Indie Urtuk: The Desolation - open-world dark fantasy turn-based RPG

[Infinitron]

https://www.urtuk.com/update/

Update

Greetings slayers!

We bring you another small bunch of updates, this time it’s around the Final boss fight with a brand new Boss and lore and some tweaks around balancing and of course bug fixes.

Here the changelog:

v.0.87.08+80
Starting as werebeasts: they are now ‘ancient’ werebeasts and won’t transform to human form, thus keeping their werebeast form forever and loosing their ‘super healing’ ability.
(Also they won’t be affected from the deso bug: they won’t loose their extra absorp.slot anymore)

v.0.87.08+82
Map Editor: added selection of map sizes
Forsaken defender: added new trait: “Cleansing” (on max focus heal over 2 turns + remove bleeding/poison)
Ranged support won’t trigger strongVS anymore

v.0.87.08+81
french local. updates
Monster Hunter quest: reduced enemy count a little bit
Party screen: dismantling items won’t happen when you’re not enough close to th dism.slot

v.0.87.08+83
added campaign advisor

v.0.87.08+84
minors
bugfix

v.0.87.08+87
final battle updates
Ivadd story line updates
Reflexive skin won’t trigger if you’re out of breath

v.0.87.08+85
Leeching crits: improved scaling
Abomination map updates
Aggressor perk: now upon expeling a member, his items are dropped to player’s inventory
‘game won’ screen overhaul
gx updates
new mutators
Russian loc.updates

v.0.87.08+90
Added ‘Necromancer’ boss gx bonefisher Yesterday 8:48 PM
Blood curse: increased HP penalty (-10% -> -15%)
final battle updates

v.0.87.08+91
final battle updates (dead channeler will reduce spawn rate by 50%)
Added ‘final battle’ biome

v.0.87.08+92
Increased maxIterations for map gen.
final battle updates

v.0.87.08+95
Final battle gx udpates
added ‘Channeler’ model
small updates, tweaks

v.0.87.08+97
polish loc.updates

This update should in most cases keep your saves playable.

Enjoy!

David

 

[Infinitron]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1181830/announcements/detail/3047218819068328465

URTUK IS LEAVING EARLY ACCESS FEBRUARY 27!

I'm incredibly excited to announce that Urtuk: the Desolation will be leaving Early Access on February 27th, 2021!

It’s taken 6 years to get to this point, with just over 1 of those years in Early Access. Players who’ve been hacking and slashing their way through the Steam Early Access version of Urtuk will automatically gain access to the full game. Urtuk will release simultaneously on all three platforms – Windows, MacOS and Linux.

The game’s final release wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible contributions of our dedicated Early Access community. We’ve put our hearts into this adventure and it’s been awesome getting so much support from players throughout this last critical year of development. We’ve made many significant changes during Urtuk’s journey in Early Access, and done our best to meaningfully integrate players’ feedback and requests as we march toward the version 1.0 launch. We can’t wait to welcome you all to the epic adventures of the world of Urtuk next week!

 

[Jenkem]

it's out

 

[kreight]

This is on my wishlist but I can't really take the art style seriously. It reminds of one soviet cartoon.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh, there's a new YouTube channel:




https://af.gog.com/game/urtuk_the_desolation?as=1649904300

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1181830/view/3046093555647815483

FULL RELEASE!
Urtuk leaves EA today!

Here we are! Finally, the day has come - Urtuk is ready to leave Early Access!

It’s been a long and winding journey these past 6 years, and now it's time for the full release.
We added a ton of new content during Early Access, completely overhauled game balance, and improved the overall experience in countless ways. We've listened closely to our players’ concerns and advice, and done our best to make Urtuk as fun and brutal as possible.

Lastly, we want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to all our supporters — beta testers, Early Access players and the community at large. Urtuk could never have become what it is today without your help.

So what did we add during Early Access?
In a nutshell:

- new faction: the Forsaken
- made additional 6 unlockable factions playable at start, added unlockable items
- added Ironman
- 4 new village battlefields, 25 new battle types/quests
- reworked all fortresses along with new reinforcements system
- new battle mechanics: projectile deflections, boulders, evade, ..
- new mechanics: scaled mutators, merging of mutators, mutator absorptions, butchering, ..
- new missions
- new battlefield interactive & hazardous objects
- new legendary items, relics and special rewards (Mocker's Mark, Death Stone, Life Stone, Valdor Piercer, ..)
- new classes for Beasts, Werebeasts and Vampires
- all classes got 'elite' skins
- 10 bossses
- localized into russian, polish, french and chinesse(simplified & traditional)
- added Steam Achievements
- 3 new difficulties
- UI additions and improvements
- character banners
- countless bugfixes and enhancements

You can see the full changelog here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1181830/discussions/0/1747897354334441246

But the journey is far from over!
We have a big plans for the future content for Urtuk. We're already working on:

- new faction
- new biomes
- new bosses
- modding support

These should come as free content in very near future!
Of course we'll maintain the core gameplay and fix any issues or bugs.
We're still eager to hear from you - so please if you have any suggestions, balance ideas, bug reports or anything which could improve Urtuk, let us know! Best on our Discord server or on Steam forums.

Again, I want to thank all our Early Access players for their feedback, suggestions, and even content additions!

Oh, and I won't increase the price of the game.

David

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Bought it. Will play it eventually.

 

[Urthor]

I can't believe we got nothing from Cyberpunk Release until now, then got Geneforge and Urtuk in the space of a week.

Damn you game developers, taking time off for Christmas

 

[GloomFrost]

Soooo any opinions? Is it worth time/money? How does it compare to Battle Brothers?

 

[Jenkem]

I enjoy it but haven't played Battle Brothers to compare.

 

[rojay]

I enjoy it but haven't played Battle Brothers to compare.

Just bought it. I also enjoyed Battle Brothers, and I will report when I have the time to spare on humans not directly related to me by blood or contract.

 

[Aemar]

How does it compare to Battle Brothers?

Wanted to ask the same thing. Quite a few Steam reviewers say this is actually better than BB.

 

[Whisper]

I enjoy it but haven't played Battle Brothers to compare.

Just bought it. I also enjoyed Battle Brothers, and I will report when I have the time to spare on humans not directly related to me by blood or contract.

Ok

 

[Retardo]

Soooo any opinions? Is it worth time/money? How does it compare to Battle Brothers?

I've enjoyed BB and this is also good, on par with how BB were on release, but different in gameplay.

 

[Darth Canoli]

GloomFrost Aemar
It's quite different, you have a huge infinite roster but only 6 fielded units, more sometimes when you rescue some new recruits or get control over friendly units.

There is some encounter design here, not perfect but good enough for the non randomized ones.
There is some boss and half boss fights, champions
Enemy variety is good.

Character development is deeper than BB, probably a matter of taste since it requires some trial and error and then some planning.
There is a lot of unlockable traits and other you can absorb through equipped mutators after some time.

Itemization is slightly better (i like regular weapons itemization in BB but not so much the randomized named items), with more customization than in Battle Brothers.

Exploration is weaker than in Battle Brothers but the quest design is straight to the point, you don't waste your time in meaningless missions.

It's probably a matter of taste, both are good, i prefer Urtuk than vanilla Battle Brothers because of the variety in combat situations, character development and quest not having you crossing the map back and forth.
Also, you're going to use the terrain way more in Urtuk because you're vastly outnumbered at some point and character builds and synergies between them are extremely important.

Edit : it's 6 units

 

[Urthor]

Played it, I got bored but that's because I've played way too much Battle Brothers.

This game is pretty much Battle Brothers and the fundamental gameplay loop is just as good.

 

[oasis789]

Tried to watch a streamer play this but had to turn it off out of disgust for the streamer. Any good ones?

 

[Sweeper]

>RPG

Tried to watch a streamer play this but had to turn it off out of disgust for the streamer. Any good ones?

It was FilthyRobot, wasn't it?

 

[rojay]

GloomFrost Aemar
It's quite different, you have a huge infinite roster but only 5 fielded units, more sometimes when you rescue some new recruits or get control over friendly units.

There is some encounter design here, not perfect but good enough for the non randomized ones.
There is some boss and half boss fights, champions
Enemy variety is good.

