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Against the Storm News

Hauler Station Update available!

UPDATE (September 15): We just released a hotfix that deals with the reported issues and should help with crashes on Linux. We also tweaked the Hearth's panel to fit the Hub Level back into the primary tab. Learn more:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/5368909498004266508
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[h3]Greetings, Viceroys![/h3]

We're introducing the Hauler Station - a new non-essential building - because even in a world tormented by apocalyptic storms, someone needs to carry the groceries. Your settlers can finally take a load off, literally!

What's new:
  • New buildings: Hauler Stations
    • Small - a ruin found in small glades
    • Big - a possible blueprint choice
  • 16:10 resolution readability improvements (Steam Deck)
  • New default town names
  • And more!

Also, we recently created a video guide that presents the latest Ancient Seals mechanics and showcases the Sealed Forest biome:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
While you’re there, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]DEVELOPER NOTES[/h2]
We’re hot off the heels of the Sealed Forest release, and jumping right into yet another update! This time we bring you a brand new non-essential building type — the Hauler Station — as well as a whole host of UI improvements inspired by you - our great community. And of course, as always, some balance tweaks and bug fixes. Let’s jump into it!

First off, the Hauler Station. As you might have guessed by the name alone, we’re finally adding dedicated haulers to Against the Storm. Though, we’re not overhauling the game’s logistics to do so. Everything still works the same as it always had - workers assigned to production buildings will still fetch their own ingredients and deposit production yields themselves. The Hauler Station is just a bonus, another way of boosting your settlement's productivity. Think of them as something similar to the automated mine carts in the Mine.

So how does it work? Simply put, you assign workers to the Hauler Station as you would to any other building. Once employed, the haulers will start transporting both production yields and crafting ingredients between buildings and warehouses, in a similar vein to how normal workers assigned to those buildings would. There is a small caveat though - the Hauling Station has a limited range, and haulers will only service buildings within that range.

Big Hauler Station Panel

There are two different Hauler Stations in the game right now - a small one and a big one. The Small Hauler Station has one worker and can only be found as a ruin in small glades. The big one has three workers and is given to players as a possible blueprint choice when gaining reputation (and can also appear in dangerous glades). We didn’t want to simply give these new types of buildings as essential blueprints, because this new system is not really an essential part of the game’s economy - it is really just another tool to increase the proficiency of the player’s settlement and to further optimize production chains. We also feel that having the Hauler Station in the same pool as other production buildings will create some interesting choices in the future.

Small Hauler Station

Let’s move on to some cool UI changes coming with this update. Most notably, we added the option to cycle between glade events of the same type (instead of just cycling through events with the same name), we changed the alert for depleted ore (it will now tell you if you can upgrade the mine), we improved the Citadel upgrade window (it now auto-scrolls to your last position and shows missing resource numbers in red), and we added a new in-game encyclopedia article about prestige difficulties and the Forsaken Altar. Of course, there are also multiple smaller changes, like wording improvements in World Events and a removal confirmation when deleting decorations.

Now, let's delve into balance. We changed the Essence of Corruption objective (burning Blightrot Cysts) in the Ancient Seal to be retroactive, and we added a new early Citadel unlock with Mine upgrades as a reward. This is by no means a new system, we just wanted to move this mechanic to a spot, where it would have to be consciously picked/purchased. By doing so, we hope that players will organically learn what building upgrades are and begin to play around with them during subsequent runs. Additionally, hiding this system behind a Citadel unlock removes some of the mental load beginner players might experience early on.

Lastly, this update also brings some new sound effects, custom-translated town names on the World Map (generated when players don’t name their settlements), numerous localization improvements, and a whole host of bug fixes.

But wait… in our last dev notes, we promised to give you some more information about our future plans and the next big update. While we can’t give you any specific dates or details just yet, we can reveal that the next big feature on our roadmap is “Guidance & Lore”. This will be another step in fleshing out the game's meta layer by adding more structure to it and giving new players a clear sense of direction. We also want to focus a bit more on worldbuilding, so that the lore enthusiasts among you will have more to speculate and talk about.

Thank you for providing us with feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:
May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]CHANGELOG[/h2]
Number of changes: 64
Inspired by community: 84%

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.

