Age of Darkness: Final Stand cover
Age of Darkness: Final Stand screenshot
Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Strategy

Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Age of Darkness: Final Stand - Gamescom Preview

Protectors of the Light,

Thank you for your feedback, suggestions and patience as we work towards a v0.8.1 release. If you haven’t seen what we’re targeting for our next update, head over to the forums to take a look. We are looking forward to announcing the release date for v0.8.1 once we're confident with the update's stability.

While you wait, the team would love to share some of what we’ve been working on that’s due to arrive a little bit longer down the line. We’ve recently showcased these work-in-progress videos at Gamescom, and wanted to make sure you all got to see them too!

We are bringing animations to the hero select screen:


On the topic of heroes, meet Sir Merek Longhold - a surly Order Knight and all-around heavy-hitter:


A stunning map of the lands of Erodar:


The Lightbearer, an Order-specific unit with potent healing abilities to fend off the Void:


And last but not least, a little taste of our campaign:


The Age of Darkness campaign is shaping up to be something very special. We’re looking forward to giving players a cast of new Heroes and rich lore to explore. Good things take time, but we’re super excited to bring you more of the world of Age of Darkness in due course. Look forward to it.

Please report bugs or crashes to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Play Age Of Darkness: Final Stand At Gamescom 2022!



Protectors of the Light! ⚔️

Age of Darkness: Final Stand will be playable at Gamescom later this August in Germany! 🎮

Try your hand at defending Humanities Last Bastion against the Nightmares! 🔥

Find Age of Darkness: Final Stand at the Consumer show floor Hall 7.1 / B-040 in the Team17 booth

Gamescom is running from the 24th to the 28th of August and is held at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Age of Darkness: Final Stand - Content Update v0.8.0


Dear Protectors of the Light,

The light continues to grant blessings, and this time it has granted the Rebellion and Volatists Factions with a new Unit each to aid your crusade against the Nightmare plague that corrupts the lands.

The Cultist, a new Melee Unit for the Volatists that replaces the Soldier Unit. These crazed fighters work best in numbers, and can be just as deadly as they look. The Cultists are a low cost unit and have the benefit of training 2 Units for the Gold and Wood cost of 1. They have a very appealing Armour Shredding value compared to their cost and they are quick to train, these defenders can help facilitate early and rapid expansion.

For the Rebellion, the Hunter Unit replaces the Arbalest, but packs an extra punch with their specialised trap ability. They are first and foremost a range Unit, however they are able to utilise some stealth tactics and lay down traps at their feet that are invisible to enemy Units. Once an enemy sets off the trap, to add salt to their wounds, a noxious gas is released which damages and slows down Nightmares while the Hunters sit back and continue to wrack up their enemy count.

Since 2 of the valiant Factions have received new Units, it was only fair that the Order was gifted a unique Unit of their own. Although it may not be new like the latest additions, the Catapult is now an Order specific Unit.

Edwin and Aelis have levelled up their skills and both have been bestowed with a new ability each. Edwin’s Flame Shield Ultimate ability engulfs his body in flames, adding a shield that absorbs damage. Once the shield’s health has been depleted or the ability timer runs out, it will explode, causing damage to nearby targets. With Aelis’ Royal Decree Passive, if our Queen were to die while a Loyal Guard was alive, the weakest Loyal Guard will die instead, and Aelis will heal for 40% of her max health. While this skill is not on cooldown, Aelis Condemns enemies she hits, causing them to take 15% more damage from other sources.

As always, as the light has gifted the Factions with new loyal warriors, however to make the playing field even, Units, Nightmares and Buildings have had their Armour fortified. While something has Armour, it will take significantly reduced damage. To remove armour entirely, a Unit must inflict Shred Damage to the target. Each point of Shred Damage removes the same amount of Armour Once that has been expended, the target will take full damage from all sources.

We have continued to make improvements in the name of the light, Factions now have their own unique UI, along with balancing changes and multiple bug fixes.

