# ROYAL’S GAMBIT — PATCH 1.1 & SEASON 01 ARE LIVE! Patch 1.1 is one of our largest updates yet, introducing Season 01, five dangerous Royal variants, animated backgrounds, drag-and-drop card play, a rebalanced scoring system, and numerous controller and interface improvements. ## IMPORTANT SCORE AND SAVE NOTICE Patch 1.1 introduces a major scoring rebalance designed to give us more room for future reward cards, seasonal mechanics, and other score-altering content. Because scores earned under the original system cannot be fairly compared with scores earned under the new system: * Local high scores for every Chapter and Game Mode combination will be reset once when Patch 1.1 is first launched. * Any active in-progress run will also be removed to prevent a score created under the previous rules from carrying into the new scoring system. * Chapter unlocks, stage clears, achievements, and statistics unrelated to high scores will remain intact. This migration happens only once. ## SEASON 01 BEGINS Season 01 introduces five new Royal variants: **PLAGUED ROYALS** Their point value decays while they remain on the board, and the plague may spread to additional Royals. **SHIELDED ROYALS** Their shield completely absorbs an attack. If the Royal survives a later hit, its shield can reform. **BURNING ROYALS** Successful attacks can ignite cards in your hand. Burning cards gradually lose damage as you continue taking actions, and the fire may spread. **LIGHTNING ROYALS** Successful attacks temporarily disable cards in your hand that match the Royal’s suit. **FROZEN ROYALS** Overkilling one may freeze a random card in your hand. The greater the overkill, the longer that card can remain unavailable. Royal variants award additional points and become increasingly common as you advance through a run. ## SEASONAL CONTENT WILL STAY Season 01 is not temporary content. When the season ends, its Royal variants will remain available in the game. Players who prefer the original Royal’s Gambit experience can disable Season 01 from the New Game screen. Classic and Season 01 gameplay maintain separate high scores and statistics, while chapter unlocks and stage-clearing progress remain shared. ## DRAG-AND-DROP CARD PLAY Cards can now be dragged directly from your hand onto a Royal to play them. This works with individual cards or multiple selected cards, making mouse and touch-style play faster and more natural. If a dragged attack is invalid, the cards return cleanly to the hand. The existing drag-and-drop hand-reordering system remains available. ## NEW ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS New animated backgrounds have been added throughout Royal’s Gambit, bringing more movement, atmosphere, and variety to each run. ## SCORING REBALANCE Score values have been reduced across the game to provide more room for future rewards, seasonal mechanics, and score multipliers. While scores will initially be lower than before Patch 1.1, future content will provide new opportunities to push them higher again. ## THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone who has played Royal’s Gambit, shared feedback, reported bugs, posted videos, streamed the game, or joined our Discord community. This update took longer than we wanted, but we fully intend to keep supporting Royal’s Gambit with new content. Development of Patch 1.2 is already well underway! Slay the Royals, rebuild those scores, and enjoy Season 01!