Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ weâve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasnât been answered there, weâll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Greetings future Soul Hunters! Narrative Director Chad Briggs here to tell you all about the spooky season in the world of Ars Notoria! Given the game's multitude of beings possessed by dark spirit energy, this time of the year in our game world is both insanely fun and delightfully macabre. This is just one of the many seasons being implemented in pursuit of providing the player with tons of unique, seasonal activities and quests. But first, some basic information on the passage of time and our game seasons.
As youâve previously gotten a glimpse of in several gameplay clips and stills, the world of Ars Notoria has four distinct seasons. These seasons come and go with the natural passing of accelerated time based on our in-game calendar. The open-ended world allows the player the opportunity to experience many years and many seasons, as they are not tied to real-world dates/times. These game seasons are:
Ren - Season of Renewal (Spring)
Lux - Season of Light (Summer)
Aur - Season of Harvest (Fall)
Dim - Season of Twilight (Winter)
One of the things weâll talk about in a future blog post is the different classes of spirit magic, called Ars, that can be harnessed during the game. For seven days per season in the game world, each Ars will have a moment to draw upon more spirit energy than normal, gaining an edge over the others. The first seven days of Aur, the Season of Harvest, favor the Ars Necromia, a magic with dark designs on chaos and necromancy.
During this season, practitioners of this Ars are in full force, dabbling in occult forces, undead beings, and blood magic. These unnatural perversions of spirit magic will pit you against new, unique Enthralled that only show up during the seven zenith days of Aur, many hovering around tombs and cemeteries where the undead concentration is strongest. Of these creatures, few are more disturbing than the mutated, spider-pumpkin, an Enthralled being created from angry, vengeful spirits and dark Ars magic.
During the zenith days of Aurs, players can attend an event known as The Festival of Souls. Youâll be able to uncover a wide variety of season-specific quests and meet strange, unusual characters that come from all corners of the kingdom. On the surface, the festival is a celebration of remembrance for the souls of friends and family now passed. But beware! Lurking in the shadows, just out of reach of the safety of festival lights, are more unsavory types conducting bloodcurdling business. Who knows, depending on your in-game choices and the factions you align yourself with, one of these individuals could be you?
The season of Aur is not merely about combat, magic, and questing, but also the gameâs other notable mechanic of crafting and creation. An assortment of special structures, accessories, and weapon recipes can be crafted during the season, each with its own Aur-flavored twist. Lastly, we would be terrible game developers if we didnât give the player the Aur seasonâs recipe they desired most: the ability to craft their very own pumpkin spice lattes!
This is just scratching the surface of special in-game activities the player can take advantage of during the Season of Harvest. These key seasons and events are a free permanent addition to the game, the player can experience all of its content while progressing through the main storyline. We look forward to showing you more about this season and others in future blog posts to come! Till then, Happy Halloween from all of us working on Ars Notoria!
As you may have noticed, we have changed server provider. We want to thank GameServers for all the years of service they gave to Contagion! We will cherish all our memories we had on their servers and wish GameServers the best endeavors!
With that said, we now join BlueFangSolutions who in a pinch, decided to take it upon themselves to answer the call. We have 30 servers in multiple regions and now we have servers in Asia/Pacific! It will take some time to finish the final touches for the servers, but they should be functioning at 110%!
BlueFang staff are also big fans of Zombie Panic! Source and Contagion! Be sure to check them out if you are looking into renting a server. They host a variety of games and are accessible to many regions!
The spooky times are at hand, and once again we are taking part in the ongoing festivities with a sale and haunting imagery. So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...
It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.
Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.
Kekri Goat
Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition? Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well.
Themed in-game visuals for the spooky period
Again this year the we have launched a special Kekri-themed game title screen for duration of the festivity period. Themed title screen becomes live shortly after this annoucement, so allow the game to update and enter your UnReal World for more haunting imagery.
Celebrate & Participate
We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year.
Compete in the resurrection of our time-limited Halloween survival challenge! Available now as a special mission, players must defend their castle from increasingly difficult waves of mythical AI invasions. This seasonal content will run until November 2nd at 10am GMT, after which time the mission will disappear... Meaning youâll have to get your Jiangshi and Terracotta Warriors fix in Free Build mode, as selectable AI Invasions!
Inspired by tales from the crypt, Chinese folklore and history, our Warlords Halloween update is now live! Erect your defences and prepare for a supernatural slaughter, as you brave our terrifying special mission against the fearsome Jiangshi and Terracotta Warriors. Customise your castle and ready your army for magic and malice unseen since the days of Stronghold Legends!
The name of the game here is survival, as you're pitted against a relentless onslaught of castle invasions and foes that are almost certainly not of this world... Use Peace Time wisely as you outfit your defences for the days to come, with the knowledge that each foe is an opposite side of the same supernatural coin. A weakness to one could be a strength to the other. So experiment with fire, fury, steel (and diseased animal carcasses) as you pinpoint their vulnerabilities to hold back the hordes of undead!
Whatever you do, never underestimate a single Jiangshi. For although they may be isolated from the pack, they are ever as deadly...
The Steam Scream Fest Halloween Sale is live today, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite is getting in on the spooktacular festivities.
We'll be streaming footage from the game and our new Pathogen DLC expansion throughout the event - and the entire AFE content collection is on sale during the event, too! Check the store page to see discounts and prices.