Today's update is pretty big. New cool stuff and a lot of improvements based on the latest feedback.

Patch Pre-Beta 0.9.2 is here, let's take a look!





This is part of the Challenge system that we are preparing. It will rule world events like cataclysm and bring new activities that go to Survival and BR. We are now starting to test the shrinking zone in Survival and will share information about BR separately in future updates.

In this patch, a cataclysm comes and the zone starts to shrink on the 7th in-game day, then on the 50th and 100th day of survival. Later, this will be tied to the days of the Challenge and will only occur when it is activated.

There are several battlefields on the map, and the zone will randomly select one of them to make it your arena for that day.



When the zone begins to shrink, a marker appears on the compass. The intensity of the earthquake and sound should also help you orient. Be careful while running!



As soon as you arrive on the battlefield and the zone closes the arena, waves of enemies attack you. During the fight with these waves, you will respawn at a random point of the shrinked zone.



The zone will disappear after all the enemies of the last wave are killed.



Lighting has been updated in many ways to fix gameplay comfort issues and improve the overall look.

First of all, we fixed those random moments of darkness. The brightness has been adjusted for different weather conditions, so that even during a storm at night you can still orient. In addition, shadows are now of better quality, and updated post-processing makes the game more beautiful without compromising performance.



Most of the characters have been replaced with more optimized and higher quality models.



We also improved existing ones, updated textures, optimized them, and fixed issues with cloth physics.



Ragdolls no longer fly like crazy and explode on impact. The related issues have been fixed and it now works correctly in multiplayer as well. Impulses for different weapons and some other aspects of physics have also been improved.



Now you need to press the jump key to climb, auto-climb while sprinting is disabled. Adjusted NPC parkour abilities. Reduced unwanted parkour behavior.



We have moved Loki's Maze Deathmatch to new, more powerful EU and US servers provided by GPORTAL. Survival servers will also be there in a little while, we will announce about them in another update.



Raids have been changed to be more logical and less frustrating. Your house is now attacked less often.

Fixed an issue that caused Settlement raid bots to respawn after logging back into the game.



The spawn point you set is now displayed as a compass marker.

You can see the place of the last death, so you can come back.



You can pick up objects under drinking water, the selection outline will switch depending on priorities.



Now it can be placed without problems both in lakes and in sea water. Fixed accessibility issues.



Lakes no longer glitch and instantly kill, and are now easy to get out of.



Fixed issues with Mjolnir's hit causing it to not work.



High waves no longer pass through the ship bottom.



Warriors now respawn when revived.

• Vikings now always have something in their pockets.
  
  
• Fixed get up animation playing randomly.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the get up animation would play randomly.
  
  
• Quest texts corrected.
  
  
• Optimized the performance of Loki's Maze Deathmatch mode.
  
  
• Fixed strange inventory sounds.
  
  
• Fixed hanging deer collision.
  
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the squad control wheel to appear and break the game in Loki's Maze Deathmatch.
  
  
• Speed up the respawn time of Weapon test bots.
  
  
• Fixed collision of trees that blocked attacks.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their feedback and filling out the form from the game!


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

Before we take a look what today's patch brings, we'd like to show a part of the larger content we're preparing.



This is an epic shrinking zone. We will share the details about it in the next update. It will have multiple roles in the future and we will start testing it in Survival mode first in the next patch.



Patch Pre-Beta 0.9.1 is here, let's see what's in it!



We received a lot of feedback about the movement, in short, it was too slow.

We adjusted sprinting, running and walking with new speeds, corrected animations, blending and updated the boost system (at first you don't start running at full speed and you need time to accelerate).

It still has the balancing features for combat, such as moving backwards more slowly and stopping sprinting in some cases, but now feels more dynamic and satisfying.



Since there is a movement update, there is also a stamina update. However, it's not just about the new sprint costs. This improves the overall balance of stamina. As for the sprint, there is now a tangible cost of initial acceleration.



The torch is now brighter and covers more distance. We also heard a lot about how it looked like it was from the last decade, so here are the new visuals.



The wall torch and some other effects have been updated too. The effects won't become blurry like it used to be from time to time.

Light no longer passes through walls in some strange way.



