Not A Hero DLC for Heads Will Roll: Reforged is out now + Patch 1.5
Hello, everyone!
We are very happy to announce that the second DLC for Heads Will Roll: Reforged — Not a Hero — is out and is available for purchase with 15% discount!
This DLC brings three additional story branches with a total of 7 brand new chapters that will see the player go on all kinds of unexpected adventures. On top of that the DLC also contains the much-awaited squad system rework that includes new visual models for allies, full customization of their equipment as well as an ability to give them orders in battle. The DLC includes 8 new endings and 14 new achievements.
To celebrate the release of the DLC, the base game - Heads Will Roll: Reforged - will also be available for purchase with a 50% discount for a limited time.
In order to complete your bundle you can also purchase "Happily Ever After" DLC with a 35% discount.
All information about the new DLC and more is here
We hope you will enjoy it!
Patch 1.03, OST and Trading Cards
Hi everyone,
The release of Heads Will Roll: Reforged is booming: we are proud to hold the line on the Steam Popular & Trending tab, boasting an impressive 90% Positive Review Score!
If you haven't already, now is the perfect time to grab your copy. We're offering a fantastic 15% discount on the game, exclusively on Steam.
But that's not all! We have some exciting news that we can't wait to share with you:
Patch 1.03 is live!
Fixed a bug that occurred if you sided with bandits against the knight in a random encounter and prevented the battle from ending.
Fixed a bug that made some of the cambrai quests accessible from rennes.
Fixed a bug that prevented vettori from crafting a crossbow string from belts.
Fixed a bug that made various rennes quests to be available in the following chapters.
Fixed a bug that prevented the player from receiving new weapons talent points after training sessions.
Fixed some incorrect images of various poisons and faulty interactions with them.
Fixed a bug with enemies spawning endlessly if the player has a torture mask equipped.
Fixed some errors in russian and english localizations.
Fixed some other various minor bugs and issues.
OST is live!
Now available on Steam: Original 11 soundtracks composed by super talented Mikhail Kazakov (KMS). Grab the Deluxe edition to get the OST and the Artbook.
Steam Trading Cards unlocked!
This is a big milestone for us, and we can't wait for you to dive into the world of collecting badges, cards, and other exciting goodies.
Heads Will Roll: Reforged has been released!
Hello everyone!
We're incredibly happy to announce that Heads Will Roll: Reforged has now officially been released. We have been working on the project for an unbelieveably long time and poured all of our heart and soul into it. The original HWR had a very unique vision behind it, a vision that — for a variety of reasons — we were not able to fully accomplish at the time. Reforged is everything that we envisioned the original HWR to be. Hopefully you will enjoy playing this game just as much as we've enjoyed making it.
Sincerely yours, Nikita Rusakov and Christina Khalmuratova aka 1917 Studios
HWR News: Downfall's release, upcoming patch and crowdfunding campaign
Hello guys! I wanted to do a quick announcement in case some of you missed our latest news. Heads Will Roll: Downfall — a free-to-play prologue for HWR: Reforged — is already out and you can play it right now!
At the moment we're working on a big patch for the game that is going to add a bunch of QoL features and also do a major balance shift. You can read more about the upcoming patch here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1903060/announcements/detail/3409813763404182281
And last but not least we wanted to announce that we're lauching a Boosty page (an equivalent of Patreon since Patreon doesn't work with Russian citizens) where anyone (from any country), who has a desire to do so, can offer us some financial support for a bunch of rewards. This is strictly voluntarily so please don't feel pressured to do so. But, if you want to show your appreciation or to support the ongoing development of HWR: Reforged — you're welcome to do so. Here's the link: https://boosty.to/1917studios But, let me be maximum clear, HWR: Reforged will be properly finished and released no matter how successful or unsuccessful this Boosty campaign will turn out to be.
That's it for today. Take care and, if you want some more HWR news, make sure to join our Discord. Cheers, 1917 Studios
Weapons and Combat Mechanics
Hello.
In this blogpost we'd like to share some news about weapons and combat system of both HWR: Reforged and HWR: Downfall.
In our opinion, the original Heads Will Roll both had a pretty respectable arsenal of weapons and did a decent job highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of different weapon types. In Reforged and Downfall we decided to expand the overall arsenal while, at the same time, increasing and preserving the uniqueness of each weapon.
At this point in development there're 56 different melee weapons in the game including several ones that fall into completely new categories like 'curved swords' and 'throwing spears' that were not present in the original game. Both of these are an interesting addition mainly because they allow us to introduce new attacks and mechanics that, in turn, enable the player to create more unique playstyles. So, for example, curved swords have a new attack that increases the damage dealt to target by a portion of attacker's agility, but only if the blow lands clean (i.e. not fully or partially blocked by armor). What this means is that now there's a weapon, damage output of which scales with agility rather than only weapons skill or strength. Coupled with the addition of all kinds of new trinkets this allows for completely new playstyles that do not rely on brute force or heavy weapons for high damage output but rather on agility and precision.
The introduction of throwing spears and javelins too aims at diversifying the approaches to combat that are available to the player. The 'Spear Throw' attack makes use of both agility (to hit the target) and strength (for damage modifier) for an absolutely devastating effect. Even at the start of the game, with a relatively weak character, this attack is capable of doing damage in the realm of high 20s and one-shotting shields. And since all throwing spears have at least one melee attack, your options with them are never limited to just throwing so you can hold your own in melee combat. Thus you can both throw your spear at the beginning of the battle and then instantly switch to the second weapon. Or wait until there's an opportune moment or a proper target and then throw it.
Another thing we did was buffing the one-handed longswords. In the original game they were widely considered to be one of the worst weapon types. And this, by itself, is not a very bad thing as, contrary to the popular belief, in the real medieval combat the longswords were never considered to be that amazing of a weapon. Depending on the situation, a poleaxe, a spear, a mace, a flail or an axe would pretty much always be a better option that a sword, while circumstances where a longsword would be better than any of the above were very rare.
But, at the same time, longswords were indeed used very widely and were by all means an iconic weapon of that era. Thus, searching for a way to buff them in the game, we came up with an idea of another attack — a fencing move. Dubbed 'Counter Strike' this attack increases the hit chance if the target has missed their previous attack or has a 'feinted' debuff applied to them. The idea should be pretty obvious: deceive your enemy with feints, make them miss — make them pay. Obviously, this playstyle too can hugely benefit from a variety of new trinkets that can improve your feinting skills, dmage output, chance to inflict a bleeding or an injury or break enemy's armor.
On top of that a lot of weapons (both old and new) received unique attack effects: rusty swords and axes can inflict a small poisoning; messers, gross-messers and curved swords have a higher chance to inflict bleedings etc.
And even that's not entirely it as there're actually two more new attacks - Helmbreaker (for Horseman's axe) and Coup de Grace (for several swords). But in the interest of time we'll leave them for another occasion.
If you liked the news then rejoice as Downfall is just a couple of months away. And, hopefully, it will not disappoint you.
HWR News — New armor system overview
Hello.
As was promised, today I'm bringing you another blogpost with more information about new features that will be introduced in Reforged and Downfall. This time we will discuss armor.
First of all, let's talk numbers. The overall amount of available armor items has been increased dramatically. At this point the work-in-progress build of the game has 21 body armors, 21 helmets, 20 gorgets\bracers\greaves and several helmet attachments. This is a considerable improvement over the original game and this number is very likely to increase even more as the work is not yet done. Having this many types of defensive equipment will allow the player to deeply customize his character's loadout in order to suit the chosen playstyle or address any particular issue.
New slots
This is also helped by the fact that there will be 3 new equipment slots for gorgets (neck armor), bracers and greaves (limbs armor). Thus, even at the earlier stages of the game, the player can obtain a very respectable level of protection. But most of the armor, obviously, comes with various debuffs so it will always be a trade-off between better protection or better combat stats.
Prestige
New equipment slots and new armor pieces are also going to have more significance due to the introduction of the Prestige mechanic. The better equipment you've got on - the higher is your Prestige. This, in turn, means better chance to impress people and command their respect. So, if you find yourself doing some diplomatic mission or seeking to make an impression on a noble lady — it may be wise to put aside your trusty but worn chainmail and suit up with something fancier (even if you're not intending to use it on a battlefield).
Combat mechanics
When it comes to combat mechanics there's news too. Limbs armor is now a fully separate value; all armor items can now receive separate damage to diffetent armor zones (so, for example, a body armor with limbs protection after absorbing blows to the limbs can lose several points of 'limbs armor' value while 'torso armor' value will remain as it was). The same applies to allies and enemies whose equipment too can take damage to a particular zone.
Manual armor repair
During repair the item can lose some stats as well. For example, armor, cover and prestige values will lower when the player attempts to manually repair the item while not being that skilled at craftsmanship. Obviously, the more you level the skill - the fewer stat losses your items will take. Same thing will happen if the player does cheap partial repair through blacksmith. Full repair, on the other hand, might cost a lot higher — but will return your item back with pristine stats.
Armor crafting
And now for the most interesting part — armor crafting and custom armor. Yes, both Downfall and Reforged will have armor crafting: player will be able to combine different armor items in order to get an item with higher stats. Unlike consumable crafting system, armor crafting WILL NOT be giving you a predetermined item with a prethough list of parameters but rather will produce you a completely new item with dynamic stats. This means that combining two damaged or two pristine items will not give you the same result. The outcome will also be influenced by your craftsmanship skill. The higher it is — the more bonuses the item will receive (i.e. more armor, more cover, higher sell price, more prestige, fewer debuffs etc.). Same goes for the head armor items. Some of helmets too will be able to be combined with each other (bascinet + mail coif, for example) or will take on attachments, like visor or face protection chops. The player won't, of course, be able to combine ANY items — heavy armor (plate mails, full helmets etc.) is not going to be usable in crafting. The crafting system will remain more reasonable and revolve around combining things like a padded jacket and a chainmail or a chainmail and a cuirass or a demi-cuirass and a plackart etc.
So these are the main points when it comes to the new armor system. It took a lot of work to implement and I really hope that it will be a lot of fun for you to use. In the next blogposts I'm going to do similar overviews for weapons, trinkets, ally-related mechanics and other stuff — so stay tuned for more news.
About a week ago we've made an official announcement of HWR: Reforged and HWR: Downfall that received some criticism from the community. In my eyes the main reasons for that are misunderstanding and miscommunication that might've taken place. So, with this blogpost, I would like to clarify what exactly are HWR: Reforged and HWR: Downfall.
HWR: Reforged — What will be new?
1. Story
Reforged will properly conclude both English and French storylines adding several new chapters to each of them, introducing a lot of new characters (including girls) and making the game at least twice as big in terms of story content. On top of that, some of the existing chapters (like Dartford for example) will be overhauled, the number of random quests and events will be increased.
2. New artstyle
Reforged will have a new (way superior in our opinion) artstyle for girls, dialogue character models and all the romance scenes. High-resolution versions of the models will also be included in the digital artbook that will be available together with the game.
3. New gameplay features
Reforged will have a tremendous amount of new features and mechanics (see list below).
4. New items
Reforged will introduce about 100 new items including all kinds of trinkets (some with active abilities), new armor (including leg armor for a dedicated slot), new weapons and new consumables.
5. Localization and bugfixing
With publisher's assistance we will be able to provide a way better localization and also work together with a QA team that will make sure there're no critical or major bugs on release. Considering the big amount of new content this is a very significant moment. This also means that the game might be translated into more languages.
HWR: Reforged, with all of that new stuff, will be available with a launch discount and a discount for those who own the original HWR which will allow you to purchase the game for 50% off.
What is HWR: Downfall?
Downfall is a free-to-play 4 chapter long game that will act as a prologue for HWR: Reforged. Downfall's story will take place before the original game and will expand upon its lore and characters. Downfall will also have ALL THE NEW GAMEPLAY FEATURES so you'll be able to tell if you like the improved version of the gameplay or not.
In future blogposts I intend to do in-detail overview of some of the new features (like reworked armor system, party management, new weapon mechanics, unique and active-ability trinkets, crafting skill overhaul etc.) so stay tuned for more news. I would also like to once again say thank you to everyone who supports this project. 1917 Studios is only two people (one of us does all the artwork and the other - everything else), we're not a huge money-hungry company and this is our first experience developing and releasing a game so naturally there're bumps along the road in every possible department. But we have our vision of this project and are striving to achieve it. And once the work is done - we're sure it won't disappoint you.
Cheers, 1917 Studios (literally just two people)
P.S.
The long and incomplete changelog for features (stuff is still being added and tweaked so keep it in mind)
1. Prestige system (items and equipment that you put on your character determine how respectable he looks in the eyes of folks around; dressing like a knight or a nobleman invokes respect, dressing like a dirty peasant makes you laughed at). 2. New difficulty modes: mildly challenging Story mode with quicksaves and quickloads at any time and hardcore Ironman mode with permanent death, Profile levelling and roguelike mechanics. 3. Dedicated slots for gorgets, bracers and leg armor. 4. Reworked armor system. 5. Several types of item repair: cheap but partial (that makes item lose stats) or expensive but full. 6. New camp activities (praying, ritual self-punishment etc.). 7. Scabbards and in-battle weapon swapping. 8. New attacks and mechanics for weapons (including Spear Throw and wounds infected by rust). 9. An obtainable and upgradable chest, where player can store items while in camp. 10. Improved virtue mechanics and new dialogue interactions. 11. About a 100 new items. Including many consumables with various in-battle effects (alcohol, alchemy brews). 12. Tweaks to scavenging mode that will allow the player do decide beforehand what kind of resources he'd like to search for. 13. Huge balance changes for armor, weapons and trinkets. 14. New (and not braindead this time) AI for allies. 15. Hiring and managing a party of allies. 16. More boss battles with unusual enemies. 17. Dungeon system for some battles. Battles have several (usually 3-4) stages with increased rewards for completing each of them but also with increasingly tougher enemies. Player can back out of the fight after completing/surviving through any stage. And a lot of other stuff!
Hello guys! Today we're coming at you with some very big news regarding the ongoing development and the future of Heads Will Roll. First of all, we're happy to announce our partnership with Valkyrie Initiative - a publisher that will be helping us in the development of the game. They, among other things, will be taking care of the proper English and Chinese localization and the QA process. Instead of splitting future content into severall DLCs, we decided that the best thing would be to re-release the whole game, but this time - in a complete state. With fully finished storylines, all the characters available and without bugs. This re-released version will be named Heads Will Roll: Reforged and will, on top of everything already mentioned, include huge amounts of new content, new gameplay mechanics, improved visuals, a roguelike mode and much more.
As a big 'thank you' to our community everyone who's already bought the original Heads Will Roll will be able to purchase the Reforged version at a 50% discount.
The development will take some time, but meanwhile there's something else that might keep you occupied. In order to showcase the new and improved gameplay mechanics we will be releasing a small free-to-play Prologue — Heads Will Roll: Downfall that will, among other things, shed some light on the turbulent youth and uneasy relationships between some of the characters from the original game.
Stay tuned for more news and detailed breakdowns of various new gameplay features!
1917 Studios
The Best Is Yet To Come
Hello! As all of you probably know, we're hard at work at our big story DLC and intend to release it somewhere around late February - mid March. The official announcement with more details and Steam page should come later this month.
But new story chapters is not the only thing to look forward to. Together with the release of the DLC, the base game is going to receive another huge free update - 1.6. Here's just a glimpse of what's coming: 1. Scabbards and in-battle weapon swapping. 2. Roguelike mode (player's score at the end of each run is converted into gold that can be used to level up stats and purchase various equipment at the start of a new run, allowing you to start the game with highly customized character). 3. Ironman mode (a mode with permanent death and no ability to freely save\load). 4. Dedicated slots for gorgets and bracers (and also a lot more of them). 5. An obtainable chest, where player can store items while in camp. 6. Improved virtue mechanics and new dialogue interactions (for example, characters reacting to you being drunk). 7. New weapons with new mechanics, improvements and cahnges for some of the existing ones. 8. A lot of new items including new consumables and trinkets. 9. New and improved visual models for all female characters. 10. Some new quests and interactions. 11. Some changes to crossbows, new shield- and armor-breaking bolts. 12. Even more scavenge events. 13. A LOT of balance changes. And probably a lot more.
All of this is coming to the base HWR game with patch 1.6 together with the release of the DLC. So, I guess this is it for today. If you want to get a glimpse of the new stuff - join our Discord, where I post a lot of work-in-progress shots of new items, abilities and characters. You can also ask me any questions there. https://discord.gg/6y2NjEpXWv
And, of course, thanks a lot for playing Heads Will Roll. There's only two of us working on this game, but we're giving it all we've got!
Heads Will Roll available on Mac!
We're happy to inform you that Heads Will Roll is now available on Windows, Linux and MacOS!
The most recent game update also includes a couple of bugfixes: -fixed a bug when player was not able to equip posion after using it once -fixed a bug when the game would crash if you open the description of 'Dressed to kill' quest
If you would like to know more about the development of the DLC and discuss various upcoming mechanics - then consider joining our Discord: https://discord.gg/6y2NjEpXWv If you encounter any bugs or technical issues - you can also get in touch with me there.
