So it's been a while, far too long even, but now I'm finally rea..
**out of nowhere, a wild minion appears and grabs DarkGod, shouting, "WHERE IS LOST LAND? GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!"**
Ok ok my wild minion, just let me finish!
As I was saying, I'm finally ready to speak more about Lost Land. It's now in a rather usable state but it is a very big thing and as such, I've decided that I'd do an open beta / early access for it for once!
The current plan is that such a beta would come soon and be available on te4.org (worry not steam and gog people, you can use stuff from te4.org directly too). Now, what is soon? I'm not sure, but I can tell you a bit about what will be inside!
- 6 new races, two of which have further minor variants:
- Risen (Human / Halfling), a form of perfect undeath, unique to the Empire
- Vampire, need I say more?
- Atroren, elven undeads with .. peculiarities
- Reptilian Saupur, lizard-like humanoids
- Draconic Saurpur, lizard-dragon-like humanoids
- Vessel (Gold / Bone / Steel / Crystal,) a kind of undead construct to house the soul of those whose bodies are beyond repair
- Risen (Human / Halfling), a form of perfect undeath, unique to the Empire
- 3 new evolutions:
- Exarch, a powerful undead servant of the Empire, on the same power-level lore-wise as a Lich
- Ancestral Host, a Saurpur that merged with a core-seed to become treant-like and protect the Imperium
- Psi-ghosts, Solipsists that fully shed their physical bodies, solely existing as beings of pure psionic power
- Exarch, a powerful undead servant of the Empire, on the same power-level lore-wise as a Lich
- 3 new classes:
- Dust-mage, a kind of mage specialized in using sand and stone
- Graverobber, a rogue that learns some necromancy and ice magic to facilitate their .. activities
- Praetor, an elite soldier of the Empire, with command over the imperial legions
- Dust-mage, a kind of mage specialized in using sand and stone
- 22 new zones, and the overworld map of Tar'Eyal itself, to explore and, most likely, die in! Some with rather unique gameplay or setting... Did you know you wanted a zone where you ride a giant dragonfly in its mad flight over the continent to tame it? Now you do!
- A new campaign that replaces all the first half of the base game campaign and ties into the second half.
- A way to become permanently mind controlled by a sentient fungus!
- Many new creatures: ghosts, scorpions, antlions, some demons and many more and obviously for a game called Lost Land:
- *DINOSAURS*
- The usual new artifacts, lore, music and so on. But also new visuals for many existing items! An iron sword is an iron sword, but it will look different!
Now being a beta, it is not complete. Some unlocks will be missing; many texts will be too. Some/lots of placeholder gfx will exist; if you are lucky, you may even have a glimpse at my fantastic hand-drawn art (yes, you can start being very afraid now)! And obviously, balance will be atrocious, and the whole thing will be riddled with bugs (and I'm not talking about ritches here!).
Stay tuned for another post announcing the actual opening of the beta!
Now Lost Land is all well and dandy, but I do know I took far too long to make it; sure the world was hit some covid and all, but still I recognize my shortcomings, and it could and should have come sooner. Now, to avoid making the same mistake twice, I contacted the good Recaiden, a well-known and respected ToME modder, and asked to partner with him to start building the next expansion already! And he agreed! This way, the next expansion will already be well underway when LL is fully out, and since I'm not the only one on the project, on the coding side, I won't be able to slack off as much! :)
So it's with great pleasure that I announce that development has started on Beneath the Tides (title may or may not change), an expansion that will bring you over and under the vast oceans of Eyal and ... beyond!
Without spoiling too much, I can tell that you'll be able to play either nagas (of the Vargh Republic) or trolls (of the Kar'Haïb Dominion) and pirate your way to treasures and glory! Well, at least until some unexpected event propels you into an epic adventure! Prepare to encounter weird new threats but also some that ring closer to home...
Ok ok minions, do not panic. This is not another expansion announcement! The SoE is something else entirely, it is a lorebook that the great Liberty is currently working on, the person you have to thank for the amazing and disturbing lore of cults :)
It will take the form of an in-universe book, written by somebody that most players already know (but I can't reveal who they are, it'd be a big spoiler, sorry!). It will discuss various aspects of the world of Eyal, its history, its inhabitants, the way the universe works, the nature of magic, souls, Nature, ... And lots of stuff from outside of Eyal too, from the local star system to things much further away...
Here is a little quote from it, where the writer discusses horrors:
When designing the Sher’Tul, Amakthel had numerous failed experiments. Rather than dispose of his misshapen creations, he ignored them and left them to their own devices. They multiplied and spread through Eyal’s underground. However, Amakthel wasn’t wholly responsible for this plague. The Sher’Tul also created many bio-weapons during their civil war. They engaged in the same sin as their father and reshaped life for their own ends. They degenerated their own brethren, mutating them beyond recognition. To their credit, they tried to clean up the remnants of their war, but some horrors escaped their notice. There are also horrors which came to Eyal from space. All three of these groups are collectively referred to as eldritch horrors. I have catalogued various types of eldritch horrors below.
Obviously, I will not give any release date for that one, but I'm sure lots of you will be eager for it! I'm not yet sure the format of it either; probably some kind of ebook maybe also distributed on external ebook platforms, or who knows if there is demand, maybe as a physical book too. Please give us your opinions on that!
