After long months of work, update 0.8.3 is available on Steam. This update triples the content compared to the original EA release; playable time is currently 50+ hours.

Again, I must send a big thank you to our Beta Testers, which have navigated all kind of weird bugs through the last week, until the last of them were fixed.

• Added a new outdoor region to the south of Urendale, with several dungeons to explore.
  
• 12 new quests added, raising the total to 46. Chapter two of the main quest can be advanced significantly (but not yet concluded).
  
• Level cap raised to 6! the new XP cap is 24,000.
  
• New Open Talents: Second Skin, Gifted Pupil, Adept Student, Arcane Scholar. There's a total of 46 Open Talents in the game now!
  
• Six new new spells added for the disciplines Conjuration, Gateway, Auspice (available at a vendor in the new area), and also for Order and Malediction (at the Urendale vendors). More spells coming soon.

• Massive performance optimizations. Framerate should increase by around 25-40%.
  
• Added a new option to set more exact framerate limits in Settings. Limit framerate can be used to reduce noise/heat in laptops and other systems.
  
• Added an option to set a separate limit of 60fps in the game's main menu, enabled by default.
  
• Removed quality setting for Sky & Clouds.

• Characters gain 2 extra Skill Points at level 1 of any Career, be it at character creation or when a new Career is entered. The points are gained retroactively.
  
• You can now redistribute your companions' skill points once.
  
• The armor rating and critical defense provided by several pieces of chain and plate armor have been slightly reduced.
  
• Geldryn now drop specific items.
  
• A single Potion of Deep Breath now affects your whole party when consumed. The alchemy ingredients for producing it have been updated.
  
• Summoned creatures will now despawn if their summoner is killed or incapacitated. Certain enemies can now summon creatures!
  
• Mycora melee damage and avoidance(deflection) increased.
  
• The fire vulnerability of certain monsters has been slightly toned down (Druant, Yaksa, Troll).

• Added an option to order your party inventory and stash by item type. More order options will be added in the future.
  
• Quests can now be filtered/searched by text.
  
• Hotbuttons can now be correctly used during combat with keys 0-9.
  
• You can now press 'Y' to delay your combat turn(can be remapped to any key).
  
• Enemies aggro range is now variable, depending on their AWA trait.

• Attacks with 'Armor Piercing' were not correctly applying it. Solved.
  
• Enemies with shields were in most cases not applying its avoidance bonuses. Beware, they may be harder to hit now, flanking them may be essential.
  
• Unseal spells will now properly trigger traps in chests.
  
• Charming an enemy with talents such as "Pack Leader" or "Petty Lord" will now remove the bonus he granted to its followers.
  
• Fixed the 'Pink People' Bug in Port Galeb.
  
• Solved an issue that could make most of the game UI texts to go blank, related to the pop up of tutorial windows.
  
• 'Minimal' quality settings should no longer cause strange displacement artifacts with combat grid.
  
• Potion of Deep Breath didn't work correctly when a character drank it while already drowning. Fixed.
  
• Potions capable of recovering willpower will now work correctly.
  
• Fixed a visual glitch that allowed to briefly see enemies in other rooms when a battle started.
  
• Essence of Darkness will now restore willpower as expected.
  
• The game will no longer autosave during dialogues that teleport you, such as with conduits or mages, to prevent issues.
  
• Screen resolution will no longer reset itself to the highest supported by the system each time the game starts.
  
• Fixed a visual glitch that could cause dead enemies to remain 'running in place'.
  
• Flammata Leaves description now correctly states it grants +1 Spellpower, not +2.
  
• The 'Dodge' description on character window was not showing a correct calculation; fixed.
  
• Fixed many minor map issues in Urendale and Galeb Peninsula.
  
• Fixed dozens of small text issues with dialogues, such as typos or minor inconsistencies.

Following my policy of being transparent about the game pricing, I wish to announce a base price increase since May 3rd, going from $19.99 to $24.99 (may vary with different currencies/regions)

Of course this doesn't affect people already owning the game.

