Happy April, everyone! Here's more news about your favorite in-development RPG!

Alpha 16 Reflection

Alpha 16 came out without a hitch, and at long last, The Trail is finally available on Steam! Alongside everything else in the update, Alpha 16 set a precedent for future releases: a substantial amount of content without a prolonged wait. I hope you're all enjoying the Greenfield-Solus Passage, the Ruined Fort, and everything else that was added!

Alpha 16.1

A minor update *may* be coming out soon to address issues with Alpha 16. However, due to the oddly specific of some of these bugs, they might go unpatched until the next major update.

Alpha 17

Now that you've witnessed the destructive power of Apocalypse first-hand, it's time to take up arms! The thing is, no one really knows where Apocalypse is... so it's up to you to track him down. A member of a mysterious cult has been captured, and is being held in the Solus Valley Jail. It'll take some intimidation to get anything out of this guy, but for now, he's your only hint. And who knows? Maybe this lead will take you right to Apocalypse... Alpha 17: Path of the Purple May 2025 You read that right: Alpha 17 is coming out before summer. The Trail is expanding quicker than ever!

The Future?

We've been locking in the remainder of The Trail's story, and I believe we have a good idea of the direction the game is going in. Alongside everything that will be added, we also intend to revisit many earlier parts of the game, particularly Adon. As the first major part of your journey along The Trail, as well as the entirety of the demo, we don't want Adon to be subpar in comparison to the rest of the game! After all, it should be all about setting expectations rather than delaying the "actually cool stuff" until later. We also intend to revamp the graphics at some point, as they are objectively holding back the game in terms of marketability. However, this will require either a lot of money or an exorbitant amount of work. I'm at a bit of a standstill deciding if it's really THAT worth it... after all, when I first started working on The Trail, I never expected it to blow up and top the charts. Then again, I don't want it to be basically invisible on Steam. We'll see, though.

Final Words

It's good to be back to working on The Trail! Updates are steadily flowing out again, and its only a matter of time before we finally enter beta! Until then... the journey continues. Yours truly, AP

[ 2025-04-16 23:14:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Alpha 16 is here!

Didn't expect the update to come so quick, did ya'? It hasn't even been a month since Alpha 15.6! The development processing is changing, and updates will be coming out much more frequently, just like the old days. No more year-long waits!

At long last, The Trail is on Steam!

Collect 70+ achievements, store your saves in the Steam Cloud, and more! To claim your free key for the game, join our Discord server, head to #releases, and follow the instructions. And please wishlist the game if you haven't already! All updates will now be downloaded via Steam. The itch.io page and GitHub releases will no longer be maintained.

Linux support!

You guys are finally supported again! Sorry I abandoned you for Alpha 15... there were complications, but everything should run smoothly now.

Greenfield-Solus Passage

Now that you're back on the hunt for Apocalypse, your next stop is Greenfield. However, things aren't the same as before. Will you be able to help the people of Greenfield fight back against new threats? Explore a brand new dungeon and collect even more powerful equipment in Alpha 16!

Ruined Fort

The Ruined Fort has been revamped! This was supposed to happen all the way back in Alpha 14... but hey, better late than never. Save the souls being held hostage within the Ruined Fort. Fight new enemies and interact with the Phantasmal Plane to progress. A powerful foe awaits you at the top... can you defeat this ancient threat, finally completing Will's quest?

Closing

The Trail's alpha phase is nearing completion. As soon as the graphics have been revamped, the game will move into beta! It's crazy to see how far the game has come. My vision for The Trail is finally coming to fruition. Thank you for playing! Alpha 17 is on the way -- you'll be working with the Village Chief to help Solus Valley! Keep an eye out for Leeks and other news. Until then... the journey continues. Yours truly, AP

[ 2025-03-28 15:34:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy 7th Trailiversary, everyone! It's March 11th again, and we're celebrating The Trail as it enters its 8th year of development! It's been a long, rocky road -- the game has nearly ceased development a couple times, and even though updates have been filled to the brim with new content, they take forever to come out. However, things are changing this year, especially with the latest update... The Trail: Early Access is releasing on Steam! WISHLIST HERE: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3544920/The_Trail/ Alpha 16, set to release March 28th, will be the first update on Steam! From now on, it'll be easier than ever to download and automatically update The Trail. In addition, there's 70+ achievements for you to collect, as well as all the other features Steam provides (e.g. overlay, community tab, etc). Alpha 16 will also contain its own new content unrelated to the Steam release. Now that you're back on the hunt for Apocalypse, your next stop is Greenfield... but things aren't the same as before. Will you be able to help the people of Greenfield fight back against new threats? The Trail is truly making a comeback, and now it's better than ever. If you haven't played the game yet, the Steam release is the perfect opportunity to begin your adventure across the Overworld. Thank you all for the support, and I'll see you later this month! Yours truly, The Trail Team

[ 2025-03-11 19:24:13 CET ] [ Original post ]