I'm pleased to announce that, after years of development, we are almost ready to release the Early Access version of Archaelund

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082970/Archaelund/

Archaelund is not a sequel to EK, but it takes place in the same universe and, of course, I am making the game with the same principles and ideas that fueled EK development. It is, however, different in many ways: you play a whole party of adventurers, and explore the lost continent of Andoria in first-person view; battles are turn-based and in third-person perspective. Yes, you read it right! pretty much the only game to do such a switch, with the exception of a few classic 2D games.

system requirements are much higher than those of Exiled Kingdoms, be warned!

Looking forwards to share the game with you all.

David
4 Dimension Games

This minor update should ensure the saved games from android become again compatible with the desktop version.

Bugfix for the "achievement reset" bug on recent update.

This update includes the translations for most of the new content in version 1.3, as well as dozens of small bugfixes related to the new content. Enjoy!

This update adds content mostly targeted at levels 12-19 (with a few harder encounters), allows a new mage build based on melee weapons and introduces a new difficulty level(Story) to make the game more fun to casual players. It also enables an option to permanently reduce the difficulty of an already started game. Some of the translations are still underway.

This is a free upgrade for everyone. Enjoy.

• Added new maps including 6 outdoor sectors, new monsters, over 30 new items and 7 quests. To find the new content just walk to the town of Solliga or to the Elder Forest. Most of the new quests are targeted at levels 11-19, but there are some optional fights that should be challenging at any level.
  
• Some bosses are respawned and can be killed one more time: Faazvolfrul, King of Korne.
  
• The optional mass-battle with the Forsaken now grants some non-unique loot.

• New skills for Mages that wish to play as Arcane Knights trainable at Icemist, but might require solving a quest first.
  
• New General skill available in Elder Forest for those who are friends with the Varannari.
  
• New "Story" difficulty with better regeneration, and enemy HP and Damage reduced by 25%.
  
• Difficulty can now be lowered (never raised) from the Options menu.
  
• Added link to "News" in main menu.

• XP required to level up reduced slightly between levels 10-24; you may gain a level when loading your game.
  
• Gossip skill now grants a discount when buying from shops (3%, 6% or 9%).
  
• Traits can now be raised up to 12.
  
• Player and companion melee damage slightly increased. Previously Rogues gained +1 damage at levels 1/6/12/18/24 and other classes gained nothing. Now Rogues gain +1 damage at levels 1/4/8/12/16/20/etc. Warriors gain +1 melee damage at levels 5/10/15/20/etc. Clerics gain +1 melee damage at levels 7/14/21/etc.
  
• "Gate" mage skill level two now costs 1 Skill Point instead of 2. If you learned it, you'll be refunded one Skill Point.
  
• Carrion Eaters and other creatures now paralyze for 6 seconds instead of 10.
  Improved item stats: Assassin's Cuirass & Leggings, Crushing Ember, Enchanted Vulcan Bow. Justice, Righteousness are now usable by Cleric. Totem of Protection is usable by All.

• Fixed a bug that caused offhand weapons' proc effects to last much longer than intended.
  
• In rare cases, a combination of Intervention going off with near-zero mana could fail to trigger the Ankh of Life power. Fixed.
  
• Enemies casting defensive spells were receiving no bonuses from them. They work as intended now.
  
• Certain revelation from in a dialogue with the Undermother was not having effect on the main quest. Solved.
  
• Fixed many dialogue small errors.
  
• Sometimes after "A Fair Deal" resolved peacefully with Janod your reputation with Thuram and the
• Wizards' Guild wouldn't be fixed. This will be solved retroactively.
  
• Retribution fixed for Hirge... this time for real!.

You can begin playing brand new content in Exiled Kingdoms right now by becoming a Beta-Tester!

This update introduces some new mid and high-level content, allows a new mage build based on melee weapons and introduces a new difficulty level(Story) to make the game more fun to casual players. It also enables an option to permanently reduce the difficulty of an already started game. If you play in a language other than English or Spanish, please understand that the new content will take some time to be translated.

This is a free upgrade for everyone. Enjoy.




This is a pretty safe Beta, already tested by thousands of people from the mobile version, but glitches or errors may happen. You may wait a few weeks until we release the update to all players, or you may become a Tester and get it now. To become a tester, simply go to your Steam Library, right-click on Exiled Kingdoms, go to Properties, Betas and use the access code: EKbetatesting

• Added new maps including 6 outdoor sectors, new monsters, over 30 new items and 7 quests. To find the new content just walk to the town of Solliga or to the Elder Forest. Most of the new quests are targeted at levels 11-19, but there are some optional fights that should be challenging at any level.
  
• Some bosses are respawned and can be killed one more time: Faazvolfrul, King of Korne.
  
• The optional mass-battle with the Forsaken now grants some non-unique loot.

• New skills for Mages that wish to play as Arcane Knights trainable at Icemist, but might require solving a quest first.
  
• New General skill available in Elder Forest for those who are friends with the Varannari.
  
• New "Story" difficulty with better regeneration, and enemy HP and Damage reduced by 25%.
  
• Difficulty can now be lowered (never raised) from the Options menu.
  
• Added link to "News" in main menu.

• XP required to level up reduced slightly between levels 10-24; you may gain a level when loading your game.
  
• Gossip skill now grants a discount when buying from shops (3%, 6% or 9%).
  
• Traits can now be raised up to 12.
  
• Player and companion melee damage slightly increased. Previously Rogues gained +1 damage at levels 1/6/12/18/24 and other classes gained nothing. Now Rogues gain +1 damage at levels 1/4/8/12/16/20/etc. Warriors gain +1 melee damage at levels 5/10/15/20/etc. Clerics gain +1 melee damage at levels 7/14/21/etc.
  
• Carrion Eaters and other creatures now paralyze for 6 seconds instead of 10.
  Improved item stats: Assassin's Cuirass & Leggings, Crushing Ember, Enchanted Vulcan Bow. Justice, Righteousness are now usable by Cleric. Totem of Protection is usable by All.

• Fixed a bug that caused offhand weapons' proc effects to last much longer than intended.
  
• In rare cases, a combination of Intervention going off with near-zero mana could fail to trigger the Ankh of Life power. Fixed.
  
• Enemies casting defensive spells were receiving no bonuses from them. They work as intended now.
  
• Certain revelation from in a dialogue with the Undermother was not having effect on the main quest. Solved.
  
• Fixed many dialogue small errors.
  
• Sometimes after "A Fair Deal" resolved peacefully with Janod your reputation with Thuram and the
• Wizards' Guild wouldn't be fixed. This will be solved retroactively.
  
• Retribution fixed for Hirge... this time for real!.

For the last two years I've been working on my upcoming game, Archaelund. However I never gave up on, one day, expanding Exiled Kingdoms further... I wondered if I could work on both games at the same time, and for the last weeks I've been doing exactly that. It's progressing well, and it's not delaying my work on Archaelund in a significant way.

I can't provide details about the update itself yet. There'll be a few new outdoor areas, some new dungeons and new quests. I am afraid silly humor is non-negotiable and is bound to happen as well. Maybe new skills, if old code behaves, since I want new builds to be possible. One thing it's going to have for certain is answers to important Lore mysteries... although don't be too surprised if it also brings plenty of new unanswered questions.

There is no fixed release date for this update, since Archaelund is still my absolute priority. This update is still several months away at least. However if Archaelund keeps progressing nicely and I don't run into any trouble with the old code, it's my intention to keep expanding EK until Varannar is complete, and even beyond.

Of course everything added in this update will be available for free to owners of the game.

That's all for now!

You can check out Archaelund Store Page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082970/Archaelund/

Archaelund has been in development for slightly over a year; an Early Access version is scheduled for Fall 2020. If you want to stay tuned, remember to wishlist the game!

Today is the first anniversary of the Steam release of Exiled Kingdoms, making it a great time to make an announcement about Archaelund. For those that don't know, since last October I've been working on this project.

Archaelund is set in the Exiled Kingdoms world, but is a very different and far more ambitious game. Party-based, with far more options and possibilities and featuring tactical combat, but with the same open world concept and design philosophy you loved in EK. An Early Access release is planned for Q1 2020.

DISCLAIMER: many of the 3D models in these screenshots are temporary placeholders that will be replaced with better ones before release.

• Exploration as you remember it: take your party of adventurers through a vast open world. Explore as you wish, find awesome secrets and run into unexpected trouble, get involved in conflicts or just pursue your own goals and discover what lies beyond the horizon; the world is being handcrafted in great detail, just for you to discover. You can play Archaelund your own way.
  
• Tactical combat, but also immersive dungeon-crawling: just as the best classics did, you'll be able to explore the world of Archaelund in first-person perspective. But when combat starts, perspective seamlessly changes to top-down, and you'll issue orders to your party, placing them over a battle grid to face your enemies.
  
• Deadly battles with a focus on strategy: a non-inflationist, bounded system will ensure that every battle matters, and every opponent is scary. When your characters advance in levels, you'll gain new tactical options to defeat your enemies, not merely bloated and meaningless numeric stats.
  
• Career-based character progression: your party members will start out as thugs, ruffians, scavengers, hunters, beggars or fortune-tellers; initial Career will be chosen semi-randomly. Later on you can reach the more "heroic" Advanced Careers, leaving your ignoble origins behind... Archaelund features over 60 Careers divided in Basic, Advanced and Elite.

Humanity has survived, and now has returned to its ancient Homeland: Archaelund.

Two centuries ago, a magical cataclysm brought the Horrors upon our world, and the Andorian Empire was annihilated in a matter of weeks. The few survivors fled to the savage island of Varannar, a distant Imperial Colony. For generations the Exiles endured the hardships of this new life, although they never again stood united under the old Imperial banner.

The Exiled Kingdoms were born, but the scars left by the Fall were still painfully visible in them, for the Kingdoms were mere grotesque parodies of what humanity had once been. Varsilia, the mightiest of the Kingdoms, became morbidly obsessed over Imperial history and preserving its traditions. Ilmarans turned into fanatical zealots of a new faith, while in Thuram, the remnants of the Imperial Wizards established a magocracy that disregards all matters except the arcane, and quickly declined into endogamy. On the west, the Kingdom of Mercia had emerged from the surviving Imperial Legions, establishing a nightmarish rule based on slavery and arbitrary discipline. The four Kingdoms held irreconcilable views and ambitions, and locked together in a small and hostile land as they were, they often plotted against each other or even clashed openly in the battlefield.

But the in-fighting ceased when, generations later, a route back to the old continent of Andoria was discovered, and it was proved that the Horrors were no more. For the first time in centuries humanity looked at the future with optimism, and many left aside the old grudges and obsessions. Expeditions were sent, and thousands of colonists, soldiers, adventurers and ruffians embarked to Archaelund. The promises of land, riches and Imperial relics excited the imagination and ambition of thousands, from mere farmers to noble second-sons.

They quickly found they were not the sole claimnants of Archaelund, and re-colonization has not been peaceful nor easy; the Horrors are gone but they left behind a scarred world, eldritch energies and warped monsters roam the lands, and a subterranean race called the Geldryn, once slaves to the Andorian Empire, now aspire to inherit the surface world. Because of all this, Archaelund is a land full of danger, adventure and opportunity.

Just like many others before, your party of adventurers has finally saved up enough money to embark and sail East. The Silver Star has crossed the Andor Sea for two weeks, when you catch the first glimpse of the ancient land of your ancestors, unimpressed by its mundane visage. Little you suspect that, very soon, you're going to get involved in a plot that traces back to the terror of the final days of the Empire, and now threatens with destroying the remnants of civilization...

Today's update brings 100% complete Polish translation and other small improvements/fixes. You can check the full changelog of the game for details.

Since September I've been working full time on my next project. It's still too early for a full announcement, but there's a few things I can share about it already.


Prepare yourself to take control a full party of adventurers, and explore the broken lands of the vast continent of Andoria, home of the fallen Empire. The Exiled Kingdoms are claiming the shores of their mythical Homeland, but they'll find the region is not as deserted as they expected... you'll explore freely a huge world full with small details and hidden secrets, and will get inmersed in dozens of small stories and quests, and a main plot of epic proportions (no, really!).

Archaelund features a very unique combination of real-time exploration and careful turn-based strategy during combat; you'll explore the world in first-person perspective in a 3D world, much like in the Elder Scrolls games or in the classic Wizardry or Might&Magic games. But battles will happen in isometric perspective! When combat begins the camera floats up to offer a top-down view of the scene, so you can individually control your party members. The idea is to have the best of both worlds: an immersive exploration and tactical combat at the same time, allowing huge epic battles..

One of the main aspects of the game is the Geryon Rulesystem. I've been working on it for over a year already, specifically for Archaelund. I believe it offers many interesting ideas of my own, but at the same time it's deeply inspired by the versatility and flavor from my favorite tabletop RPGs from the 80s (WFRP, AD&D, Runequest, Rolemaster...) . Geryon will offer endless character development options; you can go for a straightforward approach... but it'll also allow crazy builds, even crazier multiclassing, and you'll never run out of things to try, if that's your thing.

Content is, as EK players probably guess, another essential pillar of the game. Expect the same open-world design, and the same weird combination of seriousness and silly humor and themes you "enjoyed" in EK; yeah, I am afraid the terrible jokes stay, and might get even worse.

Note: despite taking place in the Exiled Kingdoms setting, Archaelund is a completely standalone game. It's a far more ambitious project in scope, both in terms of design, graphics and depth.

There's little else I can disclose at the time since development is still at a very early stage. But I'll make a proper and detailed announcement in the next weeks/months.