Hello! I know there has been a lack of updates for about a month or two.
The project is just not moving that much as we prepare for the demo launch.

The open signups for the playtest is closed. Everyone who has access, is still in, please continue to help! It's very much appreciated.

Moving forward, we plan to drop the demo proper on August 5th. This playtest is the same as the demo and although reflects the game, these levels will not be in the game as they are. This is pretty much a vertical slice/tech demo... not so much a "beta" if that makes sense.

I want to take a few steps back and start clean with the project and game building. Especially as the narrative continues to be written and re-written, starting clean with production is going to make a lot more sense. Especially from an optimization point of view. Steam Deck is playable but kind of crap to be honest, anything under 60 fps is unacceptable. So this is probably the biggest reason of them all.

The demo will be "Windows Only" ... so no steam deck.... but the playtest will continue to allow for it. I don't want the players to have a bad initial experience.

The main theme/opening track to our OST has been worked on and we are preparing to announce it to the world too, you can get a preview here:



Again, we welcome feedback. We're very dependent on the players to tell us what works as we are about as small of a developer as can be with little resource. We read and try to respond to everything!

Thanks so much, I'm at comic-con this week trying to find more help to make this thing better....
we're still pretty far from having a game but I think the play test is a good "demo" of what it will be. And I hope it's fun!

One more thing, for those of you in San Diego, we will be showing the game at UCSD on the 29th at Atkins Hall from 5:30PM to 9PM. Come talk to me or send your friends! Thanks - Brandon

Dorfromantik is coming to PlayStation and Xbox on August 14, 2025! Whether you're a long-time fan or discovering the game for the first time, you’ll soon be able to experience the cozy charm of Dorfromantik from the comfort of your couch.

This will be a direct port of the beloved original PC version, lovingly adapted for console play. That means the same peaceful gameplay, beautiful landscapes, and rewarding tile-placement mechanics—now optimized for controller input and big-screen relaxation.

Circle it on your calendar! August 14 is a major milestone for us and for everyone who's wanted to explore the peaceful world of Dorfromantik on console. It’s the perfect opportunity to wind down, build tranquil villages, and let your creativity flow—now on your favorite console.

Thanks to the efforts of our partner at Headup Games, who are co-responsible for bringing Dorfromantik to consoles, this port feels natural and smooth. With redesigned UI for controller use and intuitive gamepad controls, it’s never been easier to get lost in the relaxing rhythms of village-building.

Whether you're stretching out after work or enjoying a quiet weekend morning, Dorfromantik on console brings the full experience to your living room.

Place beautifully drawn tiles to grow your village and landscape. Now easier than ever with responsive controller support.

Complete quests and plan ahead to achieve high scores—perfect for both quick sessions and long, mindful builds.

Explore different biomes and unlock new tiles as you go. Build your dream countryside one tile at a time.

Let the gentle visuals and ambient music guide you into a state of flow, now from your favorite armchair.

Whether you're looking for a challenge or a no-pressure experience, Dorfromantik offers modes that suit every mood—and now, every screen.

While the console version is on its way, our Toukana team is hard at work on the Early Access version of our second title, Star Birds. But for now, we can’t wait for you to enjoy the calm and charm of Dorfromantik on your consoles.

Thanks for all your support over the years—and see you on August 14! 💛

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If you want to be the first to hear news like this, make sure to sign up for our monthly Toukana studio newsletter on our website!

Commanders!

We’re happy to announce that the Rough Riders Battle Path campaign has just begun.

The Rough Riders Battle Path is focused on U.S. cavalry, from its humble beginnings in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Rough Riders era of the late 19th century and both world wars to its transformation to the Armored Cavalry branch after the Vietnam War. The rewards will therefore be theme-appropriate, but there’s also a different theme at play here.

There are 50 levels of waiting for you as usual. Let’s start with the vehicles:

• ELKE Tier 7 Premium LT for reaching Level 20 (featuring an elevated weapons station allowing you to ambush your enemies with ease)

• RDF/LT Ares Tier 8 Premium LT for reaching Level 35 (featuring powerful missile launchers as well as 75mm gun)

• XM1302 Tier 10 Premium LT for reaching Level 50 (featuring new “Mitigation” passive ability – the faster you go, the less damage you take)

There of course are new epic skins based on real-life vehicles, such as:

• M60A3 “Crustacean” for the M60A3

• M3A2 Cavalry Vehicle for the M2 Bradley

• IPM1 “Danger Zone” for the M1 Abrams

Each comes with its unique story of U.S. service. New camouflages, decals and base paints will also come with this Battle Path.

You can review the prizes in the following article.

