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 whatâs 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 hasnât 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 Factionâs 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 â 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]WHATâS 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 itâs 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 Veilâs 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 youâve been patiently waiting for an update on Multiplayer Co-op. Donât 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 donât yet have a timeline weâre ready to publicly announce, we are continuing to work towards this alongside all the other content we have planned.
Weâre just as excited for Multiplayer as much as you are and canât wait to see the alliances that form from it! For now hereâs a sneak peek at whatâs to come.
[h3]THATâS IT, FOR NOWâŚ[/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.
Donât forget to keep your towers lit, your defences armed and villagers safe, you never know whatâs hiding in The VeilâŚ
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 youâve 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 âbug-reportingâ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.
Till next time Protectors of the LightâŚ
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