[h3]New content and features[/h3]
  • ⚡ Added a new non-essential building type to the game - the Hauler Station.
    • Hauler Stations are special structures that employ haulers - a new type of worker who transports resources between buildings (including warehouses).
    • Haulers transport both production yields and crafting ingredients.
    • Haulers work only within a certain range of the Hauler Station. The connected buildings are indicated after selecting the station.
    • There are two Hauler Stations in the game right now - a small one, found only as a ruin in small glades, and a big one, given to players as a possible blueprint choice.
    • The Small Hauler Station has a range of 8 fields and can employ 1 worker. The Big Hauler Station has a range of 10 fields and can employ 3 workers.
    • The Big Hauler Station costs 4 Planks and 4 Bricks to construct.
    • The Big Hauler Station blueprint is unlocked after reaching level 12. Before that Hauler Station ruins can still be found in glades, and the blueprint can be bought from traders.
  • Added a new Citadel upgrade to the Dim Square branch.
    • The new upgrade was added to the beginning of the upgrade tree and is accessible at level 5.
    • The upgrade unlocks guaranteed Planks with every embark (moved over from Brass Forge Level 2) and a global production speed increase.
    • Due to this addition, the last upgrade in the Dim Square branch was pushed a bit higher up the tree.

[h3]Balance[/h3]
  • ⚡ Changed the objective for the Essence of Corruption in the Ancient Seal. It now requires burning 10 more Cysts, but the progress is counted retroactively.
  • ⚡ Rebalanced trade routes for settlements established in the Cursed Royal Woodlands. Previously, these settlements would have the same desired goods as towns built in the regular Royal Woodlands. From now on they will have a unique mix of resources they are ready to buy.
  • ⚡ Removed the longer storm modifier from the Viceroy difficulty level.
    • We’ve gotten quite a lot of feedback about the recent change made to Viceroy, so we decided to remove the storm duration modifier from this difficulty level. And while this effect didn’t really affect prestige players, people who were just starting to progress through the difficulty ladder experienced an unnecessarily steep difficulty increase (as they got a longer storm in addition to more hostility, harsher Forest Mysteries, harder orders, etc.).
    • The longer storm duration effect was moved to Prestige 2, and all Prestige levels above that were bumped up accordingly. There is no P21 however, as Prestige 11 was merged with Prestige 1.
    • Prestige 11 was merged with Prestige 1, resulting in a new combined effect: increased Reputation cap and Order difficulty.
    • We hope that with this change, we can smooth the difficulty curve a bit (at least before Prestige games), allow more relaxed games for players who up to the last update enjoyed them on the Viceroy level, and give players a better entry to the difficulty climb in general.
  • Changed the unlocks in the Brass Forge Level 2 upgrade in the Smoldering City.
    • The guaranteed Planks were moved to the Dim Square branch.
    • In place of the guaranteed Planks, Brass Forge Level 2 now unlocks Mine upgrades.
    • We decided to do this, because we wanted to make the unlocking of Mine upgrades a conscious decision on the player’s part. We realized that a lot of players didn’t even know upgrades existed and were confused when ore deposits would not disappear after depletion (they would stay on the map, as they could still be deepened using upgrades). We hope that with this change some of this confusion surrounding ore will dissipate.
  • The Rich Glades Cornerstone is now unlocked at level 2 instead of level 12. The Big Hauler Station has taken its place as a level 12 reward.