Post-effects and some other aspects related to graphics have also been improved. Reduced motion blur, adjusted and reduced head bobbing, fixed small but annoying visual glitches.



There is no longer a limit on the number of light sources that can be placed at the same time. Light up your settlement.



Raid spawning has been adjusted to avoid enemies spawning in your house if you have a large house. Also added more wave days.



One of the quests that was causing issue has been replaced. A little later we will add more quests along with world events.



Fixed issues with character disappearing and game breaking after falling.



The character no longer flies away or falls under the map. However, bot ragdolls can still have this issue and we will fix it soon.



The bug that caused a crash after the death of the player should now be gone, but to fully prevent this problem from happening again, we will make some additional changes in the next patch.



The landscape now has better detail and looks smoother. Also, small floating rocks and grass that weren't level with the ground and were casting strange shadows now sit well in place.


Guys, thank you for sharing your feedback and filling out the form!


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

The Pre-Beta 0.9 patch is here! New content, important fixes and improvement. Let's check it out!





Today's update adds waves of enemies that are looking for and attacking your settlement.

AI navigation now covers the entire map, which means they will find your house anywhere. And they will try to destroy it!



Settlement raiders can come at any time of the day. They aim to destroy your respawn.

There are different waves with different enemies. The more days you survive, the harder enemies visit you (although there are a few random relax waves).



First, several Vikings with swords will knock on your door, but after a few days, fiery arrows will fly into the house. There is a chance that even a bear and other animals will become your guests.





NVIDIA DLSS uses the power of the NVIDIA RTX Tensor Cores to boost frame rates and generate sharp frames that approach or exceed native rendering.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 works across both Radeon and GeForce graphics cards, and on older models such as the GTX 10 and 16 series too.

You can find their customizable options in the Video settings.



We've heard from many players about an issue where swapping slots stopped working. Now it's fixed.



Previously, the torch could stop igniting. Now this is fixed, also in the Control settings there is a slot for changing the ignition key of the torch.



The scoreboard will no longer open randomly in Survival.



A collision while mining an ore caused the character to fly into the sky when you try to climb it. This has been fixed.

However, we know that this problem also occurs with other objects, causing the character to fly into the sky when trying to parkour. This will be fixed in the next patches.



After you cut down trees and mine ore, they respawn in this area after a certain time. The respawn of stones stopped working correctly at some point and is fixed now.



Attack timings have been adjusted to improve combat.







You can find it in the Craft menu.



In the previous patch we broke landscape and water in the main build when we were working on the new coastline, sorry about that. It will appear in the next patches, but for now the landscape and water have been fixed. There should no longer be holes in the water next to mountains.





Raid bots looking for the player, not the attacking settlements, were already able to shoot fire arrows and attack buildings, but they stopped due to numerous problems. They are now fixed and if you hide from enemies that are targeting the player they can attack that building and also switch to fire arrows to fire at it.



It was a bit of a fun bug, if one of your enemies accidentally hits the other, they start fighting each other. Now they share the same fighting spirit and stick to the goal. Also hostile vikings now can attack you with their wolves, they will fight together.


Thanks to everyone for sharing feedback and filling the form!


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

Today's patch brings important bug fixes and improvements. Also lately we have been working on bigger content that will be shown not today, but in the coming updates.





Now in Survival, the raiders are set to a new environment, hostile Vikings are looking for you around the map. We're starting with a low gang frequency based on previous feedback. On the way we have a new form of raids, they will turn into special waves.



To fight back and make your own raids, you need warriors under your command. You can now hire people in Survival. Find the head of the mercenaries marked on the compass.



Choose a suitable generated warrior, they have different characteristics. Keep in mind, a stronger warrior costs more and you will need to pay him a regular salary. You can find gold in various places, raid the camp, or loot those who have come for your head.



Thanks to community feedback, we have discovered a bug that caused the attack animation system to break and not execute attacks. Players experienced this more often during gathering. Now it is fixed.



The issue that caused your character to fly has been resolved.



Since the last patch, Loki's Maze Deathmatch servers have occasionally disconnected players during a match. Sorry for the inconvenience. That is fixed.



Fixed an issue that caused player ships to disappear after restarting the game.



The UI has been updated with some improvements and bug fixes. Issues that existed with some display ratios have been fixed.



