- New Publisher Announcement! - 3 September 2026
Hi everyone, We have some big news for you today: Portgate Studios is partnering with Aquila Interactive to publish HexLands, which will be released in 2027!Take a look at the trailer here:Those of you who are already a part of this community, you’ll know how much of a unique take this game is.For those of you who are new, HexLands is a roguelike deckbuilder with a unique twist: your cards don't cast spells; they raise farms, mills, and harbors across a chain of procedural hex islands.But that’s not all. Here’s what else makes HexLands stand out:Craft a unique strategy with each new voyage with 80+ cards and three distinct starter decksExperience different biomes, from tropical coasts to winter wonderlands in HexLands’ procedurally generated islandsChoose the bonuses that will benefit you the most in this voyage or self-set your own burdens to raise the difficulty with relics and run mo…
- v0.46: Torments, Challenges, Sacred Island rework, and lots of new content! - 14 August 2026
Hi everyone!Here's v0.46! This one is all about long-term progression: how you unlock new cards, how much harder you can choose to make a run, and what you get for pushing that difficulty as far as it goes. On top of that there's a fully rebindable hotkey system and a colorblind mode. As always, these new systems could be rough on the edges, so I'm all ears! :)As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the Steam playtest! ;)Anyway, let's begin with the patch notes:Challenges!Unlocking new cards and relics used to be tied to reaching population thresholds. That's gone now, instead, unlocks come from completing Challenges which you can think of as Achievements. There are meta-achievements like reaching Town Rank 3, discovering a certain number of relics, buying or upgrading skills, settling towns, generating enough resources, and also ones which…
- v0.45: Disasters and lots of reworks! - 23 July 2026
Hi everyone!Here's v0.45, which is a huge update, with new features, including Disasters and many reworks! There are tons of polishes and fixes as well, but they are just so tiny besides these big changes. Keep in mind that these new systems could be rough on the edges so I'm all ears! :)As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the Steam playtest! ;)Anyway, let's begin with the patch notes!Disasters!Demands were kind of boring as some of you mentioned it, worst case it way annoying, best case it was chore-like. So now they are gone, but I kept tasks because optional quests for rewards can make the game quite interesting. I also removed quests which heavily forced you not to progress towards the population goal. (e.g. "do not increase the population for X turns")However, a game without threats is a boring one, so above your resource panel now…
- v0.44: Revamped New Player Experience, Starter Relics, and more! - 27 May 2026
Hi everyone!Some of you have already tried v0.44 because it has been out for 3 weeks now. But I haven't published an article for it till now because I was on a holiday and wanted to add some additional features and polishes. But now, say hello to v0.44.1! ^^This patch was focusing on making the new player experience much better, improving the tutorial system, and adding some new tutorial bubbles. Besides this huge change, I also implemented various smaller UI, QoL and world map changes, and of course balancing and fixes!As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the playtest! ;)Tutorial Improvements!Tutorial now starts without a user interface, teaching the player the basic controls.Interface elements appear gradually, as the "tutorial monk" introduces their corresponding feature. For example initially only your cards are visible, then as the…
- v0.43: Collections & Unlock System! - 17 April 2026
Hi everyone!v0.43 is already here, sooner than usually updates are rolled out. This is due to implementing only one, big feature this time: meta progression! However, even though this patch took less time to roll out, it's very important: finally people have a bit more reason to start new runs. Let's begin! (And keep in mind that lots of new art are just placeholders)As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the playtest! ;)Collections & Unlock System!You can now browse all cards, burdens and relics in the game through a Collection dialog. Cards can be filtered, letting you easily look at e.g. all the forest cards. Meanwhile relics and burdens also received the "inspect feature", though right now it just simply shows its icon and description on a bigger scale. (more to come!) However, your collection is obviously not fully collected at first!…
- v0.42: Sacred Relics, Sacred Islands, a new Starter Deck, and more! - 24 March 2026
Hi everyone!It's been an intense development cycle! This update would have been out 2 weeks ago, but right now we are planning to move out from our flat, have some personal issues on top, so I didn't really have a lot of time to work on the game. Anyway, much sought new features are here, new content, fixes, balances and polish! :) Since the last update I managed to complete 72 user reports which I'm really thankful for. Keep them coming because they are what really makes the game better! :)Oh, and as always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the playtest! ;)DifficultyDifficulty at later islands wasn't that diffierent from the one at earlier ones', so in the second half of the world map/biome, islands now have two negative modifiers instead of just one, and population requirement is also a bit increased there. Also, content has been increasing f…
- v0.41: Treasure Islands, Level Modifiers, Better Quests, Lots of QoL & Polish! - 27 January 2026
