2016 is the year of dungeon crawlers - Steve Jarman will launch The Deep Paths: Labyrinth Of Andokost on Oktober 14th:

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The Deep Paths: Labyrinth Of Andokost is a first-person, dungeon crawling RPG, with traditional grid-based movement, and active turn-based combat. Players explore a vast labyrinth filled with dangerous creatures, and hidden treasures, to unravel an ancient mystery and deliver their city from harm’s way.

Featuring rich, 3D environments with an old-school, retro feel, this huge adventure pays a modernised homage to classic 80’s and 90’s dungeon crawlers, such as Dungeon Master and Lands Of Lore.

The Banner Saga 2 is now available for mobile devices, too. The Pocket Gamer has reviewed the game:

The Banner Saga 2 review - Another deep and moving tactical RPG

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There's a dynamism to The Banner Saga 2 that few other mobile games can boast, and it seeps into every aspect of the game. From the wind tugging at character's cloaks during cut scenes, to the animations during the battles. Everything feels alive and important.

And next to that there's a sense of doom. A sense that every choice you make is coloured in the deepest shades of grey. There are no easy ways out, and everything you say and do is weighed down by consequence and conscience.

In other words, it's a bloody brilliant tactical RPG with a deep story, some fantastic characters, and enough content to keep you enthralled for hours and hours and hours.

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Score: 9/10

Henriquejr spotted the changelog for the Battlebrothers update 0.7.0.11:

A new contract variant, overhauled Necromancers and Fallen Heroes, balancing changes and bugfixes - all this and more in this week's update!

Please note that this is likely going to be the last update to the game for a while. As explained in last week's roadmap, we'll now start working on the last big update to the game. Because most of the upcoming changes are interconnected, we'll have to do this as one big package to be released when everything is done. Of course, we'll always keep you up-to-date with what we're working on in our dev blog posts right here!

Changelog

• Added 'Defend Settlement' contract against greenskins.
• Added overhauled Necromancer with new visuals and additional skill.
• Added new Fallen Hero Wiedergänger and potential bodyguard for necromancers together with a few new lootable armors and helmets. The classic skeleton variant will eventually be replaced as part of the upcoming undead overhaul, but remains in the game for now.
• Added hint to injury tooltip reminding the player that injuries will only heal if the company has medicinal supplies on stock.
• Changed introductory contract to no longer show the 'Hire at least 3 more men' objective once the player has done so but not yet completed the other objectives.
• Changed introductory contract to have one less opponent in the final battle on lower difficulty levels.
• Changed bonus effect of 'Spear Mastery' perk to having the 'Spearwall' skill no longer be disabled once an opponent manages to enter the Zone of Control, and continue to work on any further opponents attempting to close in.
• Changed attribute gain per levelup to be slightly higher for initiative.
• Changed position of fatigue and morale bars in panel for selected character of tactical UI.
• Fixed amount of provisions/ammo/medicine not being properly displayed in red when at zero on the worldmap.
• Fixed raiders stopping their attack on a settlement when the player cancels an ongoing 'Defend Settlement' contract.
• Fixed issue with 'Defend Settlement' contract getting confused about kidnappings that didn't happen because the player already killed all attackers before they could act.
• Fixed player being able to fast travel by ship to hostile settlements and get contracts there.
• Fixed morale flags not getting removed in after-combat-report for suvivors with permanent injuries.
• Fixed inventory filters resetting on actions such as equipping an item.
• Fixed 'Bruised Leg' injury not reducing initiative like it should.
• Fixed 'Footwork' skill being usable when rooted.
• Fixed various minor issues.

In case you really wanted to play Mount & Blade: Warband on your PS4 or Xbox One, you now can do just that. A feature video has been made available to show what is there.

Munich, September 30^th – The official feature video for Mount & Blade: Warband is released, explaining individual elements of the complex sandbox RPG. The audience follows the life of a simple hunter’s son, his life as a merchant, a highwayman and finally that of a nobleman. He is just one of countless customizable characters, which the player can create, allowing them to experience their own medieval adventure.

In Mount & Blade: Warband six realms wrestle amongst each other for power. Which lord the player gives their favour to is up to them. They can choose to involve themselves with the Sultan’s cavalry in the deserts and oases of the south, the vast steppes of the Khergiten archers, the snow-covered kingdom of Vaegiar, the proud Axeman of the North, the Knights of Swadia, and rebellious Rhodok of the southwest. Whichever realm the player chooses - with enough commitment and the local nobles favour even an adventurer of humble origin can earn his own castle.

Until then, the road is still long: the feature video shows our young hunter who has become a successful trader and must hire mercenaries to defend himself against bandits. Though with an armed force the lure to become an outlaw himself is quite powerful. By the insidious conquest of a castle and the King’s blessing, he can advance into the aristocratic circles. Henceforth his life is shaped by banquets, politics and tournaments. And whilst he protects his farmers from predators, he might even win the heart of an aristocratic lady for himself.

