Northwind News

[p]Hello everyone![/p][h2]BETA is Now Closed![/h2][p]Thank you so much for playing Northwind over the past week. The BETA ran for 9 days (23–31 August), and your support has been incredible. Over 150 players joined the BETA, with more than 30 people playing every day! ✨ This means so much to our team!
[/p][h3]🛠️ Your Feedback Matters[/h3][p]Your feedback and bug reports have helped us tremendously![/p][p]If you haven’t already, please share your final thoughts before we finish polishing Northwind:[/p][p]👉 📋 Feedback Survey[/p][p]We’ll be making a lot of changes based on your input: balancing adjustments, visual polish, and system improvements. Thanks to our BETA testers, we feel much more confident heading into Early Access![/p][p][/p][h3]🚀 Early Access Launch in September![/h3][p]Speaking of Early Access… we’re excited to confirm that Northwind will launch this September! 🔥
The official release date will be announced soon.[/p][p]There’s still plenty of work to do, but we believe now is the right time for Northwind to begin its journey in Early Access. Expect updates, a roadmap, and plenty of improvements along the way.[/p][p]We hope you’re as excited as we are to keep playing and helping shape Northwind![/p][p]Thank you again for being part of this journey with us.
Without your feedback, Northwind wouldn’t have come this far. We’re deeply grateful for your support![/p][p]— The Northwind Team at Barking Kitten Interactive 🐾[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello everyone!ːsteamhappyːThe beta date is confimed! See you all TOMORROW![/p][p][/p][h3]BETA DATE: 23–29 August 2025[/h3][p]Steam keys will be delivered via email on 23 August![/p][p]🕘 9:00 PM ICT | 7:00 AM PT | 2:00 PM UTC  [/p][p]Register for the Beta Test[/p][p]If you know anyone who enjoys deckbuilders, please invite them!
The Registration form closes on 22 August!
Less than 24 hours before we close our registration form! [/p][p][/p][h3]Don’t forget to join our communities for the BETA Test!
We’ll be sharing updates and have our discussion so see you there![/h3]

• [p]Join our main community on Discord for discussions, updates, and feedback![/p]
• [p]Thai Players! We’ve created the Northwind: Thailand Community Facebook group! Make sure to join and connect with fellow Thai players.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]New screenshots coming soon, but here are some spoilers![/h3][p]The path will now show the loot you can obtain, allowing you to make more strategic choices based on the resources you want to collect and spend in Northwind Outpost.[/p][p][/p][p]Card UI: We received feedback that rarity wasn’t obvious, so here you go! We hope the rarity is clear for you all in this version.[/p][p][/p][p]Wandering Merchant cards or Neutral Faction cards can now be smelted into the + version. Mix and match to your heart’s content! These Neutral card archetypes are badass! This means all duplicate cards can now be smelted, except for cards obtained from events.[/p][p][/p][p]That's it for now! [/p][h3]If you know anyone who might also be interested
in trying the game, please invite them!
We hope you’ll spend Saturday, 23rd August with Northwind![/h3][p]We specifically picked the weekend! We’re very excited to hear your thoughts. Let’s goooo!! 🚀[/p][p]— The Northwind Team at Barking Kitten Interactive 🐾[/p]

[p]Hello everyone![/p][p][/p][h3]🎉 Northwind is Featured in the Debut Festival![/h3][p] We’re humbled and grateful to be featured in this incredible event—thank you for the support![/p][p][/p][h3]❗Demo Removal Notice[/h3][p]The Northwind demo will be removed on August 15th!
We’re not sure when it will return, so be sure to try it out before it’s gone![/p][p][/p][h3]🔥 Cooking Up the Beta[/h3][p]The beta test is closer than you think! Once the demo is removed, we’ll finalize everything and make an official announcement. That means the next update you see from us will be the beta launch announcement![/p][p]This is your last call to register—don’t miss the chance to join the beta test![/p][p] Register for the Beta Test
[/p][p]Thank you all so much for your continued support![/p][p]— The Northwind Team at Barking Kitten Interactive 🐾[/p]

[p]Hello everyone![/p][p][/p][p]We have great news! 🎉[/p][p]Our team has officially confirmed that the Beta Test will happen in August!
While the exact date is still being finalized, rest assured... it’s definitely happening this month.
We'll share the official start date as soon as it's ready.

TL;DR:[/p]

• [p]✅ Beta Test confirmed for August — you can still Register! Register Form[/p]
• [p]❌ Demo will be removed before Beta starts![/p]

[p][/p][h3]🔍 What’s the Purpose of This Beta Test?[/h3]

• [p]The goal of this Beta Test is to evaluate game balance and difficulty for both the Duelist and Pyrotech by giving you full access to their complete pool of cards and relics (depending on how much you've unlocked in their Mercenary rank, you can go as far as 100%).[/p]
• [p]We're also looking to learn from your experience and feedback on the game's progression especially how certain mechanics let you manipulate your map path and how the hazard system (which increases difficulty over time) affects your runs.[/p]
• [p]Any bugs you find and report will be a huge help to us! Our QA team will thoroughly investigate them.[/p]

[p]Support Language: English and Thai
Other languages will be available in the Early Access version.

We’ll share full details soon, including the content you'll access, how Beta Tester Steam Keys will be distributed, playtest duration, feedback instructions, and how to report bugs. You’ll also notice some updates in our Discord server as we reorganize and prepare to welcome all Beta Testers![/p][p]Haven’t registered yet? Register Form[/p][p][/p][h3]🛠️ Continued Development[/h3]

• [p]Even after the Beta Test begins, we’ll continue polishing the game up until the Early Access launch.
  Your feedback during the beta phase will directly influence the final version.[/p]
• [p]Our Localization Team will be working on the Beta build and continuing through to the Early Access launch.[/p]

[p]You can expect an even better version of the game at Early Access launch, along with more language support![/p][p][/p][h3]❗Demo Removal Notice[/h3][p]We’ll be removing the demo before the Beta Test begins.
The demo no longer reflects the current quality of the game, and our team is now fully focused on preparing for the Beta Test and Early Access. We'll make at least 1 week’s notice before the demo is officially taken down.[/p][p]
We’re working hard to make this Beta Test awesome and can’t wait to hear your thoughts soon![/p][p]— The Northwind Team at Barking Kitten Interactive 🐾[/p][p][/p]

[p]
Hello everyone!

Apologies for not updating for a while ːsteamfacepalmːbut here we are, and we're super excited to share what's coming! [/p]

• [p] The Tavern & New UI Update[/p]
• [p] Additionally, Localization will be moved to the Beta version[/p]
• [p] And lastly, our QA team is now onboard for final polishing![/p]

[p][/p][h2]🍖 The Tavern with Food Update![/h2][p]Remember this house right here? [/p][p][/p][p]We’d love to introduce you to our granny at the Tavern! [/p][p][/p][p]Now, reaching the outpost no longer heals you to 100% by default. Instead granny will make you those meals! It’s your choice how much 'YOU WANT TO HEAL'. Each food item offers unique effects, some can be helpful but comes with a price. More variety of food can be unlocked through progression. [/p][p][/p][p]Here are some samples of the food. Mmm! We absolutely love the designs, and we hope you do too![/p][p][/p][p]We got.. Frostfangs Steak Set, Bingsu Bird Ice Shaved, Thai Crispy Pork with Basil, Onigiri, Viper Vodka, Undead Tequila — you name it!ːsteamhappyː[/p][p][/p][p]Ps. We've received a lot of feedback about our UI feeling unpolished and in need of improvements. Thanks to your suggestions in the feedback surveys, we’ve made major changes!
[/p][p]Of course, the changes apply to the entire game. We hope you're excited to see Northwind looking better than ever. Once everything is complete, we'll share new screenshots and update our entire store page (again!).
[/p][h2]
🌍 Localization Update[/h2][p] Originally, we planned to include localization in the demo. However, we ran into several language-specific issues. Because of this, we’ve decided to shift our localization efforts to the Early Access version instead. This means updated tools and language support will be available in the Beta build.

If you're interested in helping us with localization, please let us know!
Reach out to us in Discord and Beta Test Registration[/p][p][/p][h2] 🔧 QA [/h2][p]Our QA team is finally in! 🎉 They were originally scheduled to begin in late June, but we needed a bit more time to build internal debugging tools and improve their workflow. Now that everything is ready, they’ll be helping us test while we continue developing. Once they give us the green light, we’ll be inviting you in![/p][p][/p][h2]Thanks so much for your patience.
We know it’s been a wait. ❤️ ːsteamsadː[/h2][p][/p][p]🚀 We're So Close to Early Access![/p][p]We’ve been pouring our hearts into Northwind, you know when the QA team get serious! You can feel that we are so close to launch! We're both incredibly excited and a little nervous xD We hope you look forwar to it! Thank you so, so much for your continued support, we couldn’t do this without you all![/p][p]
— The Northwind Team at Barking Kitten Interactive 🐾[/p]