Yaengard cover
Yaengard screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Strategy

Yaengard

Hotfix 6.0.1 - Combat Item Fix
Fixed game-breaking issues caused by the new combat items.

- Ironclad's Gift no longer soft locks the game
- Other minor fixes

UPDATE 6 | YAENGARD OVERHAULED
Yaengard was always a passion project - we built our own dream RPG. Even though the first salvo of updates post-release is finished, we still always want to make MORE — endless ideas, dreams, and concepts we’d love to bring you. Sadly, we can’t do everything we dream of as a small developer studio. Thank you for caring and playing Yaengard. You’re the greatest there is.

Update 6 - Combat Overhaul



Short version:

  • More game, less slog!
  • Deeper builds & combat!
  • More decisions that matter!
  • Ability-system overhaul: cooldowns!
  • New entire item type; combat items!
  • New encounter type: Rare champion bosses!
  • Progression log over multiple runs
  • A ton of polish, improvements, and bug fixes.


Objectives:



  • Improve the game's speed, letting you play more in less time!
  • Deepen the strategic depth of combat, positioning, and builds.
  • Add new strategic and tactical decisions throughout the game.
  • Completely rework consumables into build-changing combat items.
  • Add a sense of progression over multiple runs!




One of Yaengard’s weaknesses is time. It is an incredible journey of builds, personalities, and character development. However, when a ‘run’ takes 5-30 hours, most players barely get to experience their 1st party setup. By adding a ‘combat speed’ setting, reducing the # of encounters per level, and letting you progress faster through the early game - you can enjoy the excellent parts of the game more (and the tedious parts less).

Additionally, an overhaul of combat abilities! Abilities now have cooldowns. This creates A LOT of strategic depth as you can’t build around a single ability and spam. About 30% of abilities have been changed and improved!




Changelog Update 6



New Features & Mechanics:



  • Added cooldowns to every ability in the game, including balance changes to reflect this.
  • Added a basic attack ability to all weapons.
  • Completely re-done the potions and consumables; combat items are way cooler and unlock new potential for multiple builds.
  • Added special avenues of attack cards for ALL combats, based on your character’s personalities and skills. Personalities now have a much deeper impact on combat.
  • Added a ‘combat speed’ setting to lower combat durations.
  • Added setting to increase the speed of combat (primarily through animations)
  • Added requirements for some non-combat card options so only adventurers with certain personalities can get/select them.
  • Added unique abilities to legendary boss drops.
  • Added more rare legendary boss drops.
  • Added rare champions you can encounter; defeat them for rare combat items to build your characters around, or die trying.




Progression


Added The Archive, a collection log to track everything you find during your journey. Look up special abilities, design your builds, and embrace your inner completionist. Get that 0% to 100%!



Improvements, Balance, & Polish:



  • Reduced XP required to level up, reducing the total # of encounters by 20%.
  • Tweaked some enemies, including wasps, to increase consistency in combat difficulty.
  • Re-did early-game trinkets to be more impactful by letting them scale per level.
  • Many minor balance improvements (especially around might).


Fixes & Bugs:



  • Nerfed wasps (which accidentally sometimes were 3-5x as tanky as intended)
  • Fixed a bug that caused summons to be on the wrong team
  • Fixed major bug causing armor to suck, and bloodcurse not properly countering armor.
  • Fixed some outdated tutorial popups
  • Re-did HP scaling for units to be less extreme with crazy modifiers, and scale as expected with multiple layers of buffs/debuffs. For Act 2, complete HP-rework for all enemies.
  • Updated ~6 trinket perks to behave more intuitively.
  • Fixed a bug that caused perks to be swapped out when loading a saved game.
  • Multiple fixes (missing icons, typos, logic errors) with challenge modes & enemies might
  • Multiple improvements to text and dialogue (editing).
  • Updated a ton of ability descriptions for accuracy, language, behavior, and clarity.






Never lose hope!

Adventure onwards,
Will

Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/MS2Zst3XJP

Website (FAQ): https://planeshiftinteractive.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planeshifters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planeshifters
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYTCoBZ6lrpBUD3eE9gF2w
Presskit: https://planeshiftinteractive.com/press/

CLOUD SAVES ADDED
Greetings Adventurers!

We at Planeshift would like to say that the development of Yaengard is NOT over!
Yaengard just got cloud saving for Windows on Steam - Never lose your progress!




  • Your game automatically saves whenever you reach the travel map.
  • Now, it will default save to Steam Cloud Saving!
  • If you lose your progress or switch devices, your party will be sitting in the tavern awaiting you!


There is still adventure to be had, enemies to triumph, and unique builds to explore.
Stay tuned because a lot is coming your way!