From now on, you might find Archaelund participating in Steam sales, but never with a discount that puts the price below the EA launch price ($19.99).


The milestones leading to 0.9 are mostly done with the two large outdoor areas released (one in november, one now), but we're not there yet. The finish line is the conclusion of the chapter 2 of the Main Quest, but also new functionalities such as dual wielding, crossbows, poisons, maybe new careers and character creation options.

The good news is these new additions will come in smaller, more frequent updates! Expect news soon.

I'm excited to announce the next major update is already available for Beta Testers, and very soon will be released for everyone.

You can now travel south of Urendale, where you can explore a new town and complete 12 new quests. In addition the level cap has been raised to 6, and massive performance optimizations were added.

The complete changelog can be found here, in the steam forum Beta discussion. In the same post you can see instructions on how to join the Beta, everyone owning the game can join and start playing right away if they wish.

Please report any issues by replying to that same thread, if possible. In the same post you can find useful info about where to find log files.

Please keep a copy of your saves prior to the Beta, in case something goes wrong. I've been very careful and tested everything myself, but the update is huge and has tons of dialogue, some of it with complex scripted logic attached, and I am bound to make mistakes here and there.

Other than the new content, I'd like to comment on the optimized code, which should increase framerate by over 30% with zero sacrifices on visuals. This makes the game accessible for older systems, with is something I feel it's important. In the future I'll focus on improving loading times, which I know are longer than they should.

Thanks everyone for the patience, I can't wait to see what you think of the new content.

Hello everyone!

EDIT March 25th, as posted in a reply: I decided to add two extra quests, the new area really needed them. The new content is already playable but there's plenty of small details still to work on, such as itemization to adjust, a few new abilities and spells needing new code, etc.
Unless something happens, I should have the beta released in less than two weeks.

In my last news post back in december I estimated update 0.8.3 would be released in late February at the earliest, and things are going as expected. All the new scenery is 95% ready (and that has been a huge amount of work). Coding required for this update is nearly done as well, including the QoL improvements, new level cap and other stuff.

What remains to be done, then? writing dialogues, journal entries, planning and rigging encounters, and also implementing a few new effects and powers is, roughly, halfway done. Then doing internal testing of it all, and doing a full revision and adjustment of the new stuff. If nothing weird happens, a Beta will be out by late february or early march. If there's a delay, it shouldn't be significant.


Here is a provisional list of what will be included in 0.8.3.

-New outdoor region, plus several dungeons.
-Level cap raised to 6, new Rank III spells added.
-Balance adjustment: Characters gain 2 Skill Points at level 1 of any Career, be it at character creation or when a new Career is entered. The points are gained retroactively.
-You can now redistribute your companions' skill points once.
-A single Potion of Deep Breath now affects your whole party when consumed. The alchemy ingredients for producing it have been updated.
-Added an option to order your party inventory and stash by item type.
-Quests can now be filtered/searched by text.
-Hotbuttons can now be correctly used during combat with keys 0-9.
-You can now press 'Y' to delay your combat turn(can be remapped to any key).
-Added a new option to set more exact framerate limits in Settings.

This only includes the main items on the list, because a dozen bugfixes have been included, as well as many minor balance adjustments.

It's important to remember that I take my time when writing, and I often rewrite dialogues or entire quests from scratch. That's why there's a little uncertainty in how long it'll take.

Can't wait to release all the cool new stuff. See you in the forums!

--
David

Hello everyone! I’d like to wish you all a joyful holiday season and an incredible New Year.

It’s been a while since the last update, 0.8.2, in November, and I haven’t been very active in the community since then. The reason? I’ve been working nonstop on the next big update! Once more, it's a big one that can't be released in small installments. While I’d hoped to deliver it as a Christmas surprise or in celebration of the Early Access anniversary this January, it’s definitely going to take longer; at least until late February.

Here are my main development goals for 2025:

Release Update 0.8.3: This will introduce a new map area, an increased level cap, and many QoL improvements (like inventory sorting, quest search filtering, and more). Similar to the previous map expansion, some areas and dungeons will remain inaccessible for now.

