Darkest greetings Underlord,

We’ve arrived at last to our next major iteration of War for the Overworld. Patch 1.5: Trial by Fire!

We’re extremely pleased with how the new features in this patch have turned out, and with the content offered by the free Crucible DLC there are a huge number of changes to consider. In terms of brand new features we don’t think we’ve ever brought something quite this significant to bear before!

No doubt you want to get stuck right in and you will be able to do so immediately via Steam! But if you want to find out more about the patch you can of course read our release post, or have a browse through the full release notes below.



Endless Waves of Enemies

• With waves divided into sets of five, each set heralds its own diverse theme, but all are unified in the solitary goal of your destruction.
  
• Face off against devastating bosses in the final wave of each set - kill them quick enough and earn a reward!
  
• Up to 100 pre-determined waves will appear before you based on the selected challenge; if you somehow survive those you’ll be forced to face off against random sets of enemies.

Discover new realms on which to make your mark

• Six all-new Crucible levels have been added to the game, each of which has a unique layout and design to push your survival skills to breaking point.
  
• Each realm has a set of three lanes and in many cases each lane will have its own twist to make your defence that little bit tougher.

All-new survival mechanics make you step outside your comfort zone

• Each map has three sets of Goldstones, all new shrines that gift you gold for every second they remain intact. Naturally if your foes get their way that won’t be for long.
  
• Feel like turning up the heat? The Advanced challenge will push you to the brink and beyond, so demonstrate your mastery of the game in this mode.
  
• New challenges will be added at a later date.

Call upon three powerful Lifeline abilities

• While playing the Crucible mode you have access to three powerful abilities to help you last “just a few more rounds” in exchange for a modest sum of gold. But be warned: each cast increases the cost of the Lifeline exponentially.
  
• Apocalypse destroys all enemies, except for a few particularly strong examples, within a hair's breadth of your Dungeon Core and Goldstones.
  
• Safeguard will protect your Goldstones from damage for a short while, giving you time to think.
  
• Need some time to breathe? Respite will delay the next wave so you can shore up your defences.

Make your mark and win fabulous prizes

• Each level and challenge combination features its own Steam leaderboard. Think you can take down the devs at their own game? Want to prove you’re the very best? Well now you can!
  
• New unlockable Worker skins are available to those stalwart Underlords that survive 25, 50, and 75 waves.

Through our new mutators we’re going to be putting the power in your hands: tweak gameplay mechanics through dozens of intricate sliders or simply ban units or Aspects from the game entirely. The choice is yours!

• Mutators are now available in Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer modes.
  
• There are 28 Gameplay Mutators to adjust till your heart’s content, and more to come in future patches!
  
• You can define the availability of Aspects from the Veins of Evil - unlock them from the start for all players, or block them entirely.
  
• You can enable and disable unit spawning for each unit on an individual level.
  
• You can create custom mutator sets and save them, so you’ll never lose your favourite settings.
  
• Mutators can be applied via the Map Editor to define a set of “Map Defaults” which players can choose to play with when they play your map: great for those creators looking to make a specific challenge.

We always want to bring War for the Overworld to as many fans across the world as we can, but with the limited resources of an indie developer it is often difficult to justify the costs of localisation, especially this late into the game. Inspired by the efforts of some of our most dedicated community members, we’re giving players the opportunity to bring the game to their native language like never before.

• The game now supports the ability to upload translation files of the game’s text assets to the Steam Workshop. You’ll find these tools in the Extras menu.
  
• To make the translation process as easy as possible we’ve created a set of documentation and template files, and we’ve set up a forum where you can communicate with like-minded individuals or ask us questions directly.
  
• Players can then downloaded community translations from the Steam Workshop.

You may recall a certain April Fool’s joke we made a few years ago. Well now it’s your worst nightmare in the Crucible! The horrendously friendly Democorn can also be used in the Map Editor. It arrives with the following abilities:

• Basic Attack - Headbutt the target.
  
• Painbow - Fire a painful rainbow.
  
• Double Painbow - What does it mean?
  
• Horny Charge - Fly at the target like Pegasus possessed and deal massive damage.
  
• Friendship is Magic - Passively turn all nearby units that die into Baby Democorns. Because if the world needs anything, it's more Democorns.
  
• Disco Inferno - Cause every nearby unit to stop what it's doing and party like it's 1999.

Reskinned units which use a combination of abilities taken from existing units, and which will soon be assaulting you in the Crucible. These units can also be used in the Map Editor.

Baby Democorn
• Baby version of the terrifying Democorn
  
• Does not possess the Disco Inferno, Double Painbow or Friendship is Magic abilities, but is just as fabulous
Babymoth
• A baby Behemoth
  
• Along with being adorable, the Babymoth is significantly less deadly, being weaker all round and not possessing the powerful passive damage aura or health regeneration of its grown-up form
Frosty Weaver
• An altered version of the Frost Weaver for use in custom maps and the Crucible
  
• Unlike the standard Frost Weaver this version will follow Rally flags and doesn’t melt down over time
Golden Weaver
• A demon from the Aetherial Rung of Gold, located somewhere between Phaestus and Kasita’s Home Realm
  
• Hits things hard; looks pretty; doesn’t do much else
Magma Weaver
• A demon which lives halfway between the Aetherial Rung of Fire and the Aetherial Rung of Ice, hence its liquid status
  
• Has a fiery aura that burns nearby enemies; also hits things hard
Screecher
• A mutant Bafu that navigates and hunts with sonar instead of smell
  
• Has a powerful screech attack that knocks enemies back
Restless Spirit
• Combat version of the Spirit which is literally big-headed
  
