Greetings Wielders!
A while back, we promised news, and today we deliver! Our next faction has taken root, literally. We’re excited to launch the Roots store page, giving you a first glimpse of what’s to come. Over the next few months, we’ll share more in a series of devlogs covering everything from troops and lore to biomes and abilities. The Roots is our second faction DLC, bringing sentient vines, walking mushrooms, and the reanimated husks of fallen foes to the battlefield. If that sounds like your kind of army, be sure to wishlist it by clicking the banner below! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3511790/Songs_of_Conquest__Roots/?beta=0 But who, or rather what, are the strange creatures the Vanir call Roots? Deep in the dark Wyldwood of the Bleak East, an ancient, sentient colony of flora, fungus, and the bones of lost heroes thrives. Led by the enigmatic Tree Mothers, the Roots seek to expand their domain and, above all else, survive. Unlike our other factions, the Roots do not consist of individuals with their own ambitions. They share a single mind, a collective consciousness that drives their relentless push to spread the Wyldwoods. Where Barya and Arleon are built on personal will and strategy, the Roots are bound by purpose—an unstoppable force of nature.
Sentient buildings, and dangerous creatures, they are all tools for a unified purpose.
The Roots understand that to lead their forces and communicate with other factions, they need intermediaries, and voices for the Tree Mothers. To fulfill this need, they create Vessels, repurposed corpses of the fallen, and given just a sliver of their former mind and essence.
The process is not perfect. The vast majority do not survive intact, their wills shattered by the transformation. These broken vessels, little more than husks of bone and vine-bound flesh, become mindless tools, sent into battle as relentless, undying servants of the cause.
I think this Arleon reconnaissance patrol might regret venturing into the Wyldwood.
More ancient than any other faction, the Roots are strange and twisted. Where did they come from? Why did they leave their former home, and why are they now mostly found in the Bleak East? Why does the dangerous Vildra hate them so much? Some of these questions, and perhaps more, will be answered in the two story-driven challenge maps that explore their past.
There will also be five Conquest maps, designed to introduce the new units, showcase how the faction plays, and bring their dark, swamp-infested biome to life. We’ll cover more about that in a future Devlog as it’s still a work in progress, but expect new map entities, dense shadowed forests, and plenty of creeping vines.
We can’t wait to see what you will create with all your new cartography toys!
It’s hard not to throw more fungi-dropping details at you, but the truth is that Roots is still a work in progress, even though production is going great! We see no issues sticking to our plan and expect to release the dark forests of the Roots this summer.
Now, before we continue, we want to acknowledge a mistake. When we released Vanir, we followed Valve’s recommended regional pricing, which we hadn’t done when we launched the base game. This led to an odd situation where the Vanir DLC cost more than what was reasonable in some countries. This wasn’t our intention, but rather an honest mistake on our end, and we understand why it felt frustrating.
We’ve taken your feedback to heart and are making changes. This time, we’re manually adjusting prices when we release Roots, ensuring a fairer approach. We’ve also corrected the mistake with Vanir, and price adjustments should roll out for the affected regions soon. Thank you for your patience and for keeping us accountable.
But back to Roots!
We can’t wait to share more about our newest faction in the coming months. Expect Devlogs covering unit rosters, giant creeps, tactics, essence, and new features. Stay tuned, and don’t forget to wishlist Roots now!
/Anders and everyone at Lavapotion
