Greetings, Survivors!
We're past the halfway point on our journey to the game’s full release, and we wanted to take a moment to look back at everything we've implemented, share where we are right now, and give you a proper look at the road ahead.
Pop a squat by the fire — there's a lot to cover.
Your village grew. Literally. You can now unlock a new village area tied to village level progression. We also raised the villager cap from 15 to 20 and introduced stone ruins to mark the edges of your growing settlement.
Aside from that, we also launched harvest camps — neutral campsites scattered across the islands where you can hire workers to collect resources for you. Pair them with the new collection platform building, and you've got a whole supply chain running while you explore.
Chickens, pigs, and the occasional golden egg. The animal husbandry update added two new buildings — the chicken coop and the pigpen — in which domesticated animals generate resources so long as they're fed. We also added some new villager quests, the exploration notes system (all discovered lore notes are now in a special tab), and our favorite feature: fast travel on a pig, complete with suitable sound effects.
We're updating the feel of the combat system based on your feedback. We’re adding an input buffer so attacks feel smoother and register properly, plus a new parry system, posture damage, better shield blocking, and camera zoom while aiming or blocking.
Enemy AI will also be smarter: different weapons, shields, new attack behaviors, and even a mercy mechanic where enemies will beg for their lives.
Raids will be getting more tactical too, with improved tower defense mechanics.
North Plains and Silent Forest are both getting expanded and reworked — better POIs, better loot distribution, and more reasons to check them out over and over.
And finally, the long overdue player skills system is coming, a feature many of you have asked for. There will be 9 skills with 10 levels each, plus special perks.
The Plague is getting a full redesign. There'll be new areas called Plague Nexus, controlled by stronger versions of Plague Sites, with new enemies and environmental hazards.
You’ll need resistance potions or a plague mask just to survive there, and you’ll have to break the nexus shell before you can burn it. We’re also adding NPC Hamlets — after you clear a Plague Nexus, NPCs return to form a Hamlet. They’ll occasionally send supplies to your village and unlock new trade routes.
We’re also adding proper tutorials, so new and old features won't feel confusing anymore.
Your village will now be able to catch fire. Enemies might throw torches during raids, and you and your villagers will have to fight back the inferno with buckets of water. Damaged buildings will require repairs. This means that the impact of raids will feel a lot more drastic.
We’re also adding a compass with quest markers, as many of you have requested, plus village titles that change as your settlement grows, granting happiness bonuses.
The Museum will let you collect relics and piece together the lore of Nested Lands. Alongside this feature, we’re introducing narrative side quests with more curious stories and unique rewards.
This will be the final big update before full release. It will add a completely new region with unique enemies, quests, items, and secrets. This will be where the final story arc concludes. After the ending, the game will continue in an endless tower-defense style mode where you protect everything you’ve built for as long as possible.
We’ll be testing every update before release, and bug fixing is going to stay a priority throughout the whole process.
Thanks for sticking with us, sending feedback, and being patient while we keep building the game we always imagined.
— The Nested Lands Team