Hello everyone,
With spring well upon us, we’ve prepared a week-long 33% discount and a detailed development update.
First things first: for those asking if the 1.0 release will happen this year we can say the progress we made now should make that possible. We'll share a more precise date once Act 3 testing is complete.
The following text contains minor spoilers.
Now, today's update to the testing build is quite substantial and includes:
Two unique aftermath scenes for the missing children rescue mission:
- A scene where you talk to a stranger and prepare peace negotiations
- An event where you handle the garrison's outrage upon the arrival of the Romans
Companion siege preparation talks, including:
- Tactical choices on how to improve the fort’s defenses
- Requests from various characters to prioritize their private goals during the siege
Night raid scenes, featuring:
- A Roman camp infiltration
- An attack on the Roman siege machine
Reworked and rebalanced title assassination scenes, and many smaller bug fixes and improvements.
This means all the different starting points, based on what your character wants to achieve during the siege, are now in place. The next update to the testing build will bring the story to completion!
True to the spirit of role-playing games, there are many hidden and unexpected ways to improve your odds before the siege.
And in true Sacred Fire fashion, the war options are deeply interwoven with companion relationship arcs - developed long before the siege - allowing players to transform their companions, one small gesture at a time or, on the contrary, leave them to their fate.
Being alone outside the fort at night creates powerful moments to express your protagonist’s motivations, whether noble, rage-fueled, or purely opportunistic.
The camp infiltration is masked by an open assault led by the garrison to destroy Roman siege machines. As in all battles in Sacred Fire, you can choose a less risky path: staying on the ramparts to provide cover fire.
However, if you dare to venture beyond the safety of the fort’s walls, you’ll experience some of our favorite companion moments emerging from the surrounding danger.
Additional Updates
As mentioned above, in addition to the new major events, the testing build has been expanded with:
Scenes that resolve the rescue mission and prepare the grounds for peace negotiations:
A very dangerous situation from the very first moments the Romans arrive at the fort:
An alternative tactic to waiting behind fort walls for the Romans to besiege, a true war leader’s approach focused on decimating the enemy at any cost:
Mechanics & UI Improvements
Reworked title assassination mechanics:
- Added influence checks to determine success
- Gave the player agency in reacting to the outcome
- Changed the outcome effect to a renown penalty
- Rebalanced Renown and Idea point rewards for boosting/debuffing insights (progressive: 5–25 per level)
- Refactored the chapter progress modal to correctly show and count negative influence values
- Fixed issues with Continue Percentage boosts and emotion reset on control button press
User feedback improvements:
- All branching points and NPC deaths are now marked
- Fixed “2 in a row” fade-out visual glitch
- Improved async loading and checkpoint screenshot generation for smoother gameplay
What’s Next
The final Act 3 update, featuring the siege, all endings, and epilogues, is coming soon.
Once Act 3 testing is complete, the final steps before the 1.0 release include:
- Localization support
- Voice acting
- Character art variety
- Community features like achievements
Feedback Welcome
You can help shape this final phase by joining the Act 3 testing build via our Discord. Your feedback will help us polish and fine-tune these changes before public release.
Thank you for your support and patience.
Sacred Fire
Iceberg Interactive