After the huge success of Balatro in 2024, we’ve seen several other adaptations of popular games into a similar roguelike format. One that speaks to my particular sensibilities is Aotenjo: Infinite Hands, a mahjong take on score-multiplying mayhem. Along with being a fun twist on the familiar game, its single-player spin makes it a good way to learn the basics of mahjong if you’ve always been perplexed by its ruleset. Now, a new Aotenjo update makes it an even more appealing proposition, reducing the risk of bad luck ruining your run and helping you climb the difficulty curve more gradually.
“It has been over two weeks since our game launched, and our team has been hard at work,” Aotenjo developer XO Cat writes. It explains that it’s “carefully read and discussed every piece of community feedback and reviews,” but wanted to focus on a more structured approach to updates rather than making smaller, more scattered adjustments. The new patch targets “core game mechanics, corruption mechanics, and boss adjustments” in an attempt to make the new roguelike even more enjoyable.
“We’ve noticed that for most players, the frustration of being unable to make a move far outweighs the disappointment of failing to achieve a high score,” XO Cat says. To help prevent bad luck from striking a great run with a round-ending pass, the initial discard limit has been increased to ten.
The leap from the game’s starting difficulty up to its next tier, Goose, was “too significant,” XO Cat says, “making Goose feel like an insurmountable wall.” The score requirement on Goose has been lowered by 30% across the board to help it feel like a smoother step up. A large number of the game’s run-altering artifacts have had the strength of their effects rebalanced or their rarity changed based on player feedback.
In addition to this, successfully playing patterns that have not yet been unlocked will now award 50% of their original multiplier, rather than granting no bonus, to “prevent discouragement.” The prices of previously unpurchased artifacts in the shop have also been lowered, which should let you try out a wider variety of options.
Six of the games bosses have been changed. Effects considered particularly challenging have been stripped out of lower difficulties, while others that felt “universally punishing” have been removed altogether. Corruption mechanics have also been reworked – discarding a corrupted tile will now cleanse it, which both synergizes with the newly increased discard limit and provides “an effective countermeasure” when playing in endless mode.
XO Cat says the update is now in its “final testing phase” and will arrive this weekend. You can read through all the smaller balance adjustments to artifacts, patterns, and other effects in the patch notes. If you want to provide more feedback, you can join the game’s Discord from its Steam page.
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