We’re excited to finally reveal that At the Heart of Ruin will arrive on Nintendo Switch on December 22. It is the last platform to receive the expansion due to its longer approval process, but that extra time worked in everyone’s favor. Drawing on the wealth of feedback from players across all other platforms, we’ve been able to refine, tweak, and polish the experience even further.

The result: a smoother, more optimized, and more resilient version of the expansion, ready for Nintendo players to dive into the depths of Varnurud at its very best.

Alongside the expansion, our Ruinous Supporter Pack will also be up for grabs from the same day.

We have shared a lot about the expansion during the past year, but if you are new here, please see a recap below.

At its core, At the Heart of Ruin is a dark fantasy narrative adventure that focuses on a small but dense, multi-layered region where few dare to venture. It is set in the Mountains of Fire, where the crumbling remnants of the old Dwarven kingdom of a lost age endure, but it will take players to areas around that fiery realm, too. As we’ve recently discussed, while traversing most of these new territories, you’ll be working with a smaller party size, traversing rugged, mountainous terrain, and fighting some of the most fearsome enemies Vagrus has ever showcased. The expansion’s trailer also hints at these obstacles – and many more to discover or run afoul of:

The expansion has many facets and a lot to offer – stories, locations, and features we’ve lovingly crafted – so here are the most prominent elements to expect:

• A savage, imperiled new region free of Imperial dominance and brimming with danger
• A slew of new locations and enemies in the usual art style and quality of Vagrus – more than in any single DLC before
• A large cast of NPCs, most of them new, while others are recognizable faces from old stories
• Three scavenger factions that are nemeses of each other, with their own quests and rewards
• Unique quests available through committing to one of two new minor factions
• Our most ambitious narrative undertaking since the release of the base game, both in complexity and narrative impact
• Expansive, branching, dark adventures that build on the rich lore of the Riven Realms
• Replayability due to the sheer volume of divergent outcomes, stories, rewards, and opportunities
• Exploration Encounters, a brand new game feature that offers procedurally generated challenges, obstacles, and chances to get loot outside the narrative-heavy sections

Encompassing several long, branching stories that will alter aspects of the broader region, this expansion has been an ambitious undertaking for our team in more ways than one. The reasons for its long development are manifold – in order to achieve the complexity and narrative depth we set out to, the expansion grew to a size that rivals many contemporary full games. We should hasten to add that true to our form, we went a little overboard in this department.

The latter also means that we’ve expanded some of our earlier concepts to be meatier, more fleshed-out. In the case of a specific long storyline, we decided to go way beyond our initial plans. Because of this, we’ll be expanding that particular storyline for a while after release, using several free content drops to push it to its epic conclusion. A roadmap covering the specifics will follow along in due time.

As mentioned above, we’re also releasing the Ruinous Supporter Pack, which is mainly for those who wish to support Lost Pilgrims in our continued endeavor to expand the Riven Realms. As a way to express our gratitude, the pack contains new cosmetics (full outfits) for all of the Companions you’ve come to love (or despise; we don’t judge). These do not alter gameplay in any way, shape, or form, but are really cool alternatives for the sake of variety.

As their arrival draws closer, we’d like to wholeheartedly thank you all for your continued support! Both the expansion and the supporter pack will be available for purchase on their respective Nintendo stores after December 22. Share details about it far and wide if you want to help it reach more players, and of course, stay tuned for more updates!

Otherwise, stay vigilant, stay awesome, and conquer the wasteland!

– The Lost Pilgrims Team

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