Vigilantes is a crime themed, turn based tactical RPG being developed by Timeslip Softworks. The kickstarter has a modest goal of 5K and has 37 days to achieve it at time of writing. Vigilantes is also trying to get on greenlight.

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Inspired by the classic turn based RPGs of the 90s, like X-Com and Fallout, yet striking out in its own unique direction, Vigilantes is a crime themed, turn based tactical RPG with an old school heart, for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Players assume the role of Sam Contino, an idealist dragged down the rabbit hole of vigilantism as he works to bring down the three gangs that dominate Reiker City: the mafia, survivalists, and Church of the Final Exodus.

Vigilantes has all the features you would expect from a turn based RPG, yet we feel it stands out from its peers in a number of areas:

• Avoids typical RPG settings, striking out in its own direction with gritty, neo noir.
• Melee combat is choreographed and fluid to an extent rarely seen in turn based games.
• Avoids the trend of simplifying character systems and gameplay. It's very much old school, with the best of modern design advances.
• Emphasis on atmosphere: memorable allies, deadly opponents, a declining city, all brought to life through quality writing, artwork and voice acting.
• Use surveillance to locate gang facilities and leadership. Randomly attacking footsoldiers won't get you anywhere.

The devs of Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem announce their new passive skills tree, in which they want to make hundreds of passive skills available.

The design phase of the new Passive Skill Tree started soon after the launch of Early Access, and went through many iterations before we decided on the actual rotating version. We knew from the beginning that we needed a system that allowed a considerable amount of freedom when it comes to builds and gameplay variety, as there is no class system in the game. 

We sat down and spent time planning each section of the rings, making sure every one of them adds a layer of fun and fantasy to the gameplay and offer interesting skill combinations with other skills.
We even made a real world rotating tree made of cardboard !
We want players to be able to craft their gameplay experience by finding their path through a series of templates inspired by various archetypes. Sections that are closer to the center of the Tree represent broader and well known fantasy archetypes, while sections situated farther away from the center are more specialized and advanced.

PC Gamer looks at the latest update for Stardew Valley from developer Eric Barone. Version 1.1 is basically finished and available on the Beta branch currently.

The list of new features and fixes is pretty extensive, but highlights include two new marriage candidates, the option to divorce your partner, four new starting farm maps (Riverland, Forest, Hilltop, and Wilderness, plus the original Standard farm layout), Coffee as a new spring/summer crop, Evil Shrines (what kind of farm is this?), and a new Cellar upgrade option for your house that lets you age cheese and alcohol.

The update also adds an entirely new quest, along with several quest-related locations, that unlocks the new "magical construction" feature. Magical buildings can be placed on your farm like regular ones, and include things such as obelisks that teleport you to certain locations and a "Junimo Hut" that will automatically harvest nearby crops.

The list of bug fixes is shorter, and I can't say that there's anything in it that really leaps out at me as a major, must-fix issue. Wild plums are now labeled as fruit, you can no longer tap a stump, you'll no longer lose hay to a hopper if you don't have a silo, and your baby should now be born properly even if you pass out in the mines on the eve of birth. Okay, that one is obviously vital.

Barone said he wants to do "a little beta test to catch any bugs" before he pushes the update to everyone. "I am trying to keep this kind of low-key, so I'm just going to be posting about it here... no twitter or reddit this time," he wrote. (Sorry, Eric.) "If you decide to help me out by playing on the beta branch, I appreciate it very much. Thank you!"

To opt into the beta and play with the update right now, right-click Stardew Valley in your Steam library, select Properties, click the Betas tab and then select "beta" from the dropdown menu. Assuming you've done it properly, the [beta] tag will appear next to the title, the game will update, and you'll be on your way. Barone also warned that while it's "very unlikely" playing the beta build will mess with your saves, you should back them up anyway.

Brian Fargo is interviewed by MMORPG about the just announced Wasteland 3.

MMORPG: This is exciting news! Aside from the general reception of WL2, what made you want to go ahead with a sequel so fast?

BRIAN FARGO: I guess anything seems fast in comparison the time between Wasteland 1 and 2. It's been several years since Wasteland 2 came out, and we've been chomping at the bit to push forward in the RPG genre. There are so many wonderful opportunities to dial in the bleakness of a Wasteland world. With Wasteland 3, this time we head to Colorado, and we had so many new ideas for the game based on that that we just couldn't wait to get started on the next installment in this ice cold post-apocalyptic setting. Of course, we are in the final stages of wrapping up Torment, with our writing staff finalizing their work and moving to Wasteland 3's pre-production. The Bard's Tale IV is deep in production and that will not be affected by this, but with two studios working on games, we need to start looking to the future as well.

MMORPG: Will the sequel be using the Pillars engine like Torment, or will it be using the WL2 engine?

