The latest free alpha is available on the Download page, with controller support and a native Linux version. You can now play on the Steam Deck as well as a desktop PC.
Controllers
Controller support covers movement, combat, building and conversations, along with trading, inventory management and the character sheet. You can navigate all the menus with it too. The game supports Xbox and PlayStation controllers, as well as handhelds’ built-in controls.
- Movement and pointer controls. Move your character with the left stick and control the pointer with the right. The pointer lets you interact with the game as you would with a mouse. Options → Controls lets you change its speed or swap the two sticks.
- The D-pad selects nearby targets. It cycles through nearby people, containers, items and doors, so you don’t have to position the pointer over each one. In menus, it moves between buttons and list entries.
- The quick wheel. Hold LB to open the quick wheel and select a thraed, mastery or item from your hot bar. With your pack or character sheet open, holding LB over a thraed or mastery puts it on the wheel.
- Aiming. When a thraed or mastery requires a target, the pointer moves to the nearest target in range. Use the D-pad to cycle through the others.
- Text entry. When you need to type, such as when naming a save, an on-screen keyboard appears.
Steam Deck, Linux and handhelds
There is now a Linux download alongside the Windows one. It’s a native build, so on the Steam Deck it runs without Proton. You add it to Steam once in Desktop Mode, then play it from Gaming Mode. Step-by-step instructions are in a fold-out under the Linux download. Both downloads include a cover, background, logo and icon you can use to customise the game’s entry in your Steam library. The Windows .exe now has its own icon too.
On the Deck the game uses larger text and menus laid out for the smaller screen, and the right trackpad works as a pointer. Handhelds that run Windows, such as the ROG Ally and Legion Go, use the Windows download. There are set-up notes for those under the Linux download too. You can increase the Text size in Options → Controls if you’re finding it difficult to read on a small screen.
Thraed and mastery tutorials
When you first get to choose a thraed or mastery, an optional tutorial shows you how to select one and assign it to your hot bar or quick wheel. It highlights the relevant buttons as you go. If you decline, it won’t ask again.
Everything else since the last build
The previous build was posted on October 8th. Since then:
- Rest. Sleeping well leaves you Rested, and going two days without sleep leaves you Exhausted. You can craft a bedroll to sleep in the wild once the area around you is clear of enemies. Sleeping in a bed in your own house gives the strongest rest bonus.
- Towns. Houses built on slopes now stand on stone foundations instead of flattened ground. Town generation makes better use of the available land, and I’ve added nine new shop types. Towns you’ve discovered are now marked on the minimap.
- Weather. Rain no longer falls inside small houses, and rain and wind sound much quieter indoors, especially with the door shut. Rain and snow also fade out properly when the weather clears.
- Cliffs. With Hide Natural Walls enabled, a wider area of cliff fades away around your character. Flowers and other items on those cliffs fade with them.
- Companions. You’ll get a warning if a companion is starving, and the quest step that teaches you to feed Brynja now explains that companions need food in their packs from then on.
- Interface. The quest tracker is narrower and more transparent until you move the pointer over it. The HUD buttons sit in two rows, so the party panel has room for more companions. On-screen tips stack instead of overlapping, and you can dismiss them individually. The Save and Load lists are easier to read.
- Faster view rotation. Turning the view is now much quicker. The game prepares the other three views in the background, so a turn no longer pauses for several seconds.
- Town houses. Houses now come in different shapes. Some have a one-storey wing or a back room with its own lower roof, a round tower with a cone roof, or an upper storey that overhangs one end on posts. Some are round cottages. Walls can be painted plaster or painted boards in a range of colours, with corner posts and timber framing, and each house has its own roof colour. There is also a new roof style, Verdigris, and two of the existing ones have been recoloured.
- Town size. Fixed towns sometimes stopping at a handful of houses along the main road when there was room for many more.
- Building. A shelter you haven’t finished building no longer turns see-through when you step into it.
- Fixes. Fixed harbour ships occasionally being placed in inland ponds. I’ve also updated the loading screen to show creatures from the game and made a number of smaller fixes.
Trying the new build
This is an alpha, and it will have bugs. Saves from earlier builds may not work. If something goes wrong, especially on the Steam Deck or a handheld, I’d like to hear about it on the bug tracker or the forum. Include a screenshot or your save if you can.
