Hi everyone!

The first update / patch of 2025 is live.
Here are the most important changes and improvements.

• New Style Maps (Kick, Spear, Dash, Dagger)
  As before, even if you've already discovered some of the moves, it's worth trying to repeat all the moves available on the Style Maps to understand the move and how to repeat it consistently. Style Maps are unlocked in pairs when you reach the four main hubs:
  
  • Ignorance (Jump & Sword)
    
  • Hubris (Slide & Bow)
    
  • NEW Obsession (Kick & Spear)
    
  • NEW Wrath (Dash & Dagger)
  
• Save Profiles
  You don't have to reset your save to start over, just choose one of two additional save slots in the new Profiles menu located on the Title Screen. Your best time and score will be submitted to leaderboards regardless of the current save file. Your settings remain the same across all save slots.
  
  
• Renewed behavior of The Armless Knight
  The original version was too focused on backstabbing + his inability to do much against an airborne player made him seem rather passive for a boss fight. Now, The Armless acts more like a proper enemy, with a number of new additions to his move set and fewer opportunities for cheese to make the fight feel fairer. Experienced Knights can still style the hell out of our old friend ;)
  
  

• Improved grapple auto-aiming in the air. Previously, the grapple would prioritize grapple points over enemies over objects (barrels, the orb). Now the object/enemy closest to your aiming direction wins.
  
• Added a special sound clue when the dagger cooldown ends.
• Added a Flawless icon during gameplay. Appears above the rank letter when all enemies are killed + no damage + no falls with a special sound. There's a little gray area with falling and burning enemies, they are still presumed dead when the orb is destroyed, but the icon will ONLY show when all are actually dead.
  
• Pullable enemies can't block your dagger pull from behind. For example, you can backstab-pull a Blessed Lancer or Blessed Deadman if you're fast enough to catch them from behind.
  
  
• Soul Dash (dashing to a weapon right through an enemy) now works on knocked out enemies. No one will ever use it intentionally, but it's now possible :)
  
• Bow throw charge time reduced. Throwing a bow still takes a bit longer because it is the only weapon that stuns enemies on collision, but it should now feel less like a forced delay.
  
• Fated Strikes are followed by a special sound and quick a dark vignette. The effects are subtle so as not to interrupt the existing flow, but to give a few more clues as to when such a special move was performed.

• Small rearrangement. I moved some of the newer gameplay settings to a new Advanced menu to make the gameplay options less overwhelming by separating the fine-tuning settings.
  
• Added the Show Timer option to the new Advanced menu. Now you can turn on the speedrun timer once and for all. Especially less hassle with Steam decks/controllers.
  
• Optimization of the in-game timer, as we can now enable it in the options to stay on screen indefinitely.

• Fixed eye-poking launch direction (Rising Vertigo). Now it’s not possible to send yourself flying backwards when stabbing the eye with a spear, the direction of the launch is based on your look direction and not relative to the center of the eye.
  
• The Lancers' skyfall strike is fixed. They won't sit and wait in the void forever if you don't move.
  
• King Ballista arena tweaks. Fixed navmesh for enemies and bigger collider for the exit portal to make the final move a bit less stressful.
  
• Added an experimental fix falling through the floor physics bug (usually would happen upon landing between wooden platforms from a height).
  
• Fixed a camera bug when performing a chain dropkick very close to an enemy. Slightly improved Heavies' model clipping when dropkicking by increasing the distance from enemies with larger proportions.
  
  

If you want to help me with the future patches/update by playing them earlier feel free to join my Shady Knight Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Don't forget to #pick-your-role @BETA_builds to be pinged when there's a new build.
  
• The BETA builds discussions are on #experimental-shady channel.

That's all for now, and as always, thank you so much for playing <3
I will see you in the next update!

Yours,
cptnsigh

Hi everyone,
Just a small update for the new Practice elements : )
Welcome to Practice Arena!

• Music Theme option added to Arena Options. The default is the HUBRIS theme and now you can choose your favourite from Cravenness, Ignorance, Wrath and of course Obsession.
  
• Added a few Weapon Sigils, one on the first floor and a couple in good places to practice your tangent wallkicking skills.
  
• Slightly changed the 'basement' part of the map with a new way to reach the top floor.
  
