Friends!
Greetings from the Valkyrie Initiative team.

We invite all fans of adventure games with horror elements into this grim, beautifully hand-drawn fairy tale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2420350/_/

This story takes place in a village inhabited only by children who follow savage pagan traditions. Assume the role of a young witch named Kyrphel and experience all the hardships of witch life, discover the secrets of ancient rituals, explore the village and interact with its inhabitants.

Witchcraft, rituals, lies or sincerity - do whatever it takes, since the fate of the entire village depends on whether you succeed in the Great Ritual or not.

To celebrate the release, please watch the trailer before taking part in the Great ritual!

[previewyoutube=hRA90YG1FtM;full][/previewyoutube]

This project was developed by The Growing Stones, who spent two years gathering inspiration from fairy tales, myths, ancient religions, and beliefs in proud solitude.

[h3]Feel free to ask questions[/h3]
Feel free to share your impressions and thoughts about the game on the Discord server.

Hello guys!

We are happy to finally make an official announcement of Heads Will Roll: Reforged's second DLC Not a Hero. It is scheduled to release on May 31st and together with accompanying major patch will bring along a huge amount of new content as well as usher in a considerable overhaul of the game's various systems and mechanics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2850080/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

So, what to expect?

[h3]1. New story content[/h3]
First of all, the DLC will introduce several new full story branches that will allow the player to take their character's life and career in various alternative directions after the ending of the Cambrai campaign. You will encounter many new friends and foes, go on new adventures, survive new challenges and, of course, face new tough moral choices.



2. Squad system rework
Then there is a much-awaited squad system rework which includes lots of new visual models, free customization of squadmates' war gear and expanded in-battle controls with all of that ultimately allowing to perfectly tailor your allies equipment and behavior to suit your desired playstyle.



3. Civil talents
Heads Will Roll's RPG elements are too going to get an expansion in the form of civil talents various non-combat skills and abilities that will allow the player to make their character even more unique. The update will introduce about two dozens of civil talents of ranging magnitude with some of them acting like small pleasant bonuses while others being character-defining traits enabling for a whole playstyle to be built around.



4. Prestige mode
In order to freshen up the game experience for the seasoned veterans we will be introducing a Prestige mode a difficulty modifier that will considerably harden the game: weapons will now also lose durability and eventually break, combat will be much more fast and deadly, injuries - more frequent, time - less plentiful and some of the skill checks - way tougher. Completing the game in this mode will undoubtedly prove to be the toughest challenge yet and will require the player to truly value the character's life.

5. Trinket presets
Considering the major importance of trinkets it is only natural for the player to be in need of oftenly replacing them, swapping around crafting, scavenging, combat and other sets. The upcoming update will finally address this by introducing trinket presets feature that allows to save several desired trinket combinations and then quickly swap between them, removing a lot of unnecessary actions. Together with that, there are also going to be dedicated buttons for instantly unequipping all the trinkets and placing them into inventory or chest.



6. Interface improvements
Another issue that the upcoming update will be addressing is the cumbersomeness of many of the game's item interaction menus. In order to fix this, the update will be adding quick action buttons allowing to move items between chest and inventory, as well as acquire items from loot in one click.

7. New gameplay balance
The overall gameplay balance is too going to get a shakeup buy and sell prices, skill check thresholds, time limits in chapters, item parameters and various other things are going to be updated to freshen up the game and correct some of the existing balancing issues.

8. Bugfixes
And, of course, last but not least bugfixing. The patch accompanying the DLC will contain a long list of fixes for many of the reported bugs (a detailed list will be provided with the release notes).

As you can see, the scope of the upcoming update is going to be absolutely massive with pretty much all of the game's aspects getting expansions, improvements and overhauls. We are very much looking forward to release and hope that you are too!
For more information on all things Heads Will Roll or to get in touch with us head over to our Discord.

Stay tuned!
1917 Studios

Hello, everyone!
We are very happy to announce that the first DLC for Heads Will Roll: Reforged Happily Ever After is out and is available for purchase!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2747080/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged__Happily_Ever_After/

The DLC brings a lot of new content including marriages with all the girls, new endings, expanded epilogues, new story events, boss fights, Steam achievements and much, much more! Be sure to check it out!
Complete feature list of the DLC can be viewed on its Steam page.



Together with the DLC we are also releasing the much anticipated 1.09 patch that brings a ton of bugfixes, reworks and improvements to the game. It is by far the biggest patch the we have done.

