Hello everyone! We’re so excited to be back with New Beginnings, our first major update. Thanks for sticking with us. Read on to see what’s changed.
Important: A New Save Is Required
New Beginnings makes fundamental changes to the structure and progression of Masters of Albion. As a result, saves created in version 1.4 cannot be loaded in version 2.0.
A public version 1.4 branch will remain available through Steam for 1 month for players who want to continue an existing game. A new save will be required to play New Beginnings and access the version 2.0 content.
Note:
The best way to learn about the changes in the New Beginnings update is to watch our trailer. You can find it at the top of our store page.
Right, let's get onto the patch notes....
A New Beginning for Masters of Albion
Since launching in Early Access, we have been listening carefully to your feedback.
You told us that performance needed attention, nights needed more variety, progression needed greater depth and interactions with the world needed to feel more satisfying.
New Beginnings is our response.
Rather than treating these as isolated issues, we have reworked several of the game’s underlying systems. This update introduces performance improvements, a new opening, a redesigned Order System and product creation, addictive card based progression, reworked night time combat and many more ways to interact with Albion and it's people.
We are proud of what we have achieved and believe this provides a stronger foundation for Masters of Albion moving forward. The game remains in Early Access, and we will continue listening to your feedback and improving the game after this update.
Rebuilding the Game for Better Performance
We know this has taken a while. Improving performance required much more than tweaking a few settings.
We’ve moved Masters of Albion to a more efficient & completely different rendering system, rebuilding or converting every in-game asset in the process.
In our tests, this has delivered
up to double the frame rate, alongside improved stability and responsiveness. Gains will vary depending on your hardware, resolution and graphics settings.
Our performance work continues beyond New Beginnings. A further update, currently scheduled for two weeks from now, will bring more performance improvements. We’ll also resubmit the game for Steam Deck verification. Handheld users, watch this space!
A (literal) New Beginning
An expanded prologue. Places to explore. Choices to make. Plenty of lore.
Your journey now begins on the outskirts of Oakridge, revealing more of the Chosen One’s origins before they inherit the power of a god. A few surprises await.
Reworked Orders and Design Table Changes
We’ve reworked the
Order System, replacing random orders above the Dispatch with structured series of jobs that follow each Order Giver’s story.
The first orders introduce new product parts and mechanics. More Order Givers become available as you progress, letting you switch between their stories and choose whose orders to tackle next.
Completing certain orders unlocks part packs needed for later jobs. Higher tier parts can be earned through night rewards or discovered throughout the world.
The refreshed
Design Table shows how your choices affect production costs, potential profit, customer requirements and alignment, helping you decide whether to maximise earnings, meet every requirement or create a more generous design.
We think it's a system that is easier to understand, more satisfying and most importantly, fun!
Corruption
We felt Masters of Albion needed a growing threat that changes the world as you play.
Now, every night, the power of the Orken Stone grows, spreading corruption and sucking the life out of the beautiful lands of Albion. You’ll need to fight its spread and adapt your tactics to work around it.
Corruption gives the evil threatening Albion a visible presence in the world, giving you another reason to win nights and turn the tide against the undead foe.
Reworked Nights and Lasting Rewards
You told us nights needed more variety and clearer rewards. We’ve reworked them around defined objectives and
permanent reward cards earned through your score. Better results mean more points to spend on the upgrades you want.
And remember, the Orken Stone’s corruption spreads across Albion each night, threatening the land, its people and everything you’ve built.
Objectives
Each night begins with a briefing showing the approaching threat, enemy attack points and your objective.
A few examples of the objectives you’ll face:
- Defeating a set number of enemies.
- Surviving for a limited time.
- Escorting worshippers to safety.
Certain nights also feature several timed rounds.
Scoring and Reward Cards
Defeated enemies award points called
commendations, based on their type and difficulty. Optional challenges can increase the points earned for particular kills or apply a multiplier to your final score.
The updated night HUD tracks objective progress, remaining time, kills and your current score.