Hi everyone! It's been a busy period since the last update! I've added big features, like treasure islands and unique level modifiers, while also polished lots of things both visually and UX-wise. In the end I also managed to mark 78 "feedbacks" completed in my spreadsheet. Though there are still 426 left. It sounds like a lot, but the more I receive, the happier I am, so keep them coming! :) Anyway, let's begin! Treasure Islands! A new kind of island with a unique desert biome, where you must race against treasure hunters! There are lots of treasure chests on the island, no population goal, so your sole reason there is to claim as many treasures as possible before the hunters claim them. This mode came to be when I was thinking about scrapping the desert biome to lower the scope of this already huge project. So most likely there will be only two biomes/trees at release, which makes the…
- v0.40.0: Leaderboards, an Intro with Voice Acting and more Polish! - 28 November 2025
Hi guys!Three months have passed since the last feature update, but it's not due to laziness: I created a totally new trailer and completely overhauled the Steam page, including its descriptions, GIFs, and capsule art. Keep in mind the capsule art is still a work-in-progress: the final version is being drawn by an artist right now!While these were the most important tasks for making progress, I couldn't help myself. When I felt burnt out from producing the aforementioned marketing materials, I went on a few different tangents and worked on some completely low-priority tasks which resulted in version 0.40.0. ^^Intro VideoI wrote a quick script, hired a voice actor and a musician, and created a 1-minute intro that now plays when you start a new game.LeaderboardsI implemented an offline highscore system, and then I thought it might not be a big task to make it display online scores as well…
- v0.39.0: Bye-bye tile selling, say hello to Decrees! (and more!) - 31 August 2025
Hi guys!Only 20 days have passed since 0.38.0 and now 0.39.0 is here! This is a smaller update in size, but very important nevertheless!I know I promised new screenshots and a new trailer but after updating the screenshots I received some really good feedback, and I couldn't help myself from getting into coding once again! :)Tile selling was disliked by a lot of you, because giving up your territory just to get out of a resource lock feels very bad. So it's replaced by the Decree System, inspired by Hearthstone! Which helps you get unstuck, and also let me add some utility cards in the starter deck. And for those who liked living on the edge for a higher profit: tile selling is still available, but now it's a card and it's much more flexible since it's paired with the decree system. Besides this major change, there are smaller ones too, so keep reading! :) As always: if you'd like to ge…
- v0.38.0 is here! Shop, new cards, increased difficulty, reworks and more! - 10 August 2025
Hi guys!0.38.0 is here! As always: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just PM me and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) Instead of the usual quick summary, I'll just jump right into it:Coins & Shop!Now you can collect coins which is persistent between islands.Use these coins to buy, remove or upgrade cards at the shop! :)If you don't like the cards you can buy, you can reroll them for a small fee.Look out, because one card is always on a 50% sale! ;) if you don't choose a card from a treasure chest, now you get coins instead of resources,Tasks and cards can also give you coins!New Cards!One boring thing was that some tile resources had only just one card to be used on them... Not anymore! :)Besides integrating barbarians, now you can also raze their settlement giving you some resources and freeing…
- World Map and Card Upgrades inspired by Slay the Spire, UI Overhaul and more! - 24 June 2025
Hi guys!After 2 months of development, 0.37.0 is here! Before I would begin: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just hit me up and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) Besides the features planned for this milestone, I managed to fullfill 54 feedback reports. Some of them overlapped with the planned features, while some were pretty awesome ideas and improvements which I didn't think of. So thank you to all who contributed, I can't believe how much better the game is just because some of you are willing to help me with your feedback. :) New World Map!The world map is finally reworked, heavily inspired by my beloved Slay the Spire.Instead of removing cards from your deck and restoring reputation between every levels, now they can be only found as special nodes on the map, and they are much rarer.Island…
- v0.36.0 is here! Turn System Rework, Quest and Reputation System, and many more! - 20 April 2025
Hey guys! Finally, after 4 months of development, 0.36.0 is here! I'm sorry for not finishing it sooner, but while I didn't have a dayjob, I started putting lots of new features into the game. Once I had one again, my free time shrank and polishing and testing all these new features took a looong time. Before I would begin: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just hit me up and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) Here's a quick summary: Now you can end your turn, which works just as it does in other deckbuilders, and there is also a health system called "reputation". Quests appear every few turns, offering rewards or punishing unmet demands. Between levels, you can trim your deck or recover reputation. The update also improves tutorials, settings, and visual clarity. Hope you like the changes, let me…
- v0.35.0 is out! Win FREE KEYS! New card mechanics, treasure chests and more! - 23 December 2024
Hi guys! Not so long ago 0.35.0 was released, but I didn't post the patch notes because first I wanted to make a devlog :) Feel free to check it out here: Before I would start listing the changes: I'm giving away 2 full release keys! :) All you have to do is join my Discord server and say something in the #giveaway channel till the year ends! But to make things a bit more interesting, you can double your chance: you just have to try HexLands and submit at least a bit valuable feedback through the ingame dialog. (If you also participate in the Discord giveaway, make sure to use your Discord handle in the contact field) And now here are the changes: Treasure chests which when claimed, offer you new cards into your deck. This way you have another type of objective on the islands and also deck building has a faster pace. New card mechanics, with a few initial cards already added: Per turn r…