1.09 FIxes
1. Equipped armor items can now be repaired without being taken off.
2. Fixed yet another instance of 'olivia_time_left not defined' bug that caused Olivia's dagger to spawn among unrelated loot and subsequently broke the game, forcing the player back to Olivia's room.
3. Fixed a rare bug that made the player base armor go below zero after unequipping a damaged armor item.
4. Fixed a bug with incorrect equipment loss interaction during the quicksands event.
5. Fixed an issue with incorrect visual hit chances for the spears' 'powerful thrust' attack.
6. Fixed another issue that allowed an enemy to remove the helmet in combat more than once and gain additional stats.
7. Fixed a series of bugs that made combat interface seometimes show incorrect images for player's equipped items.
8. Fixed a bug with incorrect stats reset during manual character creation.
9. Fixed a bunch of issues with system text being shown instead of player's squad members' proper names.
10. Fixed a bug that made repairing squad members' armor and equipment cost zero money.
11. Fixed an issue that made visiting a brothel give zero actual debuffs to the player despite the text saying that it did.
12. Fixed a series of bugs that happened when player attempted to craft poisons through unorthodox recipes.
13. Fixed an issue that prevented some types of poison from being handed over to the sergeant to complete his Hoggard quest.
14. Fixed an issue that prevented certain random events from occuring.
15. Fixed an incorrect interaction with the ornate cloak during the Man of God quest where it wouldn't disappear from inventory after being thrown.
16. Fixed several minor bugs and localization issues.

1.09 Reworks and additions
1. Added a new ally class crusaders. They are availalbe for hire in the Outremer chapter (after completing the St. Lazarus quest), have their own visual model and receive no heat debuffs.
2. Added more emotions to the girls' dialogue models (anger, happiness, eyerolls etc.).
3. Improved the accessability of the 'Chest' button.
4. Being in possession of the Justice Sword during the siege of Windsor would result in additional militia bands joining the player's cause.
5. Added a visual indicator to damaged items that are curerntly equipped (in inventory).
6. Axes' description now correctly mentions their improved armor damage chance.
7. Increased the number of enemies at Onar's and Olvier's farms.
8. Added knights and crossbowmen to the pool of Windsor's defenders. Manually completing the siege should be more challenging now.
9. Added a limit to the number of bolts available for purchase to prevent various money-making abuse mechanics.
10. Now after every retreat from Windsor the player will be allowed to loot the killed enemies' weapons and gear.
11. The end game results screen after dying in the French storyline now correctly shows the player's rank (mercenary instead of knight).
12. Increased the speed of durability loss of the mechanical crossbow.
13. Added a new tooltip that describes how the combat stances work and lists all the benefits of each.
14. Updated armor, weapons, trinkets and stats of the Scottish king's bodyguards making them more challenging.
15. Expanded the list of trinkets that can be used by the allies.
16. Increased the starting stats limit in the manual character creating up to 25.
17. Added a new scavenge event.
18. Brough back a softlock prevention mechanic in case the player lost all the weapons and ran out of time before the next story event.
19. Reworked the torture mask yet again now it only provides bonus vitality for the enemies that had injuries at the moment of death.
20. The cultist leader in York now correcly gains fatigue with every action that he takes.
21. Added a few additional spawns for the Unknown toxin item.
22. The sergeant no longer requires the player to specifically craft him a bag. Now you can both return him the original loot bag that you took from him (or buy a new one of the same size) or craft one yourself.
23. Survival mode now has a limit for the enemies that can spawn with poisoned main weapon only one per wave (bolts and daggers don't count).
24. Added a 'All to max' button to the manual character creation mode. It will automatically allocate all available points to level various stats.
25. Expanded the list of trinkets availalbe in the manual character generation mode.
26. If the player decides to rest instead of looting all the members of his squad will too have a portion of their fatigue recovered.
27. Updated a decription of the Wanted poster item it now mentions that the item only works around Cambrai area.
28. Increased the player's stat bonuses in the Story mode. Made some bosses easier on lower difficulties.
29. Added a switch for enabling\disabling community-made characters.
30. Brought back Northampton's celebratory dialogue after the player's successful capture of Windsor.

Like I said this patch is the biggest one we've done yet and, together with the first DLC, it would hopefully provide enough new experiences to maybe convice you guys to spend some more time with Heads Will Roll.

The next big update to the game will include a rework of the squad mechanics as well as new visual models for the allies (that will properly depict their class and experience level). Together with that we are also hoping to include in the update an entirely new storyline that will span across several new chapters and take the player on a bunch of new adventures. An official announcement should be coming rather soon so stay tuned!

As always, if you enjoy the game - please consider leaving a review on Steam. Make your voice heard.

HWR's Discord: https://discord.gg/xndPrtZMeT

1917 Studios

Hi everyone,

The release of Heads Will Roll: Reforged is booming: we are proud to hold the line on the Steam Popular & Trending tab, boasting an impressive 90% Positive Review Score!

