This patch is a small update to make some minor bug fixes, add a damage attribute to all weapons which increases the damage of your attacks, and add the option to change your keybinds via the controls window.

Changes & Bug Fixes:

• Weapons now increase the damage of your attacks by a set amount
  
• Fate now increases the crit chance of the 'Steal Essence' witch ability
  
• Mini-map quest help icons updated from green to yellow to increase visibility
  
• The inventory will no longer be open when loading a game from save
  
• Keys can now be bound via the controls window in the settings menu
  
• Small visual improvements made to Fort Coldwraith
  
• Optimisations made to the landscape

Aspiring entrepreneurs, our business guru, Frank, has just informed me we’ve gone global! The Rise of Industry 2 demo can now be played in the following languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.

This update also contains fixes to several bugs reported by you, the players! Thank you for your continued support.

As we gear up for the launch of Reignbreaker, the medievalpunk rogue-like, we caught up with Nadja Clauberg, the talented 2D artist responsible for some of the game’s most unforgettable character designs.

Nadja’s artistry has been crucial in defining the unique personalities and visual identities of the game’s characters, from their distinctive silhouettes to the intricate details that make them truly come alive.

In this interview, we dive into Nadja’s creative process, exploring her approach to character design, concept art, and how she ensured each character seamlessly fits into the world of Reignbreaker.


Q. Who are you and what is your role as part of the team behind Reignbreaker?

Hi, my name is Nadja and I am a 2D artist at Studio Fizbin. For Reignbreaker, one of my main responsibilities was designing and illustrating the character portraits in the game.

Q. What is your experience with concept art, and how does it differ from final asset creation?

At its core, concept art is a form of design. Designing — and therefore creating concept art — means visualizing ideas, which requires multiple iterations and discarding a fair share of them before moving forward. A functional concept art piece therefore doesn’t need to be highly rendered. Instead, its main purpose is to serve a specific function rather than just look pretty. I think that is a common misconception people tend to have. Especially looking at highly polished production art books can sometimes create a misleading or at least incomplete impression of what concept art is really about.

Q. Can you describe your artistic process when approaching designs for Reignbreaker?

The first phase of my concept art process is what I call the "Thinking Phase". Taking the time to properly think things through pays off later when creating final assets, because ideally, all major decisions have already been made. Now I can focus on making things look pretty.

When entering the Thinking Phase, I don’t start with sketches or drawing right away. Instead, I use mind maps and other creative thinking tools to generate ideas. Even though my work is mostly digital, I prefer doing this traditionally with a pencil and notebook.

Jumping straight into sketching and settling for the first idea that comes to mind can be risky, as it often leads to unoriginal ideas and the unconscious reproduction of stereotypes. That’s perfectly normal and just how our brains work! The key is to be aware of these traps and avoid falling into them.

Once the thinking process is done, I start gathering visual references and creating a moodboard. I try to limit references from existing media (like games, movies, or concept art) because they can make it too easy to repeat familiar ideas. Instead it’s useful to include a lot of real-world references as well, to ensure the designs feel authentic. That was especially important in a project like Reignbreaker, which is rooted in a historic medieval setting. Using reference from that time period, especially looking out for Gothic elements, makes the designs authentic and believable. For the punk elements, we tried looking into real designs of old school punk posters and generally references from the punk movement, including style elements and symbolism.

After the research phase, I start sketching, testing ideas, and sharing them with the team for feedback. This usually takes multiple iterations and refinements, which is a natural part of the process. During this phase, I avoid listening to music with lyrics or podcasts, as they can be distracting. Instead, I prefer instrumental music to help me focus.

Once a design is approved by the art director, all that’s left is creating the final asset or artwork: That means creating clean line art, painting, rendering and making everything visually polished. This phase requires less “thinking” and is more about technical skill, which is why I love listening to a good podcast or music with lyrics on the side.

Q. How did you ensure your art aligns with the overall vision and style of the game?

When I joined the team, there was already a strong artistic foundation, including detailed art pillars and a visual style guide, which helped me a lot in the beginning. I really enjoyed immersing myself in the world of Reignbreaker right from the start.

For the character portraits, we wanted to develop a unique art style that would make them memorable and recognizable while still fitting seamlessly into the game world. To achieve this, we experimented with different approaches for inking, coloring, and the balance between abstraction and stylization. Sometimes, this meant spending hours just testing digital inking brushes to find one that was both versatile and efficient for streamlined production! The game’s medieval punk setting with tech elements naturally allowed for unique designs, and I’m super happy with the results.

But good communication is a must, not just within the art department but across the entire team. Especially as a 2D and concept artist, you often rely on input from other departments, like game design or narrative, so avoiding misunderstandings through clear communication is key. After all, as a game artist, you’re visualizing the ideas of many people and bringing them to life.

Q. Do you have a favourite piece from the game?

My favorite character to design and draw was Ardea, the Spearsister. I’m always happy to encounter her in a run, not only because she grants some of my favorite skills, but also because she has an especially compelling backstory.

She shares a past in the Queen’s regiment with our main character, Clef, who later became a rebel. Now that they’re on opposite sides, their relationship is complex and layered, which makes their interactions in the game fascinating to witness.

Q. Is there anything you think players should look out for - any hidden easter eggs?

When you come back to the lobby after every run, please say hello to Baby Bellgrunt, cause he is adorable and deserves every fist bump he can get.

Q. What do you hope players will take away from Reignbreaker?

I hope Reignbreaker helps players appreciate the value of a diverse character cast and visual representation beyond traditional gender stereotypes, not just in our game but in all forms of media.




https://store.steampowered.com/app/2129810/Reignbreaker/

• 🧤 New Goalkeeper Mode in Shared Training:
  - In the multiplayer training field, pressing A calls the ball to your feet.
  - If the ball is already at your feet and you press A again, you become the goalkeeper! Your avatar will equip goalkeeper gloves, and you’ll be able to grab the ball with your hands.
  
  
• 🎯 Automated Shooting Cannons for Training:
  - 16 automated shooting cannons have been added to the multiplayer training field.
  - Place a ball inside a cannon’s circle, and it will start passing and crossing the ball to you.
  - Raise your hand to quickly summon a ball and keep the training going.
  - Activate multiple cannons at the same time for dynamic crosses and shots—they’ll alternate roles to keep things varied.
  - If you’re a goalkeeper, the cannons will shoot at goal instead of crossing, offering endless training possibilities.
  - Need a break? Press A to disable all cannons.
  
  
• 🧤 Customize Your Goalkeeper Gloves:
  - You can now choose which gloves your avatar wears when playing as a goalkeeper in multiplayer training.

💬 What do you think of these new features? Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions! ⚽🔥

Hello :)

1 month since the last DevLog, that's a scandal! I must say that I spend my days with my head in the code, preparing everything to make the next release as smooth as possible... so I may have forgotten to post a bit, and I didn't have much to say either, except that I'm fixing bugs and rewriting code :p

But for the news, I'm currently working with a few testers, the aim being to detect as many problems as possible and fix them before the release of early access!

I'm not going to detail everything I've done since last time, but I can tell you that the list is long!


As I said in the previous news, a demo will be available soon, and I'm still working on it. It'll probably allow you to play for 1 or 2 hours, and it'll be available for the “Festival of City Building and Colony Simulation” on Steam at the end of March.

.

Major update today Knights, with our very first retirement storyline: "Daedelus Bloc!" This 10-mission storyline becomes available at Power Level 6+, when a shareholder asks you to help them create havoc inside the Jupiter Group megacorporation.

This intricate power play is paced to give you plenty of time to engage with other late-game content, running heists on the side to build your warchest and grow your skills so you'll be ready to pull off the biggest jobs of your career at the very end.

It includes 2 brand new maps, new objectives, new additions to the proc-gen system, and is just the beginning of some very exciting new mission formats you'll see more of as Cyber Knights: Flashpoint continues to evolve.

We intend to add multiple retirement storylines to the game over time, staggered across multiple power levels to allow for playthroughs of different lengths and a variety of roleplaying choices in what kind of opportunity your Knight will give up their criminal power climb for, and who (if anyone) from their squad they'll share this escape with if they can.


Retirement Storylines are pinnacle opportunities in your Cyber Knight's career, accessible only when you've built a rep as the Knight that gets things done. Multiple offers will give you the opportunity to get started on a chain of escalating missions leading to one last big heist that could get you out of the game for good.

Come out on top, and you'll have a window of time to decide (and complete any lingering unfinished business with your mercs or other contacts) if you want to take the retirement opportunity, or continue running the streets.

Some Knights can't give up the thrill of the heist, and will continue to play hard and fast until they go out in a blaze of glory. Others are convinced better opportunities will come, for either a better life offworld or with more room in the opportunity to set up the squad members they've become closest to with a better life as well.



When you retire or die, you'll get a series of game-end screens sharing what becomes of you and your squad members, a key stats & achievements summary, and your save-game will be memorialized so you can come back and export appearance or talent tree builds.


You'll now be able to access merc scores - such as career kills, number of missions run, number of missions completed unseen, maximum damage scored in a single hit - at any time. Check out the "Record" tab from your squad roster in the Barracks.

In addition, for those Achievements that make sense, each merc can score individual achievements. Your grenade-happy Soldier might get the achievement for the 5X kill with Grenades while your Sniper will be hunting that 1000 pt Dmg in a single shot achievement.


Score up to 100 achievements as you play and prove your skill.

Achievements run the gamut from first-time achievers (complete your First Heist or Install a second cybernetic in a character) to long run achievers (reach $25m credits, kill a Head Hunter, complete 100 heists) to limit pushers (kill 5 targets with Slashslide, complete a 4 merc mission with 1 merc, install the 7th cybernetic into your Knight).

Achievements are a prestige reward only, no in-game content is gated behind any of these, the only thing they unlock are bragging rights (and please do; gameplay celebrations and stories are always welcome in our Discord).

Cyber Knights is 20%-off for the next two weeks (there will be a short 4-hour gap between next Thursday morning and the start of the Steam Spring Sale)!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Please spread the word that we're wrapping up Early Access soon! And if you haven't already, taking a minute to leave a review, even just a couple of quick sentences, is one of the best ways to help us out. We're working hard to keep polishing (thank you all for the feedback through F10s and Steam forum posts!) and keep packing the game with more content as we approach the full release later this spring.


- Major new end-game storyline "Daedelus Bloc" starts at Power Level 6+
- Option to retire at the end of the storyline or go back to the streets for "one more heist"
- Steam Achievements now active - score up to 100 achievements
- Individual merc career scores and personal achievements available in Roster "Record" tab
- New Retirement and Death screens tell the post-retirement stories for your team and display scores
- Created safehouse experience for death/retirement, still access the Appearance and Training for library, otherwise locked down

- Fixing Daedelus Bloc issues
- Fixed issue with Quant VIP where are not carrying items for their missions
- Fixed extraction location in second stage of BOILING POINT mission
- Fixed missing complications in OPENING BID mission
- Fixed some storyline missions not having their custom names (PANDORA'S SUITCASE, etc)
- Fixed Achievement issues with Pacifist, Next Man Up, One Man Army, The Quiet One and more
- Fixed Achievement issue where achievements were not setting until the game was closed
- Fixed missing achievement icons
- Fixed reported typos and dialog issues

- Fixing Daedelus Bloc issues
- Linked in missing dialog and complications in OPENING BID and GOVERNANCE DUST-UP
- Added new File Set to compile Nuke II (FAS) and new Utility Program type Dragline I
- Fixed issues with Bio-Verify Files having odd names (multiple Part III's)
- Added new special rewards to the Daedalus hacking missions
- Fixed bug with Daedalus missions sometimes referencing an incorrect mission name at the end of the dialog
- Fixed Daedalus Bloc defensive mission not spawning reinforcements
- Fixed bug where Security Level secondary objective could still appear even when it shouldn't (Ricksham Drips)
- Fixed bugs with Infiltrate and Download Files and Hardened Target objectives that could prevent mission from re-offering later
- Fixed bugs with Matrix Response Level being "None" sometimes for Street/Syndicate, with mission tags for Matrix Host Color being wrong
- Fixed confusing titles in Contact Limit Breaks for Service Upgrades
- Fixed typos and dialog issues

Hello survivors!

It’s been a long time, friends… Almost 10 years since the release of Dead In Bermuda, the very first entry in our beloved “Dead In…” series and the first game I had the honor of writing and designing.

After that, a lot of things happened for us. We worked our asses off making Dead In Vinland, releasing it on PC and Switch while making 3 DLCs for it. It was quite a journey, with a formidable team, filled with joyful moments. I want to give a shoutout to the core team who is still working at Ishtar after all these years: Jacques & Thomas, respectively Art Director and Lead Dev (now Lead Game Designer!) who worked on The Last Spell, and Manon who started as an art intern on Dead In Vinland and took charge of the art direction of one of our latest games: Lakeburg Legacies! Let’s not forget Bruno who managed and built this wonderful community of players we have, growing from a few dozen fans to several thousands now!
And of course a big thank you to all who contributed in one way or another, let’s grab a beer sometime ;)

So yeah, 10 years later, here we are again, revealing that we’ve secretly been working for some time on a new entry in the “Dead In…” series. It feels nostalgic, but in a very good way. We feel at home when working on this game, we stumble upon old good and bad design choices, and debate for hours and hours about how to make everything better. That’s fun, in a kind of masochistic way, but this is the way of the people who make games, I guess.



A bit about this new game, Dead in Antares, without revealing too much (it will come in due time!): as you could see in the announcement trailer, the game is set on a faraway, unknown planet located in the Antares system. Why and how did our heroes end up here? That’s what you’ll have to uncover… Your first priority is to set up your camp and find a way to survive in this strange environment.

Setting the game in the future and on a fictional planet brought a new very interesting challenge for us: imagine this world from scratch, design its flora, its fauna, its weather… It’s a very good playground for our talented artists, and I think you’ll love what you will see. From a design point of view, it enabled us to tackle new systems linked to those themes: science, the sense of discovery, energy management,... even temperature management!

Before closing this first dev blog post, I can talk a bit about the vision and the team:

The main vision was to go a step further in the survival management aspect of the game, while streamlining a lot of the user experience. We want to go deeper in the systems, but with everything clear and smooth, to bring more control to the player to make strategic choices. We also want the game to be accessible to a larger audience: we want players focused on story to have fun AND we want hardcore survival spreadsheet masters to feel challenged. We’ll definitely have more thought out difficulty options so that everyone enjoys their stay.
Storywise, we want to bring a real sense of camaraderie to the formula: this time, we control a crew of specialists set on a mission, so the dynamics are not the same than our previous “Dead In”. The overall tone will be more serious, with hard choices to make, but also shining with endearing personalities who will bring their moments of joy and doubts.
We will also expand 2 areas that were still a bit lacking in our previous games: combat and exploration. Without revolutionizing everything, we will bring enhancements that should give these two areas some love.

To bring this vision to reality, we brought together a very interesting mix of new and old friends: Jacques & Thomas joined the team to bring their experience and expertise to the table, but the superb art direction and vision is led by Julie for her first collab with us. Robin who worked on The Last Spell brings a fresh take on game design. Christophe, a long time collaborator who wrote a bit for Dead In Vinland is in the design team full time now. And on the dev side, we started a collab with Alain, Vivianne from Alkemi and Julien, who had the hard work of cleaning the old code we wrote and making it 2025-like. Little nod to Elliott who worked on tools for the project during his internship. Thanks a lot!

And last but not least, we have Benjamin on producing, who also worked on The Last Spell, and Antoine our marvelous magician of all kind of sounds, be it **kling** **beep** **boop**, **vooooooooooooo** or **zweep**. The rumors say that he will also write and play the music score and even… sing!

See you soon here, we’ll force ask the team to present their work until release to keep you waiting.

Cheers,
-Matt, Creative Director

Now is the perfect time to play THRONE AND LIBERTY, especially if you’re new to the game. Quality of life improvements, updates, and the free Wilds of Talandre expansion continue to help Solisium evolve into an even more enjoyable experience. Many of these changes were a direct result of player feedback. Whether you prefer PvP modes, lifestyle activities, the camaraderie of guilds, or something in-between, there’s something for everyone.

Join godspeed and Tico for an overview of the new zone, features, and systems, followed by guides featuring Twitch Creators KanonXO, Grenton, and Wakayashi before you set out on your next quest.


“If you're a new player or someone who is thinking about returning to the game to check out the expansion, now would be the best time to do so,“ KanonXO says. ”Tier 2 means there is essentially a reset in gear, so even if you don’t have maxed out Tier 1 gear, that’s okay because everyone needs to farm new Tier 2 pieces and build it up from scratch again anyway. They’re also releasing new T2 blue gear, which is going to be on par with T1 purple, only with less traits that can be attached to them that should also aid in catching up.“


“We finally have a way to put our unique play styles and flair into the weapon combination we pick,” Grenton says. “Do you want to be a TRUE tank and give up a lot of offensive capabilities to just be able to tank a ton of damage? Yeah, you can do that! Want to finally fully submerge yourself into the damage over time playstyle of wand and forgo the healing side of it almost completely? Yup, you guessed it you can do that too.”


Completed the main story, claimed the throne, or previously felt satisfied with your journey? Wakayashi has you covered. Returning players can look forward to level progression updates, new, diverse events, unexplored field dungeons, and ferocious new field bosses, plus a few surprises.

Note: This video is in German, but can be viewed with subtitles.


Make sure to follow our featured Creators on Twitch for more guides, live high-level THRONE AND LIBERTY gameplay, and other original content.

• KanonXO
  
• Grenton
  
• Wakayashi

Let us know your thoughts on starting or continuing your adventure. For more information on all things Talandre, check out our release page. Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Solisium.

Hi everyone!

We have two updates to share with you today as our team continues working on Through the Nightmares:

TTN joins the Women’s Day Sale on Steam!
Through the Nightmares is proud to be part of the ongoing Women’s Day Sale event, run by the incredible teams at WINGS and Dames4Games to celebrate women-led games for the International Women’s Day.

Here’s a special message from Kate, our Art Director:

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Hi! I'm Kate, the Art Director at Sandman Team. Through the Nightmares is more than just another platformer to me — it's been a huge part of my life for the past eight years. This game is filled with unique locations, secrets, and, of course, unexpected plot twists. I can't wait to share my vision with you! Today, I’m happy to present our demo alongside other amazing games in the Women's Day Sale. Enjoy! ❤️

The Women’s Day Sale is full of awesome games created by women-led studios. Don’t forget to check out the full lineup!

New demo available now!

As Kate mentioned, we now have a NEW DEMO! The updated version features a ton of improvements, tweaks, and generally gives a much better taste of what’s to come. Download it today and let us know what you think!

And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to wishlist Through the Nightmares on Steam. It’s the best way to follow our updates and support the team:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280580/Through_the_Nightmares_Demo/

We’ve got much more to share with you soon. Stay tuned!

– Sandman Team

English
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[The Grand Library - Floor of Philosophy]Machiavelli will now explain more about how he became the librarian.
[The Grand Library - Floor of Philosophy]Added another room on this floor. It has a 3D printer and some scrolls that you can loot. (You will need to push some chairs around to get all of them. Maybe you can even call it a puzzle.)
简体中文
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【大图书馆 - 哲学层】马基雅维利现在会解释他是怎么变成图书管理员的。
【大图书馆 - 哲学层】加入了一间新的房间，包含了一台3D打印机和一些你可以搜刮的卷轴。（你需要搬动一些椅子来获得全部的物品。也许你甚至可以把这个当成解谜来玩。）


Latest news from Ukraine/乌克兰小剧场
https://controlc.com/601e91b7
{LINK REMOVED}https://pastelink.net/mgj0tjo4