Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Adventure, Indie
Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness
Black Geysers Officially Launches
Ho there, adventurers!
After years of development, a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, and over 6 months of Early Access, Black Geyser officially launched into 1.0 today. In that time, we've worked incredibly hard to implement your feedback and improve on the things that matter to you.
What We've Improved
Black Geyser's most requested improvement.
We've vastly improved load times to significantly improve the speed at which you can enter and exit buildings and zones. We continue to work hard on improving these even further.
You suggested, we delivered.
Our tutorial wasn't perfect, and Black Geyser was difficult to start out in. We've overhauled the tutorial, cleaned up our signposting and given players much more help through its opening hours.
Magic lacked spark.
You right highlighted that casters were far too weak compared to other classes in Black Geyser, so we completely reworked their abilities and balance to significantly improve their potency.
You wanted even more content and we were happy to oblige.
Black Geyser was already a large game, but when it comes to old-school CRPG's, we agree you can never have enough. We've implemented all new quests, Chapter 3 of the core story and made significant improvements to plenty of others.
Hitting like a wet noodle is never fun.
Many players raised concerns that their characters and their abilities weren't scaling properly, leaving them feeling far too weak against ever tougher enemies. We've fixed this, so you'll feel much stronger as you explore the wilds of Yerengal.
Everyone should be able to play Black Geyser.
Mac & Linux support were important for us and our community, and never more so than with the Steam Deck having arrived (we have hopes!). We're pleased to say Black Geyser is now available on both.
We want our encounters to be tactical and challenging.
We've added all new boss mechanics and unique encounters to Black Geyser. These are designed to make fights much more tactical, while ensuring greater difficulty for those who choose to seek out these enemies.
Wrap up warm for these cold spots.
You can now explore the northern frozen harbour of Freynagar, separated from the city by a huge ice dome, or take a trip to Amanuel's Hoard, the seaside fort owned by the greediest man in history. These new zones come with a cold warning.
Love to make potions? Its got much better
Our crafting wasn't as intuitive as it could be, and it was too time consuming. We've streamlined the process, implemented automated recipes (have the items in your inventory? You'll be able to craft at the press of a button) and refined the process by making it much more accessible.
Final Thanks
Finally if you've missed it, we've a launch trailer below!
[previewyoutube="oNVCb5PmJ-I;full"] Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us and don't worry, we're not finished yet. We've plenty of updates on the horizon. For all those diving in for the first time, be sure to stop by our Discord and chat by the fire.
With 3 days to go until Black Geyser launches, we wanted to quickly give you an update on its pricing as we prepare for release.
Currently priced at £24.99 / $24.99, we always wanted Black Geyser to be available at a reduced price during Early Access. Those diving in early weren’t receiving a complete game, there were plenty of bugs and unfinished content: it’s only fair!
Having now delivered over 20 updates to Black Geyser since August 2021, with sweeping changes, bug fixes and major improvements all thanks to you, the game is where we want it to be (though there's more to come). For anyone who’s unsure what we’ve improved over the past 7 months, feel free to take a look at our new and improved Steam page.
Whether it’s improved load times, a new and updated tutorial, quests, combat scaling and fresh locations, almost all areas of Black Geyser have been improved and expanded.
With that in mind, and to ensure further expansion of the game as we march on past launch, we’ll be slightly increasing the retail price to £29.99 / $29.99 on March 17th.
If you know you’ll be buying Black Geyser, we’d highly recommend you pick it up now for the reduced price, to grab yourselves a bargain.
There are many mysteries surrounding the gods of Yerengal and yet their influence is felt throughout the kingdom. It starts from the icy tundra of northern Jotnar, moves to the rising dunes of the Eastern empires, and beyond the endless Zandur sea. Our understanding of them depends on our ability to look to the dawn of creation...
Generations ago, Alnarius, the King-god of Love, and Tilindia, the Mother goddess of Nature, created the universe, and Yerengal was their greatest creation. The first beings, also known as the Many, were created by Alnarius and Tilindia. They have been formed by Tilindia, but shaped by Alnarius, who gave them purpose, passion, and ambition. The Many were tested in order to demonstrate their worth, allowing them to show they can and would live in harmony with this new planet.
As the Many prospered, they began to refer to themselves as Man. Having realized the purpose of their existence, Man cared for the planet and sought the mysteries of their existence. The power and influence of man grew as did his faith and his faith granted the gods abundance in nourishment.
When new gods joined Alnarius and Tilindia, they welcomed them with open arms, even though many of these new gods yearned for the great power the two originals possessed. Alnarius and Tilindia, however, were happy to share their creation with them. These new gods did not always come from the light of the sun, but rather from the shadows of a void, attracted to the power of human infidelity or worse qualities such as chaos and disharmony.
The shadows of the land were made by a very powerful devil-god named Rothgor, whose intentions were evil. It was he who rewarded creatures for doing wicked things and causing Man to doubt and fear. Over time, the new gods developed the same passion and ambition that filled man, many of whom formed alliances with each other to gain more power.
They desperately strived to attain and maintain power which failed, but Rothgor's aim has not changed. In his single-mindedness, he simply wanted to become strong enough to destroy Alnarius and Tilindia, which in turn would return everything back to pure darkness.
Alnarius and Tilindia were extremely powerful due to the land of Man, however. Rothgor could not overthrow them, so now he lurks in the shadows, influencing the fates of men in some way, always trying to undo their hard work.
Because of Man's prosperity, Rothgor eventually became sickly and weak. It wasn't until he was visited by Zornilsa, the goddess of greed, that he realized her potential. Rothgorhe welcomed her with open arms, and together they created the Black Geyser, the very embodiment of their darkest, coldest aspects combining to undo the world of Man. As the Black Geyser poisons Man's mind and soul with greed and envy, it lurks in the shadows of Man, working much more subtly and with far more catastrophic results.
Now, the Kingdom of Isilmerald is facing a precipice of chaos, and mistrust has spread throughout the land. People of all backgrounds, whether highborn or lowborn, have become fascinated by material things. Splintering has occurred within the blessed kingdom of prosperity, resulting in distinct factions.
The Black Geyser has corrupted both sides so much, that both now prepare for war.
Since Black Geyser released into Early Access in August 2021, we've been blown away by the sheer amount of feedback and support we've received. We knew that the game wasn't quite where we wanted it to be, and we wanted to work hard and use this time to refine our vision.
In total, we've delivered over 19 huge updates. From significant improvements to loading times, all new quest chapters, to a fully reworked tutorial and fresh zones: explore the northern frozen harbour of Freynagar, separated from the city by a huge ice dome, or take a trip to Amanuel's Hoard, the seaside fort owned by the greediest man in history.
We've also delivered Linux and Mac Support, a full rebalance for casters, implemented improved boss mechanics and delivered major improvements to its combat and damage scaling. We're not finished, and with our launch date agreed as March 17, 2022, we've still more to do in the coming weeks!
We wanted to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us, and we can't wait for you to dive into the full release as we get over the finish line. In the coming days, we'll be releasing more information on what's on the horizon, as well as some blog posts giving any new players greater insight into the world we've been creating and our all-new launch trailer.
Our nineteenth round of fixes and improvements is here! It includes the option to regulate the AoE spellcasting behavior for your Party AI, as well as increased stability and usability for the integrated bug reporting tool - you can activate it by pressing the Alt+B key combination! You can read the complete list below:
Fixes and improvements
Added AoE spellcasting behavior selector to party members (including Reckless behavior!)
