- Patch (v1.4.3): Small Bug Fixes, and A Big Thank You - 14 April 2026
Hey everyone!Had some bug reports I've been wanting to get to, and just wanted to make sure to get out the fixes to the common ones I could reproduce before going full steam ahead on game 2.Before the changelog, I wanted to say a huge thank you to the community. Those Who Rule 2 is already closing in on 10,000 wishlists. The first game took nearly three years to hit that, and we’re getting there in a month.That only happens because you’re leaving reviews and sharing the game. Word of mouth is a big reason for the success, and I’m genuinely grateful to you all. Your support is the reason I get to make a second game. "graphics" in the settings page.Fix: Removing Elite from Noah in brutal difficulty as it stopped an easter egg from triggering.Fix: Easter egg character not being loaded on a "Continue" in chapter 17.Fix: Invincible and Manipulator elite abilities only triggered on the player…
- Those Who Rule 2 - Announcement - 9 March 2026
Hey everyone!It's been over a year since the release of Those Who Rule, and some of you may have already had an idea why I've been quiet on announcements. I'm excited to confirm the poorly kept secret - I'm hard at work on the sequel, Those Who Rule 2!https://store.steampowered.com/app/4299520The first game was in development for over 4 years, shaped by constant feedback from the community and play-testers. With your help, I made something I'm proud of, but as with any first endeavor, it's far from perfect. Over the past year I've had amazing conversations with you all about what worked and what didn't, and I've consolidated that feedback into systems designed to address the most pertinent issues.GameplayThe core gameplay of Those Who Rule 2 will build off of the foundation laid by the original. I'll be keeping favorite mechanics like flanking, zones of control, shield mechanics, and th…
- Patch (v1.4.2): New SS Rank Weapons, Community Easter Eggs - 27 September 2025
Hey everyone!I know I said I was likely done with content updates, but I've had some requests through the games release that were too good not to put in. One of the main ones being filling out the roster of SS rank weapons to have a payoff for weapon mastery. Each weapon type now has it's own unique SS rank weapon that are given as rewards throughout the late game.For those of you who have been following the game since at least last June, you may remember the Brutal mode contest that was held, with the prize to the first completionist being a custom character. It's my pleasure to now introduce Renza, who will be brutalizing other Brutal mode players in chapter 16. But to those of you who take her down, you will get a new refinement, the Elite Cutter!And finally, one last playable character, but that is a secret I'll leave for you all to discover. :)ChangelogNew: Revna - Reward character…
- Patch (v1.4.1): Retry Battle Button - 23 August 2025
The long awaited, most requested feature, has finally arrived: The Retry Battle Button.No longer will you need to rage spam ENTER to skip dialogue after losing one of your units to that stray archer you forgot to account for when throwing your Marcus into the fray.ChangelogQoL: "Retry Battle" button.Fix: Fixed an issue with chapter 6 not being able to continue if Slyker dies but you had permadeath disabled.Fix: Chapter 20 cannot "continue" in brutal mode after save and quit. This was due to trying to load allied units that don't exist in brutal.Fix: Added Shane Morris (world map voice acting) to the credits (Sorry Shane!).Fix: Attacking with the Counter refinement on a different weapon was still triggering enemies to attack first when not using the weapon.Fix: Fixed an issue where even with 0 growths the game would give you a guaranteed growth.Fix: Passthrough on tooltips hanging around…
- Patch (v1.4.0): Mod Support - 22 July 2025
Hey everyone!For those of you who remember the roadmap I posted a while back, I'm excited to announce the delivery of the final entry: Mod Support.Here is what is currently being exposed to mod with this patch:Player Unit Base Stats.Player Unit Growth Rates.Player Unit Base, Advanced, and Exalted classes.Player unit equipment.Player unit starting chapter.Storage and Denari.For those of you familiar with playing with the game's save file, this will use the exact same system, but with a few more things exposed.Modding GuideI've also put together a modding guide for people who are completely new to something like this. I tried to be as thorough as possible, but this is also my first time trying to implement modding in a game, so please let me know any pain points you may have! I tried to include step by step examples on how to make any changes, as well as resulting screenshots. There is al…
