The Last Spell News

[p]Hello everyone![/p][p]Phew, third blogpost already about the DLC! We’re getting closer to the release (early 2026!) and we’re making great progress on it.[/p][p]This month, we organized a private beta with some selected members of our community, and that beta allowed us to improve some of the new systems (more on that in the blogpost!). We want to thank our amazing beta players for their involvement and their many comments and feedback posts The Last Spell: Tales of Torment![/p][p]Today, we’re going to talk about another new mechanic of the DLC: Ordeals! And once again, I’ll let Victor, game designer on The Last Spell, take over this blogpost![/p][p][/p][p]Hello once again! I’m here to talk about Ordeals, the third new mechanic introduced in this DLC. If you recall the diagram from the last blogpost, here’s what I’m talking about:[/p][p][/p][p]So, what’s an ordeal ? Ordeals are short-term objectives that will appear during nights, and let you gain Memories if you complete their requirements. Here’s an example:[/p][p][/p][p]Ordeals are composed of:[/p]

• [p]A main action: dealing damage, killing enemies, using skills... it requires the player to do the following action a given amount of times.[/p]
• [p]One or two additional constraints: in this case, there are two. One is “Target has a Negative Alteration”, and the other is “Target is at full health”. This means that the player has to deal damage to enemies that have a negative alteration AND are at full health.[/p]
• [p]A time limit: the player has to complete the Ordeal within the time limit. After that, the ordeal will disappear. The time limit generally ranges between 1 and 4 turns.[/p]
• [p]A reward: how many memories the ordeal will grant if you complete it.[/p]

[p] [/p][p]We have a multitude of actions and constraints. The general idea of Ordeals is to force the player to do something they would not naturally do, so that it is an added challenge. Here are a few examples:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]There are also Ordeals that require you NOT to do something for a given amount of turns:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]Now that you know how an ordeal works and what it looks like, here’s a bit more about the system in its entirety, across a whole night.[/p][p]Each night, the player has a “quota” of 3 ordeals to accomplish. If that amount is reached, a certain amount of Memories is awarded as a bonus, which we call the Covenant Bonus. After that, all current ordeals disappear, and no other ordeals can be completed for the night.[/p][p][/p][p]For the record, this is a recent change we have made after feedback from our beta testers. Before, we had no limit on the amount of Ordeals players could complete during the night. This meant that, in order to maximize the Memories you obtained, you had to try and complete every single Ordeal that showed up. Because of this, Ordeals quickly turned into frustrating chores for our players.[/p][p]With the Covenant system, players just have to find 3 ordeals they want to complete every night, and can thus ignore the ones they dislike or find too difficult to achieve in their current situation. Generally speaking, during a night, 6 to 8 ordeals will show up, which means you have to complete -at best- 50% of them.[/p][p]Now, in terms of UI, here’s where the ordeals will show up during the night:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]To recapitulate our intentions: Ordeals are meant to break the repetitiveness you can sometimes encounter during runs, where every turn feels like it plays the same. These short-term challenges should change that, while making you progress toward the next Epiphany. They are also meant as a counterpart to Divergences. While Divergences can be planned for and are visible ahead of the night, Ordeals rely more on surprise and quick adaptation during the night.[/p][p]That’s it for Ordeals, but I’ll keep this blogpost going for just a bit longer to show you a few more epiphanies.[/p][p] [/p][p]As promised in the last Blogpost, here are a few more examples of Epiphanies that you will be able to activate in your runs. As a reminder, Epiphanies are bonuses that last for your entire run, and that can be obtained by collecting Memories (if you want more information on them, you can read the Blogpost here).[/p][h2]Less is more[/h2][p]Less is more is an epiphany that grants a perk to all heroes. It grants a LOT of experience gain, but this bonus is reduced for each Hero you have.[/p][p][/p][p]This is an epiphany you will want to take if you like to focus more on having a small number of very strong Heroes, instead of recruiting a lot of Heroes.[/p][p] [/p][h2]Extended Reach[/h2][p]Extended Reach is an Epiphany that increased the range of all melee skills, allowing them to reach one tile further.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][h2]Holy Ground[/h2][p]And here we have Holy Ground, which grants a special perk to all your Heroes: as long as no enemies have entered the Haven during a night, the Hero gets +20% Damage.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]Lastly: in the previous Blogpost, I teased a screenshot of what looked like new versions of existing weapons. Today, I’ll be presenting you what they are: Unique Weapons.[/p][p]For each weapon, the DLC adds an Epiphany that grants the player a unique version of this weapon. Each of them also has a name.[/p][p][/p][p]These weapons have 3 main advantages:[/p]