• Looks awesome and glows green
  
• Shoots necrotic bolts of death
Chunderoid
• A large Chunder whose father ate boulders for breakfast
  
• Bigger, better, and stronger than a normal Chunder, but much slower
Chilly Chunder
• An ice-cold Chunder whose father gorged on snowballs
  
• It will inspire others nearby to also chill out, slowing their movement and attack speeds
Chilli Chunder
• A flaming-hot Chunder whose father gorged on chilli peppers
  
• The Chilli Chunder has been imbued with flame, and a powerful flame breath ability
  
• It can also launch itself at enemies by igniting its own flatulence and flying through the air
Badass Flying Chunder
• A flying Chunder whose father gorged on Bafu
  
• Quite possibly the best unit in existence
Baron von Pukemuch
• King of the Chunders, and the strongest of them all
  
• The Baron also eats his gold, rather than depositing it in a Vault
Chunderling
• A baby Chunder
  
• Came second to the Babymoth in the “adorable dangerous demons” competition
Ember Lord
• A nutty pyromaniac and eponymous ruler of The Cult of the Ember Lord
  
• Along with the normal abilities of an Ember Demon, the Ember Lord will also set anything nearby on fire whilst summoning an endless stream of smaller Ember Demons
Pinkeye
• The oldest Oculus in existence
  
• She went blind a long time ago, but is still a deadly force to be reckoned with
Molten Skarg
• A resolute Skarg which went for a swim in a volcano and didn’t feel a thing
Terror
• This terrifying older brother of the Shadow is far more deadly despite its inability to turn invisible
  
• So-called because of its many-eyed, many-horned carapace
Arcane Chunder
• A magical Chunder whose father gorged on spellbooks, and/or Arcanists
  
• With skilled use of their stomach they are able to actually burp out magical incantations to bombard their foes
Angry Monk
• These monks have been forced to wear incredibly uncomfortable brown robes
  
• Would-be slayer of Vampires, if he wasn't roaring drunk
Dwarven Arcanist
• The ranks of the Arcane Order are not only limited to humans
  
• These dwarves are adept at spell slinging, although their short stature makes aiming a tad difficult
Shambler
• An upwardly-mobile skeleton attempting to leave its dead-classness behind

Revenants (spawned by Archon & Well of Souls)
• Can now navigate around and through defences much better which should cause them to be more effective in defensive lines
Vampire
• Will now summon Restless Spirits instead of Revenants - ghostly spirits that shoot death beams

Well of Souls
• Will automatically spawn Revenants when full

Artefact of Assembly
• Now applies Defence Parts much faster and is guaranteed to complete all defences thanks to German engineering!

Level 6

• Increased the amount of time available for the player to complete the “Prison Architect” achievement
  
• Small adjustments to make the level slightly easier

[/list]

• Themed Templars, Sappers and Wardens have been added to the Empire Arcane Theme
  
• The Gargoyle energy beam is no longer absurdly bright
  
• Lightened the textures on the Stone Knight and his shell - he now “pops” a little more
  
• Bombards have been given a fresh coat of paint
  
• To prevent confusion with his brother the “Empire Worker”, the Sapper has removed his backpack, so they now look nothing alike
  
• Improved Mira Theme lighting
  
• Removed some overly bright lights from the Empire Prison
  
• Wraiths from the Uprising ritual now look visually distinct from Revenants which are spawned by the Archon and Well of Souls

• Completely rewrote the unit health shield subsystem - it should be a lot more stable now and work as intended
  
• You will now be alerted when units have been rallied for too long
  
• Unit shields will now show up for a short time after a unit has gained a level
  
• Three states are now available for unit shields: Always On, Always Off and Default - these can be cycled with Ctrl+Shift+S
  
• Tweaked a number of tooltips and other text assets for a better fit
  
• There is now a short delay when right-clicking the Core icon and it taking you to the Core’s location, after sacrificing a Worker via the icon
  
• Added the ability for Underlord Edition owners to open the Dungeoneer’s Guide to the Underworld via the Extras menu
  
• Disabled the “Translation Incomplete” message that would appear for French and German players - the translation has actually been complete since the third week of April... Oops...

• Made a number of small quality of life improvements to the Map Editor
  
• New Crucible units are placeable in the Map Editor, available under a new tab

• Added a number of voice lines specific to Inhibitors

• Some internal improvements have been made as part of the Crucible DLC to make Multiplayer more stable

• Massive streamlining of all the textures in the game, reducing memory footprint by up to 400MB at no visual cost

• Rally flags can no longer be placed inside a Prison or Arena

• Fixed a crash that could occur when importing a map and changing the number of players

• Fixed a notification that would appear claiming that a unit had no Lair when it was removed from the Arena due to a KO
  
• Flying units can no longer incorrectly pass through a raised Blade Lotus
  
• Fixed an issue where units turned into gold statues by Aureate Monoliths would continue moving if they were in collision range with another unit when they were converted

• Fixed an issue where Ramparted defences could not be sold
  
• Fixed an issue where units spawned from a Ramparted Well of Souls could not always escape the Rampart
  
• Enemy defence blueprints that have parts placed will no longer be invisible after loading a save game

• Building a Vault under gold piles when your storage capacity is currently full will now correctly distribute gold into the new Vault tiles

• Shockwave can no longer hit units through walls, through obstacles, or inside the Prison or Arena
  
• Fixed an exploit whereby possessing a minion and clicking very fast to work a Barracks prop would cause it to level very quickly
  
• Fixed an issue where certain VFX could be visible through walls while in Possession mode, in particular the Worker Rally flag VFX

• Fixed an issue with the Transmutation potion where it was not possible to drop the potion on a non-valid block, even if there were valid blocks in range