BF: We'll be using a modified and updated version of the Wasteland 2 engine, which will provide a significant visual upgrade from Wasteland 2. Unity has come a long way since we first started using it and we've just gotten better at using it. Additionally, we're utilizing the Pillars of Eternity conversation editor again, which is the same we used in Torment, which allows our writers to quickly mock-up and step through branching conversations. We're building on years of experience with the technology so that also helps let us do more. I think people will quite impressed when they see the video.

@BluesNews At the Wasteland website they countdown to next week for further news on Wasteland 3 which has been officially announced. Expect a crowdfunding campaign on Fig and a snowy Wasteland.

What is Wasteland 3?

• A party-based role-playing game, with a renewed focus on our trademark complex story reactivity and strategic combat.
• By including vehicles, environmental dangers, and a revamped, more fluid action system, we are evolving on Wasteland 2's deep tactical turn-based combat and unique encounter design.
• Play by yourself or with a friend in story-driven synchronous or asynchronous multiplayer. Choices open up (or close off) mission opportunities, areas to explore, story arcs, and tons of other content.
• Your Ranger Base is a core part of the experience. As you help the local people and improve your Ranger Base, quests and narrative will force you to make decisions on how to lead.
• The game will be set in the savage lands of frozen Colorado, where survival is difficult and a happy ending is never guaranteed. Players will face difficult moral choices and make sacrifices that will change the game world.
• Wasteland 3 will feature a deep and engaging story utilizing a newly-revamped dialog tree system from the celebrated writers of Torment: Tides of Numenera
• Simultaneously releasing to Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• Explore a New Frozen Wasteland
• You start the game as the sole survivor of Team November, a Ranger squad dispatched to the icy Colorado wastes. This is a land of buried secrets, lost technology, fearsome lunatics, and deadly factions. No one here has ever heard of the Desert Rangers. Your reputation is yours to build from scratch, and your choices may save this land or doom it. With a renewed focus on macro-reactivity, you'll be picking between warring factions, deciding whether locations are destroyed or saved, and other far reaching decisions that have a marked impact on the shape of your world.

Bring a Friend
For the first time in the history of the Wasteland franchise, you will be able to take a friend with you on your journey into the post-apocalyptic wastes! Wasteland 3 opens up the possibility to play through the campaign with a friend; both of you controlling your own squad of Rangers.

The core of Wasteland 3 will still be a rich single-player experience. If you play with a friend while both online together, you'll be able to share many missions, and join up to hit key story beats, but you can also split up and cover more ground. Once a game is started, you can play Wasteland 3 while your friend is offline, and do a lot of missions without them. Be aware, however, that the actions you take while your friend is off-line are not without consequence!

By making the decision to include multiplayer early on in the process, we will be able to design a game that is true to the core principles of the Wasteland franchise and our studio. Wasteland 3 can be played as an offline, single-player game, and is built from the ground up with a focus on story and reactivity that makes no sacrifices to the multiplayer experience. At the same time, co-op players will enjoy working together to change Wasteland 3's highly reactive world... or finding ways to destroy what their friend has worked to accomplish.

Last week an update for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem became available featuring the update for 0.2.8, including the female gender that you can select now as well.

Hi everyone!
Today we are happy to present you the female character!
It was a stretch goal during our Kickstarter, and one of the most demanded feature, so here is a small video presenting her, and her customization options:

A list of other new and updated features can be found at the link.

The RPG Rogue Wizards will be released today:

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The Council oversees the elam families, aristocrats who are descended from the first humans in Rilfanor, and the banlits, who were originally people born without magical abilities. The Guild has never admitted banlits because of their lack of magical capacity; and they've never admitted women because they believed women were too weak-minded to control such power.

Now, many generations later, the elam magic is weakening, and latent magic talent has reappeared among the banlit population. Many of the elam are in denial, but some of them want to take the radical step of allowing banlits, including women, into the Guild.

In your quest you'll explore randomly generated dungeons, collect treasures, master magic, avoid traps, solve puzzles, and of course cleanse the dungeons of all the evil minions within. Every dungeon is unique, no two locations will ever be the same.

It's not all dungeon-crawl. Feel at home in your very own Wizard Tower where you can enhance and customize the way you play by building a thriving town, brewing your own reagents, crafting or buying your own gear, powering up your magic, and recruiting help.

At EGX the Sunless Seas developer talked about their new game coming to kickstarter 2017 Sunless Skies. They also talked about an expansion to Sunless Seas.

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The team behind Sunless Sea and Fallen London will reveal the title and details of their new game. Plus there will be heaps of new information on Zubmariner, the upcoming expansion for Sunless Sea.

@IndieGames they review Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire and find it a worthy game following in the footsteps of titles like The Banner Saga.

At first glance, the core game loop of Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire really does seem a lot like that of The Banner Saga. Where the latter puts a lot of emphasis on the toll the journey takes on the people, however, Tahira's emphasis is on its desparate fights. The Astral Empire's soldiers outnumber Tahira's people badly, which means the player absolutely must take advantage of the environment to win.

