Anyone remember the grimdark medieval survival sandbox The Black Death? Yea, neither do I; the last time we heard a peep out of developer Small Impact Games was in August of this year. However, the devs have suddenly come out of another bout of radio silence with word of a new content update coming in January.
The news post first opens with some housekeeping, apologizing for the long span of silence and announcing what sounds like an amicable end to a contract between Small Impact Games and publisher Green Man Gaming. “Green Man Gaming were crucial in a great marketing push pre-early access and of course during it, so we would like to thank them for getting our message out and aiding in the community. We wish Green Man Gaming the best and a great future,” reads the post. “I would like to express our sincerest apologies to the community for having to wait so long for this announcement. We understand this is the largest time between updates in our history but we couldn’t be more focused on getting the black death to the finishing line!”
As for what’s next for The Black Death, players can look forward to the Rebellion update in January 2020, which will feature harvestable trees, a character leveling system to help address skill point distribution issues, player-built stables, permanent Plague Zones which promise new enemies, structures, loot, and environmental storytelling, and a new siege/raid map involving stopping rebels in the northern region.
All of this means that early access for The Black Death will be expanding as the devs experiment with a variety of other features such as mod SDK, controller support, achievements, and an expanded character creator. Information on when early access will end wasn’t provided, but the post does confirm that the game’s price will increase by 15% when it does fully release.
