Rooms with multiple monsters now play like they should. No more killing one skeleton, collecting loot, then awkwardly starting a fresh fight with the one standing three feet away.
The Problem
Previously, attacking a monster in a room with multiple enemies would start combat with only that one creature. Kill it, enter the loot screen, exit, then manually engage the next one. Worse, in some cases the game would declare victory while a second monster was still alive in the room -- leaving you stuck with "No valid target" errors.
That's fixed.
Aggro Chaining
When you're locked in combat, nearby unclaimed monsters can hear the fighting. Each round, there's a chance an unclaimed monster in the room notices you and becomes aggressive. Once aggro'd:
- Mid-fight strikes -- The aggro'd monster takes swings at you between rounds, even though you haven't formally engaged it yet. You'll see damage messages like "A nearby Skeleton lashes out at you for 4 damage!"
- Auto-chain on kill -- When you defeat your current opponent, if a monster has aggro'd on you, combat chains immediately. No victory screen, no loot phase interruption. You seamlessly transition into fighting the next threat.
- Deferred loot -- Loot from monsters killed mid-chain is saved up and presented all at once when the last fight ends. One loot screen for everything.
Multiplayer Awareness
The claiming system keeps things fair in a shared world:
- You only claim the monster you attack. Other monsters stay unclaimed and available for other players.
- If another player engages the monster that aggro'd on you before your current fight ends, the chain breaks cleanly. Combat ends normally with your loot phase.
- No more accidentally locking out half a room's worth of enemies from other players.
What It Feels Like
Walk into The Bone Clearing. Two skeletons stand guard. You attack one. Mid-fight, the second skeleton notices and starts taking shots at you. You finish the first -- combat rolls straight into the second without skipping a beat. Kill that one too, and then you see the loot from both fights combined.
It's the flow you'd expect from a room full of enemies. Now the code matches the fantasy.