The first time I lost a battle in Tahira, it was a long, drawn-out affair. This was the second battle in a row with no break. My remaining units were tired, their injuries unhealed and their skill points unrestored. We held up pretty well for a while, but eventually I realized that if I didn't fall back, I'd be overrun. I had to sacrifice some units so the others could flee. My second line, too, fell, leaving me with only my four named heroes, the ones whose deaths would earn me an instant defeat. Clever use of positioning, abilities, and supplies let me hold out until there were only two archers left... when one miscalculation led to my defeat.

It's through such mechanics that the combat of Tahira really supports its story. Your units can get more powerful, but there are still only a limited number of them. The enemies, however, have units upon units to throw at you, which can make it feel like things are exactly as bad as the characters say it is.

411Mania has reviewed the The Huntsman: Winter's Curse:

The Huntsman: Winter's Curse (PS4) Review

Although the game is licensed from The Huntsman film universe, it is not based on any of the two movies. The story is completely original, the events of Winter’s War are just a loose backdrop for the game and the actual Huntsman barely shows up at all. The game’s story follows Elisabeth, a competent fighter who decides to go out into the world in search of her four missing brothers, all of whom left on their own journeys, never to return.  As is the case with most RPG’s, her quest takes a turn as she not only uncovers the mystery behind the disappearance of her siblings, but also a larger conspiracy that threatens the region.

[...]

Overall, I enjoyed my time with The Huntsman: Winter's Curse.  It seems to take elements from several successful indie RPG’s, throws them in a blender and comes up with something mostly good.  I enjoyed the character development in this game and the story, in spite of its linearity, was captivating.  While it does feature a movie license, it really doesn’t need it and sometimes I wonder if it might have been better off had they gone without a license at all. My biggest concern with the game is the price. At $14.99 it is on the “premium” range of indie titles on PSN and I don’t think it is quite worth that much. Had this been priced five bucks cheaper, I would have gone with an easy recommendation. As it stands, if you like RPG’s and/or card games it is a worthy purchase.

Score: 7/10

One Angry Gamer has reviewed the RPG Ember:

Review: Ember Rekindles Classic Story-Driven PC RPGs

Ember is developed by N-Fusion Interactive and published by 505 Games. Ember is an isometric story-driven RPG that really takes you back to the good ‘ol days where games like the original Diablo and Baldur’s Gate were at the top of the charts for PC RPGs.

The story

Ember takes that classic concept and way of story telling and has brought it back for modern day RPGs. The story is great and would fit in quite well with other RPG classics. The writing is witty in parts, has humor, can be serious, and most importantly is well paced. The characters have depth and the overall world and history has enough lore to make a trilogy of prequel novels if they wanted to do so. Needless to say, the world the development team has put together is very well thought out and extremely detailed.

[...]

Overall thoughts

Ember isn’t perfect, but I actually haven’t come across any major game breaking glitches since I started playing. The story has a few cliché parts and at times doesn’t do anything mind blowing to advance the genre forward.

The crafting system is nice that it is in the game, but for the most part I don’t bother with it (other than making cheap health potions) because you kind of have to go out of your way to gather all the supplies needed, and since this is a single-player game without a player controlled economy, there really is no point in crafting items to get stronger or to make a profit because the store items or enemy drops are normally good enough to advance through the game.

However,  if you grew up playing classic isometric RPGs from the late 90’s, you will probably love the familiar storytelling and world elements that Ember has to offer. So for that, I would highly recommend this for fans looking to play a nostalgic throwback to classic era PC RPGs because it does a great job at sticking to what made those games so fun.

For the low price tag of $9.99 USD, it is hard to find an RPG game that is as solid as Ember and packed with so much content. So if you have nine bucks to spare and you are itching for a classic style RPG, I recommend you pick this one up because I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it quite a bit.

Final Verdict: Buy it

The Strategy/Management/RPG-Mix Battles of Norghan from 2005 will be launched on Steam on September 27:

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Battles of Norghan is a unique gladiatorial management and strategy game where you not only must recruit, train, and equip fantasy gladiators, but also control them on a tactical grid in turn-based combat. This game has a lot of depth and replayability.

Imagine a football manager game with fantasy world creatures such as orcs, drakes and minotaurs and turn-based strategy battles instead of football matches.

Recruit mercenaries from 22 different fantasy races and classes and manage dozens of fighters as they battle in a variety of different terrains against easy to highly intelligent AI or other player-controlled clans.
Train and hone each fighter’s skill through monthly training as well as directly in combat. Build secondary skills such as dodging, shield blocking and dual wielding as well as attributes such as strength, intelligence, hit points, and magic points. There are 200 items and 42 spells available to equip your gladiators, including armors, bows, weapons, magical staves, and more! As each combatant grows with your clan they will age as well and eventually retire. Careful planning and management of your clan can ensure you never have an off season.

