Greetings all!

Today we travel even further back in time to take a look at the Bronze Age, unearthing epic tales and behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of Total War: PHARAOH and Total War: TROY!



Keep an eye on the Total War community channels for more 25th Anniversary Bronze Age celebrations!

— The Total War Team

Greetings all!

Today we travel even further back in time to take a look at the Bronze Age, unearthing epic tales and behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of Total War: PHARAOH and Total War: TROY!



Keep an eye on the Total War community channels for more 25th Anniversary Bronze Age celebrations!

— The Total War Team

Welcome to the 23rd edition of The Brighter Leek.

This fortnight a lot of the team has switched to working on Milestones. Many players have asked to share more details on the kind of improvements we are making with the Milestones update, so here goes!

If you look at the newspaper, you can see that the fallen monument has had a jade makeover.

Currently there are 15 stages to the monument and 15 monument pieces. This does not divide very cleanly into the 10 milestones that make up the forager profession. Therefore, we have decided to make the following changes:
• We are adding jade monument pieces in addition to the stone monument pieces already in the game. There will be 10 variants of each.
• There will be two stages per milestone. One stage requires stone pieces and one requires jade pieces to complete. This means the fallen monument will now have 20 stages.
• Your existing progress will be transferred across.
• We have (finally) selected a reward for completing the monument! This reward will become available with the Milestones update.

In the small picture on the newspaper, you will see an item card for a pufferfish box. "What is a pufferfish box?", you might ask. Read on to find out more.

With the Milestones update we are making the following improvements to fisher:
• We are adding more fish!
• You will no longer spear pufferfish, you must capture them in a pufferfish box. Pufferfish boxes are assembled in the carpenter profession from cypress branches, which themselves are lopped in the woodcutter profession. This is an example of the kind of improvements we are making to create more links between the professions.
• You will only be able to catch Pufferfish once you reach milestone 2 in the fisher profession. Similarly, one of the new fish (trout) can only be caught once you reach milestone 1. This is an example of what we are doing to create meaningful rewards when you reach a new milestone.

Similar improvements are being made to all the professions, and we will share more of the details with you in the Brighter Leeks leading up to the launch of the Milestones beta. Yes, there will be an open beta for Milestones.

Now lets move onto quests.

Those of you who like to skip ahead to the infographics will see that the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest is ready for launch. You might wonder why we are not releasing it immediately. Part of the motivation for bringing the Halloween 2025 Event launch forward by a week was to allow us to have a more regular fortnightly update schedule.

In line with that schedule, we plan to launch the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest on the week commencing 3rd Nov 2025, and the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest two weeks later, on the week commencing 17th Nov 2025. These dates could change, but this should give you an idea of what we are aiming for.


Andrew (Bossy Leek) has been working on:
• Milestones - updating the professions interface to be split by milestone, new combat xp curve.

James B (Legendary Leek) has been working on:
• Coding the Halloween 2025 event.
• Milestones - improving the woodcutter, carpenter and fisher professions, improving the fallen monument.
• Preparing this Brighter Leek.
• Reading and replying to support requests and customer complaints.

Ian (Multipurpose Leek) has been working on:
• Mapping for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.
• Mapping for the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest.
• Mapping for the Mine of Mantuban 7 ⭐️ quest.

Paul (Hairy Leek) has been working on:
• Milestones - new adjectives and descriptions.
• Halloween 2025 event QA.
• Training our new game developer, Rod.

Daniel (Thin Leek) has been working on:
• Final polishing for the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest.
• Coding Alchemist bounties.

Steve (Lanky Leek) has been working on:
• Coding for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.

Rod (Charred Leek) has been working on:
• Coding for the Crenopolis 6 ⭐️ quest.

Nic (Cactus Leek) has been working on:
• Graphics for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.
• Graphics for the Halloween 2025 event.
• Graphics for Milestones - fallen monument and forager meshes and materials.