- Patch (v1.3.2): Balancing Patch, Fixes - 26 June 2025
Hey everyone!I've been taking notes over the past months of your feedback, particularly what classes/items have felt under-powered, and wanted to do a patch to stabilize some power levels between the under-used characters, classes, and items.ChangelistBalance: Fury (Kaelith) - If this unit is hit, gain 2->3 ATK, 2>3 SPD, and 1>2 MOV until the end of your next turn.Balance: Iron Maiden (Quincy) - Now grants ATK and SPD alongside DEF per stack. "On being hit, gain 1 stack, up to 5 stacks. Each stack grants 1 (+ATK), (+SPD), DEF and 4 HIT. Lose a stack on round start."Balance: Guardian (Arland): Now triggers for any injured ally instead of only ones under 50% HP.Balance: Skewer (Lancer) - Ability can now multi-hit.Balance: Rally (Centurion) - Fortify adjacent allies for 2->4 DEF.Balance: Stregthen Resolve (Centurion): Fortified allies within 2 tiles gain 2->3 ATK and 0->3 SPD.Balance: Conc…
- Patch (v1.3.1): Small fixes, Brutal Mode Winners! - 12 June 2025
Hey everyone!I'm excited to announce we have our first 3 players who have conquered the challenge of Brutal mode!First Brutal Mode CompletionistsRideHadesPatterknifeScarlet0580I'll be working closely with RideHades in the coming weeks to create a custom character that will appear in other brutal mode play-throughs, while all three are getting put into the end game credits. Also, we've create a special title for those who finished in the Discord, so join if you haven't already and claim your Ranger (completing the game), or Ranger General (completing on Brutal mode) role!In the meantime, I also am pushing out some fixes for bugs that have been reported with the influx of new players from the #TurnBasedThursday Fest. Welcome in!ChangelistFix: Fixed an issue where stats were still reset in chapter 7 if \Benjen or Rho\ were promoted.Fix: Fixed an issue with continuing on chapter 4 and 5 in…
- Patch (v1.3.0): Brutal Mode Challenge Begins! - 7 June 2025
Hey everyone!If you're reading this, you should shortly be seeing the download for patch v1.3.0, kicking off the race to complete the new Brutal Mode difficulty!For those of you wanting to participate for a chance to immortalize yourself with a custom in-game character, here are the ground rules.RulesThe winner will be the first person to send me the save file of their completed Brutal mode run. Emailed to [email protected]. Winner is decided on first to hit my email inbox. I'll take a few days to process and verify all the entries. Please title your submission "Brutal Mode Completed Submission" to make it easier on me to filter.
- Brutal Mode Challenge: June 7th - 4 June 2025
Hey everyone! As I posted on the roadmap, I've been working on a Brutal mode for fans who enjoy a really difficult challenge. I also wanted to make it a fun community event with a friendly competition, with an in-game prize immortalizing the winner. It's almost ready, and I'm ready to announce the start date: June 7th, 10 AM PST (UTC−07:00) Brutal Mode Changes EXP gain reduced by 20%, scaling down sharply when overleveled, leading to no gains once 4+ levels over the average enemy on a map. Healers happens sooner at 2+. New powerful elite abilities meant to counter popular strategies. More bonus stats to elites. More elites throughout the game. Scaled up enemy stats, with extra scaling depending on the class' strengths. More enemies and reinforcements. AI behavior tweaked in almost every chapter to better act in groups. More loot provided through chapters. Permadeath always enabled. Rule…
- Patch (v1.2.6): Hotkey Remapping, Ultrawide Dialogue Fixes - 17 May 2025
Hey everyone! Still working on Brutal mode but I've still been making fixes as they're being reported, so wanted to get a few of those out there for you all. This patch also includes some fixes for ultrawide users. There are still some UIs that have some rough scaling, but there shouldn't be anymore heads being cut off in dialogues! Right now my tentative date for brutal mode is June 2nd to coincide with the upcoming TBT Fest on Steam, OR June 6 so that people can try and complete it over the weekend for the custom character prize (read more below). I may hold a poll in the Discord to vote for this, so join if you haven't already! Or just let me know which you prefer in the comments here. Changelog QoL: Hotkey re-mapping can now be done for some in-game actions in the settings UI. QoL: Dialogue UI now scales correctly on ultrawide screens. (Heads will no longer be cut off). QoL: "Shop"…
- Patch (v1.2.5): Cloud Saves - 3 May 2025
