NOTE: All screenshots in this post feature in-game levels that are still in development. Their final designs may differ from what is shown.

As the Toxic Crusaders endeavor to clean the streets of Tromaville from all that is evil and foul, they’ll have to clean up the Health Club, too! You’ll find even the thugs of Tromaville working out (or at least appearing to) at the Health Club–all of them sporting new outfits! Take a look at their level-specific designs in-game!


You’ll find Ricos spinning nunchucks, while donning light exercise clothes, and Leroys (still armed with their knives) wearing purple and blue pants and sweaters! Both enemies will be wearing headbands, and both will still wanna knock out any Toxic Crusaders dumb enough to disturb their time in the gym!


You’ll also find Franks showing off their muscles through their vertically striped tank tops and shorts! And for B.G. Whips, they’ll have traded their, well, whips for jump ropes–still very much lethal, though!


You can look forward to working up a sweat dishing out the pain against these enemies at the Tromaville Health Club!

Stay tuned for even more behind-the-scenes updates!

Be sure to follow Retroware’s developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!

https://store.steampowered.com/developer/retroware

-Fixed leaderboard issues and performance
-Optmized performance in UI

A new NPC in Town, Mystara, will now transmog your items to any other appearance you've collected for 100 gold per piece.


Characters are now awarded an additional Flask Point every 5 levels instead of every 10. Characters will now have a typical maximum of 7 Flask Points at level 30, up from 4.

Binder will now display a floating flask over his head when you have Flask Points to spend.

Almost every Flask Effect has been rebalanced, and 11 brand new effects have been added.





New Legendary Bow: Deadeye Sovereign
Perfect Shots increase your Total Damage by 10% for 4 seconds, up to 30%. Imperfect shots remove all stacks.

• Bear has been updated to the new AI system and now works with Invoke Pact, which will trigger its slam attack.
  
• Blood Leshen has also been updated and been given a powerful projectile which can also be activated with Invoke Pact.
  
• Zombie Warrior has been updated and been given a powerful shockwave attack which can also be activated with Invoke Pact.

Items now automatically vacuum to you when combat ends.

• Time to complete reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.
  
• Now grants 30% increased movement speed for 5 seconds or until you enter combat.
  
• Added a progress bar.

The new camera behavior intended to help gameplay while using a gamepad is now only enabled when using a gamepad.

Dear Spell Disk Community,

As we approach the March 1st PST release date for Spell Disk's 1.0 full version, we are in the final stages of content development and have entered the testing phase. We are extremely excited about the upcoming full release and sincerely appreciate your continued support. The exact release time for the full version will be announced a day or two before the scheduled date, once all details are firmly in place.

While preparing for the full version release announcements, we noticed that our game's trailer and screenshots were significantly out of date. As a result, we have created a new trailer for Spell Disk. You can watch it here or on the Steam Store page:


We also wanted to share the progress we've made during the Early Access phase of the game with players who are waiting for the game's full version or returning players who haven't played the game for a long time.

Here are some of the significant changes that have been made during the 100 updates so far:

• New items: Added 143 entirely new items to the game, bringing the grand total to 515 items (512 + 3 "default safety fallback" items).
  
• Outfits and Accessories: Introduced an entirely new system for equipping outfits and accessories with special powers, providing even greater build variety when strategizing your run in the Root Chamber. Think of it like classes and subclasses for your character!
  
• Architect Chamber: Implemented an unlockable feature where you can view and load your past runs and bring your items into various new game modes that offer entirely new game loops.
  
• New game modes: Added Infinity Dungeon Mode, where you can climb endlessly generated dungeons, and Arena Mode, where you can face endless hordes of enemies.
  
• New biomes: Added brand new maps for the base mode and the survival mode.
  
• New enemies: Added new bosses, new enemies, and improved existing enemies.
  
• Game stability: Fixed various issues that might disrupt normal gameplay thanks to continued community support and bug reports. Additionally, reworked and improved the save file system to provide an extra layer of protection against data corruption.
  
• Control improvement: Improved how the controls feel in the game. From inventory navigation to control sensitivity, the controls of the game have been fine-tuned to be more precise and smoother.
  
• Accessibility: Implemented many quality-of-life or accessibility features into the game, such as adjusting the spell's visibility to be more transparent or adjusting the spell's volume level separately from other sounds. Added adjustments for flashing strength and other various features found in the game settings menu.
  
• UI improvement: Modified and improved UI for better legibility and clarity because we aimed to get Spell Disk Steam Deck Verified for Spell Disk.
  
• Compendium: Added Compendium to the game that allows you to keep track of how many items you've discovered or how your items performed in the past.
  
• New weapons: Added new weapons.
  
• Optimizations: Optimized the game extensively to reduce frame drops that might occur in extreme circumstances.
  
• Story: Built up more anticipation and delivery for the overarching storyline of Spell Disk. The story will come to a conclusion in the new game mode in the 1.0 version!
  
• ...and more!