Updated equip-unequip animations for all weapons. Now they work faster, blend much smoother and became more satisfying. Fixed custom issues with certain weapons, the two-handed axe no longer does weird things.



If you get hit while climbing, it will be canceled and you may fall. Fixed various issues related to parkour.



Brightness no longer jumps in a strange way. This was especially a problem on cloudy and rainy days when it was too dark to see well. The night under the moon also became a little brighter. Adjusted the fog for better visibility and it also gives a slight performance improvement.





A Viking with a shield is not such an easy target for an archer from a distance. Those who do not have a shield still have a chance to successfully dodge at the last moment.



It now freezes time in Singleplayer. Also, fixed several bugs in pause menu.



A feedback button has been added with a question form, where you can also report bugs and share suggestions.



Day time is longer now based on received feedback.



As we said earlier, the map is not in its final form. Better coastline and many other improvements on the way.


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

The Pre-Beta 0.8.8 patch is here and has brought a lot of new content, let's check it out!





First, many animations become procedural. They get the most influence from how you move your mouse. This makes the blade feel like an extension of your hand. This area of improvement can be developed further, but it already increases control satisfaction.



This is where the fun begins, all attack animations also have procedural animation logic. This means that all attack animations can now play differently depending on your mouse movement.

You can adjust the direction of the blade in flight.



In addition, you can control the angle of your shield to adapt to the attack.



We've also tweaked the stamina balance a bit for the more intense fights we're preparing for when you and your squad face more enemies in the future.

This allows you to use directional dodges more freely. Dodges add a lot of combat dynamics, and it is the dynamics that we want to emphasize in our Viking combat.



Today's combat improvements include other nice adjustments, we've added more weight to each attack with diverse animation and camera movement techniques, it now feels like more natural physics.



The animation system has been adjusted to make animation transitions smoother and more natural. For example, earlier when entering a sprint, there was a sharp rough animation change, and now it corresponds to an acceleration of speed.





Now you can climb walls, jump over fences, step on rocks in different ways.



For convenience, the climb will be performed automatically when sprinting over an obstacle. For example, run over the fence, and your character will jump over it.

When you're not running, just walk up to an obstacle and press the jump button.

Moreover, NPCs also know how to parkour. Enemies and your squad will epicly enter the battle under your command. Some of them won't, it's possible to fall from there...



Note: not all rocks and building objects are compatible with parkour at the moment, they will be in the next patches.



Now there is a crouch with all weapons.





The last patch had problems with the fishing trap, this fixes them. The fishing trap must be placed in the lake. One of the lakes has a default marker on the compass.



Hostile Vikings may appear on your path through the forest.



Some graphics tweaks, a general increase in brightness and a change in weather probability.



Thanks guys for the feedback after the previous update. Added more stone and iron to the map, making them easier to find. Also in future patches, it will be possible to mine those rocks too so that there is no confusion.



More wild animals in the forests are happy to meet you.



Improved water material.

Added temporary water blocking volumes to prevent the ship from falling under the map.

Fixed collisions that caused weapons to fall underground.

Fixed exploding eyeballs on characters.


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

Today we are bringing new content and many gameplay improvements. As said in the previous update, we are starting to focus heavily on actual playability of the game, rather than just adding new features as we prepared them separately before.

In this patch a new map with more gameplay suitable landscape and better optimization arrives. Here, after certain amount of polishing, many previously prepared mechanics will make sense and start playing together in a really enjoyable gameplay loop.

If you have old saves, please press Restart button in the pause menu.
Alternately you can clear your save folder here C:|Users|*YourName*|AppData|Local|VALHALL if there are any issues.

Survival mode is available in Singleplayer, while the servers are offline for now.. We have finished the previously mentioned preparations, but have rethought some points and decided to bring them back at a later stage after adding certain upcoming content. In this way, we will be able to optimize the development and reduce the frustration of the players due to possible problems.
Loki's deathmatch servers are online.

Also, this patch fixes some significant issues and improves the overall smoothness of the game.

Patch Pre-Beta 0.8.5 is out, hope you enjoy it!




