Here are all the new features of Reborn summed up in detail:

• New Character Create
  
• New Graphical User Interface
  
• New ‘Personality’ animations for players’ characters
  
• 5 new starter zones
  
• New storyline with involved quests
  
• Voiced dialogue
  
• New intro video with a fly-over camera
  
• New Music
  
• New starter outfits
  
• New Crafting tutorials
  
• Older zones and villages have been given artistic makeovers
  
• ‘Rebirth’: a new feature for capped players, or those over level 30

• Voiced Narration -- A character from the story audibly prompts the player through the creation process. A sub-titles feature has also been added.
  
• Origin Starter packs -- players are given a free supply pack of various perks, each one corresponding to the realm of origin selected.
  
• Biography profiles -- players can choose their origin and background, as well as personalities which provide flavorful summaries of the characters they are creating.
  
• Personality animations -- players can choose between seven new animations and ambients: Heroic, Glamorous, Thoughtful, Pious, Brutish, Fearful, and Normal.
  
• Faces Improved -- new textures have been added, as well as a new head.
  
• Height Option -- players can choose the height of their character.
  
• Realm images -- Background scenes of each realm of origin are now depicted.
  
• Villager Options -- Choices for the crafting aspect of the game have been added, and are presented as being equally important as those of the adventuring aspect. Furthermore, XP levels for chosen skills have been increased to level 5 for all new players.
  
• House Selection -- players can now select their house styles in character create, and are provided with the information about the various housing perks.

• Quest Journal -- quests can be sorted by level or name, have been color-coded, can be filtered by the type of quest, and an option to view only certain quests at a time has been added.
  
• Character Window -- Broken down into four sub-categories, the character window replaces the previous ‘outfit’ window, and now separately displays: Stats, Talents, Skills, and player Bio.
  
• On-Screen Character Portrait -- An image of the player’s character is displayed at all times in the upper left hand corner of the screen. (Clicking on it will also open the ‘talents’ window.) Additionally, upon joining a party, pictures of all party members will also be displayed on screen.
  
• Inventory -- items in bags are now color coded according to the category they belong to.
  
• Shortcuts -- Shortcut icon tabs have been added on screen for the quest journal, friends lists, achievements, and the character window. These have all been removed from the ‘Menu’ tab.
  
• Quest tracking bar -- the icons for the five quests being tracked are now in upper corner of screen, aligned horizontally instead of vertically.
  
• Character select screen -- new background images based upon a player’s origin selection for their character now appear on the select page.

• 5 brand new zones -- Ethos Island, Lower Ethos Island, Cronk Island, The Briny Caverns, and the Underground Sanctum. (The now much-changed town of Summer’s Hollow has moved, and can be found on Ethos Island.)
  
• Fly-cam video -- an introductory video takes the player on a brief tour of Ethos Island before setting them down in front of Summer’s Hollow.
  
• New Quests -- A series of lengthy, story-driven quests will keep players busy in all the new zones.
  
• Voiced Dialogue -- Over 60 different NPC’s in the new zones have speaking parts.
  
• New ‘Story Icon’ -- A purple exclamation mark over an NPC now indicates that the quest is part of the main storyline. (Yellow exclamation marks indicate side quests.)
  
• An Improved Crafting/Gathering Tutorial -- Extensive tutorials for all 8 skills have been added in the new zones.

• Artistic Touch-ups to old zones -- Ardent City, Ardent Castle, Lady’s Lake, Elk’s Meadow, Memorial Pond, Vinton, Mounds, Moonglade, Oak Valley, Kingsport, Southern Coast, Shadow's Den and Villages have all been enhanced.

• Players can return to level 1, and will be given 5 bonus talent points.
  
• Players will keep all of their prior crafting skills, elder levels, items, bags, gnogmentation packs, achievements, travel pad locations, and portal keys they earned before rebirthing.
  
• Players will lose all prior combat levels. All quest status,’ progress, and completions will be reset, as well as bounties and kill counts. All talents will be reset, and any talent points gained by leveling will also be lost. However, players will keep any talent points received for performing the rebirth.
  
• In addition to the five bonus talent points given, players will also receive a special hero experience bonus that stacks with all normal experience boosts. This bonus scales with level, becoming increasingly powerful upwards of a 400% boost.
  
• Players who undergo the rebirthing process will also receive a special emblem displayed in their player cameo text, which will indicate how many times they have been reborn.

Please note: at this time, such items as Yorick's Gathering Hat, Cheetah Boots, and Golden Winged Helm will lose their proficiencies after a player performs a Rebirth. However, we will be implementing tech in several weeks time, which will ensure that the proficiencies on the items will remain.


How does it work?

Gathering from any resource requires a specific tool. Fishing requires a pole. Mining requires a pick-axe, Wood, fruit, and mushroom picking require a scythe. Bug collecting requires a magnifying glass. Each tool can be equipped with unique supplies which provide special advantages to the gatherer. These supplies are found in the different gathering nodes within the world, and are interdependent upon each other, thereby forming a circle of life.

• Mining supplies can be gained while fishing and mining.
  
• Plant Lore supplies can be gained while mining and doing plant gathering.
  
• Bug Lore supplies can be gained while doing Plant Lore, and collecting bugs.
  
• Fishing supplies can be gained while doing Bug Lore and fishing.

Examples of supplies:

• Grindstones aid in plant lore, and can be used to sharpen scythes.
  
• Fishing Worms aid in fishing, and act as tantalizing bait.
  
• Natural oils aid in mining, and can improve the metal of the pick-axe.
  
• Nectar aids in the collection of bugs.

(continued in part 2)

Here are all the new features of Reborn summed up in detail:

• New Character Create
  
• New Graphical User Interface
  
• New ‘Personality’ animations for players’ characters
  
• 5 new starter zones
  
• New storyline with involved quests
  
• Voiced dialogue
  
• New intro video with a fly-over camera
  
• New Music
  
• New starter outfits
  
• New Crafting tutorials
  
• Older zones and villages have been given artistic makeovers
  
• ‘Rebirth’: a new feature for capped players, or those over level 30

• Voiced Narration -- A character from the story audibly prompts the player through the creation process. A sub-titles feature has also been added.
  
• Origin Starter packs -- players are given a free supply pack of various perks, each one corresponding to the realm of origin selected.
  
• Biography profiles -- players can choose their origin and background, as well as personalities which provide flavorful summaries of the characters they are creating.
  
• Personality animations -- players can choose between seven new animations and ambients: Heroic, Glamorous, Thoughtful, Pious, Brutish, Fearful, and Normal.
  
• Faces Improved -- new textures have been added, as well as a new head.
  
• Height Option -- players can choose the height of their character.
  
• Realm images -- Background scenes of each realm of origin are now depicted.
  
• Villager Options -- Choices for the crafting aspect of the game have been added, and are presented as being equally important as those of the adventuring aspect. Furthermore, XP levels for chosen skills have been increased to level 5 for all new players.
  
• House Selection -- players can now select their house styles in character create, and are provided with the information about the various housing perks.

• Quest Journal -- quests can be sorted by level or name, have been color-coded, can be filtered by the type of quest, and an option to view only certain quests at a time has been added.
  
• Character Window -- Broken down into four sub-categories, the character window replaces the previous ‘outfit’ window, and now separately displays: Stats, Talents, Skills, and player Bio.
  
• On-Screen Character Portrait -- An image of the player’s character is displayed at all times in the upper left hand corner of the screen. (Clicking on it will also open the ‘talents’ window.) Additionally, upon joining a party, pictures of all party members will also be displayed on screen.
  
• Inventory -- items in bags are now color coded according to the category they belong to.
  
• Shortcuts -- Shortcut icon tabs have been added on screen for the quest journal, friends lists, achievements, and the character window. These have all been removed from the ‘Menu’ tab.
  
• Quest tracking bar -- the icons for the five quests being tracked are now in upper corner of screen, aligned horizontally instead of vertically.
  
• Character select screen -- new background images based upon a player’s origin selection for their character now appear on the select page.

• 5 brand new zones -- Ethos Island, Lower Ethos Island, Cronk Island, The Briny Caverns, and the Underground Sanctum. (The now much-changed town of Summer’s Hollow has moved, and can be found on Ethos Island.)
  
• Fly-cam video -- an introductory video takes the player on a brief tour of Ethos Island before setting them down in front of Summer’s Hollow.
  
• New Quests -- A series of lengthy, story-driven quests will keep players busy in all the new zones.
  
• Voiced Dialogue -- Over 60 different NPC’s in the new zones have speaking parts.
  
• New ‘Story Icon’ -- A purple exclamation mark over an NPC now indicates that the quest is part of the main storyline. (Yellow exclamation marks indicate side quests.)
  
• An Improved Crafting/Gathering Tutorial -- Extensive tutorials for all 8 skills have been added in the new zones.

• Artistic Touch-ups to old zones -- Ardent City, Ardent Castle, Lady’s Lake, Elk’s Meadow, Memorial Pond, Vinton, Mounds, Moonglade, Oak Valley, Kingsport, Southern Coast, Shadow's Den and Villages have all been enhanced.

• Players can return to level 1, and will be given 5 bonus talent points.
  
• Players will keep all of their prior crafting skills, elder levels, items, bags, gnogmentation packs, achievements, travel pad locations, and portal keys they earned before rebirthing.
  
• Players will lose all prior combat levels. All quest status,’ progress, and completions will be reset, as well as bounties and kill counts. All talents will be reset, and any talent points gained by leveling will also be lost. However, players will keep any talent points received for performing the rebirth.
  
• In addition to the five bonus talent points given, players will also receive a special hero experience bonus that stacks with all normal experience boosts. This bonus scales with level, becoming increasingly powerful upwards of a 400% boost.
  
• Players who undergo the rebirthing process will also receive a special emblem displayed in their player cameo text, which will indicate how many times they have been reborn.

Please note: at this time, such items as Yorick's Gathering Hat, Cheetah Boots, and Golden Winged Helm will lose their proficiencies after a player performs a Rebirth. However, we will be implementing tech in several weeks time, which will ensure that the proficiencies on the items will remain.


How does it work?

Gathering from any resource requires a specific tool. Fishing requires a pole. Mining requires a pick-axe, Wood, fruit, and mushroom picking require a scythe. Bug collecting requires a magnifying glass. Each tool can be equipped with unique supplies which provide special advantages to the gatherer. These supplies are found in the different gathering nodes within the world, and are interdependent upon each other, thereby forming a circle of life.

• Mining supplies can be gained while fishing and mining.
  
• Plant Lore supplies can be gained while mining and doing plant gathering.
  
• Bug Lore supplies can be gained while doing Plant Lore, and collecting bugs.
  
• Fishing supplies can be gained while doing Bug Lore and fishing.

Examples of supplies:

• Grindstones aid in plant lore, and can be used to sharpen scythes.
  
• Fishing Worms aid in fishing, and act as tantalizing bait.
  
• Natural oils aid in mining, and can improve the metal of the pick-axe.
  
• Nectar aids in the collection of bugs.

(continued in part 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj9erJRu1wo

We're happy to announce that our Reborn expansion is now live and available to play for anyone! After the automatic update you're good to do - welcome to our brand new chapter of Villagers & Heroes. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj9erJRu1wo

We're happy to announce that our Reborn expansion is now live and available to play for anyone! After the automatic update you're good to do - welcome to our brand new chapter of Villagers & Heroes. :)

Mad Otter Games is very excited to announce the release date of Villagers and Heroes: REBORN, the latest in a long line of changes that brings a whole new life to the game. Not only can veteran players find exciting new content and features with this major expansion, but we have re-designed the entire game and especially the starter zone to make those first several hours in the game more exciting and immersive.

REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th, at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific.

REBORN includes these major new improvements:

• A Mystery to Solve - Who is the Malicious Miscreant, and why are citizens of Summer's Hollow mysteriously disappearing?
  
• The Circle of Life - An all new gathering supply system that completely replaces the unpopular ENERGY / Vim system formerly featured in the game. Worms for fishing, Nectar for bug collecting, Grind Stones for your plant sickle, etc.
  
• Voice Acting and Musical Score - Professional voice actors for the major quests in the game
  
• Complete Face Lift - Literally and otherwise- most of the world has been completely redone with new artwork (models and painted texture), completely new User Interface, and new character facial choices have been added.
  
