Endless Legend 2's demo had its critics - here's how Amplitude are changing the early access build in response

UI, satellite plan and penning are owed for improvements

I confess, aft speechmaking the comments connected yesterday's Endless Legend 2 aboriginal entree impressions, I americium mortally afeared that I'm 1 of those accursed "positive outliers" I support speechmaking astir successful the Gamer Witchfinder Almanac. Seemingly, a just information of you were turned disconnected by the caller Steam demo. You whitethorn beryllium interested, then, to work specifics astir however Amplitude person changed the crippled successful effect to demo feedback.

As elaborate successful a caller Steam post, here's what they deliberation you liked. Firstly, the Tidefall mechanic, whereby the water retreats periodically to uncover other playable terrain, and the regular Monsoons that expanse the land. "This was a halfway constituent of the game, and we were blessed to spot it having a existent impact," the devs write, adding that they tinkered a batch with the quantity of Monsoons and Tidefalls. Apparently, determination were erstwhile 8 smaller Tidefalls to each crippled of Endless Legend 2, truthful galore that players began ignoring them.

They besides reckon you're keen connected the asymmetrical faction plan - "always a absorption of Amplitude" - and that you're mostly enjoying the creation and sound, including the representation design, characters and jingles for worldly similar insignificant factions, oregon the weird echoey thudding you mightiness perceive during Monsoons.

Now for weaknesses. According to Amplitude, the bulk of the antagonistic feedback acrophobic the idiosyncratic interface. "A 4th of reviews mentioned UI and lone 30% of those comments were positive," they note. "In speechmaking each your feedback we recognize it's not arsenic elemental arsenic making a fewer changes and we are looking astatine thing larger. There are instances wherever we displayed the incorrect oregon not capable information. There were UI and substance bugs to hole and we deliberation much is needed here, which volition instrumentality immoderate time."

In particular, they're looking astatine making the metropolis screens much intelligible. "Adjacency, leveling districts, managing population, and having wide decisions connected what to physique adjacent were each muddy," the devs write. This is simply a "flow issue", apparently, which I conjecture refers to however your eyeballs and attraction determination from 1 UI constituent to the adjacent successful the people of municipality management.

Amongst different things, they mightiness alteration up Districts truthful that you tin prime them from a operation database similar Improvements, alternatively than picking a tile to physique connected first. "This volition instrumentality clip to alteration and won't beryllium successful the archetypal Early Access, but we volition beryllium sharing concepts with you to get feedback," the devs comment.

To belatedly update my impressions from yesterday, I haven't had overmuch of a occupation with the UI successful the aboriginal entree build, but determination were decidedly a mates of moments this week erstwhile the verdant tile designs made it hard to discern, say, metropolis centres, oregon units wrong cities. It's decidedly alternatively busy, which is to beryllium expected for a 4X strategy crippled with specified florid factions and a turbulent expanding map. I besides sometimes forgot what right-click and left-click bash successful antithetic contexts. I don't see immoderate of these deal-breakers, however.

Following connected from those UI thoughts, Amplitude admit that immoderate players person recovered the colourful satellite a small excessively hallucinogenic. They've addressed this successful aboriginal entree by making metropolis foundations clearer, truthful you cognize to physique there, portion getting escaped of bugs (not the Necrophage) that caused blurriness, and adding much graphics options. They've besides reduced the colour saturation of the terrain a small and made the all-important hexagonal grid lines much prominent, portion shrinking definite fancier vegetation that players kept confusing with Anomalies.

"It's a hard equilibrium betwixt providing a lush, elaborate satellite wherever you tin spot the leaves stroke successful the upwind during monsoon, and inactive not person to strain oregon beryllium confused erstwhile trying to spot accusation you request to play," the developers observe.

In my impressions of Endless Legend 2, I was astir captious of the quality writing. Demo players were besides iffy astir this broadside of the game. In their Steam post, Amplitude enactment that determination are galore much words successful Endless Legend 2 than the 2014 original, including reams of quality dialogue. "We privation heroes to consciousness idiosyncratic and deep," they write. "They whitethorn beryllium members of your council, person their ain friends and enemies, and they speech straight to you and each other. But this further granularity besides came with issues.

"For Early Access we person updated the presumption of the dialog, we are cutting lines and events to absorption connected lone the champion and astir suitable," the devs continue. "In immoderate cases, the incorrect quality would accidental something, oregon a quality it didn't marque consciousness for, which we are fixing." I decidedly picked up connected a fewer instances of the latter, but my overarching occupation with the quality penning is that the absorption connected characters doesn't bash definite factions justice. The Necrophage are a horde, not a cast. The Aspect are a reef, not an ensemble. That's what I find charismatic astir them conceptually, astatine least.

Endless Legend 2 launches into aboriginal entree connected 22nd September. It'll commencement disconnected with 5 factions. They're readying to adhd a sixth positive multiplayer and customized faction enactment earlier the 1.0 merchandise adjacent year. If you extremity up disliking it delight don't pain my location down.