Accompanying The Mountain Royals expansion will be an update including a massive rework of the Persian civilization! This update will be available to everyone who owns the base game of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, whether you have purchased the upcoming The Mountain Royals expansion or not.

The Persian Civilization Identity

As more civilizations were released through additional expansions, we found the Persian civilization was slowly becoming less unique and their primary identity as a Knight civilization had become less meaningful.

We strived for the way the Persians are represented in-game to incorporate additional design, while representing their rich history, creating more unique tools for the Persian civilization’s toolbox. We wanted to provide you with more interesting strategic choices, and ways for you to engage your opponents, all while representing them from the early Middle Ages to late empire.

In this update, our goal was to make the Persians feel special – the way we want each civilization to feel in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. We believe we’ve accomplished that by making the Persians a true cavalry civilization with this rework.

With that said, here’s some expanded information on a few of our favorite changes!

The Savar – A New Unique Unit

Persia’s use of heavily armored cavalry has always been represented in-game, yet having the more European-style Paladin always felt unfaithful to the civilization. With this update, the Persians have received a unique upgrade to the Cavalier; the Savar.

Though the Savar looks similar to the Paladin, but is highly specialized in defeating enemy ranged units. Its additional ranged armor makes it more resilient, and their damage bonus stacks with the Persian Team Bonus, making them extremely effective at countering enemy Archers and general ranged units.

However, the increased survivability against ranged units does come at the cost of a lower Hit Point total when compared to the Paladin, making the Savar more susceptible to melee units.

The War Elephant

With the introduction of the Battle Elephant, we found it made the War Elephant feel less unique, and for a unit that already requires a significant investment to field, we want to ensure the War Elephant gets the respect it deserves.

The goal of these changes is to make the War Elephant more prevalent in the Persian unit roster. The Mahouts Unique Technology has been removed, but the base movement speed of the War Elephant has increased 33% by default. No longer will you have to wait as your War Elephants slowly lumber towards the enemy; charge them down!

Continuing the additional improvements, the War Elephant now has a significant damage bonus against buildings, now highly capable of ripping through your opponent's base, a great way to add additional pressure. We’ve also reduced the cost for the Elite War Elephant upgrade, making it significantly easier for you to realize the full potential of these behemoth units.

We always want to ensure each unit has their place in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. With these changes, we hope we’ve given you plenty of reasons to start training more War Elephants!

Parthian Tactics Available in the Castle Age

Having access to Parthian Tactics in the Castle Age adds an entirely new layer to the strategies available to the Persian civilization within Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, making them significantly less predictable while also representing a part of history we’re excited to pay homage to.

The Sasanian Persian Empire that continued the Parthian legacy is an important part of how the Persian civilization is represented in-game. The Parthian Shot dates at least back to the Battle of Carrhae, where the Parthians used it to great effect against a Roman army. Sasanian armies employed similar tactics in the following centuries well into the early medieval period.

Now that the Persians are able to research Parthian Tactics in the Castle Age, it provides a large spike to the strength of their Cavalry Archers, which has incredible synergy with their new civilization bonus, providing extra gold for each military unit they defeat.

This is perfect to help you dictate the pace of the match with early pressure, providing a new way for you to surprise and engage your opponents.

Full Rework Change List

The above were some of our personal highlights we wanted to provide some additional background on. Please see the full list of changes to the Persian civilization below.

[expand type=details]Civilization Bonuses:

• Start the game with +50 food, +50 wood.
• Town Centers and Docks have 2x hit points and work +5%/+10%/+15%/+20% faster in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Cavalry generate 5 gold when killing enemy military units.
• Parthian Tactics available in Castle Age.
• Can build Caravanserai in Imperial Age.

Unique Units:

• War Elephant (Very Big Elephant, enjoys scenic trips down the river in a transport ship).
• Savar (Unique upgrade to the Cavalier, powerful all-purpose cavalry with attack bonus vs. Archers).

