Lands of Fury - Fast-paced action RPG roguelite

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@Frozen_Fried Next version I’m removing the gloss over the scales. Thank you!

@phoenixdk Great feedback. The pink creature is a didra - it takes you to the next level so you kind of have to hop on it at the end of each level.

Regarding the hero… Without major spoilers, he doesn’t belong there. I tried to communicate main hero’s look multiple times with the artist and man his face is where we crashed the most :confused: I really had to push hard for getting the head that was acceptable and in the end I also made some tweaks. I’ll probably try to make him more angrier looking myself, because with the artist I really have mixed experience - but I’m on such a tight schedule that my stomach aches :smiling_face_with_tear:.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really satisfied with golems and bandits, but when I asked for changes, the things that I wasn’t satisfied in the beginning and needed revisions, I have a feeling that my proposals weren’t taken in account or he put minimum effort in it. Sometimes I literally drew the thing I aimed for and in the end and the things he delivered were pretty off… To the point that I stopped wasting energy on revising the same thing over and over again and started modifying them myself, guess I also learned some GIMP in the end :sweat_smile:

Example - there is a dino creature in the game:

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Thing he delivered the first time - good body, nice club (thin handle), but bad head/face of the creature:

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The thing I sent him back - i drew this over in aseprite - and said that it should be more dino looking like this :

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The thing he sent me back (croc/snake looking):

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I sent him back again my picture…

and he then delivered this:

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This was my first time working with a professional artist, he was polite and everything, but regarding that this was payed gig, I had bigger expectations I guess :neutral_face:

Anybody had ever similar experience or how do you guys handle communication in a case like this?

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I used to be a producer, and have worked with external artists on a number of occasions… from that perspective, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not, and you just keep the good ones in your contacts for the next job :slight_smile:

I’ve also worked as a freelance musician / composer, and the feedback loop is one of the trickiest things to settle on. As a freelancer, you can easily end up spending most of your time making corrections for the customer, often because the people hiring are not great at communicating exactly what they want - that’s not a slight against you, it sounds like you’ve been very explicit and precise. My point is that it’s difficult to manage that time as a freelancer, which may be why you’ve had a poor experience here.

Personally, I’d lose this artist’s contact… my rule of thumb is that if I’m not impressed by what a professional can deliver (be it their speed, quality, creativity, etc), it’s not worth the money. Ironically, sometimes that means spending more. There’s that saying, “the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten”, or something like that :slight_smile:

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I’ve updated the steam page today, hopefully new description, added gifs and new artwork will convince more people to wishlist it :sweat_smile:

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48

Here comes a ranged companion! :blush:

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Trying to be a bit nicer to the players!

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Trying to break the pace with some minigames :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Adding some “tricks”… there’ll be more of them :slight_smile:

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little stuff like this is always nice to discover as a player :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I’ve updated the demo. It brings a lot of new stuff :blush: Feedback is more than welcome and if anyone is interested into playtesting “the proper” version let me know.

:test_tube: Challenge Rooms (NEW System)

Challenge Rooms are now fully implemented and integrated into the world:

  • Enter dedicated rooms with unique challenges
  • Multiple challenge types:
  • Bunny challenges
  • Hunt-style encounters
  • Lawnmower survival challenges
  • Reward statues and improved loot rewards

These add structured, high-risk encounters throughout your runs.

:warning: Traps (NEW)

The world now features a variety of traps:

  • Spike traps
  • Spore shooter traps
  • Slime spawn traps
  • Alert traps
  • Environmental trap clusters (e.g. mushrooms)

Traps are now part of level generation and scenarios, making exploration more reactive and dangerous.

:puzzle_piece: Build & Progression Changes

  • Runes now grant passive effects to your base weapon
  • Leveling curve reworked for smoother progression
  • Dash refreshes immediately after upgrading
  • New Dash Cooldown stat
  • Items like Ring of Bunny reduce dash cooldown

:crossed_swords: Combat & Enemies

  • Slime monster boss added
  • Arch Lich buffed
  • Firebreather nerfed (longer delay between attacks)
  • Bunny Wizard improvements & fixes - now drops Bunny Boots or Ring of Bunny
  • Added some AoE indicators for better combat clarity

:world_map: World & Content

  • Arenas: No longer spawn inside the main map, Fixed falling issues and improved behavior
  • Biomes updated: Frozen Peaks (visual and gameplay improvements, new Warden)
  • Cavernous Depths (generation improvements, new enemies like dino units)
  • Rainy Road (darker atmosphere, lightning effect)
  • Additional enemies, roamers, and points of interest
  • Game can now be completed by collecting all fuel cells

:backpack: Loot & Items

  • Chests can now drop any item
  • Fixed chest interaction issues with full inventory
  • Snip & Snap now have different loot pools
  • Large batch of new equipment added (boots, armors, capes, helmets, rings)
  • Improved item descriptions and stat clarity

:brain: Major Fixes & Improvements

  • Fixed broken dynamic scenarios (e.g. Didra, Fluffy issues)
  • Fixed chest and inventory edge cases
  • Improved AI behavior and responsiveness
  • Fixed arena spawning issues
  • Improved stability, spawning, and RNG consistency
  • Various UI, sound, and interaction fixes

:high_voltage: Summary
This update introduces:

  • Challenge Rooms system
  • Trap system
  • Rune-based passive builds
  • Improved progression and combat clarity
  • Stability improvements
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54

It looks and feels very much like a classic RPG / Zeldalike, so that’s good :slight_smile:

I played about an hour, but didn’t see a way to progress from there… and starting all over on death meant I didn’t really feel like putting another half hour into getting to where I was, just so I could die again.

