Path of Orren release date and devlog #1: what we're building

Hi, I'm Jonas, one of the developers on the small team making Path of Orren. This devlog is where we will tell you what we're building, why we made the choices we made, and what changed since last time. We start with the questions people ask us most: what the game is, where you can play it and when.

One thing first: Path of Orren is still being built. Everything in this post, from the screens to the numbers, can change before launch.

When does Path of Orren come out?

Sorry, there is no release date yet! It's coming, we promise. We would just rather tell you a date we can keep than one we have to move. When we have it, it goes in this devlog and to the waitlist first, so the waitlist is the place to be if you want to play on day one.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Android

Path of Orren is a mobile game, made for phones and tablets. It plays in landscape, and fights play out on their own. It will be free on the App Store and Google Play, and we will never show ads: no videos to watch for a reward, no pop-ups.

How a run works

Every run begins with two heroes, out of more than a hundred. More join along the road: a walking kiln, a seed pod that grafts its friends, a stone spirit who charts the gaps in enemy lines.

Each act is a map of branching paths, and you choose the next stop: a fight, an elite fight, a shop, a forge, a treasure cache, an event or a sanctuary to rest.

Before every fight you set the field, three lanes with a front row and a back row. Then the battle plays out on its own, and you watch your choices pay off, or not.

There are three acts, each its own world: the red orchards and kilns of the Firelow Lands, the brass city of the Bellworks, and the black stone and stormglass skies of the last act. Beyond it lies Crownfall.

Why a roguelike, and why auto battles

We love roguelikes for the moment a run clicks: the third relic that suddenly makes two heroes feed each other. Auto battles let us keep that feeling on a phone. All your decisions happen before the fight, so a run never needs fast fingers, only a good plan. If you are new to the genre, our guide to what a roguelike is explains the basics, and roguelike vs roguelite explains why we call Path of Orren a roguelike.

After the road: the Arena

Finish a run and the heroes still standing become a company, with their gear, banners, relics and Wards. A company can then fight in the Arena against other players' companies, one after another, on the same rules as the road. While you're away, other players fight your companies. Every Monday at midnight UTC, whoever stands at the top of the ladder is crowned the Orren for the week.

How Path of Orren started

We're a small team of gamers at heart. We've played a lot of roguelikes and auto battlers, Slay the Spire, Loop Hero and Super Auto Pets among them, and at some point we decided to build our own.

We picked dark fantasy because most of us already loved that world, and because it speaks to a lot of people: grand and a little grim, without being niche. For the heroes, we looked at League of Legends: every hero has its own skills, and heroes level up fast, so your party grows stronger from one act to the next.

We've been building Path of Orren for more than three months now, and everything is going well. We love playing it ourselves. If there is something you want us to write about here, tell us at hello@pathoforren.com.

Questions