Oppidum News

[h3]Play Oppidum solo or team up with up to 3 friends[/h3]
Build, explore, customize your experience and survive in Oppidum!

[h3]A Thriving Camp in a Magical World[/h3]
In Oppidum, you'll be summoned to the enchanted island of Insule, where you'll have the need of building a thriving camp, gathering resources, crafting essential equipment, while confronting a mysterious corruption endangering the island.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Customize Your Adventure[/h3]

• Game Modes: Relaxed (no death), Smooth (reduced enemy damage), As Designed, and Hardcore (increased challenges).
  
• Character Creation: Create your character by selecting hairstyle, color, body shape, voice, favorite color or different face customizations, among other options, to best represent you.
  
• Some extra accessibility options:
  - Possibility of no button-holding
  - Adjustable quest tracker visibility
  - Customizable resource and enemy damage multipliers
  - Adjustable durability settings for tools, weapons, and armor

[h3]Adaptive Storytelling[/h3]
Oppidum’s narrative adapts to your playstyle!
Dive into rich lore and stories, or jump straight into action with clear quest markers guiding your path.

[h3]Original Soundtrack Elevates Your Journey[/h3]
Immerse yourself further in the adventure with Oppidum’s original soundtrack, composed to capture Insule’s magic and mystery.


Let us know what you think about the trailer, the game or how excited you are ːsteamhappyː
Or join us on Discord https://discord.gg/b5MhStZk9N



See you soon in Insule
The EP Games Team

Welcome to your future home in Insule! Today, we’re thrilled to share a detailed first look at the camp system in Oppidum, our co-op survival adventure where your camp is your strongest ally against every challenge.

[h3]🔥 Team Up with Friends[/h3]
Oppidum offers 1-4 player co-op, so bring your friends along to gather resources, upgrade your camp, and prepare for the battles ahead. Working together is the key to pushing farther and staying safe in this mysterious land.

[h3]🏕️ Your Camp: The Heart of the Adventure[/h3]
In Oppidum, building isn’t endless, but it’s absolutely essential: you’ll be able to construct and upgrade key structures that help you advance through the story. Start with basic workbenches and move on to powerful crafting stations, each upgrade granting you access to new tools, better gear, and fresh survival mechanics.

[h3]✨ Make It Your Own with Decorations[/h3]
While the game doesn’t feature a fully open building system, you can still personalize your camp with unique touches. Add fences, torches, flower pots, platforms, furniture, and more to create a home base that grows along with you, reflecting your style as you explore the wilds of Insule.

[h3]🎥 Watch the Video Reveal[/h3]
Get an in-depth look at the camp system in action.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]🌍 The Adventure Begins Soon![/h3]
Oppidum is in the final stages of development, and our official release is just around the corner. Stay tuned for the launch date and the surprises we have in store!

Follow Oppidum for More Updates
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Thank you for joining us on this adventure! Your camp will be the key to conquering the trials of Insule. We can’t wait for you to experience everything Oppidum has to offer... very soon!

The EP Games team

We hope everything's looking festive wherever you are at the moment. If not, don't worry, we're bringing you plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Since we're closing another year, we thought it would be a good time to give you a little recap of everything we have accomplished in 2024 during the development of Oppidum. So jump in our time machine and let's get to it 👇

[h3]A big shoutout to our community 🤝[/h3]

Back in January we got our Discord community together to have a private beta with our most loyal followers. We really enjoyed watching them play, learning their impressions and getting their feedback to improve upon a demo that was available during Steam Next Fest. Thanks to all the feedback we received, we were able to improve the game and get it to where it is today.

It's really amazing for us to watch people that are excited to play Oppidum, who look forward to it. So we wouldn't want to miss our chance to send a big shoutout to our Discord community, always ready to offer their support, and give you a reminder to join and help our little family grow larger 💙

[h3]The living world of Oppidum 🌍[/h3]

Oppidum takes place in an island called Insule, blooming with magic and wildlife. So of course, it was only natural that we took our time to make it look and feel right.

