Hi everyone,
2024 was a transformative year for the studio, as we finally achieved relative stability and adequate resources to expand the scope of our projects and develop them at a healthy pace. Thank you for supporting us through this journey and the growing pains.
I'd like to share my thoughts about our releases in 2024, as well as games the studio contributed to, and plans for 2025.
Dragon Ruins
As a long-time fan of David Allen's work (Mordor, Demise), I was surprised that no one created a successor to his games, so I decided to do it myself. Dragon Ruins started as a jam game to test the core gameplay and then reworked into an enhanced commercial version to test the waters.
It became a hit for us and showed we weren't alone in wanting another game like this. We released a follow-up in January 2025, which also sold very well.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2929540/Dragon_Ruins/
Ringlorn Saga Gaiden
The original game shipped with a bonus mode called "The Tower of Rebirth" where you possessed enemies to reach the top floor. Ringlorn Saga Gaiden was created to develop this mode into a standalone open-world experience and work as a quick spin-off to keep fans busy until Ringlorn Saga: Book Two arrives.
The idea took a few failed attempts, cuts, and shifts in design to make it work. Sadly, slower sales and prolonged development mean it's unlikely to break even anytime soon, but Book Two will still happen at some point in the future.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2262980/Ringlorn_Saga_Gaiden/
SKALD: Against the Black Priory
SKALD was developed by High North Studios and published by Raw Fury. I worked on it as a composer from 2019 until I finished my work in 2023. The game finally came out in 2024 and garnered a positive reception.
Personally, I was surprised by how often the music was praised in reviews. Some of the later work was composed while dealing with blackouts, and I'd like to extend my thanks to the Kim family for providing me with a place to unwind, recharge my devices, and guzzle unhealthy amounts of kimchi jjigae.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1069160/SKALD_Against_the_Black_Priory/
Hazy Mind
I contributed some music to Hazy Mind in late 2023. To be honest, I'm yet to play the final version of the game, but the beta I played to get the feel for it had an amazing style.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2380340/Hazy_Mind/
2025 and Future Plans
We've released Dragon Ruins II in January. Since the original sold much better than initially anticipated, we had a decent budget to work with and enough time to research and develop features that we wanted to incorporate in the sequel.
It sold much better than expected, and we're currently working on a standalone expansion to provide more stories for tired DRPG fans.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3293490/Dragon_Ruins_II/
Hanako's Flower Shop (by FantaJI) is coming out on April 25. I assisted with the QA, including checking the game on Steam Deck and checking the release candidate for errors.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1529640/Hanakos_Flower_Shop/
Apart from that, we are working on a big update for Demon Lord Reincarnation. Its commercial success took us by surprise, but internally, we were unsatisfied with the way it turned out, and player reviews reflect that.
Since then, we've been quietly reworking the game from scratch, fixing elements that didn't work, and incorporating content and features that were cut to meet the deadline.
There's no ETA yet, but it's progressing at a steady pace. Once the update ships, the original version will be available on a beta branch.
Console Releases
You might've heard this before, but we are no longer working with Xitilon and are in talks with a new console publisher to handle our games. This means there's no ETA for future console releases until the deal is signed.
Again, thank you for your support.
--Romanus Surt of Graverobber Foundation