The new map is an island. Its terrain has appropriate curves for animals and warrior bots navigation. It is also being prepared for various game events and quests. The landscape is still a work in progress, if you find an unfinished part somewhere on the map, we are preparing it for future content.

There are different aspens, firs, red pines on the map. And you can cut them all!



Breathing life into the environment step by step.



Iron ore can now be found mostly in swamps.



There is a new enemy camp that you can raid.

The island you start on is the main place where you survive and will be the main battleground with future game events.



However, we are preparing other smaller islands that you will be able to reach by ship!



It's here in Survival. As well as buildable ships! You can find it in the Build menu.





Previous lakes were weird, mostly because you couldn't swim in them, you could just walk through the water. Now it's fixed. You can swim and drink from slightly more beautiful lakes on the new map. A marker has also been added for it to make it easier to find.





Atmosphere and lighting have been improved for different weather. The nights are much clearer, but still dark enough that good vision requires a light source. The night sky now rotates not horizontally, but naturally.



According to players feedback, the day and night have become longer.

Also, now there is an eye adaption effect.



Adjusted the weather for different seasons. Some aspects are still work in progress. Snow covers the foliage in Winter.





Ready to eat, hold E to pick up.





The game improved not only visually, but became more performant too. It's still pretty heavy and we're still working on it. Weather settings and graphics configs were adjusted. The graphics settings configs have also been changed, the game looks better at lower settings than before.



Based on player feedback, we've added an aim UI. It shows the direction of your mouse, which can help you navigate through directional attacks. The bow remains unsighted.



The camera has been adjusted to make movement more enjoyable, and some actions, such as the construction process, have become smoother.



Changed the set of characters in Survival mode.



The running speed has become mostly higher to feel more agile and reach destinations faster. The important point is that it has a speed acceleration curve that greatly affects its actual feel and various nuances such as being able to run away from attackers.



Fixed various main menu bugs such as overlapping different UI tabs in some cases when after entering the Armory. Also disabled the current background animations, the appearance and functionality of the main menu will be updated in future patches.



Now the game starts faster, game modes load faster.



Fixed an issue where the process not stop after closing the game. It also affected in-game performance and could cause minor freezes every few seconds before fix.


Skål!
Blackrose Arts

Hello! Sorry for the delay with this update. Our team in Ukraine stays strong and we continue to push progress.

Today we are bringing gameplay improvements and new features. Some of them are currently only available in the Weapon Test mode, but will appear in Survival with a new map in the next patch.

And this new map will be a place where a lot of previously prepared mechanics will make sense and start playing together.



The new environment will be concentrated in terms of visuals and events. You will no longer need to walk from one point to another for a long time along a huge empty hill.

The behavior of animals and characters will improve significantly in the new landscape. The interactivity of nature and the dynamics of the weather will also feel better.

• Added recruitment of mercenaries.
  
  
  
  You can hire mercenaries to fight for you. All mercenaries have their own characteristics: health, stamina, damage multiplier, inventory slots and salary per day. There is also one additional gold payment upon hiring.
  
  You can go to the mercenaries chapter to see the list of available mercenaries. If you don't like them, there is an option to update the payment list. The list is updated on its own from time to time.
  
  On the Weapon Test gold for hire can be found in chests and enemy pockets.
  
  
• Added commands wheel to rule your squad.
  
  
  
  You can give different commands to your squad using the new command wheel.
  
  Now there are Charge, Follow me, Stay here, Make me laugh, Switch to fists fight, Auto mode.
  
  The last one means that your squad will follow you, but it will have the freedom to decide who and when to attack. If you order just to Follow you, they won't attack anyone. Later commands will be supplemented with such as the shield wall, and the current ones will be enhanced with a variety of sounds and animations.
  
  If you are killed, the warriors will protect your body until their last breath. This system also has safety measures in case they get stuck somewhere.
  
  
• Added Commander menu.
  
  
  
  A new tab where you can manage your warriors.
  
  Check their stats, control pay, retire. Here you can keep track of who is alive and who is dead. Also, your warrior can be revived if you are near special places.
  
  
• Added a Restart button to the pause menu.
  
  This allows to start a new game in singleplayer or reset your current save files in the event of a critical problem.
  
  
• Added exit from any in-game menu by Esc in addition to these menus buttons.
  
  
• Added a new way to enter the Building menu.
  
  Crafting and Building are now submenus of one common tab. By default, you enter the crafting menu with the R button. If you have a Hammer equipped and press the R button, the Build menu opens. With this new way, if you don't have a Hammer equipped and don't want to spend time to get it from your inventory to the hotbar, you can now simply select a structure from the Build tab. The hammer will be equipped automatically so you can build right away.
  
  
• Added torch limit to prevent crashes.
  
  
• Changed default feint button to Second thumb mouse button.
  
  
• Adjusted clash to make it feel more fluid. Chopping wood has also become a little more enjoyable.
  
  
• Fixed a bug when moving an item to your inventory from another with RMB does not stack.
  
  
• Fixed incorrect impacts on some structures, such as the fence.
  
  
• Fixed the effect of mouse scrolling on gameplay in the quest menu.
  
  
• Fixed that wolves and bears do not attack, but trigger and run up.
  
  
• Fixed a bug due to which the bear did not attack on the run in some cases, and it also became a little faster.
  
  
• Decreased deer population.
  
  
• Reduced the number of raid bots and made them less aggressive based on feedback.

Note: after adding or adjusting new content, in some cases, old saves may not work correctly with the new version. If you encounter a game-breaking bug, you can try clearing your save by clicking the new Restart button in the pause menu.

Skål!
Blackrose Arts

We are working on a huge patch that implements the mechanics of recruiting and controlling your warriors by giving them different commands.

Also, we are preparing a new map for the Survival game mode. Part of it could also be used for a BR for the first time.

Here are some gameplay footage of how orders work. At the moment, the following commands have been completed and are in the testing stage (searching for bugs, polishing): Charge, Follow me, Stay here, Switch to fists fight, and Auto mode.





The list of these commands is not exhaustive - Shield wall, Switch to bow/melee weapon, more to come.

As you may know, part of our team is based in Ukraine. We keep working and try to release the next patch in March, but right now some of us have to take care of life first.

Skål!
Blackrose Arts

19.03.22 Update: The patch was planned on March, but some things are still WIP. We aim at 7-16 April now. Thank you!
Skål!
Dadskil

Today's patch brings a lot new, fixes and improvements. Let's see what's there:

• New water
  
  You can enjoy the new water on the Weapon test map! It is part of a new comprehensive system including boats and swimming.
  
  
• Boats and swimming are here! & New Weapon test map
  
  Now you can test the boat and swimming features on the new Weapon test map. They are WIP and will be improved in the course of development (both logic and effects).
  
  
  
  Swimming allows you to swim not only on the surface of the water, but also underwater as long as you have air.
  
  
  
  To board the ship you will need the ladders located at the bow of the ship and use the rudder located at the stern of the ship.
  
  
  
  The boat has several movement modes - use W (once & twice) and S for speed and A/D for turning.
  
  Important note: all of these features (the new water, boat and swim system) only work on the Weapon test map because the current Survival map is just a testing ground in the current development phase. And these systems require a lot of work with the landscape. That's why we decided to implement them already on the new Survival map, which is currently in development. More information will be in the next updates - about the upcoming new map and the start of Beta testing, when there will be enough mechanics and content to ensure a playable and enjoyable game state.
  
  
• Adjusted the stamina cost for various weapon items
  
  Now each type of weapon (1H, 2H, shields) consumes stamina more correctly and is blocked depending on the type of weapon.
  
  
• Archers (bots) inventory improvements
  
  Archers now have only a small amount of arrows in their inventory.
  
  
• Improved AI logic - bots can now switch weapons between melee and ranged weapons
  
  Basically, this logic is prepared for future mechanics and content, when the player will be able to control his own warriors...
  
  
• Adjusted bot spawn randomizer
  
  Now it is configured correctly and raid bots appear in a random number.
  
  
  Additional work has been done based on community feedback since the previous patch:
  
  
• Different accuracy of archer bots depending on the time of day
  
  Archer bots now have significantly reduced range and accuracy at night to avoid unbalanced combat during this period.
  
  
• A new block system and fine-tuned balance between different types of weapons and an increased value of shields in combat.
  