Reaching Version 0.9: Targeting a spring release, this update will bring the conclusion of the second main quest chapter, open some inaccessible dungeons, and gameplay improvements like dual wielding and new careers.

Second Half of 2025: updates will expand the playable area further, increase the level cap, and add a new main quest chapter. Alongside this, I’ll work on making the world more dynamic and alive, polishing graphics and animations, and introducing other improvements to elevate the game.

EDIT: Sometime after spring I'll also begin adding localization to several languages.

That’s the plan! Of course, these goals are subject to change, but you already know that. I deeply appreciate your patience and support; it means the world to me.

Here’s to another fantastic year of adventuring together!

--
David

Thanks to the amazing Beta-Testers, a number of reported issues has been fixed through the last weeks. Some of these were old bugs present since the january release, but most were specific from the major update 0.8.1.

There's also a few adjustments and improvements related to poison status, and other minor changes.

• Encounters will now correctly aggro all the creatures as intended, even if they are split.
  
• Poison is now a bit easier to resist. Failing Vitality check by less than 25, will reduce poison power by 1. A successful check will reduce the poison by 2+, depending on the success margin.
  
• Party members dying in combat by poison or other slow-damage effect, will now correctly receive wounds as per selected difficulty.
  
• Poison resistance is now reported in your console, so you can see your chances and dice rolls and their effect.
  
• When camping in the wilds, poison will now take effect and hurt characters until resisted. Vitality checks while at camp will receive a +25 bonus.
  
• In certain dialogue (gate sergeant) you could try to attack and deal damage to the NPC, and it was not correctly applied.
  
• Disease is now properly cured at the temples.
  
• Solved a crash or game lock that could happen when you entered an area and immediately aggroed enemies. Could happen when getting out of Emerrand Fortress.
  
• Hitting ESC while a mouse tooltip is being displayed could in some cases make the tooltip linger during exploration. Fixed.
  
• Certain NPC in the quarry was supposed to give a 'warning' before aggroing, but it wasn't working as intended. Fixed.
  
• Solved some aggro distance issues in the quarry final fight.
  
• During 'Owed in Blood' quest, some NPCs were not supposed to keep spawning in the fortress' throne room after talking to them. Solved.
  
• During 'Wild Ones' quest, finding the camp before talking to the captain could lock out certain dialogue options with a NPC in town. Fixed.
  
• The battle grid was not correctly generated in the stairs leading into the fortress.
  
• Several typos and odd special characters fixed in dialogues and journal entries.
  
• Some containers in Medrin Forest had an empty name.

I am already working on the next areas to be released. Thanks everyone for the amazing feedback and reviews; it is a great contribution to the game.

It's out! I am glad to announce 0.8.1 is already released. This update doubles the content compared to the original EA release in January; playable time is currently 35+ hours.

I want to take this opportunity to extend a huge thank you to our Beta Testers, who have been incredibly active on the forums. These past 10 days have been intense, with nightly builds addressing every reported issue.

Here is the full changelog:

• Added a new outdoor region east of the Galeb Peninsula, with a town and a new dungeon to explore. Some dungeons and area sections are still not accessible.
  
• 12 new side-quests added (one of them non-completable, marked as such on journal).
  
• Level cap raised to 5! the new XP cap is 17,000.
  
• Many new talents implemented.
  
• Rank III spells partially implemented (for Impetus, Mentalism, Piety, Order and Malediction disciplines, the rest are on the way).
  
• New companion available after one of the new quests is completed.
  
• New Alchemy recipes (Difficulty 6 & 7), some of which need to be purchased or found. Crafting recipes will come in the next update.
  
• All skills are now implemented and have at least a few checks present in the game, although some like Maps & Charts will see new functions added in the future.

• Your party can now run indefinitely. The 'Tired' status from long running will still be applied if you run into combat, but it no longer limits the ability to run.
  