Original release dates outside Steam: V.1.0 in August 2005. Version 1.11 in July 26 2016.

Failbetter Games announced a sequel for the exploration and survival game Sunless Sea called Sunless Skies:

7 facts about Sunless Skies

1. As with Sunless Sea, it’ll be rich with stories. The Victorian Empire in space – the High Wilderness – a “blistering, wonderful night” among the thrones and domains of the stars. The Empress has abandoned London and led an exodus to the High Wilderness, to carve out a new British Empire. With the Empire being increasingly authoritarian, bohemians, revolutionaries and outcasts – like you – are trying to make a life for themselves on its fringes.
2. It will elaborate on Sunless Sea. We’re enhancing the stuff we liked, and refining the experience. It will be a punishing game, but respectful of your time.
3. At full release, it will be available on the same platforms at launch which Sunless Sea is available on now: Windows, Mac and Linux.
4. We will use Early Access again, taking on board all of the lessons we learned from Sunless Sea.
5. Why the name? The stars are dying. The stars are the Judgements: the inventors, arbiters and enforcers of the universe’s laws – but a revolution has begun, and the stars are being murdered.
6. Our influences include: the science fiction of H G Wells and C S Lewis, the planetary romances of Leigh Brackett, Art Nouveau, Event Horizon, trains.
7. We are running a Kickstarter for it in February! Stop the clocks, mark your diaries, save your pennies!

Twinfinite has reviewed the upcoming rogue-like Rogue Wizards:

Rogue Wizards Review

Rogue Wizards on PC

There’s always been a certain something about the “roguelike” genre that’s appealed to me. Rogue Wizards, a turn-based RPG packed with elements of this often-used approach, is no different. A colorful, lively world and plenty of randomly-generated dungeons and loot to comb through, Rogue Wizards presents a somewhat lighter take on the formula. Of course, a lighter take doesn’t mean that the task of saving the world is going to be easy.

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While its story and approach play it safe, the smooth gameplay and optional “perma-death” Hard Mode still bring plenty to enjoy. With a wide variety of weapons and spells to choose from and a unique experience behind each randomly-generated door, it keeps things fresh without stepping too far outside of established comfort zones.

Score: 4/5 – Great

Pros:

• Great variety of weapons and spells.
• Randomly-generated dungeons.
• Bright, vibrant aesthetic.

Cons:

• Story lacks originality.

Iron Tower Studios released an FAQ for their upcoming dungeon crawler Dungeon Rats:

FAQ

What kind of game is it?
Dungeon Rats is a turn-based, party-based RPG focused almost exclusively on combat for players who like turn-based combat in general and AoD combat in particular. So if you like challenging turn-based combat built around trade-offs and featuring different attack types, alchemy, and tons of stats and modifiers, this game might be for you. If not...

Price & length?
$8.99; 50 fights in total; about 10 hours if you know what you’re doing, much longer if you don’t (i.e. a new player).

Release date?
Anywhere from late Oct to mid Nov.  The game is almost ready: fully playable from start to finish, all the content is in, we need 5-6 weeks for polishing and extra art assets (missing portraits, ending slides art, etc).

Why this game? Why not another game like AoD?
Our next full scale RPG is the “colony ship game”, currently in pre-production, which means designing the systems, fleshing out the setting and locations, and defining these locations visually. Basically, we can’t start working on it until we have the “blueprints” to follow.

This gave us a year (10 months development cycle, 2 months of post release support) to put together a combat game using the AoD engine, systems, and assets. Doing anything else (new engine, different systems, non-combat aspects, etc) would have easily doubled or tripled the development time. Considering that party-based combat was the most requested feature, we built a game around it, giving you something different instead of going for more of the same.

Difficulty levels?
At lower difficulty levels your enemies get a THC (to-hit chance) penalty (30% on Easy, 15% on Normal, no penalty on Hard), which makes it harder to hit you and greatly increases your party’s life expectancy. THC also affects the combat AI, so your enemies won’t be using fancier attacks against you.

Party mechanics?
Your Charisma will determine how many people you can recruit: min 1, max 3, so your party size will range from 2 to 4. Not everyone will be eager to join you; some NPCs will require convincing (Charisma checks). You will have full control over your party members once they join your party. All skill points you earn will be divided between the party members, so a bigger party will level up more slowly.

Can I make my own party?
No. You will create your own character and recruit other convicts.  Party members are a resource much like gear and skill points. You acquire it slowly, swapping one party member for another or replacing fallen brethren when an opportunity comes up. This approach fits both the prison setting and Charisma-driven setup. Keep in mind that losing party members is normal on Hard.

Solo Mode? Ironman?
You can select Ironman and/or Solo mode when you start a new game. If you choose the Solo mode your CHA will be lowered to 2 to give you two extra and much needed stat points.  You won’t be able to recruit any companions.

Do I need to buy or play AoD first?
No. It’s a stand-alone game that takes place before the events in AoD. However, some comments and stories will make more sense to those who played AoD a couple of times.

