# The Sun Shield update

*v0.4 · October 2026*

Food that strengthens you. Wards that hold back the dark.

- **[Seventeen effects](#effects):** Each with a name of its own, in a row of sockets above the hotbar: a gold rim for a good effect, a red one for a bad.
- **[The Sun Shield](#the-sun-shield):** Eat a Sunapple: four golden hearts over your health for two minutes, and every hit takes the gold first.
- **[Nightsight and Wards](#nightsight-and-wards):** The dark lifts to a violet half-light. Carved pillars give their effect to everyone within 5 blocks.
- **[Your character, drawn again](#your-character):** An outline, soft shading, collars and seams, eyes with a second glint, and a blink every few seconds.
- **[Sparks and auras](#sparks-and-auras):** Sparks for the big moments. Beat a Keeper and its aura is yours to wear.

**Also new:**

- Eleven foods give an effect; eating shows, with three chews.
- Banners in ten colours.
- Poison is now Blight, fire Burning, slowing Chill and freezing Frozen.

## Effects

What is on you now shows as a row of icons just above the hotbar: a gold rim for a good effect, a red rim with clipped corners for a bad one. The rim drains as the time runs out, the seconds sit under it, and it blinks for the last five. There are seventeen, each with a name of its own:

- **Sun Shield** (good): Golden hearts on top of your health take damage first
- **Mending** (good): Heals 1 heart every 2 seconds
- **Nightsight** (good): The dark lifts to a violet half-light
- **Swiftstep** (good): Walk and sprint 25% faster
- **Windleap** (good): Jump about 2 blocks high
- **Hearthwarm** (good): Chill, Frozen and Frostbite build up half as fast
- **Sated** (good): Hunger drains half as fast
- **Blight** (bad): Lose half a heart a second; never your last half heart
- **Burning** (bad): Lose half a heart a second; water or rain puts it out
- **Chill** (bad): Move slower
- **Frozen** (bad): Cannot move or jump; you can still swing
- **Frostbite** (bad): Builds in Drift Snow; when full it hurts
- **Rooted** (bad): Held in place by roots; you can still swing
- **Windbound** (bad): Caught in the wings; cannot move
- **Hollowing** (bad): Your hits deal less damage
- **Webbed** (bad): Move slower; cannot sprint
- **Rot** (bad): Hunger drains three times as fast

Poison is now Blight, fire Burning, slowing Chill and freezing Frozen, with the same numbers on Medium and Hard. Hollows now sap your strength (Hollowing), Crawlers web you (Webbed), and spoiled food brings Rot. On Easy the bad effects last half as long, and hunger effects never come. Where each comes from is in the [effects guide](https://riventale.world/guides/effects/).

## The Sun Shield

Eat a Sunapple and four golden hearts stand in their own row over your health for two minutes. Every hit takes the gold first; when the last golden heart goes, it breaks into falling shards. Another Sunapple fills it back to four, never above. The same on every difficulty and in player fights.

- **Sunapple:** Eight gold ingots round an apple (8 Gold Ingots, 1 Apple)

## Food

Eleven foods give an effect: a Sun Carrot gives three minutes of Nightsight, Mushroom Broth gives Mending and Hearthwarm, a Cookie gives Swiftstep, roast meat and pie keep you Sated. Foods with a good effect can be eaten when you are full. Eating shows: the food rises to your mouth with three chews, and players nearby see it. Effect foods are never sold.

## Nightsight and Wards

- **Nightsight** lifts the darkest light to a violet half-light. The sky stays night.
- **Wards** are carved Greystone pillars with a gem: the Swift Ward (Swiftstep), the Leap Ward (Windleap) and the Night Ward (Nightsight). Set one down and it gives its effect to everyone within 5 blocks; in your offhand it gives it to you.

- **Swift Ward:** Crowned with a Feather (1 Feather, 3 Dressed Greystone, 1 Gold Ingot)
- **Leap Ward:** Crowned with a Gel Drop (1 Gel Drop, 3 Dressed Greystone, 1 Gold Ingot)
- **Night Ward:** Crowned with a Sun Carrot (1 Sun Carrot, 3 Dressed Greystone, 1 Gold Ingot)

## Your character

Every character is drawn again: an outline, soft shading and a rim of light, collars, hems, seams and thumbs, eyes with a second glint, and a blink every few seconds. Your face winces when you are hit, sets when you fight, and smiles when a page is found or a Keeper falls. Far-off players are drawn plainer.

## Sparks and auras

Sparks mark the big moments: gold shards when the Sun Shield breaks, motes rising from the chest when a Torn Page is found, a ring to a Ward’s reach when it is set down, a Keeper’s fall in its element with the binders’ chains flung out, and more for a Sunapple, an achievement, a rare chest and a friend arriving. Reduced motion (Settings › Comfort) halves them and stills the rings.

Beat a Keeper and its **aura** is yours to wear: Rime, Ember, Bloom or Gale motes drifting round you. Find all sixteen Torn Pages for the **Whole Tale**. Auras are looks only, chosen in Looks (Body › Aura); earned auras are never sold.

## Banners

Banners come in ten colours: six wool of one colour over a haft, at a Maker’s Bench. A banner turns to face whoever sets it down.

- **Red Banner:** Six wool of one colour over a haft (6 Red Wool, 1 Haft)

Earlier versions: [all updates](https://riventale.world/updates/).

Play now: https://riventale.world/