Your donations keep RPGWatch running!

Picture Watch

Mary Skelter Nightmares
Box Art

Poll Watch

Are you concerned about the use of generative AI by game developers?
Yes, it will decrease the quality of games
16.33%

Yes, it will impact people's jobs / shift the industry
18.37%

Yes, but it is too early to say whether the net result will be negative
30.61%

No, it will increase the quality of games
16.33%

No, it will improve people's jobs
6.12%

No, it won't substantially change anything
2.04%

I don't have any opinion for or against it / don't know enough about generative AI to say
10.2%

Vote

October

Space Wreck - Review @ Mortismal Gaming

by Hiddenx, Monday - October 09, 2023 11:10

Mortismal Gaming reviewed the Space Wreck:

Space Wreck - Review After 100%

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:05 Overview
01:50 Technical State
02:37 Character Creation
04:50 Story Set Up & Thoughts
06:34 Progression Systems
07:48 Gameplay & World
09:28 Combat
11:29 Steam Deck Compatibility
12:04 Positives/Negatives
13:30 Conclusion
14:15 Wrap Up

Space Wreck

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Fortune's Run - Early Access Version released

by Hiddenx, Sunday - October 08, 2023 12:37

The Early Access version of the immersive sim Fortune's Run is now available:

Fortune's Run - Official Steam Early Access Launch Trailer

Gameplay by Splattercatgaming:

Fortune's Run is the Strangest RPG You'll Play This Year

 

Fortune's Run

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: Shooter-RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin - Speedrun Game Mode

by Hiddenx, Saturday - October 07, 2023 20:51

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin features a speedrun game mode:

Speedrun Game Mode [UE5 Gameplay Reveal #3]

We prepare a route in the game to run on time.

Take a look at another short video of our game. In the upcoming version there will be a new game mode "Speedrun". This mode is about running across the map in time and, of course, surviving ;) For this we use game mechanics i.e. traps, buttons and objects.

The current difficulty level of this mode, is set quite high. You can complete the route by walking slowly and carefully, but a dynamic time trial is the premise of this game mode.

Player feedback is important to us, as it determines the balance of the gameplay.

So we can't wait for you to show us your running times :)

Thanks Henriquejr!

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Dungeon Crawler
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Wartales - Community Update 2 available

by Hiddenx, Thursday - October 05, 2023 20:07

The community update 2 for Wartales is now available:

Community Update 2 Out Now!

Featuring community requests, new content, reworked features and more!

Attention Mercenaries!

Community Update 2 is here and boy oh boy are you in for a read! We noticed the patch notes are quite long, so for those of you who are a bit short for time or just fancy a quick overview of what’s new we have just the thing: a Community Update overview video.

Grab some snacks and let's dive right into today’s update.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Wartales

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Haunted Chocolatier - New Screenshots

by Silver, Wednesday - October 04, 2023 21:49

ConcernedApe has posted on X(Twitter) some new screenshots for the in development RPG/Sim Haunted Chocolatier.

Thanks for 1 million followers here's a few Haunted Chocolatier images

 

Haunted Chocolatier

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Moonring - Available for Free on Steam

by Silver, Wednesday - October 04, 2023 21:23

Eurogamer reports that Fable co-creator Dene Carter has released his Ultima inspired RPG Moonring for free on Steam.

Dene Carter, perhaps best known as the co-creator of the original Fable and developer Bullfrog's much-loved Dungeon Keeper, has released his brand new Ultima-inspired roguelike RPG Moonring on Steam, and he's made it completely free.

Carter describes Moonring as a "retro-inspired open-world, turn-based, tile RPG in the style of the classic Ultima games" - albeit one "created from the ground up with modern design sensibilities" - and it all plays out across the mysterious land of Caldera, a place of "Devotion and Dreamers, Gods and Gifts", where players take on the role of Dreamless.

