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Hero Deep Dive: Aelis Syren



Protectors of the Light,

Our fearless Queen of Nothing has always been a community favourite since her release, so we wanted to take the opportunity to give her the justice she deserves and delve deeper into her conception, creation and backstory.

WHO IS AELIS?

After Alderin assassins murdered the royal Syren family, a young Princess Aelis was forced into hiding. From the depths of this betrayal, she formed The Rebellion. Aelis, now known as The Queen of Nothing, rules her loyal rebels with unwavering – and often merciless – strength and cunning.

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From a young age, Aelis was more interested in the power of persuasion and politics rather than depending on her privileged upbringing. She showed strength in soft-power techniques – bargaining, diplomacy and, at times, manipulation by coercion. After crossing paths with Sir Edwin, Knight of The Order, he took it upon himself to train her as his protégé, in hopes of tempering her manipulative qualities with some positive social interaction and responsibility.

After Aelis went into hiding, she let rumour spread that she had died along with her family, granting her time to heal from injuries sustained in battle and to regroup her remaining loyalists to fight alongside her. She soon realised there was no way to retake her throne, so she began to slowly amass a following of loyal Syren survivors, and villagers loyal to House Syren. From this support, a new House was formed: The Rebellion, with Aelis assuming the title ‘Queen of Nothing’.

THE QUEEN OF NOTHING

The way Aelis’ title ‘The Queen of Nothing’ came to be is deeply intertwined with her backstory and family politics. Aelis was the last-born in the Syren family, which meant she would likely never become Queen. However, Aelis took her future into her own hands, and although she has no lands of her own, she solidified herself as a self made Queen.

Aelis decided to take destiny into her own hands by utilising her own hard-fought skills, rather than relying on her family name.

She trained endlessly to develop physical skills that would bring her success in battle, as well as honing her martial prowess under the tutelage of Edwin Everard. In fact, Aelis was Edwin’s protégé until the Syren family was dethroned and destroyed by the Alderin Empire. Edwin had not completed her training when war broke out, and had thought she had died that day – and for that, he never forgave himself.

As Aelis laid low for months, she began gathering allies and information, which led to the origins of The Rebellion movement. The Royal Guard she trained with were the loyal soldiers that helped Aelis usurp her fathers throne. The events thereafter added to her purpose, her driven nature and her indiscriminate punishment to all against her cause.



REBEL WITH A CAUSE

Visually, her armour is a combination of her time as a member of a royal family, a reminder of the battles she endured, and a symbol of her rebellious spirit. It is made up of many different materials that she accumulated throughout her life. Aelis’ spear and pieces of her clothing are remnants of Syren regalia and attire combined with elements of the new Rebellion motifs. The sigil on her clothing is that of the Syren monarchy, as is the Spear she wears – a trademark of the late Syren Army.

To bring some more of her own personality into her design, Aelis carries with her an ornate chalice. Aelis has always appreciated a fine wine of Bravaris origin, and this remains one of the few things she allows herself to indulge in.



AELIS’ SKILLS

Each Hero has Skills that are unique to them but also tie into their Faction Identity. The Rebellion is known for their ability to rapidly expand their base and Aelis’ Skills lend to this playstyle.

Royal Decree:
Aelis’ first Skill is Royal Decree, her passive. While this Skill is not on cooldown, Aelis Condemns enemies she hits, causing them to take 15% more damage from all sources. As she levels up she will gain Loyal Guards to protect her, if Aelis were to die while a Loyal Guard was alive, the weakest Loyal Guard will die instead, and Aelis will heal for 40% of her max health. This powerful passive has a long cooldown, but as Aelis levels up, the bonus damage enemies are inflicted with will increase and the cooldown period will reduce.

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Loyal Command:
The Loyal Guards come to Aelis’ aid at level 3 with Loyal Command. She has the ability to spawn non-controllable honed esquires that auto-target enemies, starting with one and increasing as she levels up. They will defend Aelis from nearby threats, however If they perish in battle, recasting the Skill will revive any dead Esquires within the maximum available.

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Queens Rage:
At level 3, Aelis gains her first active Skill, Queens Rage. This gives her the ability to cast an Area of Effect Skill on player units, causing them to lose -30% Max Health with the trade off of increasing their Attack Speed, including Loyal Guards when active. With each additional level, the Attack Damage buff will increase, as well as the duration of the Skill.

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Eradicate:
Aelis’ Ultimate, Eradicate, is unlocked at level 4. This skill buffs Aelis and her loyal guards, bolstering their damage, movement speed, and attack range, and stun chance..