• The "Start With" option will only switch your weapon to the selected one when you change the option (instead of every time you pause the game) and on quick restart.
  
• The Practice Arena and the first two Style Maps (Jump & Sword) are unlocked immediately upon reaching Ignorance. The last two Style Maps (Slide & Bow) are unlocked after entering the Hubris.

• Fixed rare Strike Cancel bug on weapon throw.
  
• Fixed. The Leaders menu item wasn't hidden for Style Maps.
  
• Removed development texture on Sword Style.
  
• And a few minor UI bugs related to the new Practice menus.

Happy Holidays!
cptnsigh

Hi everyone,
The final update for 2024 is here!
This is a special level for you to set up a fight with a number of enemies and a weapon of your choice to test your skills in different combat scenarios.

• You can spawn a bunch of Headless Knights and practice each weapon on them,
  
• Make a 1v1 duel with a Blessed Lancer to learn his behavior,
  
• Find all the ways to deal with shields and blessed enemies,
  
• Practice your parrying skills with a God Mode ON,
  
• or Air Parrying on our jumpy spider friends,
  
• at last, simply set all to random and just jam on this improvised endless arena!

In the arena, you can find combat hints and try them out on enemies right away.
Shady Knight is a game of many hidden contextual moves so there are always different missing bits that may be useful for different players.

• Type (an enemy type to spawn): Headless, Spider, Deadman, Archer, Lancer, Heavy or RANDOM
  
• Count (max number of active infinite spawners): up to 5 enemies
  
• Blessed: No, Yes, RANDOM (spawn a regular or a blessed version of the type)
  
• Shielded: No Shield, Fire, Stun, RANDOM

• Start With (weapon): No Weapon, Sword, Bow, Spear and the last bonus weapon
  
• God Mode: Off, On (you still can take damage but you can't die, you will see if the damage was lethal)
  
• UPD Music Theme

Learning new skills and contextual moves by experimenting with your controls under pressure has always been part of the Shady Knight experience. This also means that some moves that can make your path much more controlled can be overlooked until very late in even harder levels.

To open the door a bit to how even the simplest action like jumping can change your approach to combat, there are four new special practice maps that cover the main style points for two base actions and two weapons:

• Jump Style explains Object/Head Boosting, Jump Slam, etc.
  
• Slide Style features Slide Bash, Slide Slam, etc.
  
• Sword Style to learn Ground Pound and one of my absolute favorite fated strikes, the Areal Slash
  
• Bow Style players of the old demo may remember a move called Rapid Fire, its variation is still in the game ;)

Let me know if you like them and if these maps teach you something new!

For many years, my New Year's resolution has been to finally release the game,
so I guess I'll have to get creative this time.

As always, thank you so much for playing <3
If you enjoy my game, please don't forget to leave a review, this helps a lot to keep supporting it!

I'll be back next year with more shady updates, Happy Holidays!

Yours,
cptnsigh

Hi everyone, just a quick update to the backup feature with a few fixes.

• Improved "backup" command. Here's an updated guide in case your save file is corrupted and you can't spawn properly on a level.
  
• A small change to the "reset" command. It will only reset your save file, leaving your options, bindings and backup data intact.
  
• To completely reset the game there's a new "resetall" command.

• Fire jars would ignite enemies on your next run if broken a moment before quick restart.
  
• Weapons stuck in fragile floors would float in the air when the floor was destroyed.
  
• Air Kick during a high momentum fall would not give you a proper knockback.
  
• Blue Fist Glyph (Charged Strike) would stay on screen when using Spear or Shield after performing some moves (e.g. after a Strike Cancel or Parry).

The demo build is now up to date with all the latest fixes and new moves : )

Yours,
cptnsigh

Let's start with the craziest addition that I can't get enough of.
Some may already knew that it is possible to parry fall damage, as any physical strike How to... Consistent Sword Parry

And while it was a fun option to save your flawless run after a high fall, the flow was broken as you had to climb ALL the way back, meaning the risky parry move wasn't really rewarding. Until today.

• Gravity Parry lets you bounce right back into the fight to the height you fell from, if you're willing to take the risk!
  
  
• It is also possible to trigger the ground parry from a smaller fall (Gravity Denial), if you have your parkour charged. Great way to add even more style to your fights!
  
