Against the Storm News

• Added the Queen’s Hand Trials to the game - a hardcore, permadeath mode available after reforging the Adamantine Seal.
  • In the Queen's Hand Trial, your goal is to reforge the Adamantine Seal in one cycle without losing any settlements. A failed or abandoned settlement means the trial is over and you must start again. Restarting a cycle or not having enough Seal Fragments also means you have to start over.
    
  • You will start at level 18 with no Citadel Upgrades. Some gameplay unlocks (such as Trade Routes and Rainpunk) are available from the start.
    
  • As you progress through the new game mode, you will be able to gradually purchase upgrades in the Smoldering City. However, there is a catch - upgrades are no longer distributed on an upgrade tree but are instead drawn (like buildings or cornerstones).
    
  • You will only be able to purchase a portion of all the upgrades in the Citadel. You will get a total of 25 picks, each with 3 upgrades to choose from, and you can only buy one at a time.
    
  • There is also a section called "Fundamental Upgrades". The upgrades there aren't random and are mostly tied to increasing the number of Cornerstone/Blueprint options.
    
  • Deeds, Daily Expeditions, and Training Expeditions are not available in Queen's Hand Trial. All Deed rewards (the Big Shelter, decorations, Dullahan) are available from the start.
    
  • To unlock the Queen's Hand Trial, you must first reforge the Adamantine Seal at least once. Once you claim the reward for the Deed associated with this Seal, you will be granted access to the new game mode.
    
  • To start the Queen's Hand Trial, you will need to create a new profile in the "Queen's Hand" tab of the "Profiles" window in the main menu.
    
  • Each Queen's Hand profile has a failure counter. Each valid failed attempt (with at least 3 successful settlements before losing) increases the counter and gives a tiny amount of Citadel Resources at the start of the next attempt.
    
  • Winning the trial will complete the “Queen’s Hand Trial” Deed and award you with the last piece of the Viceroy’s Uniform in your home - the Queen’s Hand Pauldron.
• Added new conversations with Aunt Lori specific to the Queen’s Hand Trial.

• ⚡ Fixed a bug where some tooltips would not be displayed correctly in the World Map view.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where the Leather Gloves perk (+X to Reed production) would be offered in biomes without Reeds.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the planting and harvesting time indicators in the farm panels to have incorrect tooltips.
  
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with text scaling in the newcomer popup.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused embarkation Bonus tooltips to stay on the screen after closing the Training Expedition panel.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused UI issues after using the "Skip Tutorial" button in the main menu while in the middle of a tutorial scenario.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug where the worker panel in the Advanced Rain Collector was out of bounds.
  
• ⚡ Implemented numerous localization improvements to all languages and fixed dozens of typos and inconsistencies.

• Updated the demo version of the game on all platforms.
  
• Changed the default recommended control layout for the Steam Deck version of Against the Storm from “mouse and keyboard” to “controller”.
  • The Steam Deck version will now read gamepad input by default and display controller glyphs.
    
  • Please note that this is by no means full controller support. This is just the first step in making the game more accessible on the Steam Deck.
    
  • In the future, we will expand on this functionality and try to make the Steam Deck experience smoother.
    
  • If you prefer the old controls, we recommend playing with the "Keyboard and Mouse (Legacy)" layout (it can be found in the recommended/official layouts for ATS).

Releasing in early access to critical acclaim back in 2022, Against the Storm is sending off 2023 with its big 1.0 release, signalling a complete state for the rougelike city building experience that takes a refreshingly retro approach to the genre mashup. Echoing the stylistic air of Warcraft 3 while remaining as deep and complex as Shiro Games' Northgard, it's a highly engaging, delectably rewarding, and suitably frustrating game with pacing so perfect you'll be battling against not only the game's odds but your own overwhelming desire to build one more town before bed.

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It's that time of the month: Xbox has announced the next round of Game Pass games coming to the subscription service throughout December.

While we already knew that Remnant 2 and its prequel were available today on Game Pass, Xbox Wire has shared its latest blog post going into all of the titles coming to Game Pass in December's batch of games. First up, tomorrow (December 1) we've got Spirit of the North, an adventure game inspired by the landscapes of Iceland where you solve puzzles as a fox. Plus, there's SteamWorld Build, a steampunk city builder from The Station, with both of these titles available on cloud, console, and PC.

Then, on December 5, Lara Croft fans will be able to dive into Rise of the Tomb Raider, the second game in the Survivor Trilogy, available on cloud, console, and PC. On the same day, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is coming to Game Pass, a "robot voxel slice ‘em up where any part of your body can be sliced off." This one's playable on cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. That's not all for December 5 though, as While The Iron's Hot, a game that follows a "journeyman blacksmith on a quest to become a master and restore a ruined village," is also arriving that day, alongside World War Z: Aftermath, which, you guessed it, are both available on cloud, console, and PC.

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• Fixed a bug where opening a UI panel twice (trade routes, consumption, etc.) would lock the camera in place.
  
• Fixed a bug where some previously completed deeds would not register as achievements when loading the game.
  
• Fixed a bug where the World Map tutorial would pause and not progress correctly if the settlement was closed by an update.
  
• Fixed a bug where certain actions could not be bound to mouse buttons.
  
• Fixed a bug where resource tooltip footers in service buildings would display a {0} parameter instead of a keybind.
  
• Fixed a bug where clicking on services in the in-game encyclopedia would open the recipe panel.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game had to be reloaded to unlock the Rainpunk & Blightrot tutorial scenario after unlocking the feature in Smoldering City.
  
• Fixed a bug where Impatience gained from a Corrupted Caravan would display an incorrect prompt.
  
• Fixed a bug where tooltip footers in the encyclopedia would display a {0} parameter instead of a keybind.
  
• Fixed a bug where mines would not display a "no ore" warning when veins were depleted.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Merchant Shipwreck was giving Bricks and Planks as rewards.
  
• Fixed a bug where using the mouse wheel would not increase the number of goods offered in the trader panel.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Input Auto Focus setting was not correctly remembered.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Virtual Machine Mode settings were still visible when they should be disabled.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Carved in Stone effect would not show the correct progress number in its tooltip.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Carved in Stone effect in the Archaeologist's Office did not have "retroactive" in its description.
  
• Slightly buffed the values of the Carved in Stone and Ancient Strength effects in the Archaeologist's Office.
  
• Changed the way the end-of-cycle text is displayed on the world map HUD to make it clearer.
  
• The Early Access news panel and Early Access roadmap button were removed.