The Black Death has just got a brand new update. The Long Night promises day & nights cycles, performance improvements, days survived, housing overhaul and much, much more! We had a chat with The Black Death’s Lead Artist Cameron Small and Community Manager Emily Barber about the update.
Looking at the patch notes, this is the biggest update the Black Death has received! What is your favourite change you have worked on and why?
Cam: How players progresses and unlock professions, the knight, Blacksmith, Monk and Outlaw feel very prestigious. Also, all the new skills that are tied to the tiered professions.
Emily: My favourite change (that I didn’t work on) is the new dynamic events that occur at night. I can’t wait to see Players wandering the woods and seeing the night bandits appear from the darkness! My favourite feature (that I did work on) is the new Player written book. I really enjoy seeing Player created content!
Do you think this update will add more to the games eerie and creepy atmosphere?
Cam: We are always conscious of making sure the game feels like the black death / plague is represented in the world and we’ve made sure this update has a larger overwhelming presence of death and disease.
Emily: Definitely! The new day and night mechanic really adds to the games setting. Also, the new music tracks really bring home the eerie atmosphere. You feel vulnerable if you venture off into the wilderness at night the forests can feel like a labyrinth.
The patch notes highlighted that there will be more procedural events added to the game. What can we expect from these events and how do they influence each individuals game overall?
Cam: Not only do the procedural events provide more valuable loot but we’ve also done a lot of work to make the locations of the events almost completely random so players can be surprised or even ambushed. It gives a nice tense atmosphere, especially at night.
Emily: More danger, more loot, more fun. The events that occur only at night make venturing out alone a challenge. I hope players are smart and group up together to take on the new Night Bandits!
Day and night cycles have now been added. How dangerous will the night time be for the player?
Cam: As mentioned before we have a different set of procedural events happen at night including the extremely dangerous night bandits. Corrupt guards, militia and other military are hiding their identity at night and looking for easy victims since the country essentially is in a state of emergency. This is to test the player and make sure they don’t get to comfortable and should start thinking about purchasing a house. So, without owning a home it’s best to explore at night in groups if you want to survive.
Emily: Visibility is low, there is more danger around from not only the new enemies but also Players too. Night time makes a perfect opportunity for Outlaws and Hunters to use their surroundings to their advantage. Players wandering with torches are targets for the keen Outlaw looking for easy prey!
How does the new character progression system work? How will you be able to stop becoming a lowly beggar?
Cam: Now all the professions are locked behind tiers we had a good amount of time to create skills that matter, that really help the player and give variation to gameplay. This has also allowed us to boil it down to key mechanics, now the beggar is a really strong introduction profession. even though the beginning of the game is essentially the hardest part you have a lot of potential rewards with new professions to unlock through the skill tree to give each life a stronger start. Unlocked professions also persist through death so become quite desirable.
Emily: As a Beggar you will be introduced to crafting armour, basic meals and tools to survive. These recipes use resources that are readily available around the your surroundings. As you gain more skill points and survive, you realise unlocking the peasant is a big step up.
The Long Night update is available now. If you haven’t jumped into The Black Death yet, you can grab 33% off from the Green Man Gaming store.