Dverghold available as Early Access starting on July 29, 6pm CET
After long - and honestly, quite brutal - months of work, we're finally here. Dverghold Early Access goes live on Steam: a first-person grid-based dungeon crawler with tactical turn-based combat where positioning counts, base upgrading, roster management, and an original dungeon synth soundtrack.
To everyone who wishlisted, followed our development, played the demo, or spread the word: thank you. Reaching this moment with over 19,000 wishlists is far beyond anything we dared hope for when we started. What's in Early Access at launch:
Act I: For the Throne and the Oath - 4 dungeon levels beyond the Inner Gate leading below Rekestt
Full combat and character progression systems
Base upgrading at your camp in Inner Gravhollow
Random skill generation and roster management - work with the recruits you have, not the ones you wish for
Multiple character classes with distinct abilities
Main quest and hub characters to talk to
Boss encounter to test what you've learned
Intricate worldbuilding that's there for those who are looking for it
Original dungeon synth soundtrack by Splendorius and Kurald Galain
Full Japanese localization
Where things still stand: This is Early Access, so don't expect the game to be entirely finished - it will have unfinished bits, it will lack polish here and there and there will be some bugs (however we tested thoroughly to get rid of anything gamebreaking at this point).
Saving works around dungeon runs, not inside them. The game saves when you enter a dungeon and when you return to the hub. There is currently no mid-dungeon saving. If you leave a run before returning to the hub, that run's progress is lost. Save-and-quit within dungeons is planned for a later update.
Dungeon levels and main quest is implented to about 40% at this point.
Some camp elements like the priest's Blessings & Covenants aren't implemented yet. The shrine is in the game, but its systems come in a future update.
The UI is functional and has some degree of polish but still a bit rough in some places, and will get a dedicated usability pass during Early Access.
Some sound effects are still missing (mostly UI feedback and minor dungeon sounds); a full audio pass is coming.
Balance is still being tuned, and some skills or encounters may have rough edges as more people play.
Most likely smaller bugs that we have not been able to catch during internal testing will pop up. We are glad about your feedback and will work to patch everything that comes up as fast as possible.
None of this will stop you from playing. The core game is there and - if our testers are anything to go by - it works well. We're a tiny team, we'll patch quickly and often, and we read everything. Bring what you find to our Discord, you can help us determine where Dverghold goes from here. A word about the soundtrack:
The music you'll hear as you descend into Rekestt, is something enormously special to us. Splendorius, one of the two artists behind the soundtrack, shared this with us recently:
"Working on this project came during one of the most difficult periods of my life. I was experiencing profound transformations and grief right through the creative process. I was able to translate those experiences into music, which allowed me to capture a wonderfully dramatic atmosphere. This is one of the best albums in the history of the genre, without a doubt."
We're very honored that Dverghold became the reason for this work and that it inspired him to make music again. Whether you're here for the dungeon crawling or the atmosphere, we hope the soundtrack lands the way it deserves to.
The road ahead:
Dverghold is planned to unfold across about 12 months of Early Access. Act II (What Lies Beneath) is next, taking us into the flooded caverns beneath the Living Quarters. Act III (The Twisted Realm) reveals what stirs at the heart of Rekestt's corruption. Larger updates are set toi land roughly every 6 weeks, smaller patches will be delivered constantly. Looking forward to seeing you in Rekestt
- the Kvltgames team