Fatal Claw’s first content update since the 1.0 full release shipped free on October 28, 2026. It is not a hotfix: the build adds a difficulty selector, ten new Fusion Skills, a returning Speedrun Mode and a new outfit, and it also removes two progression gates that were blocking players on the 1.0.66 hotfix build. Everything in it is available to all players at no additional cost.
Version And Date
Version: Free DLC Update
Date: 2026-10-28, 08:04 UTC (NDEV Steam News announcement)
There is no build number attached to this one — NDEV announced it as a free content update rather than a numbered hotfix, so it does not follow the 1.0.66 numbering. It is the second-largest change since 1.0 Full Release, and the first one to add content rather than fix it. It came with a preview announcement six days earlier that gave the headline features without the detail; the full list below is from the launch announcement.
Adventure Difficulty
You now pick one of three difficulties when you start a new game:
| Adventure Difficulty | Setting |
|---|---|
| Explorer | Easy |
| Warrior | Normal |
| Trial | Hard |
Depending on the difficulty you pick, NDEV adjusts Kisha’s abilities, the number of monsters that appear, boss patterns, and overall balance. Combat balance was changed for 19 bosses based on the selection — that is a large number, and it covers bosses we do not have dedicated pages for yet; see the missing bosses guide for which ones those are.
The difficulty can be changed during gameplay, and it does not affect game progression or endings. That is the single most important line in the announcement for anyone worried about locking themselves out of content: picking Trial on your first save does not cost you the ending set.
What is not confirmed: a player asked in the announcement thread whether “Warrior / Normal” reproduces the difficulty that shipped in 1.0. NDEV did not answer, so this wiki cannot confirm it. The announcement only states that Warrior is set to “Normal.” Treat it as the default setting, not as a verified 1.0 baseline.
Adventure Settings
Under Adventure Settings in the System Menu, a set of individual toggles can be adjusted independently of the difficulty preset:
- Double HP
- Mana Absorption
- Health Absorption
- Light Energy Absorption
- Kannic Acquisition
- Display Monster HP
- Automatically set Revival Point when using Stone Warp
- Automatically set Revival Point at the Stone of Immortality
A separate Chase Hazard setting has two options: Normal and Easy. On Easy, major hazards during chase sequences are reduced. Chase sequences are not something this wiki has dedicated pages for yet, but they are the recurring combat set-piece of the mid-game route, and the Easy option is the only difficulty-adjacent control that touches them.
Two of these settings are route convenience rather than balance. Auto-setting the Revival Point on Stone Warp travel and at the Stone of Immortality removes the need to place a manual checkpoint before a long jump, which matters on runs that use Stone Warp for fast traversal.
Ten New Fusion Skills
Ten Fusion Skills were added, on top of the five already documented in the fusion skills guide:
- Blood Spear
- Recoil Step
- Ruinous Dive
- Mana Whip
- Wire Claw
- Kannic Rapid-Fire
- Returning Blade
- Afterimage of Fire
- Fruit of Life
- Automata: Mount
A progress tracker for Fusion Skills was also added to the Journal, so you can now check how many you have collected without opening the Combinator each time.
Two caveats on this list. First, the announcement gives only the skill names — it does not publish the input order, the component glyphs, or the location of the clue for any of the ten. The fusion skills guide documents the original five recipes because those clues were readable in game; the new ten are not yet documented anywhere, and this wiki will not guess at their recipes. Second, note that Automata: Mount is a different skill from Automata: Annihilation, which is one of the original five recipes. The shared prefix is not a shared skill.
Speedrun Mode Returns
Speedrun Mode, which was dropped before the 1.0 full release, is back in the game.
- It unlocks after defeating the Damaged Eradicator.
- Personal best records are saved.
- Personal best records are not retained if the game is reinstalled.
The Damaged Eradicator is one of the bosses this wiki has not covered yet, so there is no page to link for the unlock condition. It is listed in the missing bosses guide as a story boss in the protagonist’s route.
