Ave, Legionaries!
Gamescom is almost here, and things have been pretty busy at Tarock.
Before we get into that, though, we recently crossed a pretty incredible milestone: 100,000 wishlists on Steam! 🎉
That's a huge number for us, and we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who's wishlisted the game, followed our development, joined our community, shared our posts, or simply told a friend about Lost Legions. It genuinely means a lot to our small team.
And now, on to Gamescom!
This year, Lost Legions will have a booth at Gamescom, and if you're heading to Cologne, you'll be able to stop by, meet some of us, and, most importantly, play Lost Legions for yourself. ⚔️
We've been hard at work preparing the Gamescom demo, alongside a brand-new trailer that shows off some of what we've been working on lately.
And there's quite a bit to talk about.
A Camp Worth Defending
One of the things we've been thinking about a lot is what it actually means to build a base in Lost Legions.
With our previous building system, we kept running into the same problem: players would either build very little, or eventually end up with something resembling the familiar log cabin you see in many survival games. There's nothing wrong with a good log cabin. But you're a Roman legionary. Roman legionaries weren't exactly famous for wandering into Germania and building themselves cozy little houses. They built military camps.
So we went back to the drawing board.
Your base in Lost Legions is now becoming a proper Roman marching camp, inspired by the standardized layouts Roman armies used throughout the Empire.
Instead of our previous modular approach, we're moving to a slot-based building system. Your camp provides designated spaces that you can develop with crafting tents, quarters, workstations, and other structures needed by the legionaries under your command.
The result is something that looks and feels much more distinctly Roman, and much closer to the experience we've always wanted Lost Legions to deliver.
More Than Just a Base
The bigger change isn't really about how you place buildings.
It's about what the camp means.
Your Roman camp is becoming the central hub of Lost Legions: your foothold in hostile territory, the place you return to after exploring the wilderness, and a place that grows increasingly important as you progress.
It's where you'll meet characters, manage your legionaries, assign work, and experience important parts of the story and progression. We've also been putting a lot of work into making the camp actually feel alive.
As you walk through it, you'll see legionaries going about their routines, working, talking to one another, and carrying out their duties. Some can be assigned new tasks or brought with you when you venture beyond the camp, while other characters have their own responsibilities and routines within it.
We want walking through the camp to give you a very particular feeling:
I'm a Roman legionary. This is my camp.
And Germania Isn't Going to Leave It Alone
Of course, establishing a Roman foothold in Germania tends to attract some unwanted attention.
Your camp will remain a target for Germanic raids, and the new building system gives us much more control over making those attacks interesting.
With fully modular construction, enemies potentially have to deal with almost limitless combinations of walls, buildings, and layouts. Making enemies navigate those possibilities, choose sensible targets, and avoid getting stuck can quickly become a huge technical challenge.
For some survival games, finding clever ways to outsmart enemy pathfinding through your building layout is part of the fun. That's not really what Lost Legions is about.
The new system gives camps a clear structure and defensive perimeter. That means enemies can navigate and choose targets more sensibly, while your legionaries can fight alongside you in battles that are easier to read and much more deliberately designed.
Instead of asking "How can I exploit the building layout?", we'd rather have you asking:
"How are we going to defend this camp?"
Progressing Through the Ranks
The camp isn't the only system that's been getting attention.
We're currently approaching completion on several of the core systems that will shape your progression through Lost Legions.
Our new building system is almost finished, and we're also working on a rank and progression system that will see you climb through the ranks of the Roman military.
Remember: you don't begin this story as some great Imperator commanding an army.
You're a legionary.
How your role changes from there, and what greater responsibility brings with it, is becoming an important part of the game's progression.
After Gamescom, we'll be reaching an important internal milestone where we'll put these core systems through their paces before moving further into the systems that support them.
Among those are our Soldier System, which will expand how legionaries work and defend the camp, as well as bringing our raid system in line with the new approach to building.
At the same time, work continues on the main story and characters, particularly the opening stages of the game.
There's a lot coming together.
One More Thank You
Gamescom also marks the end of our current internship program.
Over the past months, our interns have been working with us across QA & Engineering, Prop Art, UI/UX, and Level Design, and we're incredibly happy with what they've accomplished.
Some of their work will already be visible in the Gamescom demo, with even more finding its way into future versions and playtests.
So, a big thank you from all of us. ❤️
For now, our attention is firmly on Cologne.
We'll have the new trailer, a playable Lost Legions demo, and our very own booth at Gamescom.
So if you're attending this year, come find us and play the game! We'd love to meet you, hear what you think, and finally put Lost Legions into the hands of more of you.
Can't make it to Gamescom? You might still get a chance to play. We'll also be inviting members of our community to a limited playtest during Gamescom. Make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter , and keep an eye on our Discord for more information and your chance to join.
And if you want to support us along the way, wishlist Lost Legions on Steam and tell your friends about the game. Every wishlist, share, and recommendation helps us enormously.
Oh, and one last thing...
We have a pretty big announcement coming next week. 👀
That's all we're saying for now.
See You at Gamescom!
Vale!
Bat El and the Tarock Interactive Team