Greg (Laid Back Leek) has been working on:
• Graphics for Milestones - alchemist bottles, forager inventory icons.
• Graphics for the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest.
• Splash art for the Halloween 2025 event.
• Splash art for the Hopeforest 3 ⭐️ quest.
• Splash art for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.
• Graphics for this Brighter Leek.

Lewis (Sloth Leek) has been working on:
• Graphics for Bonewright bounties - the Bonetron 8000.
• Graphics for the Halloween 2025 event.
• Graphics for Milestones - forager meshes and materials.

James T (Jimmy Leek) has been working on:
• Graphics for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.
• Graphics for the Halloween 2025 event.
• Graphics for Milestones - fisher and botanist meshes and materials.

Alex (Octo Leek) has been working on:
• Graphics for the Miner minigame.
• Graphics for Milestones - forager meshes and materials.

Joe (Crunchy Leek) has been working on:
• Audio and particles for the Mine of Mantuban 4 ⭐️ quest.


You will see that the Project Milestone infographic has had a major overhaul. We have reorganized it to better reflect the major features that are part of Project Milestone. We've also removed the slightly confusing update numbers, as the order in the infographic does not necessarily reflect the order in which we will release the updates.

The major features are:

Botanist
• A new profession that replaced Gatherer.

Milestones
• A better structure for leveling up, based around reaching a milestone every 50 levels, with a new XP curve to match.
• Adjusts the level of repeated (i.e. reskinned) activities, such that there are no repeated activities within a milestone (and therefore there are no repeated activities within the first 50 levels of a profession).
• Milestone unlocks, such as new activities, bounties, world events and dungeons, which deliver meaningful rewards for reaching a milestone.
• New activities in many professions.

Bounties for all professions
• Optional bonus objectives which add variety when leveling up.

World events
• Time-limited multiplayer events.

Dungeons for all professions
• Solo and multiplayer excursions into unexplored regions of Adothria.
• Remixes the profession in a whole new way, adding more options for leveling up.

Minigames
• Unique activities that give you a new way to level up the profession.

We’re just 2 days away from Kebabstar hitting Steam Early Access.

The grills are heating up. The island’s going off. The Ice Cream Cult is stirring again. And your AI agent? About to face its biggest test yet.

This isn’t a casual cooking game — it’s the start of something way bigger. Early Access means you’re not just playing; you’re helping us build Kebabstar. Every idea, every bug report, every chaotic story from your shift matters.

On October 29th, the kitchen doors open. Be one of the first. Shape the madness from day one.

Wishlist Kebabstar on Steam NOW. Let’s cook. 🔥
– Zeybek

Welcome back you filthy stinking boneraisers. The spooky halloween season couldn't be over without a boneified mischevious monday update. Not a huge amount of brand spanking new stuff but a lot of general bits and bobs improvements based on feedback over the year from the likes of you, yes YOU!

Your time of sin is over as the Heavens have grown tired of watching you raise ever bigger bones! A new Boss has been added called the Godly Vessel who seeks to fill you full of his holiness spear. The usual Heavenly Vessel special stages now also have a new enemy, the Heavenly Cherubs who bring lightning wrath upon your evil soul.

If you fancy joining the holy goodness a new Class has been added called the Celestial Vessel who aside from the usual boneraised minions can make use of Holy Monks, Heavenly Vessels and the new Heavenly Cherub and Godly Vessel minions. They are a bit of a challenge class though as they just can't help but Bless all those smelly peasants bum-rushing you.

Two new maps of sorts have been added...
- In the Princess Chamber you have been captured by royalty and forced to boneraise to the enjoyment of the watching Princess. She'll occasionally throw out an attack to keep you on your toes but on the plus side there's Giga Chests to bury your face in.
- The Wizarding Library used to be something you could only wander into at Stage 11 of a Castle Conquest but is now open to all. The map's special Archive contraptions will now also auto-restock with a fresh Spell after a while so it's a very spell heavy chaos map to play with.

In the Castle Conquest game mode the final four levels used to be fixed and had no special events. That's changed now so they behave more like the regular stages, however, they each always have the same choice of special maps which have some new bits and bobs alongside the existing map that used to be there...
- In Stage 10 you can now go to the Marshes of Madness which feature a Necarch and his rotting knight horde.
- In Stage 11 you can now go to the Royal Causeway which has a new Fanatical Bros variant of the existing Fanatic Boss, and who brings along waves of fanatics.
- In Stage 12 you can now go to the Ominous Cathedral which makes use of the new Heavenly Cherub enemy and Godly Vessel Boss.
- In Stage 13 the 2 different Elevator options determines the type of enemy, either Human or Beast.

New Game Plus changes...
- When entering a new loop instead of the usual Blacksmithy visit he'll now give a very special relic that allows you to take one of the Ultimate Minions without it affecting the max caps (allowing you to raise an extra Ultimate Minion of your choice). This is mainly just to give you something extra to do as you tend to run out of interesting minions to raise.
- When entering a new loop you'll now see a High Score popup if you beat your previous online score.

Some changes to the Clashful Cards game mode (mostly to make it more intuitive)...
- A gold arrow now means the placing card will always capture the other card irrespective of Power (previously it just doubled the Power).
- If a gold arrow beats the other card's Power then it will now cause the capture cascade (previously it needed to have at least double the Power).
- The Deck card positions have changed so you can now fully see all of the cards (previously they were largely obscured by each other).
- The card trait texts will now show all of the currently selected card's traits (previously it would just show the most important).
- The enemy AI has been improved so it now looks to see if it can cascade capture cards first (previously it was just random).
- In the Hub's Clashful Cards menu there's now a Game Music option which allows you to use the Hub Radio music during card games.

Some Hub changes...
- Choose Class menu: It now shows all the classes at the same time (so you have a nice overview of which classes need completing). Classes now also have a gem for beating the Necrotic Skirmishes achievement score.
- Buy Meta Upgrades menu: The icons no longer spin around (so it's easier for Mouse users).
- Choose Map menu: You now have to buy new maps, except for the Princess Chamber (previously it was just based on score and you tended to unlock them all by the time you unlocked the Skirmishes game mode).
- Choose Map menu - Maueoleum Awakens: It now has a show Leaderboard shortcut for the currently selected map. The win gems are now class specific (to conform with the other game mode gems).
- The class gems around your coffin now have 3 colours (instead of 4 to simplify them a bit) and now take into account your Necrotic Skirmishes scores.
- Class Heritage menu: To change classes you now move the selector to the side of the screen (the previous button combo was weird for translated texts). The Summary screen is now toggleable (instead of having to hold the button to read it).
- Minion Boneways menu: When using a Mouse you can now press Left/Right to change pages.
- The objects which are added for killing the Christmas/Halloween King have changed (so they look less like a bug).

Some improvements related to hurt/death effects...
- When you're currently hit the colour effect has changed from black/white to red/white (to make it pop more and you can now distinguish between getting hit and just having invincibility frames).
- The death sequence has been spruced up a bit (so it's less of a jarring popup).
- Player Health Bar visibility setting: A Low Health option has been added which just displays a Heart icon below you when you're at less than 25% Health.
- Player Health Bar visibility setting - Full: It now also displays a flashing heart icon when you're at less than 25% Health.
- When at less than 25% Health a red effect around the edge of the screen now shows.

Other misc changes...
- Performance has been improved if there's a lot of pickups onscreen.
- Some of the fonts and their colours have had a few tweaks (to improve readability).
- When using a gamepad pressing the Esc key will no longer auto-change the button tips to keyboard icons.
- The Fullscalling display setting has been re-added (seems some using big monitors found it useful) and it's max Scaling Resolution has been increased to x14 (from x7).
- Compendium - Leaderboards: If you're currently in a run then it will now show the current game mode's leaderboard (instead of having to manually choose it).
- Compendium - Beastiary: Their Stats now use a smaller font (the Killed stat tended to go off the edge).
- Game Over: When playing a Mausoleum Awakens or Castle Conquest there now may be an option to Play Again or View Leaderboard (previously it just had Load Save and Back To Hub).
- The starting Forsaken Cemetery map now starts with a couple of Oaken Trees (to spruce up the very start a bit).
- Castle Conquest game mode: There's now a chance the stage 3 boss can be an Immortis Necarch.
- Castle Conquest game mode: The Queen boss fight now has 4 Giga Treasure Chests (instead of 6 normal Treasure Chests).
- Castle Conquest game mode: In Christmas mode the Queen now has a Christmassy theme.
- Dungeon Catacomb map: The statues can now be deconstructed by the Imp class.
- Imp Contraptineer class: He now has a new Class meta called Boss Contrapper which boosts damage against Bosses based on how many Demonic Imps you have (since the class struggled against the main bosses).
- Roaming Traveller event: The speed the text reveals itself is now much faster (was a bit tediously slow).
- Sorcery Stone contraption: The colour of the gem that signifies if it's active or not now instantly changes (so it's easier to see when it's active).
- Regrowth Returnal spell: This can now also add a random spell to the Sorcery Archive contraption if it wasn't already storing a spell.
- Unholy Protection spell: This now reduces the hurt you suffer by -50% (instead of -20%).
- Flamey Waves spell: This now creates waves of flames around you (previously flames would randomly fall which wasn't all that useful).
- Sacrilegious Summonings spell: This no longer reduces your Health when cast.
- Sinful Incitements spell: This now also boosts Demon damage by +100%
- The gem pickup sound has been slightly reduced and made less tinny, and all the gems now use the same basic sound (eg picking up a Diamond previously had a longer sound).
- Depending on how early the run is enemies now have a chance that they cannot be Super Blessed and if they are Super Blessed have a reduced Speed boost (since they can be a bit insane when starting out).
- Fanatic / Bone Bird enemies: They can now be Blessed and Super Blessed.

Some changes to descriptions to make them clearer...
- Meta - Heroic Force: It now mentions that the extra stages delay the King (so it's clearer they are a good thing).
- Heroic Force: The wording in the meta that adds extra stages have been tweaked and written more consistently (so it's clearer they are adding stages).
- Fortuity Destiny: When choosing a Class/Map it now better explains that it randomly chooses it.
- The various relics/spells/contraptions that Bless and unbless meanies are now consistent and better explain its effects.
- The various differing ways of writing "starts the run" is now consistent across all texts.
- The word "Deamon" has changed to "Demon" (it was an intended misspelling but kinda dumb).

Some bug fixes...
- Compendium - Achievements: Some of the Class Unsealing achievements had a wrong title.
- Compendium - Minion Boneways: It wasn't showing a Back Button control tip.
- Hub - Halloween Mode: Triggering all 3 Pumpkins would create duplicates of themselves.
- Hub - Architect Mode: When looping the selector between the first and last page it wasn't moving the selector to the correct slot.
- Hub - Christmas/Halloween Mode: The tutorial ghosts could get obscured by the holiday decorations.
- Boneworld Challenges - Weekly/Fortnightly: The day the seed was changing was based on the first day of the year (it is now based on the calendar day so now changes each Monday).
- Boneworld Challenges - Fortnightly: If you died to a Princess attack then it would say you died from King Gigald.
- Castle Conquest - Stage 10: The houses were using the regular ruined Untended Townisle sprites (instead of the special Conquest version).
- During a double special stage of the same enemy type, some of the special enemies would spawn sooner than intended (eg Rat Orbic Totems).
- Imp Contraptineer class - Impling Energise meta: Demon Imps were counting as regular Imps for purposes of the Speed boost.
- Restless Monolith contraption: It could still spawn enemies during the main boss death sequence.
- Crystal Ball relic: Its description in regard to how many seconds it takes was wrong.
- There was a rare chance for minions to get stuck inside spawning Restless Monoliths.
- Princess Boss: Part of the intro Trumpet and Death Throne weren't using the correct colours.
- The enemies that drop a Hat/Cloak unlock could be transformed by the Joker Jester's ability.
- Shroom enemy: On the Baronial Bastion map they could spawn from the opened gate.
- Pumpkin Haunt enemy: Some of its colour when having a special status wasn't showing correctly.
- Lantern Handler enemy: Some of its colour when having a special status wasn't showing correctly.
- Achievements: A bunch of their descriptions had a "as the as the" stutter.
- Achievements - Boss Hunter: They were wrongly saying they could only be done in the Mausoleum Awakens game mode.
- Texts: The minion descriptions that use the term "transforms meanies" has changed (so it doesn't imply you won't get their Bone drops too).
- Texts: Some texts used the regular you/your (instead of thou/thy).
- Texts: Fixed some typos.

Translation file changes...
- Added IDs: TranslationDev_NoFile, MnWrd_Random, MnWrd_Repent, MsHub_Research_HasAll, Crds_Mn_Opt4, Crds_Music*, MnSet_Gen_Fullscaling, Comp_Evo_Cherub, Comp_Evo_Vessel, Comp_Evo_Saint, MtCl_Celest*, ClassMtSum_Celest_Desc*, MtCl_Imp_BossDamage*, BI_Cel*, Bst_Cherub*, Bst_BsGodVessel*, Bst_CustodianFlagwave*, Bst_BsFanaticBrother*, Qst_FanaticBros, StageDesc_QstBegin10_Fanatics, MsHub_ChSkMap_UnLockRandom, MsHub_ChSkMap_UnLockConquest, RI_RoyalSoul*, TrvEv_RoyalSoul*, Ach_AttainScore
- Removed IDs: Intro_AskKey_*, MnSet_DelSave_Opt4, MnSet_LiftMusic*, GmMd_Coffin_Desc*, GmMd_Meta*, GmMd_Compendium1*, GmOv_LocalRecord, Comp_ChLdboard_Local, Comp_ChLdboard_Online, BI_BsRaise_Desc, BI_WxRaise_Desc, BI_Raise_Skelly_Desc, SkMp_Random*, MsHub_ChSkMap_Title, MsHub_Tailor_HasAll_Desc*, MsHub_Research_HasAll_Desc*, Qst_Trapsmith_Title_Town, MtCl_Imp_SellTrap*, RI_StoleDivine_Desc2, RI_StoleEvil_Desc2, SI_MonkProtect_Desc2, SI_DemonSummon_Desc2, SI_BlessHero_Desc2, SI_UnblessHero_Desc2, StageDesc_QstLiftBeast, Ach_Coffin_Won_Desc_1, Ach_Skirmish_Score_Desc_1, Ach_Conquest_Won_Desc_1, Ach_Coffin_BigScore_Desc_1, Ach_Qst_BigScore_Desc_1, SkMp_Mausoleum_ShtNm, SkMp_Woods_ShtNm, SkMp_Farm_ShtNm, SkMp_Dungeon_ShtNm, SkMp_Ravine_ShtNm, SkMp_Cathedral_ShtNm, SkMp_Bridge_ShtNm, SkMp_Town_ShtNm, SkMp_Swamp_ShtNm, SkMp_Bastion_ShtNm, SkMp_Crypt_ShtNm, SkMp_Ruin_ShtNm, SkMp_Abyss_ShtNm, SkMp_Abyss_ShtNm, SkMp_Lift_ShtNm, Class_Wretch_ShtNm, Class_Necro_ShtNm, Class_Vampire_ShtNm, Class_Demon_ShtNm, Class_Hollow_ShtNm, Class_Giant_ShtNm, Class_Meld_ShtNm, Class_Cyclop_ShtNm, Class_Wax_ShtNm, Class_Bro_ShtNm, Class_Ghost_ShtNm, Class_Witch_ShtNm, Class_Brain_ShtNm, Class_Imp_ShtNm, Class_Dark_ShtNm, Class_Beast_ShtNm, Class_Clown_ShtNm


Enjoy! :]

Things are getting complicated in the city. A chain of mysterious cases is waiting for you.
Each clue leads to a new question, and every question leads to a new truth.
Examine the crime scene, collect evidence, interrogate suspects, and connect the dots.

