Roadmap for the next few days

Ive been thinking about the spell system. It seems a common complaint is that low level spells are sufficient to beat the game, and that there is no point to taking many spells as they are outclassed. There is also some redundancy-if you dont need it, spending points on both Ice Shard and Icicles feels like a waste. They both do the same thing after all, and you probably only have slots for one anyway.

My planned solution to this is two-pronged.

• Spell levels will be removed. Some spells will still be higher level, of course, and cost more points to learn. But you wont depend on shrine RNG to get the level you want. Instead, the shrines each give a buff that lasts a fixed number of spells. For example, an elemental shrine can contain a buff that increases the damage of your next 10 fire spells. This will make the spell shrines useful even after youve gotten the spells you want.
• Spells will have prerequisites. How can someone know Icicles (which is just 3 ice shards in a row) without knowing Ice Shard? The UI will need a little work to accommodate this but I think it will end up being less information overload at the start as there will be fewer "noob trap" spells as those will lead into more powerful spells

Another thing on my mind is late game difficulty. Right now the Lost Temple is full of non-bindable enemies if you have good relationships with the goddesses. Its also a slog because it's dark and that can make exploration tedious.
There are a couple of changes I have planned:

• a "light" spell to boost vision radius in dark spaces, at a modest mana cost.
• a new variety of non-factional enemy, the "guardian dolls" who can be affected by binding spells
• potentially thinking about adding spell cooldowns. E.g. fireball may have a cooldown so you cant cast it as often, meaning you might still find a use for weaker spells like firebolt while your higher impact spells are cooling down. One limitation of spell cooldowns, however, is that they can slow the game down, so this isn't a given. Any thoughts are welcome!