If you haven't already, now is the perfect time to grab your copy. We're offering a fantastic 15% discount on the game, exclusively on Steam.

PURCHASE NOW
https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

But that's not all! We have some exciting news that we can't wait to share with you:

Patch 1.03 is live!

• Fixed a bug that occurred if you sided with bandits against the knight in a random encounter and prevented the battle from ending.
  
• Fixed a bug that made some of the cambrai quests accessible from rennes.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented vettori from crafting a crossbow string from belts.
  
• Fixed a bug that made various rennes quests to be available in the following chapters.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from receiving new weapons talent points after training sessions.
  
• Fixed some incorrect images of various poisons and faulty interactions with them.
  
• Fixed a bug with enemies spawning endlessly if the player has a torture mask equipped.
  
• Fixed some errors in russian and english localizations.
  
• Fixed some other various minor bugs and issues.
  

Hello everyone!

We're incredibly happy to announce that Heads Will Roll: Reforged has now officially been released. We have been working on the project for an unbelieveably long time and poured all of our heart and soul into it. The original HWR had a very unique vision behind it, a vision that for a variety of reasons we were not able to fully accomplish at the time. Reforged is everything that we envisioned the original HWR to be. Hopefully you will enjoy playing this game just as much as we've enjoyed making it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

Sincerely yours,
Nikita Rusakov and Christina Khalmuratova
aka 1917 Studios

[h3]Greetings medieval soldiers![/h3]

it is our pleasure to announce that the HEADS WILL ROLL: DOWNFALL is a part of the Steam Strategy Fest!

Heads Will Roll: Downfall is the prologue for the full version of the game - Heads Will Roll: Reforged.

It's available on Steam for free and you can add it to your library in order to permanently keep it, or leave a feedback review.
Feel free to try the game and add Heads Will Roll: Reforged to your wishlist after playing the prologue, especially if you enjoyed it so you won't miss any updates.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

[h3]Ask The Dev[/h3]
You are very welcome to join our Discord server to discuss the game in more depth.

Hello guys!
Today we'd like to announce the winner of our last week's contest.
It was Findrayl who managed to defeat the final boss in just TWO TURNS! An absolutely amazing result!
Here's the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3OVLyrUC10
He will receive a Steam key for HWR: Reforged on the day of its release.

We've received a bunch of contest entries and would like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated!

Sorry that the results took a bit longer to announce than expected we were awfully busy with Reforged (including redesigning some of the game's menus hopefully we'll be able to show some of the new stuff soon).

That's all for today, friends.
Discord: https://discord.gg/6y2NjEpXWv
Boosty: https://boosty.to/1917studios

Cheers,
1917 Studios

Hey guys!
Today we'd like to announce a little contest for anyone who is willing to participate. The task is very simple: kill the final boss of HWR: Downfall (De Monfort) as fast as possible, taking the least amount of turns (counting both phases). In order to participate you have to record a video of your full battle with him (without any cuts or edits), upload it to YouTube (or any other video hosting) and send us the link in an email at 1917studios@gmail.com
Only runs made on HWR or Hard difficulty will be accepted (the video must also show final score page).

Whoever manages to deal with him the quickest will be getting one copy of HWR: Reforged on the day of its release. In case of several applicants having the same number of turns the deciding factor will be the damage done with final strike.

We'll be taking applications during one week starting today and ending on Friday, December 2nd. The winner will be announced shortly after. Please feel free to apply!

Also, a quick reminder that if you like our games and want to support us financially you can subscribe to our Boosty page and get a bunch of nice rewards.
Here's the link: https://boosty.to/1917studios

Cheers,
1917 Studios

Hello.
We're happy to inform you that patch 1.85 is offiicially out. It is the last update for Downfall and its arrival marks the end of our tech support for the game. This is a necessary decision as we still have a lot of work ahead of us with highly ambitious HWR: Reforged and going forward we simply don't have enough resources to support two games.

During last two weeks we've done a lot of testing and ended up altering some of the things that were present in the original 1.85 changelog that I've posted a while back. In general, this update, aside from bugfixing, is supposed to do four major things:

Hello!
I'm glad to inform you that patch 1.85 is just around the corner and it's gonna be a pretty major one. But before diving into details I have to say that this patch is also going to be the last patch for Downfall as we have to move forward and fully concentrate of HWR: Reforged.

1.85 will bring a variety of bugfixes while also shaking up the whole game balance - hopefully getting rid of many exploits and forcing players to play much more strategically.
The early build of the patch is already available on our Boosty page. Steam version will be released some time next week after some additional testing.

