Songs of Conquest News

We know many of you have been eagerly waiting for the day Songs of Conquest will make its way to consoles, and we're excited to announce that the wait is almost over!

On November 12th, Songs of Conquest will be available on both PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, bringing our turn-based strategy game to even more players across these platforms. And of course, it's crossplay, making sure that those who prefer the PC can still face their couch-playing friends.

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This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without our partners at Bitwave, who have been vital in adapting the game for consoles. Thanks to their expertise, we’re confident that playing Songs of Conquest from the comfort of your couch will be a great experience for both new and returning players.

Explore the lands and face your enemies, we believe in you!

And what about the Switch? The Switch presents a unique set of challenges compared to other consoles, which makes development more complex. While we’d love to see Songs of Conquest on the Switch, we can’t make any promises at this stage. We're continuing to explore the possibility, but we don’t have any further updates for now. We’ll keep you posted as things develop.
We can’t wait for our little game to take the next step and we hope you’ll join us for the adventure!

/Everyone at Lavapotion

As the days grow shorter and darker, our work on the new Vanir faction continues. We promised behind-the-scenes updates, and we’re happy to deliver! This is the first of our monthly devlogs about Vanir, where we’ll keep you updated on our progress.

Now is also the perfect time to ask for your support by wishlisting the Vanir DLC. Wishlists are crucial for smaller studios like ours, making us more visible to Valve and helping us along the way.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3260210/Songs_of_Conquest__Vanir/?beta=0The pixel Vikings want you to wishlist!

Creating a new faction is no small task. It’s not just about slapping new pixels onto existing units—it takes a long time to produce for our small team, and that is if we focus entirely on it, but we are really enjoying it! Vanir will feature 9 new Wielders, each with unique full-body sketches, pixel art for the adventure map, and detailed portraits that convey their individual stories.

Which one is your favorite?

Ensuring that Vanir feels fresh and distinct from our existing factions is important for us. So for the Vanir faction, one key element is the dynamic between the Vanir and the Vildra. The Vanir are the human raiders and traders of the Bleak East, descended from Indebted Baryans and Arleon peasants who fled the oppressive rule of barons.

Some say that the Vildra were created by the Roots and some that they sprung from the land itself, but what everyone knows is that they are dangerous and often wicked beings of the land. They are the dark folk-lore creatures, the trolls that live under the bridges, the witches of the bogs, and the evil spirits that lure children into the icy lakes of the Bleak East. They are sometimes cruel, sometimes wicked, and every one of them in their own way magical.

Our new faction is all of this and more, so that has to be seen and felt in their design, on all levels. Take the Huscarl, for instance. As an un-upgraded human unit, they’re a capable warrior with a shield, sword, and a single ranged attack with their spear. But when upgraded and transformed with Vildra magic, they become something completely different.

See what happens when you let evil spirits in?

When upgraded the Huscarl turns into Korphan, a raven-like creature armed with double daggers. Not only do they look visually distinct from the Huscarl, but they also channel chaos instead of destruction essence and have a "leap" ability. We want the upgrades to feel different with Vanir, sometimes offering something else than “just” stronger versions of base troops.

Another big part of creating a unique faction is their biome, both on the battlefield and on what we call the adventure map. We want our map-makers to have new tools to work with when they create their maps. This means both internal and external work from our art department (if you can call two people a department). We are creating new map assets, new blockers, and of course the biome itself, with a variety of mud, misery, and snow. All things that come naturally for us Swedes!

Ferns, dark forests, mud, and the occasional runestone, it's like hiking in our local woods!

There’s a lot more happening behind the scenes, but we’ll save some details for next time. In our next update, we’ll delve into buildings, settlements, and the magic of the Vildra, along with more insights into the Wielders themselves.

Creating this faction, so heavily inspired by Nordic folklore, is an exciting journey, and we can’t wait to share more with you. Internal playtesting has already started, and I have to admit, throwing stones with the trolls is a personal highlight!

Stay tuned—there’s plenty more to come.

/Anders and everyone at Lavapotion

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Greetings Wielders,

For years, the most requested feature has been the introduction of more factions! And we get you, we really do. The trouble is that developing new factions is both very costly and time-consuming. So we intended to offset the slow pace of faction releases with smaller DLCs that could include things like new Wielders or mini-campaigns.

We recently asked you for feedback regarding the Rise Eternal DLC and its price point. Surprisingly, most were willing to pay more than we had thought. It was of course encouraging, but at the same time we saw many comments about “what I really want is more factions!”. That gave us a lot to think about!

Over 10,000 people replied to the Rise Eternal pricing poll, thank you for that! (By the way: There’s a Swedish word in the image above, can you find it?)

Originally, our plan was to release Bleak East next spring, a grand expansion featuring two new factions and a sweeping campaign exploring their role in Aerbor’s story. However, as development progressed, and the addition of Rise Eternal took some of our well-needed focus, we realized that the timeline wouldn’t be realistic. We faced the tough decision of whether to delay or pivot.