• Fixed an issue where ranged abilities could disappear when flying over a Chasm
  
• VFX for Inhibitors will no longer reappear after their destruction

• Temple Guards will no longer be spawned with 60 experience in the Map Editor
  
• Fixed an issue where the Sapper was displayed twice in the Map Editor
  
• Gold is now correctly removed from the minimap if removed using an Earth tile rather than the Remove Gold tool

• Fixed a number of of problems where conversations and narration would play at incorrect times in Heart of Gold Level 4
  
• Enemies no longer spawn from destroyed portals in Heart of Gold Level 3
  
• Fixed an incredibly rare scenario where a delay in loading a save game could cause loops in level scripts not retriggering properly
  
• The Overworld Gateway in Level 6 no longer starts at reduced health
  
• Fixed an issue where Underlord Marcus did not say his full line in Level 4
  
• The Inhibitor in Level 3 should now have the correct health value

• Fixed dozens of typos for the English language
  
• Fixed an issue whereby the game would not alert you if a unit had become unhappy or angry
  
• Fixed an issue where unit shields would not display correctly for certain defences
  
• Unit shields should no longer show for invisible targets after loading a saved game
  
• Units that are turned to a gold statue will no longer show in their Warband
  
• Fixed an issue where a certain UI message that appeared for deprecated languages would continuously appear after each Level if not correctly dismissed
  
• Severe crackdown on the right to congregate - as such units in the
• Peaceband will no longer appear as if they were in “Group 63”

• The Possession mode camera will no longer clip into the Spirit Worker

• Fixed a hang that could occur in three-player matches when the match was started when only two players had the map

• Fixed some cases where 3D audio was incorrectly playing as 2D Audio
  
• Lava SFX are now correctly affected by volume control

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

We’ve arrived at last to our next major iteration of War for the Overworld. Patch 1.5: Trial by Fire!

We’re extremely pleased with how the new features in this patch have turned out, and with the content offered by the free Crucible DLC there are a huge number of changes to consider. In terms of brand new features we don’t think we’ve ever brought something quite this significant to bear before!

No doubt you want to get stuck right in and you will be able to do so immediately via Steam! But if you want to find out more about the patch you can of course read our release post, or have a browse through the full release notes below.



Endless Waves of Enemies

• With waves divided into sets of five, each set heralds its own diverse theme, but all are unified in the solitary goal of your destruction.
  
• Face off against devastating bosses in the final wave of each set - kill them quick enough and earn a reward!
  
• Up to 100 pre-determined waves will appear before you based on the selected challenge; if you somehow survive those you’ll be forced to face off against random sets of enemies.

Discover new realms on which to make your mark

• Six all-new Crucible levels have been added to the game, each of which has a unique layout and design to push your survival skills to breaking point.
  
• Each realm has a set of three lanes and in many cases each lane will have its own twist to make your defence that little bit tougher.

All-new survival mechanics make you step outside your comfort zone

• Each map has three sets of Goldstones, all new shrines that gift you gold for every second they remain intact. Naturally if your foes get their way that won’t be for long.
  
• Feel like turning up the heat? The Advanced challenge will push you to the brink and beyond, so demonstrate your mastery of the game in this mode.
  
• New challenges will be added at a later date.

Call upon three powerful Lifeline abilities

• While playing the Crucible mode you have access to three powerful abilities to help you last “just a few more rounds” in exchange for a modest sum of gold. But be warned: each cast increases the cost of the Lifeline exponentially.
  
• Apocalypse destroys all enemies, except for a few particularly strong examples, within a hair's breadth of your Dungeon Core and Goldstones.
  
• Safeguard will protect your Goldstones from damage for a short while, giving you time to think.
  
• Need some time to breathe? Respite will delay the next wave so you can shore up your defences.

Make your mark and win fabulous prizes

• Each level and challenge combination features its own Steam leaderboard. Think you can take down the devs at their own game? Want to prove you’re the very best? Well now you can!
  
• New unlockable Worker skins are available to those stalwart Underlords that survive 25, 50, and 75 waves.

Through our new mutators we’re going to be putting the power in your hands: tweak gameplay mechanics through dozens of intricate sliders or simply ban units or Aspects from the game entirely. The choice is yours!

• Mutators are now available in Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer modes.
  
• There are 28 Gameplay Mutators to adjust till your heart’s content, and more to come in future patches!
  
• You can define the availability of Aspects from the Veins of Evil - unlock them from the start for all players, or block them entirely.
  
• You can enable and disable unit spawning for each unit on an individual level.
  
• You can create custom mutator sets and save them, so you’ll never lose your favourite settings.
  
• Mutators can be applied via the Map Editor to define a set of “Map Defaults” which players can choose to play with when they play your map: great for those creators looking to make a specific challenge.

We always want to bring War for the Overworld to as many fans across the world as we can, but with the limited resources of an indie developer it is often difficult to justify the costs of localisation, especially this late into the game. Inspired by the efforts of some of our most dedicated community members, we’re giving players the opportunity to bring the game to their native language like never before.

• The game now supports the ability to upload translation files of the game’s text assets to the Steam Workshop. You’ll find these tools in the Extras menu.
  
• To make the translation process as easy as possible we’ve created a set of documentation and template files, and we’ve set up a forum where you can communicate with like-minded individuals or ask us questions directly.
  
• Players can then downloaded community translations from the Steam Workshop.

You may recall a certain April Fool’s joke we made a few years ago. Well now it’s your worst nightmare in the Crucible! The horrendously friendly Democorn can also be used in the Map Editor. It arrives with the following abilities:

• Basic Attack - Headbutt the target.
  
• Painbow - Fire a painful rainbow.
  
