- New Shapeshifter Ability: Wing Form - 12 June 2026
While working on developing new NPCs to bring into Avencia's citizenry and soldiery, we've also continued to develop the Prisoner's skills and abilities. We are excited to show off the latest shapeshifting skill that has been added to the game.Putting points into the agility tree, the Prisoner and players can now spread their wings! Serving as both a double jump and a slow-fall, the new wing form opens up new traversal options that were previously only possible with abilities such as tendril yank.Something we've always bounced back and forth on is how much emphasis should be placed on the disguises versus other forms. Avencia is home to various people, but ultimately they are for the most part still every day humans. With that in mind, it makes more sense to lean heavily into the shapeshifter's otherworldly powers to really make the most of the Skorozian blessings they have received. Th…
- Q1 2026 Progress Report: Tilesets, New Disguises, Music & Reinforcements - 23 March 2026
Hear ye, Hear ye, A News Post Doth Come!It is time for another update from our team at Black Garden Studios to keep you informed and up to date with all going-ons in Necrofugitive development.ReinforcementsIn the art department, our team has expanded our ranks and recruited an additional artist to help produce the necessary animations to get our cast of NPCs out the door. The first characters this artist has been working on can be seen in the next section below.Playable DisguisesAs you all know, in Necrofugitive, players can assimilate and then disguise themselves as various NPCs in the game. These NPCs enable the player to move around undetected and use enemy abilities to make their great escape. We have two NPCs we'd like to talk about in this update, both of which have been worked on by our new artist and art lead in tandem. First up is the Avencian Peasant.This Avencian Peasant is a…
- Q4 2025 Debrief & Development Update - 15 January 2026
Greetings and salutations! It is time for another update from our team at Black Garden Studios to keep you informed and up to date with all going-ons of Necrofugitive development that took place in the last quarter of 2025.As a reminder, the first act of Necrofugitive was successfully funded on Kickstarter. This means content specifically found within the first playable region, The Duchy of Castor.Development for the Duchy of Castor, as well as its first scenario Escape from Fortress Havenhold are still underway. The first drafts of the various stages are complete, with things such as encounter design and broader functionality still being added. We've also been working on new NPCs that will appear in this opening act as well as some additional characters that will be in subsequent areas of the game.The People of AvenciaAs development continues for the game, the world of Avencia has some…
- Bug Fixes & Community Game Night - 11 August 2025
Hear, ye! Hear, ye! A News Post Doth Come!Necrofugitive Demo BugFixesOver the last few weeks, we have become aware of bugs that exist within the Necrofugitive demo and routinely push hotfixes and updates to resolve them. One of our persistent bugs that seems to happen between these updates is a misalignment of hitboxes due to some niche quirks between the engine and our tools during export. Simply put, we are constantly tuned in for your bug reports (there's a SUBMIT REPORT button in game) so that we can fix these problems as they arise.Below is an itemized list of all of the changes in this latest build:Added missing knight transform animation.Knight overhead attack now inflicts KNOCKDOWN instead of KNOCKBACK.Restored missing hitboxes in footman shield guard animations.Fixed blink ability not granting invincibility during use.Card Roulette ActionOur special promotional keys for DEAD MA…
- Necrofugitive Act 1 Successfully Funded on Kickstarter - 29 July 2025
Hear, ye! Hear, ye! A news post doth come!After thirty days in the gauntlet of Kickstarter campaigning, we are pleased to announce that Necrofugitive has officially been funded! Thank you to each and every one of you who has contributed to the campaign.Now that we have concluded our campaign, we are very excited to announce a few things. Please read along for more information.Necrofugitive — Map of AvenciaWe are very excited to share this regional map of Necrofugitive's Kingdom of Avencia. In the full version of Necrofugitive, we intend to make each of these regional areas accessible to players for their escapes. For now, we'd like to direct your attention to the Southwest corner of the continent— the Duchy of Castor.Act 1 - The Duchy of Castor & Fortress HavenholdNecrofugitive's opening act will take place in a place called Fortress Havenhold, located on a remote plateau within the Duc…
- Necrofugitive is 90% Funded on Kickstarter! - 15 July 2025
This post is a mirror of a post from our Kickstarter campaign.Hear ye, Hear ye! A News Post Doth Come! Necrofugitive is now 90% funded on Kickstarter! With under $5000 remaining to reach the goal, we are on the cusp of victory with your help! Please continue to share the project and help us to not only smash through the goal, but also bring the game to consoles sooner.Just 10 days remain. Show the world that you're as ready for Necrofugitive to finally be made as we are.We've outlined our plans for the development timeline of Necrofugitive on the main story page, but we'd like to revisit it once again in this update to review our plans for the game's production.Development TimelineAs outlined in the above graphic, our plans for Necrofugitive's development, pending the success of the Kickstarter, are based around bringing players content within 2025. This begins with those who belong to…
- Necrofugitive is LIVE on Kickstarter! - 24 June 2025
The Necrofugitive Kickstarter is now underway! We've got exclusive physical and digital rewards available, so be sure to back the game while supplies last!Click here to visit the Kickstarter page!
- Necrofugitive is Coming to Kickstarter! - 15 May 2025
Hear ye, hear ye! A new Necrofugitive announcement doth come! Greetings and salutations, dear friends. We, the team at Black Garden Studios, come bearing news and information about Necrofugitive! Let this issue of the Avencian Herald commence! Necrofugitive is coming to Kickstarter! We are excited to share that Necrofugitive will be coming to Kickstarter in late June 2025— that's just one month away! For those who are unfamiliar, Kickstarter is a crowd-funding website where fans and supporters can pledge their money to help fundraise for a project. In our case, that project is Necrofugitive! The more follows we have on Kickstarter, the better our performance will be on their algorithms. We have a lot of exciting content planned for the game that will only be possible through funding, so please be sure to take a look. We are also pleased to share the fine folks at Kickstarter have given…
- Necrofugitive 2024 Wrap Up — News & Announcements - 31 December 2024
Hear ye, hear ye! A new Necrofugitive announcement doth come! Greetings and salutations, dear friends. We, the team at Black Garden Studios, come bearing news and information about Necrofugitive! Let this issue of the Avencian Herald commence! The Paladin Draws Nearer! Earlier this year we shared a first look at our newest enemy type, the Paladin. Paladins will be advanced enemies that challenge your skills as a player with their unflinching resolve and towering shields. The presence of a Paladin on the battlefield is sure to raise the morale of friendly troops. Just what is the holy order these brave knights belong to? Stay tuned to learn more. New Unit Type — Political Prisoners Along with a second look at the Paladin, we’re also happy to introduce another new unit type— the Political Prisoner! Most often born to the common folk and peasantry, these individuals find themselves in a si…
- Necrofugitive April 2024 News Update + DEAD MAN'S HAND Launch - 9 April 2024
Hear ye, hear ye! A Necrofugitive news announcement doth come! Greetings and salutations, dear friends. This is your friends over at Black Garden Studios with additional news and information about Necrofugitive and the latest other projects from our studio! First and foremost, we thank you for your continued support over the days, weeks and months, and hope you will continue to enjoy playing the Necrofugitive demo and all it has to offer. As we continue to develop the title, it brings us great joy to hear your feedback and see your content online, be it a playthrough or article related to the game. As for the game itself, today we are excited to share a new character that you will encounter during your exodus from the realm of your oppressors. Before we get too much into the nitty gritty of it all, it is only fair that we give a small spoiler warning. Those who wish to experience Necrof…
- Announcing DEAD MAN'S HAND: Card Roulette Action - 10 March 2024
As we continue working on Necrofugitive, we find ourselves experimenting with various ideas and concepts that turn out pretty fun on their own. Sometimes, those concepts turn into entirely new creations. With that in mind, our team is proud to announce the existence of a secret project, and we want you, the community that has been on this journey with us, to take part in it. We’ll be conducting a playtest of a brand new title in the near future, and we want members of this community to be some of the first to get their hands on it. Introducing DEAD MAN'S HAND: Card Roulette Action As some of you may know, Necrofugitive is an indie-title without a publisher, and if you’ve been paying attention to the news, the videogame industry is crumbling under the weight of layoffs, losses, and general malaise. Full transparency, making videogames is our passion and dream, but without consistent fund…
- Christmas Demo Update - 27 December 2023
Tracking hounds have been added to the demo. You can find them in the forest searching for you after an alarm has gone off. It is possible to shapeshift into one of the dogs. Try barking at a guard to get him to follow you or open a door for you. Guards may find it suspicious that a dog knows how to open and close doors. Guards can also now become suspicious of each other and even attack each other if provoked. See if you can start a fight among them about who the real traitor is!
- Necrofugitive Demo Update! - 1 November 2023
Hear ye, hear ye! A new update for the Necrofugitive Demo has arrived! Over the past month the Necrofugitive team stealth dropped a new build of our vertical slice pre-alpha demo. This update features balance adjustments, new abilities, and a handful of fun and unexpected surprises. We have been paying close attention to your continued feedback across various platforms and through our feedback tool within the demo build itself. Based on this feedback, adjustments have been made to various attributes of the game in relation to resource management such as health and stamina, hit detection on corners and ledges, enemy placement, and overall game balance. Another note we would like to share with players is that our enemies do not share a single mind. What that means is, being detected by one does not mean others will know you are there. Only when the alarms are raised will enemies across th…
- Carrion meets Castlevania in Necrofugitive—a 2D stealth-action game where your enemies can set traps and learn from your slaughter - 30 September 2023
I'm always here for some hack'n'slash action—and that's exactly what Necrofugitive promises to offer. Developed by Black Garden Studios , the game centres around a runaway monster hounded by mediaeval knights after a brutal witch hunt. It's just dropped another gameplay trailer as part of Realms Deep ... Read more.
- Necrofugitive Developer Livestream - Steam Next Fest - 9 October 2022
This Saturday and Sunday we will be live streaming gameplay for Steam Next Fest to talk, answer questions, and hang out all while playing Necrofugitive! Come join the fun! If you'd like to keep up to date with development, you can join our Discord!
- Necrofugitive Developer Broadcast - Steam Next Fest - 8 October 2022
This Saturday and Sunday we will be live streaming gameplay for Steam Next Fest to talk, answer questions, and hang out all while playing Necrofugitive! Come join the fun! If you'd like to keep up to date with development, you can join our Discord!
- 2022 Necrofugitive Demo Now Live! - 5 October 2022
Hello everyone! I have some exciting news to share! A little over a year ago, we released a combat and stealth demo in order to gather feedback about how we should proceed. I'm happy to share that once again that we have finished a vastly new and improved demo, which you can download from our store page. This demo features a full 3-stage campaign, a customizable skill tree, improved AI and bug fixing, voice acting, a new soundtrack, a slew of combat and stealth improvements, and more! This is our last demo we will release before releasing the full game on Steam and other platforms. This demo will always be available, primarily because feedback is valuable! If you played the demo and want to send us your thoughts, we've set up a survey for your convenience. Additionally, Necrofugitive is currently being featured in Steam Next Fest until October 10th. This means we will be broadcasting ga…
- Necrofugitive Stealth Demo is Now Available! - 19 December 2020
We've finished a brand new stealth demo, loaded with a slew of new gameplay mechanics and a new stage featuring a prison fortress swarming with armed patrols. New abilities have been added, most notably the ability to assimilate and shapeshift into enemy soldiers! Can you outwit your enemies, escape Havenhold Prison, and secure your freedom? A full list of included features: Assimilate and Shapeshift: absorb enemy corpses and disguise yourself as one of them! Execute: a new heavy attack that can instantly kill enemies knocked down! New Seek and Destroy AI: AI soldiers have been reworked to hunt you down based on sound cues, line of sight, illumination, guard voices, and alarms. Stealth Kills: the prisoner can now instantly kill unaware guards with a deadly backstab Wardens: A new enemy type, Wardens are imposing and dangerous enemy type that carry lanterns and crossbows, fully capable o…
- Combat Demo Update! - 13 July 2020
You can play the updated demo HERE! We've just released an update for our combat demo that addresses the mountain of feedback we received during round one. This includes improved combat mechanics and a new 10 wave survival gamemode (along with a secret ending for those that manage to complete it!) You can check out the update log on the itch.io devlog or our discord channel. We hope you enjoy our new and improved version of Necrofugitive! Don't forget to provide feeback!
- Necrofugitive Combat Demo is Live! - 5 June 2020
We have finished our first demo for Necrofugitive, which you can play here: https://blackgardenstudios.itch.io/necrofugitive-demo This demo is a combat demo which focuses on showcasing combat mechanics. This demo features two stages to play on. Your job is to simply survive the onslaught of enemies as long as possible! We hope you enjoy our first prototype of Necrofugitive, and don't forget that we want your feedback! Join our Discord if you wanna chat about feedback directly!