[h3]UX/UI improvements[/h3]
  • ⚡ Added a new in-game encyclopedia entry about Prestige difficulties and the Forsaken Altar. This article will automatically be linked in the “Read More” section of the HUD when a player starts a Prestige game for the first time.
  • ⚡ Changed how cycling through glade events works. From now on, pressing the arrow buttons next to the event name or using the arrow keys will no longer go through all events with the same name, but rather through all events of the same type (for example all caches regardless of size).
  • ⚡ Added a “perpendicular camera angle by default” setting to the options menu. Enabling it will automatically align your camera to a frontal view of your settlement when pressing H (reset camera hotkey) or starting a new game.
  • ⚡ Added the removal confirmation popup to all decorations.
  • ⚡ Improved the wording in the description of the converted Altar of Decay to better explain its effect.
  • ⚡ Unified the naming of small glades across the game (they were previously called “regular glades” in some circumstances).
  • ⚡ Improved the wording of the “order recipes by priority” setting in the options menu to now also refer to fuel priority in the Hearth.
  • ⚡ Improved the wording for Reserve Embarkation Point rewards in some World Events (like Mosquito Nest and Forsaken Gods Followers).
  • ⚡ Improved the wording in the description of the Secure Perimeter Cornerstone to clearly indicate that Hostility gains from Forbidden Glades are also reduced.
  • ⚡ Improved the wording in the description of the Stormwalker Tax Cornerstone to clearly indicate that the effect only triggers when accepting newcomer groups from the Citadel.
  • ⚡ Changed how “ore depleted” alerts work.
    • If an ore deposit is depleted, and the Mine can no longer be upgraded (or upgrades are not yet unlocked in the Citadel), the alert will simply say “Mine has no available ore”.
    • If an ore deposit is depleted, but it can be upgraded, the alert will say “Upgrade mine for more ore”.
  • ⚡ Changed the ore tooltip. It now always shows the full number of charges for a given deposit (with all the upgrades).
  • ⚡ Citadel Resource numbers on upgrades the player can not afford are now marked in red.
  • ⚡ Changed the order of the buttons in the upper right corner of the HUD to reflect the order of tabs in an open UI panel.
  • ⚡ The upgrade window in the Citadel now automatically scrolls up to the last purchased unlock.
  • Added a custom game result screen to Sealed Forest games (both when the game is won and lost).
  • ⚡ Changed some UI elements so the game is more readable in 16:10 resolutions, with maximum supported UI size enabled (mainly for the purpose of playing on the Steam Deck).
    • The Steam Deck version of the game now automatically launches with the maximum supported UI size.
    • Increased the font size in numerous UI panels to help with readability on the Steam Deck.
    • Moved the upgrade section in the Ancient Hearth to a new tab in the building’s UI panel.
    • The virtual keyboard is now automatically invoked when selecting a text box on the Steam Deck.
    • Slightly changed the layout of the Embarkation Panel to not cover any vital information with UI frames when playing with maximum supported UI size and 16:10 resolution.
    • Adjusted multiple elements on the HUD to reduce instances of overlapping UI when playing with maximum supported UI size and 16:10 resolution (perks, species panel, resources).
  • Changed the NPC and dialogue in the “pick a cornerstone” window when getting an Epic Cornerstone for acquiring a guardian part in the Sealed Forest.
  • Added special labels to all building and event panels to more clearly state their type (for example “service building”, “production building”, “glade event (cache)”, or “dangerous glade event”).
  • Updated the encyclopedia entry about Ancient Seals with more up-to-date information.
  • Changed the location of the “move” button in the UI panel for all movable buildings.

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with some dangerous glades not being revealed correctly.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Escaping the Shadows tooltip showing incorrect information.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the upgrade tab in houses having an incorrect tooltip.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with a missing tooltip text in the Forsaken Gods Followers World Event in the Japanese version of the game.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Spiced Ale perk showing an incorrect Resolve value in its tooltip (1 instead of 5).
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Inspiring Work effect not stacking Resolve bonuses correctly after at least one stack has been removed.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Woodcutters’ Camp sometimes breaking when being moved.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Looming Darkness effect sometimes not being removed correctly after a Storm.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Unyielding Corruption Forest Mystery being drawn in games with the Monastery of the Holy Flame modifier.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Gentle Dawn Forest Mystery being drawn in games with the Forbidden Lands and Dangerous Lands modifiers.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with glade events spawned by the Plague of Fishmen appearing in undiscovered glades.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Blood Sorcery working effect (Fishman Soothsayer) not displaying the number of killed villagers in its tooltip.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with tracked resources not appearing on the HUD after being acquired for the first time in a given game.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with duplicated Modifiers being pickable in the Sadrath The Wise World Event.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with some Blightrot Cysts in the Brickyard spawning in the wrong place.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Stormforged version of the Flame Amulets Cornerstone having the flavor text mixed up in the description of the mechanics.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with flickering ingredient tooltips in production building panels.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Twitch minigame UI overlapping the Orders HUD.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Herbs order being called incorrectly in-game.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with a missing space before the percentage sign in the French description of the Frequent Caravans perk.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with percentage signs in the Game History tab being displayed incorrectly.
  • ⚡ Fixed multiple typos and inconsistencies in the Simplified Chinese version of the game. Most notably in building descriptions, Forest Mystery tooltips, World Events, update news, Seal Keeper dialogue, encyclopedia entries, and various UI elements.
  • ⚡ Fixed a few typos and errors in the Japanese version of the game (Gambler World Event description, Exploration Expedition tooltip).
  • ⚡ Fixed a typo in the Rainpunk Drill glade event description.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with some resource tooltips having two dots at the end of their description instead of one.
  • Fixed an issue with inconsistent line spacing in the options menu.
  • Fixed a bug with builders taking twice the amount of goods when the game is reloaded during their trip to the warehouse.