[h2]Changelog:[/h2]

Fixed:
1. Fixed a bug that allowed to duplicate trinkets if all three equipped trinkets are identical.
2. Fixed an abuse with permanent inventory space increase through trinket manipulation.
3. Fixed a bug with enemies having negative stamina recovery value.
4. Fixed a bug with gorgets, bracers and legarmor losing their properties and turning into "0" items (HOPEFULLY).
5. Fixed the "ally_bone_crusher_limbs" error that resulted in a crash.
6. Fixed an error that allowed to trigger reconnaissance quest in chapters 2 and 3.
7. Fixed a bug when damaged armor item with 0 actual armor value still 'partially blocked' the strikes.

Added and changed:
1. Stats debuffs from armor items no longer allow to level stats above the chapter threshold.
2. Slightly decreased available time in between battles on HWR difficulty.
3. Further increased evasion penalty applied to stunned targets (from -50 to -80).
4. increased the cost of weapon skill levelling in manual generation.
5. Player can no longer equip identical trinkets.
6. Added hotswap for pouches with stored items.
7. Manual character generation now also allows to increase and decrease virtue.
8. Reworked flagrum, now it correctly applies virtue buffs (like pray), but also has stronger penalties.
9. Slightly reworked formula that determined enemy stats (now they will be just a little bit increased).
10. Added one additional armor item in shop (if soldiers rep is higher than 25).
11. Now damage is increased for every 6 points of weapon skill insted of every 3.
12. Sligtly tweaked some weapons' damage and stamina consumption.
13. Added several new icons.
14. Reworked formulas for armor interaction:

• limbs armor will be easier to punch through
  
• head and neck armor will be considerably harder to punch through
  
• overhead strikes now will be much more potent at punching through armor
  

Hello.
We're glad to inform you that patch 1.8 has just went live. It is a pretty major update that is supposed to remedy a variety of issues. Hopefully it does its job.
Here's a full changelog.

Fixed:
1. Fixed quickswap interactions between two-handed weapons and shields.
2. Fixed a bug with tutorial images not disappearing.
3. Fixed a bug with battle interface icons hopping on top of each other.
4. Fixed a bug when comparing an equipped gorget\bracer\legarmor with one in shop would cause a crash.
5. Fixed a bug when an improved pen bolt could not be loaded into crossbow if it's the last one remaining in your pouch.
6. Fixed a bug when examining some two handed swords would cause a crash.
7. Fixed an error when visiting the tavern would sometimes trigger a blacksmith quest.
8. Fixed a bug when using face protection chops or attachable visor in crafting would cause a crash.
9. Fixed an error when trying to use recover action while at full stamina would cause bleedings and other effects to trigger for a second time in the same turn.
10. Corrected a bunch of errors and typos in translation.
11. Blue stone ring now properly displays its bonus in character tab.
12. Fixed a bug with infinite looting after battle with mercenaries in chapter 3.
13. Fixed a bug when starting the game with 3+ strength would not increase your inventory size right away.
14. Fixed a bug with 2 achievements not triggering properly (A Strange Affair and Soldier, Not A Murderer).
15. Fixed some errors related to receiving injuries.
16. Fixed a bunch of bugs that allowed stunned characters to shieldblock crossbow shots and thrown daggers.
17. Removed autoscaling elements for bandits in the woods. Generally made them a lot weaker stat- and gearwise. They will still pose a major threat early on but should start to rapidly fall off in later chapters.
18. Fixed a bug when picking up an iron cuirass from loot made the game crash.
19. Fixed an issue with Lesser silver ring sometimes having an incorrect image.
20. Fixed a bunch of other minor errors, bugs and inconsistencies.

Added:
1. Added an ally in the battle against Scottish spearmen.
2. Added a global limit for canteens and waterskins (restocked every chapter).
3. Added a global limit for arrows (restocked every chapter).
4. Added a bunch of new items in manual generation menu (including high level weapons two-handed swords, halberds etc., trinkets and armor).
5. Added quickswap mechanic for trinkets.
6. Added a reminder that TAB button can be used to skip dialogues and text.
7. Added more frequent autosaves in combat on HWR difficulty.
8. On easy difficulty mode all enemies that spawn after round two would spawn fatigued.
9. Enemies in chapter three will spawn severely poisoned. On easy difficulty mode there will be fewer of them in the first two battles.
10. Profile progress can now be reset.
11. Character generation points can now be converted into gold.
12. Inventory size will automatically be updated after equipping or removing trinkets that increase strength (sustaining strength-reducing injuries would also impact the inventory size).
13. De Monfort now fully recovers stamina at the beginning of his phase two.
14. You can only swap weapons in combat if you've got enough stats to wield the weapon in scabbard (you can still freely put any one-handed weapon in scabbard).
15. Lowered base bleed chance for bludgeoning weapons.
16. Player can no longer use respite if he has zero fatigue.
17. Increased the gain of timidity points for using respite.
18. Recalculated the formula for overhead strikes (half of strength is now added as damage; this strength-based portion of damage is also amplified by the body part damage modifier).
19. The torture quest now can also be completed with any kind of knife or dagger.
20. Reworked the formulas that decide ally's stats - it should result in some slight stats increase on normal-hard and a very considerable stats boost on easy mode (keep in mind that the ally's stats and gear are still tied to your reputation with soldiers); also slightly buffed ally's possible defensive gear.
21. Reworked rune of vitality - now it also recovers 1 hp every 2 turns.
22. Limbs strike can now cause enemy to accidentally drop his shield (this effect basically works as another possible injury).
23. Added more detailed descriptions for enemy's gorgets, bracers and legarmor.
24. Decreased repair cost for shields and armor.
25. Profile levelling points now are also given for completing story chapters and for one tenth of your gold.
26. Respite action now has a cooldown and can be used only once every two turns.
27. Fletcher's tools are always sold by Vettori and sewing kit is always sold by the medic.
28. If the player has run out of time in camp (or in a battlehub) and has no weapon to enter the battle with, he will be given a wooden club and a reputation penalty (prevents pepegas from getting softlocked).
29. Lowered the evasion bonus that agility provides. Also tweaked offensive\defensive bonuses of weapon skill and agility.
30. Reworked weapon skill training in camp. Solo training can now only get you up to 10 WS, sparring - up to 20. To get further you will have to train with a coach. On top of that WS training will consume more fatigue.
31. Lowered stamina cost for two-handed weapons' attacks.

We'll be looking forward to hearing your feedback and impressions.

To keep in touch and for more info on Heads Will Roll you can join our Discord and support us on Boosty.

Cheers,
1917 Studios

Hello guys!

First of all I'd like to thank all of you who downloaded and played Downfall. Release of this project was an important milestone on the road to HWR: Reforged our most ambitious project. In this blogpost I'd like to address some of the criticism that we've received, talk about the upcoming patch and also share some important news.

[h2]Feedback and criticism[/h2]

Let's start with the criticism. The first thing that has to be said here is that all the negative feedback that we've got after the release of Downfall is primarily focused around the game's difficulty rather than UI and bugs (which caused a lot of issues at the lauch of the original HWR). There are, of course, some bugs and there are indeed UI problems but it seems like we've definitely made some progress in this department. Hopefully Reforged's lauch will be even more smooth and its UI will be even more improved.

Now onto the criticism itself. The majority of negative reviewers complains that the game is too difficult and I do agree with the fact that some of the encounters are indeed unbalanced. I also agree with the fact that the game's overall difficulty curve is pretty steep. These problems will hopefully be remedied by the patch 1.8 which we'll discuss in detail a little later.

However I have to say that the overall direction of criticism seems to me largely misguided and I do not think that the game has a big problem with difficulty or a big problem with RNG or a big problem with enemies being too tough. There is a reason why almost every quest in the game has both good and bad outcomes (and sometimes even more that that) I do that so you could fail them and still not have your immersion ruined. Same applies to battles in pretty much all of them you don't even have to kill your enemies, you can always retreat to save your life and progress. Many of the tougher battles are strictly optional and you don't have to engage in them if you don't feel confident.
This, in my opinion, is what Heads Will Roll is about making tough choices, surviving and adapting.

But then again I always welcome any kind of constructive criticism even if your opinion vastly differs from mine. Because in the end we're making this game for you and want you to enjoy it. So please feel free to speak out and let me know what you think.

[h2]Patch 1.8[/h2]

Now onto the juiciest part. Patch 1.8 is currently in the works and should be coming either this Friday or early next week (Monday-Tuesday). Here is an INCOMPLETE changelog (the patch is still being worked on so chances are the final version will contain more changes).

Fixed:
1. Fixed quickswap interactions between two-handed weapons and shields.
2. Fixed a bug with tutorial images not disappearing.
3. Fixed a bug with battle interface icons hopping on top of each other.
4. Fixed a bug when comparing an equipped gorget\bracer\legarmor with one in shop would cause a crash.
5. Fixed a bug when an improved pen bolt could not be loaded into crossbow if it's the last one remaining in your pouch.
6. Fixed a bug when examining some two handed swords would cause a crash.
7. Fixed an error when visiting the tavern would sometimes trigger a blacksmith quest.
8. Fixed a bug when using face protection chops or attachable visor in crafting would cause a crash.
9. Fixed an error when trying to use recover action while at full stamina would cause bleedings and other effects to trigger for a second time in the same turn.
10. Corrected a bunch of errors and typos in translation.
11. Blue stone ring now properly displays its bonus in character tab.

Added:
1. Added an ally in the battle against Scottish spearmen.
2. Added a global limit for canteens and waterskins (restocked every chapter).
3. Added a global limit for arrows (restocked every chapter).
4. Added a bunch of new items in manual generation menu (including high level weapons two-handed swords, halberds etc., trinkets and armor).
5. Added quickswap mechanic for trinkets.
6. Added a reminder that TAB button can be used to skip dialogues and text.
7. Added more frequent autosaves in combat on HWR difficulty.
8. On easy difficulty mode all enemies that spawn after round two would spawn fatigued.
9. Enemies in chapter three will spawn severely poisoned. On easy difficulty mode there will be fewer of them in the first two battles.
10. Profile progress can now be reset.
11. Character generation points can now be converted into gold.
12. Inventory size will automatically be updated after equipping or removing trinkets that increase strength (sustaining strength-reducing injuries would also impact the inventory size).
13. De Monfort now fully recovers stamina at the beginning of his phase two.
14. You can only swap weapons in combat if you've got enough stats to wield the weapon in scabbard (you can still freely put any one-handed weapon in scabbard).
15. Lowered base bleed chance for bludgeoning weapons.
16. Player can no longer use respite if he has zero fatigue.
17. Increased the gain of timidity points for using respite.
18. Recalculated the formula for overhead strikes (damage will be slightly increased).

Once again, this list is a work in progress and most likely will be expanded. If you think that there's something important that we've missied now is your time to let me know.

[h2]News[/h2]

And now onto the news.
To those of you who don't know 1917 Studios is just two people: one of whom does all the drawing and visual design while other (me) all the coding, writing and game design. We've got a publishing deal but the publisher's job is to help us with promotion and marketing while the financial burdens of the development iteself are still left on our shoulders.
Thus, as an experiment, we've decided to open up a Boosty page (an equivalent of Patreon since Patreon doesn't work with Russian citizens) where anyone (from any country), who has a desire to do so, can offer us some financial support for a bunch of rewards. This is strictly voluntarily. So, if you want to show your appreciation or to support the ongoing development of HWR: Reforged you're welcome to do so.
Here's the link: https://boosty.to/1917studios
But, let me be maximum clear, HWR: Reforged will be properly finished and released no matter how successful or unsuccessful this Boosty campaign will turn out to be.

Don't forget to join our Discord!
https://discord.gg/6y2NjEpXWv

This is it for today. Stay tuned for some more news!
Cheers and thank you for playing our games,
1917 Studios

Hello everyone!

The time has come! We are super excited to announce that Heads Will Roll: Downfall is now available on Steam!

The team has been working hard on the game, eagerly awaiting today's release! We want to share our sincere gratitude for supporting the game and being part of the community!

We have poured our soul and heart into the game, and hope you will enjoy it!

First of all, let's check out the launch trailer:

[previewyoutube=q1bpwhkTmpo;full][/previewyoutube]

Let's talk a bit about game content and our plans going forward.

[Game Content]

Even though it's only a prologue, the small part of the whole story, we wanted this to be something you could play over and over again. That is what we feel we have achieved, 100%.

The game has three difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, and Heads Will Roll.

We recommend choosing "Heads Will Roll" difficulty for the most authentic experience.

Think of it as "New Game Plus", each death will increase your in-game profile depending on how far you have progressed. As you progress through the levels, you gain more character generation points, which enables you to create stronger characters and try to survive again.

Good luck!

[Communication and QoL Improvements]

After the game is released, we will continue to communicate with you to get feedback on the game and will continue to make improvements! All bugs will be fixed, balance issues will be investigated, and most importantly--we will evaluate all feedback on quality-of-life issues to make gradual improvements.

So, please join our Discord to chat with us about the game.

[h3]Wishlist and Follow the Full Game![/h3]

This will greatly help us and provide invaluable support for the project on release!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

Hey everyone,

We are excited to announce that everything is on schedule and Heads Will Roll: Downfall is going to be released on October 20th, 2022.

We've put a tremendous amount of effort into the game and hope that you will not be disappointed. We also are very much looking forward to receiving your comments and feedback.

[h2]MORE ABOUT DOWNFALL and THE RELEASE[/h2]

Downfall acts as a Prologue for Heads Will Roll: Reforged and sheds light on the backstory of several important characters of the main game. It also will showcase the improved gameplay mechanics and new character artsyle.

Downfall turned out to be a pretty much full-legth game and thus will be available for free up until the release of Heads Will Roll: Reforged in winter of 2023. After that it will be repackaged as a part of HWR: Reforged. So hurry up and grab it!