We chose to listen to you.

Rather than making you wait for new factions, we’ve postponed the release of Rise Eternal and split Bleak East up into two separate DLCs. This means you will get the first faction released earlier than we had planned for! This winter, you’ll be getting Vanir, our first DLC. It means you won’t have to wait long to experience brand-new units, fresh Wielders, and beautifully harsh winter biomes. Inspired by Viking and Scandinavian folklore, the Vanir raiders will bring some interesting new twists to Songs of Conquest!

Click the image above to enhance it!

But the speed of development comes with a trade-off. We had originally envisioned Vanir to be presented in a combined campaign with the Roots. But we have chosen to step down from that ambition and focus on providing new gameplay features and conquest maps. Campaigns are incredibly time-consuming to create for our small studio, and they demand considerable resources—particularly when it comes to level design, cut scenes, writing dialogue (and translating all that dialogue to 13 languages!), rigorous playtesting, and setting the difficulty levels just right. It’s not a decision we took lightly, but we believe this is the best way to continue delivering quality content for you at the pace we think you’ll prefer!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3260210/Songs_of_Conquest__Vanir/

Now, on to the exciting part! We’re thrilled because this shift in development priorities lets us focus on what you’ve been asking for—new factions, new units, and new gameplay—at a faster pace.

So, who exactly are the Vanir? What will this DLC include? It won't include a campaign but, it will have everything that our normal factions have: 8 Unique units, each with their own upgrade. Complete settlements with buildings, research, and tactical choices. A new biome with its own style and blockers that come with it, all designed to be able to merge it with what is already there in the map editor, just like with our “old” ones.

As a Swedish development team, we can appreciate this homage to our mild summers.

A lot of the artwork is done already and we are deep into working on abilities and all those little things that make a faction unique. Like all the VFX that comes with a unit that can turn into a flock of birds and attack you from across the battlefield!

Winter can’t come soon enough and we hope you share our excitement and enthusiasm. In the coming months, we will share blog posts, telling you how the work is progressing.

If you want to be among the first to beta test Vanir, or win an key for the DLC, sign up for our newsletter right here! You’ll also get access to some exclusive giveaways that are only available for email subscribers!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!

As always, we’ll try our best to keep a transparent and respectful dialogue going between us as developers and you, our players. We know some will miss the addition of new campaigns, but we intend to offset that with lots of new maps and fun gameplay additions. We are also not ruling out the possibility of creating a final mega campaign when we reach the end goal of eight factions released!

/Team Lavapotion

We’re excited to bring you another update. While it has both small and big additions the major news is the completion of one of our Roadmap goals: the introduction of Mixed Factions! Have you ever dreamed of commanding an army with both Dragons and the Undead? Or perhaps you’ve wanted to see Veteran Pikeneers standing guard over your Faey Queens? Well, this update is for you!

A surprise ally for sure, but a welcome one!

So why did we do this update? It’s simply fun. Whether you’re a newcomer to Songs of Conquest or a seasoned player, this new game mode offers fresh and exciting possibilities. Our goal is to give you as much variety as possible, and Mixed Factions is a big step towards that. No matter your playstyle or what mood you’re in, there’s something here for everyone.

Testing a new game mode is just a click away!

What makes Mixed factions special? All troops and settlements from every faction are now yours to command. Instead of razing or converting settlements, you’ll take them over—buildings and all. This allows you to mix and match units, research, and Wielders from different factions, creating the combinations you’ve always wanted.

Make new friends and see new perspectives!

Essence, a core part of our game’s strategy, now takes on a new dimension. Each unit and faction brings its own unique essence, but with Mixed Factions, you can create armies that generate combinations previously unattainable. Imagine an army optimized for Destruction spells with the best Essence-generating units from all factions—or any combination tailored to your favorite strategy.

To complement this game mode, we’re introducing two new free maps specifically designed for Mixed Factions: Unexpected Allies and Under One Banner. These maps will give you quick access to multiple factions and are perfect for testing the update!

Get in there and start mixing things up!

This update includes more than just one big feature. We’ve squashed bugs affecting Sim turns and improved the vision range for Wielders on Adventure maps. We’ve also made several balance adjustments to keep gameplay fresh. Balancing is always a work in progress, and we’d love to hear your thoughts — Join our Discord Server to share your feedback in the discussions!

Who doesn’t love a good changelog, follow the link to read up on it all!

Whether you're a casual player looking for something fresh or a dedicated strategist seeking new tactical opportunities, Mixed Factions offers something for everyone. Test it against our ever-evolving AI or challenge your friends in chaotic multiplayer matches where anything can happen!

And as a last note, there is big news incoming and we’re spilling the pixelated beans on the Coffee Stain livestream The Spill! Join us and other devs in a live-streamed event!

Watch it all over, including here!

/Anders and Team Lavapotion

Changelog

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