Shifting Sands Announcement

Noble Kings!

Summer draws near, and with it, the next grand update from our Royal Roadmap!

Throughout the coming week, your loyal minstrels will tell you about everything arriving in the update, following this schedule:

• Shifting Sands Map and King Cosmetics

• New Map’s Bosses, Enemies, and Events

• New Units, Artifacts, Spells, Advisor

• Onboarding Improvements

• Free Reign Mode Introduction and Endless Mode Improvements

So, let us begin!

Shifting Sands

The Shifting Sands are not just another desert. Here, reality is bent to the will of the magic that inhabits this land, warping space and time as rifts tear open across the shifting sands, sucking enemies and allies from every corner of the world and beyond. The past, the present, and the future coexist in these cursed lands under an eternal and unforgiving sun.

To put it briefly, Your Highness, this is the perfect land for honing your royal skills.

Some of you have requested the implementation of a random mode, complete with random map, king, and modifiers. We proposed your idea to the royal council, but decided to implement it into our game on our own terms - through a new map featuring enemies, bosses, and events chosen from all of the lands you have already conquered.

In Shifting Sands, you may encounter enemies and events from every other map available in the game. As always, at the start of the run you will receive a prophecy revealing which boss awaits you. It may be any boss from the lands you have already discovered, or one of four new bosses created specifically for Shifting Sands. Only the Kraken is simply too heavy to be dragged from the Dark Realm into these lands, so he remains where it is. Even magic has its limits.

You will also encounter a new enemy race: the Fennecs. They have adapted to harsh conditions of the desert – extreme temperatures and lack of water have taught them how to survive. They are specifically dangerous, when accompanied by your foes from other maps.

We will reveal more about the new bosses and the Fennecs in the next Royal Decrees. For now, let us speak of what makes this map truly unique.

Danger Modifiers

Shifting Sands will not use the usual Threat Levels found on other maps. Instead, it will feature a new system: Danger Modifiers. Most of the modifiers will be malevolent, but some may actually benefit your reign.

There will be 40 of them in total. Enabling them will increase or decrease the map’s Danger Level. By conquering Shifting Sands above certain Danger Level thresholds, you will unlock new content, including King skins, spells, advisors, and units.

List of Modifiers

• Unit damage reduced by 25%

• Unit health reduced by 25%

• Add one Gold Seal to the castle

• Receive 1 gold for each enemy killed

• Get free non-legendary spells in each spell slot

• +10 to unit limit

• Start with Basic Construction

• At the start of the run, choose one: 40 meat / 40 oil / 40 metal

• Wine is consumed 50% slower

• After defeating the first boss, receive an extra legendary artifact

• Start the run with a temporary Patricius

• Spell damage increased by 100%

• Araknor’s brother provides you with resources before the boss fight

• Wine provides 50% less morale

• Start in debt: -20 to all resources

• One fewer Well blueprint at the beginning

• You no longer receive denarii from selling blueprints

• New units spawn with 30 seconds of Weakness. The same applies to units leaving the Barracks

• Marketplace works 50% slower

• Using the King’s ability temporarily slows down a random building

• Your people are unhappy: start with -20 morale

• Unit cap upgrades provide smaller increases

• If the player has more than 400 wheat, ravens will surround the castle and eat the excess

• The 9 central tiles of the castle are blocked by a lake

• Allied units are on fire and lose 1% HP per second

• The castle has only 1 HP, but you start with a Brick Factory blueprint

• All buildings are 25% more expensive

• You cannot send troops to the Barracks

• All enemy units resurrect once after death

• Units are produced 50% slower

• At the start of each wave, two lightning strikes hit your troops

• Your units explode after death

• The castle loses 1 HP each time you build something

• All corpses on the level turn into zombies at the start of each wave

• Fewer spell slots

• If you have wine, all units have a 20% chance to miss

King Cosmetic Skins

This is something many of you have requested and we finally got time to satisfy your royal vanity.

By overcoming the challenges of Shifting Sands, you will unlock not only new spells, artifacts, advisors, and units, but also cosmetic skins for your Kings.

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New King Skins

• King Baldwin → King Baldwin

• King Leonid → Spartan King

• King Leo the Wise → Leonardo da Vinci

• King Spellus → White Archmage

• King Brezhnius → Ivan the Terrible

• King Saladin → Sultan Saladin

• King Alucard → Vampire Noble

• Queen Cleopatra → Sarcophagus Cleo

• King Xerxes → Historical Xerxes

• King Taizong → Dragon Emperor Taizong

These skins are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay in any way. No hidden buffs, no secret royal taxes, no suspicious +500% damage modifiers. Just a little extra fun for those who wish to rule in style.

We plan to expand customization further in the future.

Let your rule be sharp, Noble Kings - and may your gaze never blink.

With warm respect to you all ~ Hypnohead team