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[IratusLord]

Hey everyone,

We are Unfrozen – a small independent game studio based in St.Petersburg, Russia. Our project - Iratus: Lord of the Dead is a dark, challenging turn-based roguelike RPG where you play as an evil necromancer escaping from your dungeon prison to once again embark on the domination of the world.

https://iratus.org/
Demo - http://download.iratus.org/static/Iratus_Demo_010.zip

Iratus: Lord of the Dead is unorthodox Dark fantasy style turn-based tactical anti-roguelike RPG mostly inspired by Darkest Dungeon, Dungeon Keeper and Disciples.

As the developers, we try to break some classical RPG stereotypes encouraging player to stand by the dark side. The storyline is focused on necromancer who was imprisoned in the dungeon centuries ago and now is striving to break free regardless of the cost. Player will have to improve the belowground lair, create the undead minions from body parts of defeated dead enemies, make challenging strategic decisions choosing a course of raid to enemy’s camp and take part in intricate tactical fights where any shallow mistake can cause the defeat.

Key features of the game:
Develop and improve your belowground lair with necromantic powers.
Craft undead minions with the body parts of dead enemies.
Advanced fighting system: Know your enemies’ strong points and weak spots to achieve victory.
Turn-based battle system with upward of 50 original minion’s talents.
Intelligent enemy AI, challenging even experienced RPG-strategists.
Three types of necromancer talents for gameplay: alchemy, magic talents, or tactical skills.
Irreversible consequences. Classic roguelike features including character permadeath.
Detailed stylized 2D graphics in the spirit of dark fantasy.
Detailed skeletal animations.

Some screenshots:





Our work is ongoing and we will give you more details in the future.
We are happy to answer any questions you might have. If you played demo, we'd be glad to get feedback!

[Mochnant]

I have not played the demo, but is the idea you're fighting to take over your underground (seemingly very large) prison in a turn based strategy manner?  And once you do, you're assumed to go out to the world and wreak havoc "off camera" so to speak?

[bryku]

I am loving the "reverse Darkest Dungeon" concept! Great that I do not have to worry about sanity of my characters - what is more, I can make my enemies crazy. It's awesome, and will surely be a big selling point.

I have played the demo for about 30 minutes, so here's some subjective feedback from someone who played a lot of Darkest Dungeon:

Overall

• The game looks pretty whole already, given that it is only 10% complete (judging by the forum thread icon). Is this the first time you release it to the public for evaluation?
• Please let me play on higher difficulties right from the beginning

Mechanics

• The "craft-your-own-monster-from-your-enemies-body-part" minigame is pretty neat and original.
  
• Will there be actions allowing the characters to change the order in the combat line? I know that some of the actions do move the characters, but I am talking about explicit move forward/backwards actions.
• I will say it again, but the possibility to scare the sh*t out of the enemies is really awesome! Is it possible for an enemy to run away, and then appear in a later combat having the same trait as before? That could be awesome, if designed correctly.
  
• I see you did not add the corpses mechanics that has been introduced in Darkest Dungeon - how does it work for you? Personally I am a fan of the corpses mechanic - it makes the combat harder, as it is not that easy to break the enemies' line.
  
• Will losing a character be a big deal in the playthrough? In the games like Darkest Dungeon/Xcom it was always a pain to lose an experienced soldier. I believe the same applies here, right? Meaning that from the story/lore point of view, the monsters of the necromancer are not expendable?
  

UI/UX

• I believe that the "invalid target" text, appearing after clicking on... well, invalid target could be removed. It kinda breaks immersion for me. You can always replace it with some kind of  better indication of valid targets instead.
• The area of effect attack targets' display (e.g. Smoke Shot) was not clear for me - the red line connecting the rectangles was somehow not enough. Same about that fire/highlight thing below the enemies - I simply did not notice it.
• I love the death animations. Kinda remind me of what Thanos did at the end of Infinity War
  
• During the first combat, it was unclear for me what the blue orb was for (no tooltip etc).
  
• During the non-combat phase, it wasn't that clear for me where to click. Also, the necromancer was constantly staring in my direction. I felt uncomfortable - is he trying to kill me? And who is he really looking at?
• The "miner" enemy type looked as a zombie for me, making it difficult to figure out whether I am fighting undeads or not
• The graphical style is not really of my vibe - they kinda remind me of these "hidden object" mobile games. But that's cool, we shouldn't be discussing tastes here.
  

Keep up the great work guys! I am hoping for a good game out of it!

Take care!

[IratusLord]

Thank you for your feedback! It's really important for us.

Yep, choice of 10% was a shot in the dark, cause we're new here.  
There is only Tutorial available for the trial version, by the way we've decided that tutorial is necessary for the first play even in a full version. Most of content creators skipped it, then told us that there's nothing to understand and the game is so lame.

There won't be explicit move forward/backwards actions, but  we are going to add the ability to skip your turn, to hopefully diversify your tactical arsenal. In an upcoming update will add a “Wait” button that will allow your minion to move in the end of the initiative que.

We will think about appearance of escaped enemies
We truly inspired by DD, but corpse mechanics might look like a complete rip-off in our project. :D

Iratus is still in alpha. We work hard to find and fix all bugs and also work is continuing on balance changes. Thank you one more time for your feedback!

[IratusLord]

Devblog #5. Mad to the Bone.
We’re going to talk about the new enemy and some balance changes that will appear in the upcoming update.



Mad Mage

Even among mages there are criminals and undesirables that need to be taken care of and the nobles certainly do not allow for more than one transgression against their power.  Due to their inherent magical talent it is a lot more difficult to keep them as slaves but dwarves of the alchemist’s guild made some progress in said direction. The serums they use erode free will as readily as they erode sanity, making these spellcasters particularly unstable. But as long as the profits outweigh the losses, there is no reason to worry about a bunch of miners drying to an errant spell here and there.

Bone Golem

The ferocious appearance of the Bone Golem is hiding equally ominous power, that can destroy every living thing in its path. Just look at this.





Work Process

We’re still working on balance and also changing some abilities. We would like to underline some developments that will be included in the next update.

Dark Knight won’t move anymore when using skills “Hollow Stare” and “Futile Hopes”. He will thereby be more effective in the rear via stress attacks.

Our Skeleton is a nice little fella, so we decided to increase his initiative. This change will allow you to increase the damage of your allies right at the beginning of the combat or to use skeletons control skills. It’s up to you.
We decided to nerf the Mummy’s ability “Cursing Touch”. Now the target will lose 100% luck for two actions, not until the end of combat.

We’re going to change abilities of the Lich to make him more playable as a support in the 4th position. For example, his skill “Sacrifice” will not require an action, just like Vampire’s ultimate ability.

The Head Hunter was starting to move closer and closer to the role of a “Glass Cannon”. His low durability will be offset by his high damage output that is definitely going to be a problem for your enemies. This time we will change the following abilities: “Catch’ Em” will ignore the block of the target; “Feel’ Em” will double physical damage and stress; And finally, the damage of “Contract” will be increased, but now you need 2 souls to use it.

That’s all. We will be happy to answer your questions!

Previous Devblogs

[CosmicCastles]

Looks polished and high quality. Hoping your efforts wield deserving rewards.

[IratusLord]

Looks polished and high quality. Hoping your efforts wield deserving rewards.

Thanks for the kind words!

[Jesse Ko]

I agree that it looks very nice and polished already!

So when you craft minions from enemies, you'll see their body parts on the minion?

[bryku]

I agree that it looks very nice and polished already!

So when you craft minions from enemies, you'll see their body parts on the minion?

There is a demo build available (link in the first post in this thread) - try to check it out, and find out by yourself; the game is pretty nice!

[IratusLord]

Devblog #7. Preparations for the coming update.

Backers exclusive closed alpha is still ongoing. We are grateful for all the feedback that we have received and it has been a great help for us in our goal of improving the game and making it more fun for you! In addition, we recently announced a new minion on our social networks. Let’s have a look at it!

Lost Soul

A lost soul is a spirit that has been trapped on the mortal plane for so long that they have forgotten what they looked like when they were still alive. Necromancy can accelerate this process, forging these souls into agents of  lies and deception. Taught to delight in lies and betrayal, these spirits take on the form of masked women that lure mortals to their doom.



Work Progress

At the moment we are actively working on the animations of previously announced characters. Here's an example of one of the Ghoul’s attacks.



Before the closed alpha launch we released an update with a numerous changes, which were described in the previous devblogs but there was one we missed. The enemy Berserker was reworked. They are battle-hardened warriors that would rather die and be turned into an undead than flee from a fight. So bear this in mind and be ready, since they will often enter a state of destructive rampage.

Right now we are preparing the new update based on the feedback received from the closed alpha test.
Insane enemies often attacks allies and sometimes this would cause them to restore sanity to themselves after landing a critical on their friends. This will no longer happen as it didn’t make much sense to us!

Our Shieldmaidens need some attention too. Currently they can apply a redirect to each other or start protecting the same companion over and over. It gets a bit crazy: the shieldmaidens are certainly having a good time but the player is at a loss. At the moment we are looking to address this issue.

Minions are already a bit tired during the closed alpha but soon they will need much more rest to recover Vigor between battles. The dead need sleep too!

Vampires have proven to be good fighters but bosses have been unreasonably vulnerable to these bloodsuckers. The Vampire ability "Bloody Fury" will continue to take off 33% health from ordinary enemies but its damage will be reduced to 20% against bosses.

Iratus will need more time to examine the artifact “Book of Wisdom” and apply the new knowledge in practice. You will need to equip the book, enter a fight and if you win, the two talent points are yours but if you lose, it wasn't meant to be.
We continue to adjust balance and economy. The beginning of your journey may seem easy but the closer you get to the exit the more complicated things will become.

We will be gradually adding images to our events and we hope it will make them more readable and interesting for our players.



New backgrounds will be added with the upcoming update.




These are the main changes to date. We are happy to answer any questions you might have!

[IratusLord]

Devblog #8. The long-awaited minion advancement system.

Hello everyone!

Here's the long-awaited devblog after a long hiatus. During this time we have been able to review an enormous amount of feedback and also done a lot of work taking into account that feedback. Well, one step at a time.

Right now we are working on the level progression not only for Iratus but also his minions.



And while advancement for Iratus is simply a redesign of his Talent Tree, the level progression of minions is a brand new mechanic that we’ve been asked to add for a long time by our audience.



Players told us that our minions are too expendable and lack personification. Well... a necromancer is supposed to just make new soldiers even if he lost his whole squad in a fight. But what can we humans do without emotional attachment, right? Without that feeling you get when you devote time and energy into a minion only to see them come to the brink of death in a battle with the "force for good".

So, the minion advancement system is in the process of being developed! Minions will now earn experience points in battles, in special events on the map and also through specific artifacts. With the right amount of experience your minions will level up into a stronger, more powerful form.



After level up you will be given an opportunity to improve one ability and with it, a basic characteristics of your minion (such as Dread, Luck, etc). Also, with every new level the HP of your minion will increase no matter what.
At the moment we are working on the interface and will showcase it very soon.

So go out and prepare to improve those important characteristics, get valuable abilities and make your minions stronger! Especially when a whole new minion is scheduled to join the army of Iratus in the coming updates! We will make an announcement regarding this in our next devblog, think about it until then.



We continue making new animations and fixing the ones that we already made, while closely listening to your feedback.
Here are the new animations for Geomant, Mad Mage and Lost Soul.





All right, that's all for today. Stay tuned, because the next devblog wouldn't take this long anymore. See you soon!

Unfrozen Team

[IratusLord]

Devblog #9. Blood Phantasm

Blood Phantasm — a rather rare example of a naturally occurring undead. Some even theorize that they are actually blood elementals and write many an arcane thesis defending their position.



In reality these phantoms are born from a single desire: revenge. Revenge against those that killed them, which in this case is usually you. However, it is not too difficult to distort their perception of reality, simply making sure they see your form in place of your enemies and appling a few bindings to keep them from harming your minions. Then you have a splendid servant. To be constantly haunted by your face... you almost envy their existence.

This manifestation of revenge that you have brought under your control makes the Blood Phantasm a flexible minion. He is not only capable of dealing a lot of damage but also able to sustain the life of another minions. Since the main goal is to destroy the enemy, it is up to you to decide if the phantasm attempts it himself or with the help of other undead allies.



It may be said that the Blood Phantasm is a hybrid character, whose capacities can be adapted for your style of play. It’s kinda like the Paladin of the undead world. Hence, the new minion advancement system that we talked about in the previous devblog will help make decisions on what role the Blood Phantasm is going to play in your army.

We are currently finalizing the abilities of Blood Phantom and working on its animations.

Furthermore, we’ve created 2 new backgrounds. One of them you will see on the Dwarven Floor.



And another one will appear at the beginning of your journey. Here you will first meet those prisoners who are forced to fight your undead against their will.



That's about it. See you soon!

[IratusLord]

Devblog #10. Graveyard.
In this devblog we would like to talk about some new features that we decided to add during the alpha test. In order to expand the strategic layer of the game we’ve decided to include a base building to the game.

Previously, all attention was focused on the protagonist and increasing his powers as the game progressed but now you will be able to build your own “town” and decide on the type of strategic and tactical perks you wish to pursue.

Besides the familiar Iratus’s room there will be 8 buildings available for construction,  each of which will provide a certain bonus. It will also be possible to improve these buildings and thus increase their productivity and abilities. But first these buildings will need to be constructed, since only two structures will be available at the start: the Training Room, where minions can earn experience and the Morgue, where minions can heal more rapidly.
Moreover, it will be necessary to sacrifice one of your minions in order to construct or improve a building, along with an Architect’s Soul — a special resource, which can be earned in battles or through other activities on the map.

You can “dismantle” the improvement or even the building itself  to regain the minion that was used in construction. However, the Architect’s Soul does not return, so you should think twice before wasting such a valuable and rare resource.
Buildings do not give their bonus by themselves and need minions to “work” there. At the initial stage there is only one slot in any building for a minion. Improvements will open additional slots up to a maximum of four.

Minions that you have assigned to a building will not be able to take part in battles but they can be recalled back at any time.
That will be all for now. We will soon be publishing a devblog featuring all the buildings and their bonuses.
If you have any ideas or suggestions we appreciate you sharing them with us and we will try our best to include the good ones in the future!
Unfrozen Team