Attention Mercenaries!

We are proud to announce that Wartales has now entered into Early Access and is available to buy now on Steam!



Well, what a whirlwind of a few months it has been!

From the announcement of Wartales earlier this year, to the mad dash to pull together a demo for the Steam festival, to the recent closed beta and final stretch of develoment before release, to right here, right now, orchestrating the release of our FIFTH game as a company...




First off, we'd like to thank everyone who joined us on our journey from the very start with the demo earlier this year, to have had such a positive reception and to see a community of dedicated and helpful players begin to form around the game at such an early stage was incredibly ecouraging for all of us here at Shiro.

Secondly, a massive thank you to everyone who took part in the recent closed Beta, your feedback and suggestions have been incredible and it is largely down to you that we are now able to release Wartales into Early Access with pride.




A lot of content and features have been added since the demo and the beta, and throughtout Early Access we will continue to develop, expand, iterate and improve every aspect of the game, alongside all of you with your help and support.

New regions, units, items, quests, features, functions, mini games and much more are well underway internally, and will be making their way to the game over time, and we can't wait to hear what all of you think! And we are all ears for any ideas and suggestions you might have that will help us realise the best possible version of Wartales.




There is no firm roadmap available at this time, as we’re still finalising a lot of our plans and working out the logistics in terms of timing but this is something we are discussing internally and hope to share with you all very soon.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lLyziem3KA



Now it's time for you to write your story in the Wartales, and we hope you'll enjoy your journey throughout the Edoran Empire!

Shiro Games.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1527950/Wartales/

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Zombie slayers, ladle wielders, rodent sidekick enthusiasts rejoice, as we present to you the latest free content patch for Darksburg! Runes of Power!

Things in Darksburg have been getting a little too easy for our survivors of late, so we’ve upped the ante a touch, with the Runes of Power update!

For this update we have added content for those who have unlocked all the Darksburg curios and masteries. The idea being to add challenges to choose from in the lobby that will change the initial conditions of each of your runs. These challenges will be unlocked once the first ascension is defeated !

Alongside this are a bunch of other new changes and additions to make your life in Darksburg just that little bit harder…

• Last Stand is back! Fend off increasingly challenging waves of zombies in a reimagining of Darksburgs classic mode.
  
• All new challenges to make your life more difficult now await you upon your arrival in this dreaded city once you defeat Ascension 1
  
• Runes of Powers have been added to Darksburg once you access Ascension
  
• 85+ new perks to tweak and customise your character to optimize your zombie slaying abilities
  
• You can now get to level 10.
  
• New tiles have been added to existing biomes, bringing challenge and rewards
  
• Some revenants are now even more powerful, aggressive and drop Dreadium Ingots...
  
• Sharky returns to the Harbour !
  
• New traps have been laid around the City, keep your eyes peeled...
  
• New mastery: Gives you darks in exchange for your dreadium ingots
  
• New special zombie: Goldie - Runs away from the survivors to explode, but killing it before it explodes will reward you with gold and an item.
  
• Baron Von Darksburgs lair has undergone some renovations
  
• The camp fire has been reworked and now offers various options regarding health recovery, but also the Scorch option to drop your HP to 100.

- Overall difficulty of Darksburg has been readjusted. It’s now even harder.

Poison rework :
The poison does damage based on the survivor's maximum health

Poison-throwing zombie:
Reduces resistance of survivors by 25%

Dolorosa :
- Goo Cannon : damage increased. The longer you hold the ability, the higher the damage
- Perk "Increased Viscosity" : damage increased

Curios :
Treasure Hunting : under certain conditions it was not working + increase chance to drop
Compression Stockings : Reduces the duration of poison by 80 -> 50%.

Mastery :
- Tome of self improvement, players were experiencing issues collecting the tomes. This has now been corrected.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Thank you all for your patience as while we've been putting together this update, it's been a rocky road, but that's par for the course with Darksburg ever since all of our semi competent construction workers got turned into zombies...

We hope you enjoy the update, and can't wait to hear your feedback!

- Shiro Games

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Hi everyone!

Firstly, we'd like to apologize for the lengthy wait between updates on Darksburg. With the current world situation, movements in and out of lockdown here in France, working from home and all of the complications that came alongside all of this, the last few months have been challenging as a studio and as a team and we appreciate your patience and understanding during this time!

But, with that out of the way, we'd like to introduce you to the first of our planned 2021 content updates "The Masteries Update"!

Find out what's new here:

We have added a whole new overarching progression system, spanning all difficulty levels. You can now earn Mastery Points by levelling (which is done through normal play, whether you fail or succeed in completing a run, and also completing the newly implemented Jobs), and spend them in the Mastery Tree to unlock or upgrade various aspects of your runs and increase your power to make up for the increasing difficulty. While most Masteries are shared across all your Survivors, each one of them has their own mini-tree too!