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Bow down to the rightful ruler and let her guide you on a path to victory… will you stand up and fight for the Queen of Nothing?

Please report bugs or crashes to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

[h3]AoD Social Links:[/h3]

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Save 25% on Age Of Darkness: Final Stand during the Steam Base Builder Fest!



Get ready to build your base defences and hold the nightmares back for less! 🛠️

Age Of Darkness: Final Stand is now 25% off during the Steam Base Builder Fest event until Jan 30th 🤑

Prepare to construct walls, watch towers and Ballista towers and pray that they can hold back the hordes of nightmares that wish to extinguish humanity!

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Save 25% on Age Of Darkness: Final Stand during the Steam Winter Sale!



Get ready to save humanity from the nightmares for less this week, as Age Of Darkness: Final Stand will be included in the Steam Winter Sale!

Save 25% on Age Of Darkness: Final Stand until January 5th and tear down the hordes of nightmares that wish to extinguish humanity ⚔️

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Age of Darkness: Final Stand - The Year That Was



Protectors of the Light,

October marked our one year anniversary of our Early Access launch of Age of Darkness: Final Stand. As we approach the end of 2022, we wanted to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for our loyal fans, showcase what we achieved this year, and give you all a taste of what’s to come.

From the beginning, we wanted our journey through Early Access to be undertaken alongside our community. On behalf of the dev team, we appreciate and value everyone's support throughout this period and look forward to bringing you even more exciting content through to v1.0.

This year saw us take Age of Darkness: Final Stand to both Gamescom and PAX Australia to showcase our latest updates. We were also humbled to receive the Australian Game Developer Award (AGDA) for Best Technical Achievement for SwarmTech, our internally-created technology that helps us render up to 70,000 units on screen at once.

To all our regular players, your fight against The Veil hasn’t gone unnoticed! Over the last year you have slain more than two trillion Nightmares and survived almost 30,000 Death Nights. Unfortunately, some were not so lucky, with over 13 million Units and more than 350,000 Heroes fighting valiantly until their dying breath.



[h3]NEW FEATURES IN 2022[/h3]

In 2022, our main goal for Survival Mode was to begin building and solidifying Faction Identity across the board. We wanted each Faction to feel unique, replete with Heroes, Units and Buildings that fit within the world of Erodar and simultaneously represent their Faction’s playstyle.

The Rebellion and Volatist Factions each gained a new Hero to champion their forces:
  • Vizargo, The Consumed Hand, who was tempted by the Veil and corrupted by the Dark Essence he consumed.
  • Cyrus, The Rebel Arm, a valiant long ranged Hero of the Rebellion, who will do anything to protect the lands that were taken from his Queen.

Along with the new Heroes, our existing two, Edwin and Aelis, levelled up and gained a new ability each to continue to cleanse Erodar of the evil that plagues it.

To join their fearless leaders on their quest to defend their land, each Faction was granted several new Units to bolster their defences:
  • The Pikeman joined all three Factions, which added a new melee Unit to defend the Keep.
  • The Order looked to the Light and were bestowed with the Siege Catapult and Lightbearer.
  • The Rebellion gained strength for their expansion with the Rogue and Hunter.
  • Last but not least The Volatists continued their dark experimentation, creating the Cultist and Harbinger.

Across all Factions, a plethora of new Buildings were introduced which expanded the different gameplay styles and build options available to players. Over this year, five new buildings were released: the Watchtower, Triage Tent, Fishing Port, and Refined Lumberyard.

It remains incredibly important that each Faction plays and feels differently, so as an addition on top of the unique Units, the unit modifiers for each Faction were changed slightly. This means that depending on the Faction you choose, your starting Units and Resources will differ, meaning different strategies are required for each.

Along with all these exciting new features, there was also a focus on quality of life implementations, the most notable of these being Priority Targeting and Enemy Inspection. The new Armour system meant that players needed to change their tactics when it came to their Death Night strategy, with each Unit now having a specific place thanks to the need to shred Armour.

New Hardships, Blessings and Malices were created for those who crave an extra challenge – Time Waits for No One and Mortal Coil Hardships, the Rigged Defences Blessing and Catalysing Injuries Malices. Alongside that, we created a more grounded feel to the world with the new Map Progression update, which showed the corruption of The Veil as you explore the Map. To help you find your way around, the Mini-Map filtering system was put in place to better highlight your Hero, Units, Resources and Enemies.