We made sure to fill Insule with important landmarks, interesting spots to explore and places you will visit either by chance, or guided by the expansive story of the game. We want you to get familiar with this land, from the Gusty Hill to the Wetlands of Murmurs.



However Insule is not only a lush island, but a dangerous one as well. There are many perils waiting in your path for which you will have to be prepared.

Around this time of the year (that is roughly April) we finished programming and integrating the first version of every enemy in the game, which was a huge milestone!

Every enemy has their own special abilities or strategies needed to defeat them, so they will offer you a challenge and keep you on your toes.



Soon after, we integrated the weather system, to fully immerse you into the natural cycles of Insule. Personally, I think this added a lot of ambience to Oppidum, and we took the time to put a small video together showing you how this feels! 🌦️

[previewyoutube]https://youtube.com/watch?v=tZAeKZyY6-Y[/previewyoutube]
And last but not least, Insule is more than its biomes and its dangers. It's also its people! NPCs started looking better than ever, and showing their full range of personality after we implemented animations and let them interact with their surroundings.



[h3]Time to showcase our progress 📸[/h3]

Since the game was improving so much, we needed to do something about how we presented it to the outside world. For example, the Steam store was looking a bit outdated. So we jumped into the game, snapped a few pics and dressed it properly with some new videos and screenshots.

Here's how some of them compared:



And we couldn't have chosen a better time, since around this time, we got featured in a couple of articles from some important media outlets like PC Gamer, IGN and 3DJuegos!

We were beyond excited about these articles which, among other things, highlighted this extended gameplay video you can also watch on our Steam page.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]A plethora of new things for the game ✨[/h3]

At this point after Summer, we had a more than solid base, so it was time to start polishing and adding every extra feature we still hadn't had the chance to put into the game. For full context, here's a small comparison showcasing a small part of the work we had done from February 2023 to October 2024.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We took this time to include extra, but important features, such as fishing, horse-riding, and an improvement of our character customization, aside from many other things we're keeping hush hush for now 🤫



[h3]So what's next for 2025?[/h3]

Well... you'll have to keep an eye on us and see for yourself!

We're at a polishing phase, integrating anything that's left and working hard on some big marketing pushes until release. Speaking of which...

Oppidum is set to be released during the first quarter of 2025 🥳 we will give some more definitive information in the future, once we're confident in a date, but we hope this gives you something to look forward to in 2025.

At this stage, we need your help more than we ever did. If you enjoyed this little recap of 2024, consider sharing it with friends, your favorite streamers, or post it to your socials, so others can also get excited about our progress and join the family. They're more than welcome to join our Discord as well! In the meantime, we'll keep working on it and sharing our process with you 🍃

And as a final send-off for this update, we want to leave you with a little tease of a new feature we’re working on. Any guesses on what this could be about? We think it will give you the opportunity to exhibit your knack for discovery 😉



From the EP Games team, we wish you a really Happy New Year! 🎇🎆

We present you with a most ceremonious "boo 👻" from us. Contrary to what the season would demand from us, we are NOT here to scare you. We only bring the good stuff here.

We're approaching the finishing line of the development of Oppidum. Yes, it's real, it's happening! We haven't been exactly quiet about it, but it's time we gear up for the release, which is happening sooner than you might think. While we still keep it shush for now, let's talk about a few things in the meantime.

[h3]So... what about a demo?[/h3]

Given the recent Next Fest, we want to address the topic of demos and why you haven't seen one in a while.

Development on Oppidum is going really well and has been since we started. We're incredibly happy with how far we've come in roughly two years of work. We've found a pace that works for us, and we're pushing hard to maintain it so you can play Oppidum as soon as possible. However, this also means that shifting our focus to anything else would likely disrupt that momentum.

Releasing a demo for an open-world game like ours would require reallocating resources toward its development. We want to provide the best experience possible, and that means polishing everything in the demo, preparing to address any issues you encounter, and ensuring a smooth experience overall. In short, we'd have to pause core development and focus entirely on a small section of Oppidum for the demo. On top of that, we're also considering how to select the best portion of the game to represent the full Oppidum experience.