Hey everyone! Cloud saves are now officially supported for Those Who Rule! Changelog QoL: Cloud saves will now sync when you open or close the game. QoL: Added "(still needs to do damage)" to Elias' personal ability description for better clarity. Fix: Brutal achievement no longer accomplished on cutscene battles. Fix: Fixed issue with "Skill Issue" achievement triggering on enemies that couldn't counter attack. Fix: Making edits to some newly joined units wouldn't persist into battle preparation if you didn't save in base. I tried a couple of implementations, but I ultimately went with Steam's "auto-sync" cloud saves. How it works is very simple: When you close the game, it will push all save files up to the cloud if they are newer/more recently edited than what's on the cloud. When you open the game, it will pull all save files from the cloud, overwriting any local files that are out…
- Patch (v1.2.4): Achievements, Steam Deck Verified! - 23 April 2025
Hey everyone! Some exciting news, we have officially been given the green stamp of approval from Valve: Those Who Rule is Steam Deck Verified! Along with this exciting news, this patch will introduce 30 achievements in the game ranging from engaging with game mechanics, to some seriously difficult side objective challenges. They are as follows: Achievenemts A Grave Mistake*: Defeat all enemies in the prologue. The Journey Begins: Level up a unit. A Painful Lesson: An enemy has backstabbed your unit. Insult To Injury: Defeat an enemy with a Shield Bash. How Do You Do, Fellow Smiths?: Add a refinement to a weapon. On Second Thought...: Remove a refinement from a weapon. A Cut Above: Promote to an Advanced class. Elkcellent: Defeat two or more enemies in one round of combat with the Elk Effigy equipped. Country Roads: Refresh your turn with Mountain Boots. Better Together: Heal 15+ HP with…
- Patch (v1.2.3): Controller Tooltips, Small Fixes - 15 April 2025
Hey everyone! Quick small update. Was going to wait to release this with the achievements, but there really isn't a reason to delay it. Especially as it'll immensely improve the experience on Steam Deck. Changelog QoL: Controllers can now use the left stick to navigate the unit info and promotion UIs, allowing them to hover icons to read tooltips, and toggle stats/growths. Fix: Cleaned up some more unused assets. Fix: Show correct dialogue portraits for "Kicking the Habit" support conversation. Achievements are going well so far! I have them all in the Steam backend, for 30 total. Now just need to integrate with the Steam APIs and trigger them from code. Best, Eldin T.
- Patch (v1.2.2): Performance Optimizations - 12 April 2025
Hey everyone! Spent the week learning more about Unity optimization, and how I can apply best practices to Those Who Rule. I think we've got some great improvements in this patch that should help everyone have a smoother experience, but especially those who are playing on less powerful hardware. The game is also currently 20% off! Changelog Optimization: Added a 30 FPS option. This will help extremely cut down on GPU usage for lower spec systems. NOTE: FPS is overwritten by enabling "vsync" so if you want to see the performance gains from reducing the frame rate, you need to disable "vsync" in settings. Optimization: Every 2D texture is now compressed, resulting in an average ~550 MB reduction in GPU VRAM usage in-game. Optimization: Compression of various assets has also reduced the download size down from 925 MB to 750 MB. Size in storage reduced from 4.1 GB to 3.4 GB. Optimization: U…
- Patch (v1.2.1): Small Bug Fixes Post Story Patch - 7 April 2025
Hey everyone! Hope you're all enjoying the changes in the story patch. Nothing super new with this one, just wanted to push out fixes for issues people have reported the last few days. Changelog Fix: Hotkey inputs now working in promotion UI. Fix: Group Prayer now heals the caster as well, as shown in the preview. Description updated. Fix: Active abilities that could multi-hit no longer use up multiple charges. Fix: Fixed an issue where "Cannot have two of the same refinement." was showing up at innapropriate times. Fix: Fixed another refinement duplication that could happen when you unnassigned and re-assigned a refinement in a single action. I think the initial unnassign puts it in storage, and then when you re-assign it re-assigns from the "removed refinements" list but not the storage. Make it clean up the storage too. Fix: Added "1H" and "2H" to all the filter tooltips in the base…
- Content Update! (v1.2.0): New Characters, Community Weapons, Supports, and More! - 4 April 2025