For the most dedicated players, fully unlocking a Survivor’s Mastery Tree gives access to a very nice surprise all of your other Survivors will benefit from!

We have also added Jobs, which are straightforward tasks added on a daily basis that require you to perform meta objectives during normal play in order to gain Mastery Points. You can stack up to 3 Jobs and discard one every 24 hours.

Tiny Tom offers two new services:

• You may now discard one of your current perks and trade it for a new one. Think carefully, because each time you do it, the price increases!
  
• Sing an Inspirational Tune which will get stuck in your head for the duration of the current district, and bestow various effects. Please note this needs to be unlocked through Masteries first.

Tomes of Self-Improvement now have a rank, boosting their base effect accordingly.

We have also added three new Tomes of Self-Improvement

We have added two new affixes to spice up your runs!

• Dying Light: If the Candle's Timer drops to zero, all damage dealt to Survivors is increased by 100%. Scavenge for Light Orbs to replenish it!
  
• Muscle Hypertrophy: This rare strain has made some lesser infected have undergo a mutation and become more imposing and strong

We have added two random events:

• Chicken Run: a brood of chickens is on the loose! Catch as many as you can. Beware though, for the commotion will be sure to attract nearby foes!
  
• Gold Rush: stacks of gold everywhere around you!

• Varag’s 'Richoshield' perk: Varag recovers cooldown at 100% when Varag gets it’s shield back.
  
• Dire Bite: cooldown was decreasing too quickly, cooldown readjusted (5s -> 4s)

Defensive Stance:

• cooldown 10 seconds -> 8 seconds
  
• Strong counterattack: damage +30%
  
• Low counterattack: damage +25%

• Runolf ‘Ladle Smash’: While Runolf is performing a ladle smash, he gets a 50% resistance bonus to mitigate damage taken.
  
• Runolf's Boarlets Badge of Friendship : now grants damage resistance to Runolf if at least one ally is in his vicinity, and no longer grants other Survivors Mushrooming, since it can longer be equipped by them. The Curio still revives other Survivors at a distance. Radius increment 6 m => 7 m

• 'Dual Trigger Bolt' perk: Reduced the angle between the two shots
  
• 'Powder-Laced Screwed Bolt' perk: AoE duration 2 seconds -> 3 seconds
  
• 'Split Trigger Bolt' perk: Can be stacked
  
• 'Trigger Bolt XXL': +30% damage & stun 2 seconds -> 3 seconds

"Three Boars and a Moon" Tunic:

Wearing this Curio allowed a Survivor to shove all zombies out of their way, which was much too potent as it also prevented them from attacking. Now the Survivor just nudges zombies but no longer interrupts them.

Dr. Dolorosa's Four Thieves Vinegar:

+ 50% damage, radius decrease slower
Max radius 21 m => 15 m
Radius increment 0.5 m => 0.4 m per sample

Curios currency:
Fancy: Second slot price: 400 => 200 ; Third slot: 600 => 400
Extravagant: First slot price: 600 => 200 ; Second slot: 900 => 500
Ascension bonus x2. Ascension 1: 5% => 10% ; Ascension 10: 50% => 100%

• When Baron Von Darksburg dies, all zombies will also die.
  
• You can now ping Chickens & Blackguards
  
• Blackguards will now target Dolorosa's and her allies if she uses her ultimate on them.
  
• The Executioner: Melee damage +100%
  
• Number of elites has been adjusted during boss fight for ascensions past 6

• We've fixed an issue that made the game abnormally easy past Ascension I
  
• Fix Varag shield. It was sometimes disappearing
  
• Fixed Banner of Fortitude (level 2 & 3) : "Effects increased by 50%." now works as intended
  
• Street Nurse Manual should now works as intended with Elixirs
  
• Fixed several issues with perks in Legacy mode
  
• Fixed ultimate VFX displayed while in the Shop
  
• You should be able to select your own perks when replacing an AI on a game you joined.
  
• AI cannot longer equip a curios locked for the character it’s playing
  
• Fixed Baron Von Darksburg, he wasn’t launching rocks anymore past ascension 6
  
• Fixed Dr. Dolorosa’s canon while A.I controlled in Legacy mode

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

We hope you all enjoy the update, and look forward to sharing details on our next update (which we'll likely see within the next month or so, if all goes to plan) which will focus on making each run through Darksburg more unique and memorable and maybe even see the return of some "classic" Darksburg stuff...

See you all in Darksburg!