• Double Painbow - What does it mean?
  
• Horny Charge - Fly at the target like Pegasus possessed and deal massive damage.
  
• Friendship is Magic - Passively turn all nearby units that die into Baby Democorns. Because if the world needs anything, it's more Democorns.
  
• Disco Inferno - Cause every nearby unit to stop what it's doing and party like it's 1999.

Reskinned units which use a combination of abilities taken from existing units, and which will soon be assaulting you in the Crucible. These units can also be used in the Map Editor.

Baby Democorn
• Baby version of the terrifying Democorn
  
• Does not possess the Disco Inferno, Double Painbow or Friendship is Magic abilities, but is just as fabulous
Babymoth
• A baby Behemoth
  
• Along with being adorable, the Babymoth is significantly less deadly, being weaker all round and not possessing the powerful passive damage aura or health regeneration of its grown-up form
Frosty Weaver
• An altered version of the Frost Weaver for use in custom maps and the Crucible
  
• Unlike the standard Frost Weaver this version will follow Rally flags and doesn’t melt down over time
Golden Weaver
• A demon from the Aetherial Rung of Gold, located somewhere between Phaestus and Kasita’s Home Realm
  
• Hits things hard; looks pretty; doesn’t do much else
Magma Weaver
• A demon which lives halfway between the Aetherial Rung of Fire and the Aetherial Rung of Ice, hence its liquid status
  
• Has a fiery aura that burns nearby enemies; also hits things hard
Screecher
• A mutant Bafu that navigates and hunts with sonar instead of smell
  
• Has a powerful screech attack that knocks enemies back
Restless Spirit
• Combat version of the Spirit which is literally big-headed
  
• Looks awesome and glows green
  
• Shoots necrotic bolts of death
Chunderoid
• A large Chunder whose father ate boulders for breakfast
  
• Bigger, better, and stronger than a normal Chunder, but much slower
Chilly Chunder
• An ice-cold Chunder whose father gorged on snowballs
  
• It will inspire others nearby to also chill out, slowing their movement and attack speeds
Chilli Chunder
• A flaming-hot Chunder whose father gorged on chilli peppers
  
• The Chilli Chunder has been imbued with flame, and a powerful flame breath ability
  
• It can also launch itself at enemies by igniting its own flatulence and flying through the air
Badass Flying Chunder
• A flying Chunder whose father gorged on Bafu
  
• Quite possibly the best unit in existence
Baron von Pukemuch
• King of the Chunders, and the strongest of them all
  
• The Baron also eats his gold, rather than depositing it in a Vault
Chunderling
• A baby Chunder
  
• Came second to the Babymoth in the “adorable dangerous demons” competition
Ember Lord
• A nutty pyromaniac and eponymous ruler of The Cult of the Ember Lord
  
• Along with the normal abilities of an Ember Demon, the Ember Lord will also set anything nearby on fire whilst summoning an endless stream of smaller Ember Demons
Pinkeye
• The oldest Oculus in existence
  
• She went blind a long time ago, but is still a deadly force to be reckoned with
Molten Skarg
• A resolute Skarg which went for a swim in a volcano and didn’t feel a thing
Terror
• This terrifying older brother of the Shadow is far more deadly despite its inability to turn invisible
  
• So-called because of its many-eyed, many-horned carapace
Arcane Chunder
• A magical Chunder whose father gorged on spellbooks, and/or Arcanists
  
• With skilled use of their stomach they are able to actually burp out magical incantations to bombard their foes
Angry Monk
• These monks have been forced to wear incredibly uncomfortable brown robes
  
• Would-be slayer of Vampires, if he wasn't roaring drunk
Dwarven Arcanist
• The ranks of the Arcane Order are not only limited to humans
  
• These dwarves are adept at spell slinging, although their short stature makes aiming a tad difficult
Shambler
• An upwardly-mobile skeleton attempting to leave its dead-classness behind

Revenants (spawned by Archon & Well of Souls)
• Can now navigate around and through defences much better which should cause them to be more effective in defensive lines
Vampire
• Will now summon Restless Spirits instead of Revenants - ghostly spirits that shoot death beams

Well of Souls
• Will automatically spawn Revenants when full

Artefact of Assembly
• Now applies Defence Parts much faster and is guaranteed to complete all defences thanks to German engineering!

Level 6

• Increased the amount of time available for the player to complete the “Prison Architect” achievement
  
• Small adjustments to make the level slightly easier

[/list]

• Themed Templars, Sappers and Wardens have been added to the Empire Arcane Theme
  
• The Gargoyle energy beam is no longer absurdly bright
  
• Lightened the textures on the Stone Knight and his shell - he now “pops” a little more
  
• Bombards have been given a fresh coat of paint
  
• To prevent confusion with his brother the “Empire Worker”, the Sapper has removed his backpack, so they now look nothing alike
  
• Improved Mira Theme lighting
  
• Removed some overly bright lights from the Empire Prison
  
• Wraiths from the Uprising ritual now look visually distinct from Revenants which are spawned by the Archon and Well of Souls

• Completely rewrote the unit health shield subsystem - it should be a lot more stable now and work as intended
  
• You will now be alerted when units have been rallied for too long
  
• Unit shields will now show up for a short time after a unit has gained a level
  
• Three states are now available for unit shields: Always On, Always Off and Default - these can be cycled with Ctrl+Shift+S
  
• Tweaked a number of tooltips and other text assets for a better fit
  
• There is now a short delay when right-clicking the Core icon and it taking you to the Core’s location, after sacrificing a Worker via the icon
  
• Added the ability for Underlord Edition owners to open the Dungeoneer’s Guide to the Underworld via the Extras menu
  
• Disabled the “Translation Incomplete” message that would appear for French and German players - the translation has actually been complete since the third week of April... Oops...