• [p]Their damage automatically scales with the Hero’s level, so they will keep being relevant for the entire run[/p]
• [p]Their damage is adaptative[/p]
• [p]They have a unique new perk[/p]

[p]They are Unique Items, so, like other Unique items, you can only equip one per Hero.[/p][p]Here are two examples of what Unique Weapons look like:[/p][p] [/p][h2]Flayed[/h2][p]Flayed is the Unique version of the Tome of Magic. It comes with the unique perk “Eye of the Storm”, which will automatically cast Stray Lightning and random enemies every 3 Mana Spent.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p] [/p][h2]Bloodtendon[/h2][p]Bloodtendon is the unique version of the Shortbow. It has upgraded AoEs on all of its skills.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]And this is just an extract of the many Epiphanies you’ll be able to play with in this DLC. Once again, we’ll show you a few more in the next Blogpost. See you next time![/p][p] [/p][p]As you may know, the Ishtar Games studio is made of two teams currently:[/p]

• [p]The “TLS” team, working on the DLCs and the post-release support of the game[/p]
• [p]The “Dead in Antares” team, working on the new game of the “Dead in” series[/p]

[p]And, we’re very happy to announce that Dead in Antares is releasing on February 19th 2025![/p][p](And don’t worry, we’ll have a release date for Tales of Torment DLC soon, and it’s coming out sooner than you may think).[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]The “Dead in” series and The Last Spell share a lot of the same DNA (complex, hard games with RPG elements), so if you liked The Last Spell, there’s a high chance you might find a lot to love in Dead in Antares! 😉[/p][p]There’s a free demo for Dead in Antares, so feel free to try it yourself![/p][p] [/p][p]Take care, heroes!

[p][/p][p]Hello Warriors! [/p][p]Halloween is nearly upon us, and until next week, The Last Spell AND its DLCs are on sale, so that could give you an idea of screaming when losing AGAIN against Cetusia. [/p][p]Last time, we showed you one of the new features of the upcoming DLC, the Divergences. That brought a LOT of... passionate comments from players! We definitely read them all, and we understand that didn’t fully explain the core loop of the DLC, and how each system works with each other. [/p][p]This is why before going deeper into the Epiphanies, we will present to you the Altar, and how all the new systems work with each other! [/p][p]Like the last time, I will let Victor, game designer on The Last Spell, take over this blogpost! [/p][p] [/p][p]Hello! Before presenting the true subject of this blogpost – Epiphanies – I will be presenting the Altar, which is a new building that will appear in any runs you launch if you have the DLC. It grants the player access to a new interface that centralizes most of the new features from the DLC. [/p][p][/p][p]The Altar has two tabs: one of them is the Divergence tab, which we talked about in the last Blogpost, and the other is the Epiphanies tab. [/p][p]Epiphanies are a new mechanic we are introducing with this DLC. They are bonuses that last for the whole run and let the player specialize their run. To activate an Epiphany, the player must choose that Epiphany and then complete it by gaining Memories and filling the Memory gauge. Once an Epiphany is completed, the player can choose another one. [/p][p]  [/p][p][/p][p]Epiphanies can have various effects: [/p]

• [p]Give a very powerful item [/p]

• [p]Grant a perk to all Heroes [/p]

• [p]Grant a global passive effect [/p]

