Greetings, Captains!

As we are now almost halfway through Year 2 of Skull and Bones, we wanted to take a minute to look back at how far we've come and get a glimpse of what's next.

Since April and the launch of our Year 2 Season 1, we've released long-awaited content such as large ships, the new Megafort system, and our dedicated, team based "Death Tides" PvP mode. We've also reworked core game systems such as the Helm Empire, introduced new ones with Item Ascension, and brought in a new World Tier system to offer more variety in how players choose to engage with our content.

We've introduced many quality-of-life improvements across the board: from UI improvements to ship loadouts and improved sailing mechanics. Your feedback has been essential in shaping every new feature or improvement released, from pre-launch testing to post-launch tuning.

Year 2 marked a turning point for Skull and Bones: with a stronger focus on a quality-first approach when introducing new content and improve the core experience based on your feedback. Our aim to deliver more meaningful experiences that meet your expectations, but also value and reward your time accordingly.

The arrival of the long-awaited Frigate is clear confirmation that this is the right direction moving forward. As one of the most requested additions to the game since launch, we wanted to ensure its arrival was well received, even if that meant spending more time fine tuning it.

Based on what we've learned throughout testing and, most importantly, your input, we've made a strategic decision to delay the launch of Faction Wars. While originally planned to launch as part of a mid-season update, Faction Wars won't be coming in Year 2 Season 2 allowing us more time to test and polish the feature and deliver it when it's truly ready. We know many of you were looking forward to it, so this wasn't an easy decision.

For us, this isn't just about taking more time, we're doubling down on our efforts. Our team are fully focused on delivering a meaningful first iteration of Faction Wars that will serve as a founding layer for the new end-game.

To give the team the time they need to re-focus on Faction Wars, we will be extending Season 2 for a week and pausing work on other major key features announced and planned for Year 2 Seasons 3 and 4. We'll share an updated roadmap soon, following results of testing phases in the upcoming month.

There have been many updates delivered during Year 1 and this first half of Year 2, with one recurring message coming through loud and clear: many of you are eager for a stronger, more engaging end-game experience. As such, we took a step back to rethink how that could look and what it may feel like in the future.

Our vision and ambitions for this new end-game is Faction Wars, a system that aims to bring it all together in an improved gameplay loop, bringing a stronger focus on large community-centric goals, where the outcome is shaped by every player's contribution.

Faction Wars will be a large-scale, continually evolving feature. In its first iteration, you'll be able to choose to side with one of two major forces in the Indian Ocean: the Dutch Merchant Company or the Compagnie Royale, battling for control over territories. You'll need to strategically engage in battles across Contested Territories to aid your faction in dominating over the Indian Ocean, with the tides of war shifting over the course of the season.

This is the next step in the Skull and Bones endgame experience. Staying true to our quality-first approach, our immediate objective is to make sure the foundations are solid enough that we can continue to build on and expand in the future. Therefore, the first iteration of Faction Wars is all about laying that groundwork, which is designed to complement your progression and introduce new ways to engage with activities in the Indian Ocean.

With Faction Wars on the horizon, we're entering a new era in the Indian Ocean - one that will evolve based on your reactions and how you play.

Skull and Bones has always been a journey we're building with you. Whether you've shared your thoughts over on Discord, Reddit, or through the Insider Program, while we can't always act on every piece of feedback right away, every suggestion, bug report, and comment has been invaluable in shaping a game we can all be proud of.

The first half of Year 2 has shown that this collaborative approach works, and we hope you'll continue to share your thoughts and ideas as we move forward.

Thank you again for your continued support, engagement, and passion. If you'd like early access to features in development, an opportunity to share your feedback directly with the team and help shape the future of Skull and Bones - be sure to join our Insider Program.

And join us live on August 6 at 2:00 AM UTC for a special Deck livestream on the Ubisoft Twitch channel, where we'll address some of the questions you may have regarding the delay and current stage of the Faction Wars development.

Not sure what time that is for you? Click here to check your local time.

We'll see you all on the high seas!

Enemies:

• Formless standard attacks weakened.

• Wingtail Calf's “Crying for Help” is now triggered at 10% HP.

• Monolith's reactive modules adjusted. No random sandworms or discards anymore.

Cards:

• Shadow Crawler's Fingers costs 1 Mana now.

Enemies:

• All enemies in regions 2 and 3 have more health. Previously, enemies were scaled linearly without taking the additional mana into account.

• Shadow Crawler has an additional text box: (unequipped relics)

• Monolith's reactive modules feature additional tooltips for every possible outcome.

• The placement of some enemy actions has been adjusted to make it easier to display tooltips.

• The bonus effects of the chapters have swapped places.

  • Chapter 2: Healing after bosses halved. (Previously: All enemies have 25% more health)

  • Chapter 3: All enemies have 25% more health. (Previously: The combat step counter is triggered 5 fields earlier.)

  • > This change is a result of the general increase in health points from Region 2 onwards, which means that a further increase only occurs in Chapter 3, when the player has the opportunity to reliably upgrade all their cards to level 2.

• Chapter 1; region 3: Fixed a missing node connection to the blacksmith

1. Smelling has been reworked, to be more like hearing.. You can now visually see cheese behind walls, instead of the odd looking particle trail.

3. fucked up floor tile might have been fixed, this one is really hard to reproduce to bugfix. Again, sorry if it get's your rats killed.

2. Jump-scares now has 50% chance to spawn, instead of the 20% before.. We need to test it out, so I upped the frequency...

Don't get scared now 🙂

Hello, Turtles Fans!

You’ve given us a ton of feedback about Tactical Takedown -- what you love, and what you want more of. We’ve gone full Turtle with this, don’t get it twisted. What was that sound on the rooftop? Us, listening in on your desire for “more difficult”. Hear something like someone eating pizza in a sewer? Well, that was us n’all, listening as you tell a friend “they’ve gotta add more enemy types!”

While us being on your roof isn’t true (sorry), what is true is Remix Mode! An update that will add three key things we’ve seen people asking for.

• More Variety - More than DOUBLE the enemy types -- introducing new ways to approach each level. (I saw a Bruiser rock up with an air conditioner ready to chuck at me and an Elite Foot oozing with new powers?!)

• Higher Difficulty  -  Strategies that work in the main game may not work in Remix Mode (I love kicking everyone off the edge of the game board, who doesn’t? I was SHOCKED to find there are breakable barricades stopping you and sturdy enemies who just stand there when you kick them, mocking your whole strat!)

• Build Crafting - You'll need to perfect your Turtle's loadout, by making the most of every move you purchased from Fugitoid. (You can also make it even more difficult for yourself if you want things even more challenging!)

Now, this isn’t a New Game+ Mode -- once you finish a chapter, its Remixed variant unlocks right away. So, if this is your first time playing Tactical Takedown, you don’t have to wait until the end of the game to ramp things up.

And I hear you, you’re asking “Is this paid DLC? I’ve got a pizza with marshmallows and anchovies to order!” Well get calling that pizza joint now because all of this will be included as a free update. Xbox and Nintendo Switch versions will launch with Remix Mode right away. I’d say we’re too good to you, but it’s your feedback and support that have enabled us to make Remix Mode so we hope you enjoy it as much as we have making it!

We can’t wait to show you more when Remix Mode launches August 14th 2025.

See you on the internet,

Chris @ Strange Scaffold

Hey everyone!

We've got a meaty update today, including:

The Early Access banner finally showing up on the store page
A round of important hotfixes
And most importantly... the FPS-killer mystery is solved!

We’re Officially in Early Access (Now For Real)!
Some of you noticed the Early Access disclaimer was missing from the Steam page when we launched. The issue has been solved! We are now proud bearers of the Early Access banner on the Steam page thanks to the kind folks at Steam. Thanks for your patience while we sorted that out!

The Big Performance Patch: Let Us Tell You a Story
So... we found the source of the FPS drops. And it’s both hilarious and horrifying.

Imagine this:

You go through 10 rooms. That’s about 10 weapon chests. Plus enemy drops.
Let’s say... 45 weapons have spawned so far. Cool.

Now you get a 5-kill streak and go “on fire”. Awesome, right?

Well… it turns out ALL 45 weapons were also like
"YO, I'M ON FIRE TOO" 🔥🔥🔥

That’s right. Every weapon you ever saw up was still technically hanging out, and they ALL wanted in on the visual effects party. 45 weapons running fire VFX = instant performance death.

We fixed it! The new patch makes sure only the relevant weapon does its little fire dance. The rest? They’ve been told to sit down and chill.

This fix has led to major FPS improvements, especially in longer runs and on mid-range hardware. Even more FPS improvements have also been noted and will be sent out with upcoming patches! We hope you feel the difference immediately and please let us know how it runs for you!

Aaand Some Hotfix Notes from Yesterday
We also pushed a quick hotfix that addressed:

Collision issues in a few rooms
Crashes during realm transitions
Fire rate bugs on certain weapons
Localization not loading properly in some languages
Tutorial panel not pausing the game correctly

Thanks to everyone who reported these. Your feedback is making the game better every day! ❤️

• Item clustering has been optimized to prevent frame lag

• Fixed an issue where collector bots would miss identify their docks and crash the game

- We’ve completely overhauled the purchasing flow—it’s now more interactive

- Starting today, you can no longer order materials from the tablet

- The map now features 4 suppliers; each offers several product types at reasonable prices

You can:

- Visit a supplier’s office and buy several boxes individually

- Sign a contract (with a one-time fee) and order materials both at their office and from your office PC; deliveries will be brought to your warehouse

When placing an order:

- Choose the material, specify the quantity, and select a delivery time slot to your warehouse’s loading bay

- Sign the order and pay for the materials and delivery

Volume discount:

- The more boxes in a single order, the higher the discount—up to 14% at 100 boxes (100 is the per-order maximum)

Important:

- Pick up materials on time and keep the loading bay clear for the next delivery

- If you fail to accept the order within the selected time slot, the supplier will leave, and only part of the cost will be refunded—the rest covers fuel, the driver’s wages, and other overheads

- Minor frame rendering optimization

- Texture optimization

- Shadow optimization

- More stable FPS

- You can now sleep not only in beds but also on sofas, couches, and comfy armchairs (to skip the night)

- Updated furniture store icon

- Fixed incorrect placement of the floor name on the floor map in the PC

- Fixed minor UI issues

- Partially improved translations

- Fixed minor NPC bugs (yes, we know there’s still plenty to do)

We hope you all had a fantastic time—we certainly did! Coming back from vacation with fresh eyes and renewed energy, we realized there were a few more things we could polish to make your experience even better. Although our previous update was meant to be the last, we just couldn’t resist making these final tweaks.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback. We hope you enjoy these improvements as much as we enjoyed working on them!

• Decreased energy costs of some abilities

• Health cost of Fanatical Offering now also depends on your maximum health

• Decreased resistance and duration of Energy Converter

• Decreased resistance of Bursting Barrier

• Decrease duration of Energy Skin Barrier

• Added a new FT station, Aatma - Mountain Base

• Added more log files to be found in the world with Alterant Sequence recipes (Areas: Fuming Bog, Varun Hills, Aatma Mountain North + South, Chaya Dam and Chaya Dam Cave, Serpent Cave)

• Corrected some Russian localization errors (Thanks to discord member @Mikle009!)

Follow us on Twitter/X, Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/aftnareld/and join our Discordhttps://discord.gg/8kQhswvr8Bto stay in touch 🦖

/Aftnareld Team

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1656930/Coridden/ ─────────────────────────────────────────────

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1656930/announcements/detail/535483254329837709─────────────────────────────────────────────

Generals!

High Command has organised for another sale, ahead of our summer offensives! Take advantage of these operational changes to pick up those DLCs and Expansions that you've been thinking about!


Hearts of Iron IV - 70% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Starter Edition - 70% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off
Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 70% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Trial of Allegiance 20% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Graveyard of Empires 20% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off

Haven't kept up with the latest Dev Corners? Check out this master post to see all of the updates!

• Phase text improvement on player turn, preparation phase and enemy turn

• Additional tab in the Stone Codex for bags

• Emerald now gains +2 extra power per \[Shine] on activation

  

  Mods can now add their own music and sound effects

• Unlocks show up after victory screen

• Tutorial updates