The Westward Expansion Starts Today!
First off, a big thank you to all of you for playing the demo and sending in feedback. It has been extremely valuable. I've kept a close eye on every suggestion and concern that's come in, and it has had a real impact on the Early Access release going live today.
On top of that, we've expanded the game with brand new features the demo was missing: bandits, improved gunslinging, more balanced markets, bug fixes, QoL and UX improvements and much more.
A full changelog of everything added since the demo can be found in our Discord for those interested (future changelogs will also be posted directly on Steam).
What can you expect from the current version, and where are we heading?
We've already seen players rack up 80+ hours in the demo, so a lot of content is already in:
- Production chains,
- Rail expansions
- 60+ buildings
- 100+ products
- Markets
- Trading
- Contracts
- City building
- Outposts
- Citizens with personalities
- Random gunfights
- Drunkards
- Town councils
- Bandit camps
- Random events
- Agent missions
and much more...
It's a stable core that I'm very happy to finally get to share with you.
During Early Access we'll build on that. A few planned features (definitely not all): bridges, tunnels, seasons, stock trading, competition, bounty hunting, horse riding, train robberies, plus overall fine-tuning and polish.
The Westward campaign will be the tailored scenario, where every level adds new hardships: Winters, harsh frontier conflicts, environmental obstacles, more outlaws and rival entrepreneurs etc.
And in Free Play mode (which also goes live today), you set the rules for how you want to play. Every feature we add to the game will expand Free Play as well.
Why Early Access?
This game could go in many directions during Early Access. I truly believe the best version of it can only be shaped with help from the community, so please let your voice be heard.
What features do you want to see? What concerns are you running into? Or any ideas you can think of. I keep a close eye on all our communication channels (Steam, Discord and the anonymous in-game feedback form).
Side note if you played the demo previously
Consider starting a fresh game, as many things have changed sense the demo. Even if the demo save technically still works, you would be missing out on some new features.
Anyway, enough of my yapping. See you in the West!
// The (actual) Swede