Strangeland - Hotfix Achievement Patch
-Achievements now sync properly between local and remote, ensuring you don't lose any progress.
-Achievements now sync properly between local and remote, ensuring you don't lose any progress.
Strangeland
Wormwood Studios · Wadjet Eye Games
- Released
- May 25, 2021
- Platforms
- Last updated
Updates & announcements
- Developer postOriginal post
- Developer post
Strangeland in Switchland
Strangeland is finally on the Nintendo Switch ! Way back in January 2019, I suggested to my teammates that we look into porting our games to the Nintendo Switch. By June 2021, just after Strangeland was released, a port seemed “horribly close.” But then, it turned out that many o
Original postStrangeland is finally on the Nintendo Switch!
Watch on YouTube Way back in January 2019, I suggested to my teammates that we look into porting our games to the Nintendo Switch. By June 2021, just after Strangeland was released, a port seemed “horribly close.” But then, it turned out that many of the amazing effects that James had created for the game—ranging from audio tricks to visual flair to the bespoke instantaneous save system—couldn’t work with the existing porting framework.
As with all game development, that’s when the grueling work kicked in, and it’s where some devs would have quit and chased after something more fun. But it’s not for nothing that James earned a lifetime achievement award in Adventure Game Studio, and his track record for releasing projects is 100%. James doesn’t leave games behind, and Strangeland’s Switch port was no exception to this rule.
So now, after three quarters of a decade, Strangeland is finally coming to the Switch. I’ve found these Nintendo ports quite personally significant because as a kid, I dreamed of making games for my NES. Between Infinity finally releasing on the Game Boy Color and Primordia and Strangeland on the Switch, I feel like that arc of my life has reached its happy end.
Thank you all for your support over the years! We look forward to sharing Fallen Gods with you next!
-Mark
- Developer post
Strangeland Hotfix Patch
-Fixed an issue with german translation. -Fixed an issue with french translation. -Fixed an issue with dialogs on steamdeck.
Original post-Fixed an issue with german translation.
-Fixed an issue with french translation.
-Fixed an issue with dialogs on steamdeck. - Developer post
Strangeland German Hotfix Patch
-Fixed issues with German Translation!
Original post-Fixed issues with German Translation!
Developer postFive Years in a Strangeland
Five years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! - William Wordsworth Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that we were making Strangeland (maybe because James and I were actually working on it last week!) and sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. All
Original postFive years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! - William Wordsworth Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that we were making Strangeland (maybe because James and I were actually working on it last week!) and sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. All of our games are intensely personal: we poured ourselves in Primordia and Fallen Gods no less than into Strangeland. But there was something especially personal about Strangeland, where we didn’t just weave an adventure out of the works and people that had inspired us, but also mourned the loss of those inspirations. I think that was true for each of us on the team; from talking through the many characters he would voice with Abe, I know that he, too, drew from such depths.
Players have talked about Strangeland as a part of their “journey through grief”; they have written to me about playing or thinking about it year after year. They have said it helped them in their darkest days. There aren’t words to say how much that means. For me, the project began with the loss of my grandparents, trying to give a form to the shapeless feelings and thoughts that grew in the hole they left behind. In the end, I felt lighter for having gone through that darkness—especially having gone through it with my friends as we built another game together.
“Together” as an indie developer doesn’t just mean your teammates; it means the players, too. My Aunt Virginia, whose poetry inspired me so much on Primordia, once wrote: “Then, as now, a poem might tell a story, create and transmit a mood, emotion, idea, a private or world view; it can do one, or some, or all of these things. But whatever it does, it must, first engage the reader as a participant in an event. And when this happens, a great poem, like a great love, leaves an ineradicable mark, forever changing the man or woman who experiences it.” Even more than a poem, a game must engage the player as a participant. And for your participation in Strangeland and Primordia, we are deeply grateful. We look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
Developer postLooking forward to 2026!
As the Earth completes another orbit ( 15 of them since Primordia got underway), we look back happily at all the love our games have gotten from fans and, somewhat more ruefully, at the sweat and effort that went into those games in the past twelve months. Fallen Gods Our foremos
Original postAs the Earth completes another orbit (15 of them since Primordia got underway), we look back happily at all the love our games have gotten from fans and, somewhat more ruefully, at the sweat and effort that went into those games in the past twelve months.
Fallen Gods
Our foremost effort has been on Fallen Gods, which is nearing completion! (Not a bad time to wishlist it!) The team poured thousands of hours into its development this year, and the additions are too numerous to list. Significantly, we finished the game's hundreds of illustrations, hundreds of events (comprising tens of thousands of nodes), and hours of voice-over. We added tons of new animations, interfaces, sound effects, and other pixel art. Here's a peek at some of the new stuff!
New Backgrounds and Combat Animations
Seed Menu (for replaying recent maps or trying seeds recommended by friends)
Difficulty levels
Zoomable world map
Scoreboard and achievements
Tutorial and integrated pop-up tips
Dynamic ending slides and after-action saga
Primordia and Strangeland
We still found hundreds of hours to put into our never-ending work on Primordia and Strangeland (both 70% off in the current Steam sale), fielding player questions, patching bugs, keeping the games compatible on modern systems, and working on translations and ports.
Primordia got three patches; Strangeland got two patches and was upgraded to a newer version of Adventure Game Studio. Having ported Primordia to the Switch a few years ago, James has been working ever since on getting Strangeland onto the Switch as well, and now has a working version that's playable start to finish. Strangeland also hit some big milestones as it approaches its five-year anniversary of release: 800 reviews (the best thing you can do to support indie devs is leave reviews!) and 50,000 copies sold. We're also still plugging away on the Spanish translation for Strangeland.
All told, it's been a great 2025, and we're looking forward to an exciting 2026, hopefully with the release of Fallen Gods to kick it off!
- Developer post
4th Anniversary Hotfix Patch
-Added a failsafe for an edge case issue regarding the mouse disappearing in the pool rooms. I thought that issue was dead, apparently it's not, should be dead now. Happy birthday to Strangeland which was released on the 25th of May 2021!! Time flies!
Original post-Added a failsafe for an edge case issue regarding the mouse disappearing in the pool rooms.
I thought that issue was dead, apparently it's not, should be dead now. Happy birthday to Strangeland which was released on the 25th of May 2021!! Time flies!
- Developer post
Strangeland - Tiny patch
-Fixed an issue with the French translation. -Added a failsafe state. Saves will not break not now, not ever.
Original post-Fixed an issue with the French translation.
-Added a failsafe state.Saves will not break not now, not ever.
- Developer post
Strangeland SUPER PATCH [Hopefully]
-Added config tools for all OSES -Compacted all translations into the same build. -Moved Strangeland into a newer version of the engine. Savegames won't break, because they can't be broken.
Original post-Added config tools for all OSES [Mac/Linux/Steamdeck]
-Compacted all translations into the same build.
-Moved Strangeland into a newer version of the engine.Savegames won't break, because they can't be broken.
- Developer post
Happy New Year!
As 2025 begins, we wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude for all the incredible support we've received this year -- a big thank you to our amazing friends, fans, players, testers, translators, and teammates! Your enthusiasm and dedication have been crucial to everythin
Original postAs 2025 begins, we wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude for all the incredible support we've received this year -- a big thank you to our amazing friends, fans, players, testers, translators, and teammates! Your enthusiasm and dedication have been crucial to everything we've accomplished. Here's a quick overview of some of our major achievements this year:
Strangeland
Late in 2024, the lead on Strangeland's Turkish translation reached out to me and James to let us know that he had gone back through and revised it, line by line, because he wanted the translation to do the game justice. He sent us a touching note, explaining how much video games had meant to him growing up, and adding:
This perspective is what makes meeting individuals like you such a joy for me. Learning about your journey as developers and reading about the experiences that shaped your creative vision has been profoundly moving. It’s clear that your work isn’t just about making games but about creating meaningful art that resonates with people on a deeper level.
These kinds of messages mean so much... as I've said for years, the connections our creations make with our players is like calling out into the void and hearing a friendly voice answer back. Knowing that something we poured ourselves into matters to someone else is the whole reason for creating indie games.
Strangeland also got a first pass at a Spanish translation right at the end of the year, and we're hoping a final, integrated version will be ready by May.
These translations spring from the incredible generosity of our fans. I've enjoyed working with the translators on both Primordia and Strangeland to make sure the "voice," themes, and wordplay come through as much as possible -- a daunting task. There's always a fair bit of technical work for James in implementing them, and given this time commitment, these may be the last translations we do for a while. Still, it's satisfying to look back at the many translators and translations we've had the pleasure to work with and on over the past decade!
The big update for 2024 was Marauder Film exercising the option we signed years ago, which gives Marauder the right to produce a Primordia movie. While this doesn't guarantee the film will get made, it's an exciting development! At the outset, I was very hesitant about agreeing to an adaptation of Primordia, as the world, characters, and story are so near and dear to my heart. Still, after seeing my teammates' enthusiasm and Bastiaan’s evident excitement for the project, I was persuaded. It's going to be interesting to see someone else's story and take on our creation, and the Marauder team seems excellent.
Meanwhile, James has continued to polish and support the game, the proverbial Man the All-Builder returning to perfect his creation, with a number of small bug fixes and improvements.
This year marked a significant milestone for Fallen Gods, our longest-running project, now approaching its 11th year! While we're not quite there yet, we're in spitting distance. The core content and engine are firmly in place, meaning 2024 was about refining and adding the finishing touches. That included features such as the tutorial, ending slides, world map, quest log, scoreboard, and run summaries. Art-wise, we completed a major UI overhaul; refined, replaced, or added dozens of illustrations; and added pixel art for new combat animations, diagonal movement sprites, and map details. On top of that, we expanded the game with more events, music tracks, sound effects, and voice-over nodes, while enhancing the ambient soundscape.
There's still a bit to go, but we're committed to ensuring Fallen Gods is as polished as possible before we cross the finish line. One nice thing about the development of the project is that we're not beholden to any timetable.
Website Overhaul
In collaboration with Nicolas Dekaise (developer of Enoch: Children of Fate) and superfan James Boehme, we finally gave our website, www.WormwoodStudios.com, a much-needed overhaul. I'm not sure how much traffic developer websites even get these days, but we wanted to present our games in a cleaner, more attractive way.
Sundries
Finally, in Wormwood-adjacent news, the amazing Carbonflesh (which James has been working on forever) got its reveal and a demo, as did Infinity, the very first commercial game I ever worked on as a writer/designer (a quarter century ago!). And Iron Tower's Colony Ship, which I had the pleasure to consult on, had its final content patch, the culmination of many years of development. As anyone who's been through it knows, RPGs take a long, long time to make. I just hope that when Fallen Gods finally crosses the finish line, it's as great as these three games are!
- Mark
- Developer post
Strangeland Turkish Translation Patch
We've patched the Turkish translation of Strangeland!
Original postWe've patched the Turkish translation of Strangeland!
Developer postStrangeland's Third Anniversary!
It’s been three years since we released Strangeland —how time flies! But in a way, it feels like a lifetime ago, and even longer since the death of my grandparents, the painful grain of sand that, with my friends’ help, we were able to turn into this pearl. We’ve heard from dozen
Original postIt’s been three years since we released Strangeland—how time flies! But in a way, it feels like a lifetime ago, and even longer since the death of my grandparents, the painful grain of sand that, with my friends’ help, we were able to turn into this pearl.
We’ve heard from dozens of players about how the game helped them work through their own grief or despair, or gave them a grim laugh at its dark humor. It means a lot to know our little game had such an impact. Like our first creation Primordia, it has staying power: this past year we sold the most copies of any year yet. It goes to show how much it matters to have devoted and supporting fans like you all.
One of those fans is Eduardo, the amazing translator who brought Primordia to Spanish speakers, and he’s nearing completion of his Strangeland translation. That translation, and the periodic bugfixes that James and I do, will probably be the last update for the game, but you never know... life is full of surprises (like Primordia getting optioned for a cinematic adaptation). All I know is, I’m very happy with the story and characters of these two games, their alien worlds, and their theme of what it means to human. If nothing more comes of them, it will be enough.
Our next game, Fallen Gods is in the polishing phase now. We’re taking our time with it—over 10 years of development, a long incubation even for Wormwood Studios!—because we want to make sure it’s the game our players deserve. But hopefully 2024 will be the year of its release.
Until the next milestone, adieu!- Mark Y.
- Developer post
Happy Halloween!
We are pleased to announce that Strangeland is 30% off for the Steam Scream Sale! When a man’s own mind is a haunted house, he becomes a stranger to himself and sees in every mirror a monster staring back. Like our first adventure Primordia , Strangeland is an homage to the class
Original postWe are pleased to announce that Strangeland is 30% off for the Steam Scream Sale! When a man’s own mind is a haunted house, he becomes a stranger to himself and sees in every mirror a monster staring back.
Like our first adventure Primordia, Strangeland is an homage to the classic point-and-clicks of the 1990s, a deeply personal story, and our effort to provide players with a rich, smooth gameplay experience.
Strangeland is a psychological horror game that explores despair and isolation, but it is ultimately a game about hope, love, and generosity, which is more important now than ever. We approached our development in that same spirit: hope that it finds a connection with you; love for our players and for the genre; and an effort to be generous in the polish, extra content, and ongoing support we put in the game.
With that in mind, if you play the game find that connection, we would love to hear it. We hope Strangeland is a treat, but if you hit any nasty tricks, technical snags, puzzle frustrations, or other issues, please let us know either in the forums on by email ([email protected]), and we will try to help you out as soon as possible.
Happy Halloween to all!
Developer postStrangeland is now TRANSLATED in Korean!!
We are honored and grateful to announce the release of a Korean translation for Strangeland , courtesy of volunteer translator Hyewon. To opt into the translation go to your Steam Library, right-click on Strangeland , and select Properties. Within Properties, set the language to
Original postWe are honored and grateful to announce the release of a Korean translation for Strangeland, courtesy of volunteer translator Hyewon. To opt into the translation go to your Steam Library, right-click on Strangeland, and select Properties. Within Properties, set the language to Korean.
This translation has presented extraordinary challenges. On a technical level, the engine in which the game is made, Adventure Game Studio does not easily support non-Roman-alphabet languages, and it required a great deal of work by our coder, James Spanos, to make the translation function. On a linguistic level, Strangeland's complicated wordplay and interwoven references required not only deft translation but thoughtful localization. Hyewon worked closely with the writer/designer Mark Yohalem to find a way to convey the text's original meaning in Korean.
This translation would not exist without Korean streamer Kimdoe, who featured Strangeland on a webpage entitled "I want this game to be translated in Korean." Hyewon found Strangeland through that website, and answered Kimdoe's call. After many months of tireless work and testing from Hyewon, James, and Mark, the translation is at last complete.
If you encounter any bugs or errors, please let us know in the Steam forum, or you can email us at [email protected].
It is our hope that this translation becomes a bridge between Strangeland and a new group of players. And we are immensely thankful to Hyewon for building that bridge.
- Developer post
French Translation of Strangeland
We are delighted to announce the release of a French translation of Strangeland ! This volunteer translation represents the careful, wonderful work of Flavien Gaillard (who also translated Primordia ) and a dedicated team of testers. Strangeland owes a great deal to French philos
Original postWe are delighted to announce the release of a French translation of Strangeland! This volunteer translation represents the careful, wonderful work of Flavien Gaillard (who also translated Primordia) and a dedicated team of testers. Strangeland owes a great deal to French philosophy, literature, comics, and film, and it has received great support from the French gaming press (such as Canard PC) and French players. All of that makes us especially glad to make the game more accessible to a Francophone audience.
The translation covers any text that appears on the screen (such as menus, subtitles, signs, etc.), but the voice over remains in English. For those who speak English, you will no doubt notice that there have been various adjustments made to the text so that puzzles and wordplay make sense in French.
We hope you enjoy playing Strangeland as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you. If you need any technical support, or catch any bugs with the translation, please let us know in the forum.
Fondly,
Wormwood Studios
Developer postStrangeland Is One Year Old and 30% Off!
One year ago today, we released our second adventure game, Strangeland ! Its creation was an amazing, many-years-long journey that the three of us (Mark, James, and Vic) took together, and over the past year, it has been fantastic to welcome tens of thousands of players onto the
Original postOne year ago today, we released our second adventure game, Strangeland! Its creation was an amazing, many-years-long journey that the three of us (Mark, James, and Vic) took together, and over the past year, it has been fantastic to welcome tens of thousands of players onto the next leg of that journey.
Our first year has seen a number of successes and significant milestones:
- Winning Aggie Awards, AGS Awards, AGOTY Awards, as well as many other prizes and nominations.
- Almost 450 user reviewers, and great user engagement throughout.
- Translations into German, Turkish, and Hungarian.
- Some truly amazing streams and video analyses of the game.
- Great coverage in print (e.g., the gaming magazine Level, which awarded us a perfect 100) and online (e.g., The Onion AV, Vice, etc.).
- Steam Deck, Linux, and MacOS ports.
And we have some amazing stuff in store for next year, including:
- Nintendo Switch port.
- French, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean translations (hopefully!).
- Continued user support in the trademark Wormwood Studios fashion.
It has been an honor for us to share this game with you, despite (and perhaps also because of) the agony of its creation. We hope it continues to make a deep connection with players, and bring its bittersweet joy to tens of thousands more.
With love,
Wormwood Studios- Developer post
Strangeland Update [WIN/LINUX/MACOS]
-Fixed some issues on the German and Turkish translations. -Fixed a general issue regarding changing translations.
Original post-Fixed some issues on the German and Turkish translations.
-Fixed a general issue regarding changing translations. - Developer post
-Minor update
Fixed various stuff on the Turkish translation, everything else is unchanged!
Original postFixed various stuff on the Turkish translation, everything else is unchanged!
Developer postStrangeland Wins Four Adventure Game Studios Awards!
We were honored to see Strangeland take home four Adventure Game Studios Awards today: Best Character Art Best Puzzles Best Voice Over Best Programming Moreover, our programmer/triumvir James Spanos was rightly honored with a Lifetime Achievement award. James not only single-hand
Original postWe were honored to see Strangeland take home four Adventure Game Studios Awards today:
Best Character Art
Best Puzzles
Best Voice Over
Best ProgrammingMoreover, our programmer/triumvir James Spanos was rightly honored with a Lifetime Achievement award. James not only single-handedly coded Primordia, Strangeland, and Until I Have You, he also helped code The Cat Lady and Mage's Initiation, and either ported or polished almost all of the games in the Wadjet Eye catalogue.
The last two awards are especially great given how rarely the programming of adventure games gets recognized, even though it is an indispensable part of an engaging player experience.
If you'd like to read about some of the award-winning coding feats James Spanos pulled off for Strangeland, check out his dev diary on the subject.
If you want to read about award-winning character art, you can read Victor Pflug's portion of our interview in Monstrum.
If you'd like to read more about the philosophy beyond our award-winning puzzles, you can read my (Mark's) dev diary on "The Power of Puzzles."
Finally, if you want to see a behind-the-scenes look at the award-winning cast of voice actors, led by Abe Goldfarb and directed by Dave Gilbert, check out this YouTube playlist.
We're truly grateful for these awards, but as always, the thing that matters most is knowing that they are the product of player's expressing their support for the game, and we are always mindful of the many ways players have given that support -- sometimes vocally with Steam reviews, sometimes tangibly with fan crafts, and sometimes silently simply by playing our game. We love you.
- Developer post
Turkish translation - Update
-Various lines fixed on the Turkish translation!
Original post-Various lines fixed on the Turkish translation!