As always please continue to report bugs to our Steam forums or in the bug reporting channel on our Discord, as we’re constantly monitoring those channels.

Check out the full patch notes below:

Release Notes




Improvements



  • New Volatist Unit: Cultist.
  • New Rebellion Unit: Hunter.
  • New Ultimate Ability for Edwin: Flame Shield.
  • New Passive Ability for Aelis: Royal Decree.
  • New Faction specific UI.
  • New Armour system for Units, Nightmares and Buildings.
  • Localisation for New Features.


Additional Changes



  • Catapult Unit is now exclusive to the Order.
  • Cultist Unit replaces the Soldier Unit for the Volatists.
  • Hunter Unit replaces the Arbalest Unit for the Rebellion.
  • Countdown timers added to all Hero and Unit abilities.
  • Ability to build if the structure is partially in the Fog of War.
  • Improvements to Unit Pathfinding to stop Units from getting stuck.
  • Tier 2 Walls now have the ability to activate Ignite Walls.
  • Added in a setting to disable Environment Props to assist with performance.
  • Visual updates to Aelis and Edwin’s existing Ability UI.
  • Animation polish for Heroes and Units.
  • Map grid now shows when placing Buildings.
  • Updated the Credits to include new Team Members and VO actors.


Balancing



  • Pikemen, Sentinels, Arbalests, Flamers, Impalers, Catapults, Edwin, Aelis and Aelis' Royal Guards have had their health and damage values rebalanced around the reworked Armour system.
  • Pikemen, Arbalests, Impalers, Catapults, Ballista,Grand Ballista towers, and Aelis have gained Armour Shred and in most cases have had their damage rebalanced.
  • Similarly, Axemen, Spearmen, Spitters, Wraiths, Crushers and Bursters have had their damage, health, shred and armour values rebalanced.
  • Elite Nightmares have gained multiple tiers of Armour, depending on their threat level.
  • Increased the chance to find Elite Nightmares other than Elite Crushers, whilst making Elite Crushers less frequent.

    Dev Notes:
    These changes are significant and will impact the gameplay flow from about Death Night 1 onwards. We are going to monitor the impact of these changes, and your feedback is both welcome and wanted! Ultimately, we want you to feel like you have a new set of challenges and multiple ways to tackle them as you explore the map.

  • Flamer Damage lowered from 10 to 8.

    Dev Notes:
    Nightmares which gained armour had their health values lowered. Fire damage ignores armour’s damage reduction, so Flamer’s damage has been reduced to keep them in check.

  • Arbalest Movement Speed increased.
  • Reduced collider size of all human Units by 50% to mitigate issues between Units.

    Dev Notes:
    The collision problem is not 100% fixed yet, but this is an attempt to soften the frustration whilst, and make units feel tighter whilst we work towards a long term solution.

  • Highlight radius updated on Human Units to reflect their new collider size.
  • Units will return to their expected location at a higher and faster rate, when pushed away by allies.
  • Decreased Impaler costs from 1500 Gold, 50 Stone, 50 Iron, 0 Wood to 1200 Gold, 40 Stone, 30 Iron, 30 Wood.

    Dev Notes:
    We’re watching the Impaler very closely, we’re starting with some cost reductions to bring it closer to its intended value.

  • Decreased the cost of Pikeman from 300 Gold and 20 Wood to 200 Gold and 15 Wood.
  • Increased Pikeman Move Speed from 1.25 to 1.40.

    Dev Notes:
    Pikemen were in a spot that we didn’t love, now we think they’re in a much better position, and can become quite a valid unit in any composition.

  • Lowered the Cost of the Triage Tent to 450 Gold.
  • Lowered the construction duration of the Triage Tent by 50%, to 30s.
  • Limited the number of Villagers needed for the Triage Tent from 10 to 5.
  • Lowered the Upkeep value of the Triage tent to 5 Gold, and lowered Upkeep per villager to 3.
  • Increased the Triage Tent range from 10.8 to 14.

    Dev Notes:
    We’ve listened to your feedback and made the Triage tent far easier to use throughout the game. The lower cost and quicker build time should make it easier to build while exploring, and the larger radius and lower upkeep and villager requirements should make it a more viable option for defending during a Death Night.

  • Lowered the Axemen count during Death Night 1 on Veteran from 25 to 17 to account for Armour Shredding changes.
  • Ignite Walls Research Cost lowered from 350 Gold to 150 Gold.
  • Ignite Walls cost for Tier 1 Walls lowered from 15 Wood to 3 Wood.

    Dev Notes:
    Even with the changes to units, the Triage Tent and the number of Axemen, the presence of Armour makes that first Death Night pretty tricky! Making Ignite Walls cheaper to both research and use gives you another option to tackle early encounters, particularly as fire damage currently ignores Armour.
    Generally, we’ll keep a close eye on Fire and the way it behaves against Armour.

  • Slightly Increased Axemen count in Tier 3 Map areas.
  • Slightly Decreased Crawler count in Tier 3 Map areas.
  • Keep Icons will now display when there is an upgrade available to them.


Crashes



  • Fixed a crash that would occur when starting a Custom game.
  • Fixed numerous crashes related to starting and ending a game.


Fixes & Changes



  • Fixed an issue where Shift Select was not functioning correctly and adding Units to a control group.
  • Fixed an issue where Shift Select was not functioning correctly when selecting multiple buildings.
  • Fixed an issue where Ctrl Select was not functioning and deselecting Units in a control group.
  • Fixed an issue where the Ironworks 2 Skill cost 150 gold and 75 Stone instead of 150 wood and 75 Stone.
  • Fixed an issue where Melee Units could not path around buildings to attack Enemies.
  • Fixed an issue where Vizargo’s Serenity attack animations were playing incorrectly.
  • Fixed an issue where a delay would occur between the spawning animation for an Elite and the enemy appearing.
  • Fixed an issue where Units would play the incorrect animation when going from idle to run.
  • Fixed an issue where ranged Units could be pushed into the Tower when ejected.
  • Fixed an issue where a Camp Point of Interest could spawn the wrong units.
  • Fixed an issue where Map terrain elements would spawn in incorrect locations.
  • Fixed an issue where the Storehouse UI displayed Food resources provided despite Storehouses not providing Food.
  • Fixed an issue where the Vision from destroyed Buildings would remain after loading a Save File.
  • Fixed an issue where the text overlaps with the UI on the Victory/Defeat screen in Russian.
  • Fixed an issue where certain Blessings and Malices could soft-lock the game.
  • Fixed an issue where the Submit a Bug / Feedback was not functioning correctly.


Known Issues


A fix for these issues will come in a future update.

  • As the pursue values were increased to combat Nightmares not attacking Units, Nightmares can agro and pursue from much further away than before.
  • Some nightmares will appear to flicker while deciding to be in Idle or Attack states and get stuck. This is linked to the above issue.
  • Custom Game Nightmare Density is providing incorrect Death Night numbers.
  • Units are ignoring Target Priority. Archers have a tendency to ignore Axemen, favouring Crawlers, Wraiths and Spearmen. By comparison Arbalests will always target Axemen first, followed by Crushers, and will target Wraiths last.
  • Vizargo's Claw dash if he is in Serenity mode the claw dash cooldown is 150 seconds, out of serenity it is 24 seconds
  • Nightmares are still able to stack up during Death Nights.

    Dev Notes:
    This problem is related to other fixes that we’ve made to collision - our collision system has to be very complicated to handle the large number of units in the game, which makes this a lot harder to fix, and we can’t just revert our other fixes without causing other collision bugs to occur - but we’re continuing to look into it!



Where possible please ensure all drivers are updated to ensure the best and smoothest performance.

---

We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Save 25% on Age Of Darkness: Final Stand during the Steam Survival Fest



Greetings Protectors of the Light…

Are you ready for a true survival experience? Ready to survive an onslaught of 70,000 enemy units? If so, Age Of Darkness: Final Stand is currently 25% during a Steam Summer Sale!