Are there plans for an update after the v1.0 release?
We believe version 1.0 marks a great milestone for the game, but it is definitely not the end of Spell Disk development! After the release, we plan to further fix and optimize the game to address any extreme cases we might have missed. After the official version stabilizes to a state with which we are satisfied, we will keep improving Spell Disk. Afterward, we may roll out some experimental new features and content in the future if we don't face any unexpected issues.

Thank you for playing Spell Disk! We couldn't have made it this far without you, and we genuinely appreciate your feedback and support.

Changes:
- You asked for it, so I nerfed it! StarShot is now StarSh*t. Happy now?
- Map legends in dungeons are now unaffected by depression.
- The Hermit appears as he should, and is no longer a massive spoilery poo-head.
- Sleeping in the Hermit's bed no longer calls for non-existent guards.
- Spells crash the game a lot less often. Woo.
- Chickens can no longer be infinitely spawned.
- New players do NOT get a free ship, just for being nice about this game.
- Things shielded by other things no longer remain shielded when their friend leaves.
- Lots more work on dungeon WANG tiles. No, it's a real thing. Look it up.

Other bugs fixed, but after a while you become increasingly numb to the onslaught, It's like playing Deep Rock Galactic... by yourself... and your older brother comes in every so often to tell you how crap you are at it and that the bugs are going to win...

But they won't.
They won't win.
Because I have a BEARD, goddamnit.

- Dene

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's developer's diary.

First of all, today marks the second year of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Let's turn back the clock and remind ourselves of the developer's diary exactly 2 years ago.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1519140/view/3119310025773834317

In the beginning, many have joined the cause to support Ukraine like us. There were many great fundraisings on Steam, Humble stores, Itch, and many other places. There were many developers like me making donations to Ukraine. That was a great moment when the world demonstrated solidarity and unity, standing with Ukraine. However, as the war went on, many grew fatigued, many went silent, and many even forgot this war was still not end yet. That will not do!

Thus, let's start with this week's developer's diary with new Ukraine-related game content.
During this week's update, we got 2 new playable character variations.



The first one is an Iron General in Ukrainian Power Armor.
The armor is basically a re-texture of the Templar Power Armor with a bit of modification.
The character is based on an old image online that illustrated General Zaluzhnyi in a Warhammer 40K Space Marine armor. I cannot make the model too similar to that one of Ultramarines because of potential legal risks. And I know Zaluzhnyi is no longer the command-in-chef any more. But, that does not stop me from making this model to remember his heroic deeds at the very beginning of the war. Just like we also have another "old gentleman who likes smiles" who is still giving quests to players to close the sky. Hopefully, we can see F16 this year.



The second one is a Ukrainian Cossack. The outfit is made by Optigon and I purchased a commercial license so that it can be used in our game. Cossacks were people seek freedom from Feudal Lords in medieval. They escaped from their overlords and made their communities in Ukraine. In their communities, they decide everything important in a democratic tradition which can be quite rare in that era. As such they become a symbol of Ukraine.

Although those are just cosmetic skins with no story content related to them at this moment, maybe there will be in the future. We still have a large undeveloped area in Siberia. The original plan for that area was canceled because of Putin's invasion. But, maybe, one day, we can get a new story of that area with all those characters involved.

One more thing, just as a bonus content. We cannot just add a Cossack without also adding their iconic weapon. Thus, here we are:

No, wait. Not this guy from Metal Gear. Just the last part of his name.
So, here it is.

Shashka has been added to the game as a traditional cossack weapon.
The weapon can always cause bleeding and may also have other prefixes.
You can purchase it from several merchants in the game.


OK, that's all the Ukraine-related content of this week. My support for Ukraine will continue. This may be the longest live-operation of this game even in its almost 20 years of history. But, isn't that awesome?


Now let's cover our other content update of this week. There are 3 main parts.
1, Elemental Proficiency Books.
We now have 8 books that you can read to improve your 8 different elemental proficiencies. You can find them in the Book Store of Liu among other books. Alternatively, you can go to the Mages Guild to find another vendor who sells those books. Some enemies such as the corrupted books in the Grand Library may also drop those books.
They are not just some random books you read and forget. I intend to make fun of them. Thus, each book has its narrative in a light-hearted manner and they all seem quite mundane yet can somehow improve your elemental proficencies.
Here are some examples:





2, New Food Recipe.
It has been a while since the last update to our cooking system. So, maybe this time we shall have more recipes added to it. New recipes are mostly fish recipes so that we can make better use of our fishing system and egge recipes.
Here is one of the new fish recipes:


But, eggs? Yes, this food ingredient is finally in our game now. But, where can we get it in addition to purchasing from those food ingredient vendors?
That's a question that led to my over-complex game design. In real life, eggs are from animals that can lay eggs of course. So, in our game, we can do the same thing.

......
....
...
Something seems not right. OK, to be honest, a certain North Korean human male known as Kim Jong Um cannot lay eggs. The screenshot is here because I captured a female turkey and renamed her Kim Jong Um just to make some fun. :P
So, basically, all the female bird pets in your group can now lay eggs for you periodically. (Unfortunately, we only have Turkeys in the game right now. We will get more, such as chickens, ducks, and other pets later.)
Meanwhile, all those eggs are procedurally generated and named after the pets that lay them.

