Seasons have arrived. And with them, a totally new game.
Seasons completely change the way The Red Village: Tournaments are played.
An on and on the winter draws,
Deeper, darker, than e’er before.
And with the terror comes the fear,
That those who sleep shall disappear.
For Corsenia takes without rhyme or reason;
All are worthy of the Season.
So rest your eyes if you dare,
For hellish is the cross you bear…
Lore
“Without rhyme or reason, she takes, takes, takes. Always takin’, never givin’. She is great, She is mighty. Her eyes are dark and they are empty. They say to gaze upon them is to see infinity, to know dread. To look into Her eyes is to see into Her soul…”
“What soul?!” an agitated voice cut through the thick smoke of the tavern like a knife through butter, breaking the aged Wizard out of his hushed monologue. Drawing in a long breath, he slowly turned his weary head towards the source of the interjection, and said nothing. It was so quiet in the dusty room you could hear the ancient wooden beams creaking under the weight of their secrets.
His milky eyes focused on her, and still he said nothing. Amelia blushed under the intensity of his gaze, and wished she could sink into the shadows. The gathered audience did their best to pretend she didn’t exist.
Idiot, fool, dunce, she cursed herself. Why do I always have to speak?
You are brave, but you are foolish, and She will find you, came the gravelly response from inside her head. She gasped. The Wizard had not moved, had not spoken aloud. Yet she heard him, clear as day. She glanced at the haggard old woman seated to her left, wrapped in the tattered remains of what appeared to be a potato sack, but was met with hastily averted eyes.
She knows your every thought. Your every dream, hope, desire. She knows your fears, your terrors, your nightmares, before you have them. And she will use them against you. Amelia felt her heart begin to race, her chest tightened. Beads of sweat formed on her brow, tunnelling through the fine layer of dirt atop her pale skin, and fell to the cold stone beneath her feet.
The Wizard blinked, and without a sound, opened his mind and let Amelia see the Never.
She couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. She wanted to run, but her legs were not her own. It was as if a thousand storms raged inside her head, escalating into a wild crescendo. Her eyes felt as if they would explode under the pressure. Her skin burned as if she had fallen into the Blacksmith’s molten fire. Agony. Before, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Quiet.
The Wizard shifted his gaze back towards the dim embers in the chimney, illuminating the furthest corner of the room, and began to speak again. None in the room were any the wiser for their silent, intense, exchange. Amelia clutched her chest and felt the tears pool in the corner of her turquoise eyes, unable to move. All is hopeless. All is lost.
“Corsenia’s soul is not like ours,” the Wizard continued, “unlike even the monster of the deep, Gaa’gore. Corsenia is not from here; She is not of this world. Her horror is not like ours. Her dread is not like ours. To know Corsenia is to know infinite, pure, fear. To have your very being ripped apart, molecule by molecule. Your skin torn from your muscle, your sinews stretched into the great Never. You can leave this place, this Village, but She will find you. She will find us all.
“You can only hope you are dead long before she does…”
“What do we do?” Amelia asked timidly.
“Run.”
Overview
The past 9 months have seen significant updates to The Red Village: Tournaments game mode. From the introduction and release of the highly anticipated Summoning protocol, Rental marketplace, Wisdom, SNGs, Stance Reveals, and The Vault, to (literally) hundreds of smaller ‘quality of life’ improvements such as updating filters, dynamic classes, introducing an unused Wisdom button, removing autoplay of the game-screen, Discovery Stance, Summoning banner and Championship information banner, and increasing number of Tournament entries and Summoning Limits, we have been busy behind the scenes crafting and honing Tournaments to produce a product of which we are both proud of, and hopeful for.
TRV Tournaments was, and is, the first game product in the The Red Village ecosystem, and it is something we have poured countless hours of development time, strategy, marketing, and good old fashioned blood, sweat, and tears into.
We do this for the community, for the Battlemasters, and for ourselves. We do this because we always want to achieve what we set out to achieve, regardless of obstacles in our way.
There is no doubt that the world is a very different place in late 2023 than it was some 24 months ago, but yet we persist. If there is one word that I would choose to define our team, that word would be resilient. The universe of web3 gaming has shrunk, and with it, much of the enthusiastic pot-banging, many of the big-spending, ‘shout it from the rooftops’ fans have also departed.
But as we’ve spoken about before, we are building our franchise through the bear; because the thing about bears is that they tend to hibernate. Bears come, and bears go. And yet, like the sun rises in the morning, we are here.
And so, at the same time as working on Tournaments, our small but nimble team has been busy ideating, designing, and architecting what we believe will be our magnum opus, our crowning glory, our Star atop the Christmas tree; codename Darklands.
We’ve been hard at work with fabulous game designers, artists, story tellers, developers, level designers, engineers and producers at Animoca’s Blowfish Studios, with one goal in mind; building a premium game that will appeal to the masses. A game that will cut through the noise, a game that will cross artificial barriers between web2 and web3, a game that will slip seamlessly through the barbed-wire fences that separate traditional gamers and the new school, that will enthral the most staunch critic of the space.
But Darklands is some time away yet.
Building games takes time and money. Lots of the both. We are looking forward to pulling back the curtain and inviting each and every single one of you in to experience it; but you must be patient for the invitation. It will likely take around a year from now to arrive. And so that brings us to the now. To today. Back to Tournaments.
Seasons
Seasons is the final evolution of The Red Village Tournaments. Seasons, quite literally, change the game of Tournaments. In Seasons, any Champion can win. Your success is entirely determined by your strategy, your gameplay, your style, your choices.
Seasons involve a constantly changing Seasonal cosmetic meta (this differs with every new Season, and can favour any type of Champion cosmetic, including armour colours, Classes, Breeds, and even things like war paint), as well as a constantly changing Season Preference (Boost). The Boost could be anything from the Champion’s favourite amulet to it’s preferred fighting weapon.
Players will need to decipher their Season Boost every Season, and strategise on the best way to either buy, trade, Summon, or rent Champions with the best cosmetic meta to compete.
With the right training, and the right cosmetics, you can earn the Blood Queen’s eternal favour. You can bask in her glory. You can keep the wolves from your door.
Testing something as large and dynamic and different as Seasons behind close doors is almost impossible. As such, we are testing it in a live environment. We are pretty sure we’ve got this right, but bear with us if there’s any minor issues at first.
Season One will start at the beginning of November; from there on in, Seasons will be around a month long each. Some of the things that will be introduced include:
- Burning of Champions
- A second, Season-specific preference (a ‘Boost’)
- Juicers
- Summoning — without owning either Champion
- Season Passes
- Training of Champions
- A revamped Battle Class system (which will also apply to traditional Tournaments mode)
- Reduced Summoning fees
We truly believe that Seasons are innovative, fun, dynamic, challenging, and allow ANYBODY with ANY Champion to become a winner.
But we need your help to make them successful; share them with former players, let your communities know. Share posts on twitter. Tell us what you like; what you don’t. We thank you, each and every one of you, for your help, enthusiasm, positivity, and engagement over the last two years. There are bigger, and better, things yet to come. We are building.
For now; we hope you love Seasons as much as we do.
Learn more
To learn more about Seasons, read our Player’s Guide, join our Discord and X (twitter).
