1.13, the number of the beasts: Major patch for monster-bumping Auro

Story of my life, kid.

You’d think with all the digital ink we spilled over action-puzzle darling Hoplite, we’d have weighed in more definitively on Auro, Keith Burgun’s latest. Like Hoplite, Auro looks to be similarly focused on movement as the primary means of engaging enemies, with an aesthetic that’s equal parts weird fantasy and board game. Again, though, without an official spin through the Pocket Tactics Review and Candyfloss Centrifuge we’re not necessarily the ones to say.

You can lay part of the blame for that missing verdict on the fact that Auro still isn’t available on iOS, and part on the fact that, perhaps, a definitive version of the game hasn’t existed until recently. The version 1.13 patch is one of those great, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink patches which hazards to completely tear down a game in attempt to better highlight some core experience. Replacement of main abilities, matchmaking tweaks, all the way down to modification of AI movement code to remove randomness.

Regardless of whether or not you’re already playing Auro, or plan on it, you should check out Burgun’s detailed explanation for these recent changes on the Dinofarm Games blog. His breakdown is equal parts patch notes and design philosophy, and in describing not just what changes were made, but how those changes serve to make Auro more coherent, Burgun does an excellent job of communicating just what the game’s, like, about, man.

Here’s hoping Auro will make the jump to iOS soon. In the meantime: video after the jump.