In order to join the Battle Path campaign, please enter the game and click on the Rough Riders icon on the upper bar. From there, you can simply purchase the Battle Path access:

• Standard pass (access only)

• Golden pass with access and 50.000 Battle Coins

The access can also be purchased in our Web Shop:

https://armoredwarfare.com/en/web-shop?tags=bp

→ Join and start chating on our Discord: arwar.co/AWDiscord
→ Join our community on Reddit: arwar.co/AWReddit
→ Watch interesting materials on our Youtube channel: arwar.co/AWYoutube
→ Join the discussion under our Facebook fanpage posts: arwar.co/AWFacebook

I did some small fixes!

• The game now saves after a completed challenge. Hopefully this solves an issue where all progress was lost on a restart of the game.
  
• Tweaked the "Are We There Yet?" achievement to make it less grindy.

We’re planning to release our game soon, but we thought it would be a good idea to share the story of our war with people from other countries as well. So, if you’re fluent in another language and would like to help with the translation - we’d be truly grateful.

We're especially looking for translations into:

• Polish

• German

• French

But we’d also welcome help with other languages.

There isn’t a huge amount of text. However, a strong command of the language is important, as some dialogues need to convey a stylised “archaic” tone (for instance, a Cossack describing enemy tanks in the way he sees them).

As a thank-you, we’ll include your name in the credits and provide two game keys.

If you can help, please write to andrey.kostyushko @ gmail.com (remove the spaces around the @).

Gameplay:

Default Player UI now includes a live character portrait that gives you real time view of the action next to your HP bar.

The new UI layout also includes the pop-up bottom icon (B), a proc the player is granted for consecutive attacks, which, if hit in timing, will vary their combo with a special strike based on the elemental style currently used.

Balancing:

Elemental Warrior: slightly increased elemental proc frequency, and enhanced knock-back after magical effect accumulation.

Champion's Arena: Mecha-armor ability has been officially joined together with Skin Change ability, and a hidden fairy (no purchase required) has been added to the arena.

Design:

Style effects enhancements:

Lightning Lynx attacks now instantly spark lightning arcs. Visual enhancements to lightning textures on magic attacks.

Fire Monkey attack trails enhanced in textures.

Shadow Wolf attacks' trailing shadows emboldened.

Optimizations:

Reduced GPU and Memory consumption at runtime, and even faster level load ups.

Note: Players who already have a cached data may experience minor hitches at first launch. This can be fixed by a restarting the game.

• Upgraded event check models for all AI Roguelite cloud service tiers (should result in less random damage across the board)
  
• Added player-confirmed item depletion, defaulting to false. To enable, go to Options, and under "Require player confirmation", select "Item removal".
  
• Added prompt suffix for successful crafting rolls to mitigate issue where the story turn would leave you hanging
  
• Implemented merchant detection for NPCs appearing in the story
  
• Fixed currency UI in new game view
  
• Added inclusion of static object description when interacting with it
  
• Fixed visual bug with map colors

Thoroughly fix the issue where the vendor clicks on the help text for other heroes after selling all heroes in battle.

1. Rookie – I · II · III · IV · V

2. Pilot – I · II · III · IV · V

3. Captain – I · II · III · IV · V

4. Elite – I · II · III · IV · V

5. Ace – I · II · III · IV · V

6. Hero – I · II · III · IV · V

7. Conqueror +

• Can be opened via top avatars, stats panel avatars, or your own avatar

• You can view visible enemy XBT info

• In-game, hovering over your character icon will display your stats in the info panel

• You can only view your own skills

• Fixed an issue where some XBTs were visible when they shouldn’t be

• Fixed incorrect range template caused by a talent on Khan

• Minimum value for calculated attack and defense power during hit tests is now set to 0

• Sphinx Talent 1A’s E skill now grants 5% speed buff instead of 20%

• A driving mode toggle key has been added (KBM): Press Shift + M to switch between Tank Mode and Assisted Drive

• In-game ping keybinds have been added to the launcher settings

• Easy and Medium bots now play slightly worse for better balance

• Added Fireburst and Xalium Bullet VFX sounds for Insolence Roland skin

• Added SFX for skin selection in the hero selection screen

• New hit SFX when a player is hit

• New hit SFX when a unit is hit

• New backstab SFX added

• Death post-process effects improved

• Khan post-process effects improved

• New post-process effect added for when the player takes damage

SSA TEAM

Hello everyone!

We've been running a playtest on Android platform with 37 testers at the moment and are receiving extremely valuable feedback!

Most of it is super positive. Some of the points are also very interesting design challenges and we already have fun ideas to address these feedbacks!

Once this playtest is over, we want to wrap up all the new iterations into a second playtest, but this time for iPhones and iPad.

It is important for us to simultaneous launch the game on all three platforms - and to take the time to read and address important feedback.

Therefore we are taking an extra month to finish up the 1.0 version of LHEA! We are aiming for September 22nd at the moment. Only two months away!


Stay tuned for a lot more updates in the upcoming weeks - things are moving quite fast!

Jo @ Soul Fuel Games