Hey everyone! I'm excited to announce the release of the largest content update to Those Who Rule yet! Content 2 new characters with unique abilities. 14 new unique, community driven weapons, items, and refinements. 7 new support conversations. 9 new elite enemy abilities, including unique ones for the three final bosses. Reworked item drops in the last quarter of the game to scale with enemy difficulty. New Characters Two new characters that come with their own unique personal skills. Drunkard: Status effect duration on this unit is doubled. For each status effect, gain 2 STR and SPD, and 1 DEF. Ambush: When initiating combat without moving, gain 6 ATK and 30 HIT. Community Suggested & Voted Items Yew Bow: SS Rank Bow. Restore {0}% of this unit's health according to stacks on this weapon, consuming used stacks. Gain a stack every time you defeat an enemy with this weapon. Throwing Kniv…
- Patch (v1.1.5): Small Bug Fixes, Balancing, Story Update Progress - 31 March 2025
Hey everyone! Just wanted to push out a little bug fix/balance update as I am wrapping up the story patch. I'm expecting to get it released this Friday, April 4th. (Example of one of my favorite new Elite Abilities: Martyr) I'm done with all the elite abilities, characters, items, weapons, and refinements. All that's left is the additional support conversations, recruitment of the two new characters, and some additional side objectives in the last quarter of the game. Changelog Fix: Button clicks on bows in the action bar to function properly with auto ability select. Fix: Row highlights now cleared in shop and inventory when using a controller. Fix: Fixed an issue where the "cursor" was lingering on Steam Deck when using a controller. Fix: Small typo fixes in tooltips and dialogue. QoL: Total charges now shown on all abilities in the promotion UI. Balance: Longbowman "Arched Shot" can…
- Patch (v1.1.4): Wiki is Page Live! Bug fixes. - 18 March 2025
Hey everyone! With a gargantuan effort from @Sigismund's Wrath, we can finally announce the release of the official Wiki for Those Who Rule! https://thosewhorule.wiki.gg/ It will contain a ton of useful information for those of you who like to theory-craft, as well as useful information that can help answer questions like "how do I recruit X?", and "where can I get item Y?". It's not fully filled out yet (Chapters, npcs), but we are opening it up as it has the majority of information that anyone would need in a play-through. We welcome any feedback/contributions you'd like to make! I'd love for this to be a community led page as much as possible, and I'm always happy to fill in any gaps that there might be. Let us know what else you'd like to see in the forums or the Discord! Also wanted to push out these bug fixes as they are some of the last "big ones" that are affecting play-throughs…
- Patch (v1.1.3): Voting Results, Wiki Page Progress, MORE QoL, MORE Bug Fixes - 15 March 2025
Hey everyone! After 2 weeks of voting, and 51 responses, we have our winners for the community suggested items! More detailed descriptions here. Format below is: Item name (votes) (creator) - description (dev notes) Weapons Yewfelle (11 votes) (Sigismund's Wrath) - Bow that has healing charges based on killed enemies. Gain STR and SPD if user has SS rank in bows. (Love the extra bit to encourage weapon ranks) Throwing Knives (10 votes) (HP) - Sword with throwable charges. (Will take a bit due to new animations) Javelin (8 votes) (DK) - Spear with throwable charges. (Same here with animations!) Shields Parrying Dagger (15 votes) (Ryelic/victor44) - Low block "shield" that gives you extra damage and dodge. (Will be very cool seeing a dagger in the off hand) Holy Kite Shield (12 votes) (DK) - Shield with total block equal to carry weight, regen is unused carry weight. (Very creative design…
- Patch (v1.1.2): Auto Select Fixes, Steam Deck Updates - 2 March 2025
Hey everyone! Just a quick little patch before I head out for a week to visit family. Will be using some of the down-time while away to work on the story patch, where I'm thinking I'll add 2-3 new playable characters. Which designs do you all think are the most interesting from the cast that didn't make the initial cut? Any cool personal abilities that come to mind when you look at a particular character? This patch is mostly centered around addressing feedback Valve sent me from the Steam Deck verification review, but also reverts a small change I made last patch to auto-select abilities, as it was putting some people in a weird place of not being able to toggle between weapons. I reverted the auto-select for now in the main branch, and I have a fix out for it in the "beta" branch, so feel free to point there if you want to try the fix out. I didn't want to make the fix part of the mai…
