Hello, friends!
Long time no see, but today we're finally unveiling a brand-new update for your consideration. And it's not a small one!
We've not only added new characters and quests to Swordhaven (the city), but to Swordhaven (the game) as a whole. In particular, Ķirzaka Castle in the north now boasts new inhabitants, complete with their own stories, missions, behaviours, portraits... and much more!
The Castle has long needed a good spruce-up, as it was practically empty at launch. That's no longer the case!
Besides fresh quests and newborn denizens in the world, there are also new artefacts for you to discover, such as a legendary spear lodged in a particularly ill-tempered carnivorous plant.
But it's not all about quests and characters. We've also improved the death screen, from where you can now head back to the main menu or load your latest, or any other, save.
And your party has gained a loyal donkey named Dapple, who carries your baggage and can be encountered in your camp while resting on the World Map.
There's a lot of new stuff in the game, so be sure to peruse the changelog for full details:
- New quests and characters in Ķirzaka Castle and Swordhaven;
- Three new portraits for the female PC;
- And in general, new portraits for characters who didn't have any, and updated item art for all the placeholder boxes;
- Fixed the minimap in the Alchemist Lair;
- A lot of bugs fixed in the Balta Mines;
- Improved Death Screen;
- The auto-equip system for arrows and bolts was improved. Ammo now stays in your quiver when you equip or unequip a bow or crossbow, as long as the quiver isn't empty;
- A toggle has been added for the quick slot hotbar appearance, so what you see equipped now matches what you see in your inventory;
- Fixed several ability bugs, notably those that allowed players to control enemies in battle;
- Fixed some character behaviours and scripting. For example, Captain Kumeliņš now stays in the brothel, even if you have your own ship;
- Fixed a bug with the amulet that could appear during a specific random encounter;
- Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the game to freeze when using a bow in combat;
- Fixed a particularly nasty bug that occurred when encountering wild boars on the World Map;
- Fixed several cutscenes that would break if triggered during combat;
- Your chest for storing loot from the inns now travels with you on the World Map as a spotted donkey called Dapple. Be gentle with it;
- New fast-travel points (aka Roadsigns) added to Ķirzaka Castle, so you can get around in maximum comfort;
- Fixed certain quest related bugs in the Shimmering Gates;
- Fixed several soft-lock bugs in the final area;
- Next iteration of fixes for persistent aggro in the final area, including several new cutscenes;
- A new location has been added to the northern part of the World Map. It's still WIP for a future update, but you can visit it already;
- Fixed the colliders in the castle tavern so that enemies no longer fall through the walls;
- The ending cutscene has been fixed, for it was, alas, somewhat bugged... but we still plan to improve it even more in the future;
- Another artefact vendor has been added. This time to Beggars Corner in Swordhaven;
- Fixed the animation and freezing that could happen after some enemies were knocked down;
- Fixed a bug where hotkeys wouldn't save;
- The effects of Attributes on Skills are now displayed more accurately;
- Fixed quite a few visual bugs with the random portraits for highwaymen, cattle thieves, and other human enemies encountered on the World Map.
But most importantly, development is ongoing, and this certainly isn't the last update of its kind. Our aim is to give you enough high-quality and engaging content to warrant a second, a third, or even (why not?) a fourth playthrough.
So please keep both positive and negative (we're big boys, we can take it) feedback coming as it really does mean a great deal to us. You can do so here or on our Discord.
Thank you all for being here with us. You're truly special!
Until next time,
Yours truly,
Atom Team