Now is the ultimate time for you to dive in, defend humanity, and experience Age Of Darkness: Final Stand for yourself!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

v0.8 Preview

Protectors of the Light,

v0.8 is encroaching upon us. To help you navigate the coming darkness, let this be your flame in the night.

New Units



Hunter



The Hunter is a Rebellion-specific unit, replacing Arbalests for the faction. What the Hunter lacks in range, it makes up for in tactical options. The Hunter comes with the capacity to place a trap at its feet that when triggered, slows and damages enemies within its area of effect. You can use your Hunter to pull groups of nightmares into a deadly snare, or lay down lines of traps in preparation for a Death Night.
Hunter Trap - Active ability: Deadly trap that when triggered releases a puff of toxic smoke that damages and slows enemies within.

Cultist



Cultists are also faction-specific units, replacing Soliders for the Volatists. When trained, two Cultists are provided for the price of one. They don’t hit nearly as hard or have as much health as a Soldier, but when you train one, you get two. They also have the ability to shred armor with their attacks – an attribute not available so early to other factions.

What about the Order?


As of this coming release, the Catapult will become an Order-only unit. We can also share with you some awesome things that are coming in v0.9:

  • NEW Order-specific unit, The Lightbearer
  • Further Faction modifiers, giving more play differentiation between each Faction

Wait a minute, we said shredding armor?

Pretty sure if you look here, you’ll see it’s pronounced “Armor”.

Armor System


A long-standing issue with Age of Darkness was the tendency for more advanced, higher cost units to completely supersede early units. The prime example of this was the Arbalest, which for a long time was strictly better than archers of equivalent cost, except for its lower movement speed.

Unrelated to this, we also felt that players, regardless of faction, could generally reach the perimeter of the map - where all those juicy gold veins live - too quickly. The strategy for experienced players tended to involve making a beeline for the edge and scouting for the best veins early.

We also had a smaller issue that Armor in Age of Darkness was of negligible usefulness. It flatly reduced incoming damage, and no unit had more than 1.5 armor. Also, secretly, damage was never reduced below 5, so armor did nothing to mitigate Crawler attacks.

To recap, we had three issues: Units became obsolete, players could reach the edge of the map too quickly, and armor was not very useful. Our solution was to completely rethink armor.

Armor is now a resource. While a unit has armor, incoming damage is reduced by 70%. If you want to deal full damage to that unit, you'll need a way to get through its armor.



So we're also introducing a new stat -- Armor shred. Armor shred acts like damage, except it only applies to armor. A unit with 5 armor shred will need to hit an enemy with 15 Armor 3 times to break through. Damage is calculated after armor shred is applied, so the final of those three hits, in addition to removing the armor, will deal full damage. Once Armor is depleted, it will only recover when you're near your Keep or one of the Workshop buildings.

What does this mean in practice?

Well, many units now have some armor or armor shred. Sentinels have extremely high armor, and Arbalests have high armor shred. But Nightmares now ALSO have armor and armor shred.

While exploring the map, you'll need to consider your unit composition more carefully now. Do I have enough sources of armor shred to take high-tier nightmares down before they can wreak havoc? Do I have enough raw damage to kill a Wraith before it can shred through my Sentinels?

In all likelihood, you’ll find it a lot harder to reach those outer limits, as units like Axemen and Spitters become much tougher to take down with pure damage. Likewise, you’ll find that many units which normally get left by the wayside become integral to keeping up your momentum. Arbalests can punch through armor like no one else, but you may want to keep a squad of Archers waiting in the wings to deal pure damage once that tough shell has broken.

You’ll also find units with armor much more durable in some scenarios and much less in others. Your Sentinels can withstand far more attacks from a swarm of Crawlers, and can hold the line in a Death Night much longer. But if you want to keep getting value out of those units, you’ll want to consider where you’re building your Workshops.

This system is designed to create roles for existing units as well as create space for future units to exist without invalidating any of the current line up. It also opens up space for future blessings, malices and faction properties – some of which you’ll hopefully see sooner rather than later.

v0.8 will be releasing next week - make sure you finish your current saves!



As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand


v0.8 First Look Dev Livestream - Age of Darkness: Final Stand



Protectors of the Light,

Take your first look at v0.8 with members of our Dev team! They’ll be giving you a preview of next week's release on our Twitch channel on Monday, August 1 at 1:30pm AEST (Sunday, July 31 8:30pm PDT).

Follow our Twitch channel so you don’t miss it!



Come check out the new content, ask our team questions, and help protect the Light! Remember, if you can’t make the stream, you’ll still be able to catch up with the VoD after.


As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Edwin Everard, Wielder of the Flame

As Edwin Everard rose through the ranks of The Order, he never imagined he would come face-to-face with the full force of the Veil's Nightmares. Adept as he was with the blade, he saw himself as a peacekeeper - not one to lead the charge into battle.

Edwin swore an oath, however, and he takes that oath seriously - more so than many others of his rank, and perhaps even more than the Bishop he reports to.

Edwin was blessed with a curious power few seem to possess; the talented Knight can conjure dancing flames that bend to his will, yet do not consume him. A lesser man would have let these embers guide him to power and wealth, but Edwin serves a higher purpose.

He has seen what hides in the shadows. He has seen the Order cast aside its singular purpose in favour of petty politics. He believes they are unprepared for what they must face. Now Edwin believes that, if he does not uphold his oath, humanity is lost.

He may be right.


Coming in v0.8.0



Edwin Ultimate Ability - Flame Shield


Edwin engulfs himself in a flaming shield that blocks damage and harms nearby attackers, exploding when it is destroyed or expires.

Edwin's Flame Shield ability

Some eagle eyes also noticed a new ability for Aelis in our behind-the-scenes look into how we find our voice actors.

Aelis Passive Ability - Royal Decree


Aelis survives a fatal blow by sacrificing a Loyal Guard, healing her to a set percentage of her health bar. While not on cooldown, Aelis condemns enemies she hits, causing them to take additional damage from all sources.

Aelis sacrificing a Loyal Guard

Aelis condemning enemies

Stay tuned for more v0.8.0 updates next week!


As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

The Voice of Aelis Syren

Come take a behind the scenes look at how our audio team finds the perfect voice and gets it into game. To take a peek behind the curtain we have Chris O’Neill, PlaySide Studios’ Audio Lead and Rhiannon Moushall, voice for Aelis Syren.



How do you know what voice a character should have?

Chris: Honestly, with a whole batch of directed questions. We start with a lot of internal brainstorming about the character and their individual traits. What do we know about their past? Their motivations? Their day to day mannerisms and behaviours, or their cultural and societal structures/circumstances?

From there, we explore some preliminary script ideas and have a chat with the art department. What has been envisioned so far in terms of concept art and ideas?


An earlier version of Aelis Syren


Aelis' sculpt

We will then work with our casting coordinator to help refine our direction and casting packet. Kevin is phenomenal at coming up with solid references for characters, accents and pivotal scenes to use as a compass in helping us narrow down our field. He consolidates all the information we have into a neat little bundle and puts the job listing out into the ether. Within a week or so, a swarm of talented auditions is narrowed down into a top 5-10.

We then listen through internally to narrow down any of our favourite auditions, and then favourite takes therein. Sometimes the same person does an okay job at a specific speed or emotion, but delivers perfectly when it comes to an entirely different one (perhaps the angrier, grittier line, for instance).



Once we have a couple of final contenders, the test lines get put into the game for context checking. This makes all the difference, and usually shines a light on the best candidate far quicker than during audio-only assessments. It’s very regular that we think we know exactly which audition best fits, only to have that blown out of the water when tested in context!



Why was Rhiannon the right fit?

