Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades News

[p]Greetings Adventurers![/p][p] [/p][p]Today, we are unveiling some of the most mysterious magical beings you will find on the Stormtossed Isle - the Crystal Bearers. To understand the origins of these creatures, we must first know more about their source of power, the Crystal Clusters.  [/p][p]Crystal Clusters grow from within the deepest parts of the land. They are potent conduits of magic, acting as volatile catalysts of near infinite energy.
In battle, this takes the form of a permanent electrical node that reacts explosively to fire. All crystal enemies have this “Crystal Bearer” passive characteristic, and only the destruction of the Crystal Bearer removes the reactive electrical node from the battlefield. [/p][p]Crystal Clusters are found in underground areas, such as caverns, and in the north of the Isle, in the volcanic Wastes.[/p][p][/p][p]Because of the special properties of these crystals, the Isle has drawn the attention of many arcane researchers. However, the scholars were unaware of one important property of the mineral: extended contact with it has unpleasant side effects, both mental and physical. It can turn the subject into a Crystalmancer.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Crystalmancers are formidable, boss-tier enemies typically encountered at the end of dungeons, known for their mastery over arcane crystal manipulation. Their abilities revolve around the creation and control of powerful crystal entities. [/p][p]Using Summon Node, a Crystalmancer can grow a Crystal Cluster near an existing Crystal Bearer, laying the groundwork for rapid battlefield expansion.
[/p][p]Their signature move, Shape Crystal, allows them to transform these clusters into various Crystal Bearer monsters, sturdy, fire-resistant constructs that relentlessly defend their master. 
[/p][p]To further complicate matters, Crystalmancers can trigger Detonate, causing a chosen Crystal Bearer to erupt in fire and cause damage to everyone nearby. Since the Crystal Bearers themselves are nearly immune to fire, but their enemies are not, this tactic is devastating in close quarters. Facing a Crystalmancer is a test of both strategy and endurance, as their relentless summoning and explosive tactics can overwhelm unprepared parties.
[/p][p]Crystalmancers are only a recent development on the Stormtossed Isle; however, before them, there were more ancient Crystal Bearer creatures. [/p][p][/p][p]Long before human interest in the crystals, some of the native fauna adapted to their presence in their environment, making them immune to the crystals’ insanity-inducing effects.[/p][p]The Igorguana is an enemy characterized by its two-part body and dangerous crystal-based magic. [/p][p][/p][p]Its head wields the powerful skill Petrifying Gaze, an ability that slowly transforms enemies into crystal statues over multiple exposures. The process begins by weakening the target’s ability to act, progresses to a stun, and ends with full petrification. [/p][p]The petrified party members can be temporarily mind-controlled by the Igorguana, turning allies against their group. [/p][p] [/p][p]Complementing the head, the tail acts as its own unit, trailing behind the main body and executing its attacks. Though it moves in sync with the Igorguana, it can take separate actions in combat, adding another layer of threat. If the tail is destroyed, the Igorguana can regrow it by sacrificing a portion of its health, ensuring the pressure never fully lets up, making it a formidable and relentless enemy to approach with extreme care.[/p][p][/p][p]And these are the Crystal Bearers you will find in Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades!
As you can imagine, they will be one of the most powerful foes to take on and require an attentive plan to overcome their insidious abilities.[/p][p]Consider following us on socials to be the first to be updated about the latest Pathbreakers news, and join our Discord Server to join the discussion with the rest of the community![/p][p]
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[p][/p][p]Greetings Adventurers!

Last time we talked about the Clansmen and how the humanoid communities live within the Stormtossed Isle’s ecosystem and society. Today we are diving into the next enemy type: the Mantus![/p][p]The Mantus are a race of humanoid insects native to the Isle. This is the first time we are discussing an enemy type that while retaining some human traits, cannot be considered human, and you will soon understand why. Insect haters beware!

