is shared across multiple equipment sets.
  • Display min/max damage and absorb stats on single lines in the Character menu
  • Show power base damage type in tooltips if no damage modifier is set
  • Fix incorrect power level being shown in the action bar tooltips for upgraded powers.
  • Fixed a case where tooltip graphics showed an incorrect right border when the text area was too wide.
  • A fallback language is now selected when the desired language is not available in engine/languages.txt.
  • Fixed cases where parts of WidgetSlider were being drawn outside the visible area.
  • Power tree backgrounds now align to the tab area if they are not the same size as the menu.
  • Fix not being able to pick up loot with the mouse if the loot animation was looped.
  • Fix invisible icons in Powers menu when using gamepad/touch controls.
  • The text for dialog options now respects the ‘font_dialog’ property in menus/talker.txt.
  • Fixed books not closing properly when trying to load another book with an invalid filename.
  • Fixed combat text being shown for zero damage reflect.
  • Primary stat upgrade buttons are now hidden in the Character menu if the cooresponding label is hidden.
  • Fixed single-line text having the top/bottom “cut off” with certain fonts.
  • Fixed delete save dialog being shown underneath buttons on load screen.
  • Fixed case where stash tabs could be switched while dragging an item.
  • Statbars (including the enemy HP bar) now position the numeric text relative to the fill graphics.
  • Improved the behavior of determining which enemy health bar to show when several enemies are in close proximity.
  • Fixed the height calculation of the NPC dialog text box with several actions/topics.
  • Removed the gamma setting from the configuration UI (it can still be changed via the config file, for now)
  • Reduced spam of identical combat text messages.
  • Fixed a case where replaced powers were not being enabled when switching equipment sets.
  • Item quantity menu now wraps around when using the increment/decrement buttons.
  • Fixed HUD log blocking clicks when an overlayed message expires due to time.
  • Android: Added a dialog to direct the player to the wiki page for installing if no game data is found.
• Animations
  • Fixed attempt to load default ‘male’ animations initially, even if they would be replaced by engine/hero_options.txt.
  • Removed 1-frame delay between when the player activates a power and when they change animation state.
  • Fix single-frame “back_forth” animations taking an extra frame to complete.
  • Attempt to fall back to default values if base/head graphics don’t exist for a hero option.
• Sound
  • Increase default audio playback samplerate to 44100Hz from 22050Hz. This can now be adjusted in the user’s settings.txt file.
  • Fix case where sounds may be unloaded prematurely if they were playing during certain sitations.
  • Fixed volume of power and entity sounds not being attenuated based on distance.
• Input
  • Fix input state not being correctly reset after using a gamepad analog control
  • Fixed mod-specific default keybindings not loading when user resets configuration to default.
• Performance
  • Implemented caching for event scripts to avoid repeated loading from disk.
  • Added threaded image loading to speed up load times. Can be turned off in the Video options if there are any issues.
• System
  • Fix unintended file appending when loading mod metadata
  • Errors in saved fog-of-war data no longer causes a forced exit & mod reset.
  • Android: Fix ‘Flare’ directory not being automatically created.

Game updates

• New, higher resolution art work:
  • Map tilesets (including new “Ruins” tileset)
  • Character, enemy, and NPC animations
  • Power animations
  • User interface
• Limited the number of “unique” items that can drop from a boss to 1 per kill.
• Rebalanced damage types to be less reliant on weapon stats. Players start with 15-20 damage and gain 2 per level. To compensate, weapons now have 10 base damage with an additional 3 per item level.
• Increased starting MP and MP per level by 5x. Increased starting MP regen by 5x.
• Changed MP regen per level to 1 and MP regen per Mental to 3.
• Changed starting damage for Melee/Ranged/Mental to 15-20, with an additional 2-2 per level.
• Raised the number of power points granted per level to 2.
• Only require the first level of any given power that’s required to unlock another power/upgrade.
• Lowered stat requirements for all active powers. Requirements start at 2 or 3 and increase by 3 for each upgrade level.
• New item: ‘Tome of Second Chances’. Used to reset the player’s stat and power points. Can be purchased from Florin.
• Wooden figurines now grant +15 to their respective primary stats instead of a damage/absorb bonus.
• More gradual MP cost slopes for all active powers
• Rebalance Warrior active powers
  • Shield Bash: Reduced crit chance to 25%. Added 25% chance to stun for half a second. Damage starts at higher at 115% and increases 15pp per level
  • Blood Strike: Damage starts at higher at 130% and increases 5pp per level. Bleed effect now increases 2pp per level.
  • Warcry: Raised overall MP cost, but effect lasts longer. Starts at 30s and increases 5s per level. Flat cooldown of 10s after the effect expires.
  • Throw Knife: Damage starts lower at 75% and increases 5pp per level. Accuracy bonus added, starting at 130% and increasing 5pp per level. Critical bonus added, starting at 40% and increasing 5pp per level.
  • Cleave: Damage starts lower at 75%, but still increases by 15pp per level.
  • Quake: Damage starts lower at 75% and increases 10pp per level. Knockback is now a constant 15. Stun chance is now 75% and increases 500ms per level.
• Rebalance Ranger active powers
  • Haste: Raised overall MP cost, but effect lasts longer. Starts at 30s and increases 5s per level. Flat cooldown of 10s after the effect expires.
  • Piercing Shot: Damage now increases by 15pp per level.
  • Multishot: Instead of increasing damage per level, the number of projectiles now increases per level. Level 1 starts with 2, and increases by 1 for each level. The size of the arc has been reduced, and some angle/speed variance has been added.
  • Rapid Fire: Damage starts higher at 50% and increases 10pp per level. There is now a flat 80% accuracy modifier.
  • Caltrops: Lifetime increased to 60 seconds. Can now hit multiple targets. Damage starts lower at 55%, but gains 10pp per level. Slow effect duration starts higher at 5s, and each level now grants an extra 500ms.
  • Bear Trap: Lifetime increased to 60 seconds. Damage starts higher at 140%, but still increases by 15pp per level. There is now a 25% chance to inflict bleeding (5% damage-over-time for 5 seconds).
  • Ember Shot: Damage now increases by 3pp per level. Now inflicts -75% to the targets' fire resistance.
• Rebalance Mage active powers
  • 800ms cooldown for Burn, Freeze, and Thunderstrike
  • Fireball: Damage starts at 130% and increases by 15pp per level.
  • Ice Bolt: Damage starts at 110% and increases by 10pp per level. Slow duration increases by 1s per level.
  • Shock: Damage starts at 120% and increases by 10pp per level.
  • Burn: Damage starts at 80% and increases by 10pp per level. Add chance to inflict fire weakness for 5s. Chance increases per level.
  • Freeze: Increased speed and number of shards. Damage starts at 80% and increases by 10pp per level. Slow duration increases by 1s per level. Add a chance to inflict ice weakness to nearby enemies for 5s.
  • Thunderstrike: Increased target range. Damage starts at 90% and increases by 10pp per level. Spawns 6 projectiles that have a chance to stun.
  • Shield: Increased overall MP cost
• Rebalanced passive powers:
  • Stone Wall: Initial HP bonus raised from 25 to 100. Each level now grants 50 instead of 25.
  • Wolf’s Eye: Crit chance per level decreased from 3pp to 2pp. Accuracy per level raised from 10pp to 15pp.
  • Energy Flow: Initial MP regen bonus raised from 15 to 75. Each level now grants 50 instead of 15.
• New Warrior powers:
  • Vampirism: Grants a temporary buff to the HP Steal stat
  • Rupture: Creates a fissure that debuffs avoidance, absorb, and poise.
  • Enchanted Blade (passive): Bonus dark damage
• New Ranger powers:
  • Charged Shot: Slower firing, but more damage and knockback. Can immobilize and has a chance of a crit on slowed targets.
  • Poison Shot: Shoots a weak arrow that makes a poison cloud on impact. Damage over time is weak, but long lasting.
  • Scavenger (passive): Bonus gold and item find
• New Magician powers:
  • Mystic Blast: Dark damage projectile. Applies increased dark resistance in exchange for a weakness to other elemental damage on the target. Can stack 3 times.
  • Summon Skeleton: Summon up to 5 skeletons (number of skeletons is based on power level). Each skeleton summoned reduces the player’s MP pool.
  • Barrier (passive): Bonus elemental resistance
• New procedurally generated dungeon: Iron Labyrinth
• New item rarity: Mastite. These are powerful items with randomized stat bonuses.

Translation updates

• German (de) update (Iwan Gabovitch)
• Spanish (es) update (Jacobo Feijóo, Julvenzor, Eugenio Martínez Seguín, Gi0n)
• Finnish (fi) update (Jaakko Muilu)
• French (fr) update (Emile Jeannin)
• Scottish Gaelic (gd) update (GunChleoc)
• Hindi (India) (hi_IN) by Ansh Mishra
• Korean (ko) update (ks k)
• Polish (pl) update (Marcin Serwin)
• Russian (ru) update (berry)
• Slovak (sk) update (Eliška Žillová)
• Swedish (sv) update (Kevin Setterborn)
• Thai (Thailand) (th_TH) by Pattaraporn Tripiyaratana
• Vietnamese (vi) update (Đoàn Mỹ)
• Chinese (Taiwan) (zh_TW) by Benson