- Dev Journal #33: The Mother of All AI Updates - 17 September 2026
When we made Elemental: War of Magic and Fallen Enchantress, the hardware, by today's standards was very modest. Combine that with very tight memory restrictions and a general trend in gaming that AI players should be "good losers" and you end up with computer opponents that are not always satisfying once you have mastered the game.When we went and make what became Elemental: Reforged one of the requirements I had to work on it was that I would get to go in and "redo" the entire AI top to bottom.I am happy to say, version 1.5 of Elemental: Reforged has a new AI. Top to bottom. While I was at it, I found cases where the AI was basically "cheating" in the sense that it would always roll the very best score when it came to getting loot.So what does "redo" mean? It means exactly, and probably more than you might be thinking. Here are a few things:AI Players now see the world more like you d…
- Publisher Sale: Up to 80% off Elemental titles - 7 September 2026
Up to 80% off Elemental titles during the 2026 Publisher SaleView Entire SaleElemental: Reforged deals:Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes deals:Other Elemental deals:View Entire Sale
- v1.4 Update Now Available - 4 September 2026
Elemental: Reforged v1.4 Update Now AvailableView ChangelogThe v1.4 update for Elemental: Reforged is now available. This release improves AI expansion and battle decisions, adds creature type icons to the unit panel and details window, fixes a crash when loading into or leaving a game, and preserves outpost upgrades across saves while stopping quest and monster battles from stacking on the same spot.Smarter AI - AI factions now found outposts reliably, grab nearby treasure, keep their armies together on an attack, size up fights before picking them, hunt monsters more aggressively, and more.Added Creature Type UI - Creature types are now visible where you need them, with a new icon on the main map unit panel showing whether a unit is a Champion, Beast, Undead, or another type, and the Unit Details window displaying that type in its title.Gameplay and Stability Improvements - Outposts k…
- Dev Journal #32 - Late Game Optimization - 20 August 2026
We are in the exciting world of late game optimization. Got a saved game that was on turn 800. Anyone getting to that point in any 4X strategy game has found themselves in the "there be dragons" area of gameplay. In Elemental's case, of course, there are actual dragons. The first thing we wanted to look at was optimizing the loading of saved games. An 881 turn game has a lot to load so finding ways to cut down the time makes getting back into the game a lot more pleasant and makes having to undo a mistake a lot less painful. I know a lot of players don't like the idea of being able to just go back to an autosave, but I will admit, if I've got 800 turns into a game and I accidentally lose my entire army, I'm probably going to want to load from a saved game.Designing unitsOne of the game's defining features is the fact that you can design your own units.At first, your units are fairly mun…
- v1.3 Update Now Available - 23 July 2026
Elemental: Reforged v1.3 Update Now AvailableView ChangelogThe v1.3 update for Elemental: Reforged is now available. This release resolves multiple crash scenarios, restores tactical UI info cards, adds a new strategic unit speed control, and speeds up map generation while rebalancing loot drops.Stability and UI ImprovementsResolved multiple crash scenarios across research, audio, terrain rendering, and game cleanup. The tactical unit hover info card for abilities, active effects, and consumables has been restored, with a new rollover effects list grid added above the rollover unit panel, and map-anchored info cards now skip the tooltip delay so information appears instantly.New Strategic Unit Speed ControlA new Strategic Unit Speed slider in the General options lets you set how fast units move and animate on the strategic map, from 0.5x to 2.0x. This update also fixes unit movement bei…
- Dev Journal #31: Growing Pains - 9 July 2026
June was pretty rough for this game. At some point, we don't know when, there was what we think was an OS update that slightly changed the way the game's audio system integrates with the OS, which resulted in what seemed to be (but weren't) random crashes.So what happened?In the game there are WAV files and MP3 files, and previously, for the last 15 years anyway, if a file name had a typo or something the game would just silently fail and go to the next one. So a given sound effect or track of music would try to play, and if the file wasn't there or the file name was not the right case, it would either not play or just skip to the next track.But then in June this stopped being the case, and the game would either plain crash or the music would do something funky (like go into a loop) and then crash.This issue mostly happened if you were playing as one of the Empires. That's why there was…
- Video Blog: v1.2 Update Highlights - 25 June 2026
Elemental Reforged v1.2 has landed and it is a meaty patch. Focusing on stability and bugfixes, v1.2 irons out many of the crashes and performance issues reported since launch. In this video, we highlight some of these fixes and changes made to improve the game.
- v1.2 Update Now Available - 18 June 2026
Elemental: Reforged v1.2 Update Now AvailableView ChangelogThe v1.2 update for Elemental: Reforged is now available. This release is focused on stability, AI improvements, and an overhauled loot system for the base game and gameplay updates and bug fixes for Treasures of Magi.Smarter AIAI now pushes back against runaway leaders, founds more cities on large maps, uses potions and scrolls in battle, and makes smarter spell targeting decisions.Overhauled Loot SystemA new themed loot table system gives monsters like wolves and bears identity-matched drops, with wider variety, better drop rates on uncommon and rare items, and reduced plain gold payouts.Stability and Performance FixesResolved multiple crash scenarios across tactical battles, city turns, battle previews, quick saving, and text rendering, plus faster combat predictions and smoother AI turns.
- Dev Journal #30: AI and Loot - 4 June 2026
I really couldn’t think of a good theme for this week’s journal entry. There’s a bunch of things we’re working on simultaneously so let’s tackle them in no particular order.General polish and bug fixingBringing Elemental to the modern age has been pretty challenging to say the least. It wasn’t just a port to 64-bit, but also a complete rewrite of the underlying graphics engine (even the 3D model system was completely replaced – havok to FBX) as well as the underlying data system to support non-English characters. Combined, in a game this big (and it is a really, really big game) you end up with endless edge cases. Thank goodness the tools today are so much better than what they used to be. Let me show you what that looks like below:From Crash to Cure: Our Bug-Hunting ProcessLet me give you a case in point: Tactical battle, player running the Japanese version of the game mouses over an A…
- Now Available: Treasures of the Magi DLC and Free v1.1 Update - 21 May 2026
Stardock Entertainment today released Treasures of the Magi, the first DLC for the fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental: Reforged. Priced at $8.99 (enjoy the 20% launch discount through May 28!), the expansion adds new monsters, treasures, items, and quests drawn from the First Age of Elemental, the era when the Magi ruled through sorcery and their golems stood watch over the cities of Anthys.Treasures of the Magi Release Video: About the SettingThousands of years before the Cataclysm, the Magi were sorcerers whose mastery of magic shaped the early civilizations of Elemental. They forged golems out of stone and iron to defend their sovereignty against the feudal barons rising up around them. When the Titans came, the Magi retreated into hiding, their golems went dormant, and the Cataclysm later buried most of what they had built.The reawakening of the Fallen Enchantress has sent a…
- Dev Journal 29: Treasures of the Magi - 21 May 2026
Treasures of the Magi is the first DLC for Elemental: Reforged. It adds a host of new items, armor, weapons, potions, and other gear, along with a handful of new lairs, quests, and monsters.Two of my favorite additions are the Mage Wands and the Shapeshifting Potions. But players will almost immediately notice the new items and lairs that help bring fresh life to the game, especially for those who previously played Fallen Enchantress.While the general improvements coming with version 1.1 will probably get the most attention thanks to the major performance boost, along with broad improvements to balance, stability, AI, and overall polish, we think Treasures of the Magi will be something most players will really enjoy.The BackgroundWe’ve discussed the history of Elemental before, but as a quick recap: the Elemental games - War of Magic, Fallen Enchantress, and Sorcerer King, which Reforge…
- Dev Journal #28: A Preview of v1.1 - 14 May 2026
When we shipped 1.0.3, the team sat down and made a list of the things that were nagging us. Not big design questions. Not roadmap items. Just the stuff that, after a long play session, you start to feel. A few systems were slower than they had any right to be. Some encounters didn't reward you the way they should. The item pool felt thin in some places and oversaturated in others. A handful of bugs had been on the "we'll get to it" list for too long.v1.1 is the result of getting to it.This isn't a feature release. It's the kind of update that makes the version of the game you already own feel better to play. Here is what is in it.Now, before I start, I have a minor rant about AI I want to get off my chest. I write these by hand. I enjoy writing them. But every app I use now, every editor, etc. offers to edit it and as soon as I let it, in come the em-dashes and the stupid, pithy, punch…
- Now Announcing: Treasures of the Magi DLC - 7 May 2026
Treasures of the Magi, a New DLC for Elemental: ReforgedNew expansion adds monsters, treasures, items, and quests drawn from the lost age of the Magi, launching May 21, 2026.Stardock Entertainment today announced Treasures of the Magi, a new DLC for the fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental: Reforged. The expansion is priced at $8.99 and adds new monsters, new treasures and items, and a new set of quests tied to the First Age of Elemental, when the Magi ruled through sorcery and their golems stood watch over the cities of Anthys.About the settingThousands of years before the Cataclysm, the Magi were sorcerers whose mastery of magic shaped the early civilizations of Elemental. They built golems out of stone and iron to defend their sovereignty from the feudal barons rising up around them. When the Titans came, the Magi went into hiding, their golems went dormant, and the Cataclysm l…
- Video Blog: How Elemental Improves Fantasy 4X - 6 May 2026
Fantasy 4X is a sub-genre of strategy game with a very definite set of mechanics that came from a couple of very early titles, with Master of Magic being the primary inspiration. Stardock's series of games in the Elemental universe aimed to improve on some of the bigger flaws that some fantasy 4X games suffer from, and Elemental Reforged is no exception.In this video developer journal, we discuss what separates a fantasy 4X from other 4X strategy games and what Elemental Reforged does to address some of those previous issues.
