In case you missed the memo, No Rest for the Wicked from Moon Studios (the Ori games' developer) is back on track with its largest content update yet. Following some publishing rights kerfuffle, there was a big question mark on the project for a little bit, but all is well now: Moon Studios is now a totally independent operation, with No Rest for the Wicked its own bespoke production.

This is particularly good news if you've been eagerly anticipating the fancy new Breach content update for No Rest for the Wicked. We'll get into the nitty-gritty of what The Breach is and what it isn't below, but the gist of it is that it's a massive retrofit of Wicked with effectively twice the content it has had up until now. Furthermore, it's a sign of what else is to come, now that Wicked is back on track.

Basically, there's never been a better time to jump into No Rest for the Wicked. Even though the game's not in its 1.0 release build yet, we can happily recommend it to anyone that's been on the fence 'till now. Here's why!

The Breach Update - Truncated Patch Notes

First things, then. If you'd like to take a look at the full, unedited patch notes, we recommend checking out the official Moon Studios post over on the forum. For those who'd like a more practical idea of what's up, here's our truncated patch summary:

• Nvidia DLSS 4.0 support (Transformer model).
• Substantial performance improvements across the board via improved asset preloading, culling, and memory allocation (among other things).
• Steam Deck-specific performance improvements due to tessellation optimization and beyond.

Broadly, we're looking at a much more performant game that runs better basically across the board. With improved upscaler support for Transformer-based DLSS, even those that need to rely on Nvidia's upsampling should get to enjoy massively improved image quality. Best of all, we're happy to report that the game now runs fairly well on the Deck, which is excellent news.

• In-Line Hint system, fully optional.
• Improved Item preview UI.
• Improved skyboxes.
• Better depth-of-field behavior.
• Introduced various types of dogs to the city of Sacrament (all pettable).
• A massive list of new Sacrament dialogue.
• Enemies now drop new Experience Orbs which are then subsumed by the player character.
• Better Copper Ore nodule availability across the overworld.
• One-time Key Items now disappear from the inventory after they've been used up.
• New combat HUD with a stagger bar and more.
• Auto-merged inventory stacks.
• Items stack up to 99 entries.

When it comes to quality-of-life improvements, then, The Breach is absolutely no slouch. In our experience playing Wicked, it's a much sleeker and more user-friendly game where difficulty doesn't come from excessive inventory management. Really, with The Breach, Moon Studios has shifted Wicked's in-built friction from the management side of things over to combat and traversal, which is obviously the superior option.

• New 'Weeping Sisters' questline.
• New 'Roots that Bind' questline.
• New 'Faith and Flame' questline.
• Hardcore Mode.
• 17 all-new Story Scenes (i. e. cinematics and cutscenes).
• 2 new Danger Zones: Lowland Meadows and Marin Village.
• The Hunter's Vale temporary Safe Zone.
• Nameless Pass has been upgraded with two new sections.
• Various new Dark Caves.
• 1 new purchasable House in Beggar's Alley.
• 1 new Sacrament trader: Ilaria.
• 4 new Marin Village traders: Dolan, Trello, Cyriel, and Irmgard.
• Plague System endgame mechanic (only available after completing all of The Breach's campaign content).
• New Gauntlet weapon type.
• New Wand weapon type.
• A wealth of new weapons for previously available weapon classes.
• A wealth of all-new Runes.
• 30 new armor sets.
• 3 all-new Campaign Bosses.
• 1 new optional side-Boss.
• 2 all-new enemy Factions: Balak Taw and Harvester.
• 6 new enemies for existing Factions.
• New music composed by Gareth Coker.

There's absolutely no shortage of exciting new content available in Wicked's Breach update, either. Expect a substantially larger roster of available goodies across the board, but the Plague System is the real kicker here, forcing players to re-clear revamped versions of previously cleared areas. More on that in a separate, dedicated post though!

• Weapon scaling has been reworked.
• Status Effects have been reworked.
• Hunger System has been reworked.
• Dodge mechanics have been reworked.
• Poise has been reworked.
• Armor and resistance mechanics have been reworked.
• Shields have been reworked.
• Danos' building projects can now be sped up via resource expenditures.
• Targeting improvements.
• Reworked certain Unique items.
• Enchantment system has been reworked.
• A phenomenally massive list of balancing changes.
• A phenomenally massive list of fixes and baseline game improvements.

Seriously, we cannot overstate just how large this game's new Breach update is. We're looking at effectively twice the amount of content previously available, and that's without taking account the key endgame-tier additions such as the Plague System, new factions, and all the fancy new loot. Sweet stuff, truly.

Is The Breach a good time to start playing No Rest for the Wicked?

The Breach is, then, basically a complete retrofit for No Rest for the Wicked. Almost every single gameplay and progression system has been touched upon, with more content added to the game than one could shake an elemental wand at. Such huge improvements do come with a cost, however: you will need to start Wicked anew if you've played it before, as none of the progress made in the previous build of the game can be converted over to The Breach build.

For those who'd like to wrap things up on their old saves, there's a silver lining present: "Reminder that all existing saves on live will no longer be available at launch of The Breach. You will need to use the crucible_legacy steam beta to access your old saves from Launch up till the Crucible update + Hotfixes," says the official clarification from Moon Studios.

So, you still have the option to continue playing on the old Crucible build of No Rest for the Wicked if you'd like to do so. Considering the sheer breadth of content available in the Breach build, though, we can't imagine why anyone would do so. It's just that good.

And on that note, there's truly never been a better time to start playing No Rest for the Wicked. Even if we disregard all the fancy new bits and bobs, the underlying experience is sleeker and more satisfying than ever before. This very well could have been the 1.0 build if Moon Studios didn't have much, much more to show before that stage of production rolls up.

Stay tuned for lots more on No Rest for the Wicked - right here at 2Game!