Patch notes

What Changed

Everything that has changed in the game since it opened, newest first. Most of it came from somebody writing a letter, and the ones that did say so.

2026-09-10· latest

  • The Dragon's cave now says something it always should have: the health you walk in with decides that fight more than any piece of your gear, and nothing was stopping you from entering hurt. Measured on a real level 15 kit — full health wins about five times in six, three quarters of health wins about one in three, and half wins about one in forty. A player asked whether the Dragon had got harder after losing with half its bar still up. It had, by twelve health yesterday, but that was not what beat him. Nothing is blocked; you are just told now.
  • Fixed within hours of causing it: once losing a street fight stopped killing you, it left you on 1 health and still in the target list, so the same person could be attacked again and again. The gold was already gone but the experience was not, which made it free to farm. Nobody can be attacked at a quarter of their health or less now — nobody kicks somebody already down — and being beaten leaves you there, so it also buys you time to reach a bed. Found and demonstrated by the player it happened to, who hit the same target three times in five seconds to prove it.
  • Changed, and it is a big one: being beaten in the street no longer costs your day. You lose the gold in your hands and get up on 1 health, and your turns stay yours. Picking the fight is still different — attack somebody and lose, and the rest of your day goes with it, because that part you chose. Measured before changing it: forty-one street fights, forty-one defenders lost the whole day, none survived. A player put it best after killing the hardest Beast in the game and being jumped while the inn page was still loading: it is not being killed that stings, it is losing thirteen fights you never got to spend.

2026-09-09

  • Fixed: Keep the lights on had a form and no way to pay, so somebody asked for a founder number and then had nowhere to go. There is a Ko-fi now. The form comes first so I know whose name to put up, and then it sends you straight there. Nothing on that page has ever changed a fight, a drop or a rank, and it still does not.
  • Fixed, and it was a bad one: you could be attacked before you had opened the game since the day turned, which meant logging in to find the day already gone. Worse, the attack itself turned your day over first, so the fresh turns were granted and burned before you ever saw them. One player was found dead with twenty forest turns and three street fights untouched. From now on you can only be attacked once you have played this period. Ending your day camped still leaves you reachable until the day turns — that part you chose. Reported on the forum by Tremir.
  • New: What Changed, in the village. Every change since the game opened, on one page, newest first. Until now these notes passed through your inbox once and were gone, so anyone arriving later had no way to learn that The Watch exists or why dying at level 1 stopped costing the day.
  • Changed: the five shops are now one place, The Market, with the categories inside it. Spending your gold had grown to seven lines in the village and pushed the Inn and the Bank off a phone screen. The market lists what you are wearing in each slot and what the next piece costs, side by side, so you can see where the gold should go without opening five pages.
  • New: three more things to wear. The Cobbler sells boots (defense), the Jeweller sells rings (attack), and the Curiosity Shop sells amulets (both). They are shorter, dearer ladders than weapons and armour on purpose, so buying one is a real choice against your next sword rather than a straight upgrade. The Dragon gained 12 health to match, measured over 900 simulated runs, so the climb is as hard as it was yesterday.

2026-09-08

  • Changed: the level-up notice is now a real banner in the forest, the sidebar and the mobile bar, instead of a small line of text. Measured: 11% of everyone playing already has enough experience and had not gone to train. If that was you, look now.

2026-09-07

  • Said out loud at last: a dragon does not only give you 5 maximum health. It also makes everything you learn afterwards 12% faster, forever, and that stacks with every dragon. A first run reaches level 15 in about 10.7 days; a tenth run does it in 4.7. That bonus has always been there and the game never mentioned it. Your name page now shows what your dragons have given you.
  • Changed: below level 5, dying now costs you five forest turns and the gold in your hands instead of the rest of the day, and you get straight back up. From level 5 it still costs the day. Asked for by a player who was dead at level 1 with twenty-three turns he could not use.

2026-09-05

  • Fixed: the level-up and dragon-kill boxes counted one too many — level 3 when you had reached 2, three dragons when you had two. Spotted by a player with a sharp eye.
  • Changed: ending your day at the Inn now asks first, and tells you how many forest turns and street fights you are about to throw away. Suggested by a player who lost twenty of them trying to heal.
  • How to Play now explains armour and weapons with the actual formula, and how health works in the Streets.
  • Fixed: the Streets list showed a target's stored health, but anyone whose day had turned was healed the instant you reached them — so it could say 5/40 and you would fight 40/40. The list now shows the health you will actually face. Asked by a player, and a fair question.
  • Fixed: forest events that paid both gold and experience showed raw code instead of the reward. Reported by a player, which is the only reason I knew.
  • Fixed, and it was a bad one: buying a second name deleted the first one for good, with the favour already spent. Names you buy are yours to keep now, and you can switch between them freely. If you bought a name and it vanished, write a letter and I will put it back.
  • New: Letters. Write to whoever runs this place — bugs, ideas, complaints — and the answer comes back to your village inbox. A person reads them.

2026-09-04

  • New: changes to the game now arrive here, with the turn of the day, instead of appearing under you mid-session.
  • Changed: "One blow" is now "Trade one blow", because nobody could tell what it did. It swaps a single round and lets you run; "Fight to the end" settles the whole fight at once.
  • Changed: the shops show every piece at once, with how much gold you are short of the ones you cannot afford yet.

2026-09-03

  • New: The Delve. After a win the forest asks whether to take the gold and head back, or go deeper for more pay and a harder fight. Heading back mends your wounds.
  • New: The Watch. One number a week for the whole village, fed by everything anybody kills. Everyone who helps gets soul favour when it falls.
  • Changed: the village calendar no longer repeats every week, and the village screen names tomorrow's event.
  • New: days in a row are counted, and 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 of them pay soul favour.
  • Changed: the first time you ever die, somebody drags you out. You keep the rest of your day. It happens once per character.
  • New: The Road. Send yourself on an errand that ends at a real hour, close the tab, and collect when you come back. It costs no forest turn.

Talk about any of this on the forum. r/DragonKills

Legend of the Golden Dragon

A daily text adventure rebuilt from a 2002 game. Free, no ads, and nothing to buy.

Play now