Hi everyone! ːTalProToadː ːBlueTalismanː
With the release of Alliances: Fate Beckons for Talisman: Digital 5th Edition, we’ve hit a pivotal point for the game - so we wanted to fill you in on where we’re currently at, what our plans are for the immediate and longer-term future and more.
You can watch Tom talk through the full update in the video below:
Want more information about the State of the Game update than what Tom talked though? You can read all about it in full below!
Current State of the Game
First up, we want to talk about where the game is currently at, where we still want to improve and what we’re happy with.
As we already mentioned, on July 10th we launched Alliances: Fate Beckons, the first 5th Edition exclusive expansion to come to Talisman: Digital 5th Edition. Adding an all-new cooperative game mode to Talisman for the first time, new mechanics, unique challenges and exciting features like the shared fate pool, was a massive undertaking for our team here at Nomad Games.
Now that the expansion is out, we’re pleased to report that we’re quite happy with the reception it had! Particular praise was given to the tutorials, and the extensive beta testing period we took the expansion through clearly paid off, with very few technical issues/bugs being reported at launch. In fact, compared to the original launch of Talisman: Digital Classic Edition especially, the number of bugs and issues that players have reported in the first year of Talisman: Digital 5th Edition being available has been massively reduced.
Before and after the launch of this expansion, we’ve been keeping a close eye on community feedback to get a gauge of what you all think of the base game too. With our Steam reviews dropping from ‘Mostly Positive’ to ‘Mixed’ when Alliances: Fate Beckons launched, it’s clear to us that there are still areas for improvement in the base game.
With 2 remastered expansions and our first batch of remastered Classic characters released, we’ve also learned a lot from the porting process. First of all, we’ve learned how much the artwork being updated for each expansion takes up resources, time and slows down the development process - as much as 40% of the time and development spending for The Frostmarch Classic and The Reaper Classic was spent on artwork alone! With us being such a small studio too, we’ve only got so many hours our art team can possibly put into projects, so we’re taking them away from other work by having so much of their time taken by these Classic expansions, which isn’t ideal.
With more remastered Classic expansions on the horizon (check out our Future Plans for the Game below if you want to know what’s coming next!), we’re therefore going to be taking a slightly different approach with remastered expansions going forward, with us porting over the 4th Edition expansions with the artwork closer matching the original 4th Edition style.
We’ve got two main reasons for deciding to do this, the first being that it means we can bring you remastered 4th Edition expansions at a much quicker rate, and the second being that as we progress through the different Classic expansions as they were released, the artwork actually more closely matches the 5th Edition style we’re trying to emulate with our remastered artwork already.
So overall, while we’re still keen to make improvements to Talisman: Digital 5th Edition to expand upon the core experience, we’re happy with how stable the game is overall, and the lessons we’ve learned over the past year of development since launch!
Future Plans for the Game
Now this is the bit we know you’re all excited for, and we’ll go into further detail if you keep reading, but to summarise our current plans for those of you who just want the headlines, check out the list below!
We’re currently working on bringing Talisman: Digital 5th Edition to consoles.
We’re releasing follow-up patches to Alliances: Fate Beckons soon.
We’re finalising the most recent language updates.
The next remastered Classic expansion is going to be The City Expansion.
We’re also planning for The Dungeon Classic to be another one of the remastered expansions we bring across next.
We’ve got another batch of 4th Edition characters we’ll be bringing over to Digital 5th Edition after those two expansions.
We’re rethinking and simplifying how you access Talisman: Digital Classic Edition.
That’s a whole heap of exciting news, so read on to find out more!
Talisman: Digital 5th Edition Console Ports
First of all, the news that many of you have been keenly waiting for - we are actively working on console versions of Talisman: Digital 5th Edition. We’re aiming to launch these ports in November of this year, and here’s what we can say as of right now:
We’ve already ported over a basic version of the game to Nintendo Switch and we’re working on getting the game running on Xbox and PlayStation next.
We’ve started the processes needed to get the game certified on each platform.
So far, we’re pleased with how the game is performing on console -
We’re still a while off being able to give a definitive release date, but we’re hoping to share details soon for all three platforms.
We know you’re eager to get your hands on Talisman: Digital 5th Edition on console, because we’ve heard you ask for it - so thanks for your patience!
Alliances Launch and Upcoming Patches
On July 10th, we launched Alliances: Fate Beckons, and the player feedback on the first 5th Edition exclusive expansion has been greatly appreciated so far!
Following on from that feedback, we’re already working on some quality of life improvements for the expansion that’ll improve the experience even more for players.
We’re also working on a patch that will add a range of accessibility shortcuts - this is something the community have requested, and we’re going to be keeping a close eye on feedback on what other features players would like to see to improve accessibility in the future.
So keep an eye out for these updates coming soon!
More Languages for Talisman: Digital 5th Edition
As part of the update for Alliances: Fate Beckons, we added two new languages to the game in beta, those being Russian and Simplified Chinese.
We added support for these two languages as a beta, as we’re trying a new method of implementing translations that we’ve never used on any of our titles before - so before we marked them as ‘officially’ supported, we wanted feedback from native speakers on these translations.
So far we’ve had great feedback from players, with a few issues arising that our team are looking at fixing - we’re hoping that this new method of adding translations to Talisman will mean that we can go on to support even more languages in the near future.
More Remastered Classic Expansions
After we’ve finished developing and launching the console versions of Talisman: Digital 5th Edition, our plan is to return to remastering 4th Edition content - starting with The City Expansion.
The corner expansions are some of the most commonly requested for us to bring into 5th Edition, so we hope you’re all excited to bring The City into the new edition of Talisman.
After we release The City Classic, our plan is to release The Dungeon Classic, another much-requested corner expansion that adds a wide range of cards and another area to the base Talisman experience. One of the most commonly enabled expansions in Talisman: Digital Classic Edition, we’re confident that The Dungeon Classic will add even more to your next adventure.
More Remastered Characters
Earlier this year, we released our first batch of remastered 4th Edition characters into Talisman: Digital 5th Edition. We’re planning on bringing more of your favourite Classic characters across to 5th Edition next year, with another character pack planned.
We’re not quite ready to share who we’re bringing over next, but they’re some of the most played characters in Digital Classic Edition, so we hope you’re excited!
Talisman: Digital Classic Edition - Simplified
Back when we originally announced Talisman: Digital 5th Edition, we talked about how we’re working towards a future where there won’t be a need for Talisman: Digital Classic Edition anymore, where Talisman: Digital 5th Edition is the definitive digital Talisman experience for all players.
Not only does this make sense from a player perspective (with one definitive version of Talisman to support on an easier-to-develop-for engine, we can ensure everyone has a great time playing Talisman), it also helps us maintain and grow the game in a sustainable way, allowing our small team to focus all our energy on making Talisman: Digital 5th Edition the best it can be, instead of splitting our efforts across two very different platforms. With an updated engine and unified codebase, we can develop features faster, fix issues more reliably, and deliver the kind of ongoing support and updates that players expect from a game in 2025 and beyond.
We recently released the Talisman: Digital Classic Complete Collection here on Steam – a full bundle of the original 4th Edition digital game plus all DLC (49 items including base game, expansions and character packs). This means that we can still offer Talisman: Digital Classic Edition to new players who want the full 4th Edition experience as a complete package, without confusing the storefront or fragmenting the audience. By presenting it as a legacy bundle, we’re making it clear that Classic Edition is part of Talisman’s history—not its future. For players who grew up with the 4th Edition ruleset, or just want to explore how the game has evolved over time, the Complete Collection is a convenient, respectful way to preserve that chapter of Talisman.
We intend to keep Classic Edition available on platforms like Steam and GOG as a legacy title, even as our focus shifts to Digital 5th Edition. This means die-hard fans can still play the old version, but all future development (new mechanics and expansions, remastered content and innovations) will live in Digital 5th Edition.
That’s it for our Talisman: Digital 5th Edition - State of the Game Update! We hope you’re looking forward to all the exciting Talisman goodness on the horizon, and if you want to keep up to date with all the big announcements as they happen, you can either sign up to our mailing list or follow us all our different social media channels!