The Shadow Returns

[KameRamen]

Hello everyone. This is the development thread for The Shadow Returns campaign for 1.18.

This campaign is my personal revision of The Dark Hordes.

This is the story of an age when the glory of Wesnoth had become but a memory of days long past. The fugitive necromancer Gwiti Ha’atel is determined to master the undead hordes and exact his revenge upon the living. His dark journey unleashes waves of power that gradually engulf all of Irdya...

At last, Gwiti’s evil forces launch their assault against Wesnoth. As the mortals under his command plunge the kingdom and its people into darkness, they turn to their final hope: the elven enchantress Elynia. Thus begins the ultimate confrontation between light and darkness.

Only the first episode and several scenarios have been completed yet. But following the principle of sharing as soon as possible, I have released this on the add-on server.

My knowledge of the lore may be lacking in some areas. So I would like to request feedback in general.

[KameRamen]

This campaign has been checked in on GitHub.

<https://github.com/kameramen0106/The_Shadow_Returns>

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.1.7

The campaign has been greatly updated!

Changes

• New Scenario: S6 Inside the Tower

• New Scenario: S7 The Book of Crelanu

• New Achievements

• New Unit Descriptions: Demilich, Elynia, Morgorath

Otherwise, I have overhauled the texts of the entire campaign to be more fantastic. This is very experimental and I am not sure if my poor English is working well.

Have fun!

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.1.7-2

This is mainly an experimental update regarding S1!

Changes

• Major Revision: S1 Double Betrayal

• Overall Review of Dialogues

Other music-related changes and difficulty adjustments are included. In some ways, this is an unstable update, and I would be madly happy to get feedback on the following aspects:

• Was S1 gameplay appropriate or not?

• How was the overall difficulty?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it even slightly!

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.1.7-4

All scenarios have been re-overhauled for this special version!

Changes

• Difficulty Adjustments (I made them too hard so I made them easier)

• New Events and Gimmicks to S1-S2

• New 1 Achievement

• Review of S1 and S4 Maps

I think this is quite an improvement over the previous version. I am also well along in my work on new S8. That update will be slightly further along.

Have fun!

[KameRamen]

A develop branch has been created on GitHub. It contains significant enhancements, including S8 in testing phase and new achievements.

<https://github.com/kameramen0106/The_Sh ... ee/develop>

If anyone is interested, try the latest state of the campaign.

Note: the branch has now been removed, but may be created again in some cases.

[ZIM]

Hello, first of all, I want to say that I really enjoy the campaign, the maps are beautiful but still makes sense tactically. I never played the original Dark Hordes so I can't give an opinion on whether it's faithful to the original, but I personally like it compared to the other versions.

For the overall difficulty, I consider myself a novice, and I tried the normal difficulty (before the latest update), and have no problem finishing it. About the S1 gameplay, I did have a chance of playing it before the last two update, and I prefer the latest version. My only complaint is I think having the 1.18 Elvish Shyde for scenario 4 is too hard, because of their buffed 14x3 attack while I only have my leader, the loyal sorcerer, and 3 random recalls. I have to save scum to avoid them killing my leader. Maybe for this scenario use a custom Elvish Shyde that follows the old version? Or maybe give the ability to recruit?

[KameRamen]

Hello, first of all, I want to say that I really enjoy the campaign, the maps are beautiful but still makes sense tactically. I never played the original Dark Hordes so I can't give an opinion on whether it's faithful to the original, but I personally like it compared to the other versions.

Thanks for playing! The entire campaign has changed significantly from the original, but the basic plot is the same as it was in 2003.

For the overall difficulty, I consider myself a novice, and I tried the normal difficulty (before the latest update), and have no problem finishing it. About the S1 gameplay, I did have a chance of playing it before the last two update, and I prefer the latest version. My only complaint is I think having the 1.18 Elvish Shyde for scenario 4 is too hard, because of their buffed 14x3 attack while I only have my leader, the loyal sorcerer, and 3 random recalls. I have to save scum to avoid them killing my leader. Maybe for this scenario use a custom Elvish Shyde that follows the old version? Or maybe give the ability to recruit?

Thanks, good point. Regarding scenario 4, I will try to address it by reverting the status back to 1.16 version, albeit tentatively.

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.2.0 - Episode I Completed

First major update to my beta release!

Changes

• New Scenario: S8 Confrontation

• New Scenario: S9 The Dwarven Gates I & II

• Gameplay Adjustments

Various other improvements are included. The difficulty has also been modified and is now marked at the intermediate level. And now we are ready to move forward to the development for Episode II.

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.2.1

This is the patch release that contains critical bug fixes.

Changes

• TOO MANY TO WRITE

I intended to keep this as minimal an update as possible, but there was a lot of work in progress, so they are included as they are. In particular, the first scenario of Episode II is now playable, but still very much incomplete.

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.2.3

Latest release including two new scenarios!

Changes

• Completion: S10 Return to the Northlands

• New Scenario: S11 An Orcish Coup

• New Scenario: S12 Assault on Alduin

Only S12 is experimental. In addition to these, unnecessary events were removed and overall adjustments were made. Future updates will focus primarily on adding new scenarios and implementing feedback.

Have fun!

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.2.5

Ideal release for playtesting, including very experimental scenarios!

Changes

• New Scenario: S13 Fear the Unliving

• New Scenario: S14 A Fated Clash

These scenario names were suggested by @Lord-Knightmare
Other portrait-related patches, bug fixes, and statistics adjustments are included in this release.

And actually, I am not sure that there will be any additional scenarios in the next update yet. Because the maps have not been created yet. But instead, I will do my best to implement feedback

[KameRamen]

The Shadow Returns

Version 0.3.0

A major update to two key scenarios!

Changes

• Refreshed Scenario: S5 Mages and Elves

• Refreshed Scenario: S6 Inside the Tower

S5 added fog to make it a more enjoyable progress scenario; S6 implemented a teleportation system and completely revamped the map, making it a more exploration-oriented scenario.

Also, I implemented the feedback from @Refumee into S7 and made the difficulty slightly easier.
Enjoy

[IneCeantee]

Hi.
I started episode 2, the dead march, but i lost all of my experience, with gwiti, its strange bcs, i lost a lot of his hp. and i dont know it is a bug, or it should be these way, and i am 1 level below.
A also lost all my squad and loyal unit.
I cannot summon and i cannon recruit any unit.
so something strange happend i belive.

[KameRamen]

Hi.
I started episode 2, the dead march, but i lost all of my experience, with gwiti, its strange bcs, i lost a lot of his hp. and i dont know it is a bug, or it should be these way, and i am 1 level below.
A also lost all my squad and loyal unit.
I cannot summon and i cannon recruit any unit.
so something strange happend i belive.

That is a very strange bug. I have no idea what caused it. Could you please send me some screenshots of the scenario (Gwiti's status, etc.) if you don't mind, so I can understand the situation a little better?