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Hey Everyone,

First of all, we would like to thank all of you for all of the feedback you have provided since we released out of Early Access. With everything going on in the world right now and the recently reintroduced lockdown in France, it has been a challenging time for us as a studio, but your feedback and support has been invaluable in helping us improve the game, so thank you for everything you have provided and shared with us since release.

With this update, we have introduced controller support, one of the most popular requests since Darksburg released into Early Access, alongside making numerous balancing changes and updates to the curios, completely revamping the battle with Baron Von Darksburg and have made a number of other changes based on what you guys have had to say about the game since 1.0 dropped.

Read on to find out more about everything that is included in 1.0.5:

NEW FEATURES / IMPROVEMENTS

• Controller support has been added, along with a host of options to customize your experience.
• Poison Throwers, as well as their effects have been recoloured to purple instead of green, to mitigate confusion issues with Dr. Dolorosa’s effects.
• Added a Credits section on the main menu.
• AI-Controlled Survivors no longer equip a random host of Curios picked from the game’s host’s unlocked Curios, but instead use the loadout which was last used by the game’s host for this Survivor. So it is now possible for you to create Survivor-specific loadouts for the AI.
• Flame-Throwing Braziers have been added to the game. Those braziers are static, indestructible traps that throw fireballs towards the closest Survivors. They are unique to the Graveyard district.
• The encounter with the Baron, Manfred Von Darksburg, has been massively revamped, as the fight was a bit dull and almost never was a run-killer. In order not to spoil the fun, we won't say anymore here, but be prepared for a tougher battle!

GENERAL BALANCING

• The Spores and Trapped Chests now poison the Survivors instead of dealing direct damage, and this effect can no longer be blocked by abilities such as Defensive Stance. They still deal 1 HP in direct damage to finish off poisoned Survivors.
• Poison Throwers' splash now also heavily slows down Survivors for 1 second.
• Added Barricades and Flame-Throwing Braziers to Graveyard and the Von Darksburgs' Family Crypt.
• The Poison Throwers’ health has been reduced by 50%.

BUG FIXES

• Varag’s Kinetic Dissipation now has proper VFXs.
• Destroying a door with a grenade or a barrel will no longer block quest instructions to your screen.
• Achievement "Ooooh, Look At Mr. Responsible Over Here" (Revive 100 times your allies) now works as intended.
• Fixed several controllers/movement issues.


SURVIVORS' BALANCING

Sister Abigail

• We are well aware that everybody's favourite nun is currently on the underpowered side of the roster. The main complaint is about her lack of sustain, so we increased by 150% her temporary health gains from hitting enemies while Fervour is maxed out. The gain is now much more perceptible and should allow Abigail to survive more easily on her own, making the 'Smit'em all' perk the team-supporting perk she was always intended to be rather than a must-pick for Abi to survive.
• Abigail also lacked burst damage and efficient ways to dispatch tougher enemies. This had the sad consequence to make her weaker and weaker in higher Ascension level, so to make up for this weakness, the native damage dealt at The Bell's landing point has been increased by 400% and the bonus from the 'Far-reaching Elegy' perk has been consequently lowered from 400% to 200% (side note: the description wrongly stated 500%, it's been fixed and now states the correct new 200% bonus).
• Fervour now builds up faster if she fights stronger enemies - namely Revenants and the Baron, but in exchange, Fervour at large takes slightly longer to max out.
• The damage bonus from the 'True Faith' perk has been increased from 20% and 25% and is still stackable.
• The move speed bonus from the 'Zealous Haste' perk has been decreased from 50% to 30%.
• Abigail’s carrying animation has been fixed.

Dr. Dolorosa

• The 'Rock'n Roll' perk's description incorrectly stated that the Dodge Roll ability would grant a 20% move speed bonus for 2s, while in reality the bonus was 30% for 3s. The misleading text has been updated.
• The 'Rock'n Roll' and 'Kinetic Compression' perks' effects kick in slightly sooner during the roll, mostly to improve the feeling of 'Rock'n Roll'.

Runolf

• 'Bottled Delicacy' now only has one native charge instead of two, but its cooldown has been decreased from 16s to 10s.
• The 'Family-Sized Pouch' perk now only grants one extra charge of 'Bottled Delicacy', but can be stacked several times.

Varag

• Defensive Stance's charge is no longer completely drained after a Shield Bash has been performed. A stage 1 Shield Bash replenishes it partially and a stage 2 Shield Bash replenishes it fully.
• Defensive Stance protects Varag and triggers Shield Bash within an angle of 210° (instead of 180°).
• Shieldarang now natively attracts zombies around it, like the Black Hole perk does, although the effect is lesser.
• Dire Bite’s cooldown has been reduced from 9s to 5s.
• Playing Varag with ‘Kinetic Dissipation’ now always shows the area of effect when cumulated with ‘Ground Wave’ perk.

