A deeper dungeon needs more than a larger army. It needs different decisions, different threats and places that feel worth defending.
The initial Playtest design focuses on three selectable Crusade Tiers. Alongside that preparation, we are exploring content beyond Tier III: new defenders, more specialised invaders and additional battlefield art. The previews here show a conservative selection from that work.
In development. Final content, balance and presentation may change. These previews do not announce public availability or a guaranteed launch roster.
Troll: committing to one large defender
The Troll asks a question that an Orc pack does not. What happens when a substantial part of your room budget becomes one large, regenerating bruiser?
Its current prototype combines a heavy melee presence with bounded recovery and a nearby slowing sweep. Fire and acid can interfere with that recovery. The aim is a creature whose staying power requires an answer, while leaving room for concentrated damage and specific counters.
The pale, long-armed cave silhouette also needs to separate immediately from the shorter armoured Orc. That visual distinction matters at battlefield scale: a player should understand that these are different tools before opening a statistics panel.
Gargoyle: a sentinel with limits
The Gargoyle explores a defensive role built around stone, deliberate movement and protecting a nearby wounded ally.
A protector becomes more interesting when it cannot cover the whole room. Limited movement and local protection create placement questions. Which ally needs the sentinel? How close should the formation stay? What happens when pressure arrives somewhere else?
Its folded wings and stone body communicate the intended weight. The goal is to make it feel like a sentinel you have positioned for a reason, rather than another general-purpose attacker with a different portrait.
How the crusades get stronger
Future difficulty can grow through composition and specialisation as well as additional bodies. A familiar hero role can gain a more specific job, changing how the rest of the expedition survives.
The Radiant Paladin is one example: a promoted Knight lineage with an emphasis on protecting a nearby wounded ally. Its broad sun shield and winged helm keep it recognisable as an invading crusader while giving it a stronger individual outline.
This approach lets a harder party create new problems. Protecting a vulnerable companion is different from simply increasing every hero's damage. Other specialist classes and promoted roles are being explored, but we will introduce them individually when their identity and presentation are ready to show.
Undead Crypt
The Crypt study moves the defence into a burial chamber. Stone, tomb architecture and cold light give the room its own identity while leaving a central area for the battle to read clearly.
A strong environment cannot compete with the information players need. Creature silhouettes, health, effects and the legal battlefield space must remain visible against it. The art has to work beneath a crowded fight, not only as an empty scene.
Fungal Caverns
The Fungal Caverns explore a more organic space: rock, fungal growth and a different palette from the fortress and crypt.
That contrast can make a deeper room feel unfamiliar without making it difficult to read. We are assessing the artwork's framing and clarity alongside the creatures it will need to contain. These images do not promise new environmental mechanics; they show the visual direction currently being tested.
These additions remain work in development and testing, separate from the first Steam Playtest target. The public roadmap places army and content expansion within the wider direction. Getting the initial combat and progression into players' hands, and learning from that experience, remains the immediate priority.