Heroes of Science and Fiction News

Hi, we're excited (and slightly nervous) to announce that we have the first version of online multiplayer ready to be tested by the community!
The main purpose of this test is to catch all remaining critical bugs and to get to a stable version that can't get stuck in a battle etc. It's definitely recommended to save your game before any big battles with other players!
Hopefully this will already be quite fun, but please adjust your expectations! :) On the other hand, we should be able to quickly update the beta with any important fixes!

To join the test, just go to the game in your library on Steam, select Properties, Game versions and betas - and choose beta branch "multiplayer-beta".



[h3]Known issues and unfinished features[/h3]
To give you a better picture, at this point the core of the multiplayer system is in place, with a few specific features missing or still WIP (hopefully arriving in an update next week), but you should be able to play most of the skirmish (or even random) maps with a friend or in a group! This version also contains most of the other changes we've been preparing for 1.0, so feel free to let us know if you encounter any issues not directly linked to multiplayer.

• LIMITATION The host currently needs to select all player's factions plus assigning players in the UI is currently only based on the order of joining
  
• NOT YET AVAILABLE Official team (co-op) game support (a few final touches to the fog of war handling and it should be ready, for example gifting resources works already)
  
• LIMITATION Saves will be under the singleplayer/autosaves folders
  
• Joining friends-only lobbies: go to friends overlay, find your friend who is hosting and select join
  
• New texts are currently only available in English, Hungarian and Brazilian Portuguese
  
• NOT YET AVAILABLE Special multiplayer game modes and simultaneous turns are not in yet, currently in design/evaluation stage
  
• Arcane controller ability is broken
  

[h3]Testing and bug reporting[/h3]

• Please join our Discord and have a look at the bug-reporting forum section!
  
• To help us investigate specific issues, the last save/autosave file and logs from both sides will help a lot!
  
• Typical bugs will most likely manifest themselves as 1) the game disconnecting or 2) by getting stuck in combat and quickly switching who is the active player back and forth
  
• What will most likely cause bugs that we haven't caught ourselves yet? Big battles and siege battles, abilities and units with special features, unexpected combinations of skills, equipment, consumables, abilities etc.
  

[h3]Our questions for you :)[/h3]
Last but not least - we're interested in your general feedback too! Did you finish a game? How did it go?
Plus, a few topics we've discussed and would like to hear more opinions about are:

• Speed: should be always set to max?
  
• Simultaneous turns: how important do you find this feature/what are your best examples of games where it works well and doesn't get interrupted very early?
  

[h3]New content notes[/h3]

• A few new buildings and items
  
• Updates to the AI (also WIP)
  
• Some of the new maps for 1.0
  
• There are achievements, not yet sent to Steam
  

Thanks in advance and have fum!

Save the date! :) After over a year in Early Access and after 12 game updates that brought new factions, campaigns, map editor and more, we are excited to announce the release date of Heroes of Science and Fiction 1.0 - one month from now!

[h2]Teaser Trailer - 17th March 2026![/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Development progress[/h2]
We're finishing and polishing the final campaign, multiplayer, achievements, working on AI improvements and a new planet with a set of fresh skirmish maps. You can also look forward to other bits of content, including new items and buildings on the exploration map. Good progress so far and a few weeks to go!



[h2]Multiplayer beta next week![/h2]
Finally, we'd like to invite you to join us in a multiplayer beta test planned to start next week. For now feel free to join our Discord server where we will be organizing the testing. We'll most likely put up one more short post here on Steam as a notification when everything is ready.

Hi everybody! With the finish line in sight, let us give you one more detailed update about our progress towards the full release of Heroes of Science of Fiction! Apologies you have not heard from us much in the last few weeks, but everybody is now focusing on getting the game out as soon and as polished as possible.

In a way it's hard to believe the project has been 6 years in the making, but it's great to see the game finally so close to the original vision and the planned scope!
We also know a lot of you are eager to learn the official release date, it should get announced soon with a little video teaser.

But, in the meantime, let's have a look at what the team has been up to and what you can look forward to in 1.0!

[h3]The final campaign[/h3]
The fourth campaign will bring a conclusion to the main storyline, with new heroes and perspectives! Once again, it will consist of four levels with a healthy dose of dialog in each.



[h3]Multiplayer[/h3]
Has this been the most requested feature over the years? :) I'm happy to report some good progress, the plan is to have online peer-to-peer multiplayer using Steam (as in "no servers you would have to connect to", not "only 2 players").
There may also be LAN support as a backup as we're using it during testing - feel free to let me know if LAN is something you find important!

We'd also like to run a short beta test maybe in a month, so we can catch some of the issues we might miss when only testing among the team and make the multiplayer experience better in general.



[h3]AI and difficulty[/h3]
While the focus of one of our two programmers (myself in this case) has been multiplayer, it's been mostly AI for the other one. :) As we'd like the AI players to bring a proper challenge when choosing one of the harder difficulties, it should be a bit faster, a bit smarter, a bit stronger. :)

[h3]Maps[/h3]
A new planet with more skirmish maps is on its way - and we might also take the opportunity to reorganize the maps a bit, so please don't get alarmed! :)

[h3]Objects and items[/h3]
A few more unique buildings on the map, defensive structures and items are in the works too!



[h3]Achievements[/h3]
The achievement hunters among you will be delighted to see how many little challenges we have prepared for you (as this is not the final number yet)!



[h3]And after the game is out?[/h3]
While we need to focus on the mountain of work the full release is, we also have a list of ideas for smaller additions and improvements that could be included in updates after release or compiled into a DLC or two, so stay tuned for the release day announcement and details about future updates!