CURIOS

After many testing sessions and feedback from players, we decided to make some changes to some Curios. These changes range to minor to complete revamp and some Curios have been moved from one category to another. No progress (= already unlocked Curios) has been lost, and those of you who had paid for now-degraded Curios will be refunded (don’t worry though; if your Dreadium Ingots were already maxed out, it’ll just go higher that 999 until you spend enough to fall under again). Curios bought at a cheaper price and which were ranked up in the meantime will be kept, no extra charge :)
We are also aware that those changes may disrupt existing builds and we hope you will take pleasure in trying to find even better ones. We deeply feel that those changes are for the better, but we understand that no change comes without a cost.

• The Fireproof Jacket & the Extra Thick-Bottomed Cauldron from Connie's Cook'in Cauldrons were moved from the Common to the Fancy category as they were a tad too powerful for the Common category.
• The Heart-Shaped Pendant, the Heart-Shaped Brooch and the Heart-Shaped Stamp Ring have all been moved from the Fancy down to the Common category in order to leave more room for Fancy builds while also being more newbie-friendly.
• The First Mint Manfred Coin now gives the wearer of the Curio a 5% probability that a small stack of Darks drops when killing an enemy, which feels better and gives better feedback.
• The Compression Stockings now reduce the duration of poison by 80% in addition to their current effect.
• The Novelty Chew Toy still grants damage immunity during bleedout, but will now also prevent the loss of a chunk of health when revived. This consumes the Curio which can then be restored at the Cabinet of Curiosities.
• The Darksburg Snowglobe's effect is now permanent and it slows down enemies around the Survivor as well as soothing them slowly. As a consequence of its massive upgrade, it has been moved from the Common to the Extravagant category.
• The Old Man Pennywise's Purse has been completely revamped and no longer saves Darks for the next run. Instead, it instantly saves all picked up Dreadium Ingots upon defeat, becoming a farming Curio. It is moved from the Common to the Fancy category.
• Needy Nelly's Noodle Necklace has been moved from the Fancy to the Common category, as it is more of a personal insurance.
• The "Feather Touch" Extra Soft TP's activation has been changed a bit; it can now be used manually by interacting with an Outhouse, and will instantly restore all lost chunks of health, although it provides no healing. This change should make it more appealing for a Fancy Curio that needs to stay equipped during districts.
• The White Armband was a bit lackluster for a Fancy Curio and was bit redundant with Ygdar Orus Li Ox, so it now functions differently: it now grants the same capacity as Varag's Tough Guy perk, allowing the wearer to be revived endlessly unless they die first. As a consequence of this massive boost, it's been bumped up to the Extravagant category!
• The Antiseptic Lotion now bestows a 50% defense bonus during 30 seconds after applying a Bandage and 60s after using a Healing Salve or a Doctor's Satchel. It has been moved down from the Extravagant to the Fancy category.
• The Street Nurse's Manual now grants all Survivors 50% of their max health in temp health when the carrier of this Curio uses a Bandage or First Aid Kit, and 100% if they're using a Healing Salve or Doctor's Satchel.
• The Rod of Asclepius Lucky Charm's probability of not consuming healing items has been raised from 25% to 75% which is more worthy of an Extravagant Curio.
• The Bickering Becky's Bakery Baker's Hat has been moved down from Extravagant to Fancy.
• The Monocle of Minute Methodologies has been moved down from Extravagant to Fancy.
• Herman Zahllos's Abacus has been replaced by Rose's Old Abacus. Only Rose can equip this Curio, and it grants her a small quantity of temporary HP and Barrage charge for each Darks she receives. Additionally, Headcount is increased every time she picks up a stack of gold in person. Such increases can exceed Headcount's limit by 100%, potentially doubling all Headcount bonuses! As it has become a Curio unique to a Survivor, it has been moved up to the Extravagant category!
• The Symbol of the Light becomes Sister Abigail's Symbol of the Light and can now only be equipped by Sister Abigail. In addition to its current effect (explosion of light when being incapacitated), the Symbol now grants Abigail a powerful aura of holy fire that activates while Fervour is maxed out.
• Runolf's Boarlets Badge of Friendship is now only usable by Runolf. In addition to allowing Runolf to revive his fallen allies at a distance, it grants all Survivors a lesser form of Mushroomania, allowing them to pick Mushrooms that give them short boosts of attack power and speed as well as temp health.
• Dr. Dolorosa's Four Thieves Vinegar (updated formula) is now only usable by Dr. Dolorosa. In addition to its current repellent effect while Dr. Dolorosa's incapacitated, it also grants her a poisonous aura that grows with each Infection Sample and decays if she fails to keep them rolling in.
• Varag’s Baby Fang is now unique to Varag and its behaviour has changed: each foe killed by Dire Bite grants Varag a 5% attack power bonus for 3 seconds, stackable up to +100%.


