Greetings future Soul Hunters! Narrative Director Chad Briggs here to tell you all about the spooky season in the world of Ars Notoria! Given the game's multitude of beings possessed by dark spirit energy, this time of the year in our game world is both insanely fun and delightfully macabre. This is just one of the many seasons being implemented in pursuit of providing the player with tons of unique, seasonal activities and quests. But first, some basic information on the passage of time and our game seasons.
As you’ve previously gotten a glimpse of in several gameplay clips and stills, the world of Ars Notoria has four distinct seasons. These seasons come and go with the natural passing of accelerated time based on our in-game calendar. The open-ended world allows the player the opportunity to experience many years and many seasons, as they are not tied to real-world dates/times. These game seasons are:
- Ren - Season of Renewal (Spring)
- Lux - Season of Light (Summer)
- Aur - Season of Harvest (Fall)
- Dim - Season of Twilight (Winter)
One of the things we’ll talk about in a future blog post is the different classes of spirit magic, called Ars, that can be harnessed during the game. For seven days per season in the game world, each Ars will have a moment to draw upon more spirit energy than normal, gaining an edge over the others. The first seven days of Aur, the Season of Harvest, favor the Ars Necromia, a magic with dark designs on chaos and necromancy.
During this season, practitioners of this Ars are in full force, dabbling in occult forces, undead beings, and blood magic. These unnatural perversions of spirit magic will pit you against new, unique Enthralled that only show up during the seven zenith days of Aur, many hovering around tombs and cemeteries where the undead concentration is strongest. Of these creatures, few are more disturbing than the mutated, spider-pumpkin, an Enthralled being created from angry, vengeful spirits and dark Ars magic.
During the zenith days of Aurs, players can attend an event known as The Festival of Souls. You’ll be able to uncover a wide variety of season-specific quests and meet strange, unusual characters that come from all corners of the kingdom. On the surface, the festival is a celebration of remembrance for the souls of friends and family now passed. But beware! Lurking in the shadows, just out of reach of the safety of festival lights, are more unsavory types conducting bloodcurdling business. Who knows, depending on your in-game choices and the factions you align yourself with, one of these individuals could be you?
The season of Aur is not merely about combat, magic, and questing, but also the game’s other notable mechanic of crafting and creation. An assortment of special structures, accessories, and weapon recipes can be crafted during the season, each with its own Aur-flavored twist. Lastly, we would be terrible game developers if we didn’t give the player the Aur season’s recipe they desired most: the ability to craft their very own pumpkin spice lattes!
This is just scratching the surface of special in-game activities the player can take advantage of during the Season of Harvest. These key seasons and events are a free permanent addition to the game, the player can experience all of its content while progressing through the main storyline. We look forward to showing you more about this season and others in future blog posts to come! Till then, Happy Halloween from all of us working on Ars Notoria!