In the leadup to the release of At the Heart of Ruin on the 22nd of October (accompanied by the Ruinous Supporter Pack), we’ve already talked about new mechanics and features, like the updated throw-out or Exploration Encounters, but we thought it’s also time to touch upon the narrative and graphic art side of things.

As for the narrative, working on it was very exciting, because it returns to the first area we realized in a video game format – Scrapheap and its surroundings. In that way, it was a return to where we began as a studio and as writers for Vagrus, but we also went into a direction that involved a lot of new ground to cover. We really wanted to create a branching narrative structure this time where player choice is emphasized and followed through with the many branching, intertwining storylines. We believe that this approach not only aids immersion, but also adds a lot of replayability to those who want to see everything or experiment with how their choices are reflected in the region.

On the graphical art front, we also raised the bar by creating more location and combat backgrounds than ever before, which helps convey the diversity within the volcanic biomes, and also aids the narrative significantly. We were also able to realize more enemy and allied characters than in previous DLCs, and we had a lot of fun coming up with powerful skills for them that will certainly make things difficult for intrepid vagri.

As a matter of fact, we’ve had so much fun creating At the Heart of Ruin, that we decided to significantly expand one of the major questlines in the expansion. However, we did not and could not want to delay the release any further, so we decided to go about it via free episodic updates. We really believe in this additional content, as it’s not “just” Events, but also completely new enemies, locations, map segments, character development, as well as twists and turns that will eventually lead to an epic finale. 

We’ll be working on these content updates parallel to our usual fixes and tweaks, and we don’t quite know how many of them will be added or when – mostly because squashing bugs in already released material trumps other things. The intensive part of this fixing process usually takes a couple of weeks with each big release like this expansion, but we’ll continue to improve Vagrus and all its elements long after that, of course. In any case, we’ll return with a plan about the post-release content updates later.

We have also prepared an FAQ to provide useful information to those of you who would like to learn more or who are looking for information about a specific aspect of the expansion.

Q: In what part of the main campaign should I start At the Heart of Ruin? Is the expansion more geared toward a mid-game comitatus or do I have to finish most of the main game to be able to get the most out of it?

A: Similar to the previous expansion, the opportunity to unlock the expansion’s area can happen after acquiring a stable comitatus. That means 400 Bross, 3 Companions, and 3 Renown. However, going to the new areas when you just hit that mark, you will find that only several challenges there are doable with relative ease, and the farther you progress, the more tough it becomes. That is to say that specifically the mountaineering parts are not for fledgling comitati, and you are better off with a well-prepared group, powerful Companions, and sufficient resources.

Q: What part of the map will this expansion cover?

A: A fair bit of the Mountains of Fire in the west and the surroundings of Scrapheap. The former can only be traversed via mountaineering (without beasts and mounts, but with new ways to upgrade movement), while the latter works like a regular area.

Q: Will the path from Avernum to the Bronze Desert ever be open? I would still like to return to Scrapheap for metal as quick money in the late game.

A: You will find that if you are tenacious enough, certain paths will open up. Naturally, to access the Bronze Desert, you still have to own Sunfire and Moonshadow.

Q: Is the new expansion compatible with old save files?

A: Absolutely, as all of our DLCs and updates.

Q: Will there be a way for returning vagri to "jump start" a campaign?

A: Not as such, but you can use older savegames just fine, or – if you lost them, for instance – reaching the required 400 Bross, 3 Companions, and 3 Renown does not usually take long for experienced players. Note, however, that the latter parts of the DLC are meant to be a challenge even for veteran comitati.

Q: Will there be any new Companions added in the new expansion?

A: We are not planning to add more Companions to Vagrus, so the last two introduced in the Old Acquaintances DLC are the final two. However, in At the Heart of Ruin, players will frequently have a chance to deploy various NPCs from stories during long questlines, making them sort of semi-Companions. They even have their own loyalty system.

Q: Are the Exploration Encounters available in the base game as well as the expansion or are they exclusive to At the Heart of Ruin?

A: This iteration of Exploration Encounters was tailor-made to support the narrative and gameplay of the expansion, so for now, you will only see them there. And it might be the end of them, too, because although we’ve always wanted to add them more widely, it’s not yet clear to us how the community will feel about them. We think that there’s a lot of potential in them, but adding them in a meaningful way to the main campaign would also be a colossal development investment we’re not sure we can afford. If interest toward the expansion and the Ruinous Supporter Pack turns out to be sufficient as well as the playerbase embraces Exploration Encounters and resoundingly wants more, we’ll do our best to expand them and implement them more widely.

Q: What is the planned price for the expansion?

A: At the Heart of Ruin will be priced at $19.99, while the Ruinous Supporter Pack that releases at the same time will be priced at $9.99. Note that regional pricing might apply to these prices on certain platforms.

Q: Will the new expansion be released on all the platforms at the same time?

A: It will be released on the 22nd of October on all platforms except for Nintendo. Due to a more complex approval process there, we need more time for that particular release.

Q: Will there be localization upon release? 

A: In short, no, but machine translation will cover the expansion after a while, just like they do with the rest of the game. In more detail: Vagrus will never have official localization due to it not being financially viable, but we have put in a lot of effort to integrate machine-translations that can be switched on in the game. Please note that even though kind volunteers have been improving the machine-translated texts (especially the UI elements and some other areas), the general quality of these is nowhere near the original English version.

Q: What will the post-launch support be like? What's the development plan for after the DLC?

A: As usual for our releases, we will be fully supporting the expansion with fixes as required, but we will also be adding substantial extra content in the form of free updates. These will continue one of the major storylines in At the Heart of Ruin to bring it to an epic conclusion beyond what we’ve initially dreamed up for it. Exploration Encounters will also be expanded to diversify them further and build on the base feature (we have lots of ideas, but are also interested in what our players will suggest).

Q: What was your favourite part about creating this DLC?

A: The many amazing locations – especially their art, the stories that reveal more about this forgotten part of Xeryn than ever before, and Exploration Encounters, because they provide a new avenue of gameplay to diversify the things you spend time with in-game. We really hope that you will enjoy these, as well as the density of content and the previously unprecedented level of meaningful and branching choices.

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