Curios type changes

The category changes above naturally shifted the balance between the types (Survival, Performance, Utility) within each category. Although those imbalances are minor, we decided to alter the type of some Curios in order to keep things entertaining and fair when unlocking Curios, as well as fix some consistency or logic issues. Although it shouldn't change anything for already unlocked Curios, we also apologize for the inconvenience.

Common Curios:

• Granny Gretchen's Pendulum: Survival > Utility. (this one was clearly a mistake)

Fancy Curios:

• Ygdar Orus Li Ox: Utility > Survival.
• Extra Thick-Bottomed Cauldron from Connie's Cook'in Cauldrons: Performance > Survival. (to be consistent with the Fireproof Jacket)
• Monocle of Minute Methodologies: Uility > Performance.

Extravagant Curios:

• Sister Abigail's Symbol of the Light: Survival > Utility.
• Antique Coffee Maker: Performance > Survival. (didn't make much sense as a Performance)
• Darksburg Snowglobe: Survival > Utility. (to account for its new functions)
• White Armband: Performance > Survival.
QOL OR UI/UX
• The maximum number of Chickens that can be stored at a time is now 99 instead of 100 as 100 was a bit misleading.
• Poison Throwing Zombies have been recolored to purple to avoid any confusion with Dr. Dolorosa's kit.

Additionally, Dreadium’s economy has been slightly modified and Curios Slots’ prices have been changed.

TEXT & LOCALIZATION

All languages
• Added a large number of new strings and missing translations.
• Some minor fixes.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Thank you once again to everyone who has supported us and provided feedback since release! This is just the first of our post release updates, so stay tuned for more information on what you can expect to see in Darksburg in the future ;)


We'll see you in town...

- Shiro Games

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

We are incredibly excited to announce we have concluded the Early Access development of Darksburg and have today officially launched Darksburg into 1.0!

Firstly we’d like to thank everyone who joined us in Early Access and helped us shape darksburg into what it is today and secondly, we’d like to welcome all the new players who are joining us for the next phase of Darksburgs life!

We can’t wait to show you guys all what’s in store for the future of Darksburg.

Darksburg 1.0 brings a huge number of new additions and improvements, in addition to everything that has come to the game since our initial release into Early Access including Ascension mode, a rework of numerous characters move sets, new character skins, Etc…

You can find the full details of everything new in 1.0 here!






The town of Darksburg has been subject to an outbreak of unprecedented proportions, morphing the formerly quaint and lively town into a… well, much less lively town at the very least. And at the very most, there’s zombies like, everywhere. Which is not ideal for a town that depends heavily on its tourism industry to get by.

Your job is to take charge of one of the few remaining survivors of Darksburg, and escape. Easy right?

Well, not really, as in addition to the zombies (Did we mention there’s thousands of them? But that isn’t important right now) you’ll also have to worry about some of the more notorious former residents of the town that have turned into the super zombies we’ve been affectionately calling “revenants”, who have a variety of nefarious abilities they’ll use to quash any attempts at escape, have fun with them.

Last note, we’ve also heard rumours that our towns formerly beloved leader might have gone a little mad and be actively trying to kill the living. We can’t confirm due to liability reasons, but suggest you keep an eye out...











In Darksburg you take on the role of one of 2 (to 4) survivors in their attempt to escape the city via various deep, interconnected, procedurally generated environments, improving and developing your character with numerous enhancements, perks and items you will find along the way as you attempt to evade and defeat the zombies and nefarious revenants that have been plaguing the town of Darksburg and escape unscathed…

But of course, you can’t spell “roguelite” without “death” (well, you can, but you see what we mean here), so any experience, level and perks you acquire during a run are lost if all Survivors meet their demise. Only the mysterious “curios of Darksburg” will stick around, provided you managed to unlock them. So whatever you do, stay alive.






Well, we have a plethora of ideas floating around on what we’d next like to bring to Darksburg and depending on how well Darksburg is received, we really hope to bring as many of these to reality as possible. At the very least we’ll be seeing more skins, new perks, new affixes, artifacts and items in the near future, with more to come down the line! And of course, bug fixes and balancing tweaks galore!






Darksburg is what it is today thanks to the fantastic community who have joined us for the ride since launch and we can’t wait to see this community grow with all of the new players who will be joining us in our favourite zombie infested medieval town.