"Travel, trade, sneak, fight and sail the world of Caldera," teases Moonring's Steam page. "Speak with the townsfolk, learn Caldera's secrets, and challenge the Archon for his throne... or even overthrow the Gods themselves!".

[...]

Moonring

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Roguelike
Platform: Unknown
Release: Released

Details

The Iron Oath - Release Date: November 2

by Hiddenx, Wednesday - October 04, 2023 17:28

The tactical RPG The Iron Oath will be released on November 2:

Release Date Announcement & Expeditions Update

Hello mercenaries! We're thrilled to announce that The Iron Oath is leaving Early Access and will be releasing on November 2nd, 2023.

We're excited for returning players to check out all the changes and additions we've made over the last year and a half, and to welcome in new players who have been waiting for the game's full release. The 1.0 release brings a conclusion to the main campaign, but that doesn't mean we're done with the game. There are still more stories to tell in the world of Caelum, and we're looking forward to continuing the journey with you!

We'd like to give a big shoutout to our Early Access community. Your feedback and support has been awesome and we can't thank you enough for helping shape the game into what it is today.

Price increase & last chance sale!

To celebrate the announcement, The Iron Oath is now 10% off until October 11th. This will be the last chance to get the game at a discount, as the price will be increasing to $25 (USD) when we fully release on November 2nd.

[...]

Thanks Kordanor!

The Iron Oath

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Tactical RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Gloomgrave - Released

by Hiddenx, Tuesday - October 03, 2023 19:14

The dungeon crawler Gloomgrave has been released:

Gloomgrave

Gloomgrave is a roguelike dungeon crawler with a retro pixel aesthetic. Upgrade your Gloomcrawler with unique perks and experiment with different builds as you try to survive each depth in search of the ultimate ancient relic.

Gameplay
Select your class and level up your Gloomcrawler to suit your play style
Turn-based combat lets you take your time and calculate your moves
Explore randomly generated dungeons - no two runs are the same
Avoid traps and try not to drink any hazardous potions!
Find new gear and carefully manage your inventory

Features
50+ items to loot... including weapons, armor, potions, scrolls, and more...
15+ monsters to slay and outsmart
5+ classes, each with unique attributes and gear
9+ depths to explore, each harder than the last
15+ perks that change gameplay in interesting ways
10 Steam achievements

Gloomgrave

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Dungeon Crawler
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Mystic Land: Search for Maphaldo - Official Trailer

by Hiddenx, Sunday - October 01, 2023 09:36

Couchpotato spotted an official trailer for the dungeon crawler Mystic Land: Search for Maphaldo:

Mystic Land: Search For Maphaldo - Official trailer

Mystic Land: Search for Maphaldo

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Dungeon Crawler
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin - Gameplay

by Hiddenx, Sunday - October 01, 2023 09:10

How do spells and traps work in Dungeons of the Amber Griffin?

Spells and traps [UE5 Gameplay Reveal #2]

We're polishing up Niagara's spell effects in Unreal Engine 5

Take a look at a short video of our game. We're polishing up Niagara's spell effects in Unreal Engine 5. In the game, we have the ability to collide spells cast by our team with spells from traps. It's quite a useful feature and quite fun to use :)

We optimise the spell effects in the game (e.g. use the same smoke animations in multiple special effects, etc.).

Only until the end of next week can you sign up for public playtests of the game. You are welcome! :)

Thanks Henriquejr!

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Dungeon Crawler
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Monomyth - September Update

by Hiddenx, Sunday - October 01, 2023 08:58

Henriquejr spotted the September update for Monomyth!

Monomyth - September Update

State of the Game: Video Devlog 7.0 | Beta Patch 4

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!
The new video devlog is here! Sorry for the delay!

In this update, I would also like to draw your attention to a promising little Kickstarter project that is launching its campaign shortly:

Sorceress

As always you can find the video transcript below.
Best wishes,
Michael

 

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!
It's finally time for a new update on Monomyth. This one took a little longer because I wanted to make sure that the latest patch was in a proper state before moving on. Before we look at Beta Patch 4 however, I would like to draw your attention to a little project that is launching its Kickstarter very soon.

Sorceress is an immersive, magic-focused, first-person action game that strongly draws inspiration from classic titles like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I had this game on my radar for a while now and I thought you might be interested in it as well. So if you like first-person melee combat, emergent gameplay, and nicely stylized environments you can find the link to the Kickstarter page in the description.

With the latest patch, we are finally entering Beta 4, one of the last development stages of the project. This patch contains the last bit of main content that will be available in the first public version of the game. It also knits together the different areas in a cohesive main quest and gives the players a hub to return to during their adventures in the underground. So let’s take a detailed look at the content added in this patch.

[...]

Monomyth

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Action-RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

September

Moonring - Free Roguelike released

by Hiddenx, Saturday - September 30, 2023 10:22

The retro roguelike Moonring has been released:

Moonring

A free game by the co-creator of the XBox's Fable series.

Five hundred years ago, the land of Caldera was plunged into endless darkness. Decades later, five moons rose in the sky, bringing light to the world and strange Gods with it. With them came the Dreams: calls to Devotion promising supernatural Gifts.

Thus, the new Calderan civilisation was born; a world of Devotion and Dreamers, Gods and Gifts, with a Dreamless Archon acting as the Gods' mortal representative. But Archons are not eternal, and a successor must be found.

You are Dreamless: free to choose your own destiny, to ask questions others dare not, or even become Archon yourself.

What will you do, Dreamless one?

Moonring is a retro-inspired open-world, turn-based, tile RPG in the style of the classic Ultima games, but created from the ground up with modern design sensibilities.

The world's geography is hand-designed, but the deadly dungeons beneath the surface reconfigure each time you leave... or die.

Travel, trade, sneak, fight and sail the world of Caldera. Speak with the townsfolk, learn Caldera's secrets, and challenge the Archon for his throne... or even overthrow the Gods themselves!

Features:
- Large, hand-designed open world
- An infinite supply of dungeons generated using your character name
- Over 100 varied enemy types, from fodder to bosses
- 35 unique Gifts from the Gods, their usage changing with the moon phases
- Sailing, ship-to-ship combat and boarding
- A Dungeon Synth OST with over 50 tracks, all made using retro Mod Trackers!
- A hidden magic system and many other mysteries


A note from the creator:

Hi folks. I've loved RPGs since the early 1980s, and grew up playing games like Lord British's 'Ultima' series and early Roguelikes. This is my love-letter to a style of gaming that has largely fallen out of fashion: with its vivid, bright sprites overlaid on stark black backgrounds, true open-world gameplay, and lack of handholding. The days I spent playing these games were spent in joyful exploration and discovery, venturing into the dark unknown, a co-author of the experience, filling in the gaps left by the primitive art with my imagination. For those of you who did the same, I hope Moonring recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you. For those who did not, I hope that the more modern conveniences you find in this game allow you to catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years ago.

My heartfelt thanks to all who spared even a moment to play this. Please be kind to my mistakes. I will fix them. :-)

- Dene

Thanks Couchpotato!

 

Moonring

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Roguelike
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Underrail - Heavy Duty DLC announced

by Hiddenx, Saturday - September 30, 2023 10:02

The Underrail Heavy Duty DLC for  will be released on November 1:

Underrail: Heavy Duty

This DLC adds three new weapon types - grenade launchers, machine guns and miniguns, as well as a special high-level side mission that will challenge even the most hardcore Underrail veterans.

Key features:

  • Grenade launchers, a area of effect type weapon, added to Guns skill
  • New high-level side mission where you'll fight against elite enemies
  • New feats

Thanks Couchpotato!

Underrail

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Space Wreck - Preview @ Mortismal Gaming

by Hiddenx, Friday - September 22, 2023 07:14

Mortismal Gaming checked out Spacewreck:

Check Out: Space Wreck

Thanks Couchpotato!

