The Breach update is out today for No Rest for the Wicked

Moon Studios has released the biggest update to date for their action RPG No Rest for the Wicked. Expanding on the game in Early Access, The Breach brings new areas to explore, more of the game’s narrative, new weapon archetypes and new enemies to battle.

The Breach area can be accessed by completing the Prologue and then progressing through the Campaign quests Sacrament, Of Rats and Raiders, Servant of God, and up to step 5 of Spoken and Unspoken.

For ardent players of the game, there’s also a new Hardcore Mode with permadeath enabled to up the ante even further, and there’s the introduction of the endgame Plague System. That comes alongside reworks of the Food & Hunger mechanic and revamped Status Effects in combat.

Of course, there’s also a healthy dose of more general improvements to the game, with Moon Studios rounding up bugs to squash, making performance improvements and optimisations, quality of life updates and balance changes.

Here’s the cliff notes from Moon Studios.

• Expanded Narrative Content – Brand-new quests and an extensive amount of high quality cinematic animation as the campaign unfolds across 18 new story scenes
• New Areas – Adding multiple unique environments nearly doubling the world size. With two new fully handcrafted areas, Lowland Meadows and Marin Woods including a dangerous new Blight hazard to avoid. Two new settlements filled with NPCs, called Hunter’s Vale and Marin Village, and a set of dark cave environments for the player to explore.
• New Gameplay Systems & Replayability – Introducing the endgame Plague System, a reworked Food & Hunger mechanic, and revamped Status Effects, adding depth to both combat and progression. 
• New Gear – A massive expansion with over 150 weapon options, up from 100 at launch, including new Gauntlet and Wand archetypes, multiple all-new armor sets, and a complete Shield rework.
• New Enemies and Bosses – Major additions to the game include, multiple new campaign bosses, 9 new plague bosses, 3 updated bosses, 2 new enemy factions, 9 new critters and much more.
• Hardcore Mode – An entirely new game mode with permadeath enabled for high-stakes gameplay.
• Major Performance Improvements –We’ve heard our community loud and clear and have made great improvements in the performance which includes DLSS 4.0, memory optimizations, reduced loading times, and smoother physics.
• Quality of Life Upgrades – Featuring updated item previews, tooltip improvements, fast travel enhancements, and more.
• Extensive Balance Changes – Covering weapons, armor, enemies, systems, and core progression.
• Enhanced Audio Experience – All new music composed by Gareth Coker, updated audio coverage and new voiceovers.
• Hundreds of Bug Fixes – Covering everything from crashes to collision issues, visual polish, quest logic, and more.

Thomas Mahler at Moon Studios said: “Our team has been working non-stop since our last major update and we couldn’t be more thrilled to meet you all in Isola Sacra once more. This update is packed-full of new content, quality of life improvements and features our community has been asking for. With The Breach, we’re one step closer to delivering the type of gaming masterpiece our fans have come to expect from Moon Studios.”

As Moon Studios originally signed and released the game into early access last year with Take-Two publishing label Private Division backing them, Take-Two’s decision to sell off Private Division left No Rest for the Wicked in a bit of limbo. Thankfully the Ori developer was able to buy acquire the rights and is now self-publishing the game.

We looked at the game with its original early access release, saying in our preview, “No Rest For The Wicked is a beautiful dark fantasy epic, and here at the outset of it’s journey through Early Access there’s very few reasons for you not to experience its dangerous charms.”

No Rest for the Wicked is out now via Steam Early Access on  PC, but can be wishlisted on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S for when a console release comes.