- v0.34.0 is out! Overpopulation rewards, Trading Ports and more! - 4 November 2024
Hi guys! Sorry for not posting earlier, but ~17 days ago 0.34.0 was released, but I was too lazy to post the patch notes. The reason is that I immediately got a lot of feedback, and jumped into developing because I guess it's much more fun! ^^ But here are the changes, better late than never: Reaching higher than the required population increases the starting resources of your next island!Now that highscore is no longer the goal of the game, it felt wrong that overachieving didn't give you anything.So now there are 3 tiers, which upon reaching, each gives more and more extra percentage of resources on your next island!This way if you are good at the game, you get rewards, but the rewards won't scale endlessly, so you won't feel like you have to optimize the hell out of the game. ^^You no longer automatically carry over 10% of your resources to your next island.Instead there is a new Tra…
- Mega Update: Deckbuilding, Island Affixes, Gold, New Cards and more! - 27 August 2024
Hi guys, Long time no see, the last update was 5 months ago... Sorry for the long wait, let me tell you what happened... ^^ First, I "just" wanted to add a huge feature: choosing your next island! It wasn't just a quick feature, so it took some time. Thus as the weeks went by, unfortunately, I got out of the habit of releasing and iterating quickly. So when I finished the feature, seeing that I was already a bit late, instead of releasing, I thought: why not add another feature as a compensation? And everytime I finished something, I still had this mentality so I started developing the next feature. Well... and that's how 5 months quickly flew by! 😅 And with finally releasing this huge update, I'll let in the next wave of playtesters! Still, if you don't want to wait in the queue, and for a more open discussion, join my Discord server! :) Just hit me up and I'll grant you instant acces…
- The Open Alpha Playtest is here, sign up today! - 14 March 2024
Hey guys, After months of closed and semi-open playtesting, finally the gates of Steam Playtesting are open! Now everyone can test the alpha of HexLands! This phase focuses on the core gameplay and the mechanics found on the early levels. Later phases will include progression between the islands and then even some metaprogression.😄 So hop in, I would love to see you in the playtesting! And here comes the twist: after a few hours of being open, I had to turn off auto-accept due to too many of you joining.😅 It's better to let people in gradually, more and more after each update, because this results in a nice, iterative development. But you can still sign up for playtesting and I'll let you in as soon as I can! :) Click here to sign up! And for a more open discussion, join our Discord server! :) I'd love to hear you feedback! Oh, and I already had to update the build, because as it turn…
- Open alpha! New card system, main menu, saving, and more! - 25 December 2023
Hi guys, I didn't want to finish this year without having something more than a closed alpha... so a few days ago I uploaded the alpha of the game to a kind of public platform but I don't want to directly share it here yet because there are still some issues... so I'm still a bit scared of bigger influx players. ^^ So if you’d like try the alpha of HexLands, join the Discord server and look for the HexLands channels! :) But don't worry, in a month or so I'll be confident enough to put the link directly on the Steam page. ;) There are lots of smaller changes, fixes, balancing, thanks to all you wonderful people on Discord, trying my game, giving feedback, testing, etc! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.
- A little sneak peek about some of the new mechanics! :) - 12 August 2023
Hi guys! Check out the bottom right corner. What do you think they are for? :) I'm planning to send out a few closed alpha builds next week. If the feedback is good, here comes the open alpha! So if you’d like try HexLands, join my Discord server or my subreddit. And if you prefer development videos, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Sorry for the radio silence and not uploading any devlogs lately. I've been working on the game, but a lot of stuff came up, and I didn't have time to post about the progress. Hopefully, better times will come around. Have a nice weekend, everybody! :)
- Lumbercamps were too OP! So here's my fix! :) - 14 May 2023
Hi guys, This time I don't really have time to make a video about the latest change, so I thought I could talk about it the old fashioned way! :D Lumbercamps were OP. And this not so small issue (because lumber is a pretty basic thus important resource) made me revamp the whole building "ecosystem". I created a new, special resource: "Workers"! The problem was that A, You could only build lumbercamps on Forest tiles. B, A lumbercamp cost 75 wood… and gave you 250 wood. This meant that this building was a no brainer… in a bad sense. It turns some wood into more wood… while you can only build them on forests… which are only suitable for lumbercamps! You don’t have to make any real decision, but you must do it to get lumber. It was so boring, it felt like a chore. A few quick and easy solutions came up: Like changing the building cost to something other than wood. Then it would at least fe…
- Upcoming city-builder HexLands sounds like a relaxing time - 21 March 2023
HexLands from Portgate Studios has been announced with a new Steam page live, taking inspiration from the likes of Islanders, Dorf Romantik and Sid Meier's Civilization. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/upcoming-city-builder-hexlands-sounds-like-a-relaxing-time