She had a fantastic tone and range. The accent was consistent, regal and intelligent, but not to the point of being obnoxious. But honestly? What really sold it for me was when she absolutely let rip in her audition. The rage and pure gravel in her voice made my jaw drop, and was followed by a loud cry of “OH MY GOD” at my desk, without even realising I was doing either.


Now we have the wonderful Rhiannon, voice of Aelis, to tell us a little about her experience and journey with voice acting.

You can find Rhiannon Moushall through the links below:
www.rhiannonmoushall.com
https://twitter.com/rsmoushall

How did you get into voice acting?

Rhiannon: I was a stage actor and then the pandemic hit, so I was more unemployed than usual. I was privileged and fortunate enough to have some savings and a partner with a steady income, so I took 2020 to invest in the training and equipment I would need to become a full-time voice actor. I started out doing serial comedies with my friends at The Penny Peepshow Podcast, and then in 2021 I just went for it with all my strength. I’ve been pulling it off ever since and inadvertently discovered it was my dream job!



As a voice actress how do you get yourself in the zone for different characters?

I start by reading the brief and/or their background, soaking in the key characteristics – hunting for all those juicy adjectives – and if there’s character art, that’s a huge bonus! Then, with those words and images at the forefront of my mind, I read through the lines and play with those characteristics within the context given. I’m a deeply empathetic person (often, to a fault) so this comes quite easily to me. I only read the lines through once or twice before getting in the booth and recording them out loud. My best work usually happens in the first couple of reads, because that spontaneity and ‘gut reaction’ to scenarios is easiest to create when the words are genuinely coming out of my mouth for the first time.

What kind of characters do you like to voice?

ALL OF THEM! I like the sweet, idealistic princess; the bloodthirsty queen; the beleaguered ship’s captain; the rambunctious little boy; the decrepit crone; the materialistic valley girl; the loyal soldier; the snivelling coward; the world-weary detective; the well-meaning murderer… I’ve had the pleasure of voicing a wild range of characters, and I hope I continue to get those opportunities.





What's it like having to switch emotions for different voice lines?

It depends on the role. If I’m playing a larger role in the context of a scene, the build of emotions is usually gradual and quite natural. If I’m playing a smaller part that has less lines through which to react, I have to do the non-verbal acting behind the scenes – I run that character’s thought process between the lines to ensure that even though their emotional state has changed, the listener can understand ‘why’. Sometimes I get lines out of order, in which case I rely heavily on the context and do my best to be present in that moment. However, emotional whiplash is almost always part of the process. Aelis was a series of one-liners, so with the help of the wonderful directors Kevin and Chris, we concocted scenarios that would give the lines palpable intent. Hopefully, that came across!



That's all for today! Thanks for reading, and let us know what you think. What else would you like to see from the team?

If you're heading to TwitchCon in Amsterdam this weekend, make sure to check out Age of Darkness: Final Stand at the Team17 booth!


As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

July Player Survey

Protectors of the Light,

Thanks for all your recent feedback both on Steam as well as on Discord. We had such a great response to our May survey that we’d love to get more thoughts from the community.

Take the July survey here!



We’re keen to use your responses to help inform our decisions as we continue the development of Age of Darkness: Final Stand. This survey will remain open until the morning of Tuesday, July 19 (AEST).


As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Age of Darkness: Final Stand Dev Q&A Livestream



Protectors of the Light,

Join AoD Game Designers Nick and Mario for a Q&A session as they play Age of Darkness on our Twitch channel on Monday, July 4 at 1:30pm AEST (Sunday, July 3 8:30pm PDT).

Head on over and follow our Twitch channel!



If you have a burning question about Game Design, or just want to upvote other suggested questions, join our Discord server and ask away in our #question-and-answer channel. And remember, if you can’t make the stream, you’ll still be able to catch up with the VoD after.

Be sure to let us know which dev role you’d love a Q&A with next!

‘Til next time.


As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:



AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server
AoD Website - Official Website & Blog
Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand