Drop Duchy News

DROP DUCHY IS OUT NOW!

The wait is over – Drop Duchy is now available on Steam!

It's time to start building your glorious duchy, outsmart your enemies, and claim your place as the greatest ruler of them all!

[h3]Watch the Launch Trailer now:[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]A Medieval Puzzle-Strategy Game like no other[/h3]
In a charming, maquette-inspired medieval world, Drop Duchy blends deckbuilding, puzzle mechanics, and roguelite progression into one seamless, strategic experience.

🧩 Build your duchy piece by piece by thoughtfully placing terrain tiles and buildings
⚔️ Gather resources and rally your forces to vanquish your enemies
🃏 Customize your deck with over 110 unique cards to match your playstyle and optimize your realm’s growth
🔁 Enjoy endless replayability by unlocking new cards and uncovering fresh combos and strategies with every run!

With its unique blending of genres, Drop Duchy has a charming, minimalist look that you'll love, along with fun and refreshing tactical gameplay that'll keep you coming back for more!

[h3]Play Drop Duchy Now![/h3]
Let every block shape your realm and lead your path to victory!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/Drop_Duchy/

[h3]Dear Demo Players,[/h3]
To everyone who played the demo, whishlisted the game and took time to share their feedback: thank you. 💗

Your love and support truly helped shape the game, and we can't wait to hear what you think of the full release!!

If you want to discuss strategies and share your favorite builds with fellow rulers, don’t hesitate to join our official Discord server!
You can also follow us on Social Media to keep up with the latest news!

X / Twitter:
https://x.com/SleepyMillGames

https://x.com/TheArcadeCrew

And join us on Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky!

DROP DUCHY - COMMUNITY CONTEST RESULTS

Hear ye, hear ye!

Three weeks ago, we hosted a Community Contest to celebrate the 100K+ downloads of Drop Duchy’s demo, and to thank you for the love and support you’ve been sending toward the game!

First and foremost, we would like to thank each and every one of you for taking part in this Community Contest! 🧩
We’ve been truly amazed by some of your final scores, but now is the time to crown one of you…

[h3]Runner-ups[/h3]
In third place, we have taka_kiso on X, who achieved an impressive score of 27,787!

In second, we have gaow2 who nearly reached the 30,000 points with their 29,461 score!

[h3]...AND OUR ONE TRUE RULER IS…[/h3]

…kapein from our official Discord, who, on top of reaching 30,000 points, ended up with no less than a 32,880 score!

Let’s take our hats off to our newly crowned ruler!👑

Once again, thanks to everyone who submitted their highest score and took part in this contest!

And if you’re disappointed that you’re not part of this podium, rest assured, once Drop Duchy releases (IN 5 DAYS?!!!), you’ll be able to achieve even higher scores by getting: more rounds, more cards, more factions, and even more POINTS to collect!!!

Meanwhile, you can always share your scores and builds directly on our Discord server (and get some well-deserved recognition)✨

You can also follow us on Social Media to keep up with the latest news!

X / Twitter:
https://x.com/SleepyMillGames

https://x.com/TheArcadeCrew

And join us on Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky!

DEVLOG #6 - Boss Teasing & Advanced Game Modes

Hello again, and welcome to the final devlog before Drop Duchy’s release! I hope you’re ready to play this tiny game I started in my bedroom two years ago.

Do you want a final dose of insight into what you can expect from the game? Well, you’re in luck because today I’m revealing (for the first time!) the two other bosses and the challenging modes for the courageous who can complete a run.

[h3]The Wall, The Keep, The Dungeon[/h3]
I didn’t think about adding bosses to Drop Duchy until it was pretty advanced – but as soon as I realized that it could be an awesome addition to the game, I had this intention: each boss should be a scary and challenging mega-structure.

You’ve already discovered and faced The Wall in the demo, a boss whose design evolved throughout development to ensure it was achievable using all sorts of strategies. The Wall is mobile, forcing you to play compactly and place pieces (including additional enemies) in sub-optimal positions.

At the end of Act 2, you’ll face The Keep, which has an entirely different design: strong, sturdy, and impassible. The Keep is already placed on a massive grid and has many units to begin with. The additional challenge here is to avoid boosting its surveillance towers, which is easier said than done since they watch over most of the grid! The wide grid and abundance of terrains make some buildings easier to play, but on the other hand, large buildings are more challenging to place.

But The Keep is relatively simple compared to the game’s final boss, The Dungeon.
First, The Dungeon has "traps" that grant additional units for every piece placed over them (not just the buildings!), and their position changes every time.
Second, it recruits additional Mercenaries every few turns unless you bribe them first: yes, to beat the final boss, collecting resources through exploration & buildings is essential to prevent him from gaining too much power too quickly!

The bosses in Drop Duchy have been tested a lot, and we ensured that all sorts of strategies are viable against them. Yes, they’re hard, but that’s the point of bosses, right?

[h3]Raise the Difficulty[/h3]
When you’ve defeated The Dungeon, you win the run! Does the game end there? "Pack it up, boys, we’re uninstalling it to make some room on the SSD"? Of course not!
First, you can try to complete every quest and challenge to finish the progress tree, and second, you can play again with a greater challenge.

There are two modes in the game: Classic & Trials.

Classic comes in five difficulties, so if you want to challenge your strategic skills, try beating the game with each faction up to Nightmare mode. As difficulty increases, you’ll face more enemy units, receive fewer resources from exploration, and you won't be able to place the enemy pieces in reserve anymore.

