Index Expressions

Since our last update, Alderen has moved to a low-poly world seen over the hero’s shoulder, gained a home city called Aster’s Reach, and started ending its runs with a boss and a portal home.

Alderen looks very different from the dim block corridors we showed in September. It’s played in third person now, over the hero’s shoulder, in a smooth low-poly world. The block walls are gone, and so is digging. Alderen’s places are built as scenes in our editor and explored on foot.

Runs begin and end in Aster’s Reach, a city of canals, terraces and long stone stairways. You set out from the armillary, the great ring in the middle of its square, and drop into Torchcut Depths. Each level there is put together from a seed and from rooms we build in the editor, so no two runs are laid out the same.

A warrior with a sword and shield crosses a paved square toward the armillary, a large glowing ring among trees and flower beds.
The armillary in the square at the centre of Aster’s Reach, under a brighter sky we’re trying out. The buildings and the hero are AI-made models.

At the end of a run a boss is waiting. Early on it’s the Jackal Packleader, and deeper down it’s the Ashguard Captain. Beat the boss and a Starwell portal rises to take you home to Aster’s Reach or onward into fresh levels. If you fall, the run ends and a short report shows how it went.

A warrior faces a glowing violet portal arch at the end of a dark stone hall.
A portal lit at the end of a hall in Torchcut Depths, from a test of a run’s way out. The stonework, the portal and the hero are AI-made models.

Along the way you’ll meet crypt jackals and bone-rakers from the very first level, then the ashguard and the quarry maw. Weapons come in bronze, iron, steel and crystal, and the deeper you go the better they get.

The newest change is the fog. Aster’s Reach has been wrapped in thick fog that closed in at about 160 meters, so most of the city was a grey wall. We’ve been testing it pushed back to 1,500 meters, and the pictures below show the same two spots both ways. The longer view costs our renderer almost nothing, so it’s the distance we’re planning around.

The stair to the cathedral almost lost in thick white fog, with only the nearest houses showing.
The stair up to the cathedral with the fog at 160 meters, the way the town has looked so far.
The same stair with the fog pushed far back, so the whole climb and the cathedral at the top are clear.
The same stair with the fog at 1,500 meters, in a test build.
The armillary square in thick fog, with the ring and the houses behind it fading to grey.
The armillary square with the fog at 160 meters.
The same square with the fog pushed back, so the ring, the trees and the houses across the plaza are clear.
The same square with the fog at 1,500 meters.

Some of the pictures on the Alderen page also show a brighter sky we’re trying out. The town’s sky and fog are still being tuned, so they may change again before you play it.

Coming next are the Mage and the Rogue, more kinds of finale such as waves to survive and allies to escort, and the shops around the square, which are marked out but don’t open yet.

Many of the models in these pictures, including the city’s buildings and the hero, were made for us with AI tools. The trees and props come from free CC0 model packs, and the Alderen page lists all of this at the bottom.

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