Is there a story?
There is the story of your escape and the prison’s hierarchy. There is also a background story that began long before you were imprisoned. That story and its conclusion will expand the lore of the gameworld.

Dialogues? Text adventures?
There are many talkative characters; each fight has a text intro, so you aren’t just moving from one fight to the next;  there is quite a bit of exploration with text-adventure elements and stat-checks.

Whom are we fighting?
Various prisoners (unaffiliated convicts, gang members – we have three gangs running the prison and their overlord who calls himself the Emperor), prison guards, legionaries sent to clean up the mess, which started long before you arrived, mechanical constructs, and various oversized local flora and fauna.

New loot?
20 new items (weapons, armor, misc).

Any questions, ask.

Here's the roadmap for the Strategy/RPG Mix Battle Brothers:

Dev Blog #82: Roadmap to the Finish Line

Battle Brothers has come a long way since it entered Early Access over a year ago, in April of 2015. Every update has brought it a step closer towards being a finished game – and there’s still a few more steps to take. Read on to learn what changes and additions are yet to come!

What’s still to come?

With the perk & injury update live and stable, we’ll now start working on the last big update to the game before it leaves Early Access. This is going to be the second-biggest update after the big worldmap update earlier this year and will take us several months to complete.

Here’s the list of major points we’ll be working on:

• Three different ‘Greater Evil’ end game crises for you to get involved in – a war between noble houses, a greenskin invasion and an undead invasion. Each will come with its own set of contracts, events and changes to the world.
• An overarching goal to work towards throughout your campaign, and the ability to retire at any point to receive an illustrated ending screen telling of your accomplishments.
• A more lively and dynamic world, with more opportunities for you to shape it, and more relation between what is going on in the world and contracts on offer.
• A memorial wall screen where your fallen Battle Brothers are listed with their deeds.
• An overhaul of the mood and desertion mechanics on the worldmap.
• An overhaul of the undead faction with new visuals and lore, unique lootable weapons and armor, and the introduction of new enemy types with their own fighting style.
• An overhaul of ghouls as independent beasts that are more interesting and challenging to fight.
• More contracts and events to change things up.
• Various improvements to usability in both combat and on the worldmap.
• Steam achievements.

Not included in that list are the countless smaller additions and improvements we’ll be doing along the way. As usual, all the major points and most of the minor ones will be explained in detail in future dev blogs as we go along, so you’ll always know what we’re working on and why.

This big update, once published, will then be followed by a couple of smaller updates for balancing, bug fixing and further improvements based on your feedback until the game is ready to be released.

So does that mean…?

It means that Battle Brothers will not be released in 2016. We’re looking at a release in early 2017 and you’ll be the first to know once we have a set date – most likely to happen when the last big update is live. It’s important to us that the finished game feels complete, polished and well worth its price, so we’ll take the time necessary to ensure just that and won’t rush anything.

It also means that some features that were considered at one point in development or another have been cut and will not make it into the game for now. While some concepts simply won’t fit anymore with how the game has evolved, others would still be cool to have but also require a lot of time to do right. Time that we then couldn’t spend working on other things. Game development is often about hard choices and setting priorities – what feature best to spend our limited time on? What feature will benefit the game the most? Our choices on what’s most important are reflected in the list above. If ever there is an expansion to Battle Brothers, we may revisit some of the concepts that didn’t make it into the game at first.

Also, the game has been updated

That’s right. The game has just been updated to version 0.7.0.10 with a new contract, balancing changes, a multitude of AI improvements and a couple of bug fixes. Find the changelog below.

[...]

On year after release developer Toby Fox reflects on the success with his RPG Undertale:

Retrospective on UNDERTALE’s Popularity

Though it was released almost a year ago, I have the same opinion of it.

It’s about an 8/10, niche RPG game.

If you like the characters and the humor, you’ll probably like it, and forgive it for its flaws.

If you don’t, you’ll probably hate it.

Surprisingly, there are many people who like this type of game. Though I did work hard, there’s definitely a lot of luck involved in having a game become this popular. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if I never made a game as successful again. That’s fine with me though.

Not only did I not expect this level of popularity, but initially, I was afraid of it. I didn’t want UNDERTALE to become tiring for people, or become spoiled before anyone even got a chance to play it. Early on (this was probably excessive) I even tried to contact certain Let’s Players to tell them not to make any content about it.

But, the game became very popular. Unavoidable, even. At the height of its popularity, “not liking the game” felt like a cardinal sin to many fans online. In reaction to these circumstances, others began actively hate the game, creating an endless whirlwind of discourse…

Like a thunderclap to a small dog, all of this attention stressed me out. And every time it seemed to die down, something revived it, such as the GameFAQs contest, the award shows, bizarre theory videos, and so on. At times, I wished I had a way to quell the attention. I felt a strange powerlessness. (And guilt, for feeling stressed when the success of the game SHOULD be something I’m nothing but ecstatic about.)