  

Another dimension for your chained dagger action! You can pull and even slam your enemies sideways!

• Aim left or right while chaining an enemy and enjoy his gracious directional fall (or slam, if your positioning is perfect ;)
  
• The chain visuals have been updated to ensure your view is never blocked when looking left or right while chaining an enemy.
  
• A special red blink has been added to indicate the threshold at which you can slam and dropkick.
  
  

• Improved grounded Weapon Dash consistency. You can't dash while grounded to a weapon that's airborne, so to avoid accidental fling offs, the grounded weapon dash was always meant to be your safe option to switch weapons as opposed to the risky but omnidirectional airborne dash.
  
• Object boost is more stable (no more weak boosts when jumping off a barrel while falling).
  
• Enemy (head/body) boost is slightly stronger when you have some horizontal momentum (to match the feel of the object boost and make it more comfortable).
  
• Wallkicking and Boosting now restore your mid-air Weapon Dash. If Dash Recovery can do that, why can't these? ;)
  
• Nerfed consecutive Head Boost (it's a parkour move after all!) + Lancers and Heavies have unique reactions to it.
  
• You can find experimental Stun Jars on Strong Stance.

• SSS ranks highlighted with a color in the Hubs Selection Menu for a quicker progress check.
  
• Also added a new special glow effect for the SSS rank on the results screen to make it stand out from other ranks.
  
• Your entry in the leaderboards is highlighted with a color.
  
• Added new option "Strike Cancel" to Gameplay Options, you can set it to On Tap, 0.2s (hold) or Off completely if you never use it other than accidentally.
  
• Changed debug menu open method for Steam Deck / Controllers: hold both left and right triggers for a second.

• Blessed Spider's explosion can be blocked by enemies and breakables, so there's a small chance that a knocked deadman could become your bodyguard.
  
• When you're in the air, enemies won't jump to reposition themselves if they're too close below you, preventing unfair damage in some tight spaces.
  
• Nerfed consecutive Head Boost, it was too overpowered for a parkour move and too safe of an option on later enemies + Lancers and Heavies also have unique reactions to your next attempt at consecutive boosts.
  
• The armless knight skips the 'wait' phase, which I don't think anyone would miss, since it was misinterpreted as a bug rather than a threatening state as I originally intended :)

• Chain Sweeper (directional pull), pull an enemy sideways with the chained dagger.
  
• Wall Slam (directional enemy slam).
  
• Gravity Parry a fall damage parry (high fall).
  
• Gravity Denial a parkour-charged gravity parry from a smaller fall.
  
• and Underslide for a slide between Heavy's legs ;)

If you are paying with mouse & keyboard and have another input device connected that is causing these issues, but would prefer to keep it connected, you can disable "Mixed Inputs" by holding F2 at any time. This will prevent the game from reading ANY inputs from other devices that may be causing the incorrect inputs.

• 1/2 A thrown sword is less likely to get stuck in edges, and even if it does...
  
• 2/2 the dash is also improved to prevent clipping the floor/walls.
  
• No more accidental tangent wallkicks on sloping walls when aiming down.
  
• PARRYCORE Achievement fixed. If you don't have the achievement, but are sure you've parried all five enemy types, try deflecting/parrying another arrow and the achievement should be yours.
  
• Fixed another bug where arenas would end before the last enemy was dead (some specific enemy deaths counted as double deaths).
  
• Fixed a bow parry bug where your stored/fallback weapon wouldn't equip after a parry bow drop.
  
• Fixed a rare bug when you move to a wrong position due to a climb while dashing or dash while climbing.
  
• Fixed a rare Weapon Dash double boost bug.
  
• Fixed a rare frame-perfect quick-restart-during-level-fading bug when the results screen wouldn't show your time.
  
• Fixed a small debug/speedrun timer bug where it would stop counting deaths for a moment after destroying an orb.

That's it for now! I've been working on the practice areas and once again the amount of fixes based on your feedback has reached a critical point + I just couldn't wait to share the Gravity Parry! As always, feel free to share your thoughts and thank you so much for playing!

See you in the next update!

Yours
cptnsigh

Let's celebrate
Thank you all for your awesome support!
And thank you for nominating Shady Knight for this year's Steam Awards!

