New Content & Expansions:
Act 1 expanded
Aegis Rock now accessible up to the 6th floor
Aegis Rock Boss added
Tharion’s Fall added
New Points of Interest added
New skills added
New named items added
Area & Enemy Adjustments:
Southern lighthouse ruins adjusted
Reduced number of Blood Spitters in the lighthouse
New stronger enemy at the end of the lighthouse with a 50% chance to drop a special item
Normal rain event removed → only sunshine, thunderstorms, or night remain
Fixes & Improvements:
Barbarossa’s skeleton collision fixed (no more jittering)
Sophia’s quest in the first village fixed
World map partially updated to reflect the new region
With this update, only about the last 20–30% of Act 1 is still missing, excluding the city of Casandra. The new area is a more interesting expansion compared to the last one, which mainly covered parts of the Casandra Highlands, a mostly monster free zone thanks to the soldiers from the capital.
The area includes Aegis Rock, the largest castle ruin in Act 1, and another massive ruin: Tharion’s Fall. Aegis Rock was already accessible from below but only up to the 2nd floor. Now all 5 floors are open. You can also consider the ruin somewhat as a test run for me. Maybe I overdid it a bit with the loot, but there are around 550 destructible objects throughout the castle (barrels, boxes, weapon and armor stands) and 40 chests. It will be interesting to see if some PCs might struggle to load it all. My PC handles it fine, but feedback would be appreciated. I hope I managed to properly split when assets are loaded into the world. I’ll continue to further divide the loading groups anyway.
The castle is mostly finished. In the coming days, I will add a new chest type that can only be opened with a matching key found inside the castle. Story notes will also be added soon, and the same applies to Tharion’s Fall, which is tied to Aegis Rock’s story. The new level, where Aegis Rock leads upward and Tharion’s Fall is located, is designed to feel like a huge open-world dungeon, without actual dungeon or instance mechanics, but slightly tougher and with limited space to build a tent to save your location. I left space, for example, near the lake, so you can enjoy the waterfall view when waking up at your tent.
In Aegis Rock, I created the first proper boss. Nothing extraordinary, but it has skills, high HP, and a 50% chance to drop one of five named items unique to this location. Enemy levels range from 13 at the bottom to 15 at the top.
I also added a handful of new skills that I could quickly implement, including one of the first negative status effects for enemies. The skills are mainly movement-oriented: a dodge roll, a charge, and an evasive bow shot. I hesitated to include them so early, knowing how you all will react, and I’m sure many will jump straight into the Rift… But do as you wish. You can expect a 9 km long Rift with glorious nothingness. I had considered adding something deadly for players, but maybe I’ll add that before the Rifts open. Until then: happy exploring.
This expansion also opens the remaining stretch of the Casandra Highlands, leading up to the locked gates of Casandra itself. I haven’t built much here yet, many props, NPCs, quests, decorations, Points of Interest, and flora/fauna are missing. I’ll patch these in over the next few days.
Plans for October
Add more NPCs and quests
Complete chest/key systems for Aegis Rock & Tharion’s Fall
Add corresponding story notes that hint at the keys
Add 4 larger Points of Interest in the currently accessible area, plus several smaller ones
Introduce a light armor class focused on Dexterity and ranged combat
New weapons for level 15+
Additional skills (definitely coming in October)
Smaller additions like maps, chests, and notes will be gradually added over the next few days.
That should cover the most important points.
Best regards, Mark Koch
And never forget: Have Fun!