Trials, on the other hand, are unlocked after beating the game for the first time, and they’re variants that alter the game’s rules, making you think twice about the correct approach.
Some Trials add fierce advantages to enemies; for instance, in Consolidation mode, placing two enemy buildings next to each other will grant both of them additional troops.
Others, such as Mini Grids, will change which buildings are stronger or weaker (and make it generally more challenging to optimize the positioning).
If you feel confident, you could even take on the Fearless challenge, in which you start the run with a single point of defense and will therefore lose unless you eliminate all the enemies each round.

With such a variety of modes, we’re sure you’ll be able to spend countless hours in the game before getting bored (and I haven’t even talked about optimizing your high score).
One last thing before the conclusion: we’ve added seals to the cards in the Collection menu to let you know the highest difficulty you’ve beaten the game with each card. As in Balatro (the game that inspired this mechanic), you must use the card in the final encounter against The Dungeon to earn the seal. That’d be too easy if we let you gain the seal when you didn't use the card or if you sold it during the run – winning a Nightmare run with a Windmill is about as crazy as it sounds, but it is definitely doable!

[h3]Wrap-Up[/h3]
Thanks for reading this last devlog of Drop Duchy. I hope this series gave you a good sense of what you can expect in the game at its release. I also hope you’ll enjoy discovering and playing with all this content as much as I enjoyed working on it these past few years!

Stay in touch by subscribing to the newsletter and joining the Discord server.

JB Oger - Game Director

DEVLOG #5 - Faction The Order & Religious Cards

Hello!

Drop Duchy’s release date is approaching, and I know all of you readers of these devlogs are on the edge of your seats, wondering what’s in the game beyond the demo you’ve had time to explore by now.
Well, today, I’m going to tell you all about the third faction of the game, The Order, but in order to understand it, we need to talk about a special family of cards: the religious buildings and the Faith mechanic.

[h3]Omnipotent Church[/h3]
Farming, cities, and artisans were essential to medieval life, and so is religion: leaving this crucial aspect out of the game would be like building a house without a roof!
In our game, most religious cards award you Faith, a bonus stat that resets every round and boosts all the resources collected this round.

Religious buildings are, therefore, highly versatile and can fit every deck; boosting the resources from buildings and exploration can be a great accelerator to your economy. For instance, you can place a Church anywhere in the grid to gain Faith instantly, get the technology card Daily Bread to earn Faith when you explore Fields, or add the fantastic Cathedral to your selection to double all Faith gains in its range!

If you’re really into religious cards, you can specialize in them by including the other type of religious cards: those whose effect is multiplied by the number of Faith points you got in the round. This combo deck requires full commitment, but when you’ve got the right synergy, you’re unbeatable. For instance, the Abbey earns as much as 20 Gold per Faith, the Blessing tech can heal your Defense points, and there are even military buildings, such as the Commandery, which recruits 3 units per Faith!

[h3]Introducing: The Order[/h3]
Now that you know more about Faith and the religious cards, let me introduce the third and final faction of the game, The Order. Since it’s the last you’ll unlock from the progress tree, we decided to step up the complexity, but if you handle it correctly, it’s at least as good, if not better, as the other two.

The Order is a crusade-themed faction that relies on two core synergies: religious and military. Its starting building, Krak des Chevaliers, is inspired by a real-life XII-century fortress built during the crusades. It’s a military building that is particularly tricky to place in the grid, but it can potentially recruit a considerable number of units, even in the first rounds of the run!

What’s the catch, you may ask?

Unlike the other two factions, The Order cannot spend gold to repair their defenses after a battle; they really need to win if they want to go far. On top of that, when the round ends, each remaining unit is turned into a crusader rather than the usual gold, further increasing the challenge of getting a solid economy going. You can send the crusaders in Expeditions in the dedicated menu to loot precious resources, strengthen your defense, or increase your baseline Faith.

With its more straightforward access to Faith, The Order is the ideal faction to build a solid religious combo. After each round, you can use the earned Faith to improve the starting technology Holy Crusade, which influences how many resources you collect from Expeditions. If you need more crusaders, include the other faction-exclusive buildings of The Order, such as the Military Chaplaincy.
Playing with this faction feels easier at first because of its military advantage, but don’t forget about building a solid economy if you want to go far!

[h3]Wrap Up[/h3]
Thanks again for reading this devlog. We’re so excited to see you play with all the content we’ve crafted for you, and we hope you enjoy it like you enjoyed the demo! The next installment in this devlog series will also be the last before the game’s release, so we’ll touch on an all-important topic: what are the other two bosses and the alternative game modes?
If you enjoy our game, please support us by joining the community on Discord and subscribing to the studio newsletter.

Thanks!
JB Oger - Game Director

DROP DUCHY - COMMUNITY CONTEST

Hear ye, hear ye!

We’re excited to announce that Drop Duchy’s demo has now reached 100K+ downloads!!
Seeing such a tremendous response to this demo and the game in general has been absolutely exhilarating!💖
To thank you for the love and support you’ve been sending toward the game, we’re hosting a Community Contest!

[h3]Let’s find out who’s the best ruler of them all![/h3]
From today until April 21, submit your highest Final Score and get a chance to win a Steam key for a game from our The Arcade Crew library!

To take part in this contest all you have to do is:

Play the demo
Achieve your highest Final Score
Take a screenshot
Share it on social media by tagging us @/TheArcadeCrew and adding the #DropDuchyContest hashtag!

The winning prize will be awarded to the three highest scores obtained!

You have three weeks to give it your best shot - time to show off your tactical skills!

Note on the entry limit: Participants may submit multiple entries, but only one entry per participant will be considered for the final selection.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/Drop_Duchy/

To keep up with all the latest updates and get exclusive behind-the-scenes sneak peeks of Drop Duchy, don’t forget to join the official Discord server, and follow us on social media:

X / Twitter:
https://x.com/SleepyMillGames

https://x.com/TheArcadeCrew

And join us on Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky!