Deathless. Tales of Old Rus News

In the second episode of the development diary, we've shown a large update with a new hero and a legendary boss.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

While our Discord community is getting acquainted with the new beta patch, we’d like to show you the stages of creating the Werewolves. After all, this pack is truly unforgettable!

Melee/ranged characters and enemies in the deck-building game "Deathless. Tales of Old Rus". The first appearance: version 0.2.2. Werewolves are not just shapeshifters, but sorcerers and witches, who can assume the form of a wolf at will. They have extraordinary strength and night vision, and can smell and hear several leagues ahead. Extremely ferocious in battle, they pose a huge danger even for bogatyrs.

[h3]Werewolf Soldier[/h3]


A sketch A storyboard of animation

[h3]Werewolf Archer[/h3]


A sketch A storyboard of animation

[h3]Werewolf Berserker[/h3]


A sketch A storyboard of animation

[h3]Werewolf Shaman[/h3]


A sketch A storyboard of animation

[h3]Вожак[/h3]


Werewolf Chieftain A storyboard of animation

You can find even more content on our social media and on Artstation! To discuss the beta, ask developers questions directly, and get the latest news about the beta, join our Discord.
Come join us!

Who wants to talk about bogatyrs? Many of you might not be aware that Dobrynya is prone to self-reflection, or that Alyosha is immune to malevolent magic.

Did that get your attention? Then let’s delve deeper into the bogatyrs featured in the original universe by Roman Papsuev, the creator of the original world where Tales of Old Rus takes place.



Ilya Muromets is rightfully called the most renowned Russian bogatyr. Bested by none, he wields all his weapons like a true master, be it a bow with enchanted arrows, Svyatogor’s sword, a mace, a staff, or even a fold-out shield.

Ilya might be a superhuman, but he wasn’t born one. He had no control of his limbs since birth, forced to while away his time until he turned 30, and no one knew the cause behind that weakness. He was granted his newfound strength by wandering vagabonds, mysterious magical creatures who determined his fate from that day on.



Dobrynya Nikitich, on the other hand, never stayed idle for long. He started learning martial arts when he was a child, ending up a melee champion. Educated, strong-willed, and well-spoken, Dobrynya is nothing short of an intellectual, which is why he often finds himself guilt-stricken, pondering about those he had to kill. On top of the basic weapons all bogatyrs carry, he wields a magic fire-spewing shield.



Alyosha is the most divisive of the bunch. The youngest of the famous bogatyr trio, he is nevertheless one of Belosvet’s most accomplished monster slayers. Boastful and cunning, he almost seduced Dobrynya’s wife once — and paid for it dearly.

After having been through all kinds of ordeals, Alyosha chose to become a Hunter and went to the city of Kitezh to master the art of monster slaying. That was where he got his Kitezh Writs, special tattoos that ward off evil spells and boost magic power. Not content with the standard bogatyr equipment, Alyosha carries the full monster hunting set with him: wooden stakes, potions, amulets, and even a combat wand called a spellbane!



Finist is a foreigner and a descendant of the First Men. Granted the power to transform into birds and beasts by birth, he’s one of the Prince Vladimir’s most treasured servants. A gentleman of the court through and through, Finist is not on the most familiar terms with the renowned trio, yet he still helps them often.

Cheerful and adventurous, Finist sees the world in black and white. He lives his life to the fullest and fights like there’s no tomorrow, which is why his infrequent travels tend to bring him trouble. In battle, he prefers a small shield, light armor, and dual sabers that he wields expertly — after all, he’s called the country’s best swordsman for a reason.

Many are the bogatyrs in the land of Rus, and all of them have a story to tell. If you’re lucky, you might even get to meet one of them soon. Who do you think it will be?

Hi! We’ve got a small, yet important update for you. We’ve updated the UI, introduced new random events, added new VFX, and more!
 
Added four new random events

[h3]UI updates[/h3]

• Updated the hero selection UI
  
• Updated the merchant UI
  
• Updated the battle UI
  
• Updated the battle reward screen UI
  
• The game now indicates why a reward is blocked after winning a battle
  
• Updated the node selection UI
  

[h3]New VFX[/h3]

• Added VFX for cards that cannot currently be played
  
• Added VFX for discarding cards and shuffling the Discard Deck into the Draw Deck
  
• Added VFX for the “In XX’s Footsteps” battle modifier on the node selection screen
  
• Added VFX for gaining Evasion
  
• Added VFX for the AP crystal when you receive AP during the round
  
• Slave Ghoul: added VFX for consuming a Dying ally
  
• Added VFX for gaining or triggering Insight
  

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Added a counter for the number of summoned Nursemaids for Vasilisa’s starting relic
  
• The main menu now has a button that leads to the game’s Discord server
  
• You can now view the Hero’s Path at any time during your journey
  
• Damage and Armor numbers that depend on certain battle conditions (e.g. the number of foes on the battlefield) no longer appear in card descriptions outside of battle
  
• Relics that can only be activated once per battle are now grayed out once activated
  
• Cards are now only highlighted at the start of the turn once they can be played
  

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3] 

• Finishing a battle via Tactical Strike no longer causes the next battle to freeze at the beginning
  
• The AP crystal icon is now updated properly if the player has 0 AP, then gains AP
  
• Upgraded cards no longer have green text in their descriptions outside of the upgrade preview screen
  
• The Vulnerable card is now grayed out if the nearest foe has no base Armor
  
• The Decoy card no longer causes an extra effect to appear on the hero when played
  
• You can no longer close the card selection screen without modifying your deck after obtaining the Ancient Tome or Witch’s Besom relics
  
• Master volume should now reset properly after cards are selected
  
• The animation triggered by receiving a Status card from a foe now plays after the action ends
  
• A confirmation prompt no longer appears when leaving the Settings screen if no settings have been changed
  
• The exact number of cards that need to be selected for an effect to be applied is now indicated in the tooltip
  
• Fixed an issue where the broken crystal AP icon was displayed on playable cards
  
• Adjusted the position of card tooltips
  
• The player’s health is now updated immediately when purchasing the Corundum Charm relic
  
• Fixed UI issues on the Prestige card reward screen
  
• A pop-up no longer appears above characters when they lose a stack of an effect
  
• Shapeshift+ now works properly
  

Hello everyone!

Today we’ve prepared a major update for the beta-branch. The most important part of this update is the new interface, specifically:

• The hero selection interface has been updated.
  
• The Merchant interface has been updated.
  
• The combat interface has been updated.
  
• The reward screen interface after winning a battle has been updated.
  
• A notification has been added to indicate why a reward is blocked after winning a battle.
  
• The Hero Path interface has been updated.

We want to note that the interface is a very important part of any game. It should be native understandable, free of visual clutter, and, of course, user-friendly. We had many discussions and debates while working on it, so we now ask you to provide feedback on the new interface. You can do this in the comments or on Discord.

Additionally, 4 random events have been added, several visual effects have been introduced, and a number of issues have been resolved.

How to join the open beta test:

• Open Steam and right-click on "Deathless".
  
• Select "Properties..." and go to the "Betas" tab.
  
• Select the branch named public_beta from the dropdown menu.
  
• Now you can choose this branch as the main one on your computer. You can play after updating the client.
  
• If you find a bug, please send it along with the log to this thread (or via email).
  

How to get game logs:

• Press the Win + R keys, paste C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\LocalLow\1CGS\Deathless in the window that appears, and press Enter.
  
• In the opened folder, select all files and add them to a single archive. You can use the free program 7-Zip for this.
  
• Upload the archive to any file-sharing service and send the link.
  
• Or send it to [email protected] with a brief description of the issue.