Unique Technologies

• Kamandaran (Archer-line gold cost is replaced by additional wood cost).
• Citadels (Castles receive -25% bonus damage, arrows replaced with bullets which deal +4 attack, +3 attack vs. infantry, and +3 attack vs. rams).

Team Bonus

• Knights +2 attack vs. Archers.

Other Changes:

• (Elite) War Elephant attack bonus vs. standard buildings and stone buildings increased from 7 (10) ▶ 30.
• (Elite) War Elephant base movement speed increased from 0.6 ▶8.
• Elite War Elephant upgrade cost reduced from 1600 food 1200 gold ▶ 1350 food 800 gold.

[/expand]

We understand with this update a lot of changes have been made to the Persian civilization. We look forward to hearing your feedback, and plan to continue to iterate as needed. Start the game already!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2555420/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition__The_Mountain_Royals/

Dear players,

We regret to inform you that the Demo Trailer for Dark Corridors is expected to be postponed to November. This decision was made due to some unexpected challenges that arose during the production process. We are determined to provide you with the best possible gaming experience and are working tirelessly to overcome these obstacles.

Postponement of the Demo Release to January 2024

Due to the complexity of some technical and creative aspects, we must also postpone the release date of the demo to January 2024. This was not an easy decision, and we sincerely ask for your understanding and patience as we work hard to present you with a demo that meets your expectations.


Ghostefire Interactive

We've got a rasher of quick fixes for stuff that was broken in Update 51 earlier this week, including the following.

• Scoring bug for versus fixed
  
• Ep4 finale generator sounds work right but are still too quiet
  
• Damage radius on some fire in the Ep4 finale reduced
  
• Several more Ep4 spawn areas that are invalid were fixed. Please keep sending these in, it’s hugely helpful
  
• Removed the reference cube from Ep4
  
• You’ll see titles on other players when you join in progress now
  
• You should see hitmarkers on kills for common again

Hello there brave adventurers!

We are back with a small patch for you based on your amazing feedback! Thank you so much!

• The trinkets Claw, Walnut and Moon now need +1 additional trigger.
  
• Removed social icons from the victory screen.
  
• Glutton's Vulnerable intent changed to Erode Block.
  
• Preparation now exhausts when used.
  
• Reduced Buckler times 2 boost levels to times 1.
  
• Removed 2nd boost level from Prepare Trap.
  
• Calcinate now adds new copies into the discard pile instead of your hand.
  
• On difficulty 2 or higher, bosses are now more powerful. A huge thanks to everyone who shared their run data with us.
  
• Fixed an issue where a hero could equip an items for which they don't have proficiency.
  
• Fixed a rare inventory crash when moving an item.
  
• Fixed bosses sometimes resurrecting a hero with mark of death.
  
• Fixed energy potions not giving the proper amount when dragged onto the 2nd or 3rd hero.
  
• Fixed draw potions not drawing the proper amount when dragged onto the 2nd or 3rd hero.
  
• Fixed the thief's gathered Poison card not showing trinkets that will trigger when using the card (Demijohn, Mousetrap).
  
• Fixed Exorcise not being an attack card.
  
• Fixed Shell Discharge causing an immediate turn end during the next combat if Hermitshell was killed with exactly 9 stacks of Shell Discharge on him.
  
• Fixed Emerald Dagger erroneously showing some trinkets. (Demijohn, Mousetrap)
  
• Fixed Beeswax sometimes not appearing on cards that apply round based effects.
  
• Fixed poison sometimes showing +1 stack erroneously on the heroes.
  
• Fixed Anvil of Ostara not triggering properly.
  
• Fixed Affliction tooltip mentioning magical damage instead of all damage types.

See you in the catacombs!

Howdy!
I noticed some old menu text needed to be updated, specifically regarding how the game sets the time of day. Originally in the game's development, the plan was to have the sun in-game track with the sun irl, so that if you're playing the game in the morning it's also morning in the game, or if you're playing at night it's night in-game. This feature unfortunately had to be removed because of some issues that were happening with some of the new Unreal Engine lighting features. In order to get the most out of the engine, the game will always launch as daytime in-game, with the availability to set the game to night from the settings menu.
Thanks again for the support, we're making good progress towards our first 100 copies sold!

Errrrrr, bugs!

Good day, it's time for a new progress report.

Level:
Working on PCG (procedural content generation) tools to help level artists build our world more efficiently. Continued blockout work for Adûn region.




Code:
We upgraded the engine to version 5.3.
Resolved several issues with ragdolls, e.g. ragdolls breaking at a distance and ragdoll stand up transition.
Improved the usability of the character creator; Presets from different Characters with the same skeleton are no longer flooding the UI and have been replaced by a "change character" dropdown.
Started work on a UI Layer system for the sandbox, enabling you to build your own editor tools and create custom HUD elements for your scenes.

Character:
New hairstyle is in the works and after this we will be making some more male short hairstyles.
Worked on Tali’s barmaid outfit and many others are nearing completion too, check all these out.






Animations:
Started work on a Maya x Drakon minigame scene. Implemented some punching animations for Apoc thugs (no more freaky stretchy pigs there). Continuing to polish mocap routine and dance animations.

Design:
Planned some additional dialogue features.
Implemented some of the first mocaps for story cutscenes. Updated some story cutscene scripts. Planned coming mocap sessions / optimized in-house motion capture workflow.

Thank you for all your continued support,

-Wild Life Team

Hello to all video-editors-turned-band-managers!
Today we have a patch with some requested features and bug fixes.

• The "Skip Faster" function has been replaced with "Jump to Choice/Unread". This is handy for replaying the game to see other endings without having to play or skip through parts you've already read. Hold Backspace, Middle Mouse, or Y on Xbox controller to use this feature. There is also a button that appears when jumping is available when using the mouse.
  
• Added a "Text Animation" option in the settings. This can be turned off to display text instantly with no reveal animation.
  
• Increased the number of save slots from 8 to 12.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game would forget which parts you've already read if Steam Cloud was disabled.
  
• Fixed a bug where saving the game, making a choice, then reloading and picking a different choice would still stick to the first choice you made.

Thanks for playing and we hope you are enjoying the game. Let us know what you think!

My new game PIXELS just released a Halloween update, and I'd like to encourage you to play it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2581610/PIXELS/

PIXELS is the new way of pixel battles.
Here is some of features:

• One world canvas
  
• SUPER PIXELS (animated)
  
• Watch where the players are
  
• Not just ONE pixel
  
• Quick-paint mode
  
• Community features

The game is heavily discounted at the moment, so don't miss out on this opportunity!

It's autumn outside and that means one thing - Halloween is coming! Although the actual holiday falls on the 31st of October, we've been getting into the spirit on Steam since the 26th. From today, you'll also be able to find some spooky elements in Japanese Drift Master. Get ready for skeletons, pumpkins and a dark atmosphere.


We've put together a little Halloween fun for you on our Twitter feed. In the devlog post, upload any Halloween screenshots you manage to take while playing Japanese Drift Master. We will share the most interesting ones on our profile!

We hope this little Halloween update will make you wait for the bigger JDMupdate, which is coming soon. We are constantly working on optimizations, key mapping, and minor bug fixes.


We would like to thank you for all the comments and messages you continue to send us, and for completing our survey in such large numbers. We have gathered a lot of valuable feedback from you, which will make it easier for us to create the game you all expect. Your support and suggestions keep us working hard! If you'd like to talk to us about the game, ask questions, or just gossip, please visit our Discord. Don't forget to add Japanese Drift Master to your Wish List on Steam and we'll see you in the next devlog!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1153410/Japanese_Drift_Master/


Let’s Drift!
Gaming Factory