Hello Dragon Hunter,
The day is set!
Dragonkin: The Banished's first major update, Nurõrgartt will be released on May 20th!
We made a new teaser to celebrate the occasion, we hope you're as excited as we are!
Please check it out:
The scope of this update went way beyond what we initially envisioned. This was only made possible through the warm and constructive feedback we have been given with these past months. Thank you so much everyone for your support!
Our upcoming patch notes as well as this DevBlog will feature a [🔥] emote whenever the change is based on community feedback!
Nurõrgartt Update Overview
Now let's take a took at the key changes you can expect in our first major update:
6 new character skills
2 for each class, including the Knight, the Barbarian, and the Oracle.
To learn more about these new skills, please check our Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1863430/view/498320947205374001
3 New Wyrmling skills
1 for the ice Wyrmling and 2 for the toxic Wyrmling.
5 New Services in the City of Montescail
The Enchanter, The Memorialist, The Grand Benedictor, The Artificer, The Arsenal will be added to your city. These are designed to give you more control around your itemization and builds.
To learn more about these new Services, please check our Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1863430/view/498319044783374510
New Biome: Nurõrgartt
2 new environments: The Tundra and the Glacier. New dungeon: The Ice Cavern. New enemies, and bosses to discover.
For a deeper dive into the new biome, please check our Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1863430/view/498317142563751877
New endgame activity: Test of Will
In this mode, you'll face wave after wave of enemies while dealing with a mix of temporary buffs and debuffs, along with permanent bonuses that last throughout the run. Each wave gets harder with stronger enemies, but the further you go, the better the rewards.
To learn more about this new endgame activity, please check our Devblog: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1863430/view/498319683381887030
New kind of reward: Gift of the Eternal
In our ongoing efforts to enhance player agency and reward progression, we'd like to introduce a new kind of reward: Gift of the Eternal. Our goal with that new reward is to provide meaningful choices that respect your time and investment in the game. By allowing you to select rewards that align with your goals, we aim to enhance your gameplay experience and progression satisfaction.
To learn more about it, please check our Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1863430/view/498319683381887486
🔥New Storage Chest for Fragments
Many players have expressed frustration over the limited storage space for Fragments and we've heard you! That’s why we introduce the Fragment chest! You’ll now find several Fragment chests scattered throughout the city, right alongside the familiar Equipment chest.
15 New endgame hunts
New rewards to unlock on the Hunting Board for chaos hunts and for the Gift of the Eternal. Most Hunts happen in the new biome “Nurõrgartt”.
🔥Progression & loot adjustments
Your feedback highlighted how the overall level progression, especially between levels 30 to 45 could feel underwhelming and unrewarding. With this patch, we’ve taken the first steps to make leveling more satisfying by allowing players to obtain more interesting and high-rarity drops much earlier. Our intention is to add more 'wow' moments for the player and make progression before max level feel exciting. As such, Divine & Draconic items will be available starting at level 1 and Mythical items at level 30 instead of 45. Also, all rarities (Uncommon, Rare, Legendary, Mythical) are now obtainable 10 levels earlier. This change does not affect Fragment drops. The Gift of the Eternal, which can drop in the story and offers rarer items, should help reinforce the sense of progression.
🔥Gameplay adjustment
This patch brings a wide wave of gameplay refinements aimed at improving the core experience. As such, we’ve reworked many parts of the gameplay. Expect: increased enemy density and group variety, combat feel (impact) and responsiveness, loot visibility, difficulty adjustments, and of course overall skill balance.
Quality of Life (QoL) & New accessibility options
We are adding in-game guides, features like level-up notifications, and improving tooltip readability. We also really want our players to be able to customize their experience. That’s why we’re adding plenty of settings for you to mess around with, such as high-contrast cursor, minimap transparency, camera distance, NPC and Enemy Highlight options, Colorblind mode and more.
Founder Pack 2 available
Dragonkin: The Banished. Founder Pack 2 contains: 6 exclusive pieces of equipment including a chest and a helmet for your heroes (2 per character) 6 exclusive visual effects allowing you to add a trail to your Wyrmling. The exclusive pack “Day of the Dead Dragon” includes cosmetic elements for your city: statues, roofs, flags and pennants.
A few weeks ago, on Discord, we shared a preview of one of the customisations from Founder Pack 2.
Here's a look at the Dark Prophetic Armour for the Oracle, designed by Agathe Dhondt:
About the story
We realised that it's possible we hadn't been clear enough about when the rest of the story will be released.
We plan to add the additional story acts when we come out of Early Access and fully release Dragonkin: The Banished.
We understand that some players are waiting for this before jumping into the game, and we truly appreciate your patience.
We're eager to hear your thoughts on the prologue and the story so far, feel free to share your opinions with us on Discord! Your feedback means a lot to us, and your feedback has had a huge influencer on the upcoming Nurõrgartt update!
Here a reminder of our roadmap:
Don't forget your Founder Pack 1
In the meantime, don’t forget to download Founder Pack 1 if you haven’t already. This pack will expire on May 20th, 2025, and will be replaced by Founder Pack 2. As a reminder, these are cosmetic gifts that we have prepared for players to mark milestones in our Early Access development journey. Thank you again for joining us.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3462450/Dragonkin_The_Banished__Founder_Pack_1/
What's next?
As you can expect, our production velocity is at full throttle and the team is working on refining the Nurõrgartt update. It’s a long ride, but your overwhelming support goes a long way in keeping the team's motivation high!
We're looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the new systems and changes we've made. We'll be keep an eye on how this update lands while the team starts preparing for our next major update, featuring the introduction of the Tracker. But that's still a little far off, for now...
We'll see you on May 20th!
As usual, we encourage you to join us on Discord and of course, we’ll be back next week with a big patch note for when the update goes live!
