[p]Hello everyone!
It's Nikita from 1917 Studios and I'm happy to announce that the game has just been updated to version 2.8. This patch is intended to be the final update until the release of the next DLC and thus primarily focuses on various gameplay and balancing improvements, but at the same time also brings a little bit of new content.
Changelog for patch 2.8:1. During big battles (or just generally during some of the fights where it makes sense) new enemies will now sometimes spawn in already fatigued to reflect the fact that they, just like the player character, have already been participating in combat for some time.
2. After landing successful attacks high level enemies (primarily knights) now also can use respite action to lower their fatigue.
3. Added new marriage epilogues for Cassandra, Francesca and Giovanna (available with the 'Happily Ever After' DLC) and 3 new achievements for reaching them.
4. Added new marriage art for Alyssa (for the usurper story branch), Cassandra, Francesca and Giovanna (available with the 'Happily Ever After' DLC).
5. Slightly expanded the 'bad' ending of the doge campaign in the 'Sins of the Floating City' DLC, added new Giovanna dialogue where she talks about her relations with Francesca.
6. Weak spot, Spike stab and Powerful thrust attacks now have additional large armor bypass bonus when attacking stunned targets. These attacks can now also bypass 100+ cover (which previously automatically resulted in partial block or full deflect).
7. Lowered the number of enemies in some of the fights in the De Roche campaign and Duncan campaign.
8. Increased the available time in some of the chapters of the De Roche campaign.
9. Considerable improved the efficiency of the artillery in the kingdom management section in the usurper story branch.
10. Parrying dagger no longer provides Weapon skill bonus and now only works with one-handed weapons (excluding spears) with no shield.
11. Bone crusher attack's stamina cost has been decreased. This attack is now only available for flail and can only be performed if the target has no limbs injuries.
12. Dagger trinkets that can be used to attack enemies no longer have cooldowns. Their attacks now also can be used if the target has reached maximum faigue level (same condition added for the Mercenary companion's 'Stab in the heart' attack).
13. Decreased stamina cost of Point Blank Shot, improved its hit and armor bypass chances.
14. Armor damage of the armorbreaker bolt is now 25 instead of 15. Both armor- and shieldbreaker bolts can now be crafted through the DIY civic talent.
15. Expanded the list of DIY talent crafts and grouped them into categories (armor, weapons, trinkets etc.)
16. Improved the store availabiltiy of certain items that were previously harder to obtain.
17. Added several new unique attack animations (war cleaver, short swords, bastard sword).
18. Took certain steps to reduce game loading times on launch and improve its overall stability (it now loads about 20 seconds faster for me — will be looking forward to hearing your feedback).
19. Enemies that can be taken prisoner now always have a proper icon.
20. Added a long list of other smaller balance changes.
21. Fixed a lot of bugs.
Upcoming DLC — 'Stories from Cambrai'Recently there's been some confusion regarding the future of HWR: Reforged so here's my current plan. I want to release 6 DLCs in total — that means there are two more remaining. The first of these two, codenamed 'Stories from Cambrai', is already in the works and is most likely going to be released somewhere between late spring and early autumn 2026 depending on various circumstances.
The DLC will include several new story branches and will primarily be aimed at expanding the first half of the game, making it less linear and more replayable. There will be new characters, new stories and new paths to explore.
The much awaited Grace and Glory campaign expansion too is in the works and will most likely come as a part of this DLC as well. Originally I wanted to release it as a standalone patch but that unfortunately didn't work out due to me having too much other work to do. But this time it seems that all the stars have finally aligned for that expansion to arrive with the 5th DLC.
As always, together with the DLC I will be releasing a major free patch that will update the game to version 3.0 and introduce a brand new weapon talent tree, lots of new weapons and armor, a bunch of new civic talents, expansion for the armor crafting system as well as a very long list of other interesting things.
Plans for the futureAs I have already said — my current plan is to do 2 more DLCs with the 6th one being the last and releasing either somewhere at the very end of 2026 or in early-mid 2027.
Another possibility that I might explore is doing another Supporter Pack (or some kind of other similar tiny DLC) that would introduce character customization with changeable battle model (face, clothes) and portrait. It could be used to fill the long waits between the releases of the last two DLCs and both give something interesting to the community as well as help me further sustain the ongoing development of this beautiful behemoth of a project that Heads Will Roll has become.
I would love to hear your thoughts on that — should we do another supporter pack with character customization or is it a bad idea?
As for the post-HWR future of 1917 Studios — I don't yet have any plans that are set in stone. Ideally, I would probably like to first do some kind of smaller project (like a horrordetective visual novel or some kind of tactical strategy game) and then follow it up with a spiritual successor of Heads Will Roll. I do not think that it would straight up be Heads Will Roll 2 (although anything is possible) but it will stay within the same genre of 'ordinary soldier sim' — but with an improved gameplay formula and a fresh timelocation setting.
Taking about Heads Will Roll 2 I would also probably say that after years of working on HWR franchise I came to really enjoy this fictional universe that I have created and would certainly love to, at some point in the future, come back to it in order to do a proper second installment and tell the full story of the Hundred Years War. But, again, I do not think that Heads Will Roll 2 will happen straight after HWR: Reforged.
Physical editionFor those who missed the recent news - there's also a
physical collector's edition of the game available for pre-order. It is being created by VG Limited who specialize on this sort of thing and in the past have already released a number of very well received physical collector's editions for various games. While 1917 Studios does not itself participate in the process of creating the physical collector's edition (apart from providing various digital assets) the whole process is being overwatched by our publisher Valkyrie Initiative who will be there to make sure that the quality of the final product is top-notch.
Together with the physical collector's edition you will receive a flash drive with a copy of the game and the first 4 DLCs (Happily Ever After, Not a Hero, Threads of Destiny and Sins of the Floating City).
So, if you really enjoy HWR or just generally love collector's editions then definitely check it out!
1917 Studios will be receiving a small royalty from every purchase so if you're interested in supporting the development then that is also a way to do it.[/p][p]
https://vg-limited.com/en/product/hwrbb/Boosty supportOur Boosty page (Patreon alternative) is active once again. There you can support us financially as well as get all kinds of inside information about the development of HWR. Funny stories from the previous days, first looks at the upcoming content, previews, various votings and polls regarding future content and gameplay changes etc.[/p][p]
https://boosty.to/1917studiosBugs and technical issuesAnd last but not least - a couple of words regarding the technical issues that some people are having. Contrary to what the name '1917 Studios' might suggest there're actually just 3 people working on HWR:
-a visual artist who draws all the stuff;
-a translatorplaytester who does localizations and tests the game for bugs and balancing issues;
-and me, who's doing everything else.
We don't really have a lot of resources to throw around and thus fixing certain bugs and issues might take longer than expected. But please be sure that I am working very hard on improving the technical state of the game and do everything I can.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for playing the game! Everything we do - we do for you guys. And we sincerely hope that you will continue having a good time playing HWR for many many more hours.
That's pretty much all I had to say.
Cheers,
Nikita from 1917 Studios
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