Space Wreck

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Space Wreck - Story Trailer

by Hiddenx, Thursday - September 21, 2023 12:43

Couchpotato spotted the story trailer for the post-apocalyptic RPG Space Wreck:

Space Wreck Story Trailer

Space Wreck

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Black Geyser - Kickstarter for Expansion Pack

by Hiddenx, Wednesday - September 13, 2023 17:01

Darkheart spotted a Kickstarter announcement for a Black Geyser DLC:

Kickstarter Coming Soon For Expansion Pack

Subscribe to the coming soon page

Greetings, adventurers!

We are happy to announce that we are going to launch a Kickstarter campaign very soon (early October) to fund the DLC's development - its Coming Soon page is already live on Kickstarter!

We encourage you to log in to Kickstarter and subscribe to its launch notification on the Coming Soon page. Your subscription (the number of subscribers) will help us a lot in the planning of the campaign, including the stretch goals.

If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, our studio won't be forced to close, and the DLC is expected to arrive before August 2024.

You can check out this forum post for more details on the DLC and its associated Fixpack. We want to emphasize that this Fixpack will be a free Steam/GOG update to all owners of the base game, so you won't need to purchase the DLC to get it.

Backers of our previous Kickstarter campaign who haven't received their physical rewards yet (game box, lorebook etc.) will receive all items well before the start of the DLC campaign, as all shipping will be completed before the end of September.

Thank you for your support and be sure to join us on Discord, or across social media, to let us know your thoughts.

The Black Geyser Team

Black Geyser

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Pathogenesis: Overcome - Early Access Release

by Hiddenx, Friday - September 08, 2023 08:41

The Action RPG Pathogenesis: Overcome has been released into Early Access:

Pathogenesis: Overcome

A not so accidental world pandemic of 2030, that turned people to their more primal selves, has become the reason for the downfall of modern civilization. Many survived, but did all the survivors remain human? This is a story about those who survived after a global pandemic on the territory of Leningradskaya Oblast, Russia. A story about finding your place in a destroyed world, where the greatest danger does not come from the infected.

Pathogenesis: Overcome – story-driven Action RPG with hardcore gameplay, elements of survival and real-life combat tactics, wrapped in the style of modern dark realism.

FEATURES:

  • Planning and tactics are more important than reflexes. Not everything can be solved by running and gunning. Ammo is rare, it weighs a lot, and has a tendency to run out. Weapons can wear down, or break entirely. You have to think twice before engaging in conflict.
  • Using cover will drastically improve your chances of survival. Even one bullet from a handgun is enough the receive a deadly wound. Running guns blazing can lead to a premature death.
  • Dynamic camera and non-direct controls, increase your ability to survey your surroundings and increase your maneuverability without losing control of your character. Think about the path you want to go and then concentrate on your surroundings.
  • Non-target shooting and a special aim mode, give you the ability to deal damage to specific areas of your enemies. Just let the suckers expose their elbow or knee... Or you can just shoot through surfaces with armor-piercing bullets.
  • A wide arsenal of real-life firearms, explosives, and ammo with proper characteristics and physically correct ballistics. Military, civilian, sports weapons from Russian and foreign arms manufacturers. Almost everything that you can find in real life.
  • Modifications and tactical gear increase the ease of use for firearms but don't overdo it. Each element increases mass, to an already heavy arsenal.
  • Cold weapons and hand to hand combat. In case you will run out of ammo.
  • Wounds, bleeding, disease, hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation, fatigue... You will have to spend some time to provide yourself with basic necessities, in order to survive in this harsh world.

Thanks Farflame!

Pathogenesis: Overcome

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Post-Apoc
Genre: Action-RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Wartales - Community Update #2

by Hiddenx, Wednesday - September 06, 2023 17:19

Shiro Games has posted two other previews of the upcoming community update #2 for Wartales:

Community Update #2 Preview: Camp & Troop Management

Community Update #2 Preview: Combat & Battles

Thanks Redglyph!

Wartales

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Crimson Tactics - Released

by Hiddenx, Tuesday - September 05, 2023 19:42

The tactical RPG Crimson Tactics: The Rise of The White Banner has been released:

Crimson Tactics: The Rise of The White Banner

Crimson Tactics: The Rise of The White Banner is a classical turn-based tactical RPG. It is set in a medieval high fantasy world and unfolds an action-packed mature political story on the continent of Xenthania. Experience the fate of an entire kingdom through the lives of the characters tied together by destiny.

The kingdom of Wendalle is peaceful but divided. It is weak and isolated. Wendalle is barely standing on one leg when it faces a new and devastating threat- an invasion by a strong and fanatic empire.

To make things worse, the king’s closest friend and confidant betrays him and paves the path for the invasion. Since the king has no heir, the traitor plans to take over the throne by claiming that this is to unite his motherland. Is his claim true? Or is he just a puppet of the empire?

Just when all hope seems to be lost, an unknown warrior comes forth with his allies and reshapes Wendalle’s future.

Crimson Tactics is strongly influenced by games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre and yet it stands on its own as a worthy spiritual successor to those classics. It also brings in new improvements and additions to the tactics genre:

  • The game features a complex class system with over twenty-five classes.
  • Players can choose and use from over two hundred abilities.
  • Recruit story characters with unique classes, weapons and abilities.
  • Combat features an extensive weapon system where players can mix and match from hundreds of different kinds of weapons for a more epic experience.
  • A unique mounting system that has mounts ranging from horses to dragons, with each having its own advantages and disadvantages.
  • Battles take place on grid based maps.

Crimson Tactics

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Tactical RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin - Public Beta Test

by Hiddenx, Sunday - September 03, 2023 12:46

You can join the beta test for Dungeons of the Amber Griffin.

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Dungeon Crawler
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

Alvara - Demo available

by Hiddenx, Saturday - September 02, 2023 09:16

A demo for the French RPG Alvara is now available:

Alvara

Alvara is a fantasy RPG with real-time exploration and turn-based combat, inspired by the gameplay of genre classics (JRPG) with a big modern twist
You play Zoltae, the hunter of a small village, who will be pushed to leave it and go explore the kingdom of Alvara to understand why the world around him is about to change...

Features:

  • Explore a fantasy world made up of different levels connected by passages. Villages, places to explore, mysteries to discover...
  • Third person view to explore a 3D world.
  • Go alone or accompanied. NPCs will be able to help you in your quest, but be careful, you will need the skill to be able to do so.
  • Quests and contracts offered by NPCs who will need your help.
  • Develop your character and his companions through experience points and by improving your skills that you will have been taught or that you will have been taught.
  • Rich dialogues that affect your relationship to NPCs and have a direct influence on the story.
  • Turn-based combat: when you encounter an enemy, you arrive in a combat zone in which each belligerent acts according to its characteristics.
  • Crafting, trade, ...
  • Day/night cycle. Sleep in a bed to recharge your batteries, set up camps and chat with your team to find out who they are and what drives them.
  • Backup when you find a backup book via the menu

Be aware that this game has been developed for 5 years by a single person.
The demo, lasting 1 hour, will allow you to visit the starting village and explore a wooded level. You will only do the main quest, but that will be enough to discover the gameplay and the dialogue system.
Coming soon, Early Access will allow you to travel the world around the main village and will take you around 5-6 hours. The full version due in 2025 will include the entire world to travel for a much longer lifespan. If this short demo thrills you, don't forget to put the game in your wishlist.

ATTENTION
The game was written in French and the translation automated. The translation files are made available to players who would like to improve them. Thus, some texts may be inconsistent or incomprehensible in the first versions of the game.

Alvara

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

August

Wartales - Community Update #2

by Hiddenx, Monday - August 21, 2023 21:02

The community update #2 of Wartales is out:

Community Update #2 Preview: Paths & Endings

Greetings mercenaries!

