- Small Update v2.03 (Bug Fixes) - 31 August 2026
The 70th update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! Nothing crazy this update, just some various bug fixes and other small changes.v2.03 change list:The 'Stats' tab now reads as 'Level Up' when resting at a statueUpdate the Steam Connectivity API package to latest 2026 version for better Steam Deck compatibilitySteam Deck settings are now only automatically set once on first launch, rather than every time you enter the main menuUpdate the description of the Nightwing Cloak item to include the fire rate increaseThe Ghost Dog fight now always takes 120 seconds regardless of NG+ levelFix the Ghost Dog dropping more coins than expected in higher NG+ levelsFix the Spike Wall breaking in the Hall of Mistakes when dying on one of the buttonsFix credits post-screen scaling to higher resolutio…
- Steam Bullet Fest 2026 Update v2.02! - 8 June 2026
The 69th update for 'Shell of a King' is here for Steam Bullet-Fest 2026! Shell of a King will be 50% off for the full week, so it would be a great time to snag a copy! Some new cosmetic items and QOL changes this update, along with small but needed bug fixes. Hope you enjoy v2.02 of Shell of a King! v2.02 change list:Add new cosmetic charm item 'Rainbow Dye' that lets you choose any hair color via color picker. Can be found by the statue by the Wishing PoolAdd new cosmetic charm item 'Rainbow Clay' that lets you choose any cloak color via color picker. Can be found by the statue by the Reanimated Pot bossAdd new song for the Congealed Soulmass boss fight so he and Spinnel aren't sharing the same boss songAdd kill confirm option for Moby that lets you know you will not obtain the Aegean Flask. You still get the achievement if declinedAdd 1 sec of invulnerability when procing the headban…
- Small Update v2.01 (Bug Fixes) - 25 April 2026
Shell of a King v2.0 has been out for about 3 weeks, I hope you've enjoyed playing it if you've had the chance to check it out! The 68th update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! Nothing crazy this update, just some various bug fixes and other small changes. v2.01 change list:Add Cam Offset toggle tooltip in tutorialGive the player invulnerability during all boss death animations. Dying during these could cause missed achievements, and other triggers to failExtend invulnerability from 2s->30s for the Soldier Snakes boss yield phase, to prevent accidental Bad EndingsThe Soldier Snakes boss now drops coins on the yield phaseAttempt to fix bad UI scaling for UWQHD (3440 x 1440) resolution, specifically in the inventory, map, settings menus, and end creditsAttempt to fix the map not scal…
- Shell of a King v2.0 Is Now Available! - 2 April 2026
Super excited to announce that Shell of a King v2.0 is finally here, and with that, we are officially departing Early Access! It's been a long journey, and I wouldn't have made it here without everyone's support. So thank you, and I hope you enjoy v2.0 of Shell of a King! :)Note that the price of Shell of a King has been raised to $10 to reflect the finished state of the game. Soundtrack is also now available for purchase! Alternatively, you can find it on my youtube channel!What's next for Shell of a King?I consider Shell of a King in its current state to be very much a complete game. I'll of course fix bugs as needed, but aside from maybe a harder difficulty or a boss rush mode, I don't really have any future content planned. However, something I would like to add is translations for other languages. I'd do this properly by hiring actual native translators, which would take sizable fi…
- Regular Update 1.2y (More Music, Sounds, and Game Balance) - 13 March 2026
The 66th update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! This update is fairly large so any bug reporting is much appreciated! This will be the last update before full release on April 2nd! It's less than 3 weeks away now, but I still got some neat stuff lined up. Any sharing would also be much appreciated, thanks for your support! 1.2y Change List:Add new Auri phase 1 songAdd new Auri phase 2 songAdd new Auri phase 3 songAdd new afk'ing after death songAdd new Sthena phase 3 songAdd new pale munition songAdd new Mobius songAdd new Sthena true ending songAdd new Sthena secret room songAdd new true ending credits songAdd new pre Reanimated Pot songAdd new Greg saved songAdd new Queen's Garden song with mini boss fight musicAdd various ambient songsAdd the player's arms in the intro without…
- Regular Update 1.2x (More Visuals, Big Performance Improvements!) - 19 February 2026
The 65th update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! This update is fairly large so any bug reporting is much appreciated! The full release date of April 2nd is fast approaching! I'm working hard to try to get everything done by then, going to focus my attention on sound-related stuff for the next couple of weeks. 1.2x Change List:Major performance improvements everywhere by reducing 3D physics calculationsMajor performance improvements everywhere by manually removing all unnecessary shadows (this took forever)Significantly buff true ending Sthena. The second portion also has less invulnerability to speed up the fight.Add many new gameobject/detail visuals around the whole map, notably in the Hall of Mistakes, Sewers, Queen's Garden, and King's Ward.Add a new Coin Purse key item, which…
- Major Update 1.2w (NEW Minibosses, Secrets, and more!) - 22 January 2026
The 64th update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! This update is particularly large so any bug reporting is much appreciated! Note that your maps may look a bit strange, specifically in the King's Ward area. This is a result of me redrawing the whole map, sorry this should be the last time I mess with it! 1.2w Change List:Add a big scorpion mini-boss below the scorpion spawnerAdd ghost dog secret mini bossAdd sthena idol secret mini boss with Crumpled Page 5, with location hintAdd Pentaract Beacon mini boss sealing off the Shrine of SilenceAdd 4 new cloaks for the player, customizable via the Bronze Shears key item. Clean up the old cloak as wellAdd a new short afro hairstyleAdd the player's arms and gun to the inventory, reformatting the inventory slightlyAdd defence shred to enemy…
- Shell of a King, Full Release April 2nd, 2026! - 21 December 2025
Excited to announce Shell of a King will be leaving Early Access and will full release on April 2nd, 2026! Don't forget to add to your Wishlist! :) April 2nd may seem like a while from now, why so far away? I'm mostly working on the following: Rewrite a good portion of the soundtrack, while adding in all the missing songs. Also need to mix every trackMore polishing changes, adding more sounds, animations, visuals etcA couple more secrets and mini bossesOptimizing performance on PC, Steam Deck, and MacFix as many bugs as possiblePut in a solid attempt at marketingUpdate the wiki to match all the new changesOf course if you have any questions or suggestions about anything, feel free to reach out via the official Discord! Thank you all for taking an interest in Shell of a King!
