Early Access Update - "Masters of the Arena" now live!

Ave Patronus,

Today, we proudly present you our first major early access update “Masters of the Arena”.

Aside from tons of fixes, small adjustments and balancing changes, this update consists of three main features:

1. Difficulty Modes

Since the early access launch, we received a lot of feedback regarding the game’s difficulty.

Players did especially not enjoy what felt like arbitrary punishment.The biggest offenders in that regard were addressed by tuning down the City Events and Trauma Systems in our early updates.

Since then, the feedback varies widely - from players that feel overwhelmed to those that are all but bored. To provide players a closer match of the challenge they are looking for, we implemented three difficulty modes: Initiate, Warrior and Champion.

When deciding on the factors and variations for each mode, we closely examined the systems that seem to be a point of contention with most players. Aiming to preserve the impact of individual decisions and rewarding well considered strategies.

Warrior players will face the challenge the game was designed around: Balanced, but with the occasional spoke put in their wheel and some creative problem-solving required.

Novice players will have significantly less moments of frustration to deal with and an easier time to recover from setbacks.

Champions must prove their prowess in every regard. Every choice matters, every mistake is punished - but the gratification will be glorious.

Like many elements of our game, these modes especially will be constantly (re)balanced and adjusted throughout our early access period. So please, give us feedback and let us know if you feel appropriately challenged. 2) Arena Variation

We got a lot of feedback that despite their unique enemies and traps, fights feel fairly similar across the game. We heard you and came up with a couple of twists to spice up our proving grounds. Arena size will now scale with the size of the team selected for a challenge. Growing from the well-known 8 x 8 tiles to 10 x 10 and even 12 x 12. This demands some tactical reconsiderations and offers ample space for new strategic maneuvers from the mid game onward.

Additionally, we set the Colosseum's arena to always be 10 x 10, making it feel more distinct for the most part of the game.

But size alone is not what makes an arena interesting - it’s the dangers that lurk within it.

That’s why we added a total of 14 unique arena obstacles across the ages that will hurt - and sometimes heal - your Gladiators in new and interesting ways.

1. 3D Camera

To experience the full glory of our valorized arenas, we also gave our camera system an overhaul.

You can now rotate the camera in 90-degree steps to enjoy the full 360 degrees of the battlegrounds and make sure that nothing escapes your eager eyes.

We also gave the camera an auto focus that will pan it to wherever the action is. You can adjust this feature including the camera’s move speed in the gameplay settings.

Vale, Patronus!

Daedalic Entertainment & Exordium Games

Detailed Change Log

Features

Updated Camera System

The Camera can now be rotated around the Arena.

We adjusted the gamepad controls and added hotkeys to the keyboard layout.

Camera

The Camera will now follow the action (i.e. movement and abilities).

This behaviour can be turned off in the game settings. Expanded Arena System

Arena Sizes

Arena sizes now vary, based on the number of Gladiators chosen for a Challenge.

1, 2 and 3 Gladiators: 8 x 8