Improved stability and usability for the bug report tool
Upgraded visuals for the Broken Monastery
Upgraded visuals for Freynagar's ice dome
Fixed lighting in the Underground Cave, Time Cave and Dream Cave
Fixed spawn points and orientations in many areas
Party members now spawn facing enemies on random encounter areas
Fixed a cutscene bug when entering Deron-Guld without the diplomatic escort
Slings now count as one-handed weapons
Fixed Jade's recruitment dialogue
Jade's diadem can now be removed or equipped after purification
The Old Beginnings quest now gives proper rewards and causes greed and reputation changes
The Old Beginnings quest now results in proper greed and reputation changes
Damage profile and hit ratio for summoned spiders and wolves has been adjusted
Recipes cannot be learned any more by inspecting their descriptions in shops
Members removed from the party no longer show their current HP in empty party slots
Creature nameplates from the previous area now disappear properly during transition
Several unlootable containers have been fixed
Race and Class descriptions now fit their respective panels in Character Generation
Several stairs have been fixed where party characters would spawn under them
Weapons are no longer teleported away from creatures when looting their gear
Several locations have been fixed where invisible / stealth characters were seen by npc-s
Sparing the enemy is now handled properly in "Galdrigerr's Raider Problem"
The door to Beline's home now appears properly in the revolt of Chapter 3
Siding with Aldnar in Chapter 3 now makes his gate guards friendly upon exit
Formula of the Pick Locks skill now works properly
Weight calculation now works properly for all party members
The bridge of the Crimson Crossing is now properly clickable
The Entangle spell now correctly creates the Immobilize effect
Crowd chatter and noises are inactive at the Wardenhaft Academy during night
Inn room descriptions now fit their UI panels properly
Information on multi-selecting items is now displayed in the Shop Tutorial
Added missing "Poisonous" stat to ingredients
The Panic effect of the Coat of Darkness spell is now visible in the combat log
The Talgorn Inn's name is now properly displayed in the minimap
Spirits of Beline and Fidelio are now exempt from spells and damage
Added dialogue to the Red Damsel innkeeper
Door highlight of the Frozen Spirit inn is now displayed properly
Added stat description to the Poison Weapon spell
Blade of the Widowmaker greatsword now faces the proper direction
NPCs in the Valley of Singing Trees now help defeat some local enemies if needed
Our eighteenth update brings many new fixes and improvements, including a brand-new bug reporting feature - just press Alt+B to send a report, no need to leave the game anymore! You can read the complete list below:
Fixes and improvements
Bug Reporting feature added: press Alt + B to use it
Outlaws now get 2 Class Skill points at level-up
Party no longer gets stuck when entering certain doors
Shop inventories now restock projectiles more often
Fustibals no longer cause visual glitches in certain conditions
Attack resolution tooltips are now displayed in proper positions
Status effects are now applied properly by complex spells
Attribute values are now capped at 20
The Abandoned Mines miser no longer detects invisible creatures
The peasants in Dalkivar no longer detect invisible creatures
Creature name tooltips are now presented at the proper height
Tooltips are now kept inside screen boundaries
Enhanced tooltips and descriptions for damage types
Enhanced tooltips and descriptions for weapon attack time
Proper titles added for compendium entries of the tutorial
The Courtier's entry dialogue can now be initiated once only
Fixed several issues with the Graverobbers' dialogue in Greybark
Command Company UI now closes when switching between party members
The Family Home in Greybark can now be properly entered and left
The Wyrmblood Garb is now visible on all character models
Bandits in Scofarth now react properly when attacked
Iwor is now present both day and night in Deron-Guld
The stableman is now present both day and night in Deron-Guld
The shopkeeper in Greybark Pawnshop is now always present
The smoking bowl in Ilio's Curio now appears properly
Fixed a typo in blacksmith Solomon's dialogue
Fixed the cook's dialogue in Brightguard Headquarters
Text for Lily's dialogue is now displayed with proper color
After 14 updates since we launched into Early Access in August, we're incredibly pleased to say that update #15 is officially "Phase 2" of our roadmap. Bringing with it huge swathes of changes and improvements, we've been working hard to not only listen to feedback, but bring even more content to Black Geyser.
Additional Main Quests: Choices you take affect the game world and the overall story in the last chapter.
Fresh Side Quests: A variety of new side quests have been added, including long anticipated companion quests.
Re-imagined Starting Experience: The game’s introduction has been completely, revamped with more information, more player guidance and options for how to complete it
6 New Locations: Bringing with it a group of areas from the frozen north, Phase 2 also brings two dungeon areas for players to explore.
Character Generation Refinements: The first of two significant improvements to character creation is an improved experience as well as improved UI.
Added new low-level spells: Who doesn't want greater flexibility on casters when starting out?
Spell & Item Refinements: We’ve rebalanced spells and items to give greater selection, and more power where it’s needed.
Combat Update: Damage scaling has been reworked alongside fairer damage interruption.
New Temple UI: For recovering from healing and reviving characters, removing curses, and donating.
Fresh SFX: New sound sets for both male and female protagonists!
Companion XP Catch-up System: Rejoice, your newly recruited companion's XP and level are matched to the protagonist.
New Boss Fights: Fresh challenges await as you’ll face off against new bosses who aren’t for the faint hearted. For those who do manage to topple them, they’ll offer unique loot
In the coming days we'll be revealing what's on the horizon for Phase 3, and we look forward to all your feedback surrounding this major update. Be sure to join us on Discord, or across social media, to let us know your thoughts.