Does this mean there will never be another demo or beta test? Absolutely not. We're still exploring ways to let you try Oppidum in its current state. The game is already a delight for fans of survival, adventure, and story-rich experiences. We're still adding the final touches, since Oppidum will have a full-release. For those of you who were worried about an early-access, you can stop worrying now!

Rest assured, we're committed to finding solutions. We're beyond excited for you to play the game. In the meantime, here's a comparison showing how Oppidum looked in early 2023 versus how it looks now, so you can see what our development process has achieved. We hope you're as excited about it as we are.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Less talk, more show[/h3]

I'll admit that was a really long wall of text, so let me compensate that, and show you a few bits of newly added stuff, so I can further prove my point for our working philosophy:

We've changed the look of the water!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
There's a whole new swamp area.

We've rehashed every hairstyle in the game and added the option to choose two colors.
Let's not forget horses!

[h3]How long until release?[/h3]

That's a great question, and we’re almost ready to answer it! In fact, we’re working on an announcement that will give you the details, and we want to do it right, with plenty of fireworks.

So, if you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to join our Discord, spread the word about the game, and invite your friends to join the community!

In the meantime, we're gonna get right back at work. We once again want to thank you for your support, and for getting this far with us. We can't wait to share the world of Oppidum with all of you!

See you soon!

[h2]Hey scouts![/h2]

How have you been? We hope the past month treated you well and that you found time to enjoy it in your own way. Now, we're excited to share some fresh updates on what we've been working on.

We're deep into the advanced stages of development, focusing on implementing the final features and mechanics, while also refining what's already in place. This devlog is a bit more exclusive than usual, offering a sneak peek into some things that aren't quite ready to fully reveal. But we wanted to give our dedicated community a first look, as your ongoing support means the world to us. Let's dive in!

[h3]This is a bait title[/h3]
And I’m not entirely kidding! Reel in your excitement because today, we’re diving into fishing! 🎣

We’ve been dangling the bait for months, and now we’re thrilled to announce that fishing is officially part of the game! The primary purpose of fishing will be to use your catches as ingredients for muffins that temporarily boost your stats. But that’s not all, as there are other uses you'll discover as you play.



There will be different spots to cast your fishing rod, with different types of fish. Not every rod will be useful for every spot, or every fish 😉

While we’re still fine-tuning the animations and effects, we wanted to give you a first look at the UI for the fishing minigame. In this clip I'm using the begginer's fishing rod, which is the first rod you'll obtain in the game:



[h3]Wait... there are cinematics?! 🎞[/h3]
Bet you didn't see this one coming! Yeah, Oppidum is going to have some cinematics to give you some context about what's going on in the game. For that, we've chosen some unique artstyle to evoke a narrated story, almost like a tale.

Shh, technically I'm not exactly allowed to show you the cinematic, but I might sneak in a few seconds to give you something to look forward to.

Keep in mind that this is an exclusive, early sneak peek for you. What you see is a work in progress, so it will differ from what will be in the final game. Take a look!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Challenging battles ahead[/h3]
A while ago, I shared some details about the bosses you'll face in Oppidum. We've been hard at work on their encounters, making sure they'll be as memorable and epic as possible. I mentioned before that these battles will be challenging, and what's a challenge without a bit of spectacle, right?

Rest assured, we're pouring our efforts into the VFX for these enemies, ensuring their fights will be unforgettable. Here you can see a small glimpse at the first boss you will face, with its effects already into place to ensure a menacing fight!

Be mindful that this video spoils most of the battle against the first boss, so watch at your own discretion!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks for sticking with us through this update! What are you most excited about? Whether it’s the new fishing mechanics, cinematic teasers, or epic boss battles, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Join us on Discord or follow us on social media to share your excitement.

We’re getting closer and closer to the finish line, and the entire team is thrilled to see Oppidum coming together. We can’t wait for you to finally dive in and experience everything we’ve been working on. The anticipation is building, and soon enough, you’ll be able to explore it all firsthand.

See you next time!