[h3]Other[/h3]
  • ⚡ Added some new custom sound effects to the game.
    • When opening the UI panel of the Forsaken Altar.
    • When sending goods back to the warehouse.
    • When decision popups appear.
  • Changed the randomly generated town names that appear on the map when players don’t name their settlements. These names are now more unique, tied into the lore of Against the Storm, and translated into all supported languages.
The current game version is 0.59.2.
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[h2]COMMUNITY CORNER[/h2]
Check out some of the best community screenshots, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold:
[expand]

We were joyous to receive a fanart from Armin, who appreciated Damian's (graphic designer) work on the game's visual aspects. Thank you!

The Artwork and Screenshots sections of our Steam Community Hub were also filled with fantastic creations and inspirational designs!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3034574348
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3034574348

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031203620
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031203620

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3030152114
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3030152114

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032721555
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032721555

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032050023
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032050023

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031422777
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031422777

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3030083020
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3030083020

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028927671
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028927671

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3033607330
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3033607330

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035251769
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035251769

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026446048
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026446048

[/expand]
For more artwork, memes, and screenshots visit Steam, Discord, and Reddit.

We wish you a great time with the new update and a happy weekend!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]PREVIOUS UPDATES[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3646281279368578532
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650783611399924712
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658663641148118403
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650781073918695896

Update Preview Livestream (Hauler Station)



[h3]Greetings, Viceroys![/h3]
We invite you to join us today at 3:00 pm UTC on our Twitch channel for an Update preview livestream during which we’ll walk you through the changes coming in tomorrow’s Hauler Station Update:

Follow us on Twitch

As you might have guessed already, the main feature is a new non-essential building type: Hauler Station. It comes in two versions:
  • Small - a ruin found in small glades
  • Regular - a possible blueprint choice

Once employed, the haulers will start transporting both production yields and crafting ingredients between buildings and warehouses, in a similar vein to how normal workers assigned to those buildings would.

As usual, we also sprinkled the update with various balance changes and UX improvements which we’ll present live later today.

If you can’t join us, the recording will be later uploaded to our YouTube channel, where we keep the Livestream Archive playlist with the recordings of all our streams.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

We can’t wait to see you and kindly remind you that as usual, all the ongoing settlements will have to be force-finished (more information below) when the update goes live tomorrow.

May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games
[hr][/hr]
[h2]How to prepare[/h2]
We release new content Updates every two weeks on Thursdays around 1 pm – 3 pm UTC. As we make multiple changes to the game’s systems, balance, and content, the game needs to force-finish any settlements that are in progress when you download the update. This aims to prevent various game-breaking bugs that could occur otherwise.

IMPORTANT: If you have a settlement in progress, it will have to be force-finished when you download the Update. You will be reimbursed with Citadel Resources but you will have to start a new settlement. Your meta progress (that is: Experience, Level, completed Deeds, unlocked Upgrades, Citadel Resources, etc.) will remain intact.

In the main menu, under the “Play” button, there’s a countdown to upcoming Updates. Please finish your current settlement before the update day if you don’t want it to be completed automatically.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Previous Updates[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3646281279368578532
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650783611399924712
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658663641148118403
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650781073918695896

Ancient Seals Overview

[h3]Greetings, Viceroys![/h3]
Ancient Seals are a new World Map system and a unique mechanic of the new Sealed Forest biome that we introduced in the latest updates.

Check out our video guide to learn how those systems work together:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This concludes our briefing. It’s time for you to put your knowledge into practice.

May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

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[h2]Learn more[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3646281279368578532
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650783611399924712
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658660471449381227
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3676674235050601004

Hotfix 0.58.3 (Seal generation, Into the Ruins)

[h3]Greetings, Viceroys![/h3]
One day, we'll release an update that doesn't require a hotfix. But it's not today!