For players who already have a Return playthrough plan, the Return mode is the same system this unlock feeds into. The existing guide’s “Speedrun Orientation” advice about holding Memory Fragments for skill unlocks applies to the new mode too, since both run against the same progression state.
New Kisha Outfit
“Examu’s Ceremonial Robes” has been added for Kisha. Players who have already met the unlock requirements receive it based on their existing progress, and it can be viewed in the Boutique.
The announcement does not state what the unlock requirement is, or where the outfit is found. Kisha’s own character page covers the protagonist’s appearance and story role.
Progression And Item Improvements
The second half of the update removes friction that was in the 1.0 route.
Early-game progression. The progression route at the beginning of Moss Cave was improved. This is the first area of the game and the one the progression route guide starts from.
The Combinator is easier to get. The requirement to defeat Mirkam before visiting Jack’s house was removed. The related Journal entries were improved as well. This is the single most consequential fix in the update for anyone whose route was gated behind that fight.
Solar Slate. Its item description and price were adjusted, and a new event fires the first time you obtain it. The Solar Slate does not have its own page yet; it is an item, not a region or a character.
Village shops. Prices of certain items sold at village shops were adjusted, and shop menus can now be opened before you have spoken with the NPC for the first time. That removes a soft requirement in Kannir Sanctuary and other village areas.
Kannir Drilling Site. Gameplay in certain sections was improved.
Aisare’s Stone. After completing the Aisare’s Stone collection quest once, you can now select the quantity you want instead of collecting a fixed amount. Aisare’s Stone Shards are tied to the postgame cleanup chain described in the achievements guide and surface in the Shrine of Ancestors region page.
Cure synthesizer. New in-game hints were added relating to the cure synthesizer. The rule the hints point at — the cure can be administered to Nia only when exactly two of the three sanctuaries are unsealed — is the spine of the cure questline guide.
Village chest. A dedicated chest object was added to the village.
Community Supporters List
A new in-game object lets you read the names of the Community Supporters selected through the community event. The list itself was announced in September, before the names went into the game; the discussions index tracks the announcement threads.
What This Update Does Not Fix
The announcement does not mention the Half Salvation Stone softlock. That case was partially addressed in 1.0.27 hotfix, replayed on a later build, and is still open. This update is the fourth build since the replay and the first to change progression gating substantially, so its silence on the bug is now a strong signal — as it was for 1.0.66.
One open player report does touch this update directly. On October 27 a player reported that an Aisare’s Stone Shard they had already collected reappeared at the eye of the snake face at the entrance to Nagaraja’s shrine, that the duplicate counted toward the ten-shard total, that this completed Aisare’s Stone before the Silver Claw was restored, and that entering Enma’s Labyrinth in that state softlocks the game with no way forward, back, or to the map. The author notes they have not confirmed whether it reproduces reliably. The thread has no replies and no developer acknowledgement.
This wiki is not publishing that report as a page, and is not claiming it is caused by or fixed by this update. The overlap is real but unverified: the DLC adds quantity selection to the Aisare’s Stone collection quest, and the report is about a shard being collected twice. Whether the new quantity option prevents the duplicate, or whether the duplicate is a separate collection bug, is not established. If you hit it, post on the Bug Report forum with your build version.
Related Pages
- 1.0.66 Hotfix — the previous build, and the two progression gates it fixed.
- 1.0 Full Release — the baseline this update adds to.
- Fusion Skills — the original five recipes; the ten new ones are not yet documented.
- Return Playthrough Guide — how the mode this update re-opens works.
- Cure Questline Guide — the sanctuary threshold the new cure hints point at.
- Progression Route and Ability Gates — the route the early-game changes affect.
- Missing Bosses — the bosses this update rebalanced but we do not cover yet.
- Half Salvation Stone Bug — still open.
- Fatal Claw Updates — complete update index.