Character development is deeper than BB, probably a matter of taste since it requires some trial and error and then some planning.
There is a lot of unlockable traits and other you can absorb through equipped mutators after some time.

Itemization is slightly better (i like regular weapons itemization in BB but not so much the randomized named items), with more customization than in Battle Brothers.

Exploration is weaker than in Battle Brothers but the quest design is straight to the point, you don't waste your time in meaningless missions.

It's probably a matter of taste, both are good, i prefer Urtuk than vanilla Battle Brothers because of the variety in combat situations, character development and quest not having you crossing the map back and forth.
Also, you're going to use the terrain way more in Urtuk because you're vastly outnumbered at some point and character builds and synergies between them are extremely important

This was pretty much my experience as well. How the maps are laid out is a slightly bigger issue for Urtuk because there are more movement options and a lot more hazardous tiles. Character development is deeper, and it's also not laid out very well in-game if you don't dig into the sub-menus.

I haven't gotten more than a half-dozen hours into it, but overall it seems like it's already as complex as BB, and it's clearly going to continue that trend. That doesn't make it better, and in fact so far I haven't been drawn into the game the way I was when I first started BB, but it definitely hits the same ganglia in my brain that make me happy and it may end up holding my interest for longer.

 

[oasis789]

I haven't gotten more than a half-dozen hours into it, but overall it seems like it's already as complex as BB, and it's clearly going to continue that trend. That doesn't make it better, and in fact so far I haven't been drawn into the game the way I was when I first started BB, but it definitely hits the same ganglia in my brain that make me happy and it may end up holding my interest for longer.

Could you talk about the strategic/overworld layer and how interesting that part is?

 

[rojay]

I haven't gotten more than a half-dozen hours into it, but overall it seems like it's already as complex as BB, and it's clearly going to continue that trend. That doesn't make it better, and in fact so far I haven't been drawn into the game the way I was when I first started BB, but it definitely hits the same ganglia in my brain that make me happy and it may end up holding my interest for longer.

Could you talk about the strategic/overworld layer and how interesting that part is?

It's an overland map with the ability to travel from one "node" to adjacent nodes. You're given a sort of rumor when you hover/click on a destination that gives you basic information about the encounter. One was something like, "the reknowned metalsmith Grok has gone missing and you've heard it may be bandits." That encounter involved the aforementioned armor maker, whom I *think* joined me after I rescued him?

I'm still early in the game, but there seem to be a decent variety of those encounters and you can also capture villages, which apparently gives you regular resources. It's sort of like Wasteland 2; there don't appear to be random encounters while you are traveling. Sometimes enemy units do move from a node (along defined roads/paths) and attack you, but that's happened once in the several hours I've played.

There was one other interesting encounter involving a map that started with about 5-6 squares of boiling oil in the center, enemies on the eastern half of the map and my units in the SW. There were also 3 NPC units that, if you moved one of your units next to them, became controllable for that encounter. None of that is particularly rare for this game, what was interesting was that the boiling oil expanded every round, and by the time I killed the last enemy, most of the safe squares were on the perimeter of the map. I pushed one enemy into the oil and caused damage, and another enemy unit decided to use four rounds to travel through the oil, resulting in its death.

So the environmental design was interesting, but the AI behavior for that unit was a bit lacking. That said, it's possible the unit didn't have anywhere else to go. I thought it did, but I forget things.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Could you talk about the strategic/overworld layer and how interesting that part is?

I've spent around 50 hours on the beta build at different stages and reached the fourth area, possibly more, i didn't really count.

Expect heavy SPOILERS here.

The overworld layer has improved a lot with the addition of villages and citadels, which are tough battles and not only they give you some ressources every turn for a time, but you loot them when you capture them and you can also wait for an enemy there to benefit from a good defending position but then, it's up to you to place your mercs wisely because the enemies are going to surround you and attack your support units any chance they have.
There is some wandering parties on the maps, be it Kawla beasts hunting you if you spend too much time in an area (it has been increased vastly and you can fight off the first waves anyway when you're experienced enough), bounty hunters or just brigands.

There is some calamities you can trigger while searching for loot (and an exit to the next area) in villages, like the boiling lava rojay mentionned but it can be beasts/vampires spawning randomly on missions for a time, poisonous vines or landsliding.

Different groups of enemies will be fighting each other, some missions will be a huge battlefield of two opposites armies or some wandering units can attack brigands (as much as they'll attack you).
Mission variety is quite good.

To come back to the strategic layer, besides villages and citadels, there is a couple of ressources, one currency to trade in the few markets you'll encounter (one per map i believe), blood to feed vampires when/if you have any, flesh for werebeasts if you have any, alcohol to train your mercs outside of combat (i use it to train extra troops just in case, some people jut train one unit with it to get an overpowered beast so yes, there is some "exploits") and the most important one, essence which you'll use to extract mutators from defeated enemies to use them for yourself, that's the main mechanism of the game along with the unlockable traits.

Some units are not fighters, even if you can field them (it's not recommended though) and will randomly heal/improve weapons every once in a while.

You can loot some relic items but then, you'll be hunt down by the faction you stole it from and they'll sent stronger and stronger bounty hunters after you until you die you get rid of the relic or you complete the game.

 

[Takamori]

I really like the mutators and the trait hunting. Made Urtuk in my playthrough a berserk, he has the +14 agility mutator, bleed on crit mut and life steal on bleed. Now sum up with the fucking war priest that jump around like a grasshoper guarantee to get crits all the time.
But personal moralfag beef is having to butcher the extra troops into blood and flesh for medicine or even traits for the death stone without any consequence. Wish Blood and Flesh came from other events besides butchering and capturing villages that provide X per turn.

Soooo any opinions? Is it worth time/money? How does it compare to Battle Brothers?

Still judging but given that i paid pennies for it, so far worth the money. It feels way more forgiving compared to BB and raw compared in game content and animations. They really need to add proper injured soldier animations.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I don't care that much for cosmetic additions but yes, some fatalities, like in Fallout would probably increase their sales a lot, like a proper decapitation when killing an enemy with a blade or head explosion with a blunt weapon.

My bloodknight Urtuk is overpowered.
On the third area, he's just jumping around killing at least once a turn after a little warm up, turning a hopeless fight into a one sided butchery.

My dream team is Bloodknight, Guardian, Priest, Hunter, Javelin thrower and a joker, most likely a Warmonk but it can change depending on the missions, the one with ram is very helpful for fortress assaults when there is a lot of death tiles as stalwart doesn't block ram.

 

[rojay]

I don't care that much for cosmetic additions but yes, some fatalities, like in Fallout would probably increase their sales a lot, like a proper decapitation when killing an enemy with a blade or head explosion with a blunt weapon.

My bloodknight Urtuk is overpowered.
On the third area, he's just jumping around killing at least once a turn after a little warm up, turning a hopeless fight into a one sided butchery.

My dream team is Bloodknight, Guardian, Priest, Hunter, Javelin thrower and a joker, most likely a Warmonk but it can change depending on the missions, the one with ram is very helpful for fortress assaults when there is a lot of death tiles as stalwart doesn't block ram.

Ram is footman, and I have only just started playing with one. It's rather nice. I'm on the fence about warmonks. They're sort of like the knight in chess, with their ability to jump, and you can build them to do damage, but I've got a berserker now that is murdering stuff and I think I'd go that route.

I'm enjoying the game. Don't know how long it will hold my interest, and it's not an RPG any more than Battle Brothers, but I have diverse interests.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Ram is footman, and I have only just started playing with one. It's rather nice. I'm on the fence about warmonks. They're sort of like the knight in chess, with their ability to jump, and you can build them to do damage, but I've got a berserker now that is murdering stuff and I think I'd go that route.

I'm enjoying the game. Don't know how long it will hold my interest, and it's not an RPG any more than Battle Brothers, but I have diverse interests.

The one i really want is either the forsaken or the beast grappling foes from 2-3 squares away, Mortal Kombat's Scorpion style.
I find the forsaken area quite tedious though, they really have no weaknesses, when they spam with too many shieldbearers and archers, it can turn into a real slaughter, specially since you're vastly outnumbered, like 3 to 1.