At the same time, countless wonderful things were happening. People told me the game helped them through a difficult part of their life. Others told me that the game had made them laugh, or cry, or say “I want to be kinder.” Many young kids told me they wanted to create games or music because of it. And, on a personal level, because of its popularity, I have been able to help myself and many people in my life. (And, hopefully, in the future, I can help many other people because of it, too.)

So, ultimately, it’s a good thing that the game reached so many people, and I’m very, very, very, very, very, very, thankful to everyone that supported it, and everyone that helped me make it.

Thank you.

And thank you to anyone who has created fanworks for this game over the past year. I’ve been in fandoms my whole life. I drew Cave Story characters in the margins of my 7th grade history class notes. So it’s amazing to see something I created incite a similar passion in other people.

Someday, UNDERTALE will fade from people’s minds. But, I’m sure in 10 years, some kid who played UNDERTALE will create a game that surpasses it…

I look forward to playing that.

Tomorrow, on UNDERTALE’s anniversary, let’s have a fun time. I am thinking I will open the askbox, and…

You can now try the Space RPG Stellar Tactics:

Stellar Tactics

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Stellar Tactics - Bringing back the nostalgia, excitement and wonder of classic RPG's, Stellar Tactics will thrill you with a compelling narrative, deep strategic turn based ground combat system and rewarding open world space exploration. Build your team, equip your ship, explore the universe!

It's about that time!

Well, it's finally that time. After lots of testing, late nights, early mornings and over six years of obsessive attention to detail, Stellar Tactics is ready for Early Access. Stellar Tactics is a complicated game with many of the core role playing systems you would expect in a classic RPG. It's more though. It combines traditional space exploration, trading, space ships and progression with deep party based RPG mechanics.

Many of you supported me earlier this year by Greenlighting Stellar Tactics. Since then I've been working hard to make certain the story, combat and core game play elements were as polished as they could be. That doesn't meant there aren't a few rough edges, because there are. I am at a point, however, where I need to gather feedback. Being a small developer (just me) your feedback is going to be critical for the success of the game.

I'm excited to hear what you think. Please, post your suggestions and comments in the forums. I read every post if I can and I usually respond if I have time. I'm looking for your thoughts on combat, interface, progression, balance, weapons, armor, loot, itemization...generally everything. I won't promise that I'll take immediate action on every suggestion, but I will be listening. If I see a good idea or suggestion, I'll consider it and let the community know if I'm planning to move forward with a change. If you find a crash bug, exploit or something that is generally making the game unplayable for you, please, post a note in the bug forums. I'll be working quickly to fix any game stopping bugs and annoyances.

What's next? I expect I'll be fixing bugs for the next few weeks. I'll be fixing things that I missed and issues that different play styles bring to the surface. After that it's all about Alpha. I'll be working hard to finalize space combat, generating content for exploration missions and following the road-map posted on the forums.

I'd like to thank each and everyone one of you for your interest in Stellar Tactics. I know you have many games to choose from. I'm going to work hard to make this game the best it can be.

If you want to help support Stellar Tactics, tell, your friends, family and people you don't even know.

-Don Wilkins

We were provided with access to Avadon 3, prior to it being launched and gave it to Forgottenlor, who dived into the game to come back with a detailed analysis of the game.

The Avadon games are story driven. While they allow a decent amount of exploration and character building, it's clear that they aren't as open as, for example, the Avernum series, but make up for this with their main stories and companions. Obviously if you don't like story driven RPGs (such as most RPGs by Bioware, Obsidian, or the Shadowrun games), then Avadon probably won't be your cup of tea. If, like me, you can get really caught up in a story, provided you're given a decent combat system, character building, and exploration, then you'll probably like the Avadon series. As far as The Warborn is concerned, the story is great, and probably my favourite of the Avadon series. It gradually builds tension and sucks you in. In fact I much preferred the way the narrative was built up in this game compared to the two previous games. The one thing that has to be said about The Warborn is that it is a true sequel. If you don't have prior knowledge of some of the NPCs from previous games, the events that occur and choices you'll have to make won't have quite the same impact as they do if you have played the earlier games. The price of peace and loyalty, as well as the worth of personal sacrifice drive the story forward, and you're often put between a rock and a hard place. You can die from making story based decisions (as I found out the beginning of the third chapter, though I decided to reload, decide differently and continue.) Also you'll have to like to read if you want to play these games. There is nothing voiced, and while you're never confronted with huge blocks of text, there is a significant amount of dialogue and environment description, and it's all pretty well written.

The dungeon crawler Heroes of the Monkey Tavern will be released today:

After countless days and nights celebrating within the infamous Monkey Tavern, our team of adventurers have spent every last penny... Their fates, however are about to change...

Like a gift from the gods, in walks a mysterious stranger who points them towards a high tower full of invaluable treasures .