Now, let's cook those eggs. We can get...

Fried eggs will automatically named after which egg you fried just to make it even more fun. As we can rename our pets to anything. So, you can basically fry anybody's eggs no matter that's Trump, Biden, your boss, your coworkers, your classmates, someone you hate, or someone you like. The important thing is you shall have the freedom to have all the fun. You can do all that just by renaming your pets.
There are 7 new recipes added.
And here is a bonus. As we have new cooking recipes, we shall also have a cooking-related quest. Thus, we now have a new NPC in the Marinas Town Hall. Marinas is famous for her fish. But, they are now also looking for good cooks to make fish dishes. If you are confident in your cooking skills, you can submit your fish dishes to a Fish Dishes Critic. If he likes your dishes, he will reward you. You may even get some items with "chef" prefixes. Alternatively, you can also be a trouble person to submit some poisoned fish dishes and see what will happen. :P

Now, as we just talked about food. Maybe we shall wait a bit here. Because the 3rd part may cause some uncomfortable to people.

So, let's wait for a bit.
....
...
...
...
...
...
...
OK, are you ready?
...
.
.
.
.



3, Poops
Errr...I told you I have warned you. :P
Alright, as not many pets can lay eggs right now. But, we have a system to passively generate resources from them. What else do most of our pets generate? After taking a few moments to think like a Palworld player, I get the conclusion that most pets at least create poops! (If you have a cat or some other pets, you know it's your duty to take care of their poops. Thus, this is the first thing that came to my mind. :P) So, now many different pets will automatically generate poops for you to use.

Wait, does that North Korean human male Kim Jong Um actually poop? Some rumor says he is a great guy so great that he never poops. I don't know. :P

What's their usage?
The first usage is quite obvious, they are biological weapons that you can throw at your enemies. (They even get a special animation for that.)
Meanwhile, they can also be used in alchemy to create some very disgusting potions to cause more mayhems.
You can also sell them to some merchants to make some profits.
Of course, there shall be more usage of those poops. Unfortunately, I failed to get all planned features added this week so we will have to get them in later updates.

One more thing, it may be annoying to see Kim Jong Um keep pooping and laying eggs every now and then. Thus, I also added control over our passive resource generation system. You can turn on/off each pet's resource generation in the character menu.

Now Kim Jong Um can no longer poop.


Alright, that's for this week. I hope everyone has fun and don't forget Ukraine is still at war.

Another thing is I will be on a business trip to Guangdong next Monday and Tuesday to handle some legal business which is my daytime job as a lawyer that I do not enjoy but it pays well to financial the game's development. Thus, the update will likely pause on Tuesday as a result of that. Sorry about that.


This week's full update log:
20240218
English
############Content################
[Butterfly]Liu's Book Store is now a location that you can teleport to. It requires you have visit this location once after this update to unlock.
[Item]It's now possible to have books that give elemental proficiency experience.
[Item]New Item: The Art of Drinking 80 Cups of Water Everyday (It provides water elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: Guide to Travel with Wind in Typhoon Seasons (It provides wind elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: 8 Steps to Build a Perfect Sand Castle (It provides earth elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: Everything Is Fine in This Burning House (It provides fire elemental proficiency experience.)
[Book Store]All those new books may now randomly appear in Liu's Book Store.
[The Mages Guild]Added a book vendor that sells those elemental proficiency books.
简体中文
############Content################
【蝴蝶之翼】疁城的书店现在是一个可以被传送到的地点。需要在本次更新后访问过一次来解锁。
【物品】现在游戏中可能会出现提供元素熟练度经验的书籍。
【物品】新物品：《每天喝80杯水的艺术》（提供水元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《台风天御风而行指南》（提供风元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《建设完美的沙雕城堡的8个步骤》（提供地元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《在这栋燃烧的房子中一切都好》（提供火元素熟练度）
【书店】上面提到的所有新的书籍现在可能随机出现在疁城的书店中。
【法师公会】加入了一个书籍商人贩卖这些元素熟练度书籍。

20240219
English
############Content################
[Books]Moved the book name lists of all life skills books and all elemental proficiency books to two constant arrays.
[Loot]Corrupted Books may now drop elemental proficiency books.
[Book Store]Increased the number of random books the book store generates each time you want to buy books.
[Item]New Item: The Light Pollution PC and You (It provides light elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: 2084 (It provides dark elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: A Real Man Plays Kite in Storms (It provides thunder elemental proficiency experience.)
[Item]New Item: How to Cook Ice Cream: 1001 Failed Attempts (It provides ice elemental proficiency experience.)
[Cooking]New Recipe: Fish Cake (Flour+Water+Yeast+Salt + Any Fish)
[Cooking]When making Fruit Bread, the fruit you use will now affect more on the HP recovery rate of the final product.
[Cooking]Increased the EXP gained from successfully making bread of fruit bread.
[Cooking]New Recipe: Fish Frumenty (Any Fish + Wheat + Water)
[Cooking]New Recipe: Fish Baozi (Any Fish + Baozi Wrapper)
简体中文
############Content################
【书籍】将所有的生活技能经验书和元素熟练度经验书的书名列表移动到了两个常量数组中。
【掉落物】被腐蚀的书籍现在可能掉落元素熟练度书籍。
【书店】增加了每次你购买图书时随机图书生成的数量。
【物品】新物品：《关于我如何停止担忧并组装了一台光污染电脑这件事》（提供光元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《2084》（提供暗元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《纯爷们在暴雨天也要玩风筝》（提供雷元素熟练度）
【物品】新物品：《如何烹饪冰激凌：1001种失败的尝试》（提供冰元素熟练度）
【料理】新料理配方：鱼肉蛋糕 （面粉+水+酵母+盐+任何鱼）
【料理】在制作水果面包时，现在使用的水果种类会更大程度上影响最终产品的生命恢复率。
【料理】增加了成功制作面包或水果面包时获得的经验值。
【料理】新料理配方：鱼肉小麦粥（任何鱼+水+小麦）
【料理】新料理配方：鱼肉包子（任何鱼+包子皮）

20240220
English
############Content################
[Item]New Item: Egg
[Food Ingredient Vendors]They now sell eggs.
[Alchemy]Eggs can be used as alchemy ingredients.
[Character]Female Turkeys in your group will now lay eggs periodically. The quality of those eggs is based on their level and Max HP. (You will get a popup that says "The Pet's Name just laid an egg.")
[Eggs]Those eggs are procedurally generated, and they will be named The Pet's Name + "'s egg." (Thus, you may make fun of this mechanism.)
[Cooking]New Recipe: Fried Egg. (The name will be automatically changed to Fried + The egg's name. Thus, you can make more fun of it. XD)
############Debug################
[Alchemy]When you successfully make a potion. The system shall now correctly says "Alchemizing Success!" instead of "Cooking Success!"
简体中文
############Content################
【物品】新物品：蛋
【食材商人】他们现在会贩卖蛋。
【炼金】蛋可以作为炼金原料。
【角色】你队伍里的雌性火鸡会每过一段时间为你下蛋。这些蛋的质量和她们的等级还有最大生命值有关。（你会获得一个提示现实“【宠物的名称】刚下了一个蛋。”）
【蛋】这些蛋是动态生成的，命名规则是：【宠物的名称】+"的蛋。" （所以，你可以制造一些欢乐的效果）
【料理】新配方：煎蛋（名字会自动变成煎+【蛋的名字】从而制造更多欢乐的效果。XD）
############Debug################
【炼金】当炼金成功时现在系统会正确地表示【炼金成功！】而不是【料理成功！】

20240221
English
############Content################
[Marinas Town Hall]New NPC: Fish Dishes Critic (He comes with a unique interactive that allows you to submit any fish dishes to him. If he likes your dishes, he will reward you. Basically, it can be considered a short repeatable quest.)
[Wiki]Added a page with details of this new NPC: https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Fish_Dishes_Critic(NPC)
[Cooking]New Recipe: Egg Frumenty
[Cooking]New Recipe: Steamed Egg with Minced Meat
[Cooking]New Recipe: Steamed Egg with Suspicious Minced Meat
简体中文
############Content################
【玛丽娜斯政厅】新NPC：鱼类美食评论家 （有独特交互。你可以将自己制作的鱼类料理提交给他进行评审。如果他喜欢你的料理，则会提供奖励。可以被认为是一个简短的可重复任务。）
【维基】加入了关于这个NPC的相关页面：https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Fish_Dishes_Critic(NPC)
【料理】新配方：小麦蛋粥
【料理】新配方：精肉炖蛋
【料理】新配方：可疑的精肉炖蛋

20240222
English
############Content################
[Pet]You can now control if a pet shall lay eggs or not from the character menu.
[Pet]You can now pet more types of pets from the character menu.
[Pet]Cats are even more easy to capture now.
[Item]New Item: Poop (You can throw them at enemies. There will be other features of this item in the future.)
[Alchemy]Poops can be used in Alchemy.
[Pet]Many types of pets in your group now create poops periodically. The damage of those poops is depending on their MaxHP and level. Those poops are named as "[The Pet's Name]'s Poop."
[Pet]When a pet poops, there will be a popup to notify you.
[Pet]You can now control if a pet shall poop or not from the character menu.
简体中文
############Content################
【宠物】你现在可以从角色菜单中选择一只宠物是否下蛋。
【宠物】你现在可以从角色菜单中爱抚更多种类的宠物。
【宠物】猫猫现在更容易捕捉了。
【物品】新物品：便便 （可以作为生化武器丢向敌人。这个物品更多的功能会在之后添加。）
【炼金】便便可以用于炼金。
【宠物】很多种类的宠物在你的队伍里的时候现在会周期性地制造便便。这些便便的伤害数值取决于该宠物的最大生命值和等级。这些便便的名称命名方式是“【宠物的名称】的便便。”
【宠物】当一只宠物便便的时候，你会获得一个提示。
【宠物】你现在可以从角色菜单中选择一只宠物是否制造便便。