[h3]WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON[/h3]

As much as we would love to show you everything we are working on, we have to keep some things a secret… but we promise it’s worth the wait!

In the meantime, we can let you in on some things we know you will be excited about. We look forward to sharing more about them when we can.

The Veil’s corruption continues, with a new Hero joining the ranks of The Volatists!



2023 will see the release of our Campaign Mode, featuring bespoke Missions that tell the tale of a long brewing conflict between all the major players in Erodar. During Campaign gameplay, you can look forward to choices that will affect your objectives as well as curated in-game cutscenes.



Follow the conflict that is unfolding throughout Erodar with the Mission Select Map. This that updates at the end of each Mission showcasing which Factions are now occupying which lands.



You will also be treated to stunning cinematics throughout the Campaign to immerse yourself in the journey across Erodar and cultivate the beautiful storyline and lore within Age of Darkness: Final Stand.



Lastly, we know you’ve been patiently waiting for an update on Multiplayer Co-op. Don’t worry... More info is coming soon.

This has definitely been the most hotly-requested feature from our community. It is a gameplay mode that we want to get right from the get go and rest-assured there is a lot of time being poured into it. While we don’t yet have a timeline we’re ready to publicly announce, we are continuing to work towards this alongside all the other content we have planned.

We’re just as excited for Multiplayer as much as you are and can’t wait to see the alliances that form from it! For now here’s a sneak peek at what’s to come.



[h3]THAT’S IT, FOR NOW…[/h3]

Over the next two weeks, our dev team will be taking a well-earned break and coming back refreshed early January. This means that there will be no further Updates for the rest of the year and that we will be a little quieter in Discord.

Thank you for your continued support throughout the year. The Age of Darkness: Final Stand community is the reason we strive for the best, and we look forward to continuing this journey together in the New Year.

Don’t forget to keep your towers lit, your defences armed and villagers safe, you never know what’s hiding in The Veil…


Until next year, For The Light!

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We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.
Till next time Protectors of the Light…
AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel
Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Age of Darkness: Final Stand - Hotfix Update v0.8.4



Protectors of the Light,

Off the back of our latest Content Update, Rebellion’s Rise, we are bringing you a new Hotfix Update to ensure your playing experience is as smooth as possible.

We are aware there have been some issues with the potential to hinder gameplay, therefore we have prioritised a hotfix to allow Age of Darkness: Final Stand players to enjoy the game over the holiday break without any interruptions.

Going forward, players will also have the choice to roll-back their builds to the previous Content Update should they wish to. This will be available from today and will be an ongoing feature of our future Steam Releases. Please note that our previous Content Update, v0.8.1, is currently available as a roll-back option.

[h3]To access the v0.8.1 Content Update, please follow these steps:
[/h3]
  • Launch Steam.
  • Navigate to your “Library” and look for Age of Darkness: Final Stand.
  • Right click Age of Darkness: Final Stand and go to “Properties.”
  • Navigate to the “Betas” tab in the “Properties” window.
  • In the Beta Dropdown select: v0.8.1_opt_in
  • This will auto-enrol you in the Beta Branch and trigger a game update (there is no password for this Beta)


You should now have access to the previous Content Updates from v0.8.1 onwards! But be warned, save files created in later Release Versions will not be compatible with earlier versions.

Our development team will be taking a break over the holidays and will be coming back in the second week of the new year, so this will be our last release of 2022. As always please continue to report bugs to our Steam forums or in the bug reporting channel on our Discord, as we will continue to monitor those channels where possible.

Check out the full patch notes below:

[h2]Release Notes[/h2]

[h3]QoL Improvements[/h3]
  • Updated Credits to include Voice Actors for Cyrus, Rogue, Harbinger and Lightbearer.
  • Update the Version Number on the General Feedback panel.


[h3]Crashes[/h3]
  • Fixed a crash that would occur when Final Stand is triggered.
  • Fixed a crash where players would be notified of a unit under attack after they had already been killed.
  • Fixed an issue where selling a building while it was researching or queuing units could cause a crash.
  • Fixed an issue where there could be invalid unit data between Order & Volatist units that could cause a crash.
  • Fixed a rare crash caused by hovering the cursor over a building as it was destroyed.
  • Added additional Sentry logging around areas of suspected crashes.


[h3]Fixes & Changes[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where the Reset button for Gameplay Tips was not functioning.
  • Fixed an issue where after tabbing through control groups, pressing tab with a building selected would cause the bottom row of icons to disappear in the build menu.


Where possible please ensure all drivers are updated to ensure the best and smoothest performance.

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We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel
Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand