Attention, Lords and Ladies!

Astrologers declare that Zodiac Legion will be featured during this year's October edition of Steam Next Fest, from 19th to 26th October.

Make sure to check out the updated demo we've rolled out recently, which includes a mini-campaign with dynamic missions and kingdom management.

For those of you who have already played since the campaign update in September, we've added a few elements:

Reworked mission structure

Some of you complained about just having to tap the objective, so the runestones have been upgraded, and taking over a facility now requires controlling them for several turns, without any enemy in the vicinity.

For missions where you are not taking over the place, your knights now need to extract, either with the Recall spell or by their own means.

Downed knights will be captured by the enemy, and you'll need to pay their ransom, or mount a rescue party to get them back.

The enemy fights back

Enemy groups are now better coordinated, and if one group is outmatched while another one is coming, it may pull back to wait for reinforcements.

The AI now tries to flank or deny flanks more often, and is more eager to use spells.

The AI should be much less confused by its own inner conflicts (i.e. conflicting directives) now, and a bit better at protecting its weaker units.

The right tool for the job

Because only the most fabulous knights can achieve true, timeless glory, you can now design the armour of your knights and champions one piece at a time. You must balance the protection, coverage and encumbrance of each layer so that your knights can all fight as efficiently as possible.

Visored helmets allow knights to catch their breath between engagements, but they can also make them more vulnerable when open.

Armour does not only protect against blows. Being fully encased in plate armour is also one of the best forms of protection one could wish for against fire or lightning.

Practice makes perfect

Since the beginning, formations and flanking have been the pillars of our combat system. New skills and magic abilities have been added to give you more options to maintain your formation, or disrupt that of your opponent.

Field medicine lets a character patch up wounded allies without the use of magic, while duelist rewards fighters who engage isolated enemies, and phalanx makes polearms formidable at supporting from afar.

The sinews of war

The economy of the campaign layer has been reworked to give you more tools at your disposal as the months go by. Factions you help may now reward you with magic resources that let you inscribe stronger abilities and ascend more of your knights into champions.

Professionals talk logistics

A lot of our attention has also been focused on usability and combat feedback.

• The attack preview has been made more readable. Characters can be given new portraits and renamed.
• Their stats are easier to parse now, and you can switch between armour, perks and stats.
• The tutorials have been fixed and reworked to match the new systems.
• We also made plenty of background changes to the foundations, like map generation, saves, and tooltips.

The demo is playable in English and French(some part of French text, and English tooltips are still provisional), and it will remain available after the end of Next Fest.

Hope to see you there, and to share many tales of chivalry with you on our Discord!