20240223
English
############Content################
[Character Customization]Added a new playable male character. (A certain general in Ukrainian power armor.)
[Character Customization]Added a new playable male character. (Cossack.)
简体中文
############Content################
【角色自定义】加入了一个新的可用男性角色造型。（某位在乌克兰动力装甲中的将领。）
【角色自定义】加入了一个新的可用男性角色造型。（哥萨克。）

20240224
English
############Content################
[Weapon]New Weapon Type: Shashka (Always can cause bleeding. May have other prefixes.)
[Hottle Equipment Store]They now sell Shashkas with "Storm" prefixes.
[Marinas]The Blacksmith now sells Shashkas with no prefixes.
[Bazaar]The Weapon Merchant now sells Shashkas with no prefixes.
简体中文
############Content################
【武器】新武器种类：沙什卡 （总是会造成流血。可能带有其它词缀。）
【霍特尔装备店】现在会贩卖带有【风暴】词缀的沙什卡。
【玛丽娜斯】铁匠现在会出售不带词缀的沙什卡。
【巴扎】武器商人现在会出售不带词缀的沙什卡。



Latest news from Ukraine:
{LINK REMOVED}https://pastelink.net/zujjd5ab
https://controlc.com/05076dc0

CAPTAINS! There's just 3 days until Cursed Crew releases in Early Access!

Today, we're looking at the world map and progression! In Cursed Crew, you pick your route on a world map and sail from destination to destination until you face the final boss. Read on to learn more!


First, there's the global map. It shows you which areas there are in the game, and how they are connected. You use this map to pick your route towards the final boss and it shows you how far along you are in your sailing journey.


Second, there are local maps. For each area on the world map, there's a corresponding local map with all the locations you can visited and the connected paths to them. When you enter an area from the world map, you then sail from location to location within a local map until you reach the end of the area - then you'll be sent back to the global map to pick your next area! (And get closer the big final boss.)


When you reach a location on a local map, a story event occurs. During an event, your captain's log opens with a new entry describing what the captain saw at that moment. You'll have a choice to decide what to do in the situation and influence the story's outcome.

There are many events, here are some examples:
- Port events: This involves you visiting a port to resupply, repair your ship, and meet strangers in a tavern that might want to join your crew, tell a tall tale, or pick a fight.
- Mystery events: During these events, anything can happen. Sharks may jump onto your ship, you may encounter drifting wreckage, or the weather suddenly shifts.
- Ship events: These events are themed around ship encounters. Often they result in combat, but it's also common to encounter friendly travelers or traders.
- Island events : This is where you ship passes an island and the captain writes about the crew's expedition and the results of said expedition.
- Boss events: The most terrifying moment - right before a boss fight.

While the local map clearly depicts the type of event you'll get, you can never know exactly what might happen, because every event has many different variations. Sometimes you'll even uncover new sections of the local map that weren't there before!


So how does this compare to games with similar maps like Slay the Spire or FTL? While all three devs love these games, we decided instant travel was not right for Cursed Crew. Ships will travel from node to node over time with the rate of travel dependent on the ship's speed. In-between event nodes there will also be what we call 'meta events' which are unscripted minor events. These will be little things such as nearby sea life or sudden changes to weather.

We're still working on these meta events and we'll be implementing much more in future updates as we launch into Early Access.

Remember, just 3 days to go until February 26! See you then!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839760/Cursed_Crew/

- Roel, Phil, & Oskar

Hello Adventurers!

🤫 3188316972

In our first Hinterblog “What is Hinterberg”, we alluded to the fact you’ll be visiting 4 overworlds on your slaycation, and as promised, we're taking a closer look at those today! Not too close though, we want you to come visit and explore all the secrets on your own terms!

Each overworld has a unique biome, and each location includes a Skill Shrine. Skill Shrines are peculiar objects that can bestow magical skills upon you if you know the magic word of course. Magic skills will be necessary to help you traverse through that particular overworld, and for solving puzzles, especially in that region’s dungeons! Oh and, of course, you can use your newly acquired skills in combat too!


Just say the magic word


Magic skills will help you overcome obstacles and puzzles


C-C-C-C-Combo! Your blade paired with your magic skills will get you out of sticky situations

Speaking of dungeons, you’ll find several in each overworld, some harder to find and conquer than others. We’ll talk more about those in a future Hinterblog, but for now, let’s take a look at our first Overworld!



Doberkogel

A sunny and lush mountain overworld with beautiful scenery, a lake, streams and waterfalls, and expansive vistas. Explore the labyrinth of mountain pines or meditate in a meadow, or hike to the top, but beware of the dungeon way up there!

We highly recommend speaking to fellow tourists and the locals, as some may offer useful tips and suggestions, like which areas you should explore.