Despite our great efforts, some bugs slipped our attention, but they should now be corrected when you download the latest hotfix:
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Seal to sometimes not appear in the correct glade. Unfortunately, this won't fix the current Sealed Forest game.
  • Fixed a bug with a missing objective description in the Into the Ruins timed order.
  • Fixed an issue with the working effect of the Drainage Mole glade event not applying to the Harvesters' Camp.
  • Fixed a small typo in the in-game update news section.

If you were affected by the Seal generation error, you can message us at [email protected] and we'll try to manually finish the game for you and recreate the conditions for the Sealed Forest run in the next Cycle. The reply time may vary depending on the number of messages we receive. We're sorry for the trouble!

Thank you for your swift reports and support. We wish you a great time with the new update and a relaxing weekend.

May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

The current game version is 0.58.3.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]PREVIOUS UPDATES[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3646281279368578532
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650783611399924712
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3658663641148118403
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3650781073918695896

Sealed Forest Update out now! New biome available!



[h3]Greetings, Viceroys![/h3]
It’s time to venture into the Sealed Forest - a mysterious and hostile biome with unique mechanics and a completely new victory condition.

Withstand terrible plagues and use the new Beacon Tower to summon aid directly from the Citadel. Find and collect the lost parts of the Ancient Guardian to summon it and close the broken Seal.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

What's new:
  • Sealed Forest biome
  • Seal reforging mechanic
  • Plagues
  • Beacon Tower building
  • 12 new music tracks

Continue reading for the detailed Ancient Seals guide and the full changelog.

P.S. Steam Strategy Fest is in full swing. If you haven’t picked up Against the Storm yet, you can get it with a 35% discount until September 4:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/
[hr][/hr]
[h2]CESSATION MINI ALBUM AVAILABLE[/h2]


We have a little surprise for you! We just released the Against the Storm mini album titled "Cessation", composed by Mikołaj Kurpios. The album consists of 6 tracks (including the brand-new music from the Sealed Forest) and is available on major streaming platforms. Enjoy!

LISTEN TO THE NEW ALBUM

The remaining tracks will be released as Part 2 of the game's OST in the future. Stay tuned!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]PLUSH CAMPAIGN ENDING SOON[/h2]


Due to the success of the Beaver Villager crowdfunding campaign, we were able to extend the campaign's period by 10 days to give you more time to get your very own limited-edition plush!

The new end date is September 12. It will no longer be possible to obtain the plushie after that day, so don’t miss it:

GO TO THE PLUSHIE PAGE

Each plushie comes with an exclusive "Beaver villager in peril" background art.

You can learn a little more here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/6347313345428050770
[hr][/hr]
[h2]DEVELOPER NOTES[/h2]
The day has finally come, the revamped Sealed Forest is here! As this massive update is solely focused on the new biome, we have decided to forgo the usual developer note structure and instead jump right into a detailed summary of all the new features, and a recap of how this new addition ties into the World Map.

[h3]What are Ancient Seals?[/h3]
Ancient Seals are old, intricate structures built to hold a primeval, malevolent force at bay. As time passed, they became weaker, causing the mysterious Sealed Ones to slowly reclaim dominion over our world.

Your task as the Queen’s Viceroy is to settle the lands and journey to the heart of the Sealed Forest where you must reforge the Seal to imprison the evil gods.

There are 8 different Seals. The farther away they are, the higher their difficulty and the more Seal Fragments are required to repair the shattered Seal. You can acquire Seal Fragments by establishing settlements, overcoming negative Modifiers, and solving World Events encountered on your caravan's journey.

Ancient Seals on the World Map

[h3]Your Caravan[/h3]
At the start of every Cycle, your caravan departs from the Smoldering City. You can upgrade your Caravan permanently with Smoldering City Upgrades that add new Embarkation Bonuses, increase the Embarkation Range, and much more. You can also modify the Caravan temporarily with Royal Resupplies and World Events.

Royal Resupplies are special rewards awarded for settling near negative Modifiers. You can choose from three different one-time bonuses: increased Vision and Embarkation Range, Reserve Embarkation Points, or additional Seal Fragments.

Royal Resupplies

Reserve Embarkation Points are a separate pool of non-rechargeable Embarkation Points that can only be used during a single Cycle. You may want to save them for the most challenging endeavors. You can also improve your Caravan by solving World Events. But tread with caution, your decisions often come with a trade-off or can present a unique challenge.