As always, big thanks to everybody who bought or wishlisted the game during Early Access and especially those who helped with translations or provided us with feedback on the Steam forums or on the discord server!



Now, to end on a lighter note, this is how we remember ourselves in 2020!

Hi everybody,

It's hard to believe the end of the year is upon us once again! So, let us take the opportunity to wish you all Happy Holidays and relaxing times with your loved ones!

Looking back at 2025 - what has the Oxymoron team been up to? Well, there was no time to take the foot off the gas yet as we've been pushing hard to complete the promised updates of Heroes of Science and Fiction and get us close to its full release (which is now not too far away). We've added two new playable factions, two campaigns, the map editor, a lot of content and features and even managed to successfully go through the terrifying process of renaming a game.

Thanks to everybody who helped with testing and also to everybody who purchased either of our games during the year or has written a review! On the outside it looks like the whole game development industry is in a state of turmoil, but we are still in a pretty good spot thanks to all of you! 🙂

Now, it's time for us to take some deserved time off after a very demanding season, so most of the team will be out of town until January 4th. If you encounter any issues, don’t hesitate to ask our amazing community here on the Steam forum or on Discord, otherwise we should be able to get back to you at the beginning of January.

So, enjoy the Winter Sale and then Happy Holidays and see you in the New Year!

Hi everybody, we managed to prepare one more game update for you before the Holidays! This time the main focus is game balance, but there are also quite a few new items, creatures and a map with a twist.

As usually, this is not all that we've been working on, as some of the team are focusing on content and improvements for the looming full release, which will come with the last campaign, maps, AI improvements and more.

Now, release notes and all the details:

[h2]New creatures[/h2]

• Void Walker teleports to a different location every phase and gives you an option to teleport back to any visited tile when you beat him
  
• Craborg gets really angry when its stack loses half of the original units
  
• Edge hog is just ... spiky! :) It also has unlimited retaliation and causes a few status effects.
  

[h2]New content[/h2]

• Neutral Zone map that will give you an opportunity to play with all the different neutral creatures
  
• Neutral spawner map object
  

[h3]New items[/h3]

• Biotic Mentor is an artifact that allows your commander to use BIO abilities twice per round
  
• Genie is an artifact that causes your PSY abilities to last twice as long!
  
• Triffid Root is an equipment that gives a commander 10 new Triffid units each cycle!
  
• Tax Collector's Banner gives you extra Aura Coins when taking over buildings
  
• Pathfinder Drone removes movement penalties for rough terrain
  
• Expropriator lets you take over turrets and outposts after defeating them
  
• Piercing ammo allows ranged units to always deal critical damage
  
• Burn Puncher deals burning or corrosive damage based on which unit gets hit
  
• Stim-tac is a consumable that increases Combat power by +5 for three phases
  
• Potion of Motion is a consumable that increases Exploration proficiency by +5 for three phases
  
• Brain fuel is a consumable that increases Ability power by +5 for three phases
  

[h2]Balance changes[/h2]

• Biomancer skill revives more units
  
• Renewed Spirit skill restores both MP and EP
  
• Scavenger also provides more resources when picking them up on the map
  
• Fungors have a limit of how many stacks they can split into
  
• Drone dogs give debuffs to enemy commanders while in range
  
• Outposts have the option to buy an extra turret
  
• Defensive upgrades of mines: cheaper and better
  
• Draining coil steals some of the drained energy
  
• Overall nerf of PSY abilities
• Magnesium torch can be thrown on nearby tiles, has a new effect
  
• Free resources on the map give on average a little bit more
  

[h3]Balance changes - Globetrotter[/h3]

• Show resources also shows production buildings
  
• Rush has a stronger effect
  
• Eagle eye has a bigger range and highlights discovered commanders on the minimap
  
• Protective field also protects against turrets, traps and environmental hazards
  
• Supercharged cloud can now be placed next to commanders to affect them immediately, it also stops them for one turn
  
• Evacuation now gives you the choice of which base to evacuate to
  
• Summon creature - a new ability allows commanders to summon random creatures on the map
  

[h2]Features and improvements[/h2]

• Configurable keyboard shortcuts
• Polished a lot of the UI and dialogs (commander list, statistics, gateway panel at the base, commander meeting panel, added a little animation to level up and similar dialogs)
  
• Improved a few unit animations from the Tumori Tribes faction and neutral units
  
• [EDITOR] Added a parameter for locking staring armies in maps
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed rehired retreated commanders showing up as DEAD in their tooltip
  
• Fix spawners can have wrong day-night variant of the units at the first part of the cycle, units in armies of commanders visiting bases were not updated according to day-night cycle
  
• Fixed morale tooltip wasn't showing actual value of active status effects
  
• Fixed Traveling merchant and Wanderer could spawn blocking routes
  
• Fixed dead Panzer Worm surfaced at the end of the battle if it died underground due to torpedo explosion
  
• Fixed planned routes not immediately updated in a few cases (like equipping items protecting from environmental hazards)
  
• Fixed the 4th tier unit next to its basic spawner building in the Sovereign base showed upgraded unit graphics and the upgraded spawner showed basic unit graphics
  
• Fixed commander/outpost selector getting enabled in negotiator panel when not used in actual negotiation but when an outpost exists (slave camp, base slave camp, war machine shop, spawners)
  
• Sovereign Fleet campaign, mission 1 - fixed Gran Manny could die "prematurely"
  

Thanks for reading, we hope that you will enjoy the update over the holidays and as always, we'll be happy to have you on our Discord server: