Lysward News

Let’s dive into one of the most essential tools in Lysward: the Amri Sleeve. Powered by the ancient Amri magic, this device is your lifeline in the unforgiving desert.

With the Amri Sleeve, you’ll unlock Glyphs—mystical symbols that channel Amri magic to create different effects in the world. As you explore, you’ll discover and learn new Glyphs, craft them, and equip them to your sleeve, unlocking abilities crucial for survival.

Amri Sleeve early prototype

So far, we’ve implemented three Glyphs: Cutting, Identify, and Repair. This is just the first version of the Amri Sleeve, and we’re still hard at work refining it—but we couldn’t wait to share what we have for now,

The Cutting Glyph allows players to harvest resources more efficiently, enabling them to gather materials from the environment that can only be harvested with this tool.

The Identify Glyph provides crucial information about objects and their properties, opening up new recipes and crafting options.

The Repair Glyph is needed for repairing the Speeder for now, but it’ll also be useful for other things in the future.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

And that’s just the beginning! We’re working on implementing more Glyphs to expand the Amri Sleeve’s capabilities, giving you even more ways to interact with the world. Any ideas on what the next Glyph will look like? Leave a comment below!

Stay tuned as we continue to develop and refine this powerful tool. The desert is full of secrets, and the Amri Sleeve will help you uncover them all.

Hit that wishlist button to help us understand your interest in our game, and join our Discord community if you want to be part of the future closed betas!


Stay cool, Voyagers!
Snowcastle Games

In today’s update, we’re diving into your greatest enemy in Lysward: the relentless heat.

As you’ve seen in our latest updates, Lysward is a single-player survival adventure game set in a brutal, arid desert. And that means one thing: this place is HOT. We’re talking walking-on-the-Sun levels of hot. 🥵

So, with heat this intense, how do you survive it? We have some plans to share.

Please mind that this is still a work in progress, and some things might change between now and the launch.

[h3]Heat Attacks, Buildings Protect[/h3]At the start of your journey, you’ll come across a building—an outpost, as we call it. Inside, you’ll find things that will help you stay safe from the scorching sun, including shelter, a crafting station, and plenty of other useful resources.

Run to the outpost to avoid overheating!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][hr][/hr][h3]The Perfect Place for Shade[/h3]
Another way of avoiding overheating is hiding in the shade. While exploring the sands and gathering resources, you’ll notice your temperature skyrockets if you’re exposed to direct sunlight for too long. To avoid overheating, use the shadows around you. Planning a route that’s rich in shade will make your adventure a little more manageable.

But sometimes, sticking to the shadows isn’t enough. The environment around you remains incredibly hot, and you might ask us: what about dehydration?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][hr][/hr][h3]Stay Hydrated![/h3]
One of the first crafting recipes you’ll learn is for a water bottle—your new best friend. While finding bodies of water in Lysward is no easy feat, you can refill your water bottle at the outpost. Make sure to do this every time you return to it, or you’ll find yourself parched with no water in sight while exploring the desert.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Speaking of which… have you had enough water today? Go grab a bottle, then come back and wishlist our game! Having players wishlisting a game is incredibly important for indie developers, as it shows the level of interest and excitement players have for our game. So hit that green button right now if you like what you see here!

And remember, Lysward is still in development, so some of the features we’ve shown here might evolve and change as we keep building the game. Your feedback is also incredibly valuable to us.

If you want to be a part of our community, ask the devs any questions, or maybe just talk to other fellow explorers, our Discord is the hottest place to go (no pun intended). Join the adventure!

Stay hydrated, Explorers!
Snowcastle Games

Hello and welcome to Lysward!

To those of you who are new here, we're Snowcastle Games, an independent game developer based in Norway. You might know us from the nostalgic JRPG EARTHLOCK or the cozy Ikonei Island. We're now working on Lysward, a single-player survival adventure set in the desert.

Yes, desert! We’re pretty sure you’ve seen Norwegian people making games about desert before (if you know, you know).

We’re explorers by nature so we decided to step outside our “snowy” comfort zone and create a game set in a harsh desert where survival hinges on your ability to adapt, find resources, and create deep relationships with your crew.

So climb on board and let’s explore it together.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Lysward Official Teaser[hr][/hr]
[h3]The desert is unforgiving[/h3]
The name “Lysward” is a fusion of two elements: “Lys,” the name of the Sun in the EARTHLOCK universe, and also a Norwegian word for “light”; and “ward,” symbolizing a journey or movement. We chose this title to evoke a sense of exploration and adventure.

Lysward is set in a vast and unforgiving desert within the fantastical world of Umbra. If you've played our other games, you might recognize a few familiar elements.
The planet Umbra doesn't turn, so the sun is stationary in the sky. This bathes one part of the world in perpetual daylight and makes the intense heat your enemy number one. The sun is also the source of a powerful magic called Amri.



You'll play as an escaped experiment from the facility that was both his home and prison. You will have to navigate this treacherous desert, where the sun's relentless heat can quickly overwhelm you. A key way to ensure your survival is to search for remains of advanced technology left behind by ancient civilizations.



To endure the relentless heat, you’ll need to explore the sands, scavenge for resources, and craft tools and technologies to help you on your journey. Master the art of survival, and the desert will reveal wonders beyond your imagination.

[h3]Exploring the sands[/h3]
As we announced here, we're leveraging many of the tools we developed for EARTHLOCK 2 in the creation of Lysward. One of the most important gameplay elements is the Speeder, a small but fast vehicle that’s not just your ride across the sands, but also a mobile base of operations for you and your companion. While it offers heat protection, the Speeder can be damaged and will require repairs.



[h3]Join the adventure[/h3]
If you liked what you saw here, please consider adding Lysward to your wishlist. It shows us how much interest there is in the game and helps with visibility.

We will be having a closed playtest soon, so don’t forget to join our Discord community if you want to be part of it!


See you soon!
Snowcastle Games