ABOUT THE GAME
What’s new
Follow the lights. Find the missing.
The November 2026 update: a guild of mercenaries, a sky that turns to night, three new realms, a watercolour map, and steadier combat and gold. Updated .
- The Mercenaries’ Guild
- Day, night and your lantern
- Gloamwood, the Sunscour and Hell
- Ready your next ability
- Gold that grows with level
- A watercolour map
- Smaller changes
The Mercenaries’ Guild
The guild has opened in Lantern’s Rest. Captain Maelis Corran hires out her mercenaries only to heroes who have proved they can lead a fight: complete The Guild’s Proving, then choose one of nine mercenaries.
- Three roles. Support mercenaries heal and ward, rangers fight from a distance, and defenders hold the line. Each uses its own class’s abilities.
- At your side. A mercenary travels at your level, up to level 40, and joins only fights already started with you, your party or itself, and the foe you select.
- A share of the road. While it travels with you it takes 10% of kill experience and 25% of the gold you earn adventuring. Sales and trades are never shared.
- Guard. Ask a defender to guard you (O, or the flag on its party card). For 8 seconds it takes the blows aimed at you while it stands within 2 tiles.
- A place in the party. A mercenary fills one of the party’s eight places, and a party takes one mercenary.
The fee is paid once: 135 gold at level 5, 1,380 at level 20 and 5,140 at level 40. A mercenary that is knocked out leaves your service. Read more about mercenaries.
A sword for hire
Hire a mercenary from the guild in Lantern’s Rest. It fights beside you, takes a place in your party and a share of what you earn.
Day, night and your lantern
One day now passes over the whole world, the same for every hero. Open-air places darken through dusk and brighten at dawn; rooms stay lit, and the deep stays dim at every hour.
| Phase | Length | Light outdoors |
|---|---|---|
| Day | 36 minutes | 100% |
| Dusk | 6 minutes | Falls to 28% |
| Night | 12 minutes | 28% |
| Dawn | 6 minutes | Rises to 100% |
Every hero carries a lantern, and Mara upgrades it in Lantern’s Rest up to level 15.
A lantern on the night road
One day passes over the whole world. After dark your lantern lights the road: kindle it for a short blessing, or cover it to slip past watchful eyes.
- Kindle (Y). For 45 seconds your light reaches half again as far, and you gain Vitality and the attribute your class attacks with. You can kindle it again 3 minutes after you light it.
- Cover (U). Your light dims to a glow at your feet. Away from other light, enemies notice you only from 55% of their usual distance. Torches, fires and other heroes’ lanterns still give you away. Sneaking covers the lantern; striking a foe uncovers it. Covering it ends a kindled blaze.
- The night. Some wilderness visitors come only after dark, and they spot an open lantern from half again as far. An Undead Rising now waits for dusk and lasts until day returns.
Three new realms
| Realm | Levels | The way in |
|---|---|---|
| Gloamwood and Ravencourt Manor | 29–40 | The forest road in Songcross |
| The Sunscour desert | 35–50 | A pass in Crownridge |
| Hell | 43–44 | Read the Black Book in the Redstone War Fort’s pentagram |
- Gloamwood. A dense forest around the hedged village of Vesperholm and the grounds of Ravencourt Manor. Each floor of the manor is harder than the last, and Lord Ravencourt waits in his sanctum.
- The Sunscour. Eight desert areas, from Saltwell Oasis through ancient water tunnels to Sandfang Hold, where Chieftain Uzgar Sandfang holds his war-throne. A buried sun-temple lies off the dunes.
- Hell. Everyone standing in the pentagram when the Black Book is read crosses together. Break two seals to reach the Demon Highlord, who leaves each victor a Hellbrand weapon of their own weapon family, at the tier for their level.
The gates of Ravencourt
The forest road in Songcross leads to Gloamwood and the hedged grounds of Ravencourt Manor, where each floor is harder than the last.
Water in the Sunscour
Saltwell Oasis shelters a caravan camp at the edge of the Sunscour, a desert whose eight areas climb from level 35 to 50.
Before the Hellgate
Read the Black Book in the Redstone War Fort’s pentagram and everyone standing in it crosses to Hell. Two Hellgate guards hold the sealed gate.
Ready your next ability
Choose an ability while another is preparing, or in the last second of its cooldown, and your hero readies it to begin as soon as possible. Only one ability waits at a time; choosing another replaces it, and Escape or your defense drops it.
Fights now leave marks on the ground, such as blood, ichor, bone dust, scorch and frost. They fade with time, and the Combat traces setting turns them off.
Make room for a spell
Each class has its own ability tree. Read the preparation and cooldown before committing to a cast.
Gold that grows with level
Quests, contracts, escorts, public activities, party sites, treasure and travelers’ gifts now pay more at higher levels. Equipment, mercenaries and repairs cost more at higher levels too, so gold keeps its value as you grow.
A merchant pays at most 1,000 gold for one item. Large amounts are written with separators, such as 12,500 gold.
A watercolour map
The map is now painted in soft watercolour washes beneath the ink lines. Every screenshot on these pages shows the new look.
Smaller changes
- Torn bearings. Elite leaders, fallen adventurers on the roads and regional contracts can give directions to a buried cache that only you can find and dig up.
- One notice at a time. Quest rewards, blueprints and unlocks appear one after another instead of on top of each other.
- Scrolls and throwables. The ones you carry sit in a bar of their own beside your abilities.
- Phones. Larger touch targets, and portraits on party cards.
Read the bulletins for news as it happens.