Weapons now combine, One Hit Wonders split into Boons and Curses, cleanses removed, Thin Imps join the roster, and Furnace Tracker composing begins in earnest.
Welcome to the Little Devil August 2026 State of the Game update! Hello everyone, Michael here.
This one’s a big system month. Two of the game’s core loops, weapons and status effects, have effectively been rebuilt from the ground up. Let’s get into it.
⚔️ Weapon Combinations
The old Stackable system is gone. In its place, primary weapons can now be picked up twice and equipped two at a time through a new Inventory screen. Equip two different weapons and they merge into a combined effect. Equip the same weapon twice and it levels up to level 2.
😇 Boons, the New Positive Equipment
The old One Hit Wonder system has been retired and split into two clearer systems, Boons and Curses.
Boons are positive equipment that equips passively the moment you pick it up. That might be a new ability, like Hungry Bullets, which gives your bullets a pull that drags nearby enemies in, a companion like the Eye Demon or a Gluttony minion, or a straightforward stat upgrade like more damage or more speed. You can equip up to 3 Boons at a time, and equipping the same one more than once levels it up. Go all in on one, three Eye Demons at your side, or spread across three different Boons instead.
😈 Curses, Now Inflicted Rather Than Picked Up
Curses, the old negative One Hit Wonders, no longer sit in loot pools. They’re inflicted by enemies through specific attacks instead. Right now, the Jester’s homing attack inflicts Coulrophobia on a hit, and the Looky Lius’ shot inflicts Paranoia. More Curses are planned but didn’t quite make it into this build.
Curses come in two flavours, temporary and permanent. The harsher ones, like Cursed Controls, which reverses your inputs, are temporary and clear on their own after a short time. The other type are permanent until cured, and curing them means finding a Curse Nope, a new item that can be bought from Penny’s shop or dropped from Puzzle and Trial Room chests. One Nope clears every permanent Curse you’re currently carrying in one go, though it won’t touch anything temporary.
Everything, Curses, equipped Boons, and what your weapon combination is currently doing, is tracked through a brand new character status screen, which also has its own dedicated Curse Nope button.
🚫 Cleanses Removed
The Holy and Unholy Cleanse pickups have been removed from the game for now. They may return down the line if I land on a better way to use them, but for the moment they’re out.
👹 Gluttony Sharpens Up, and a New Face Joins
Gluttony’s fight has had a full pass this month, a new speed up and tightening on his behaviour that make the fight feel noticeably more alive and more dangerous.
The Thin Imp, previewed drawn and animated back in July, has now joined the enemy roster proper. He’s a smaller enemy in the same family as the Fat Imp, just thinner and considerably quicker.
🎨 A Fresh Coat of Hell
All of the game’s artwork has been re-shaded this month, and the dungeon doors have been completely replaced.
🛠️ Under the Hood
Loot drops have been reworked again so rooms are fairer about what they give and when. Companions now follow you properly through door transitions instead of losing sync mid-teleport. And there’s been a solid batch of bug fixes this cycle too, several around enemies and bullets misbehaving after being reused from the object pool. Not glamorous, but exactly the kind of thing that makes the game feel more solid to actually play.
🎵 Learning to Compose in Hell, Continued
With the big systems work largely in place, focus is shifting toward music and sound. I’ve been deep in Furnace Tracker, building things the authentic way with real FM and PSG chip synthesis rather than an approximation of it, and it’s already sounding a lot more genuinely 90s than I expected. More on that soon.
👑 A Quick Word on Pride
Pride is back on the workbench after being parked in July. He’ll arrive as an opt-in fight with his own throne-based projectile phases and his own set of summons, including a familiar face from the webcomic.
🎯 Eyes on Steam Next Fest
All of this, the weapon rework, Boons and Curses, the art pass, the music, is building toward Steam Next Fest in October. This playtest is a big part of getting there, so every bug report and every bit of feedback between now and then genuinely shapes what you’ll see in the Next Fest demo.
🔗 Little Devil August 2026: Stay Connected
That’s Little Devil August 2026 done. New weapons, new Curses, a cleaner status system, and a new enemy to watch out for. There’s probably more I’ve forgotten to mention, so if you spot something in game that isn’t listed here, that’s probably why.
🌐Website: littledevilgame.co.uk
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🌳All links: LinkTree
And if you haven’t wishlisted Little Devil yet, please do. It genuinely makes a difference. 🙏
Until next time, stay sinful. 😈
~ Michael “MI Pixel” Armstrong-Ingram
(And if you fancy some more unfiltered, personal drawing and dev life stuff outside of Little Devil, I’ve also been posting over on Mike-o the Psycho.)