My notes:

  • I didn’t understand the cartridge explanation, and spent quite a while figuring out where the ALMA menu is. The concept is simple though - equip to get bonus. I’m sure it can be made a little clearer.
    • The ALMA menu button can’t be pressed right after opening the inventory, and the explanation text doesn’t update. This seems to happen most of the time, but sometimes the button does become pressable. (this was in the tutorial)
  • Start button to pause doesn’t always work, it sounds like a trigger is going off multiple times
  • Nice soundtrack, not furious at all, but it sounds nice :slight_smile:
  • There may be upgrades etc to find later, but the initial “running” speed is pretty low. It feels little cumbersome getting around, and dash is really the only viable way to maneuver around enemies.
  • Conversely, enemy shots are quite fast, and very difficult to dodge. The archers especially could do with a warning animation before they fire, or just have slower projectiles.
  • You could have a button that insta-shows and forwards text, but doesn’t activate options - that way a player can go through the text quickly, without risking hitting an option by mistake. O (on a ps controller) already shows text, but doesn’t forward it..
  • Starting completely over on death is hopefully a demo thing… few things take the fun out of a game like having to do the same things over (and over)
  • I never figured out what any of the floor switches did, except the nice and obvious hammer ones. It would be helpful with a sound in a direction, an arrow, a blip on the map, or some other indication so pressing one has meaning to the player.
  • I’m not sure what the scope of the demo is, but I tried two caves (with the companion guy), and died quickly. I’m sure I won’t beat one in a hundred tries, so if that’s the road to progress, a player like me will never get there.
    • In an hours playtime or so, I only saw two health items, namely carrots. Having no healing over time / enemy health drops / healing skills / … really encourages the player to be extremely careful with their health, and play as cheesy as possible as a result. Wouldn’t it be more on theme (fury) to encourage a more aggressive playing style?
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Thank you for the detailed feedback, I appreciate it very much! I will try to fix bugs related stuff asap. Otherwise you should be able to earn meta coins and unlock new cartridges and companion skills :smiley: this makes each run “easier”.

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Bunny wizard in action!

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I’ll try to figure that out… they’re features I haven’t noticed, so consider that part of my feedback :slight_smile:

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I’m an hour in, and still far from beating an arena battle… at least I got to the fourth wave in an arena this time, in a couple of tries. It’s a nice idea with a merchant at the half-way point, but it should really include health items.

I found the skill-buying interface somewhat confusing. The headline is “Anton”, but purchases mention other names like Brin, Ana, Lillith and Gothar. Who am I buying upgrades for? I bought one that didn’t specify a name, but it disappeared from my inventory, and didn’t seem to have an effect.

I also earned something (filling the gold bar that fills up after you die), but I’m not sure what. It didn’t seem to make the game any easier.

If this is intended to be the starting experience for a new player, I think you should consider if it’s more fun to progress pretty easily at the start of a game, or immediately hit a wall of difficulty. If you find the game easy, do consider that you are likely the best Lands of Fury player in the world :slight_smile:

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I’ll be naming it now Anton (companion trainer) and Izzy (cartridge seller). I’ll add a notification that new skill has been unlocked for the companion or that cartridge is available for alma when you buy it - i think this will reduce the confusion so the item doesn’t feel like completely disappearing - what do you think?

The gold bar at the end rewards you a meta coin when it completely fills up. You spend them then spend in the camp for new cartridges or comapnion skills :smiley:

I really have to introduce difficulty modes!

Again thank you for the excellent feedback. All of your arguments make so much sense - that I feel stupid how tunnel visioned I got :sweat_smile:

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I think that will help. I’d still be confused about the name-mentioning skills though - do the skills that don’t mention a name (like Rain of Arrows) work on the player character or another character? You might even consider hiding them in the shop until their particular character is unlocked.

When you test from a fresh start, how much time are you playing before you beat your first arena, and how many deaths? I’m trying to get a sense of how hard the game is intended to be.

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Happy to announce that Lands of Fury has been released to early access. We still have a long way to go - so it’s far from the end, but good foundations are here

@phoenixdk difficulties have been implemented… and all the other suggestions are gonna come soon :sweat_smile:

Thanks everyone for checking this thread out, more updates will come in the future!

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Don’t worry about me, I’m just a tester :slight_smile: I’ll give it a spin later and report back.

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Do you mean difficulty settings? I didn’t find any, and didn’t spot any changes to the difficulty, except that health pickups seem more abundant now. Tried two more runs, still haven’t beaten an arena.

Just out of interest, do you find the beginning of the game easy?

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There is a button in the options menu → general → difficulty → easy. That increases your outgoing damage by 50% and decreases the incoming damage by 50%. It also reduces the arena wave difficulty by 20%.

The beginning can be easy if you equip right cartridges and level them up. I’d recommend you to try out electric dash and dash booster, maybe also add in second wind and brawler or sharpshooter.

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Please let me know if it will feel better :sweat_smile: