To all future members of the order!

We’re getting ready to release The Storm Guard to Steam Early Access, most likely still in January. This is very exciting news as it allows us to put the game into the hands of our fans now and get crucial feedback from a larger community.

Let’s talk a bit about the early access version and the content it will contain.

What will be in?

While not all content will yet be in, even in Early Access, The Storm Guard will be a QA-tested fully playable game. This means that we will do our best to make sure there are no annoying bugs and it will deliver the full experience including sound effects, almost 2 hours worth of epic music, voice acting, etc.

In particular, you can expect:

  • Six playable hero classes to pick from for your squad.
  • Dozens of different monsters in all sizes and forms: undead, orks, mythic creatures, spell casters, flying units – all with their own unique abilities.
  • More than 100 different skills to learn and constantly improve on. Your desired play style dictates what skill and hero combinations you want to bring to the battlefield.
  • Numerous equipment to purchase to improve your heroes.
  • Various consumables to help out in difficult situations.
  • 100+ random events to keep things interesting.
  • A challenging AI that knows how to play (and how to punish mistakes).

What is still missing?

We want to shape the future of the game based on your input, so the final list depends on you. However, we have planned at least the following on our end:

  • The end boss encounter against the dragon. Currently, the game has no end and can be played in endless mode.
  • At least 3 more heroes to pick from.
  • New missions (e.g. a siege mission).

Why are we releasing for Early Access?

The Storm Guard is already a pretty good game and we could add the final encounter battle and release it. However, we are convinced that any game can benefit a lot from being exposed to a larger community before it is finished.

Come to think of it, a game is never really finished, there’s always one more thing you could tweak, polish, add or modify. We want to give you the chance to have you say in this. We encourage you to post on the Steam community forums. We will actively monitor these forums and are happy to discuss the game with you guys.

A Word about Difficulty

The game is designed to be a hard game much along the lines of XCOM, FTL or similar games. It does not require quick reflexes but you need to be able to handle difficult situations, develop strategies that work for you and be ready to make sacrifices if needed. We made it a priority to make sure the game is always fair but still challenging.

However, hard is always relative. What may be easy for one gamer may be frustrating for another. We also want to make sure we can walk the thin line between too easy (boring) and too hard (frustrating) for our target audience. Therefore, your feedback will be essential in make this experience great for our fanbase. If you think that the game was too easy, or if you find a particular foe or combination of monsters too much of a challenge, then please let us know.

The Storm Guard is a passion project and with your help, we can make it even better. Let’s make this great!