Marina at Kiddie Land always puts a smile on our face


What, did you think you’d just casually walk everywhere?


Skills can help you on the path to loot!


The overworlds hold many secrets… but those are for you to find on your own

We hope you're wearing your thermals because it’s about to get chilly!



Kolmstein

A shimmering glacier overworld, with magical ice caves, crevasses, passes, and vast vistas. Meditate at a viewpoint, take a chairlift to the highest peaks, and hover your way on a magical snowboard through this enchanting overworld.

It's a challenge to traverse mountains on foot (due to all that snow you see…) So one of the first things you’ll do in Kolmstein is acquire a skill that lets you conjure up a magical hoverboard! Pretty cool right?



In Kolmstein, there are several environmental challenges that you’ll need to overcome to explore further. For example, magical rails will help you get around, but you may need to prove yourself to activate them.


Regina and Philipp who we met in our “Meet the Microbird Team!” blog show us how it’s done!


Another challenge? No problem, we’ve got a magical skill for that!

Ok, that’s enough of Kolmstein for now, I’m freezing! Let’s head on over to our next overworld.



Hinterwald

A deep and mysterious forest overworld teeming with wildlife… and secrets. Vines cover the ground in some places and make sure not to swim in the water, but if you avoid the hazards, you will be rewarded with fresh forest air and views of old windmills and water wheels, or maybe giant mushrooms?

Like the other overworlds, Hinterwald has its unique challenges and Magic Skills.


You spin me right round



While you’re out exploring, you may find that you’re not ready to take on particular dungeons just yet, or you might just want to return to the village. You’re free to leave overworlds at any time (or not even visit on certain days!). You can always come back when you feel ready.

While you explore, you’ll come across these handy map boards. These boards will allow you to fast travel to other areas within the overworld you’re currently visiting.



Alright, we’re onto our final overworld! We’ve recently opened this up to the public, and we’ve prepared a short promo!

Welcome to Brünnelsumpf!


A marshy swamp overworld that showcases the beauty of the wetlands. Constant rain does not detract from this biome’s quiet beauty, and you can meditate in a sheltered corner away from the wind. Take a kayak to visit all the different islands and solve puzzles. Lighthouses can help you on your way…

To find out more about Brünnelsumpf, visit our Store Page where we’re broadcasting a prerecorded playthrough!

We hope you enjoyed a closer look at some of the locations you’ll be exploring during your slaycation!

For all things Dungeons of Hinterberg, follow us on Twitter (X), and join us on Discord.

If you’re interested in what you see, we’d love it if you’d consider adding Dungeons of Hinterberg to your Wishlist today! 😊

In our next Hinterblog, we’ll be diving into the dungeons! 👀 We’ll see you then!

We on the Age of Empires team want to say a huge thank you to our 50 million players around the world. 2023 was a huge year for our games and our community. We wanted to share a look at what there is to look forward to in 2024, and we’ve just wrapped our New Year, New Age show which did just that. If you watched, thank you for joining us! If you weren’t able to join us live, or you just want a reminder of all the things we covered, here’s a rundown of what’s coming this year.

• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition new DLC – Victors and Vanquished – coming March 14th
  
• Age of Mythology: Retold coming to Xbox and PC in 2024
  
• Age of Empires Mobile first look
  
• New Year, New Age Sale with games and DLC up to 50% off
  
• Age of Empires IV update and Season 7 coming early Spring
  
• New Year, New Age login reward for Age of Empires IV available now
  
• Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition free to play now! New DLC coming end of 2024
  
• Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado coming later this year

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition had a landmark year in 2023 with the addition of the Return of Rome and The Mountain Royals expansions. More than four years after launch, the game continues to grow. Telling more stories from the world’s rich history as well as bringing more civilizations to play.

The next chapter for Age of Empires II: DE will be the single player focused DLC Victors and Vanquished, coming March 14th. Introduced in today’s show by its Creator, Ramsey Abdulrahim, this DLC will be like no other we’ve made before for AoE II: DE. Victors and Vanquished features 19 epic scenarios. Your strategy and choices will decide your fate: will you emerge as the ultimate victor, or fall as the vanquished? You’ll play as Ragnar Lothbrok, Oda Nobunaga, Charlemagne and more. Each scenario features professional voice acting, new music, achievement and the quality you’d expect from an official Age of Empires scenario.

Pre-Order Now!
Victors and Vanquished will be launching soon, and you can pre-order today and receive a 15% discount! Victors and Vanquished comes to Steam on March 14th 2024.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805510/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition__Victors_and_Vanquished/?beta=1

---

Age of Mythology: Retold is another title that got its debut at our 25th anniversary. Since then, we’ve continued to develop this exciting reimagining of fan favorite Age of Mythology.

Today Art Director Melinda Rose gave players worldwide their first look at Retold via three in-game units, brought to life through amazing AR technology. Showcasing Medusa, Pegasus and Cerberus from the Greek pantheon, Melinda took us through how each unit has been updated, given completely new art and even had gameplay tweaks that will intensify their strengths and unique powers making them even more important in your strategy. They will be stronger, faster, bigger and bolder.