- Dev Journal #27: The World of Elemental - 30 April 2026
You’ve loaded up the game, created your sovereign and started playing. You are alone. Well, kind of alone. There’s lots of monsters and goodie huts. The question is, why?Today, I want to give you a bit of a lore dump. Why is the world filled with bandits and ruffians at the start? Why can you only found cities in a few areas? The answer requires us to go back thousands of years..The First Age: The Age of the MagiBefore the first kingdoms, before the first armies, there was Ereog.Ereog was the second son of a chieftain named Hallas, and by all accounts, he was useless at everything his father valued. Things like war, leadership, administration. He was, however, obsessed with something no one else had thought much about: how magic worked. Not just that it worked. Why.At this point in Elemental’s history, the world was filled with Magic. The best analogy I can think of is the book series c…
- v1.03 Update Now Available - 23 April 2026
Elemental: Reforged v1.03 is Now AvailableView the full changelogStardock has released v1.03 for Elemental: Reforged, a maintenance patch that corrects a long-standing issue with Fire magic, resolves a handful of crashes that were surfacing in longer campaigns, and tightens a range of tooltip and quest text.The most significant change is a fix to Fire spell damage scaling. Several Fire items and abilities had not been behaving as their descriptions implied, which noticeably underpowered Fire-focused builds. v1.03 restores them to their intended behavior.Stability is the other focus of the release. Crashes tied to AI turns, map interactions, and save and load operations have been addressed, smoothing out longer games that were most likely to run into them.The patch also includes a set of gameplay adjustments shaped by ongoing community discussion, corrections to tooltips and quest text s…
- Video Blog: Post-Release Update Highlights - 22 April 2026
In this video developer journal for Elemental: Reforged, we discuss post-release updates, including critical bugfixes, improved game AI, a new ability for Heroes and a "will I win?" indicator for the pre-battle UI.
- Dev Journal #26: Under the Hood - 16 April 2026
You know those weeks where you're heads down, coffee-fueled, and the commit log looks like a novel? That was this week. And last week. And honestly the week before that.It’s been a bit of a rough few weeks here. Too many big changes got put in too late without enough testing. Sometimes, enthusiasm overwhelms judgement. We just want you guys to have all the cool stuff as fast as possible. And that’s often not the right decision.We've been doing a lot of bug fixing. I know that's not as sexy as "NEW DRAGON TYPE" or "BEHOLD THE DYNASTY OF DOOM", but this is the work that makes everything else possible. So, let me walk you through what's been going on.Ugh. No doubt some of you have seen me on Discord. If you’re not on our Discord server, you should join. It’s the place to chat live with us. We live there.The Modding Expansion Hit a WallWe've been pushing hard to expand modding support. More…
- v1.02 Update Now Available - 16 April 2026
Battle forecasts, expanded modding tools, and stability fixesView the full changelog The biggest addition is a new battle forecast system. The pre-battle screen now shows a predicted outcome before you commit to a fight, ranging from Crushing Victory down to Likely Defeat, color-coded green to red. If your champions are at risk of falling, it tells you.Modding support has been expanded. All game data can now be replaced by internal name, and new tools let modders control how duplicates are handled, remove core definitions, or skip entire files for total conversions. Load times for mods are faster, and a modding guide is available on the wiki and in the Steam guide section.This update also resolves several crash scenarios that could occur during saving, loading, battles, and city destruction. Fullscreen mode now uses borderless windowed for better alt-tabbing and multi-monitor support, a…
- Dev Journal #25: Spring Roadmap - 2 April 2026
Lots of cool things going on. We’ve been reading the feedback closely as well as reviewing and fixing crash reports. Your posts are extremely helpful in narrowing things down. So today we want to talk about the roadmap for Elemental: Reforged. We have two years (at least) of budget now. Thank you for all your support! So let’s dive right into the near term:VersionWhat is itWhen is it1.02Bug fixes, usability improvements, AI improvementsImminent1.1User requested features and additions, performance optimizations, any remaining stability/bugs, Modding improvementsThis month1.2More support for Undead, UI updates, More modding improvements, Dynasty updatesMayDLC 1More quests, goodie huts, monsters, items, equipment, monster lairsMay1.3 JuneNow, a lot of people online didn’t realize that Elemental: Reforged is a remastering of a 2010 game series (War of Magic + Fallen Enchantress + Sorcerer K…
