Greetings, adventurers!
The past weeks have been hectic, with a lot of work being done on the project. We want to share information about some additions and changes made during the development.
Battle System
In Dragon Ruins, you would fight monster groups one by one, and you did the same in Dragon Ruins II, except with the addition of damage types and status effects. Repeating the same thing felt like a missed opportunity, so we took time to revamp the battle system to try ideas that were previously pushed away for a potential Dragon Ruins III.
In Dragon Ruins II: Aftermath, all monster groups are participating in battle, with groups in the back performing their actions at a slower rate. As for the player characters, melee characters are focused on the group in the front, while ranged characters can target any monster group, sometimes clearing the groups in the back before they get a chance to strike.
We've also introduced multi-hit attacks. After some exploration, we landed on a combo system, where characters can sometimes execute several attacks based on their AGI. Monsters, on the other hand, have an attack pattern -- for example, Zombies hit once and prioritize characters in the front, while Dragons use breath attacks that attempt to target the entire party.
This made battles feel more chaotic and visceral compared to previous entries. Additionally, we've introduced Guarding with weapons/shields, which reduces incoming damage by 50%, letting some characters tank the incoming damage, while others could rely on their superior evasion to avoid being hit.
Progression
After some consideration, we moved the maximum number of skills to 100, which should cover the normal playthrough and keep offering new options during NG+ for a while.
We've also adjusted the pricing of upgrades and frequency of loot drops from monsters and chests to offer multiple ways to make money and grow, adapt, and optimize the party to suit a particular goal.
Cursed Items
We've introduced cursed items to the game. Be sure to check the item information before equipping, as you may encounter unpleasant surprises later. Curses can be lifted by visiting the Blacksmith.
Quests & Dungeons
The number of Quest Ranks (difficulties) has been reduced from 10 to 5, and individual dungeons now have varying difficulty depending on which section of the dungeon you're currently in. This means that each quest is a small, standalone adventure similar to DR1, where areas further from the starting point have more difficult encounters. This element was somewhat lacking in DR2, so we felt it was important to reintroduce it in the expansion.
Dungeons are also (re)populated in a different way. Instead of flood-filling each room with monsters on each year/quest run, encounters and treasures are sprinkled across the dungeon, creating contrast between moments of quiet and sequences of battles, as well as opening new opportunities to grind levels and risk-vs-reward scenarios.
Project Status
Currently, the project is about 90% complete, but as the old saying goes, the last 10% of the development takes 90% of the time and effort. All quests are in and undergoing active playtesting and adjustments, and in some cases, a complete redesign to ensure that no quest feels like padding.
Release Date
Dragon Ruins II: Aftermath will launch in January 2026.
Initially, we planned to release it in late 2025, but due to the good sales of DR2 and our other games, we can afford to avoid crunch and prepare the Japanese localization along the way. Since this will be our last Dragon Ruins game for a while, we want to let the series rest for a while by going out with a bang.
Thank you for your support and patience.