Link to Steam Page: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2174210/?curator_clanid=4777282&utm_source=SteamDB
Author: Edward Chavarria
Due Date: April 30, 2022
Publish Date: April 30, 2022
Buyer Persona: For Indie Gamers who want a Dark Fantasy Adventure RPG Hack n Slash.
“Into The Farlands,” Chapter 1, Mangled Web Releases On Steam! Play Now!
1. The Key Inspirations Of “Into The Farlands,” Chapter 1
There was a dark fantasy adventure story written by the CEO Kai Curry several years ago that this indie game was based on. “I wanted the game to stand out, and after taking a Chicano class at my university from Cal State Fullerton, hearing the stories of ancient Mesoamerica I was immediately hooked on these new mythological stories.” (Kai Curry 2023). We wanted our game to break away from the mainstream of current fantasy and move in a direction that was not dominated by the popular themes of Greek, Egyptian, and Viking lore. The original story was not too different from what it is now, and the story has a lot of the same story beats, locations, and themes. A lot of the locations and enemies that were imagined by Kai also had a lot of similar mythological creatures and locations that originated from Mesoamerican lore. As the founder of “Into The Farlands” became more inspired by these Mesoamerican mythological stories the more this story became rooted in these same themes. Tezacatlipoca in Aztec Lore was in a constant battle with Quetzalcoatl as they fought over how the world should be run. The Aztecs believed when these gods fought too harshly, they would destroy all civilization and the world, and the world would go through a rebirth cycle after the fight concluded. These same ideas are a core aspect of the “Into The Farlands” lore and you will come across these same storylines as you play the game.
2. The Unique Aspects of Chapter 1
In chapter one, “Mangled Web,” Tezacatlipoca is only able to control weaker enemies. In the game’s first chapter, a lot of the villager NPC’s will talk about the day of Crimson Sky. The day of Crimson Sky is an event that occurred when Tezacatlipoca obtained the legendary Crystal Skull, and became so powerful that the sky turned red, and was beginning to fulfill his end goal, destroying the world as we know it and reshape it in his image. This is a recurring phenomenon in game that will cause the player to start encountering stronger enemies as Tezcatlipoca obtains more pieces of the skull. During chapter one, you get introduced to a lot of amazing locations including Guapo Falls, and Solasta Village. Chapter one concludes after players defeat the main boss which is Teotihuacan – The Great Spider Goddess!
3. The Main Improvements Since The Last Update
We’ve had a massive number of improvements in both performance and coding. A lot of the bugs the game suffered from have been resolved. The pause menu has been updated to look like an old-style journal and we have completely overhauled the opening to Guapo Falls and expanded the concept of Solasta Village. In addition to these exciting changes, we also decided to save the swamp level for a future chapter . For pacing reasons, the team felt we were adding too many locations too fast and so the swamp level is no longer in chapter one. However, we will be adding more content and features to the swamp level, which means that this swamp region will be a lot more exciting to reach and will have far more playable content to interact with and explore!
4. The Results of the 1st Week
The results of our first week after releasing our first ever chapter of “Into The Farlands,” was a huge surprise in the best way possible. During this first week, we have had a big explosion of new users wish listing our game and have had a lot more views on our social media channels. Since we released our announcement trailer to now our first week out, the amount of wish lists for our game has increased by two times. It is hard to say the exact amount our marketing efforts have yielded us. However, it is fair to say that marketing efforts are successful, and a large amount of our new wish lists are attributed to the hard work we have put into making sure we have good quality short-form videos running on social media 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Our team has made a much larger effort to reaching our target demographic on social media using a short-form video format in which our CEO or marketing manager talks to our fans directly announcing new updates, and exciting branded content with gameplay playing in-between clips. We hope to keep up the hard work and continue to reach more gamers who are interested in this unique Mesoamerican mythology influenced adventure.
5. Exciting Ideas To Look Forward To In Future Chapters
An entire new area focused on the Mojave desert region will be coming soon and will be full of new enemies, characters, and gameplay that is sure to exceed expectation! It will be a long treacherous journey to reach a gigantic city that lies at the end of the dangerous desert. In addition to a vast desert adventure, we will also be implementing a cave system that is inspired by the Aztec underworld. The overall tone of the story will gradually get darker as new chapters are released. We will be moving into a bold and grungy direction with our soundtrack, which will accompany the darker and horrific new elements that we will be adding to the game. We will also increase the amount of optional side quests and lore on the trails for players to explore and experience that will be optional so adventurers will be able to choose whether they want to take a break from the main storyline and embark on fresh new mini journeys. In the upcoming chapter, we will be adding new weapons, an experience level system, and new attack combos to add more depth and excitement to fighting against our monsters. Overall, the team is extremely excited to add more content for all of our fans, and we are looking into integrating more uniquely Mesoamerican themes, more interesting and innovative combat, as well as more rich lore for our players to become fully immersed in.