• Made a number of small quality of life improvements to the Map Editor
  
• New Crucible units are placeable in the Map Editor, available under a new tab

• Added a number of voice lines specific to Inhibitors

• Some internal improvements have been made as part of the Crucible DLC to make Multiplayer more stable

• Massive streamlining of all the textures in the game, reducing memory footprint by up to 400MB at no visual cost

• Rally flags can no longer be placed inside a Prison or Arena

• Fixed a crash that could occur when importing a map and changing the number of players

• Fixed a notification that would appear claiming that a unit had no Lair when it was removed from the Arena due to a KO
  
• Flying units can no longer incorrectly pass through a raised Blade Lotus
  
• Fixed an issue where units turned into gold statues by Aureate Monoliths would continue moving if they were in collision range with another unit when they were converted

• Fixed an issue where Ramparted defences could not be sold
  
• Fixed an issue where units spawned from a Ramparted Well of Souls could not always escape the Rampart
  
• Enemy defence blueprints that have parts placed will no longer be invisible after loading a save game

• Building a Vault under gold piles when your storage capacity is currently full will now correctly distribute gold into the new Vault tiles

• Shockwave can no longer hit units through walls, through obstacles, or inside the Prison or Arena
  
• Fixed an exploit whereby possessing a minion and clicking very fast to work a Barracks prop would cause it to level very quickly
  
• Fixed an issue where certain VFX could be visible through walls while in Possession mode, in particular the Worker Rally flag VFX

• Fixed an issue with the Transmutation potion where it was not possible to drop the potion on a non-valid block, even if there were valid blocks in range

• Fixed an issue where ranged abilities could disappear when flying over a Chasm
  
• VFX for Inhibitors will no longer reappear after their destruction

• Temple Guards will no longer be spawned with 60 experience in the Map Editor
  
• Fixed an issue where the Sapper was displayed twice in the Map Editor
  
• Gold is now correctly removed from the minimap if removed using an Earth tile rather than the Remove Gold tool

• Fixed a number of of problems where conversations and narration would play at incorrect times in Heart of Gold Level 4
  
• Enemies no longer spawn from destroyed portals in Heart of Gold Level 3
  
• Fixed an incredibly rare scenario where a delay in loading a save game could cause loops in level scripts not retriggering properly
  
• The Overworld Gateway in Level 6 no longer starts at reduced health
  
• Fixed an issue where Underlord Marcus did not say his full line in Level 4
  
• The Inhibitor in Level 3 should now have the correct health value

• Fixed dozens of typos for the English language
  
• Fixed an issue whereby the game would not alert you if a unit had become unhappy or angry
  
• Fixed an issue where unit shields would not display correctly for certain defences
  
• Unit shields should no longer show for invisible targets after loading a saved game
  
• Units that are turned to a gold statue will no longer show in their Warband
  
• Fixed an issue where a certain UI message that appeared for deprecated languages would continuously appear after each Level if not correctly dismissed
  
• Severe crackdown on the right to congregate - as such units in the
• Peaceband will no longer appear as if they were in “Group 63”

• The Possession mode camera will no longer clip into the Spirit Worker

• Fixed a hang that could occur in three-player matches when the match was started when only two players had the map

• Fixed some cases where 3D audio was incorrectly playing as 2D Audio
  
• Lava SFX are now correctly affected by volume control

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

It is time to rouse from your slumber and prove you still have what it takes to survive in the dark depths of this world. Patch 1.5: Trial by Fire, and the Crucible mode DLC are here at last, and both completely free to everyone.

Patch 1.5 is a major stepping stone in our quest to make War for the Overworld feature complete and self-sustaining for the rest of eternity. Let’s cast an evil eye upon the diabolical content that is rising up to your Steam library right now, from our very own game dev dungeon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMvfBEJk7E



Crucible mode is a free-for-everyone DLC. A complete reimagining and reconstruction of the long-standing Survival Prototype, you will face off against unending waves of ever-stronger enemies, until eventually your defences crumble, the evil mentor proclaims your defeat, and, all being well, you rise up the global leaderboard!

We’ve excavated metric tons of earth to bring you heaps of Crucible mode content:

KEY FEATURES

• New survival-style Crucible game mode
  
• Six all-new maps designed exclusively for the new Crucible mode
  
• Two unique challenge modes, from the scalding to the incinerating
  
• Global leaderboards on which to challenge your evilest rivals
  
• Dozens of new units and variants including the Democorn, Mandalf the Maroon, and the Chunder King himself, Baron von Pukemuch
  
• Three powerful Lifeline abilities, should you enter into dire straits
  
• Three prestigious new Worker skins to unlock should you survive long enough
  
• New Crucible voiceover from the evil mentor himself, Richard Ridings
  
• We’re confident that you’ll be begging for mercy before the day is out, but don’t take our word for it! Enter the Crucible and see how long you can squirm before death becomes you.

Want to know more about Crucible mode? Then step back in time and take a gander at our previous previews:

Preview 1 - Waves, Lanes, Goldstones, Bosses, New Fiery Units
Preview 3 - Lifelines, Challenges, Leaderboards, New Golden Units
Preview 2 and Preview 4 also revealed new Arcane and Chunder units respectively



Patch 1.5 itself, like all our major patches, represents yet another refinement of WFTO’s core systems. This time we’re putting the power in your hands with mutators, modifiers, and new translation tools:

• Dozens of Gameplay Mutators for Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer modes (Preview 4)
  
• Availability Modifiers for all units and all Veins of Evil Aspects (Preview 4)
  
• New community translation tools via the Steam Workshop (Preview 2) (Forum)
  
• Dozens of other changes & fixes!

