Blades For Hire — Demo Out Now! Build your guild, take on contracts, and survive
Forget about saving the world — you're not a hero, you're a contractor. Build your guild, take on contracts, and survive
Greetings, mercenaries!
We’re excited to announce that the free demo of our dark tactical RPG Blades for Hire is available now on Steam — a game where loyalty has a price, and that price is gold.
And starting tomorrow, Blades for Hire will join the Steam Next Fest: June 2025 Edition festival — stay tuned for updates, livestreams, and exclusive content on our Steam page!
Blades for Hire is a tactical RPG that doesn’t care about your morals.
In a world no longer worth saving, you command a guild of mercenaries just trying to make a profit from what’s left. And today, you get a first look — the free demo is available to everyone.
You're not the hero. You're the boss.
You don’t play a chosen one. You manage a struggling mercenary guild in a rotting fantasy world. Your crew? A mix of renegades, idealists, thieves, and cynics who follow you not out of loyalty — but because you pay them. On time. Or else.
No grand quest. Just dirty work.
There’s no prophecy or world-saving arc. Instead, you’ll face contracts filled with extortion, blackmail, massacres, and ruthless decisions. Your actions shape your reputation and unlock (or block) new opportunities. The Church may despise you — but the criminal underworld might welcome you with open arms.
What to expect in the demo:
• First missions and early in-game choices
• Tactical combat with indirect control
• Guild economy and basic management
• A glimpse into the world and its brutal rules
What to expect in the full version:
— 150+ contracts and missions: From escorts and ambushes to betrayal, extortion, and moral gray areas.
— Tactical combat with indirect control: Set strategies and priorities — your mercs act on their own (and not always how you’d like).
— Deep mercenary relationship system: Every character is unique, with values, limits, and personalities. Bonds impact efficiency, loyalty, and story outcomes.
— Guild economy system: Salaries, equipment, hiring and firing, bribes, donations — everything has a cost.
— Choices that shape the world and your reputation: Your actions affect which factions you can work with — the Church, criminals, nobles, or outcasts. Your path determines your contracts.
— No good or evil. Just consequences: This is not a game of “right” decisions — it's about what's necessary, what's profitable, or just the least awful option.
— High replayability: Every run is different thanks to branching paths, dynamic events, and your crew’s unpredictable nature.
Wishlist, follow, and remember — there are no heroes here. Just contracts, cold steel, and the price you’re willing to pay.
Join our Discord server to ask the developers directly and share feedback with the community.
Decadent Heir — Your Story in a World of Change. Coming Soon!
Greetings!
We are proud to present Decadent Heir — a narrative RPG where politics, betrayal, and luxury intertwine in a deadly dance of ambition.
The late 19th century. You are born into a noble family and face the cruelty and injustice of the era from your very first days. What will your fate be? Will you become a loyal servant of the empire, a revolutionary, or forge your own unique path?
In Decadent Heir, you will experience a deep interactive story where every decision shapes your character’s life:
📜 Live a dramatic life — from birth to adulthood.
🎓 Choose your education and career — become an officer, an official, a politician, or a revolutionary
⚔️ Face war and intrigue — the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, conspiracies, and assassination attempts.
💔 Build relationships with family, loved ones, and more — experience difficult choices and defining moments.
Where will your character stand when the old era collapses? The choice is yours.
Threads of Destiny DLC for HWR: Reforged is out now! + Patch 2.0
Hello, everyone!
We are very happy to announce that the third DLC for Heads Will Roll: Reforged — Threads of Destiny — is out and is available for purchase with 15% discount!
Threads of Destiny massively increases the game's scope with three additional expansions.
The first one of them is the long-awaited French Campaign - an epic adventure of gargantuan proportions that will take the player on a journey across the entire kingdom of France with 5 new chapters of story content. It is by far the largest campaign in the game and it is filled to the brim with new characters to meet, foes to defeat and challenges to overcome.
The second new addition is equally as anticipated as it finally allows the player to properly complete their ultimate journey from a peasant to a king. With the expansion to the English campaign Threads of Destiny enables you to finally shake off the shackles of loyal servitude to King Edward and isntead usurp his throne. Create, protect and manage your own kingdom in order to see it either prosper and thrive - or collapse into obscurity.
The third new campaign will open before the player yet another career door. With Threads of Destiny you will now be able to become a bounty hunter. Join Grace and Glory on their adventures and see if the three of you can build a true camaraderie that will stand any test... Or get blinded by the glitter of gold and end up betraying each other over a lump sum of money.
As always, together with the DLC we are releasing a major patch that will update the game to version 2.0. That patch will be avilable for free for all the players.
New stuff in Patch 2.0:
1. NPC models will now be automatically updated if a character's shield is broken. 2. Endurance now provides a possibility of recovering twice as much stamina. 3. Coordination now is responsible for resisting stuns and throwing weapons' accuracy. 4. Agility no longer provides a bonus to hit chance. 5. Every injury a character has amplifies the damage that they receive. 6. Feint's blind debuff accuracy and evasion value is doubled. 7. Added new rare recruitable allies of unique classes that can only be encountered during special events. 8. Player squad members will now occasionally react to player's bahviour and either approve or disapprove of it resulting in various events and interactions. 9. A lot of trinkets have been reworked. Several new ones have been added. 10. New scavenging events have been added. 11. Fixed a bunch of errors in localization. 12. Some of the enemy encounters will result in ambushes with enemies being the first to take their turn and player suffering a stamina debuff (in Prestige mode). 13. Added 12 new weapons and 2 new shields. 14. The majority of civic talents have been reworked. Several new ones have been added - some of them granting access to unique items and interactions. 15. A lot of weapons have been reworked - their stats and movesets have been changed in order to create more various opportunities for damage scaling. 16. Added a couple of new events and interactions into the first half of the game. 17. Completing quests now earns the player experience points that are used to unlock new civic talents. Talent upgrade points are now longer granted automatically at the start of each chapter. 18. Having very high or very low virtue will now sometimes result in the player character automatically picking certain options in dialogues that suit their behavior. 19. Prestige mode will now have economic zones - depending on who you're trading with the prices in shops will be influenced by your reputation or Prestige. 20. Bonus items appearing in shops will now too be dependant on either reputation or Prestige, depending on who you're trading with. 21. Ultra high virtue will now enable the player to receive battle blessings temporarily improving their preformance in battle. 22. Prestige mode now has a bit more time in chapters.
This DLC and patch are the results of incredibly hard work and we very much hope that it will prove to be a nice Christmas present for all of you. Thanks you very much for playing!
Heads Will Roll: Downfall nomination in the "Labor of Love" category
Greetings, dear players!!
It's been a while since we released a free version of the game, called Heads Will Roll: Downfall. Thanks to it, the already familiar Heads Will Roll: Reforged was eventually released.
If you haven't had a chance to try out the game yet, this is a great opportunity to purchase Heads Will Roll: Reforged at a 45% discount. Or you can simply support us in the "Labor of Love" category by ticking the box above. Thanks!
If you want to keep up with all the latest news or just chat about the game, join our Discord.
Keep in touch! 1917 Studios
Introducing Blades for Hire - a strategy game that lets you take control of your own mercenary band.
Greetings, dear players!
It is exciting to see how our community is growing!
Let us introduce you to a new strategy game called Blades for Hire, where you will control a mercenary guild in a realistic fantasy setting.
DoubleTap is the team behind the project.
Dive deep into the world where the protagonist, on the brink of survival, is forced to find questionable ways to earn money. Every day you will have to choose between following the dictates of your conscience or giving preference to pragmatism and profit. You will make these decisions through your Guild, and each mercenary will be an asset in your success.
A world of tactical battles, character development, and moral dilemmas awaits you in Blades for Hire.
One of the goals of Patch 1.3 was not only to rework the remaining player-favorite early-game ships but also to lay the groundwork for the planned boarding scenes. The ships turned out great.
New ships:
The Valkyrie
The Meifeng
Fluyt
War Schooner
The Principio (DLC)
Improved sail and rigging quality for all ships in the game.
In total, ~30% of the entire game fleet has been revamped by 1.3 - just as planned.
Quests
Extinguished Star We’ve never created a quest this complex, non-linear, and intricate before. It has everything: new content with Mary and Helen, direct impact on the main storyline, cutscenes, crazy flashbacks, and valuable loot. The quest starts at the end of "The Dutch Gambit" and continues through to "Turtle Soup." No spoilers—see it for yourself.
Black Mark A non-linear quest, designed for the early stages of the game, offering valuable rewards and nods to veterans of the "Sea Dogs" series. Available in both Story and Sandbox modes. Part of the "Black Mark" DLC.
Rewards include: a duelling double-barreled pistol, an Italian rapier, an Army broadsword, a Black Spot ward, armor, as well as a new officer—Tommy Irons, and the legendary Pink of Nicholas Sharp, the Principio. The Pink is stunning, but the true star of the DLC is Irons. He's got killer jokes.
Locations
No new locations in this patch, aside from a few scenes for the Longway quest. The boarding decks took up almost all of our time and will continue to do so. All four decks will be included in either Patch 1.3.1 or 1.5.
However, we did update several old locations, especially those that significantly lagged behind the newer ones in quality.
Locations update:
Locations and scenes for the "Extinguished Star" quest
The Old Lighthouse
Port Royal Lighthouse
Several beaches
Indian village
Improved ground textures in towns.
Animations
We continue the challenging journey of bringing quests, battles, and cities life to life. The minimum program has already been fulfilled, and with Patch 1.5, we aim for something even more ambitious. Next-gen is just around the corner.
New animations:
Unique animations for the "Extinguished Star" quest
7 new contextual death battle animations
2 prayer animations in churches
2 animations for drunks in towns
Tavern musicians no longer drown out the game’s music
Fishermen, blacksmiths, and musicians now work according to the time of day
New Hero
Due to popular demand, Helen McArthur is now a fully-fledged character in Sandbox mode. She is compatible with the "Vile Little God" and "Black Mark" DLCs. She has unique dialogues in her hometown Blueweld, unique achievements, loot, and starts her pirate career on a war schooner.
For now, she doesn’t carry a musket or visible armor, and there may be some "gender errors" :rofl_pirate: in the dialogues. Her development will continue in Patch 1.5, along with other Sandbox characters.
Notification System
Traditionally, games in this series have never been known for being player-friendly or transparent, often requiring guides. What happened to my character? Why did I fail a dialogue check? What reward did I just receive? Any game needs to communicate with the player—and now Caribbean Legend does. I consider this the key feature of Patch 1.3.
New notifications:
Over 100 new format notifications on sea, land, and in dialogues
Combat statuses—from poisonings to critical damage
Loot markers—so far, only for plants in the jungle, but this is just the start
Quest navigation—so far, only for the beginning of the game
More quest markers over characters and on the global map
New tutorial videos for core game mechanics
Interface
Let’s be honest, we have the best interface. But somehow, the list of fixes for it has already stretched to three pages. :rofl_pirate: The first half of the first page finally made it into Patch 1.3.
UI update:
Unlimited key remapping—adjust the controls to your liking
Control hints in loot, trade, and exchange windows
Highlighting new entries in the ship’s log and documents
Highlighting available skill points for characters
Keeping the selected character when switching tabs between inventory and skills
Displaying character roles in officer assignment windows
Improved interaction with items in the inventory
Added a DLC button in the menu—if all are purchased, it will be inactive
Miscellaneous
13 achievements
New ward
New sword
Automatic crash reports sending - let's see how bad it really is out there
Longway can now carry muskets
New dialogue camera
Missing textures restored for some objects in the "Flying the Jolly Roger" quests
Claude Durand now reliably triggers his loyalty event after a set time
Obtaining a patent removes pirates from the crew
Reputation no longer drops if the player exits "Flying the Jolly Roger" questline before Cartagena
Fewer soldiers in towns, and they stop the player less often
Chance to deceive the guards can no longer exceed 90%
Governors no longer ask you to infiltrate friendly towns
Passengers no longer ask to be taken to hostile towns
"Iron Will" perk no longer allows intimidating officers
Missing item descriptions—skill bonuses, etc.—have been added
Additional optimization of the tutorial on Martinique
Spelling and grammar corrections - thanks to all reports you have been sharing on Discord
Numerous bug fixes
Improved overall game stability
1.5
That’s all for now! Over the past six months, we’ve done an incredible amount of work together. We’ve done everything possible and even more. Except for the Story mode epilogue, of course.
We could have done it already, but it would have been too... simple? I want to create something special and worthy of Charles de Maure's story—call it a "director’s cut" of his storyline, if you will. Plus, the game has long needed list of truly new mechanics, fixes for old ones, a complete rebalance, a new loot category, and a proper uplift of Sandbox mode. Not to mention improved controls, gamepad support, Steam Deck experience.
Patch 1.5 will take at least six months, and it will definitely require starting the new game. So for now, we’ll take a short break, rest, and then get back to work.
Leave reviews ːsteamthumbsupː as blue as the Caribbean Sea, download the patch, buy the DLC—and if you’ve been putting off playing the game for any reason, now’s the perfect moment to start!
Coming soon...
:jollyr:
Skelethrone: The Chronicles of Ericona is Out Now! ⚔️
Greetings friends!!!
We have some great news to share with you today.
Skelethrone: The Chronicles of Ericona is now available on Steam! We are offering a special 15% discount during the launch period The game is also available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch.
At its core this is a Souls-like game that features Metroidvania elements, filled with exploration and secrets to be found.
You're in for a great adventure inspired by games like Castlevania and Dark Souls. Bloodthirsty monsters, divine creatures and epic boss battles. The game’s story is shaped by choices that will define your journey.
Let's celebrate the game's launch!
In honor of the release, please watch the trailer and immerse yourself in the world of Makh-Abyss before fully exploring the story and finding out what actually happened after the death of Lord Derek Ericona.
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!
A grim tale about a village inhabited only by children!
Friends! Greetings from the Valkyrie Initiative team.
We invite all fans of adventure games with horror elements into this grim, beautifully hand-drawn fairy tale.
This story takes place in a village inhabited only by children who follow savage pagan traditions. Assume the role of a young witch named Kyrphel and experience all the hardships of witch life, discover the secrets of ancient rituals, explore the village and interact with its inhabitants.
Witchcraft, rituals, lies or sincerity - do whatever it takes, since the fate of the entire village depends on whether you succeed in the Great Ritual or not.
To celebrate the release, please watch the trailer before taking part in the Great ritual!
This project was developed by The Growing Stones, who spent two years gathering inspiration from fairy tales, myths, ancient religions, and beliefs in proud solitude.
Feel free to ask questions
Feel free to share your impressions and thoughts about the game on the Discord server.
Heads Will Roll: Reforged — Not a Hero. New DLC announcement and release date.
Hello guys!
We are happy to finally make an official announcement of Heads Will Roll: Reforged's second DLC — Not a Hero. It is scheduled to release on May 31st and — together with accompanying major patch — will bring along a huge amount of new content as well as usher in a considerable overhaul of the game's various systems and mechanics.
First of all, the DLC will introduce several new full story branches that will allow the player to take their character's life and career in various alternative directions after the ending of the Cambrai campaign. You will encounter many new friends and foes, go on new adventures, survive new challenges and, of course, face new tough moral choices.
2. Squad system rework Then there is a much-awaited squad system rework which includes lots of new visual models, free customization of squadmates' war gear and expanded in-battle controls — with all of that ultimately allowing to perfectly tailor your allies equipment and behavior to suit your desired playstyle.
3. Civil talents Heads Will Roll's RPG elements are too going to get an expansion in the form of civil talents — various non-combat skills and abilities that will allow the player to make their character even more unique. The update will introduce about two dozens of civil talents of ranging magnitude with some of them acting like small pleasant bonuses while others being character-defining traits enabling for a whole playstyle to be built around.
4. Prestige mode In order to freshen up the game experience for the seasoned veterans we will be introducing a Prestige mode — a difficulty modifier that will considerably harden the game: weapons will now also lose durability and eventually break, combat will be much more fast and deadly, injuries - more frequent, time - less plentiful and some of the skill checks - way tougher. Completing the game in this mode will undoubtedly prove to be the toughest challenge yet and will require the player to truly value the character's life.
5. Trinket presets Considering the major importance of trinkets it is only natural for the player to be in need of oftenly replacing them, swapping around crafting, scavenging, combat and other sets. The upcoming update will finally address this by introducing trinket presets feature that allows to save several desired trinket combinations and then quickly swap between them, removing a lot of unnecessary actions. Together with that, there are also going to be dedicated buttons for instantly unequipping all the trinkets and placing them into inventory or chest.
6. Interface improvements Another issue that the upcoming update will be addressing is the cumbersomeness of many of the game's item interaction menus. In order to fix this, the update will be adding quick action buttons allowing to move items between chest and inventory, as well as acquire items from loot in one click.
7. New gameplay balance The overall gameplay balance is too going to get a shakeup — buy and sell prices, skill check thresholds, time limits in chapters, item parameters and various other things are going to be updated to freshen up the game and correct some of the existing balancing issues.
8. Bugfixes And, of course, last but not least — bugfixing. The patch accompanying the DLC will contain a long list of fixes for many of the reported bugs (a detailed list will be provided with the release notes).
As you can see, the scope of the upcoming update is going to be absolutely massive with pretty much all of the game's aspects getting expansions, improvements and overhauls. We are very much looking forward to release and hope that you are too! For more information on all things Heads Will Roll — or to get in touch with us — head over to our Discord.
