Before we begin, If a twin-stick shooter with unique classes, giant enemy hordes, and over the top pixel art sounds fun, add it to your wishlist here: Store.steampowered.com
The Boons of Power
Wizards, demons, and shiny things abound in twin-stick action roguelike Boons & Burdens
As you battle your way through the layers of a forsaken, stinking, rotten, just plain no good, hellish dimension in Boons & Burdens (henceforth B&B), you'll accrue piles of shiny magical things (like in all good games before it). Between rounds you can use their shiny magical power to upgrade and learn new abilities - the titular "Boons." But upgrades don't work exactly the same as they do in other similar games.
Totem keystones allow the player to create powerful beacons around which to fight.
In B&B upgrades begin with a singular "Keystone Glyph." This keystone is the...ahem...key to unlocking a new talent tree. Put a point in a keystone, and you'll add two new glyphs to your upgrade pool from that talent tree. Each talent tree has 7 total glyphs, of which you can equip up to 6. Only 6 because each talent tree also has 2 "Signature Glyphs" and you may only select 1 of these per talent tree. Signature glyphs evolve your abilities in powerful, but divergent ways.
A purchased Quaking Totem Keystone unlocks 2 new boons that add powerful abilities, like "Fault Line"
In addition to all that, the glyphs themselves are structured quite a bit differently from a typical upgrade tree for an ability, each unlocking one or two more glyphs in a circular fashion around the central keystone. But aside from the signature glyphs, the direction you initially choose to go does not preclude you from unlocking the other glyphs eventually. That is if you can afford to.
Each glyph that you purchase increases the cost of all future glyphs. Keystone glyphs increase the cost more than signature glyphs, and signatures more than basic glyphs. There is no hard limit on the upgrades you purchase, only on the upgrades you can afford. But that's perfectly fine because you may not want every available upgrade in each talent tree anyway (said the fox to the obviously very sour grapes).
You see, glyphs aren't all just linear stat upgrades for the original Keystone. Instead, other glyphs can be entirely new abilities, and/or upgrades for other ability types you may have picked up along the way, all the while still complimenting the Keystone you initially unlocked. The same talent tree might offer a glyph that benefits rune builds and a glyph that benefits beam builds, and while both will improve your overall power, one might offer more bang for your buck for your current build.
A signature boon for the Crystal Construct creates an epic explosion, but precludes another power...
In this way, each run should allow you to choose different glyphs from the same trees to create unique synergies. Each choice representing a set of possible new synergies in other talent trees. And to cap it all off, each class of wizard has their own unique talent trees to add to the pool at the start, creating more choice and variation, across different classes, even when making a similar build. And that's not even mentioning the cursed keystones...
A sampling of the 130+ upgrades available on day one of Early Access
...Really, I'm not mentioning it (again). You'll have to find out for yourself when Boons & Burdens releases into Early Access on Steam on February 15th!
Add it to your wishlist here: Store.steampowered.com
