Every once in a while in the debilitatingly hot locale that is Varnurud, the ground rumbles. Indeed, earthquakes are frequent to the point of becoming one of the most common sources of peril. But when the ground opens up, revealing an ancient Dwarven town, it’s really something special.

Gorge Town, the “creative” name the local scavengers have come to call it, represents one such special occasion, and today we’re eager to show it to you. It’s just one more place that you might find yourself delving into in our At the Heart of Ruin expansion via the new Exploration Encounters, and if you’re lucky, you can perhaps recover veritable treasures.

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.

After over a year of development, the time has finally come to reveal the release date of our most ambitious DLC as of yet: At the Heart of Ruin will arrive on the 22nd of October! Alongside the expansion, our Ruinous Supporter Pack will also be up for grabs from the same day.

We have a new expansion coming, and the day of its release is drawing closer and closer. It will bring a number of mechanical changes in the new regions, and we thought it was time to introduce some of these concepts. To support these systems, we’ll add new Equipment, and new Equipment slots for them to fit into.

In the long lead-up to the release of our At the Heart of Ruin expansion, we’ve spoken at length about Dvendar Tharr and the perils there – the horrifying creatures, the utterly inhospitable weather, and the countless other hazards that await the bold who venture there. Most denizens of the Riven Realms know the realm of Dvendarr Tharr to be largely uninhabitable.

This week, we’re revealing something that we hope you’ll never have to visit in game: the village the Cleansing Conflagration – the gang of pyromaniacal, murderous scavengers – call home. Though it may not look much, it is a place of terror, sacrifice, and depravity, where there are artifacts and effigies aplenty to remind you of what goes on here.

Today we have another teaser for you in the form of character art – an essential component of our upcoming At the Heart of Ruin expansion, where many new humanoids, beasts, creatures, and anomalies are set to be introduced. And yet, this one is hardly ostentatious; it does not aim to dazzle or inspire fear, but simply to show you one of the various factions of authority that exist in Scrapheap, the focal point of many coming adventures.

This week’s location showcase for our At the Heart of Ruin expansion reveals the Ember Mines, a highly contested site that once belonged to the Dwarves of Dvendar Tharr, but has recently become a den for the numerous scavenger gangs that plague Varnurud. Whether it's sacrificial burnings or the enjoyment of human flesh, these savages are hardly the kind you’d be happy to encounter in the Ember Mines’ depths. No wonder that few go near the site – to do so is to invite death – though the resources within are said to be plenty, and there is talk of far more down the shaft than mere scrap.

The theme and look of this week’s location reveal for our upcoming DLC, At the Heart of Ruin, is quite different from the previously teased ones, all fiery and desolate. It is true that vagri who brave the Mountains of Fire will mostly traverse a volcanic hellscape replete with peril of the scorching variety, but what lies beneath is also intriguing.

After revealing our trailer for ‘At the Heart of Ruin’, our second region DLC, we’re now ready to share a little more about the new realm you will be able to explore. The first area we’ll look at here is Varnurud, which is one of the traversable parts of the great Mountains of Fire. As harsh and unforgiving as it is, most vagri will spend a great deal of their time here, as they navigate searing magma flows and the seemingly endless hordes of madmen who run roughshod over it.