• Pressing the 'Run' key just once while you are walking is enough to start running, no need to hold the shift key. Running will cease when you stop movement.
  
• Closing your Character Window will now also close any open container or shop window.

• Talents Beast Mastery and Tenacious Fortitude I, II and III have been improved, please see the new descriptions.
  
• Spell Torment of Needles now deals 1d6+2 damage per round (was 1d6).
  
• Spell Searing Malison instant damage is unchanged, but afterwards will now deal 1d8 damage per round (was 1d6).
  
• Spell Slumber duration reduced, and now costs 8 WP instead of 7.
  
• Slightly reduced the amount of enemies for certain encounters in the Peninsula.
  
• Talent Herbalist is now adapted to the updated skill system; it was unintendedly giving an extra herb foraged in nearly every case.
  
• Potion of Healing slighly adjusted in effect and price(slightly cheaper and less potent). New potions available via Alchemy.
  
• Reduced the XP granted by Skill Checks, slightly in low difficulties, and to around half in higher ones. This change is not retroactive, you keep the XP already gained.
  
• Ghosts are now more resilient to physical, cold, fire and toxic damage.
  
• Lifeless creature bonuses increased slightly.
  
• The Poison effect has been capped to a maximum effect power of 10.
  
• Yaksa Scout poison effect reduced from power 4 to 3.
  
• Sleeping at an inn will cure any Poison effect.

• Added the proper loot to certain chest in the Redaxe Tomb.
  
• Creature type Spirit renamed to Fey for clarity.
  
• Some outcomes of quests The Ancient Lantern and Wielder of the Red Axe now also grant Urendale reputation. This is gained retroactively.

• Prone spellcasters that were also stunned or paralyzed could soft-lock the game. Solved.
  
• Talent Stunning Blow now is correctly resisted with a Vitality check.
  
• On some ocassions, a combat spell with zero rounds remaining would linger forever on a character, especially when its caster was killed after casting it. Fixed.
  
• NPCs were not receiving its correct Critical Defense. Fixed.
  
• Spells targeting empty squares can now be cast normally in the Sea Cave.
  
• When combat initiated with the party very close to a wall or corners, party members could be spawned wrongly or on unreachable locations. Fixed.
  
• Fixed a small UI issue in journal (completed and failed quest filters were not correctly checked upon opening the window).
  
• Opening the Settings window during combat was causing multiple camera issues. Fixed.
  
• Some "triggered spawns" sometimes did not join battle, depending on player position when the fight started. They should always join now.
  
• Systems in Turkish language could have an issue during character creation related to trait requirements. Fixed.
  
• The UI tooltip displayed over character effects could sometimes blink, or reappear every few seconds. Solved.
  
• Spells *Fire, Cold and Shock Ward* have their descriptions corrected.
  
• Fixed an error with the requirements for talents *Adept Summoner* and *Herbalist*.
  
• Revised many typos or inconsistencies in dialogues.

I am already working on more game content; the priority is releasing yet another outdoor area and dungeons, plus implementing many gameplay mechanics, improving animation, and more. Stay tuned!

At long last, it is here! The first major update to Archaelund has arrived. Want to join Beta and try it? Here are the instructions. I advise you to not overwrite all of your previous saves, just in case! this is Beta testing, remember.

Here is the provisional list of changes (I'll keep adding and fixing while testing goes along, so definitive 0.8.1 changelog may differ).


-Added a new outdoor region east of the Galeb Peninsula, with a town and a new dungeon to explore. Some dungeons and area sections are still not accessible.
-12 new side-quests added (one of them non-completable, marked as such on journal).
-Level cap raised to 5!
-Many new talents implemented.
-Rank III spells implemented only for Impetus and Mentalism Disciplines, the rest are on the way. Please don't raise other Disciplines to Rank III yet.
-New companion available after one of the new quests is completed.
-New Alchemy recipes (Difficulty 6 & 7), some of which need to be purchased or found. Crafting recipes will come in the next update.
-All skills are now implemented and have at least a few checks present in the game, although some like *Maps & Charts* will see new functions added in the future.


