Greetings Viceroys!

We have a small teaser of the upcoming update for you: a new Hearth design!

What’s the motive behind the redesign, you ask? The Hearth is the core structure that sustains life in the settlement. Yet, currently, it looks unappealing – it’s basically a single wall of ruins with a bonfire.

The typical first reaction of new players is: “So… this is a world where it never stops raining, yet the most important fire is not protected by a roof? It doesn’t make any sense”.

Over time, the Hearth started to play an even more important role, e.g. due to the new Hub System. One of Hearth’s new functions is to present the development of the settlement in three stages (Encampment, Neighborhood, and District). It needs to change every time the player develops their Hub. Currently, we only add some common decorations on each Hub level, which doesn’t do it justice.

We also need to unify the look of the Main Hearth and the Makeshift Hearth while keeping the Main Hearth distinguishable and appropriate for the role it plays. 

After weeks of brainstorms and rounds of sketches, we settled on a new look. Here’s the new main Hearth (please be aware that those are work-in-progress previews):

Ancient Hearth Preview – Encampment Level

Ancient Hearth Preview – District Level

Ancient Hearth Preview – District Level – Front

We also consider putting a living Wildfire or a different spirit creature inside the Hearth:

Ancient Hearth Preview – District Level – Front

Ancient Hearth Preview – District Level – Front – With Wildfire and Active Sacrificing

We hope you enjoyed the previews! Aside from the new Hearth, there are many more features coming to the game this Thursday, including the new Forest Mysteries, Ethereal Cornerstones, and more.

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May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

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