Welcome to the first Update Preview, giving you a sneak peek of some of the upcoming changes to the Path system.

Stay tuned for more of these articles as we share in-depth details the new features & changes coming your way in Community Update #2.

Overview
We’ve been working on giving Paths a proper ending for quite some time now. We’ve explored several options before deciding that each Path deserved a distinctive new feature. Our goal with the upcoming update is to give you access to new content as you get further into the game, rewarding your investment not only with more power, but also with more gameplay (don’t worry though, there’ll be plenty of power too).

When you reach level 8 of a Path, you will gain access to a new activity.

Each Path has its own unique activity, and you can complete all 4.

  • Power and Glory Path: The Ordeal of Legends
  • Trade and Craftsmanship Path: The Trade Routes
  • Crime and Chaos Path: Burglary
  • Mysteries and Knowledge Path: Archeology

As you continue to progress from level 8 to 12, you will unlock new, harder steps for the Path’s activity.Upon completing one of these steps, you will be rewarded with a unique item AND a unique title for your troop (yes, you read that right). For example, by completing the 4th step of The Ordeal of Legends, you will obtain:

  • The “Heroic Fighters” title, which grants your units a 4% damage bonus for the current battle each time one of them uses action points.
  • The “Helmet of Legends”, which, when worn, applies Frailty to all adjacent enemies.

That’s a total of 25 items and titles. There was actually a hesitation at some point: should it be items or should it be titles? But the answer was simple: why couldn’t you have both?
Once you complete the 5th and last stage of an activity, you’ll reach the end of the Path.


The Paths

Power and Glory: The Ordeal of Legends
An ultimate arena in which you will fight bosses from every region.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Wartales

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Space Wreck - Release Date: October 10

by Hiddenx, Monday - August 21, 2023 10:30

RPGamer reports that the Fallout inspired RPG Space Wreck will be released on October 10:

Post-Apocalyptic RPG Space Wreck Fully Releasing in October

Developer Pahris Entertainment announced that its Fallout-inspired post-apocalyptic RPG Space Wreck will exit Steam Early Access and fully release on October 10, 2023. The game has been in Early Access since December 2022.

[...]

Space Wreck

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details

Monomyth - July/August Update

by Hiddenx, Tuesday - August 15, 2023 16:26

Rat Tower posted an update on Monomyth:

Monomyth - July/August Update

State of the Game: Video Devlog 6.0 | Performance Improvements

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!

It's time for another project update! This month's video is a little more technical since we are talking about performance improvements. There have been a few problems with the audio recording at the beginning - sorry for that! Anyway, please, enjoy:

As always you can find the transcript below.

Best wishes,

Michael

-------------------------

Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!


Another month, another update! There has been a lot of progress during the last few weeks, especially in terms of performance. As such this update will be a little more technical and I hope you don’t mind. I think it is worth documenting a few of these things and letting you get an impression of what the current workload looks like. Basically, I decided to pull some tasks from the polishing phase into beta update 4. Next time we will get back to level design, game systems, and similar. So let’s take a look at it.

The current problem with performance could be described as the legacy of prototyping. It’s not uncommon in this phase of development. Basically, I am trying to bring the environments into their final shape while cleaning up unnecessary and inefficient structures.

The main focus here is on draw calls and lightmap memory.

For draw calls, you need to understand that for every frame that’s shown on your screen, every visible element has to be “drawn” by the engine, or rather your hardware. More precisely, what is drawn is a so-called material - a material is simply a surface, consisting of different texture maps and shader functions.

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Monomyth

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Action-RPG
Platform: PC
Release: In development

Details

The Iron Oath - Public Test Branch (0.7.007a)

by Hiddenx, Saturday - August 05, 2023 13:40

Henriquejr spotted the test branch 0.7.007a for The Iron Oath:

Public Test Branch (0.7.007a)

Hello mercenaries,

The Tales by the Fire update is now available on the public test branch!

To opt in: Go to your Steam Library, right click The Iron Oath and select Properties. From there, go to the Betas tab and select "Public test branch" from the drop down menu.

