to start off with something really mild, i added a new variant of one of the most basic enemies.
look at how cute this small guy is. i wanted an early game enemy that would behave just slightly different from others.
the very first boss finally got some more proper sprites instead of being a blobby mess made by smearing paint.net's paintbrush around (sorry that i can't post mp4s directly here, but the site doesn't like the embeds so you'll have to live with a link)
he's also now much less spammable thanks to a simple trick in the code, so he might finally be able to show off his second attack before being cut to pieces even by level 1 players
most other bosses (i think every single one except for Summoner1) got their AIs tweaked or outright changed. Mummy finally telegraphs the rock attacks, Tommy is not just a slightly more difficult copy of Summoner2, and Hellos has more than a single phase. exciting?

skulasson has been redrawn and is no longer a png stolen from google and hit with a paint bucket a few times. he's got clean bones and even cleaner teeth
there are a few more callbacks to the original HHs. the caverns are back! some enemies return, but this time, they're more fair (until you read the damage numbers) and more exciting!
speaking of the caverns, they're more of a unique area instead of just being a transition level like in the old HHs.
there may or may not be some puzzles and mechanisms there...

the blocks can actually be stacked!

the vibrant colours might be gone, but the purple remains forever.
one of the biggest features of the current version is supposed to be the weapons workshop. find upgrades scattered around and visit a certain npc to have the upgrades installed into your weapon, enhancing its features or even completely changing up the way it's used. i don't think i'll have too many things added to it on release, but i'm hoping it will be an exciting thing for the players to find. i went out of my way to make it visually appealing, but i can't really show you any teasers of the workshop without it becoming too big of a spoiler.
aside from that, the Flamethrower will no longer require you to sacrifice your other guns, you can shoot sideways on ladders, hearts dropped by enemies now heal a percentage of max health instead of always restoring 2hp, and the game can be run in 960x720 instead of 640x480 being the most convenient option!
but of course, the biggest and most important change of all is...

the yellow spikes in the cooler finally becoming a background tile ( :