Chapter 7: Corrupted Villagers, the Rapier & Cannonhand Dubois

When One More Level brought the Demo back for the summer (July 20 – August 7), they detailed what Chapter 7 contains. This page collects those officially confirmed additions. Where we suggest how to handle them, that is labelled as advice, not a tested route.

The Demo includes Save Anytime — use it before anything that looks like a boss arena. See the demo walkthrough for the full structure.

Corrupted villagers

Chapter 7 introduces corrupted villagers, first revealed in the Crimson Plague Trailer. Per the developer, they:

• Wield everyday items — tools, torches, and farm equipment — rather than soldiers’ weapons.
• Attack in unpredictable, almost feral ways.

That combination is the point: because they do not telegraph like trained enemies, the clean parry rhythm you build against soldiers is less reliable here. Expect to read each one individually rather than pattern-match a whole crowd.

The Rapier: a parry-only alternative

Chapter 7 lets you use the Rapier, described as an exciting new weapon distinct from the Sabre. Its defining trade-offs, straight from the developer:

• Its only form of defence is the perfectly-timed parry — there is no fallback block.
• In exchange, it lets you hit enemy weakpoints without a firearm.

The result is explicitly high-risk, high-reward. If your parry timing is shaky, the Rapier punishes it harder than the Sabre; if it is sharp, you open weakpoints without spending pistol ammo. It rewards the confident, aggressive player. For the base arsenal, see weapons and abilities.

Sergeant Gaspard “Cannonhand” Dubois

Chapter 7’s marquee threat is Sergeant Gaspard “Cannonhand” Dubois, a boss also revealed in the Crimson Plague Trailer. Beyond the name and the fact that he is out to kill you, One More Level has not published his moveset, so we are not going to invent phases or timings.

What the framing tells you: a named “Cannonhand” in a Napoleonic-plague setting points to heavy ranged pressure, which pairs naturally with the Rapier’s weakpoint focus and the Demo’s parry-first design. Treat that as a read of the setup, not a tested tactic — our general approach lives in the demo boss guide.

What to verify

• The villagers’ actual attack tells and whether parry windows differ from soldiers.
• Whether the Rapier and Sabre swap freely or are loadout-locked.
• Cannonhand’s phases and any weakpoint the Rapier is built to exploit.

We rewrite this from hands-on play. Launch is October 13, 2026 — see the release date page.