Kristala’s Dev Diary 2: No-Fall-Damage Cats, Dog Mounts, and a Soulslike Betting on Mobility

Why This Dev Diary Caught My Eye

Cat warriors that never take fall damage and can ride dogs. That sentence alone would’ve turned my head, but Astral Clocktower Studios’ second Kristala developer diary actually points to something more interesting: a soulslike that prioritizes movement as much as mastery. As someone who’s played everything from Demon’s Souls to Lies of P, the genre doesn’t often let you move like a parkour video. Kristala is trying to change that-without losing the genre’s bite.

• No fall damage reshapes level design and speedrunning potential-expect dev-made countermeasures.
• Wall-running, tightropes, and pole swings could make exploration feel closer to Prince of Persia than Lordran.
• Dog mounts arrive at 1.0, hinting at bigger overworld zones and traversal choices.
• Player-feedback-driven traps and ballistas aim to keep mobility from trivializing challenge.

Breaking Down the Announcement

The new diary focuses on traversal across Ailur: you can wall-run, balance on tightropes, and swing from poles to link paths. The big swing (pun intended) is that there’s no fall damage-Astral Clocktower says they wanted to lean into the fantasy of feline agility. Whenever a studio removes a traditional penalty, you immediately ask: what fills that tension gap? Their answer is hazards. Expect bear traps, ballistas, and bespoke obstacles seeded not just in late-game gauntlets but back in opening areas too, encouraging returns once you’ve got the confidence and toolkit to exploit them. The team even calls out using traps against enemies, which is a smart way to reward observation over brute force.

At full launch, Kristala will also let you begin with a canine steed. There are three starting breeds, which implies more than a cosmetic pick—if those types influence stamina, speed, or handling, that’s a legit build choice. The wording focuses on “galloping across Tandar,” which reads more Elden Ring than Dark Souls: expect larger hubs or regional biomes rather than a purely dense, labyrinthine maze. What’s unclear (and I’d love an answer) is whether mounted combat is a thing, or if the dog is strictly traversal and escape.

The studio reiterates the core loop: fast-paced combat with light/heavy attacks, perfect parries, timed dodges, plus aerial attacks and finishers. The Sekiro nod is doing a lot of work here. If Kristala nails readable telegraphs and weighty hit reactions, the parry-first combat could sing; if not, it risks the floaty, animation-desync feel that’s sunk more than a few indie soulslikes. On top of that is a clan-based magic system tied to the Sacred Six Kristals, a branching magic tree, and a feline skill tree for movement and stealth. Character customization includes fur color/length, clan, and starting class—yes, the press copy puns (“purr-sonalize”) but the buildcrafting pitch sounds legit.

The Real Impact for Players

No fall damage in a soulslike is a radical lever. It invites experimentation—drop into unknown spaces, greed a ledge jump, improvise escape routes—without that stomach-drop punishment. But it also risks sequence breaking and trivializing tension if level geometry isn’t carefully policed. Astral Clocktower’s answer is to make the air itself hostile: sightlines for ballistas, noise-sensitive traps, and platforming that demands intention. If they pull it off, Kristala could scratch the itch many of us had after Sekiro’s grappling hook teased a more vertical FromSoft formula.

The mobility suite also tees up community fun. Tightrope lines will become speedrunner highways. Wall-runs beg for route optimizations and montage-friendly trick chains. Pole swings could be the difference between a clean no-hit run and a panic roll off a parapet. And since it’s in Early Access, the systems can evolve with player breakage—let the community find the cheese, then decide which bits are charming tech and which undermine the intended difficulty.

On the mount side: cats riding dogs is meme fuel, sure, but it also signals scale. A steed in a soulslike telegraphs open terrain and pacing breaks between knife-fight encounters. If Kristala keeps tight combat arenas within a broader, explorable region, it could avoid Elden Ring’s occasional empty rides while still giving you that freedom buzz. Breed types for mounts need mechanical identity to matter—think sprint burst, jump arc, or aggro tolerance—or they’re just a menu flavor.

A few cautions. Vertical mobility historically stresses cameras; wall-runs and tightropes demand clean framing and sticky lock-ons that don’t yeet you off edges. Traps that feel fair telegraph their states consistently; “gotcha” bear traps hiding in same-color grass is rage-quit territory. And while console versions (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch) are planned after full PC release next year, Switch performance is a question mark for any physics- and animation-heavy action game. If the team can keep frame pacing steady and input latency low, the parry-first design stands a chance.

What gives me confidence is their cadence: the diary credits player feedback for adding and tuning hazards, and Kristala already has a playable demo alongside Early Access builds on PC storefronts. Iteration is the superpower of smaller studios, and Astral Clocktower—women-led and based in New Jersey—seems comfortable letting the community help shape the final feel. Just remember: “Sekiro-inspired” is a promise you feel in your fingers. The moment-to-moment timing windows, enemy poise, and audio tells will decide whether this cat has claws.

TL;DR

Kristala’s dev diary doubles down on mobility: no fall damage, wall-runs, tightropes, and future dog mounts. That’s bold for a soulslike, and the added traps and ballistas suggest the team knows it needs counter-pressure. If the combat timing and camera hold up, this could be the first soulslike that truly lets you move like a cat without declawing the challenge.