We are also beyond thrilled to announce that players do not have long to wait. Age of Mythology: Retold is coming to Steam in 2024 and is available to wishlist now!

If you want more information about what we showed today, be sure to follow the Age of Mythology social channels and visit http://www.ageofempires.com/.

• Age of Mythology on X
  
• Age of Mythology on Facebook
  
• Age of Mythology on Instagram

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1934680/Age_of_Mythology_Retold/?beta=1

---

At our 25th anniversary event we announced Age of Empires Mobile and we’ve been getting questions from intrigued and excited players ever since.

Today we’re so excited to unveil this partnership with the fantastic team at TiMi Studio Group, who are bringing this brand-new Age of Empires world to life. Age of Empires Mobile is a mobile war strategy game where players will embark on an exhilarating adventure and forge unbreakable bonds with friends. Featuring rich real-time controls, stunning visuals and historical heroes on grand battlefields, this addition to the franchise has so much to offer.

The game features elements from Age of Empires games, merged with brand-new and mobile-specific gameplay. You’ll engage in strategic resource management, develop unique technologies and train diverse armies to build and defend your kingdom.

In the New Year New Age show, we premiered the first gameplay trailer for Age of Empires Mobile as well as a behind the scenes look with the team at TiMi Studio Group.

You can pre-register now for Age of Empires Mobile on iOS and Google Play. For more information about the game, visit http://www.aoemobile.com/.

---

With such a fantastic roster of titles, there’s never been a better time to complete your Age of Empires collection! We’re celebrating our 50 million players with a New Year, New Age Sale on Steam! From today until the 29th of February, almost everything in the Age of Empires catalogue is up to 50% off. Go on, treat yourself.

---

In November, we launched the best-selling Age of Empires expansion of all time, The Sultans Ascend, for Age of Empires IV. We’re so thrilled to see players enjoying the content, which included two new civs, four variant civs, and all new campaign, ten new maps and two new biomes.

If you haven’t yet experienced The Sultans Ascend, it’s available now! Buy now and receive a 10% discount for a limited time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1959430/Age_of_Empires_IV__The_Sultans_Ascend/

Today we announced that Age of Empires IV will receive its next major update. Coming in early Spring, it will also mark the launch of Season 7.

As an added thank you to our players, if you log in to the game now, you’ll be able to earn a limited time New Year, New Age reward!

---

Our partners and friends at Red Bull gave us the great honor today to announce that their next Age of Empires event, Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado will be coming in 2024!

Whilst we’re not ready to share the details just yet, we recommend subscribing to Age of Empires and Red Bull Gaming channels to be sure you don’t miss information when we share it in the not-too-distant future.

---

One final announcement for the show was that we’ll be bringing Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition players another DLC at the end of 2024!

Whilst we can’t spill all of the details at this point, Director of Production Earnest Yuen was able to sneak in a couple of spoilers…

---

In 2023 Age of Empires:

• Launched two titles on Xbox consoles and cloud
  
• Released the best-selling Age of Empires expansion of all time, The Sultans Ascend for Age of Empires IV
  
• Released the two fastest selling Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition DLC ever, Return of Rome and The Mountain Royals
  
• Managed 51 game updates
  
• Our players performed 200 million Wololos, built 350 million castles and employed 1.5 billion valiant scout sheep

It was truly the biggest year for Age of Empires yet! Thank you to over 50 million players worldwide who have joined us on our journey so far.

We have so much lined up for 2024 and can’t wait to bring you along with us.

---

That’s the rundown of the show! Head to the Age of Empires YouTube channel if you want to rewatch any of what we showed today.

A heartfelt thank you to each and every one who’s played Age of Empires so far. It’s your love and passion that has kept this franchise going for the last 26 years and we can’t wait for these new chapters in our epic story in 2024.

We on the Age of Empires team want to say a huge thank you to our 50 million players around the world. 2023 was a huge year for our games and our community. We wanted to share a look at what there is to look forward to in 2024, and we’ve just wrapped our New Year, New Age show which did just that. If you watched, thank you for joining us! If you weren’t able to join us live, or you just want a reminder of all the things we covered, here’s a rundown of what’s coming this year.

• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition new DLC – Victors and Vanquished – coming March 14th
  
• Age of Mythology: Retold coming to Xbox and PC in 2024
  
• Age of Empires Mobile first look
  
• New Year, New Age Sale with games and DLC up to 50% off
  
• Age of Empires IV update and Season 7 coming early Spring
  
• New Year, New Age login reward for Age of Empires IV available now
  
• Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition free to play now! New DLC coming end of 2024
  
• Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado coming later this year

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition had a landmark year in 2023 with the addition of the Return of Rome and The Mountain Royals expansions. More than four years after launch, the game continues to grow. Telling more stories from the world’s rich history as well as bringing more civilizations to play.