It may not be the largest major patch we’ve ever unleashed (that lofty title is well held by Patch 1.4), but nevertheless it promises to be one that shakes the Underworld to its very foundations.

Want to get to your Hand of Evil all over the complete list of changes in Patch 1.5? Read the full release notes!

There’s much still to come from WFTO, but we won’t hold you back any longer, Underlord. Go forth and begin your trial by fire. All being well, you’ll go up in smoke.


Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

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Darkest greetings Underlord,

It is time to rouse from your slumber and prove you still have what it takes to survive in the dark depths of this world. Patch 1.5: Trial by Fire, and the Crucible mode DLC are here at last, and both completely free to everyone.

Patch 1.5 is a major stepping stone in our quest to make War for the Overworld feature complete and self-sustaining for the rest of eternity. Let’s cast an evil eye upon the diabolical content that is rising up to your Steam library right now, from our very own game dev dungeon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMvfBEJk7E



Crucible mode is a free-for-everyone DLC. A complete reimagining and reconstruction of the long-standing Survival Prototype, you will face off against unending waves of ever-stronger enemies, until eventually your defences crumble, the evil mentor proclaims your defeat, and, all being well, you rise up the global leaderboard!

We’ve excavated metric tons of earth to bring you heaps of Crucible mode content:

KEY FEATURES

• New survival-style Crucible game mode
  
• Six all-new maps designed exclusively for the new Crucible mode
  
• Two unique challenge modes, from the scalding to the incinerating
  
• Global leaderboards on which to challenge your evilest rivals
  
• Dozens of new units and variants including the Democorn, Mandalf the Maroon, and the Chunder King himself, Baron von Pukemuch
  
• Three powerful Lifeline abilities, should you enter into dire straits
  
• Three prestigious new Worker skins to unlock should you survive long enough
  
• New Crucible voiceover from the evil mentor himself, Richard Ridings
  
• We’re confident that you’ll be begging for mercy before the day is out, but don’t take our word for it! Enter the Crucible and see how long you can squirm before death becomes you.

Want to know more about Crucible mode? Then step back in time and take a gander at our previous previews:

Preview 1 - Waves, Lanes, Goldstones, Bosses, New Fiery Units
Preview 3 - Lifelines, Challenges, Leaderboards, New Golden Units
Preview 2 and Preview 4 also revealed new Arcane and Chunder units respectively



Patch 1.5 itself, like all our major patches, represents yet another refinement of WFTO’s core systems. This time we’re putting the power in your hands with mutators, modifiers, and new translation tools:

• Dozens of Gameplay Mutators for Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer modes (Preview 4)
  
• Availability Modifiers for all units and all Veins of Evil Aspects (Preview 4)
  
• New community translation tools via the Steam Workshop (Preview 2) (Forum)
  
• Dozens of other changes & fixes!

It may not be the largest major patch we’ve ever unleashed (that lofty title is well held by Patch 1.4), but nevertheless it promises to be one that shakes the Underworld to its very foundations.

Want to get to your Hand of Evil all over the complete list of changes in Patch 1.5? Read the full release notes!

There’s much still to come from WFTO, but we won’t hold you back any longer, Underlord. Go forth and begin your trial by fire. All being well, you’ll go up in smoke.


Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

We bet you’re itching to get your hands on Patch 1.5 with all the goodies it’s bringing: the new Crucible mode, community translation, and mutators! Wait, what’s that? We haven’t talked much about mutators yet, have we?

Well fear not because today in our final preview we’re going to be looking at the third big feature of Patch 1.5: Gameplay Mutators!



Mutators are gameplay modifications that we’re allowing you to apply to your Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer games. Through these you can tweak a number of core game elements such as speed, XP multiplier, research rate, and much more! Just take a look at this list:


There are around two dozen mutators in total. We had to design a new menu just for them!

With all these options you might find that there are a few specific configurations that you want to come back to time and again. Fortunately we’ve got you covered on that! We’re introducing the ability to save and load presets of your mutators, allowing you to quickly recall your preferred set(s).

Naturally we want players to be aware if they’re going into a match with mutators, so when you join a lobby you’ll now be able to see the mutator set that is in play, as well as being able to open the mutator menu yourself to see exactly what changes have been made.

And we’re not stopping there! We already have plans for more mutators post Patch 1.5, and if we have our way there’ll be some truly crazy options coming your way.



We recognise that not every player is going to want to delve deeply into mutators to overhaul the gameplay. Fortunately working on mutators has allowed us to introduce a few other long-requested custom features, chief of which is toggling the availability of units and Aspects.


Hate Chunders? Well now you can make them extinct. (You devil, you.)

Via the menus you’ll be able to change the availability of units, rooms, defences, spells, rituals – pretty much everything – for all players in the match. For the Veins of Evil this means you’ll be able to switch an Aspect between being unlocked from the start, researchable through the Veins, or not unlockable at all. Units meanwhile can have their spawning enabled or disabled.

With all these tweakable options making their way towards Skirmish, Sandbox and Multiplayer modes we can’t wait to see how this affects the flow of the game, and what unique ways you’ll find to spice up your subterranean escapades!



We couldn’t let you leave without one last preview, and we have no doubt that it’ll prove to be the most popular one yet! There’s no big mystery here, just a gaggle of Chunders. But what is truly special is that this family portrait gives us an unprecedented insight into the secret lives of these beautiful creatures.


“Alright then, look this way, and say, ‘Cheese!’”

You see, as is common knowledge, Chunders are literally what they have eaten. Or more specifically, they are what their parent has eaten. That is to say when a Chunder devours something quite extravagant, it will vomit out an offspring likely to have inherited some property of the food. Can you guess what each Chunder’s parent was scoffing down?

Well, that about wraps us up here, Underlord. But we shall be seeing you again very soon on Monday, when Patch 1.5 is released!

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

We bet you’re itching to get your hands on Patch 1.5 with all the goodies it’s bringing: the new Crucible mode, community translation, and mutators! Wait, what’s that? We haven’t talked much about mutators yet, have we?

Well fear not because today in our final preview we’re going to be looking at the third big feature of Patch 1.5: Gameplay Mutators!



Mutators are gameplay modifications that we’re allowing you to apply to your Skirmish, Sandbox, and Multiplayer games. Through these you can tweak a number of core game elements such as speed, XP multiplier, research rate, and much more! Just take a look at this list:


There are around two dozen mutators in total. We had to design a new menu just for them!

With all these options you might find that there are a few specific configurations that you want to come back to time and again. Fortunately we’ve got you covered on that! We’re introducing the ability to save and load presets of your mutators, allowing you to quickly recall your preferred set(s).

Naturally we want players to be aware if they’re going into a match with mutators, so when you join a lobby you’ll now be able to see the mutator set that is in play, as well as being able to open the mutator menu yourself to see exactly what changes have been made.

And we’re not stopping there! We already have plans for more mutators post Patch 1.5, and if we have our way there’ll be some truly crazy options coming your way.



We recognise that not every player is going to want to delve deeply into mutators to overhaul the gameplay. Fortunately working on mutators has allowed us to introduce a few other long-requested custom features, chief of which is toggling the availability of units and Aspects.


Hate Chunders? Well now you can make them extinct. (You devil, you.)

Via the menus you’ll be able to change the availability of units, rooms, defences, spells, rituals – pretty much everything – for all players in the match. For the Veins of Evil this means you’ll be able to switch an Aspect between being unlocked from the start, researchable through the Veins, or not unlockable at all. Units meanwhile can have their spawning enabled or disabled.

With all these tweakable options making their way towards Skirmish, Sandbox and Multiplayer modes we can’t wait to see how this affects the flow of the game, and what unique ways you’ll find to spice up your subterranean escapades!



We couldn’t let you leave without one last preview, and we have no doubt that it’ll prove to be the most popular one yet! There’s no big mystery here, just a gaggle of Chunders. But what is truly special is that this family portrait gives us an unprecedented insight into the secret lives of these beautiful creatures.


“Alright then, look this way, and say, ‘Cheese!’”

You see, as is common knowledge, Chunders are literally what they have eaten. Or more specifically, they are what their parent has eaten. That is to say when a Chunder devours something quite extravagant, it will vomit out an offspring likely to have inherited some property of the food. Can you guess what each Chunder’s parent was scoffing down?

Well, that about wraps us up here, Underlord. But we shall be seeing you again very soon on Monday, when Patch 1.5 is released!

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Patch 1.5 draws ever closer but there’s still more to share before it goes
live. Come take your metaphorical seat and let us regale you with a deeper look into the mechanics of Mendechaus’ vicious Crucible.

But first, if you missed last week’s pair of updates be sure to read up on the fundamentals of the Crucible mode, as well as the insight we gave into the new community translation tools which are on their way.



Looking at all the horrors that are set to beset you in the Crucible you might think that we’re throwing you in with nothing but a prayer. Well that’s certainly true, but at least we’re throwing you in with a prayer that can be answered – three in fact!



Apocalypse will obliterate enemies that come within a hair’s breadth of your Dungeon Core!


Lifelines are a new mechanic that we developed especially for Crucible mode. Each of these three incredibly powerful spells will no doubt be pivotal in saving your bacon from that other, angry bacon that will soon be rampaging through your dungeon. You see, each Lifeline has the power to destroy or delay your enemy, giving you more breathing room.



Goldstones taking a pummelling? Safeguard will make them immortal for a short while.


However, powerful as these spells may be we can’t just let you use them without a care in the world. Each time you unleash one of these devastating abilities you’ll find the gold cost to unleash it again has increased. Use one without forethought and you’ll find yourself paying through the nose to unleash it again.



It’s difficult to capture the fact that Respite delays the next wave, so here’s a picture of our art director, Pat, and a clock instead.


Lifelines ultimately won’t save you from a fate worse than death, but at least they’ll delay the inevitable long enough for you to get a new high score! Speaking of which…



Ever since the original Survival Prototype made its way into the game we’ve seen regular requests for a leaderboard to be added so that the most competitive Underlords can compare their scores.

Well at long last we’re pleased to announce that the Crucible will include fully-functional leaderboards in the Steam version of the game!



There’s some serious board leading occurring here.


What else is there to say on the topic of leaderboards that you don’t already know we wonder. Well at the very least we can say that each map and challenge combination has its own leaderboard, so if you’re not so savvy in one combination then perhaps another will see you rising through the ranks.



But what are these challenges we mentioned? Well to put it simply they are collections of changes and mutators that adjust your experience in Crucible mode. This could be anything from making gold incredibly scarce, to making it so that every enemy you see is a Chunder!

Although we’ll only be launching Crucible mode with two challenges – the standard mode and a “master” mode – you can rest assured that there are plenty more in the works.



So you think yourself a master? Mendechaus would like to put that theory to the test.



What do we have here? Some of Kasita’s pet treasures gone wandering? I suppose nobody told them that gold isn’t the strongest metal in Kairos, and rather unfit for combat.



Golden soldiers – be bewitched at your peril.


That about wraps us up for this preview, but we’ve still got one more on the way this Friday. Mendechaus is almost ready to put you through his Crucible. Are you ready for your impending trial?

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Patch 1.5 draws ever closer but there’s still more to share before it goes
live. Come take your metaphorical seat and let us regale you with a deeper look into the mechanics of Mendechaus’ vicious Crucible.

But first, if you missed last week’s pair of updates be sure to read up on the fundamentals of the Crucible mode, as well as the insight we gave into the new community translation tools which are on their way.



Looking at all the horrors that are set to beset you in the Crucible you might think that we’re throwing you in with nothing but a prayer. Well that’s certainly true, but at least we’re throwing you in with a prayer that can be answered – three in fact!



Apocalypse will obliterate enemies that come within a hair’s breadth of your Dungeon Core!


Lifelines are a new mechanic that we developed especially for Crucible mode. Each of these three incredibly powerful spells will no doubt be pivotal in saving your bacon from that other, angry bacon that will soon be rampaging through your dungeon. You see, each Lifeline has the power to destroy or delay your enemy, giving you more breathing room.



Goldstones taking a pummelling? Safeguard will make them immortal for a short while.


However, powerful as these spells may be we can’t just let you use them without a care in the world. Each time you unleash one of these devastating abilities you’ll find the gold cost to unleash it again has increased. Use one without forethought and you’ll find yourself paying through the nose to unleash it again.



It’s difficult to capture the fact that Respite delays the next wave, so here’s a picture of our art director, Pat, and a clock instead.


Lifelines ultimately won’t save you from a fate worse than death, but at least they’ll delay the inevitable long enough for you to get a new high score! Speaking of which…



Ever since the original Survival Prototype made its way into the game we’ve seen regular requests for a leaderboard to be added so that the most competitive Underlords can compare their scores.

Well at long last we’re pleased to announce that the Crucible will include fully-functional leaderboards in the Steam version of the game!



There’s some serious board leading occurring here.


What else is there to say on the topic of leaderboards that you don’t already know we wonder. Well at the very least we can say that each map and challenge combination has its own leaderboard, so if you’re not so savvy in one combination then perhaps another will see you rising through the ranks.



But what are these challenges we mentioned? Well to put it simply they are collections of changes and mutators that adjust your experience in Crucible mode. This could be anything from making gold incredibly scarce, to making it so that every enemy you see is a Chunder!

Although we’ll only be launching Crucible mode with two challenges – the standard mode and a “master” mode – you can rest assured that there are plenty more in the works.



So you think yourself a master? Mendechaus would like to put that theory to the test.



What do we have here? Some of Kasita’s pet treasures gone wandering? I suppose nobody told them that gold isn’t the strongest metal in Kairos, and rather unfit for combat.



Golden soldiers – be bewitched at your peril.


That about wraps us up for this preview, but we’ve still got one more on the way this Friday. Mendechaus is almost ready to put you through his Crucible. Are you ready for your impending trial?

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Back once more for another insight into the upcoming Patch 1.5? Well you’re right on time! Our dedicated engineers are just putting the finishing touches on a somewhat small but no less significant undertaking, if we do say so ourselves. So today we’re going to take a brief look at the upcoming community translation features in Patch 1.5.



Community translation is where fans put their collective heads together and bring a product from its native language into their own, so that others who are not so savvy in the complexities of other languages can also enjoy the experience.

In short it will allow dedicated multilingual fans to share their experience of WFTO with others by translating the game. Though this has been done before with WFTO (looking in particular at the incredible Japanese translation!) it has previously been achieved through ad hoc methods which could cause issues in the long run.



Instead of forcing players to go the roundabout route of directly translating and modifying our game files, we’re now implementing a more robust system:

• We will be providing templates for translators to fill out. These will be similar to our existing translation files, so existing translations should not be majorly affected.
  
• These templates can then be dropped into the game files and uploaded to the Steam Workshop.
  
  • This means that translation files can be downloaded in a one-click process via the Workshop.
    
  • They will then be added to the Options menu’s Language list, where they will become a selectable language.
• We will be providing concise updates for translators to use whenever we make changes to the game text. So you’ll always be ahead of the curve when new content releases!
  
• To centralise all this information we’ll be updating our forums and Knowledge Base to contain all the tools you’ll need to create and keep translation files up to date.
  
• To further support unofficial translations we may consider asking dedicated teams to provide translations for our Steam store pages, which would direct players of a particular language to download the community translation from the Workshop.

One of the problems of being a relatively small indie developer working on your very first title - especially when that title is as narrative, text and speech heavy as WFTO - is that you have to make very strict choices on where you invest your resources.

Unfortunately translation of games is extremely expensive and in many cases it becomes difficult for us to justify the investment, especially so far after launch when the greatest portion of sales are behind us. This presents a double whammy as we’re very keen on updating the game with new features and content (just like this patch!), but this new content may not be translated into as many languages as we’d like.


Now our dedicated Aussie fans can bring you the authentic fair dinkum Australian Edition!

As a developer we want to see the game reach as many potential fans as possible, and it’s much to our regret that we can’t finance the official translation into all the languages we would like. As you may know we also had to drop several languages from our official translations after launch, as these were originally funded by our physical distribution partner, and their budget did not support post-release content.

Supporting community translations helps both us and our fans by giving the community the tools to better address these issues.



If you’re a dedicated fan, or a member of an interested translation team, please get in touch via our forums! We’d love to work with you to bring WFTO to your language.



There are those that might say this update was a little too text heavy, but fear not we have more of the game-changing features of Patch 1.5 coming to you next Monday, with a further look into Crucible mode!

In the meantime we’ll leave you with this cheerful lot - our new arcane brethren! Though it seems one of them has slipped in unnoticed...



Someone’s been gorging on spellbooks.

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
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