World Event - Wandering Eremite

[h3]The Sealed Forest[/h3]
Once you gather enough Seal Fragments, you can travel to the Sealed Forest - a grim, uninhabitable biome, where the Ancient Seals lie and where your governing skills will be put to the test. A game in the Sealed Biome can only be attempted once per Cycle.

Ancient Seals spread corruption around them making the Sealed Forest an extremely hostile environment. The flora in this region is bizarrely mutated, with overgrown trees containing extra resource charges.

Sealed Forest Trees

A broken Ancient Seal is hidden within the depths of the Sealed Forest. You must search for clues in surrounding glades to locate it. Every glade contains a Guidance Stone that points to the location of the Ancient Seal.

Guidance Stone

The sooner you reach the Seal, the better. Viceroys don't embark to the Sealed Forest to establish settlements or gain Reputation. The Queen expects them to reforge the Seal… or die trying.

[h3]Reforging a Seal[/h3]
To reforge the Seal you must reconstruct the Ancient Guardian by obtaining its heart, blood, feathers, and life essence. There are three different variants of each part. Acquiring one of them will require a display of remarkable finesse in a certain aspect of managing a settlement.

Ancient Seal Panel

Once you obtain a part, you will be rewarded with an Epic Cornerstone and a new array of objectives will be revealed. After assembling all four parts, the Scorched Queen will breathe life into the Ancient Guardian - the only entity capable of closing the Seal.

Ancient Guardian

But beware! The mere presence of the Ancient Seal summons foul plagues on your settlement. Every Storm, a new plague will be unleashed, hindering your efforts to resurrect the Guardian.

To oppose the tormenting force of the plagues, you can construct a Beacon Tower - an ancient structure that allows you to summon aid directly from the Smoldering City and choose from 9 temporary support abilities (with a limited number of charges).



Reforging each Seal will not only grant you the Queen's appreciation and extra resources. It will also push back the Blightstorm and prolong the Cycle permanently.
[hr][/hr]
[h3]The future[/h3]
The Sealed Forest was one of the largest items on our Early Access roadmap. Now that it’s finally out, the only things left on there are the tutorial improvements, Steam Deck verification, and (as always) community-inspired changes. But fear not! We also have plans for yet another big feature, although we are not ready to reveal anything substantial about it just now.

In the very near future, we will most likely focus on a few smaller size updates again, with more UX and UI changes, bug fixes, and smaller gameplay improvements. And once we’re ready, we will show you the next big and exciting thing coming to Against the Storm.

As always - thank you all for providing feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:


May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
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[h2]CHANGELOG[/h2]
Number of changes: 56
Inspired by community: 91%

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.

[h3]New content and features[/h3]
  • ⚡ Revamped the Sealed Forest biome. It now has a unique mechanic, new visuals, and a new win condition - a hidden Seal that needs to be found and reforged in order to win the game.
    • The Sealed Forest is a special biome only present around Seals on the World Map. It’s accessible only once during each Cycle, as a “final boss encounter”.
    • Deep inside the Sealed Forest, an ancient, broken Seal is hidden. To find it, players have to look for Guidance Stones in surrounding glades and triangulate the Seal’s location.
    • To win a game in the Sealed Forest, players need to successfully reforge the Seal. This can only be done with the help of an Ancient Guardian.
    • Ancient Guardians are old, magical constructs created by an old civilization. However, thousands of years of being exposed to the Storm and the influence of the Seal have taken a toll on them. To make use of them again, players have to reconstruct them.
    • To reconstruct a guardian, four parts are needed - the heart, the blood, the feathers, and the life essence. To acquire a part, players need to complete special, challenging objectives.
    • All objectives can be seen in the Seal panel. Each guardian part has 3 objectives assigned to it, testing the settlement’s performance in different aspects (industry, well-being, exploration). To acquire a part, only one of these objectives must be completed. After collecting a guardian part, the next set of tasks for the next item will be shown.
    • Completing a Seal objective not only awards a guardian part but also gives players a free Epic Cornerstone choice.
    • Seal objectives have two difficulty settings - for games at the Settler/Pioneer difficulty levels, and for games at Veteran and above.
    • The mere presence of the Seal causes terrible plagues to appear in the settlement. Plagues are randomly generated every year and are only active during the Storm. They can be anything from a simple production speed decrease to a powerful curse that spawns a dangerous or forbidden glade event near the Hearth.
    • To help players survive in this harsh environment, a new building is at their disposal - the Beacon Tower.
    • The Beacon Tower is a powerful ancient structure that allows players to summon aid directly from the Citadel. It gives access to three types of temporary support abilities: supplies, bells, and miracles.
    • Support abilities are active only for one season and have a limited number of uses per category.
    • Hostility works differently in the Sealed Forest. It doesn’t increase with assigned Woodcutters. Instead, it grows by 2 points for every 10 felled trees.
    • There are two types of trees in the Sealed Forest - small and big ones. Small ones have only 2 resource charges (like normal trees in all other biomes), and big ones have 20 charges.
    • Trees in the Sealed Forest give wood, meat, sea marrow, and leather. Wood is guaranteed, the other resources have a 10% chance of dropping.
    • The Sealed Forest has the following resources:
      • Berries
      • Mushrooms
      • Roots
      • Meat
      • Insects
      • Reeds
      • Clay
      • Sea Marrow
      • Copper Ore
    • Although the Sealed Forest has a different win condition than all other biomes (reforging the Seal instead of collecting all Reputation points), Reputation points can still be collected as usual and will unlock blueprints and lower Impatience.
    • The Sealed Forest has new unique visuals - terrain, trees, seasonal effects, fog, camera effects, etc.
    • There are 12 new unique music tracks available only in the Sealed Forest. There are also numerous new sounds and ambient effects.
    • The Seal is tended by a Seal Keeper, Rahatiel, who guides Viceroys through the process of reforging it. Every time a new guardian part is acquired, he will offer a bit of additional context. Every guardian part also has a lore description when hovering over it.