-Talents Beast Mastery and Tenacious Fortitude I, II and III have been improved, please see the new descriptions.
-Spell Torment of Needles now deals 1d6+2 damage per round (was 1d6).
-Spell Searing Malison instant damage is unchanged, but afterwards will now deal 1d8 damage per round (was 1d6).
-Slightly reduced the amount of enemies for certain encounters in the Peninsula.
-Talent Herbalist is now adapted to the updated skill system; it was unintendedly giving an extra herb foraged in nearly every case.
-Potion of Healing slighly adjusted in effect and price(slightly cheaper and less potent). New potions available via Alchemy.
-Ghosts are now more resilient to physical, cold, fire and toxic damage.
-Lifeless creature bonuses increased slightly.


-Added the proper loot to certain chest in the Redaxe Tomb.
-Creature type *Spirit* renamed to *Fey* for clarity.
-Some outcomes of quests *The Ancient Lantern* and *Wielder of the Red Axe* now also grant Urendale reputation. This is gained retroactively.


-On some ocassions, a combat spell with zero rounds remaining would linger forever on a character, especially when its caster was killed after casting it. Fixed.
-NPCs were not receiving its correct Critical Defense. Fixed.

Archaelund is about to grow! This is a brief summary of what has been going on, and what is to come.



In the first six months since release, I focused on polishing the existing content and mechanics. Along the way, we added a couple of new dungeons, bumped the number of completable quests from 17 to 21, and introduced many new features. You can check out the full details in the changelog.

And so, the 0.7.x development era came to an end. Long live 0.8.x!!!


Since summer started, I've been working on something quite more exciting: a new playable region comparable in size to the Peninsula, nearly doubling the game's current playable area. I initially planned to release it with minimal content and no level cap increase, by August or September, and then complete the content in several updates. However it quickly became clear that this approach wasn't ideal, as quests play a significant role in shaping area design. It's much better to plan and balance everything as a cohesive whole.

This shift in scope has caused some delays, but the new content should be available in Beta on October 9th (instructions to join Beta here). A week later, it should roll out for all players, and by the end of October, I'll likely make a minor release adding all the stuff that didn't make it into 0.8.1.

Certain areas of the new region will still be gated for higher-level content. In total there should be 12 new quests in the new update, and the level cap will raise to 5. Expect new items, spells, enemies, music, and art! Unfortunately, bad puns and silly humor was well.


I don't want to spoil too much, but if you've checked out the in-game world map, you'll see the next region includes the town of Urendale and the infamous Medrin Forest—a name that strikes fear into every inhabitant of the Marches! Well, except for adventurers, whose brains probably deserve some scientific study.

Please note that this update does not include a new chapter of the main quest. That will come with the next area release; although the dialogues include lore that is related to the main plot, the content itself is optional exploration.

That's all for now; I need to get back to development! Thank you so much for the fantastic support on the forums. It makes all the long hours worthwhile, knowing there are players out there enjoying the game, waiting for what comes next. Knowing you're there really makes a difference.

EDIT: originally stated "around October 7th", has been updated to "October 9th".

Greetings, adventurers!

Before we dive in, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to every player who has explored Archaelund or even just wishlisted the game. Your support makes Archaelund possible and keeps me motivated and excited to make it bigger and better every day. Thanks to you, the long road to 1.0 feels much less lonely. I am especially grateful to those who post reviews; even when a developer has a clear vision of what they want to achieve, feedback is essential for understanding our progress and building confidence.


Since the Early Access release, updates have been frequent—typically every two weeks. However, the next update will be a bit different. It will include a new outdoor area, several dungeons, and many new dialogues and quests. Naturally, this extensive content needs to be released as a whole, not in small installments. My target is to release version 0.8.1 by the end of September, with further refinements and completions of this new area into October. Keep in mind, these are estimates!

EDIT (August 15th): originally I targeted late August for this release.

In addition to adding content, version 0.8.1 will bring several gameplay improvements, raise the XP cap, and likely the level cap (though this might be delayed to version 0.8.2).