After a successful night, spend your commendations immediately on
permanent Reward Cards, a new major part of progression in Masters of Albion.
Hand power buffs, new buildings, paints, parts, decorations and more are all up for grabs. Each night offers a fresh selection, giving you more ways to experiment and create your ideal godly build.
Unspent points are lost and do not carry over to the next night. You can also forfeit your score and replay the battle to try for a better result.
After a Defeat
If the battle is lost, time returns to the end of the previous day. You can change your defences, Heroes and equipment before trying again without repeating the day’s objectives.
The New Arcadium
Every Reward Card you earn at night joins your collection in the
completely redesigned Arcadium.
We wanted to bring a fresh collecting and deck-building element to Masters of Albion. Cards grant abilities and upgrades for combat, god powers and interactions with the world. Some upgrades can be collected more than once, allowing their effects to stack.
Crucially,
cards carry good, neutral or evil alignment. The cards you choose contribute to your overall alignment, which is reflected in your people and the appearance of your God Hand.
The Arcadium now uses a clearer scrolling layout, with cards organised by category, alignment and rarity. This makes it easier to review your collection, compare options and see what remains to be unlocked.
Improved Hand and World Interactions
You told us the Hand could feel disconnected from the world. We’ve given it proper physical presence and more ways to interact with Albion.
Water, grass, crops and trees now react as your Hand moves through them. Pull trees from the ground, replant them or shake them into logs. Move and throw decorations and other objects more freely.
Characters and animals can be poked & flicked, with clearer reactions and feedback. Place characters beside certain objects or other characters to discover new interactions. Wells, benches and a ton of other objects have new reactions too.
Unlock the power to leave your Hand idle and see the land reflect your alignment, a subtle nod to the choices you’ve made.
There’s also a new point of interest near Wrymscar, with a statue to discover.
And further environmental improvements throughout Albion make the world look better and feel more responsive.
New Building Control Scheme
Constantly interacting with buildings to complete orders was getting tiring.
With more orders to take on through the new Order System, we felt building control needed a different approach.
It now comes down to a one-time, alignment-based decision.
Hold LMB over a building to choose how hard to push your workers, then watch from afar as they get on with the job.
This means less hands-on management and more freedom to experiment with building placement and design, pushing you to create efficient, satisfying production lines.
Cruel gods can have fun pushing their workers to run ridiculous distances to get an order done. Merciful ones can let them take it easy and use the new decoration menu to spruce up their surroundings.
We'll monitor the response to this feature and consider including the previous building interaction mechanic through an ability unlocked in the Arcadium. Let us know if you like it!
Decorations
Unlocked via night-cards, the new decoration menu lets players express themselves and get creative. You are now able to move previously static elements freely, as well as access all your unlocked decorations at whim via the new Decoration Menu. There are no limits, only your godly wallet!
We plan to add many more decorations in future updates.
Interface and Accessibility Improvements
We’ve refreshed the main HUD with redesigned buttons and a cleaner look. You can adjust its scale under
Misc in the main menu.
New and updated screens provide clearer information about Orders, designing, alignment, nighttime objectives, scoring, rewards and Arcadium progression.
Following your requests, we’ve also added subtitles to various areas they were previously not present.
Many Additional Improvements and Fixes
New Beginnings also includes many further improvements and bug fixes across performance, stability, presentation, quests, dialogue, combat, audio, animation, navigation and general quality of life.
With so many systems rebuilt, we’ve also r
ethought balance from the ground up, and we’ll be monitoring it closely and using your feedback to guide further changes.
A Final Word
Thank you so much to everyone who has played Masters of Albion, reported problems and shared feedback with us.
New Beginnings represents a significant amount of work from the team and an important step forward for the game. We will continue developing Masters of Albion alongside our players throughout Early Access.
Our discord is a great place to give feedback and chat to the team, you can join here:
https://discord.gg/raxGPSYGmu
One of the most powerful ways you can support the studio is to leave us a review. Whatever your thoughts on the game after this update, we want to hear them!
If you haven’t written one before, why not give it a go?