• Wider Breadth of Choices for your Character - Apart from choosing your appearance and class specialization, you can now choose your personality type (complete with appropriate body pose), your origin, and your skills as a villager.
  
• Be Reborn! Enter the Temple of Rebirth to unlearn all your combat skills and start anew, but this time with the advantage of more skills to unlock, and without losing all of your character’s knowledge of gathering, crafting, gear and items, and greatly accelerated learning!

More information on REBORN can be found at www.vhreborn.com or the Steam Community page of the game.

Mad Otter Games is very excited to announce the release date of Villagers and Heroes: REBORN, the latest in a long line of changes that brings a whole new life to the game. Not only can veteran players find exciting new content and features with this major expansion, but we have re-designed the entire game and especially the starter zone to make those first several hours in the game more exciting and immersive.

REBORN will launch on Monday, June 8th, at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific.

REBORN includes these major new improvements:

• A Mystery to Solve - Who is the Malicious Miscreant, and why are citizens of Summer's Hollow mysteriously disappearing?
  
• The Circle of Life - An all new gathering supply system that completely replaces the unpopular ENERGY / Vim system formerly featured in the game. Worms for fishing, Nectar for bug collecting, Grind Stones for your plant sickle, etc.
  
• Voice Acting and Musical Score - Professional voice actors for the major quests in the game
  
• Complete Face Lift - Literally and otherwise- most of the world has been completely redone with new artwork (models and painted texture), completely new User Interface, and new character facial choices have been added.
  
• Wider Breadth of Choices for your Character - Apart from choosing your appearance and class specialization, you can now choose your personality type (complete with appropriate body pose), your origin, and your skills as a villager.
  
• Be Reborn! Enter the Temple of Rebirth to unlearn all your combat skills and start anew, but this time with the advantage of more skills to unlock, and without losing all of your character’s knowledge of gathering, crafting, gear and items, and greatly accelerated learning!

More information on REBORN can be found at www.vhreborn.com or the Steam Community page of the game.

Have a look at the finished livestream, where many new and intriguing features are looked at together with the Villagers & Heroes developers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70dTgVFrjA

Have a look at the finished livestream, where many new and intriguing features are looked at together with the Villagers & Heroes developers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70dTgVFrjA

Relive your past! In Villagers & Heroes: Reborn, your character can undergo several Rebirths - where they return to level one and get to re-experience the game, but keeping all valuables and non-combat skill levels. Characters who have undergone a Rebirth will also receive extra talent points and a boost to gained combat XP.

To perform a Rebirth you must make it to the Temple of Rebirth, where the mysterious ways of reliving your life are revealed. If you pass the tests of the ritual, you are Reborn.

This ritual can be performed four times - at level 30, 45, 60 and 75. Each time further stat points are granted, culminating in a bonus of 20 points if you have been reborn all four times.

Characters who have undergone a Rebirth will have special ornaments attached to their portraits - so others can always tell that you have undergone the Ritual.

Your ornaments grow more beautiful and intricate with each Rebirth, so you can finally wear the insigina of ultimate wisdom.



There is much, much more to see in Villagers & Heroes: Reborn - but that is for you to discover! Stay tuned as we get closer to the release of this brand new chapter of Villagers & Heroes history. See you in the Seven Realms!

Relive your past! In Villagers & Heroes: Reborn, your character can undergo several Rebirths - where they return to level one and get to re-experience the game, but keeping all valuables and non-combat skill levels. Characters who have undergone a Rebirth will also receive extra talent points and a boost to gained combat XP.

To perform a Rebirth you must make it to the Temple of Rebirth, where the mysterious ways of reliving your life are revealed. If you pass the tests of the ritual, you are Reborn.

This ritual can be performed four times - at level 30, 45, 60 and 75. Each time further stat points are granted, culminating in a bonus of 20 points if you have been reborn all four times.

Characters who have undergone a Rebirth will have special ornaments attached to their portraits - so others can always tell that you have undergone the Ritual.

Your ornaments grow more beautiful and intricate with each Rebirth, so you can finally wear the insigina of ultimate wisdom.



There is much, much more to see in Villagers & Heroes: Reborn - but that is for you to discover! Stay tuned as we get closer to the release of this brand new chapter of Villagers & Heroes history. See you in the Seven Realms!