You can use your current save on the test branch, but you will need to first copy over the file. Navigate to: "C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\LocalLow\Curious Panda Games\The Iron Oath", and copy your save file from the "saves" folder into the "testBranch_saves" folder. When loading an old save from within a dungeon, you will be kicked out of the dungeon (but not penalized with fatigue or anything).

With that said, we do recommend testing on a fresh campaign for now, as there are still some things we need to clean up (such as balancing the frequency of the various dungeon events).

There are still some remaining bugs that we're working on, but in the meantime it is playable and ready for testing, so we'd appreciate as many eyes on it as we can get! We have been fairly thorough, so hopefully there aren't too many bugs that we haven't discovered. We expect it to remain on public test for at least a week, but it'll depend on how many new bug reports we receive.

Here are the changes and additions with this update:

  • New Class, the Balladeer: The 8th class in the game fills the role of a pure support character, buffing allies and debuffing enemies
  • Job System: Characters can now be assigned jobs within the company. Each job has its own unique bonuses that assist the party during dungeon exploration.
  • Dungeon Exploration: We've made some pretty significant changes to dungeon exploration, and each dungeon's layout is now fully visible. Tiles that have events are marked as such, but the identity of the events (aside from boss locations) are not revealed until you move to or scout the tile. We made this change to allow the player to make more informed decisions when navigating a dungeon, instead of blindly moving along a generally linear path as it was previously.
  • New and Reworked Dungeon Events: We've introduced a number of new event types such as Shrines, which allow you to sacrifice something to receive a blessing. We've also reworked many of our old events to better synergize with the new job system, and most events can now be revisited if you did not complete it the first time (so you can choose to hold off on interacting with a Shrine, and still come back to it later if you wanted to)
  • Dungeon Time Meter: The time threshold for new dungeon modifiers has been significantly increased to 48 (on the default difficulty). Moving to an unexplored tile costs 2 Time, while backtracking costs 1.
    Dungeon Modifiers: All dungeons now start with 1 Positive and 1 Negative Modifier which is displayed in the party select screen. It's important to pick classes and jobs which best suit the modifiers at play! With that change and the aforementioned changes to Time, players will now accrue less dungeon modifiers via the passage of time (max of 2), but the ones that are applied will be more potent. We've removed many of the old trivial modifiers, added a few new ones, and tweaked a few existing ones.
  • Specialized City Offerings: Cities are now more specialized in what they offer to the player. Certain gear and classes will be more common in specific cities (eg. Valkyries and Icebinders are commonly found in the Northern Hold, but you'll still be able to occasionally find them elsewhere too)
  • Character Trait Quantity: We've reduced the starting number of traits each character has. They now spawn with 2 combat/physical traits and 1 personality trait. The previous number of traits was too high, making it too hard to keep track of while also making characters feel less unique since there was a high chance they shared traits with your other characters. In the future, characters will be able to "grow" and acquire more traits as you play the game through dungeon events and company moments.
  • New and Modified Difficulty Levels: We've added two more difficulty levels and adjusted the default difficulty of Battle-Hardened to be slightly easier. If you played on and enjoyed one of the three previous difficulty levels, you'll want to move up 1 level from where you were (eg. If you played Adventurer, you should now play Soldier, if you played Battle-Hardened, you should now play Warlord). The difficulty levels are now: Adventurer, Soldier, Battle-Hardened, Warlord, Emperor.
  • Morale effects on combat: Your characters' Morale now affects them in combat, making it more important to manage properly. If a character has 75+ Morale, the duration of negative conditions applied to them will be reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1 Round). If characters have 25 Morale or less, there is a chance (it's a dice roll which takes into account their current Morale) on their turn that they will delay their turn until the end of the round. Once their turn comes up again, if their Morale is still below 25, another roll will determine whether they skip their turn entirely for that round.

[...]

The Iron Oath

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: Tactical RPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released

Details