The next chapter for Age of Empires II: DE will be the single player focused DLC Victors and Vanquished, coming March 14th. Introduced in today’s show by its Creator, Ramsey Abdulrahim, this DLC will be like no other we’ve made before for AoE II: DE. Victors and Vanquished features 19 epic scenarios. Your strategy and choices will decide your fate: will you emerge as the ultimate victor, or fall as the vanquished? You’ll play as Ragnar Lothbrok, Oda Nobunaga, Charlemagne and more. Each scenario features professional voice acting, new music, achievement and the quality you’d expect from an official Age of Empires scenario.

Pre-Order Now!
Victors and Vanquished will be launching soon, and you can pre-order today and receive a 15% discount! Victors and Vanquished comes to Steam on March 14th 2024.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805510/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition__Victors_and_Vanquished/?beta=1

---

Age of Mythology: Retold is another title that got its debut at our 25th anniversary. Since then, we’ve continued to develop this exciting reimagining of fan favorite Age of Mythology.

Today Art Director Melinda Rose gave players worldwide their first look at Retold via three in-game units, brought to life through amazing AR technology. Showcasing Medusa, Pegasus and Cerberus from the Greek pantheon, Melinda took us through how each unit has been updated, given completely new art and even had gameplay tweaks that will intensify their strengths and unique powers making them even more important in your strategy. They will be stronger, faster, bigger and bolder.

We are also beyond thrilled to announce that players do not have long to wait. Age of Mythology: Retold is coming to Steam in 2024 and is available to wishlist now!

If you want more information about what we showed today, be sure to follow the Age of Mythology social channels and visit http://www.ageofempires.com/.

• Age of Mythology on X
  
• Age of Mythology on Facebook
  
• Age of Mythology on Instagram

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1934680/Age_of_Mythology_Retold/?beta=1

---

At our 25th anniversary event we announced Age of Empires Mobile and we’ve been getting questions from intrigued and excited players ever since.

Today we’re so excited to unveil this partnership with the fantastic team at TiMi Studio Group, who are bringing this brand-new Age of Empires world to life. Age of Empires Mobile is a mobile war strategy game where players will embark on an exhilarating adventure and forge unbreakable bonds with friends. Featuring rich real-time controls, stunning visuals and historical heroes on grand battlefields, this addition to the franchise has so much to offer.

The game features elements from Age of Empires games, merged with brand-new and mobile-specific gameplay. You’ll engage in strategic resource management, develop unique technologies and train diverse armies to build and defend your kingdom.

In the New Year New Age show, we premiered the first gameplay trailer for Age of Empires Mobile as well as a behind the scenes look with the team at TiMi Studio Group.

You can pre-register now for Age of Empires Mobile on iOS and Google Play. For more information about the game, visit http://www.aoemobile.com/.

---

With such a fantastic roster of titles, there’s never been a better time to complete your Age of Empires collection! We’re celebrating our 50 million players with a New Year, New Age Sale on Steam! From today until the 29th of February, almost everything in the Age of Empires catalogue is up to 50% off. Go on, treat yourself.

---

In November, we launched the best-selling Age of Empires expansion of all time, The Sultans Ascend, for Age of Empires IV. We’re so thrilled to see players enjoying the content, which included two new civs, four variant civs, and all new campaign, ten new maps and two new biomes.

If you haven’t yet experienced The Sultans Ascend, it’s available now! Buy now and receive a 10% discount for a limited time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1959430/Age_of_Empires_IV__The_Sultans_Ascend/

Today we announced that Age of Empires IV will receive its next major update. Coming in early Spring, it will also mark the launch of Season 7.

As an added thank you to our players, if you log in to the game now, you’ll be able to earn a limited time New Year, New Age reward!

---

Our partners and friends at Red Bull gave us the great honor today to announce that their next Age of Empires event, Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado will be coming in 2024!

Whilst we’re not ready to share the details just yet, we recommend subscribing to Age of Empires and Red Bull Gaming channels to be sure you don’t miss information when we share it in the not-too-distant future.

---

One final announcement for the show was that we’ll be bringing Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition players another DLC at the end of 2024!

Whilst we can’t spill all of the details at this point, Director of Production Earnest Yuen was able to sneak in a couple of spoilers…

---

In 2023 Age of Empires:

• Launched two titles on Xbox consoles and cloud
  
• Released the best-selling Age of Empires expansion of all time, The Sultans Ascend for Age of Empires IV
  
• Released the two fastest selling Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition DLC ever, Return of Rome and The Mountain Royals
  
• Managed 51 game updates
  
• Our players performed 200 million Wololos, built 350 million castles and employed 1.5 billion valiant scout sheep

It was truly the biggest year for Age of Empires yet! Thank you to over 50 million players worldwide who have joined us on our journey so far.

We have so much lined up for 2024 and can’t wait to bring you along with us.

---

That’s the rundown of the show! Head to the Age of Empires YouTube channel if you want to rewatch any of what we showed today.

A heartfelt thank you to each and every one who’s played Age of Empires so far. It’s your love and passion that has kept this franchise going for the last 26 years and we can’t wait for these new chapters in our epic story in 2024.