As Frosthaven prepares to leave Early Access, Snapshot Games and Cephalofair Games have just released their third and final major content update, titled “Into the Abyss.” I had the chance to talk with one of the developers about what’s changing, and how the team decides to target its resources. I discussed some of this philosophy in my article last year, but it's clear that the game has developed immensely since then. Below is a breakdown of new content, but I'll dig into more detail and discuss the approach they'll be taking for the full release.
Frosthaven has three major storylines, breaking down into the three major content updates. This one brings the Lurker storyline, a race of crab-like beings working to bring about a ritual somewhere in the depths. It will be up to you to investigate this work and find your place in it, either stopping or helping the ritual along.
In terms of content, that translates to new quests and town hall quests, along with two new heroes.
Crashing Tide is a tank, building itself up with the Tide keyword. Over time, they accumulate Tide buffs, which remain active until you rest. This process will test the push your luck nature of the game to its limits.
Deepwraith Assassin is a single target, teleporting damage dealer. Their cards build up Trophy points, which they can expend on later abilities. Timing card plays will be exceptionally important to succeed here.
This taking place underwater, I saw impressive effects on the new biomes. Coral drifts in the wind and fishy eyeballs follow your movements under the sea. Non-amphibious characters wear breathing masks for flair, and take a 2 curse penalty for fighting under so much pressure.
Together, that rounds out to 2 heroes, 24 quests, 9 challenges in town hall, 2 new biomes, and 4 new unique bosses, along with some items. While those make up the bulk of new content, some of the most important changes come in the form of technical updates, generated in direct concert with the community. Indeed, the dev team hears out issues in the Discord to remain responsive to their needs. This comes about in a few important but subtle ways.
For one example, Blinkblade cards work differently, if you want them to. Previously, they would autocalculate to what the game considered the biggest effect. It would take a +2 over a -1 with a stun effect. But machines can never appreciate the complexity or nuance of real games, so the cards now offers you a choice while also autocalculating effects, and showing you if any won't activate.
The team has also been hard at work improving the user interface. I won't write down every small detail, but I was impressed with the many changes to options (making them choices), visuals, and rules presentation that help make this a playable game. Special scenario rules are no longer cluttering the side of the menu, but instead located under a drop-down, with pictures and text explaining the details.
At the outpost, new icons to make more clear what is interactable which buildings serve which purpose. They added a calendar to make clear when events will be complete, which links directly to your campaign log and to show you the entry where the event came from. Inspired by Civ VI and Europa Universalis, they have a notification section to show you details like level up options for characters or buildings, spendable perk points, etc. These take you directly to the right menu to do the action, and events like retirement no longer trigger requirements for other players except in the notification afterwards.
The large details are as important, or less so, than the small ones in a game like this. It's intricate, it's long, and any source of annoyance is going to become grating over time. I'm impressed at how the team is able to pay attention to both levels of engagement so much, and with so much care in their own community experience. You can launch the update now on Steam, with full release soon on its heels.