[/p][p][/p][p]The Mantus have their own settlements and a capital to oversee them all. Despite being native to the Stormtossed Isle, which has a variety of climates, they are only comfortable in a temperate climate, and their cities can only be found in the lush and verdant central plains. Mantus are fully sentient beings, and their towns offer amenities similar to those of human towns.[/p][p][/p][p]While they are far less inclined towards commerce (which is understandable, given their intimidating appearance) and have fewer merchants than humans, their cities often feature unique trade goods not found elsewhere.
[/p][p]When it comes to battles, Mantus tend to work only with their kind and with their domesticated beasts of burden.[/p][p][/p][p]Like any other civilized town, the Mantus cities aren't overly fond of nearby bandits, be they of their own kin or any other kind. So while they do not generally seek human allies, they do look kindly on mercenaries who rid their lands of bandit groups.[/p][p][/p][p]
[/p][p]Mantus combatants forego any form of armor, as their chitinous shells provide more than enough protection. However, most of them do tend to use weapons, with polearms and swords being highly favored.[/p][p][/p][p]Mantus culture is highly stratified, and it influences even their anatomy and strict combat formations, with lesser Mantus Drones forming the frontline of any unit. The eyeless Drones fight with their natural raptorial claws. They are numerous and resilient, but single-minded. It is said that a Drone will keep fighting for a long time even with their head chopped off (courtesy of its Ancillary Nerve), but its movements will be dulled considerably. Mantus are considered dangerous foes mainly due to their ability to combine strategies used by human fighters while taking advantage of their superior armor and other insects’ traits, depending on their type of combatant.
[/p][p]Expanding on this, most Drones are led by Mantus Warriors, seasoned fighters with polearms and the ability to fly. They have discovered ways to use their copper-rich blood to channel electricity to great effect in combat.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Warriors, in turn, defer to Mantus Nasutes, fearsome commanders wielding swords or daggers and often bearing shields. They are capable of long-range acid attacks with the beak-like structure on their faces called a Fontanellar Gun.[/p][p][/p][p]Finally, a small number of shaman-like Mantus Scholars can be found in the most difficult of battles. They control enchanted insects to inflict damage or even heal large areas.[/p][p][/p][p]Mantus are sometimes seen with the towering, stilt-legged creatures called Stjelkants, which they have domesticated as beasts of burden. Being elevated so high above the battlefield makes them difficult to harm in melee combat. Stjelkants exist symbiotically with swarms of biting insects and carry their nests on their backs, summoning them to defend themselves and their Mantus keepers.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Needless to say, Mantus packs can be a formidable opponent for the player’s party, especially when all their various types of fighters combine their unique skills.[/p][p]
[/p][p]We hope you enjoyed the deep dive for the fearsome Mantus, awaiting you in your adventure in Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades. Follow us on social media and join our Discord server to stay up-to-date with our announcements and devlogs![/p][p]
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[p][/p][p]Greetings Mercenaries!

Following from our previous devlog, we are publishing a series of blogs related to the enemies of Pathbreakers: The Roaming Blades. The aim is to highlight all of the opposing factions that we will encounter during our journey.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Today, we are taking a deep dive into the Clansmen, a set of barbarian tribes that have inhabited the Stormtossed Isle for a very long time. Although they may seem like wanderers of the uncivilized lands, we will discover that there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye.
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[/p][p]The Clansmen are primitive humans who have inhabited some of the most treacherous areas of the isle. Over time, they've been pushed out of the more fertile lands by the main factions of the Isle, forced to live in the near-inhospitable and scorching Badlands. A few have even pushed north as far as the terrible Wastes, a barren land filled with deadly Uzghuls and strange crystal-wrought creatures. The clans are mostly too fractured and infighting to be much of a threat to the other factions, although lately there have been whispers of a chief who is uniting the clans under his banner.
[/p][p]While the clansmen tend to be savage and wild, many resorting to raiding and banditry, over time, some of them formed their cities, boasting a capital and outlying towns.[/p][p]However, these settlements still tend to be more primitive than the Kingdom's towns, with fewer facilities and less wealth. However, as a warring people, they excel at weapon smithing and can provide unique goods.
[/p][p]The marauding clansmen tend to give their people just as much trouble as they give to merchants and outsiders, so there is no love lost between the two types. As such, taking out the wild marauding raiders will increase the player's standing with the various clansmen towns.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The clansmen are divided into numerous clans, each with their warrior traditions. Below are some things you can expect to see scattered across the badlands.
[/p][h2]The Steppenwhelv Clan [/h2][p]Uses domesticated whelvs and features an extensive array of weapons. Their fighting style is to surround and focus on vulnerable targets, with their elite Ambusher units able to leap into enemy lines from afar.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]The Bonemonger Clan[/h2][p]The most aggressive clan they are mainly composed of brutish warriors. This clan favors large and heavy weapons. Their Ritualists are versed in various spells that use bones to protect and enhance their warriors.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]The Snakeskin Clan[/h2][p]A clan of nimble warriors with a versatile array of weapons. They are generally not well-liked by other clans, due to their association with the swamp-dwelling Ophidians. Their mingling with these snake-folk has granted them minor regenerative properties, but it has also left them with hideous, noseless, reptile-like faces. Snakeskins often coat their weapons with poison, and their Serpent Priests have access to healing powers.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Yellow Star and Stonethrower clans are the only clans that managed to establish a presence up North in the Wastes. This feat was, in part, managed by taming and befriending powerful creatures native to the Isle.
[/p][h2]The Stonethrower Clan [/h2][p]Composed of brutes who sling rocks and tamers who control enslaved giants called Ghatheris.
Ghatheris are hulking, gigantic monstrosities, each as strong as a score of men. They are often led by a chieftain who helps coordinate their attacks and focus on already-injured targets.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]The Yellow Star Clan [/h2][p]The Yellow Star clan is often associated with witches and has an affinity for magic. Their units tend to have a defensive frontline of unskilled and expendable acolytes, followed by magical leadership in the form of hags, witches, and Chanters, each with their blend of dangerous magic.[/p][p][/p][p]In essence, although the clansmen may seem uncivilized brutes, they are quite organised, and each faction presents strong traditions and social structures that define their population. Hence, it is not uncommon to find clansmen of different groups fighting each other. This means that we can take their skirmishes to our advantage to gain the favor of some clans by aiding them in the conflicts.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Follow us on socials and join our Discord Server to discuss the latest news of Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades and be the first one to know when the next devlog is released![/p][p][/p][p]X - [/p][p]https://x.com/6EyesStudioLLC
[/p][p]6 Eyes Studio Website -[/p][p]https://www.6eyesstudio.com/[/p][p][/p][p]Facebook - [/p][p]https://www.facebook.com/6EyesStudio/
[/p][p]Pathbreakers on Steam - [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]YouTube: [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]
[/p][p]Subreddit - [/p][p]https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathbreakers/[/p][p][/p][p]
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Hey everyone!

Today’s devlog is centered around the enemies you will face in Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades!

Since there is much to cover on the various types of foes and what defines them, we will be releasing separate devlogs for each major topic to provide a better understanding of the dangerous creatures (and humans) wandering around the Stormtossed Isle! Meaning that this devlog will act as the introduction to the type of enemies that you will come across during your adventure, and what makes them different from each other!

Below, we’ll talk about the wide range of enemies, which include human units similar to the player's own roster, other hostile humans such as clansmen and bandits, and various beasts and monsters.



[h2]The humanoid foes[/h2]

When developing the enemies for Pathbreakers, the goal was to provide the player with a wide variety of opponents that have diverse strengths, weaknesses, and strategies. Facing off against regular “player class” units is a known situation: the player knows what these units are capable of and where they might be weaker. But at the same time, human units have the greatest options for customization, so things might not be as simple as that.

Other hostile human (or humanoid) classes are more akin to monsters. They have a specific set of moves that is more thematized and tied to their place in the world. The most notorious ones are clansmen, mantus, or bandits. Clansmen are Neanderthal-like primitive humans that are split into 5 different main clans, each with their own units. They have distinct abilities and styles based on their tribe: some are feral beast tamers, while others rely more on magic and rituals, for example. Mantus are an insectoid race and have only one main clan, but several different units such as drones, warriors, and scholars, each with distinct styles and abilities.



[h2]The monsters[/h2]

There are a great number of different monsters in Pathbreakers. Their families include plants, beasts, magical beings, aberrations, humanoids, and “mighty” types (bosses and elite units). Every monster has its own set of abilities, which are thematized and often quite powerful, but that usually come with various means of counterplay. This type of foe isn't as smart as their human counterpart, although some can have extra cunning, so they tend to be more straightforward in combat. Their powerful abilities make up for it, though.

Monsters might be a bit of a surprise to some players: while their growth over time doesn't always match that of humans (mainly since they can't upgrade to better equipment), they tend to come front-loaded with all of their available abilities from their early levels, displaying more options from the start of the game.

Your Pathbreakers journey takes place on the Stormtossed Isle, which has rich and diverse biomes, despite being an island. Monsters, clans, and bandit groups tend to gather in certain specific biomes, so as you travel throughout the land, different encounters and enemies await you. You'll need different strategies for different groups and enemy types. Plains, beaches, forests, farmlands, snowlands, badlands, rocky taiga, and the inhospitable volcanic wastes are all different biomes you will encounter in Pathbreakers, each inhabited by various types of enemies, be they monstrous or humanoids.



There is much more to unpack regarding the dangers of Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades! Follow our socials and join our Discord Server to be notified when we will drop the upcoming devlogs, where we will take a deep dive one-by-one for all of the monsters’ categories you will meet during your journey!

Your Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades adventure takes place on the Stormtossed Isle. The island hosts several cities and settlements allied with numerous different factions.

Pathbreakers has two basic game modes: the first is the Story Mode, in which you select a character with their own origin story and play out their campaign on the Stormtossed Isle. The island is a large map with much to explore. It's a sandbox, with each character’s story determining your goal and victory condition.

The other mode is a Scenario Map, where you'll select the map size (small to huge) and several generating options. It's a vast open-world experience with no characters’ stories involved. Adding new scenarios is fairly easy, and modders can create new factions, enemy units, events, contracts, and other elements to customize and create new gameplay experiences.



[h2]Cities & Factions[/h2]

Since Scenario Mode allows you to customize the whole world when you start your adventure and, therefore, always have a different experience, we'll be focusing on the Story Mode for this devlog.

The world map is a large, generated, playable area, although it has a few constant features tied to the story. It will have a large number of factions that are tied to the world’s events.
The Stormtossed Isle will have many cities, dungeons, enemy lairs, and unique spots to discover and explore. The island has varied climate zones that include snowlands, volcanic wastes, dry brushlands, lush plains, and coastal scenery. Different enemies, factions, biomes, and cities can be found in each of these different landscapes, making the Isle an ever-changing environment for mercenaries to operate in, full of opportunities to gather information and experience from different cultures across the land.

Towns are an essential hub for mercenaries: it's where they can pick up new contracts, bolster their numbers, purchase much-needed gear, rest up, and train. The world will have many cities, each offering different services and goods. Many will be easy to find and access from the Isle's roads, but remote and isolated settlements will require you to gather your party and begin an exploration.

Each metropolis is part of a faction, which controls several burgs. You'll be able to join one of the coalitions of your choice and get access to special perks and contracts reserved for faction members only.

Each city offers numerous contracts of varying difficulty - the more dangerous the job, the higher the reward.



[h2]The dangerous lairs and dungeons[/h2]

Lairs are smaller pieces of land controlled by bandits, beasts, and various monstrosities as bases of operations. Usually, they are situated far enough away from cities that local militias won't find them, but close enough for raiding parties to make a nuisance of themselves. Dismantling them might well yield some rewards. However, there’s also plenty of risk in dealing with this danger.

Dungeons are bigger structures, like cave networks, mines, and ruins. Dungeons typically feature creatures that do not explore beyond the threshold of the dungeon itself, meaning some rather unique beasts can be found within. This uniqueness implies that dungeons are far more dangerous than simple lairs. Secret rooms, traps, puzzles, and multiple enemy encounters await you. The way will be treacherous, but there's almost always a big prize to be found at the end of it. Legendary equipment, ancient wonders, powerful and magical artifacts, you name it.

As you explore the world, you'll discover many such locations and even more wonders. Charting and exploring the Isle and its locations is a good way to earn coin, as many cartographers will pay well for such information.



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