Nov 3

Metroidvania Fusion Festival and new demo

Voice of Flowers - KoBeWi

The Metroidvania Fusion Festival is happening on Steam once again. Voice of Flowers has been featured, among over 200 other metroidvania games.

Metroidvania Fusion Festival event page

Since the "Final Demo" is not yet ready, and the current demo is quite outdated, we decided to release a new demo called

Dual Demo

This new demo combines the former 2 demo versions, i.e. Desert Beginnings and Haunted Tundra. You will be simply be able to select them when starting new save file:

The demo will come with a new set of achievements (some new, some returning). Content-wise there isn't much new, but the Haunted Tundra demo includes a couple new rooms. Also the music room is expanded to include music from the Final Demo, so check it out if you want "music spoilers".

There are also several improvements not related specifically to the demo. The most important ones are:

Added text speed option.
Added progress bar to save point.
Revamped Hana's jumping animations.
Changed save file format.
Fixed jump reliability.

If you already played the demo before, you can check it out again with the updated experience, and to get the new achievements. If you never played the demo, now is better time than ever to try Voice of Flowers and add it to your wishlist.

The demo is live now. As always, it'd be appreciated if you report any encountered problems and leave feedback.

Final Demo

As already mentioned, the so-called Final Demo is still in the works and not ready yet (though Discord users were able to test alpha version). For a small preview of what's to come, here's a WIP design of Hana's home:

Remember that you can join the Discord server for more frequent updates about the game.

Stay tuned for more news and enjoy the Dual Demo!

Nov 3

One Week of Dark Hours 1.0: What We Fixed, What We Learned, What’s Next

Dark Hours - Raven

Hey burglars, Raven here 🖤

It’s been one wild week since Dark Hours left Early Access and stepped into 1.0. If you’ve been with us through the ups and downs (the bug hunts, the broken lobbies, the cursed microphones), thank you. Truly.

I wanted to take a moment to share what’s been going on behind the scenes: how the launch went, what went right and wrong (and why), and what we’ve been working on to improve things.

⏳ Before Launch: Building the 1.0

The two months leading up to 1.0 were intense, and honestly, tougher than we expected. There were so many things we’d been wanting to bring into the game for a long time: a reworked gameloop, new heist items, more interactions with monsters and the environment, etc. All of it with the goal of improving the overall experience, adding more fun and depth to what was already there.

In reality, much of that time was spent deep in technical work, especially integrating Epic Online Services. The goal was simple: make Dark Hours ready for crossplay between platforms, and bring custom microphone settings into the game (something many of you had been asking for since Early Access).

But that integration took longer than expected, with more than a few tricky challenges along the way. That extra work inevitably delayed or de-prioritized a few features that were already in the pipeline but not quite ready for release, things like the new gameloop, item lifecycle across missions, custom van interiors with their special items. The PvPvE mode was also affected, limiting its release to a PvP Training mode, while the full PvPvE experience (with seasons, progression, and leaderboards) is planned for a future update.

And as if that wasn’t enough, we also had the bad surprise of a major server outage hitting Dark Hours right on release day and in the days that followed, something I’ll dig into in the next section.

That’s why we’ve spent the past week solving issues and catching up on the polish for features that weren’t fully ready at launch, all to bring the experience closer to what we had in mind from the start.

💥 The Launch That Started With an Amazon Outage

When 1.0 launched, we expected a busy release, but not quite that busy. Within hours, reports started flooding in about voice chat not working, lobbies failing to connect, and crashes during missions.

We immediately knew something was off. As soon as we started receiving reports, we began investigating, and honestly, it wasn’t easy to figure out what was going on. Our first clues pointed to Epic Online Services: lobbies weren’t being created, and voice chat simply refused to work. We stayed in constant contact with Epic’s team, but at first, even they couldn’t pinpoint the cause.

After a few days of testing things on our own, we noticed that some players had trouble connecting directly to the web services behind EOS. That’s when we discovered what had actually happened.

As some of you might already know, on October 21, Amazon EC2 experienced a major 12-hour outage that impacted services all over the world. We thought things had gone back to normal the next day, but for Dark Hours, they hadn’t.

To make it short: one of Amazon’s root certificates had expired, and the version of EOS we were using wasn’t able to renew it automatically. That single issue broke a chain of dependencies and caused the connection problems many of you faced at launch.

Once we identified the exact cause and reported it back to Epic, their engineers were finally able to help us patch it. On October 30, we pushed the fix live, along with all the other gameplay and stability improvements you’ve seen in the latest update.

💡 What Got Better With the Regular Update

While all of this was going on, we didn’t want to just sit still. So, during that same week, the team kept pushing forward: fixing, polishing, and adding some of the features that didn’t make it in time for launch.

We’re a small team of about ten people, and with both of our devs focused full-time on the EOS situation, the rest of the crew took the week to polish some of the features we’d mentioned earlier: the new item lifecycle across missions, the arrival of custom van interiors, a more refined gameloop — while also tackling a long list of bug fixes based on your reports.

You can find all the details in the dedicated news here:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/2208570/announcements/detail/809085268448510138?snr=2___

By the way, something I didn’t mention in the news: each van now includes a few advanced starting items that fit its theme (for example, Ice Grenades for the Ice Cream van)

And just for fun, here are a few screenshots of the new van interiors, in case you haven’t seen them yet.

[carousel autoadvance="true"]

[/carousel]

🧠 What We Learned

This launch reminded us of a few important truths:

Even carefully tested systems can buckle when they meet the real world.
Sometimes, things will break that you couldn’t possibly predict.
And most importantly: a small, passionate team can keep pushing forward when the community has their back.

We're doing our best to deliver the best experience possible. It’s not always perfect, but we’re working hard to fix issues as fast as we can so you can enjoy Dark Hours the way it’s meant to be played.

💖 The Most Important: Thank you!

This release reminded us why we love this community. Your feedback, videos, and patience have helped us more than you know. Thanks for your unwavering support. It’s been incredibly helpful in improving the game day after day.

And on top of that, thank you for all the positive feedback you’ve sent our way, especially about the new Mafias bosses and gameplay items. It means a lot to us to see that you’re enjoying them as much as we enjoyed creating them.

📆 What’s Next?

Our immediate focus:

Keep monitoring your reports on Discord, the Steam forums, and by email.
Gameplay and quality-of-life improvements.
New map rotation and monster behavior improvements.
Preparing the next round of major updates

From all of us at the studio: thank you again for everything.

Get ready for your next heist night — and if you run into anything odd, drop it on the forums or Discord. We’re watching your reports every day.

Good luck on your heists!

Raven

🔔 Stay updated on all things Dark Hours:

Discord Tiktok Bluesky Twitter Instagram

Or contact us at https://contact@darkhours-thegame.com

Nov 3

Moonlight Festival Update

Tomomon - Gia Gia

Moonlight Festival Update - November 2025

Greetings, Tamers!

Finally, the new update is here! It’ll go live on November 6th, so stay tuned and get ready! Here’s a little sneak peek at what’s coming!

Also don't forget the game are on sale for 25% off. Grab it before the time run out!

New Contents & Features:

Ride Tomomon to cross the sea.
Explore the Fengling island with its new Tomomons.
New Characters and Quests on Fengling area.
50 new Tomomon including new species and fusion cases.
Limited time Event: Moonlight Festival.
Added Tomomon Skin System.

Screenshots:

[carousel]

[/carousel]

I also want to thank you all for your patience and support. 🙏
The update took a little longer this time because I was hospitalized for about a month — it’s been a tough period, but I’m feeling much better now and back to creating with full energy! 💪

This update comes with a lot of love (and a few surprises 👀), so I hope you’ll enjoy exploring it as much as I enjoyed making it. Let’s make this next chapter even more amazing together! 💫

Links:

> Facebook
> Discord
> Website
> Gallery/Wiki

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1979570/Tomomon/

Nov 3

𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐋𝐎𝐆 #1

IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator - Scream_Wattson [TTV]

I honestly don’t even know how we should start this devlog… Should we begin with the hundredth "thank you" to everyone who clicked that magical "wishlist" button on Steam? Or maybe with an apology for not communicating with you as often as we'd like to?

✯ I think it wouldn’t hurt to start with a little backstory! ✯

There are just two of us working on this project. From the very beginning ➙ when we were still shaping the concept and setting up our collaboration, we agreed that we didn’t want any second-party studios or publishers involved = we’re doing everything from A to Z, just the two of us... Even though this is our first project together, it’s not the first game either of us has worked on. We both bring industry experience from different companies (over 20 years combined) so we know that in 2025, a developer who wants to self-publish has to be a programmer, an artist, and… surprise, surprise! ➙ An influencer / marketer as well!

Following that mindset, we (TBH Nick did) recently decided that IRON NEST was finally ready to be shown publicly... We posted our first short clips on TikTok ➙ the channels were clunky, the BIOs unfinished, and we had exactly "0" followers... But what happened under those short videos… Is something we honestly can’t even put into words...