[h3]Balance[/h3]
  • ⚡ Changed the objective of the Great Expansion Timed Order from having one level 3 and one level 2 Hearth to having two level 2 Hearths.

[h3]UX/UI improvements[/h3]
  • Changed the wording in the French version of the Decadence stat tooltip in the in-game Encyclopedia to make it clearer.
  • Improved the wording in multiple places in the French version of the game (decadence stat tooltip, all mentions of ancient seals).

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused some buildings to break if a worker got killed the moment they got assigned.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Game History tab sometimes closing on its own.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Seal Contract UI sometimes incorrectly labeling the Bronze Seal as “Gold”.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused stacked bonuses from Cornerstones like Exploration Expedition to disappear after the first timer ran out.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with tracked goods not immediately appearing on the HUD after being added to the storage for the first time.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with a missing tooltip in the Into the Ruins order.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Unbearable Smell effect from the Blight Filter Cornerstone now displaying its tooltip correctly.
  • ⚡ Fixed an incorrect description in the tooltip of the Inspiring Work effect.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with a duplicated reward in the ruined Provisioner building.
  • ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Worker’s Rations Cornerstone being given to the player after catching a Treasure Stag.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with some forbidden glades not uncovering correctly.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with resources being incorrectly ordered in the Crystalized Dew recipe.
  • ⚡ Fixed an issue with resources being incorrectly ordered in the Purging Fire recipe.
  • ⚡ Fixed a few typos in the Polish translation of the game (Beanery Worker profession name, glade event tooltips).
  • ⚡ Fixed multiple typos in the Traditional Chinese version of the game (profession names, mining tooltips, upgrades, alerts, dialogue, intro).
  • ⚡ Fixed a typo in the Thai version of the Royal Resupply reward.
  • ⚡ Fixed a typo in the German translation of the Roaming Swarm World Event curse.
  • ⚡ Fixed a few typos in the Korean translation of order objectives tied to rainwater usage.
  • Fixed a visual glitch on some brick wall textures.

[h3]Other[/h3]
  • ⚡ Added 12 new music tracks to the game, exclusive to the Sealed Forest biome.
  • Improved the sound performance of the game and changed how effects are loaded into memory.
  • Changed the main menu background.
The current game version is 0.58.2.
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[h2]COMMUNITY CORNER[/h2]
Check out some of the best community screenshots, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold:
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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024531673
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024531673

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023663856
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023663856

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023077911
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023077911

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3022505917
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3022505917

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023580842
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023580842

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028161399
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028161399

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026446048
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3026446048

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028358127
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3028358127

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3025357998
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3025357998
[/expand]
For more artwork, memes, and screenshots visit Steam, Discord, and Reddit.

We wish you a great time with the new update and a happy weekend!
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[h2]PREVIOUS UPDATES[/h2]
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