[p]These last for the entire run. [/p][p]Now that you know about Divergences and Epiphanies, we can show you how the 4 new mechanics of the DLC will mesh together. Here’s a simple diagram of the new mechanics: [/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]There are a total of 100+ Epiphanies in the DLC. At the start, the player has access to 25 of them, and the rest can be unlocked by playing the DLC. [/p][p]Our objective with Epiphanies is to make global bonuses that have an impact on your entire run, and shape how you build your haven, your heroes, or how you play the nights. Think of it as something that can create “builds” not just for your Heroes, but for your entire Haven. Different Epiphanies will affect different aspects of the game: Heroes, Economy, Defenses... and will generally reward you for committing to a certain playstyle. [/p][p]When starting a run, a given number of Epiphanies are chosen at random to constitute the Epiphany pool for this run. This lets players adapt and plan their run from the start, and makes it so that you won’t have to go for the same Epiphanies every run. For example, if you start a run and see multiple Epiphanies that affect Defenses in the Altar, you may want to focus more on building defenses during this run. [/p][p]  [/p][p]As we don't have Icons at this stage of development, we use the names of the Epiphanies for now. Some of them give a good idea of what their effect could be.[/p][p][/p][p]Epiphanies are separated into 3 tiers with different Memory values: these represent how many Memories you have to accumulate to complete the Epiphany. After completing an Epiphany, the cost of all other Epiphanies is increased for the remainder of the run. This means that the first Epiphanies you complete are cheaper than the rest, so be careful about what you want to complete first, as some have an effect that is more interesting to get early. In a single run, players should be able to complete at least 3-4 Epiphanies, but you can go higher by playing on longer maps, completing as many Divergences as possible, or just taking the Epiphanies that cost less. [/p][p]Next, here are various examples of Epiphanies that will be available in the DLC: [/p][p] [/p][p]Examples [/p][h3]Spiked Walls:  [/h3][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]This Epiphany, as the name says, grants spikes to your walls, which will automatically damage nearby enemies during the night. Here’s how it looks in-game: [/p][p][/p][p]If you take this Epiphany, you’ll probably want to build a lot of walls to maximize its effect. Maybe you can even think of a clever pattern in which to build your walls? [/p][p] [/p][h3]Efficiency: [/h3][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]This Epiphany focuses more on the economic aspect of the run. When you complete a night at rank S or rank A, you will gain more Gold and Materials. You will probably want to take this Epiphany early, in a run where you focus on keeping Panic low. [/p][p] [/p][h3]Aello’s Head: [/h3][p]This Epiphany grants an item called “Aello’s Head”. It’s a new kind of item called a Unique Item. Unique Items are, as the name says, unique: every Unique Item can only be obtained through a specific Epiphany. Moreover, a single Hero can only equip a single Unique Item at a time, so choose carefully. [/p][p] [/p][p]As usual, all values here are subject to change: damage, range, cost... may be higher in the final version.[/p][p] [/p][p]Aello’s Head is one in a series of Unique Items inspired by the Bosses of The Last Spell. This one lets you use “Flying Assault” a skill of the Harpies from Gildenberg. Players following us on Discord or other social media may have already seen it as a sneak peak, but here’s the item in action: [/p][p][/p][p]While most Epiphanies have a global effect, Unique items can only be equipped on one Hero at a time, so they will only affect one of your Heroes. This one grants a high mobility skill for cheap, which can be strong for a Hero that plays with momentum, or a build that generally lacks mobility. Since the skill uses Adaptative damage, you can use it to full effect on Heroes specialized in any kind of damage. [/p][p] [/p][h3]Nighttime Cravings: [/h3][p]Nighttime Cravings is an Epiphany that is inspired by the Ripper enemy, which can eat clawers to boost himself.  This Epiphany grants a special skill to all your Heroes, that lets them “eat” a Clawer every turn for just 1 Action Point, to regenerate health. [/p][p] As the range is restricted to melee and it grants health, this Epiphany is best used with many Heroes that play in melee range and risk losing Health. [/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]That's it for today, but we'll keep revealing a bit more Epiphanies in the next Blogposts. I’d just like to tease one last type of Unique Item that will come in this DLC... [/p][p] [/p][p]What do you think these are, and what do you think they do? You’ll get the answer in a future blogpost. That’s it for me, as I’ll let Bruno conclude this blogpost. [/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]We’re getting closer to the release of the final DLC of The Last Spell. (yes, we’re not calling it The Last DLC, we know), and we would like to invite YOU to play an early version of this DLC for a limited time. [/p][p]We’re looking for ~20/25 players to try the new features of this DLC, and give us some feedback about them! [/p][p]To participate in this beta: [/p]

• [p]Join our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/ishtargames[/p]
• [p]Be part of the “Ishtar Betas” role [/p]

• [p]And once you have that role, fill the form you will find in the “ishtar betas announcement” channel!  [/p]

[p]  [/p][p]We’re very excited about this final DLC! Next time, we will talk about the Ordeals. [/p][p]Take care

[p]Hello![/p][p]We've known Lost Pilgrim Studio for nearly 10 years, since our early days for Dead in Vinland! And we couldn't be happier about their new release![/p][p]Vagrus: The Riven Realms is an award-winning, turn-based, open-world dark fantasy strategy-RPG set in a deeply immersive world shaped by over two decades of tabletop roleplaying. Developed by Lost Pilgrims, a team who built their own setting – the Riven Realms – through countless DnD-style campaigns, the game features over 2.5 million words of story-driven, lore-heavy, richly-branching narrative that captures the spirit of classic tabletop adventures. In the game, the player takes the role of a vagrus - a sort of a caravan leader who makes a living in a strange and dangerous dark fantasy world by leading a traveling company on all kinds of ventures.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lost Pilgrims have just posted a huge announcement on their Steam development blog about releasing their second expansion of Vagrus – At the Heart of Ruin along with a Ruinous Supporter Pack – on Steam and various console platforms. This expansion offers a tight but multi-layered and dense region fraught with conflict and rich with opportunities. Vagri who decide to brave the forsaken paths of this broken realm will be challenged not only by new foes and villains, but also by the very nature one must traverse the mountainous terrain.[/p][p][/p][h3]New Content and Features[/h3]

• [p]A fresh, dangerous region unfettered from Imperial dominance and brimming with peril[/p]
• [p]A dark narrative adventure with several overarching stories as well as shorter adventures[/p]
• [p]Deep quests with multiple outcomes and a plethora of personalities[/p]
• [p]Many new opportunities and challenges for traders, mercenaries, and explorers[/p]
• [p]A host of new enemies, be they crazed scavengers or creatures cursed beyond recognition[/p]
• [p]A large cast of NPCs, some new and some old, who can be a part of your story[/p]
• [p]New minor factions the likes of which few vagri have ever had the chance to befriend or fight against[/p]
• [p]New obstacles, rewards, lore, and more of our signature visual art[/p]

[p][/p][p]So, if this sounds like something you may like, check out the main game and its expansion![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Hello Heroes,[/p][p]we hope you're doing good! We're still working hard on DLC 3, and on future blogposts to tell you more about the new systems we have yet to introduce you to![/p][p][/p][p]In the meantime, we have a small bugfix issue for the game today![/p][p][/p][h2]Security issue[/h2][p]We want to let you know that a security issue was recently found in some versions of the Unity Editor. In certain cases, it could have allowed unsafe file loading. Good news: the issue has been completely fixed. We’ve applied the official Unity updates to make sure our games stay safe and stable. There is no evidence that the issue was ever exploited, and no player data has been affected.[/p][p][/p][h2]Bugfix[/h2]

• [p]Fixed a text formatting issue in the perk Feral Instinct tooltip[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where potions could not be used when the "Condensed Hate" (Stone Medal perk) was active[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where old save versions could have troubles to unlock Battle Ready Achievement[/p]

[p][/p][p]Don't forget to update your game![/p]

[p]Hello Heroes! [/p][p] [/p][p]We hope you’re doing okay announced  that the third DLC of The Last Spell would be the final DLC for the game, and that the DLC would be available in early 2026. [/p][p]We’ve been working all summer on this DLC, and right now, we’re starting to have every system nicely implemented in the game. It’s all VERY WIP, as most of the systems don’t have any UIs yet, and there’s no balancing yet. But we’re happy with our direction so far, and we can’t wait for you to experience it! [/p][p]We also organized some closed betas that allowed us to refine the different systems (a HUGE thank you to our very special beta testers A new formula [p]In the last announcement, we clarified that this would be the last DLC for The Last Spell, and that it would be different from previous DLCs. So, you might be asking: why exactly, and in what way? [/p][p]After finishing Elves of Amberwald, we made a clear observation: it would be extremely difficult for us to make another “race + map + 3 weapons” DLC that would meet our standards in terms of quality. When we make new content for the game, we want it to be fun, interesting and refreshing. It’s not that we have no ideas for new maps, weapons or races, but they would either be too similar to some existing content, or cost way too much to develop. [/p][p]Instead, we decided to focus on something else entirely: game systems and mechanics. Now, what kind of new systems do we want? We decided on three main points: [/p]

• [p]The new systems should make runs more diverse and different from each other [/p]

• [p]The new systems should add short or long-term goals/challenges to create new motivations during runs [/p]

• [p]The new systems should be “optional”: players can ignore them during a run if they don’t want to use them, preserving the “vanilla” experience [/p]

[p]You can keep these points in mind for future blogposts, as all new systems respect them. Now that the scope of the DLC has been set, I’m here to introduce one of the new systems that will be part of it: Divergences. [/p][p] [/p][p]To make it simple, a Divergence is an optional challenge for the coming night. Divergences will appear every 2 to 3 days, at the start of the production phase, and will offer a choice between 3 options: [/p][p][/p][p]\[UI Work in Progress] [/p]

• [p]Standard Divergence: an effect that will make the coming night harder for the player. It’s the basic version of the Divergence. [/p]

• [p]Strong Divergence: a “hardcore” version of the Standard Divergence. It has the same effect, but boosted. In exchange, it grants more rewards. [/p]

• [p]Refuse: this option will keep the coming night unchanged but does not give any rewards. [/p]

[p]Divergences can have a wide variety of effects, like adding more enemies, boosting enemies, or even handicapping the Heroes. When a Divergence appears, its effect is chosen at random, so you will see different divergences every run, even if you play the same map over and over. I will tease a few of the possible effects later in the blogpost. [/p][p]The main objective of Divergences is to give players the opportunity to take a risk and increase the difficulty of the coming night – a frequent mechanic in roguelikes. But it also brings something else: the player can potentially plan the night more carefully, as divergences give a more precise idea of the challenges awaiting them. This is already something that exists using the seer, but Divergences really extend it. For example, if you see a Divergence that adds a lot of Accursed to the wave, you may want to equip one or two more Heroes with a magic weapon. [/p][p]The difficulty of Divergences scales with nights and maps, so a divergence on Elderlicht night 10 will probably have much stronger effects than a divergence on Lakeburg night 2. [/p][p]  [/p][p][/p][p]Here, the night 9 Divergence is much harder, but also grants better rewards. Would you take the risk? [/p][p] [/p][p]As a side note, you might be thinking “what the hell are Memories ?”. The answer to that will come in another blogpost. In the meantime, think of it as a resource you will most likely want to collect during runs, just like Materials or Gold. [/p][p] [/p][p]We are currently testing and tuning this new mechanic, with the help of our lovely beta testers, along with the rest of the new features in DLC3. Getting early feedback from players has helped us a lot and has already helped us make much needed improvements and adjustments. For example, following the first round of playtests, beta testers told us that they always got the same divergences and that the system lacked variety. We have since added a few more and tweaked their chances of appearing, which has made the feature much more enjoyable. [/p][p] [/p][p]Before we end this blogpost, here are a few examples of Divergences you might encounter during your runs with the upcoming DLC. Keep in mind that all values you see are likely to change in the final version, as we are still doing a lot of testing, tweaking and balancing. [/p][p][/p][p]\[UI Work in Progress] [/p][p][/p][p]\[UI Work in Progress] [/p][p] [/p][p]\[UI Work in Progress] [/p][p] [/p][p]Enabling a Divergence adding 18 Elite Runners maybe wasn’t a bright idea! [/p][p] [/p][p]And that’s it for today, I think we went through everything there is to know about Divergences. But stay tuned for future blogposts, as this is only one of the new systems we are introducing in DLC3. [/p][p][/p][p]We hope you’ll enjoy this DLC as much as we did working on it!  [/p][p]The Final DLC of The Last Spell will be released in early 2026! [/p][p][/p][p]To tease you a bit of what's next to come, here are the upcoming blogposts for the DLC:[/p]

• [p]Ordalies[/p]
• [p]Epiphanies[/p]
• [p]Eposes[/p]

[p]Intriguing, don't you think?[/p][p] [/p][p]Take care