Don’t forget to Join us on Discord and follow us on Facebook and twitter to join our wonderful community and keep up to date with all things Darksburg!

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

We’ll see you all in town…

Shiro Games

“Something strange is happening in the town of Darksburg, and we’re not talking about the swathes of undead miscreants roaming the town or the former ruler of the province seemingly now being hellbent on hunting down anyone who has had the fortune of avoiding zombification.

No, something much more unprecedented appears to be at hand here. When the outbreak began, the roads and back alleys were just as you’d expect from any aging town, linear, well travelled and unchanged for centuries (Mostly thanks to the labourers who worked tirelessly to rectify the strange and disjointed town developments put in place by the inhabitants of Darksburg).

Now however, likely due to the chaos that has engulfed the region and the Construction Workers Union unequivocally refusing to allow any work in the town until the zombie outbreak is under control because they “don’t want their workers being eaten” or something, Darksburg has fallen into a state of disrepair.

Streets that were formerly easily navigated and unremarkable, yet familiar now instead almost seem to diverge and morph with every visit, areas our survivors have never before laid eyes on seem to loom around every corner and the town now resembles something much closer to a labyrinth than a formerly prosperous abode…”

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

The "Going Rogue" beta update is here! Introducing the premier Darksburg game mode “Outbreak”, which takes the staples of Darksburg as you know it, and blends it with classic Roguelite gameplay alongside a bunch of changes and updates!

In Outbreak you take on the role of one of 2 survivors in their attempt to escape the city via various deep, interconnected, procedurally generated environments, improving and developing your character with numerous enhancements, perks and items you will find along the way as you attempt to evade and defeat the zombies and nefarious revenants that have been plaguing the town of Darksburg and escape unscathed…




But of course, you can’t spell “roguelite” without “death” (well, you can, but you see what we mean here), so any experience, level and perks you acquire during a run are lost if all Survivors meet their demise. Only the mysterious “curios of Darksburg” will stick around, provided you managed to unlock them.

So whatever you do, stay alive.





Unlike Darksburgs initial 4 player focus, Outbreak is tailored towards two players and will provide countless new ways to approach and tackle the game, unique and constantly evolving character builds, more substantial and varied interconnected environments and a wildly different, massively rewarding experience with every run.












Sister Abigail:

• The ‘Smit’em all’ perk now only earns 50 temp HP instead of 100
  
• Fervour now charges up twice as fast.
  
• Fervour decays slightly slower now, but starts decaying sooner after the last hit.

Dolorosa:

• The damage balance of the basic attack has been slightly shifted in favor of direct damage.

Varag:

• The default clawing attack during ‘Call of the Wild’ had its speed doubled, and its damage increased by 50%. Its temp and permanent health bonuses were increased by 100%.
  
• The ‘Wild Bite’ (‘Dire Bite’ under ‘Call of the Wild’) ability’s temp and permanent health bonuses were reduced by 25%.
  
• Both the ‘Dire Bite’ and ‘Wild Bite’ abilities’ areas of effect have been increased.

General:

• Chests and baskets are no longer visible in the Fog of War. They remain visible if a survivor has previously spotted them though.
  
• Older Modes are now only accessible when activating “Legacy Mode” in the general options menu

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Keep in mind, this is the first iteration of “Outbreak”, and we will be constantly updating, adding to and developing the mode over the duration of the early access campaign based on what we hear back from our players.

So as the case has always been, keep your feedback coming! Everything we receive from you guys goes towards the development of Darksburg and we’d love to hear all your thoughts and feedback with regards to “Outbreak” (how we can improve it, what needs to be added or changed, what works and what doesn’t.)

Don’t forget, if you haven’t already to join us on Discord, where our team are collecting feedback and engaging with our players regularly!


See you all in Darksburg!

- Shiro Games

A strange aura surrounds this mysterious new addition to the team of survivors. An aura which could possibly be attributed to her unfathomably deep understanding of this mysterious infection, her apparent relations to Baron Manfred Von Darksburg himself or to the vaguely undead smell she adorns.

An accomplished doctor, with a sharp scientific mind, Dolorosa was deep in the field upon the outbreak, attempting to help those who became infected whilst feverishly trying to devise a cure.

(As evidenced by the current situation, this endeavor was largely unsuccessful, but we're sure the townsfolk would voice their appreciation for her attempts were they capable of more than the standard zombie grunts and growls.)





Dolorosa brings much more than just a profound understanding of medical science and a questionable odor to the team however and is more than capable of holding her own against the undead scourge with her unique set of abilities:







And the best part about this is, Dolorosa is available to play NOW in Darksburg alongside a number of other fixes and improvements, which are outlined below:

• Dolorosa, The Macabre Medic is now available for selection as a Survivor.

• Basic attack animations have been improved for all Survivors: they now have more “oomph” and also don’t cut abruptly at the end. This should improve the overall game feel.
  
• Survivors can now push every so slightly the lesser infected, which should improve the overall game feel and prevent the situation where you can’t escape a pack because you don’t have any more evade charges.
  
• As a result, holding a heavy object such as the Toolbox or a Powder Keg no longer performs a hard push back on lesser infected. In turn, move speed penalty has been reduced (from -50% to -35% to all objects but Powder Keg, and from -40% to -25% for the Powder Keg)
  
• Added some missing SFX
  
• Increased the value of the smallest stack of gold from 40 Darks to 50 Darks

• The ‘Basic Instinct’ talent has been revamped, now increasing defense by 25% when Wounded, instead of giving temp health on Dire Bite. Since this is meant to be a rookie-friendly “last chance” talent, it didn’t make much sense to encourage a risk-seeking behavior to get more health when low on health.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

And lets not forget, scheduled for release next month is our largest update yet! This update will see a host of new additions to the game that will drastically alter the way Darksburg is played with a complete overhaul of the single player and co-operative experience, which we’ll have more in depth news on in the coming weeks. So keep an eye out!

See you all in Darksburg!

- Shiro Games

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Hey Guys,

First off, we would like to thank all of you for all of the feedback you have provided since release! Using this feedback and all of the expert insights from our community, we have begun to define the direction we think would be best to take Darksburg going forward and we are glad to inform you that a substantial update is in motion right now to address the most pertinent key community concerns such as limited replayability, content and repetitive maps. We are targeting May/June to release this update and we hope to share more info on that front in the coming weeks.

Before this update, we will be seeing the first of our new survivors joining the game next month (April), a unique and interesting new character who some of you may have seen teased already and we are certain is going to make a splash with the people of Darksburg.

In the meantime though, we’re releasing an update TODAY. Introducing a host of bug fixes, minor updates based on player reports and feedback, some system tweaks and... OH YEAH, The Blackguard Squad, a new foe joining the legion of undead that patrol the streets of Darksburg and might be one of the toughest challenges our survivors have seen yet.

Runolf:

Mushrooming's spawn system has been slightly altered: Mushrooms now spawn on the fly around Runolf instead of being pre-spawned on the map. It solves many pesky issues, and is more beneficial to players, as they don't run the risk of running out of Mushrooms, waiting for their respawn on smaller maps.

Bestiary:

New enemy: The Blackguard Squad!

Prepare to come face to face with a patrolling squad of the dreadful Blackguard. Those elite halberdiers were sent by the Duke of Dreadmire to investigate the infection in its earlier hours. Unfortunately, not only did their incredible might do nothing to help, but it has just cranked the threat up a notch.
Unlike the Baron, a Blackguard Squad can be avoided; watch out for their cone of vision! Whether you engage them or not is your call; just be warned that they give no quarter!

Misc:

[Fix] Projectiles now deal their damage to barricades once instead of several times.
[Fix] The Powder Keg used to deal variable damage to barricades depending on its relative position, which was not intended. Damage is now consistent.
[Fix] Objects were sometimes out of reach once dropped. This shouldn't happen again.
[Fix] Fixed some Chinese text strings that weren't displayed properly.
[Fix] Sometimes toilets were not appearing on the radar when a survivor was dead.
[Fix] Ambient sound on Farmland


That’s all for now, once again thank you all for your support since release, we are so happy to have the opportunity to grow the game alongside you guys and we’re incredibly excited to get the new character in your hands next month and start sharing the contents of our May update with you all as soon as we can.

See you in Darksburg ;)

- Shiro Games

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Hey everybody!
After a long time without any introductions (as we already introduced you all the characters and levels of Darksburg... so far), it's time for you to meet the newest character to have dedicated their life(?) to destroying the hopes and dreams of Darksburgs survivors: The Fishmonger!

This character has been introduced during the Closed Beta stage, and will not be the last one! Just a quick reminder: Darksburg will be launched in Early Access on the 12th of February, so don't forget to wishlist the game to not miss its launch!

Let's start with the introduction of the Fishmonger!

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

And that's it for the introduction of the Fishmonger!

Big things ahead! The next time we'll push an update on Steam will be for the Early Access release! We're really excited about it and we hope that our work will be appreciated and that you'll enjoy exploring Darksburg!

See you soon and stay tuned!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/939100/Darksburg/

In Darksburg, Survivors and Revenants fight each other in different parts of the city. What were the main inspirations for you when creating Darksburg’s levels?

Lary:

Gameplay wise, it was really important to have a style that reads well from a top-down camera with large chunky shapes and smooth edges. Our style mixes handpainted details and material work to get nice reflections on surfaces. Our main game inspiration are Heroes of the storm, Battle Chasers and League of Legends and Diablo 3.

Lucas:

About design, it’s quite hard to find references and guides for non-FPS games, so we had to do some digging to find interesting inspirations. Obviously, Left 4 Dead 1&2, Vermintide 1&2, and games like Alien Swarm were interesting guidelines for the game, especially regarding the overall architecture of a level. We’ve also looked for games like Battlerite, Heroes of the Storm, League of Legends and Diablo to learn about level design with a top-down camera.



What are the steps in creating a new level? (Graphic and Level Design)

Lucas:

At first, we talk about what we want to do with the level. What are the key elements going to be ? What setting do we want to explore ? When we’ve settled on something, we start drawing rough paper sketches, to define the global progression of the level, and how the different parts articulate around each other. Then we do more refined paper sketches, and we actually start building the level architecture, the obstacles and the paths.

When the sketches are ready, we move to the engine, using grey blocks to build the layout. At this point, we begin to check collisions, making sure players and enemies can move to any point of the level, and we also verify that the important things in the level don’t get hidden by the layout and the blocks.

Afterwards, we start including gameplay on the level: Zombies, Revenants, events. This is the first time the level is actually tested a lot, to make sure that things work as intended, and we do several retakes if need be, because we want to validate the level before actually doing the environment, to not waste time and resources.

Lary:

Once the layout has been tested with grey blocks, we’re replacing blocks with assets and painting textures on the terrain/ground. We always start with shapes and assets that takes the most space, like buildings, fortifications, docks... It’s really important to test the level at each step, so we can avoid problems and find solutions. Is this collision readable to the player ? Do we have assets hiding characters ? Does it feel right to have this kind of asset here ?

When we’ve finally replaced every block, it’s time to add more story with smaller assets, like grass blades, ichor marks, hanging signs, etc... so that the level brings storytelling whenever it’s possible.
It’s also at this stage that we add lighting. Placing lights at the right spot helps catching the player attention and guiding them throughout the level. It also accentuates certain assets and parts of the level that are visually interesting.

The final step is the most fun! We’re polishing every aspect of the level with all kinds of elements. Starting with visual effects like flames on brazier and torchs, small fireflies around lanterns and flies on fishes.
On top of that, we add ambient sounds. Some are mostly global like wind, water around the docks, or crows and dogs barking. And we use some of them in very specific places to highlight other elements, like flies previously added in visual effects.
That final step brings a lot of detail and richness into the level.



What’s your main concern when designing the atmosphere for a level?

Lary:

We always make sure to create a different atmosphere for each level. We’re playing with many elements like the fog, lighting, weather, colors.. All of these play a huge role in the final mood of a level. A bright daylight conveys a different feeling than a foggy rainy nighttime.
It’s really important to accentuate what the level design is trying to accomplish. If an area is made to be claustrophobic for the players, we’ll avoid open vistas.
If there’s a place/area to defend, we’ll make sure to highlight it and tone down the rest.

Lucas:

We’re just making sure everything is nice and clear to the players. Design-wise, we try to communicate a lot with the way the places are built: Open / narrow spaces, pathways, obstacles, lines of sight, are the things we pay attention to.



What are the main issues you faced when designing a level?

Lucas:

Every level has to feel unique. We always try to come up with new challenges, things the players haven’t seen before in the game. We also look for “Wow Moments”, memorable events or locations that are either fun or challenging (the haybale and the shark are such moments).
However, the biggest issue design-wise is to manage the level pacing, so that players neither get bored nor overwhelmed. Just making sure the overall flow is nice and enjoyable.
There is also a tension between the level being plausible, credible (so that players can understand and relate to what is happening), and the level being interesting, challenging (so that they have fun playing through). While designing the level, we make concessions regarding either, to make sure the overall result is the best of both worlds!

Lary:

On the visual side, it’s important that each level brings something special to Darksburg. Every level should add more storytelling to support the adventure our characters are living.
And obviously we want the most beautiful result possible!



What’s your favourite Darksburg level?

Lary:

Harbor is my favorite! I really like the colours and the mood. Also, it was a blast working on it and creating assets for this level.

Lucas:

At this point I don’t really have a favorite. Each of them is a unique setting and a unique challenge, and that’s mostly what I’m looking for. I hope you enjoy playing them as much as we enjoyed making them!



We hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes, big thanks to Lary and Lucas for their time. We'll have much more to come in the near future! Make sure you pick up Darksburg on Steam if you haven't already, as there's not long left to take advantage of the launch discount!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/939100/Darksburg/