For thos who are new to the series here's a brief feature overview of Heads Will Roll: Downfall:

- Story-driven RPG with survival mechanics
- A lot of non-linear quests with various outcomes
- Over 100 authentic medieval weapons and armor pieces
- Complex combat system
- Crafting (Blacksmithing, Alchemy etc.)
- Social interactions system (reputation, virtue, prestige)

Don't miss the release!

Still not added to your wishlist?
Well, it's time to do it!
This will greatly help us and provide invaluable support for the project on release!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903060/Heads_Will_Roll_Downfall/

[h3]Ask The Dev[/h3]
You are very welcome to join our Discord server to discuss more about the game.

[h3]Join us at the Steam Next Fest Event as we're playing through the HEADS WILL ROLL: DOWNFALL Demo.[/h3]

The Demo will be available from 3 to 10 October!

Heads Will Roll: Downfall tells the story of an ordinary medieval soldier fighting in a war between England ans Scotland. Taking on his role, the player will begin the adventure as a peasant with no military experience and will have to work hard to survive as danger will be waiting around every corner. The story will face you with a lot of difficult choices that will test your moral principles and make you suffer the consequences of your actions.

[h3]Wishlist and Follow. The launch is just around the corner![/h3]
Heads Will Roll: Downfall acts as a stand-alone prologue for the full version of the game Heads Will Roll: Reforged.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903060/Heads_Will_Roll_Downfall/
[h3]Full version[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

[h3]Ask The Dev[/h3]
You are very welcome to join our Discord server to discuss more about the game.

Greetings, fellow adventurers!

We are super excited to let you know that Heads Will Roll: Downfall is a part of the Steam Next Fest!

Join us for the Broadcast and get ready to take on a role of a medieval soldier, make many difficult decisions and, if you're lucky, meet a beautiful lady.

The Demo will be available from 3rd to 10th of October!

Heads Will Roll: Downfall tells the story of an ordinary medieval soldier fighting in a war between England ans Scotland. Taking on his role, the player will begin the adventure as a peasant with no military experience and will have to work hard to survive as danger will be waiting around every corner. The story will face you with a lot of difficult choices that will test your moral principles and make you suffer the consequences of your actions.

- Turn-based tactical combat
- Non-linear story
- Romance
- Crafting system
- Lots of authentic medieval weaponry, armor and equipment

[h3]Wishlist and Follow. The launch is just around the corner![/h3]
Heads Will Roll: Downfall acts as a stand-alone prologue for the full version of the game Heads Will Roll: Reforged.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903060/Heads_Will_Roll_Downfall/
[h3]Full version[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

[h3]Ask The Dev[/h3]
You are very welcome to join our Discord server to discuss more about the game.

Hello.

In this blogpost we'd like to share some news about weapons and combat system of both HWR: Reforged and HWR: Downfall.

In our opinion, the original Heads Will Roll both had a pretty respectable arsenal of weapons and did a decent job highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of different weapon types. In Reforged and Downfall we decided to expand the overall arsenal while, at the same time, increasing and preserving the uniqueness of each weapon.

At this point in development there're 56 different melee weapons in the game including several ones that fall into completely new categories like 'curved swords' and 'throwing spears' that were not present in the original game. Both of these are an interesting addition mainly because they allow us to introduce new attacks and mechanics that, in turn, enable the player to create more unique playstyles.
So, for example, curved swords have a new attack that increases the damage dealt to target by a portion of attacker's agility, but only if the blow lands clean (i.e. not fully or partially blocked by armor). What this means is that now there's a weapon, damage output of which scales with agility rather than only weapons skill or strength. Coupled with the addition of all kinds of new trinkets this allows for completely new playstyles that do not rely on brute force or heavy weapons for high damage output but rather on agility and precision.

The introduction of throwing spears and javelins too aims at diversifying the approaches to combat that are available to the player. The 'Spear Throw' attack makes use of both agility (to hit the target) and strength (for damage modifier) for an absolutely devastating effect. Even at the start of the game, with a relatively weak character, this attack is capable of doing damage in the realm of high 20s and one-shotting shields. And since all throwing spears have at least one melee attack, your options with them are never limited to just throwing so you can hold your own in melee combat. Thus you can both throw your spear at the beginning of the battle and then instantly switch to the second weapon. Or wait until there's an opportune moment or a proper target and then throw it.



Another thing we did was buffing the one-handed longswords. In the original game they were widely considered to be one of the worst weapon types. And this, by itself, is not a very bad thing as, contrary to the popular belief, in the real medieval combat the longswords were never considered to be that amazing of a weapon. Depending on the situation, a poleaxe, a spear, a mace, a flail or an axe would pretty much always be a better option that a sword, while circumstances where a longsword would be better than any of the above were very rare.

