Against the Storm packs more meat into the Keepers of the Stone DLC with a free biome

Explore the Ashen Thicket

Eremite Games / Hooded Horse

Eremite Games and Hooded Horse have announced that the Keepers of the Stone DLC for their roguelike city-builder Against the Storm will receive a free update adding another new biome to its content. This is a reaction to some criticism from the community about the expansion’s price.

“Many of you have expressed concern about the price of the DLC, that it doesn't match the content it provides. We agree,” the developer wrote as part of a statement on Steam. “Although it was paired with an extensive Fishing Update, the DLC itself wasn't ‘meaty’ enough. That's why we're adding another biome to the DLC: the Ashen Thicket.”

In our Keepers of the Stone review, we noted that the DLC “appears to be a little expensive in a hard price-to-content analysis,” despite our generally favorable outlook on the first expansion for the game – an impression the community seemed to share.

The Ashen Thicket biome will come with unique visuals, resource distribution, soundtrack, and a special mechanic – the Cornerstone Forge. This building will allow players to create up to three specific cornerstones per game, though they’ll first need to collect Thunderblight Shards, which can be found as rewards from Dangerous and Forbidden Glade Events.

Those brave enough to experience an unfinished version of the biome can already test it on the experimental branch of Against the Storm on Steam.

In addition to the free biome, Eremite Games is adjusting the player level one needs to reach to unlock the Frogs, which were added in the DLC. Instead of making it to level 13, you’ll only need to hit level 9 in the future.

All of this will come into effect with Update 1.5 of the game, which does not have a set release date yet.