- Version 0.9.0 – Blood Tree additions - 19 July 2026
Hello everyone!Version 0.9 has just been released, and I'm here to tell you a bit about it. First of all, I'm sorry this update took so long. Real life got in the way, and I simply wasn't able to dedicate as much time to Thornkeep each day as I usually do, which caused the delay.New Blood StonesThree new Blood Stone destinations have been added: Deep Woods, Overgrown Village, and Swamps.These greatly expand the endgame and should keep your Blood Realm runs fresh for much longer. It took some extra time to handcraft the layouts for these maps, as I didn't want to simply reuse the default map template and populate it with assets from each biome. I hope you'll notice the extra effort.Doctor ReworkThe Camp Doctor interface has been reworked to be more intuitive and finally gives you the ability to add positive perks to your heroes.Heroes can now receive one additional perk for every 10 leve…
- Version 0.8.0 – Highland Crawlers - 17 May 2026
Hello everyone! Wishing you a wonderful Sunday — and once you’re done with your outdoor activities, let’s take a look at the new Thornkeep update.What’s New?Highlands added to the open world mapNew open world vendorNew class to compete for the frontline slotUI tweaks to make things more readable and intuitiveSwamp monster sprite reworkHighlandsThe Highlands are now part of the open world and can be accessed through the Rotfen location. Just like the Infected Village and Deep Woods, the Highlands are a side location. The main reason to visit this area is a new vendor offering hard-to-obtain Class Items that alter or completely change the abilities of your heroes.HarbingerThe Harbinger is a new hero class added to increase the variety of possible party compositions. This class focuses on stacking bleed damage while being resilient enough to stay on the front row.It can be further speciali…
- Version 0.7.5 – Deep Woods - 29 March 2026
Version 0.75 – The Deep WoodsI’m back! And I’m back with another update. As usual, plans shifted a bit during development to better reflect game priorities and player feedback, but what matters most is that we keep moving forward at a steady pace, getting closer to version 1.0 and to the vision of dungeon crawler I’ve always wanted to play since my childhood ;-)Additions & FixesSecond pass on grammar improvementsHighlands biome retouched and partially reworked - it now looks much better and feels like a truly unique place in the world of ThornkeepBlack Woods sprite rework completed, and werewolves added to better reflect the Werewolf Forest sublocationDeep Woods side location added, featuring a new horrifying enemy the Forest HulkOverworld side locations (Overgrown Village and Deep Woods) now have a reason to visit, thanks to its unique vendorsWorld automap added (gave me a serious head…
- Step Beyond the Camp – Open World Update 0.7 - 22 February 2026
Version 0.7 – Open World UpdateHello everyone! I’m back with another update for Shadows of Thornkeep!Version 0.7 is now live, and I have to say development of this one was pretty wild. Priorities shifted middevelopment while I was playtesting the new Highlands biome. I hope you will be as excited about this unexpected addition as I am.OPEN WORLDThe biggest addition in this update is the introduction of an open world.While playtesting with a fresh party and running through the beginner tutorial, I kept thinking: “Why can’t I just walk out of the camp and explore the world on my own?” Randomized expeditions are cool — but what if the island itself could be explored freely, uncovering its mysteries step by step?That’s how it started. The idea grew to the point where I had to abandon most of the originally planned 0.7 features and focus entirely on building this system instead. Why such a r…
- Wait is over, update 0.6 is live! - 11 January 2026
Hello everyone! I’m back with another update. Sure, this one took me a bit more time than expected, but the wait is finally over. Version 0.6 was probably the toughest so far, as it’s content packed and brings new game functions and mechanics, including endgame content.Tree of BloodAfter you defeat the Warden, its blood will trigger the growth of the Blood Tree in the second area of your base camp. The tree itself is a gateway to another dimension when used with a Waystone (more about those later). In addition, each adventure run through the Blood Tree portal fuels the tree with more EXP, and when the tree levels up, you are awarded a talent point that can be spent on one of the enhancements for future runs.At the moment, the talent tree is about 60% complete, but it is already enough to have fun with, and it will be expanded in future updates. For now, respeccing talents is free to all…
- Update 0.5.5 is here! - 16 November 2025
Hello everyone! It was a busy week, but I’m back with another update, and I’m proud to announce that everything promised in the Roadmap thread is now here! It feels like a small miracle—if you had asked me on Friday, I would have told you the final boss would need to be postponed until the 0.6 release. However, the integration of the boss abilities went surprisingly smoothly, and update 0.5.5 can be released as scheduled, even though I kept adding more and more features over the past two weeks in response to your feedback. List of changes since EA release till 0.5.5autohide combat log to prevent UI overlapsdisable facilities interactions when player have no physical bodycombat UI revamp/combat assistantimproved tutorialadded combat tutorial area around basecamp, ratling mobs + scarecrow as tutorial boss.action buttons highlights and animated cooldown notifications for abilitieskeybindin…
- Thorns and Lessons: Update 0.5.4 - 9 November 2025
Hello everyone! It’s been a rough five days, but I’m here with update 0.5.4! Even if the version number doesn’t seem like a major advancement, it marks an important step in the game’s life cycle. This update brings enhanced tutorials, combat improvements, and key balance changes to make entry into the world of Thornkeep easier. v0.5.4 Changes:Added tutorials covering party composition, resting, camp upgrades, and basic combat.Introduced combat assistant UI, combining announcements and animated icons to make combat more intuitive. A separate animated ATTACK button was added for clarity, showing different turn states.Fixed various UI issues with overlapping elements and unclear readability.Inventory auto-highlights items or heroes under your cursor, showing where they can be placed.Base HP healed per day in camp doubled—doesn’t affect mid or late game, but eases the harsh first days for n…
- Walking the Thorned Road - 5 November 2025
Hello everyone! First day after launch and here I am with the first update, addressing the most urgent and pressing issues. EA launch is always rough and some are less patient than others(including me) I just could not sit around fiddlin with sprites for content update, and had to push fixes forward. Here’s the list of fixes, changes, and additions:✅ Auto-hide combat log/objectives in cases where they would overlap with other UI elements (especially ribbons used as page selectors in facilities).✅ Moved wallet so it no longer interferes with other UI elements (it was moved at the last minute — not to the smartest place).✅ Disabled interactions with facilities unless there are active party members.✅ Partial balance pass: enemy spawners adjusted to be less oppressive on the easiest difficulty.✅ Fixed “align to block” issue in the intro lines, so the text no longer appears broken.That’s it…
- Shadows of Thornkeep Has Awakened - 4 November 2025
Have a great morning, everyone! This day is special, not just for me, but for you as well - as we finally awaken into the nightmares of Thornkeep Isle.After almost two years of development, the time has finally come for the game to leave my living room and present itself to the public.Shadows of Thornkeep is very special to me. It’s a niche, long forgotten genre of grid based dungeon crawling, with a creepy atmosphere and punishing difficulty, exactly how I imagined it since I was a kid. Seeing it released is a true fulfillment of my dream.What can you expect?Shadows of Thornkeep was designed as a minimalistic, easy to pick up dungeon crawler that offers short adventures with around 5 to 10 minutes of gameplay each. The stat and character system was simplified so everyone can understand it at a glance, making the genre more accessible to a wider audience while still retaining the essenc…
- The Calm Before the Descent - 27 October 2025
Hello dungeon crawlers! It’s been an amazing ride so far, and *Shadows of Thornkeep* is getting ready for its Early Access launch, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter in its journey.The past month and a bit have been spent polishing the gameplay experience, adding quality of life improvements, enriching the games soundscapes, and even introducing gamepad support so you can enjoy dungeon crawling from the comfort of your couch.Bad NewsThe game was originally scheduled to release on October 28th, and everything is ready for that date. Unfortunately, I need to delay the launch by one week due to unforeseen family matters. While I could press the launch button tomorrow morning, I would not be able to monitor the release throughout the day which could turn into a disaster if any gamebreaking bugs or major issues appear. I dont want to take that risk.Good NewsIve arranged a free…
