Across the Obelisk News

Greetings Adventurers!

We’re rapidly approaching the launch date for our next DLC, The Wolf Wars, and Update 1.1: The Black Forge! In our last Dev Diary, we took the opportunity to reveal both zones that’ll be introduced with 1.1, along with their respective bosses. Today we’ll look at some of the new features coming to Across the Obelisk, as well as some tweaks to existing systems within the game!



[h2]The Combat Log![/h2]
Sometimes you just need to know how that last round went, other times, you’ll be scratching your head to figure out what the boss just did. Our latest addition is sure to delight both novice and veteran players alike and should help you dissect each turn with clarity so that you can create better strategies next time!

[h2]Improved Gamepad support![/h2]
We’ve heard the requests and we are ready to deliver! In Update 1.1 we’ll be adding improvements to those seeking to move away from keyboard and mouse, in favor of Steam-supported gamepads! Combat should be remarkably improved on controllers/gamepads, along with full functionality across the menus! There are still further improvements to be made in later patches, so please be sure to let us know what you think; we’ll be looking for your feedback to help refine and polish this feature to be intuitive and smooth for anyone wanting to play with a gamepad.



[h2]Weekly Challenge[/h2]
Also coming with Update 1.1 is our rework of the Weekly Challenge system! In case you’ve never tried our Weekly challenges, the concept is simple: you take a fixed party of heroes on a custom "seeded" run designed to test your capabilities! Each Weekly Challenge will have its own specific theme, with special modifiers and corruptions unique to each week’s event!



Completing each challenge will now reward you with exclusive cardbacks that you can’t earn elsewhere in the game! Though, don't worry if you miss a cardback you like, we’ll be sure to rotate cardbacks from previous weeks into additional Weekly Challenges later on!



That’s all for this Dev Diary! In the next, we will be looking in-depth into the additions coming with the Wolf Wars DLC!

Greetings Adventuers!

Today marks the first of our Dev Diaries leading up to the release of our newest DLC: The Wolf Wars! We know you want to know more about the DLC, but we're going to take a small detour and talk about our previously teased update, Patch 1.1, which will be releasing alongside The Wolf Wars!

This update will be completely free for all Across the Obelisk players. For this Dev Diary, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the two new zones, as well as the bosses you’ll encounter in them.



The Black Forge, a once powerful settlement the Dwarves built deep in the Volcano of Velkarath has long been sealed away. What led them to seal away this once great city? All will be revealed in time.

You and your friends may stumble upon the entrance of the lost abandoned city at the base of the Volcano, the looming Gates of the Black Forge barred and heated to the touch. Should your party tempt fate, seeking treasures and knowledge locked away, be prepared to fight the machinations the Dwarves left behind. From constructs to living crucibles, be ready to suffer the heat of the Velkarath’s Volcano given form! All the enemies within the Black Forge embody their environment, representative of the heat that helped forge them into existence.

As you reach the deepest depths of the Forge You'll come across a relic of a bygone era, a Machine of War left to rust.



DT-800, fueled by the flames of Velkarath’s Volcano is our Zone Boss for the Black Forge! Serving as a 4-piece Boss, you’ll need to quickly prioritize the order in which you dismantle DT-800 whilst managing the burn stacks he applies - gaining shielding for every stack of Burn you let linger upon your party!



Velkarath is not the only place with secrets hidden below the surface. Deep in the sewers below the Elven city of Faeborg lies a place where the Ratmen once settled. During the activation of the Obelisk, the descent of the Frost Calamity laid waste to the Sewers of Faeborg, freezing everything in its wake.

You’ll find two entrances into the Sewers of Faeborg: one locked by key, the likes of which you’ll learn to obtain on your own! The other, is a crack in Faeborg’s walls, leading to icy-waters that’ll see you descend into the Sewers. The skittering hordes of Ratmen, long frozen by the Frost Calamity are now under the command of Faeborg’s Dracomancers.

Yet not everything is under the Faeborg’s Dracomancers control, The once Great Rat King Ratone has escaped the freeze! King Ratone, benevolent in his own ways, may offer you a pact that you may choose to accept. The terms of Ratone’s offer are yours to discover on your own when the patch releases! Be warned - if you do not accept his offer, be prepared to fight. The Great King of Rats will not take your refusal lightly.



Blessed by the Frost Calamity, King Ratone embodies the elements of Frost and the “Curse” of the Ratmen. We wish our players the best of luck in taking on the challenges patch 1.1 presents! Join us at this time next week as we dive into what else we have lined up in the next free update coming to Across the Obelisk that we think you'll really be excited about. We promise that before we launch The Wolf Wars DLC, you'll get a full dev diary about that, too!

Thank you to everyone who continues to support our game! Be sure to join our Discord for future updates and announcements!

Greetings Adventurers!

On March 30th we’ll release our newest DLC, The Wolf Wars! Check out the trailer right here.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This will accompany a free update we’ve been teasing that includes The Black Forge and Sewer sub-zones. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing Dev Diaries that’ll talk more in-depth about what to expect coming up at the end of the month. If you’re not already part of our Discord community, you should probably join because we will share sneak peeks in the dev-showcase channel before anywhere else!

Wishlist Across the Obelisk: The Wolf Wars right here!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2325780

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VuQKR2yVxC
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/acrossobelisk

Greetings and salutations, mighty adventurers!

It has been a little while since we last sat around a campfire and regaled you with tales of our daring exploits and adventures in the world of Across the Obelisk’s development. We have been battling bug(bear)s, working to improve the quality of everyone’s lives, and bringing balance to the For… cards.

In our last dev diary, we talked about the upcoming content that we have been working on – which is still ongoing and has been the main focus of our time – So we've added a little sneaky, behind-the-scenes look at the boss and some minions later on in this dev diary! Rhin has been hard at work writing and designing the encounters in the new zones and a few new items that could become build-defining. More on that in the future, though.

Meanwhile, Hans has focused on doing battle with a combat log feature, making sure that it is in a state that is satisfying to use and has all the relevant information to keep abreast of what is happening in the battles that you fight. This is no small task, and there's still a lot left to be done! We're looking forward to being able to share our progress on this once we have a little more information.

That’s not all, though. Jjnicolart is working on some awesome new art that we can’t quite show you yet but we just know you will love it because we love it! All of the new zones, the bosses, and monsters along the way has been his amazing work so you know we are dying to show you. Soon you will see, we promise!

Of course, we have not forgotten about balancing the gameplay and cards, or working on the bugs that appear in the game, there’s a good amount of movement behind the scenes each day that is keeping us very busy right up until the holidays!

We will be taking a short break over the holidays to spend time with our families and loved ones because this is important for everyone. But don't fret, we will return to our adventures in early January to make sure we are keeping on track with our content goals and bringing you more cool things in the new year and beyond.

[h2]Before we show you the cool thing…[/h2]
We are excited and happy to say that we are part of the Steam Winter Sale happening right now, that means that if you are looking to recruit more adventurers in your quest to journey Across the Obelisk, or you simply wish to give someone the joy of our awesome little game, now is absolutely the time to do so! Both the base game (-25%) and Spooky Night in Senenthia DLC (-10%) are part of the Winter Sale right now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1385380/Across_the_Obelisk/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2168960/Across_The_Obelisk_Spooky_night_in_Senenthia/

[h2]The Cool Things![/h2]
Now, without further ado, let us show you what you really came here to see: The Black Forge’s boss!



That boss is cool, but we couldn’t let you go without giving you another little bonus sneak peek at new monster pets. They’re cute. They’re SUPER cute.



Also, because these little critters are so adorable, when they are available in the game we will be adding them to our Discord emojis list. 🥳

Until the next time, we want to tell you that we appreciate your love and support for our game. The dedication that our community shows each day is truly unique, and we want to wish you all a very, very happy holiday and new year. Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, it is a time to celebrate and share appreciation with those around you. We have had an incredible year because of you all, and that is the best gift we could ever receive.

Thank you, and happy new year!
- The ATO Team

Hello adventurers!

As you already know, there is no better way to play Across the Obelisk than with your friends!

Since we started designing the game, both of us (Hans and Rhin) always had the idea that this had to be a cooperative game, innovating and introducing the possibility to play with your friends in the rogue-lite deckbuilding genre. Today we can say confidently that we believe Across the Obelisk is the best co-op deckbuilding experience within the genre, and certainly one of the best ways to play the game in any of the modes available is with your friends!

If you agree with this and want to support us, please nominate us for the "Better with Friends" category in the Steam awards by clicking the above button!

We also wanted to tell you that we are continuing to work tirelessly on patch 1.1. Previously, we’ve shown you the Frozen Sewers mini-zone, and today we’re taking the opportunity to give you a preview of the Black Forge and the enemies you will encounter within!

The Black Forge is located inside the Velkarath Volcano, and is one of the mini-zones that will be added in patch 1.1. You may have gone past it (or even taken a brief peek inside) on your previous adventures!

Besides these two mini-zones, we are working on having a number of other things ready for the patch, including full controller support, a combat log of cards played in combat, many new corruptions (and tweaks to the old ones!), new themed weeklies and new cardbacks for each of them, and some other surprises that we will reveal over time!

That's all for today! If you like the game and you haven't already, please leave us a review and don’t forget to vote for the game in the Steam festival!

As always, thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, and understanding!

Happy Holidays,