Color-losing Hotfix
A bug with certain OS languages has been causing characters to lose their colors (going completely black). This bug should now be fixed.

UPDATE 5 - NOW THIS IS A CHALLENGE!

Well met, Adventurers!



Today we are releasing CONTENT UPDATE 5 for Yaengard!


  • Added Nightmare Difficulty
  • Unspoken Modes
  • Challenge Modes




Nightmare Difficulty


In playtesting Yaengard, we always found it interesting when you had to make hard decisions to survive. This works great when the game is difficult, but a hard game is tough to get into as a new player. While we heavily prefer games with a single difficulty (from Super Mario to the 'Souls games), we have decided to add Nightmare difficulty.



Nightmare difficulty can be applied to any other challenge or unspoken run, turning the game into a gritty-realism experience of resource management, tough decisions, and harsh survival.

Unspoken Modes


Can you unlock them all?
Apart from a challenge, we also wanted Yaengard to have some sense of progression outside the roguelike-style "runs". Therefore, we have added a 5-step "Unspoken modes" where each run becomes harder and harder -- where defeating the third act unlocks the next difficulty.



Challenge Modes


Can you handle it?
Challenge modes are different from the Unspoken modes. While they are still hard and will force you to prove your skill, they also fundamentally change how the game works. These challenge modes will test your game knowledge, and your ability to adapt to new rules, and hopefully be a blast to play!



Balance Fixes


Balancing a game like Yaengard is really hard - players have different levels of strategic skill, tastes in difficulty, and build preferences. However, we have chatted with hundreds of players and two opinions are very common: Act 2 is too easy and Falira (Act 1 Boss) is over-tuned. Both these have been rectified in Update 5.

Complete Update 5 Change Log



  • Added Nightmare Difficulty (Normal, Hardcore, Nightmare)
  • Added 5 Unspoken Modes to unlock and defeat!
  • Added 9 Challenge Modes
  • Added an "Easy-mode" called Fourth-Well, which some players have requested.
  • Changed Packhunter Archetype & Traditional Combat Perk to grant Crowded immunity.
  • Fixed bug that prevented you from using destiny more than 3 times in a turn.
  • Fixed multi-use ability perks to work as intended.
  • Falira is weaker and will summon minions less often.
  • Depthwalker casters have had their HP reduced, making them easier to face.
  • Act 2 combats are harder across the board.
  • Added a new Act 1 forest location with new encounters.
  • High-level armor now has an upper limit of how much dodge each piece can grant.
  • Tweaked down high-level dodge armor.
  • Improved descriptions of status effects.
  • Added a man brooding in the tavern shadows. Good luck facing the Antlion.
  • Upgraded some ability sound effects.
  • Re-worked Lightbringer Class ability (Read: Nerfed)
  • Rebuilt some crossbow ability visuals to break less often.
  • Fixed bug in character creation that would break starting a new game.
  • Fixed bug where traditional 9 would sometimes grant pragmatic combat perks.
  • Fixed bug where Sustain Siege (Crossbow class ability) wouldn't grant control ground.
  • Fixed incorrect description on class ability Final Conquest
  • Fixed bug where certain perks would prevent you from inflicting any status effects.
  • Fixed Story of Fortune (Artistry Ability)'s incorrect popup text.
  • Fixed bug where some armor pierces (cool hat!) had a broken description.
  • Many minor spelling errors corrected.
  • Fixed bug that would cause your characters to become completely black.
  • Reworked Firecrack to work as intended.
  • Fixed bug where crossbow ability "Twin precision" was the strongest ability in the game.
  • Fixed class Ability "Wanderlust" so it actually does what the description says.
  • Fixed crossbow "Deathbolt" was misconfigured and critical striking instead of killing enemies.



Finally, a lot of people missed that we added a class-information glossary to the pause menu in the last update!



That is all for now, but stay tuned for what the future will bring!

Best Regards and Adventure Onwards,
Will

Do you want to be part of Yaengards development? Decide what we'll add?
Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/MS2Zst3XJP

Website (FAQ): https://planeshiftinteractive.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planeshifters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planeshifters
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYTCoBZ6lrpBUD3eE9gF2w
Presskit: https://planeshiftinteractive.com/press/




Update 4 Hotfix 2

Changelog



  • Improved Crossbow Visuals
  • Fixed some abilities not working as intended
  • Improved descriptions to better describe mechanics

Update 4.1 Hotfix
- Fixed saving issues with bearded women
- Improved crossbow ability visuals
- Reduced risk of undead ragdolls going spaggheti.

UPDATE 4 - THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Update 4 has arrived!



It's been really amazing to hear all your feedback on the game, so we continue to work hard to make new updates! I am STOKED to bring you the newest one: Update 4!

This is the 4th update that is coming your way since the release 20 days ago, and this one is the largest so far! We have new weapons, a full character creator with new mechanics, a ton of new abilities, 7 classes, and a long list of smaller improvements!

Major | Crossbows & Classes


After hearing so many requests for non-magical ranged weapons - we could simply not say no!
Introducing the 7th weapon category (12th weapon type); CROSSBOWS!


(From the previous teaser, but still 100% valid!)

  • 16 Crossbows to find & loot
  • Multiple new crossbow-wielding enemies
  • 21 new abilities to find & use in your builds


7 New Crossbow Classes



  • Arbalest
  • Phoenix
  • Sentinel
  • Stalker
  • Ranger
  • Depth-Hunter


Major | Character Creation


For a game where you begin with nearly completely blank characters, SO MANY of you have requested a proper character creator. As changing names was so hard to find that you had to make a tutorial for changing names, we had no choice but to create it for you!



Now when you begin your adventure (both in normal mode & hardcore), you get to:

  • Set your character name!
  • Select your background & the starting stats they come with!
  • Select a starting personality combo!
  • Pick from a set of brand new feats!
  • Build your character looks yourself!
  • New scars, tattoos, and beard options!


Major | Class Library


A common occurrence in the discord is people asking for classes - something we never wanted. In our original design, we had much fewer classes than the 28 classes we have today!
So now, you can check what weapons are needed for which class & their class ability at any time!



Minor & Other Changes


Aside from the major features added, we are constantly fixing 100s of small issues, making tiny improvements, and improving the game. Some we find ourselves (or know about), but most are things requested or reported by you guys through the discord! (Thank you!)

  • A TON of typos & text issues resolved
  • Storm will no longer trigger through dodge
  • Shadow Transfusion added
  • Improved armor scaling
  • Tuned down the Act 1 boss (which was too difficult)
  • Improved some ability VFX to be more impactful
  • Fixed multiple perks which were not working as intended
  • Melancholy, Crush, Acquired Target & Become the Storm all now working as intended.
  • Increased rate of rare drops & multi-ability weapons
  • Adjusted some combat walls to be more organic which you can attack over
  • Updated a few icons to better versions
  • Reworked multiple buffing abilities to last much longer.
  • Added some responsive warnings when players try to take actions that don't work.


Final Notes


We made Yaengard because we love RPGs - not for any other reasons. It's perhaps therefore unsurprising that we have VAULTS of stupid ideas we'd love to implement into the game. You should see our war-room. But, sadly we are a tiny development team and must select carefully what we implement. Character creation, engagement mechanics, and physical ranged weapons have consistently been the top 3 requested features -- all here!

If you wish to become part of the Yaengard family and help decide what content we should focus on next, join the discord! Those in the discord discuss builds, chat with us about new ideas, and help track down bugs/issues!

If you have played and enjoyed Yaengard, please consider dropping a review on Steam! It helps us more than you think!


Thank you for reading these patch notes and being part of the adventure!
I look forward to continuing work on Yaengard!

Adventure onwards,
Will
Head of Design, Planeshift

Yaengard on Steam: https://bit.ly/3wdrEMU
Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/MS2Zst3XJP
Website (FAQ): https://planeshiftinteractive.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planeshifters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planeshifters
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYTCoBZ6lrpBUD3eE9gF2w
Presskit: https://planeshiftinteractive.com/press/

THESE ARE THE 7 NEW CLASSES!

You have asked!


After the release of Yaengard, we had 3 major requests from you guys!

  1. Melee Zone-of-Control
  2. Physical Ranged Weapons
  3. Character Creation!


We had discussed engagement and zone-of-control internally, considering it. So when you asked for it, we decided to act quickly! Melee Engagement was made a mechanic in Update 3 - so it's already out there!

We've chatted with those in the discord (join here!) and decided that crossbows and character creation are next up!



Hope you're as excited as we are for Update 4!
First out, we'll get crossbows!

Now, I have to go and continue building out the character creator!
Update 5 must be made after all!

Adventure onwards,
Will

Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/MS2Zst3XJP
Website (FAQ): https://planeshiftinteractive.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planeshifters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planeshifters
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYTCoBZ6lrpBUD3eE9gF2w
Presskit: https://planeshiftinteractive.com/press/

Update 3 Hotfixes 2
We are pushing out a patch to fix a lot of minor issues, as well as some quality-of-life!


  • Typos & Text fixes
  • Abilities that are behaving incorrectly
  • Cameras that are wonky
  • Ultrawide monitor support
  • Fixing some Ui behavior


Meanwhile, we're hard at work on Update 4 - a three-way split between new-player upgrades, seasoned player upgrades, and freaking cool stuff!

Do you have ideas or opinions on what we should be building?
We talk about it daily in the discord!
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