✯ BOOM! 💥 IRON NEST just exploded! ✯

Some kind robot in charge of the algorithm decided to bless us with an insane amount of reach ➙ Disclaimer: we’d like to thank that kind robot from the bottom of our hearts!

Back to the IRON NEST... That’s when it all began... (not that we’re complaining!) Steam wishlist started growing by around 1,500 people per day, and our Discord (which had just the two of us) suddenly hit over 100 members in a single week! As I'm writing this devlog, we’re sitting at 6,846 wishlists and 288 Discord members! FYI ➙ We’re insannnnnnely happy that this project (born out of pure passion) resonated with you, because we’ve both been obsessed with artillery, interwar machinery, and dieselpunk worlds since forever = seeing this kind of buzz around our project gives us an extra boost!

✯ We’ve found ourselves in the place we’ve always wanted to be! ✯

And it happened so fast it literally blew our fuses... Even though neither of us is capable of maintaining any kind of healthy work-life balance, pulling a ridiculous amount of overtime, there’s still never enough coffee in the machine to keep up with everything...

As many of you already know (we even mention it on our Steam Store Page), one of our main inspirations is PVKK by Bipinbits = if you’re going to aim high, aim so high you run out of oxygen, right?! Here's another small disclaimer ➙ let me paste one of the answers from the FAQ we’ve been putting together with Nick recently.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
Q: Is it inspired by PVKK?
We both have big cannons? Sure... We both have fully manual control? Absolutely... But what you do with the cannon in IRON NEST is entirely different! We're huge fans of PVKK and, YES - it definitely inspired us. But our core gameplay loop revolves around ground-based artillery, which brings a completely different setup, mechanics, and challenges compared to an orbital gun!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2956040/PVKK_Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant/

Since we’ve:

taken on something equally ambitious; ⤴️
preparing to release the Demo during February’s Steam Next Fest (in just 3 months!);
scheduled the full version (NO Early Access!) for mid-2026;
running playtests all the way until launch;
been handling all the marketing ourselves;

Sometimes we don’t have as much time for communication as we’d like to and that’s exactly where we’re asking for your help!

Our top priority is development = delivering a project that’s not just "okay", but one that meets and exceeds the expectations we’ve built through our steam page and short videos. But since it turns out there are people whose autism this also tickles just like ours, we also want to reach everyone who shares our passion and that’s where we need your help! If it’s not too much to ask, spread the religion of IRON NEST across the corners of the internet (to bring even more people of "our kind" here), and we promise... won’t let you down!

Examples of how you can help us:

Ask questions & leave comments on the Steam Community Hub;
Follow IRON NEST social media ➙ like, comment & repost our updates;
(especially on X... the algorithm there doesn’t seem to like us very much)
Share info about IRON NEST on Reddits, Facebook groups, YouTube comments ➙ anywhere;
(or let us know where you think we should reach out...)
If you're a influencer (content creator), know someone who is, or write for a gaming newsletter... reach out to us or recommend us to your friend: info@ironnestgame.com;
(we’ll be super grateful for any kind of coverage)
Join us on Discord & invite your friends so we can communicate with you more easily;
(FYI ➙ everyone who stays with us on Discord until the game’s release will be added to the game credits + playtests are ongoing)
Or tell us what we should be doing!

PS: Once again, thank you for this amazing month... we're not slowing down! The next devlogs will be more focused, diving into specific gameplay elements and behind-the-scenes insights. ***And if you can’t wait, hop into our Discord! The channels where we discuss development are open to the community, so you can follow everything as it happens + take part in the playtests.

We tried recording this devlog as a video, but every single time we were so exhausted that it turned out like total crap... We’ll try again a few more times in the future, so keep your fingers crossed!

Nick & Dominik

...
...
...
...
...

Oh, and one more important thing! The steam store page (specifically the assets on it) is already quite outdated, since IRON NEST has gone through a lot of visual iterations since then. The updated page will most likely go live alongside the trailer and the demo, around the time of the Next Fest, where we plan to release the demo (pssst... there are constant development leaks popping up on Discord)!

Nov 3

LION The Last Homeland 0.5.8

LION The Last Homeland - Sir Arcanos

Good Monday to all! While this is a small update, it introduces a significant feature designed to improve child management and tactical awareness in the field.

New Feature: The Targeting Line

We've implemented a new Targeting Line system to provide crucial visual feedback on the current status and actions of your commanded children:

Tactical Visibility: This colored line indicates a child's current target, point of movement, or action focus.
Color-Coded Commands: The line's color changes dynamically based on the action being performed:
- 🔴 Red: The child is actively targeting an enemy.
- 🔵 Blue: The child is aiding or supporting Rosamunde or another child.
- 🟢 Green: The child is actively moving to a designated location.

Dialogue System Updates

We continue to expand the new dialogue feature introduced in the last patch:

Expanded Context Chat: New Chat Dialogues have been added, appearing in various circumstances both during combat and at specific locations or story events.
Narrative Depth: These dialogues will provide deeper information on the world and reveal more about the children's personalities and feelings.
Bug Fixes: We have addressed and fixed several bugs related to the dialogue system, specifically preventing the occasional appearance of blank or black chat bubbles.

Nov 3

53.1.0 is now live!

Marvel Contest of Champions - meales

NEW CHAMPIONS

Lizard:

Dr. Curtis Connors is a renowned scientist and field surgeon who tragically lost an arm during his service. After returning to civilian life, he devoted himself to finding a way to regenerate lost limbs by developing a serum based on reptilian DNA. He used himself as the first test subject, and while the serum worked, it also mutated his DNA and he turned himself into a human-reptile hybrid known as the Lizard.

Spider-Man (Pavitr Prabhakar):

Pavitr Prabhakar was born and raised in the vibrant but gridlocked city of Mumbattan. Granted magical spider powers by a shaman and guided by the moral lessons of his Aunt Maya and late uncle Bhim, he has assumed the heroic mantle of Spider-Man. These model heroics led to his induction into the Spider-Society. When the Spot invades his city and causes a disaster, Pavitr gets a painful look at the darker sides of his new life, and now searches for a better way forward for the multiverse.

CHAMPION UPDATES

Thor (Jane Foster):

Jane returns with a brand new look! Stacking Shocks on herself to strengthen her abilities throughout a fight.
Jane’s high amount of Buff and Power Control allows her to control the Tempo of many fights against Cosmic Champions.

NEW FEATURES

Battlegrounds Unranked Queue

Starting with Season 34, Battlegrounds will now have a permanent unranked queue type. This queue will be open to Proven and higher Summoners and will cost energy to enter. Matchups will be based on an individual Summoner’s roster strength.
Ranked matches will now exclusively cost Elders Marks to enter, which can be exchanged for energy in the newly-tuned Battlegrounds Store. Ranked matches will also now be accessible to Thronebreaker and higher Summoners.

The Cosmic Egg Relic

Some cosmic force is drawing Unusual Eggs into The Battlerealm. And none are more unusual than the Cosmic Egg Relic. Its origins and abilities are currently a mystery. Become the envy of the coop and embark on an egg hunt like no other!

NEW QUESTS AND EVENTS

Event Quest - So Much More

Pavitr Prabhakar is investigating strange multiversal tech and trespassers and looks to The Summoner to lend a hand. Meanwhile The Lizard has stumbled into The Battlerealm after years of trying to avoid this multiversal fate. It would seem that a Sinister Six (and then some) of villains is behind both arrivals but how will these Spider-friends and foes fend when the web is revealed.

Side Quest - Top Of The Charts

Lumatrix is fascinated by the mortals, gods, mutants, and monsters which have infected The Battlerealm. Before The Founders arrive and wipe away existence, they are eager to see what kind of a spectacle they can put on! It seems that the pure thunder and blazes of battle are like music to Lumatrix’s ears. So they are demanding an epic “concert” to play out as Summoners challenge their teams to greater and greater heights!

Side Quest - Deadpool’s Mini-Tour Maze

Deadpool wants to invite each and every Summoner to take part in his new and fantastical Mini-Tour Maze filled with wonders and treasures beyond your belief. Each time you enter the Mini-Tour Maze will be a new exciting experience as you explore its winding paths. Tread lightly however as not even Deadpool knows what dangers may be lurking around each and every corner. You may even encounter the marvelous Deadpool himself wandering the labyrinth (definitely not because he’s lost).

Alliance War Showcase: Fantastic Force

The Alliance War Showcase returns, featuring some familiar defenders and Alliance War tactics from the Fantastic Force Saga. The Class Quests also introduce a new fight component--Effect Areas--as the central mechanic for the ramping node!

Incursions Saga Sector

Another Saga staple is returning, with the Founders’ War Saga Sector! Take your #Saga tagged Champions and fight through the zones to earn lucrative rewards.

All this and more! Check out the complete list of exciting updates on https://playcontestofchampions.com/