Such a perfect time for this artful community update from Katezillla,
the 2D artist behind all the epic shady arts:

And if you want to decorate your shady profile, there are: backgrounds, animated avatars, and my personal favorite, the chained frame!

Collect cards, Craft badges, Get rewards. You can learn more about trading cards here: http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/tradingcards/

There's no true triumph in Shady Knight without a path of countless falls, and there's a fun category specifically for that kind of games!

When you reach the flawless state, it's a very special feeling. Quickly dealing with things that seemed untouchable at first. Parrying even the craziest blows. Falling hundreds of times before pulling sick mid-air combos.

You can become a truly unstoppable force of style, and if you know the feeling, please consider nominating Shady Knight for the upcoming Steam Awards!

I've put too much of myself into making this mad mix of physicality, first-person trickery and melee mechanics work as ONE and I'm so happy to see players resonating with the gameplay I've always dreamt of making. Thank you all so much!

I'll be back soon with new updates <3

Yours
cptnsigh

Hi everyone!
I've been working on the new practice mode and I still need more time to finish it.

In the meantime, I've prepared a ton of neat weapon improvements, style point fixes, bug fixes and more.

If you've ever had that moment when you're charging up a strike and suddenly there's no one to hit, or you've changed your mind on the fly, you've had no choice but to release your strike. That was before...

Now you can cancel the current attack (while charging/holding it) by pressing an opposite key (throw/strike). Each weapon has a special spin animation to indicate the cancellation and add a new verb to your creative expression : )

• Slightly reduced cooldown after grappling an enemy (when grounded and mid-air),
  
• Holding jump while finishing the chained dropkick allows you to get a vertical boost (instead of a knockback)! It's a small special variation to the move to make even crazier combos possible.

• Now you can fire the basic bow shot MUCH faster, this quick shot does less damage (like with a quick sword slash), but allows you to juggle enemies and react quickly to jumping enemies, or you can wait a bit and charge it for full damage,
  
• A jump instantly charges your first basic bow shot to the full damage,
  
• Added new sound for the Rapid Three strike.

• Your first move on a jump should always be Stingray (the piercing move). There was an inconsistency where you would charge Sweep instead. Fixed now.
  
• Fixed. Spear clipping trough walls when thrown too close to a surface,
  
• Fixed small visual bug when spear appears more thick.

• Stamp is triggered not only by knocked enemies, but also by jumping enemies,
  
• Stamp Slam is more consistent,
  
• Air Parry now works with the shield(there was no knockback in the air).

There are special achievements for unlocking ALL style points in each category (Actions, Parkour, Chaos, Bonus). These achievements are really hard, but having 0.0% completion in 3 out of 4 of them seemed very suspicious. If you are just one or two style points short in some categories, you should be able to unlock them now! Hints below:

• Fixed Object Slam style point,
  
• Fixed two missed chaos points: Flaming Domino, Friendly Fire,
  
• Fixed Crashed. Now called Surface Bounce (it's a non-lethal crashing kick).

Other SP changes:

• Fixed the description for Crashing Kick (it only triggers when lethal),
  
• Kicked Arrow is now Kick Parry (a well-timed kick to send back an arrow or blessed heavy projectile),
  
• Added New Air Parry style point. This move deserves its own <3

• You can slide immediately after an edge climb (just hold the key in advance, like with slide on land),
  
• You can slide immediately after dashing to a grounded weapon,

• Improved Headless. They can now turn 180 and slash when you approach (you don't have to collide with them, they'll hear you). Now they are more comfy, to practice parry for example,
  
• It takes a bit less time for Deadmen to turn around after their pierce strike.
  
• You can't slam a barrel if there's no ground underneath it, you'll just pull it towards you instead (just like with enemies),
  
• Debug/Speedrunning. Hold TAB to activate in-game timer with a kill counter.

• Jumping off Ropes & Chains is now triggered on button press (not on release) to avoid accidental jumping off.
  
• The Ropes & Chains option is hidden from the options as it only works for keyboard & mouse controls.

Whew... that was a big one.

Let me know how the new Strike Cancel feels. At first I only made one animation (for the sword) as a test and was wondering if it was worth including in this patch, but when I turned it off I immediately missed this feature, sounds like a good sign!

Yours.
cptnsigh