- 1.2v Hotpatch - 13 December 2025
A hotpatch for update 1.2v for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord!A playtester found a softlock today ːsteamsadː this hotpatch is solely to fix the following:Picking up the Faded Remnant to trigger the Last Supper cutscene could cause an exception resulting in a soft-locked black screen. This is load-time dependent and is more susceptible on lower end machines such as Steam Deck.
- Regular Update 1.2v - 5 December 2025
The 63rd update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! 1.2v Change List:Add a reward for completing the fishing almanac: a new charm, the 'Heart of the Sea'!Add a memory game graves puzzle to the Meadow of Whispers for obtaining the Spectral StilletoAdd a Satchel reward after throwing 50 coins in the wishing wellAdd new swordfish idle and attack spritesAdd new bookcase tiles for better variation in the Grand Library and Infested LibraryAdd Auri drawing to the main menuAdd Soldier Snakes drawing to the main menuAdd black borders to the intro cutscene for non-16:9 resolutionsAdd inspect lore text to the lectern in the Meadow of WhispersAdd NPC dialogue icons for Sahn the False KingAdd bloom to the password door letters in the Grand LibraryAdd a gradual change to the global light color when…
- Regular Update 1.2u - 14 November 2025
The 62nd update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! Release date announcement trailer coming next week!1.2u Change List:Add a new death animation that matches the classic souls like deathAdd a new death 'jingle' with sound settings toggleAdd new hurt and death soundsAdd a dialogue pop-up when entering the Wishing Pool area with the Withered FlowerAdd new fishing animations for the playerAdd new fishing animations for SplitAdd item flavor text back in for all items, most with lore tidbits and item explanationsAdd static batching for all stationary game objectsAdd more particles to various roomsAdd more various soundsAdd new FX for lighting chainsDefault shadow setting back to All ShadowsNerf Vile Talisman buff from 4s -> 3sClean up intro cutscene drawings some more, I like how they're…
- Regular Update 1.2t - 25 October 2025
The 61st update for 'Shell of a King' is here! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord! Will be working on a release date announcement trailer soon!1.2t Change List:Add a new key item 'Bronze Shears', which lets you change the player's hairstyles while resting. It introduces 4 new hairstyles! This item drops from a slime in the northern part of Deep SewersAdd a new key item 'Scrawled Note', which tells you the types of damage you'll encounter in-gameAdd new map outlines for areas that you've discovered. This should improve map readability to make it clear where you haven't been yet.Add a map update pop-up for when you've entered a new areaAdd a new fullscreen shader for flashback-type cutscenesAdd new effects for laser attacksAdd a skull marker on the map marking the last place you've diedAdd a new look to the dialogue…
- Major Update 1.2s (Story Rewrite, Cutscenes, and Dialogue Polish) - 11 October 2025
The 60th update for 'Shell of a King' is here with a story rewrite and new cutscenes! The Shell of a King story remains fundamentally the same, but is tweaked to be more focused on present and future events, rather than the past. This should make it less cryptic and more interesting to play. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord!1.2s Change List:Recontextualize and modify the story to be more focused on present and future eventsAdd new intro lore dump cutsceneAdd new ending cutscene and ending screenAdd new wishing well flashback cutsceneAdd new last supper cutsceneAdd new throne room cutsceneAdd new cutscene for Sthena's intro coming from the Magus sideAdd new cutscene for Joue solving the sliding puzzle for youAdd new Auri music box cutsceneAdd new charm, 'Sword of Hearth and Home'Add the 'King's Study' behind the G…
- Update 1.2r (Boss polish) - 25 August 2025
The 59th update for 'Shell of a King' is here with boss polish/finalization! As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord!1.2r Change List:Add polish to ALL bosses in the form of visuals, sounds, boss rooms, cutscenes, and death spritesRework the Rock Snakes boss fightRework the final phases of the Rat Duo boss fightRework how Dear Sister acts when you get too closeImprove boss phase selection algorithm for King's Champion and GregoryShorten Pricilla stay-in-circle phase durations from 80s -> 60sReduce the Queen's Pet defence from 15 -> 13Add more various soundsAdd Faded Remnants to the NG+ start messageDefault Steam Deck to have shadows turned offHide the player's health bar while restingAdjust the size of the player's bullet sprites when using various weaponsAdjust the positioning of the water sides in the Swallowed CavesF…
- Major Update 1.2q (Environment Visual Refresh) - 2 August 2025
The 58th update for 'Shell of a King' is here with a ton more visual polish! This will make Shell of a King more performance-intensive, but I will be working hard to make it run as smoothly as possible. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones, please let me know via the official Discord!1.2q Change List:Add a ton of new environment objects, new tiles, particle fx, etcAdd Queen's Garden flashback cutsceneAdd viewable Sthena and Auri portraitsAdd a cave background to the Swallowed CaveAdd various new soundsAdd more attributions to the creditsAdd a bunch of unloading optimizations to account for the large number of new game objectsAdd more enemies/move some of them to fill out the world a bit moreAdd new key item 'Faded Remnant'. These are key items that raise the item drop rate of all enemies, notably they carry over to NG+ as well. 5 can be found in the Queen's Gar…
- Weekly Update 1.2p - 25 June 2025
The 57th weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official Discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks!1.2p Change List:Add player item visuals for the following items: Golden Bracers, Golden Yolk, Serpent Hunter, Spider Eye, Brightstone Ring, Twin Humanities, Soul Shaper, Bubble Shot, Vile Talisman, Book of Harvest, Stone Snake Soul, Stinky Sock, Spectral Stiletto, Golden Sword, Agate Dagger, Buster Katana, Staff of Horrors, Ballista Bolt, Essence of Fire, Essence of Water, Essence of Earth, Essence of Lightning.The Fishing bobbers get a new lookThe Angel Statue gets a new lookThe Statues in the Temple of the 8 get a new lookThe Fallen General ghost form gets a new lookShootable switches get a new lookThe one-way breakable wall separating the Queen's Garden from the M…
- Weekly Update 1.2o - 13 June 2025
The 56th weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official Discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks!1.2o Change List:Add a bunch of new soundsManually cull around half of the particle systems for performanceThe Colossal Cube now has a full boss health bar and tracks player deathsStatuses no longer display on a boss if they are displaying on the full boss health barStatuses appear under Slider and Zeke for the Solider Snakes boss fightAttempt to improve launch time by slowing some object pool creationOptimize charm equip checking when shooting for performanceAdjust the size of some enemy death effectsAdjust the volume of some recent soundsSplit now rounds his fish measurementsRemove the splatter particle effect for jumping fishThe player's small health bar now hides…
- Weekly Update 1.2n (9 new Charms!) - 6 June 2025
The 55th weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official Discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks!1.2n Change List:Add a new charm 'Spider Eye' drops from the hatched spiders in the Infested HollowAdd a new charm 'Stinky Sock' drops from the falling spiders in the Infested HollowAdd a new charm 'Golden Yolk' obtained from crushing golden eggs in the Infested HollowAdd a new charm 'Femur Whip' drops from the large red spider in the Infested HollowAdd a new charm 'Infant Sun' drops from the fire sprite in the Swallowed CavesAdd a new key item 'Spider Thread' drops from the hanging spiders in the Infested HollowAdd a new charm 'Book of Harvest' obtained from the Archivist bossAdd a new charm 'Vile Talisman' obtained from the Magus bossAdd a new charm 'Stone Snake Sou…
- Weekly Update 1.2m - 30 May 2025
The 54th weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official Discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks! 1.2m Change List: Add light attack sounds to all enemies and bosses (some of the complex bosses still need a few more) Add light footstep sounds that change dynamically based on terrain Add a flashing effect to the player when hit with damage Add a flashing effect to all enemies and bosses when they are hit with damage Add game setting to show screen shake effect, defaulted to on Add game setting to show enemy/player damage flashing, defaulted to on Add a mashing indicator and stuck message when getting stuck in a spider web Add screen shake effect when taking damage Add a bunch of other sounds, I didn't keep track Convert the egg room, throne room, and ending stairs…
- Weekly Update 1.2l (New Area, New Boss!) - 21 May 2025
The 53rd weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official Discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks! 1.2l Change List: Add a New Spider Boss, separating the Den of the Artificer from the Grand Library! Residing in the new Infested Hollow Area, this boss should be a solid mid-game boss, about as difficult as the Rat Duo. Add a new area, the Infested Hollow! This area features 7 new enemies and spider web terrain. Spiders have infested the lower part of the Grand Library. I felt like the Grand Library was the largest area, and the least interesting, so I split it into two regions. Add new achievement for new boss and for 'Boss Master' Add steam status rich text for the new Infested Hollow area Add falling bookcases to the Infested portion of the Grand Library Add new…