  Players can now hold a block instead of briefly blocking on each press. This will allow melee warriors with shields to gain more protection from arrows. It makes sense to use a shield more often. Removed weapon block (swords and axes) against arrows.
  
  The balance will also be reached by turn cap (when you can't turn quickly while holding block) and the additional stamina cost from hitting.
  
  When the shield's durability reaches 0, it will be destroyed.
  
  
• Balanced too many raid bots at the start of the Survival map
  
  Now bots will raid your base not at the very beginning :)
  
  P.S. We always keep an eye on your comments under updates. Main polishing work will take place closer to Beta and farther tests. But feel free to share your thoughts at any time. We are very grateful for your feedback!
  
  
  Bug fixes:
  
  
• Fixed visual bug with hotbar at the moment of death
  
  
• Fixed an annoying weapon swap bug
  
  
• Fixed disappearance of the character's body when approaching a dead body
  
  
• Fixed item management bugs
  
  Incorrect position of the item icon when moving with LMB and incorrect work of fast transfer with RMB

• Loki's maze Deathmatch servers may have connection issues during the next 2 days.
  
  
• Customized weapon equip doesn't work correctly after the latest inventory rework
  
  
• Crouch is temporarily disabled
  
  
• Latency has a too big influence on the block (VFX could not work as well as block quality is not we are aiming for)
  
  
• In rare cases game process doesn't finish on its own for a long time.
  
  
• Characters don't play movement animations correctly. We need to fix upperbody bones rotation during movement animations

Important! Some bugs can appear due to conflict with temp / saved files of previous VALHALL versions on your PC.
If you meet an unlisted issue then:
- delete all game saves here: C:|Users|*YourName*|AppData|Local|VALHALL.
- uninstall the game through Steam
- delete manually game folder in your Steam folder
P.S. Keep in mind that you will lose progress in single player modes in case of deleting save files.

We have done almost all the work on the Survival servers. They are still undergoing maintenance, but will be back to life soon with the next patches. Now you can try it under the Singleplayer tab. Loki's maze Deathmatch servers are on now.

Skål!
Blackrose Arts

We wish you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!


Improved bot logic for Loki's maze Deathmatch

As you probably know, before the bots participated only in combat and did not challenge you to save points by activating the Runestone. Now bots are also fighting for activation and can become great rivals.



Moreover, archers' logic was improved - now they notice obstacles (trees, stones, walls) during aiming and bypass them (previously they shot to obstacles if their target was behind the obstacle).

Ships & new water are almost ready and will be in the next update!

As we work on new basics, there are some changes that may cause bugs in previous saves. If you encounter one, please clear your save files C:|Users|*YourName*|AppData|Local|VALHALL

In the next patch, boats will be presented by one type - Karvi. Drakkar (Busse) and others will be added later.







Each type of ship has its own characteristics that affect how it is controlled, how it interacts with water and with other ships in accordance with the physics of the game.

For example, a larger ship will deal more damage to a smaller ship in the event of a collision, and its momentum at the time of collision will depend on the masses of both ships. Another case is if you stop your ship - it will sail slowly due to the physics of the waves.

• Weapon swapping bugs in rare cases. Reconnect to fix.
  
  
• Customized weapon equip doesn't work correctly after the latest inventory rework.
  
  
• Crouch is temporarily disabled.
  
  
• Latency has a too big influence on the block (VFX could not work as well as block quality is not we are aiming for).
  
  
• In rare cases game process doesn't finish on its own for a long time.
  
  
• Characters don't play movement animations correctly. We need to fix upperbody bones rotation during movement animations.

Important! Some bugs can appear due to conflict with temp / saved files of previous VALHALL versions on your PC.
If you meet an unlisted issue then:
- delete all game saves here: C:|Users|*YourName*|AppData|Local|VALHALL.
- uninstall the game through Steam
- delete manually game folder in your Steam folder

Survival servers are still undergoing maintenance. You can try it under the Singleplayer tab. They will become available again in the next patches (Loki's maze Deathmatch servers are on now).

• Boats.
  
  
• New items and gathering options.
  
  
• New characters and equipable armor.
  
  
• Bots logic upgrades.
  
  
• Combat improvements and bug fixes.

Our team sends you the warmest holiday wishes!

Skål!
Blackrose Arts