But, at the same time, longswords were indeed used very widely and were by all means an iconic weapon of that era. Thus, searching for a way to buff them in the game, we came up with an idea of another attack a fencing move. Dubbed 'Counter Strike' this attack increases the hit chance if the target has missed their previous attack or has a 'feinted' debuff applied to them. The idea should be pretty obvious: deceive your enemy with feints, make them miss make them pay. Obviously, this playstyle too can hugely benefit from a variety of new trinkets that can improve your feinting skills, dmage output, chance to inflict a bleeding or an injury or break enemy's armor.



On top of that a lot of weapons (both old and new) received unique attack effects: rusty swords and axes can inflict a small poisoning; messers, gross-messers and curved swords have a higher chance to inflict bleedings etc.

And even that's not entirely it as there're actually two more new attacks - Helmbreaker (for Horseman's axe) and Coup de Grace (for several swords). But in the interest of time we'll leave them for another occasion.

If you liked the news then rejoice as Downfall is just a couple of months away. And, hopefully, it will not disappoint you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/

Hello.

As was promised, today I'm bringing you another blogpost with more information about new features that will be introduced in Reforged and Downfall.
This time we will discuss armor.

First of all, let's talk numbers. The overall amount of available armor items has been increased dramatically. At this point the work-in-progress build of the game has 21 body armors, 21 helmets, 20 gorgets\bracers\greaves and several helmet attachments. This is a considerable improvement over the original game and this number is very likely to increase even more as the work is not yet done. Having this many types of defensive equipment will allow the player to deeply customize his character's loadout in order to suit the chosen playstyle or address any particular issue.

[h3]New slots[/h3]
This is also helped by the fact that there will be 3 new equipment slots for gorgets (neck armor), bracers and greaves (limbs armor). Thus, even at the earlier stages of the game, the player can obtain a very respectable level of protection. But most of the armor, obviously, comes with various debuffs so it will always be a trade-off between better protection or better combat stats.

[h3]Prestige[/h3]
New equipment slots and new armor pieces are also going to have more significance due to the introduction of the Prestige mechanic. The better equipment you've got on - the higher is your Prestige. This, in turn, means better chance to impress people and command their respect. So, if you find yourself doing some diplomatic mission or seeking to make an impression on a noble lady it may be wise to put aside your trusty but worn chainmail and suit up with something fancier (even if you're not intending to use it on a battlefield).

[h3]Combat mechanics[/h3]
When it comes to combat mechanics there's news too. Limbs armor is now a fully separate value; all armor items can now receive separate damage to diffetent armor zones (so, for example, a body armor with limbs protection after absorbing blows to the limbs can lose several points of 'limbs armor' value while 'torso armor' value will remain as it was). The same applies to allies and enemies whose equipment too can take damage to a particular zone.

[h3]Manual armor repair[/h3]
During repair the item can lose some stats as well. For example, armor, cover and prestige values will lower when the player attempts to manually repair the item while not being that skilled at craftsmanship. Obviously, the more you level the skill - the fewer stat losses your items will take. Same thing will happen if the player does cheap partial repair through blacksmith. Full repair, on the other hand, might cost a lot higher but will return your item back with pristine stats.

[h3]Armor crafting[/h3]
And now for the most interesting part armor crafting and custom armor. Yes, both Downfall and Reforged will have armor crafting: player will be able to combine different armor items in order to get an item with higher stats. Unlike consumable crafting system, armor crafting WILL NOT be giving you a predetermined item with a prethough list of parameters but rather will produce you a completely new item with dynamic stats. This means that combining two damaged or two pristine items will not give you the same result. The outcome will also be influenced by your craftsmanship skill. The higher it is the more bonuses the item will receive (i.e. more armor, more cover, higher sell price, more prestige, fewer debuffs etc.).



Same goes for the head armor items. Some of helmets too will be able to be combined with each other (bascinet + mail coif, for example) or will take on attachments, like visor or face protection chops.



The player won't, of course, be able to combine ANY items heavy armor (plate mails, full helmets etc.) is not going to be usable in crafting. The crafting system will remain more reasonable and revolve around combining things like a padded jacket and a chainmail or a chainmail and a cuirass or a demi-cuirass and a plackart etc.

So these are the main points when it comes to the new armor system. It took a lot of work to implement and I really hope that it will be a lot of fun for you to use.
In the next blogposts I'm going to do similar overviews for weapons, trinkets, ally-related mechanics and other stuff so stay tuned for more news.

Cheers,
1917 Studios

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687800/Heads_Will_Roll_Reforged/