The wait is almost over!
I'm excited to announce that the Apprentice of Darkness demo will officially launch on September 14, alongside Steam's Party-Based RPG Fest.
And to celebrate the announcement, I've also released a brand-new gameplay trailer showing the latest version of the game:
In Apprentice of Darkness, you're not here to save the world.
You're here to conquer it.
Build a party of monsters, battle the forces of good in grid-based turn-based combat, capture your enemies, and sacrifice them to gather Darkness and strengthen your Tower of Darkness.
A Much Bigger & Better Demo
Some of you may have encountered Apprentice of Darkness during its earlier playtest. Since then, I've been working hard on expanding the game, improving its presentation, and polishing many of its core systems.
The September demo includes some of the biggest changes I've made to the game so far:
7 New Characters
Seven new characters have joined the battle across both sides of the conflict, expanding the forces of Darkness and Light and giving you more enemies and recruits to encounter throughout your runs.
Dramatically Improved Sacrifice Mini-Games
Sacrificing your captives is an important part of growing your power, so the sacrifice system has received substantial improvements. The mini-games have been reworked and polished to make sacrificing your unfortunate prisoners a much more satisfying part of each run.
6 New Tower of Darkness Upgrades
The Tower of Darkness has expanded with six new upgrades and skills, giving you more ways to strengthen your forces and shape your progression as your tower grows.
New UI, VFX & SFX
I've made extensive improvements to the game's presentation, including a redesigned and improved user interface, new visual effects, and additional sound effects to make battles and abilities feel much more responsive and satisfying.
Faster Run Progression
I've also made several changes to the overall game design based on what I learned from the earlier version. One of the biggest is the new season structure: each season now consists of 3 battles instead of 5, making progression faster and helping each run maintain a better pace.
Lots of Fixes & Polish
And, of course, plenty of bugs have been squashed along the way. I've made numerous fixes, balancing adjustments, usability improvements, and smaller changes throughout the game.
And There's Still More to Come
Until then, check out the new trailer, add Apprentice of Darkness to your wishlist if you haven't already, and prepare to join the wrong side of the battle.
The forces of good have had their turn.
Apprentice of Darkness Demo - September 14
See you on the dark side!
_theRaven
Solo Developer of Apprentice of Darkness