Greetings, Viceroys! As 2025 is slowly coming to an end, we’re taking this opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months of our work in the modest hope that you’ll consider nominating Against the Storm for the Labor of Love category during the ongoing Steam Awards. If you’re convinced already, go ahead and cast your vote! Otherwise, check out our short summary, in which every header is weirdly filled with numbers, that may or may not be pointing to Half‑Life 3’s release date*. *They don’t.
From 1.6 to 1.9
Since our last annual summary, we’ve released four major content updates, each followed by a couple of smaller patches and hotfixes:
With every update, we aim to inject a solid portion of improvements, balance changes, and fixes into the game, as well as some fresh new content to keep you entertained. We like to call it “indie as a service” in obvious reference to the GAAS model, but without all the FOMO and monetization shenanigans. Some of this year’s biggest additions to Against the Storm included:
3 new World Events: First Elder, Blight-Ridden Viceroy, Ghost Town
A Sharkcat!
2 new dangerous glade events: Lurker and Petrified Gargoyle
New forbidden glade event: Small Stormforge
3 new buildings for World Events: Flame Altar, Feast Hall, Field Engineering Station
New farm: Brineworks (grows Salt and Insects)
Commons - which lets villagers fulfill service needs at the Hearth
Town Statistics, Production Statistics, and Global Effects
3 new cornerstones and 2 new perks
9 new Stormforged versions of existing Cornersones
And many more
We always put a special emphasis on improvements you suggested on Steam, Discord, Reddit, via the in‑game reporter, and wherever else you reach out to us. Although we can’t incorporate every suggestion, we prioritise those that are widely supported and don’t deviate from the core of the game. Not everything is rosy, though. Here are some changes that, as we typed them into the changelogs, made us feel like the first human beings to put those words together:
Fixed a bug where a cloned Blood Flower could spawn on top of a Geyser Pump, destroy it, and get stuck inside the Geyser.
Fixed a rare bug where some dead villagers could be assigned to buildings.
Fixed a bug that caused an orange texture to grow uncontrollably when the game was paused during an explosion.
Of all the changes we introduced in those updates, 71% were inspired by your feedback. We’ve said this time and time again already, but it won’t stop us from thanking you once more for all your feedback, suggestions, and support. You're the best!
Two times a charm
This year, we also released the game’s second DLC -- Nightwatchers. Its main addition, Bats, first appeared in an early 2023 community vote, where we asked which new species you’d like us to add: Foxes, Frogs, or Bats. Even though they came third (perhaps that’s why they’re so harsh?), we couldn’t stop thinking they belonged in the game, and we wanted to do them justice. At every step of the Nightwatchers’ development, we kept your feedback from the previous DLC release in mind. Unlike Keepers of the Stone -- which originally launched with a playable species and a single biome -- Nightwatchers had to be bigger while costing the same. So, aside from playable Bats, we also packed it with two biomes, three new World Map Modifiers, three new World Events, three new legendary cornerstones, and more. We appreciate your honesty, and we’re forever grateful for you standing by us.
Six years condensed into 300 pages
Aside from developing the game itself, this year we finally decided to collect all the concept art from Against the Storm’s development into a 300+‑page artbook. From the very first sketches of kettle warriors and wok samurai intended for a Rainpunk RPG, to concept art of species that didn’t make it into the game, the artbook covers the entire history of Against the Storm. We teamed up with Krzysztof, the graphic designer behind Poland’s leading gaming magazine CD‑Action, to present Damian’s (our graphic designer’s) work at its best. As a thank‑you to our community, we’ve added the complete artbook to the Supporter Pack at no extra cost
2026 and beyond
Although, two years after the 1.0 release, development of Against the Storm may be nearing its end, we’re certainly not done with this universe. It’s hands-down the most fun and creative project of our careers, and we don’t want to ever part ways with it. As we excitedly sit down to review the new portion of your post‑Update 1.9 feedback, we can’t stop wondering and fantasizing about what the future may hold. And we sincerely hope you’ll be a part of that future as well. May the storm be gentle on you,
Łukasz, Aron, Michał, Natalia, Mikołaj, and Damian a.k.a. Eremite Games