The playtest has begun. In this special test version, you can get early access to the world of The Enigma Cases and share your feedback to help shape the game’s development.

A story-driven detective experience awaits you.
In the playtest:

• Experience the interactive interrogation system.

• Unravel the relationships between suspects.

• Gather clues from the environment and solve the mystery step by step.

This is not just a test. It’s the first step in a major investigation to uncover the truth.
Share your bugs, suggestions, and experiences to help shape the future of the game.

🎯 If you enjoyed the experience and don’t want to miss the full release,

Don’t forget to add The Enigma Cases to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3062170/The_Enigma_Cases/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3499220/Gamer_Stop_Simulator/https://store.steampowered.com/app/3721530/Motorcycle_For_Sale_Simulator/https://store.steampowered.com/app/3846650/Parking_Garage_Simulator/

(Shout out to players in the #rrplus-lounge on Discord for bumping some of these up the list)

• Added the finishing touches on the Merry Midway paintball map, keep your eyes peeled this week for a new place to play Paintball!
• Turned off "Auto Open Backpack" by default for new accounts.
• Profile badges now look a little prettier coming out of gift boxes, and in your nametag!
• Added "backpack settings" to the experience tab in the settings menu so you can customize your experience with the backpack.
• Room consumables can now be gifted! We'll be adding support for giving more types of UGC content soon.
• Improved the appearance of equipment skins in thumbnails.
• Switch is now available as a platform for customizing texture import options via Rec Room Studio.
• Share Camera photo filters are now previewed in the viewfinder, so you can take cooler photos!

• Fixed bugs causing elevated crashes on Quest and Xbox.
• Fixed bug preventing players from editing their bios.
• Fixed a bug where some players get stuck on the login screen on Xbox.
• Ooh, shiny! Reflective surfaces and avatar items can react to lights again.
• Fixed issues with very dark lighting in some Rec Room Studio rooms.
• Fixed a bug where other players looked...weird to certain players using the Bean body type.
• Fixed some bugs for objects in "place" mode - should work better on gamepads and VR now.
• Fixed an RRStudio bug that would say "New Save Available" right after uploading a save. No more second guessing your uploads!

• Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, news, and more:

https://rec.net/creator

• We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think using the Creator Forum here:

https://forum.rec.net/

Hi everyone!

We're back again ahead of our launch tomorrow. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Just 24 hours remain until the game's launch tomorrow, the 28th. It's been quite a journey to get here, and we can't believe the release is right around the corner. We're excited (and so is Polly!) are you as well? We hope you've enjoyed all the comics we've had leading up to release; we have our last one below!

Just to reiterate one final time in case you missed it in past posts too, Silly Polly Beast releases on the above date at 11am ET / 8am PT / 15:00 UTC. As mentioned prior, the game will be $19.99 / 16.75 GBP / 19.50 EUR / руб.650 / 58 CNY (other prices are regional as well). There will be a 15% launch discount for 2 weeks.

We hope you enjoy the comic (and the others in the series!) and see you tomorrow! We're extremely excited for the game's release.

Hello everyone!

Ahead of the Steam Scream Fest launching later today, we're excited to announce our brand new demo is finally here! As opposed to our last demo which was more of a vertical slice of the game, this new demo instead features a gateway introduction into not only the beginning of the game, but what truly makes BECROWNED unique.

Featuring revamped combat, new localization, completely new content, new graphical overhauls, and more, we hope this new demo will be a great introduction to the game's world.

For those who enjoyed the old demo and wish to replay, you can still play it on a steam beta branch with password "OLDDEMO12345". The new demo is not time limited however and, as a more updated & polished version of the game, will remain up on the primary demo branch for the game.

We hope you all enjoy!

Added a "Concentric circle" style for the shirt and sleeves. (Editor)




The "Finals" panel in knockout stages should show correct championship matches in the past.



The CONCACAF Nations League B and C matches should be played at centralized venues.

The weaknesses and strengths are temporarily limited to one field each. Also, they are reset after the end of each year.

Web site:
https://simcups.com