It doesn't take much more to rouse their thirst for adventure.

You will enjoy exploring a dungeon full of riddles, dangerous enemies and vicious traps. And if luck favours... you will discover secret passages sheltering legendary weapons and armours.

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Key Features :

• Dungeon exploration in grid-base movement
• 8 classes
• 3 difficulty levels
• 2 hours of intense music
• Real time fights
• 22 different enemies, including 6 bosses
• Full keyboard and gamepad support
• Numerous traps and secrets
• More than 100 unique items

In today's Kickstarter update for Unsung Story, Playdek announces that they have a new design partner, as yet unspecified, working with them to produce new content. More details are coming, apparently.

So, essentially, it's an announcement to say that an announcement is coming.  Hmm.

Though it took a little longer than anticipated, we are happy to tell you that we have entered into a strategic agreement with a major company, who will be providing design work for the tactics game, as well as other Unsung branded games in the future. We have begun the collaboration process with them, and will start to see the fruits of those efforts over the next few months. 

We will coordinate with them and make a formal announcement in the near future, but want you to know that this is in place and will have a positive impact on the gameplay, mechanics and overall delivery timeline for the beta and full release. We had hoped to have some design and art progress to show by this month, but we are just now getting the time we need to spend with our partner on the core mechanics and the game world and need to do this before providing updates with visual content progress. Rather than making estimates as to when we think content updates will be ready, we will stick to updating on the design progress more regularly, and then update you when we have a good step forward with some content progress, whether it be concept art or screenshots of in-game progress.  

Again, look to get a formal announcement on our partner as soon as we can all coordinate on public messaging for that. Hopefully, it won’t take longer than a few months, but announced or not, it is happening and is a huge plus for Unsung Story development.

The end of the Gamescom articles series is nearing (although there are still a few to cover) and today's article is about Morning Men, a story driven episodic J-RPG.

Morning Men will be released in episodes, with the first episode being planned for the 22nd of November. All episodes will be roughly the same size, but next episode will also include feedback from gamers, so the size might differ depending on that feedback. Currently they are considering at least three episodes. Each of the episodes will be stand-alone, so it can be bought separately from the other ones. Each of the episodes will have a beginning and an end, but there is also an overarching story covering all three of the episodes. If you happen to play episode 1, followed by episode 3, you will get some information, like characters sharing their memories of what happened in episode 2. You can take your character from episode to episode, and your skills will carry over to the new episode. However, you can also opt for starting each episode with a new character, in which case that character will get a stock set of skills and items.

News reached us that Rogue Wizards will be released next week the 27th of September. Here is its trailer.

Rogue Wizards is built on dungeon crawling and procedurally generated playthroughs; yet beneath the chasms of these core details are a few fantastic spins on the genre. Combat is turn-based which adds a more clinical thought process to keeping your character alive on a deep run. This is also supplemented by building out your own assets with a town-building mechanic in the Wizard’s Sanctuary of Rogue Wizards. As you rescue lost NPCs in dungeons, they’ll move their shops into town which gives you access to new spells and weapons. Sell off your excess loot to bring shop prices down for a chance to even score sweet stuff for free!

If you are still interested, you might also check out this gameplay video by Evolve.

In a new development update for Bloom: Memories, some information is given on experiements with particles  (including a video), new creatures, a new dungeon, artwork and a timeline.

First off, like I said last time, we are aiming at getting this prologue done ASAP. I'm talking a month or two..... but that really depends what walls we hit (for example, we need to get in the spawners and the event scripting system to move characters around during "scenes". Waypoints SHOULD work for this, but more likely is we will need to custom build some functionality into that to really get the control we need. For spawners I want to randomize some of the creature stats within a range upon generation...which isn't a crazy task, just another job on the pile. And that isn't even considering the loot tables.). 

After the prologue is done and you all get a chance to play it, it will then be time to plug in our content and work on custom stuff that fell outside of the prologue (for example, some specific abilities will need a little work....like getting moss footsteps to spawn or solving how to handle swimming class creatures ((in water and sand)). 

How long will that take? Really not sure. 6 months? A year? Realistically I expect it actually to go fairly fast to get it playable and all the content in (less than 6 months), BUT then I expect polish and fixing little things to be a huge task (fixing animations, replacing sound effects, scripting out some better movements in events....or even just adding stuff and reworking segments of the story that is confusing). 

Keep in mind I handle all of this scripting and plugging stuff in, along with fixing the animations and basically everything except for the hardcore programming + music....so....only so much one person can do so fast :P

Basically, as I've always said I want to do this right. That "fix little things" stage is a fairly important difference between releasing a game that FEELS good and polished...and one that "falls short, but had so much potential". 

So, to the question of "when will it be done" ....I can only REALLY say "as soon as possible!". :) Everything else is up in the air to how progress goes and how peoples lives fit into development (I don't have sacks of cash laying around to just tell everyone to put down everything they are doing and focus only on Bloom haha).