The new content won't include a new chapter of the Main Quest. Once the new outdoor area meets my satisfaction (probably by version 0.8.3 or 0.8.4), I'll continue working on another outdoor area and the completion of the second chapter of the Main Quest. This objective will mark the 0.9 update. By then, the game will offer around 40-50 hours of total content and a level cap of 6 or 7.


Many are asking me if Archaelund will take part in the upcoming Summer Sale or see other discounts. I like to be transparent about our development plans, and that extends to our pricing policy as well.

The players who have purchased (and continue to purchase) the initial Early Access release have put a lot of trust into me and into the game's development. To repay this good faith, I want to protect their investment by ensuring that the game's price will only increase as it grows larger and more polished.

Sales and discounts might happen in the future, but the game will never be cheaper than the original Early Access release price of $19.99 (subject to regional pricing and taxes). For instance, I might offer a 20% discount when the base price has risen to $25, thus equaling, but not undercutting, the original price. The plan is to sell the complete game for $30 to $35, with a -15% to -25% discount during seasonal sales.

However, I can't make absolute promises for the distant future—these are interesting times, and who knows what the future holds? But this is the policy I'll follow at least until the game is released as version 1.0 and for a couple of years afterward. This policy isn't just about my gratitude to Early Access players; I generally do not favor huge discounts. Exiled Kingdoms, which has been on Steam for over six years, still keeps its original release price and typically goes on a -25% sale.


The next outdoor area is just as big and complex as the Peninsula, but new optimizations and improvements make it run with about 25% increased frame rate, and much shorter loading times. I'll work hard to bring the Peninsula performance to the same level.


If you tried the original 0.7 release back in January and have been off the hook since, current release 0.8 added a couple extra dungeons to the Peninsula, an extra Apprentice companion, four extra quests, new spells and items, and many gameplay improvements. Check the changelog, or roadmap for details.

That's all. Enjoy your summer, and happy adventuring!

The first development stage of Archaelund Early Access has just been completed with the release of update 0.8. Here is the summary of the changes in today's update:

• Added a new cave dungeon in the western coast of the Peninsula, with a new associated quest(talk to Icanos the Loreseeker after completing Three Wanderers quest).
  
• XP cap raised to 9,900 (maximum level remains at 4).

• Skill Charisma now reduces buying prices in most vendors by 2% per rank(certain factions are not affected).

• Talent Hardiness is once more working as per description.
  
• Scrolls and other limited usage items will now only be spent (and cause an AP spending in combat) after a valid target has been selected. You can safely cancel a target without spending the item.
  
• Prone enemies were sometimes not counting as flanked. Fixed.
  
• Party members that ended a fight prone, will no longer show the incorrect prone animation on the next fight.

However, if you haven't played since release in January, it's more important to see the changes as a whole. You can read through the whole changelog, but here's a summary of the most relevant changes:

• Two new dungeons in the Peninsula are now accessible.
  
• Four new quests were added (from 17 to 21).
  
• One extra companion available (from 2 to 3).
  
• Skills have been implemented: Survival, Disarm Traps, Charisma, Alchemy, Crafting. Only the Maps & Charts skill remains, since it requires a larger available map to be relevant. Meditation skill was reworked.
  
• Three new spells added, and many others revised or adjusted.
  
• More diversified loot, and 20 new items added.
  
• Many "Quality of Life" improvements made to the UI: selling stacks, browsing talent list, browsing discipline spells, and more.
  
• Essential UI/Controls features added, such as key mapping, axis inversion, ultra-wide support, framerate limit, etc.
  
• Almost a hundred bugs were squished!

The Peninsula has been a great start, but it's time to move forward! You can read our development roadmap here.

Version 0.9 will be in development for the remaining of the year (maybe a little longer) but it will also come in smaller incremental updates, not in a single big one.

The priority now, with all the game elements in place, is to expand both the game world, and character development. More areas, and more character levels and careers. More details will come in time, until then I hope you enjoy the game so far.