Songs of Conquest · published
As summer approaches with alarming speed, even here in our cold corner of the world, so does the release of Yulan, our upcoming Faction DLC. June 4th is getting very close, and that also means more devlogs.
Our playtesters are burning through the campaign maps, edits are being made thanks to their feedback, and internally we are still polishing effects, adding final animations, and making sure the faction is at least somewhat balanced before release. But this post is not really about progress. Or well, not in those vague terms at least. It’s about the campaign.
One of the main pieces of feedback after Vanir and Roots was that many of you wanted more connected story maps, and with Yulan we are delivering exactly that. Fine, our in-house bard will not perform a tavern song about your exploits this time, so technically we are not calling it a Song, but with three connected story maps we can absolutely call it a campaign. Doesn't that look just beautiful? And while text is all well and good, sometimes it’s easier to just show things properly. So we recorded roughly the first thirty minutes of the opening Yulan map. A slight spoiler warning is probably in order.
The Yulan campaign is called Three Houses, and while the story mainly follows House Sheng and its connection to Creation Essence, you will also encounter the other Houses, Li and Xuan, along with a few familiar faces from previous Tales and campaigns.
One of them is the Rana Wielder Sla-Kin. How he ended up in Yulan… well, we’ll leave that for you to discover. The village of Windnook is in more trouble than it might appear Besides the occasional peasant uprising, there is almost always some kind of conflict brewing in Yulan. Rival Houses scheme constantly, and life in the border provinces is rarely peaceful.
But those struggles are small compared to the ancient threat of Roots. Yulan suffered under it long ago, and the ruling Houses keep a close watch on their old enemy.
Still, the power that Roots offers can be difficult for ambitious people to resist, and the peasants of Yulan are not always aware of what their Wielders are doing deep within those overgrown forests. Our brave conscripts and Genadiers face some Rider mercenaries in the Roots tainted forests As our campaign starts Shen Shung is headed to one of the border provinces, and her mission is two-fold. Officially she is there to assess the loyalty of the local peasants, and make sure the neighboring house Xuan isn’t planning any aggression or schemes, but she also has a second goal, one connected to their ancient but sometimes useful enemy Roots. And if you watch the video you will get some hints.
So what did you think about that first 30 minutes, what else do you want to see in these Devlogs? There is a new one coming next week! For now, watch the video, wishlist Yulan and count your blessings, june 4 is approaching fast!
/Anders and the rest of the Lavapotion team