Knights of Frontier Valley

[Asid]

Go from humble beginnings to glory in this challenging, roguelike RPG inspired by classic titles. Explore a unique open world each new game, face enemies in tactical combat, venture from bustling cities to dark dungeons, customize your character, solve quests, make impactful choices, and survive!

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Single-player


Knights of Frontier Valley Early Game Trailer




About

Get ready for unlimited adventures in Frontier Valley, a mystical and fabled place. Take on the role of an adventurer and guide him through years of his life in this unique and ever-changing world. Gain fame and fortune, while never losing sight of the most important goal: surviving!

  - Explore a vibrant and dynamic world with realistic day/night-cycles, seasons, weather changes, and townsfolk working their shifts and meeting at the local tavern after hours.
  - Fight in gridless, turn-based tactical combat, or choose to have battles automatically resolved for you quickly.
  - Survive the dangers of both the wilderness and faction politics in a procedurally generated world full of secrets and lore.
  - Choose your character from a number of different classes, customize his skills and appearance to your liking, and pursue a profession that fits your style of playing.
  - Join a faction to gain titles and glory, or go at it alone in your search for long-lost wisdom and powerful artifacts.
  - See your actions become part of the valley's story, impacting friends and foes alike.
  - Hand-drawn art with no generative AI content whatsoever.
  - A true indie game with a homebrew engine, created by just one person.




Get immersed in a world that feels real
In many ways, the world of Knights of Frontier Valley feels familiar. Days grow longer in summer and shorter in winter, weather changes follow a realistic pattern according to the season, and even the moon phase changes as days pass by.
Honest citizens sleep at night, work during the day, and enjoy their time off. Less honest ones might have different working hours.

You will get hungry, thirsty, and tired. You will suffer from the heat or the cold when wearing garment that is inappropriate for the season. You can get sick, poisoned, intoxicated, encumbered, and more.
Wounds sustained in combat will take time to heal. Protecting yourself with armor, and avoiding the attention of powerful enemies, is safer than relying on a backpack full of potions. Taking risks can be lucrative, but it can also end badly.





Old-school gameplay
Knights of Frontier Valley was inspired by classic titles from the golden age of RPGs in the '80s and '90s. Like many games from back then, it is not easy to beat and making it to the end is a true accomplishment. Since your choices really matter, important decisions such as skill selections are usually final.
All information needed to proceed and to win is out there waiting to be found, but there are no quest markers.

The game was designed to be played many times. Most aspects of the world are procedurally generated, including most maps, characters, items, faction relations, and more. No two games will ever be the same.


Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

As a fantasy role playing game with tactical combat, the display of violence is common, and mention of fantasy religion, magic, and the occult are part of the narrative.
Some quests may encourage the player to perform criminal activities. Story elements are sometimes kept purpusefully unclear to add mystery, which might cause uneasiness for some players.
Dialogues may include rare uses of crude language and profanity. Characters may consume alcohol or drugs and rare visuals of partial nudity might appear.

[Asid]

[Asid]

Coming soon: the Public Demo
Wed, August 6, 2025



Can you help Aldhelm out of a tight spot?

Most venerable Knights,

The public demo is coming soon! Everyone (read: You) will be able to download it for free and enjoy hours of gameplay. Mind that this is not Early Access, and it will not yet be what I have in my mind as the full vision of this game. For example, you will not be able to join factions yet or play past the third chapter. But it is going to be a very representative demo, and if you like it, it is safe to say you will like the finished game even more.

I am about halfway through the development cycle for this version and can now share the scope. The list is still subject to (minor) changes, but in general, this is what you can expect:


Quickdemo

So many demos to try, so little time. The quickdemo is a separate adventure called "Aldhelm's Path" which showcases some of the game's highlights. You will play a premade character named Aldhelm Sanderford who got himself in trouble... help him out, and then help him get rich!

Following the plot tightly, you should be able to complete this story within two hours (the original plan was 30 minutes, but that turned out to not be enough to make the story immersive). The background story is presented with a new "slideshow cutscene", similar to those describing the history of the valley.

Of course, aside from this quickdemo, the main game will also be available.


Early on, Aldhelm was forced to steal to survive. But maybe now, life has a bit of luck in store for him?


Crafting

In this version, you will be able to craft a number of items utilizing your crafting skill and corresponding "schemas". Over time, more schemas will be added, and the feature will be extended to also include smithing and alchemy, as well as maintaining and even improving your equipment.


You will need the skills, materials, and a "schema" to craft an item. Some items might have additional requirements, like only being craftable in certain places.


Prison mechanics

As part of the "Crime and Punishment" feature set, handling of your character being in prison has been added. You can try to break out in various ways (some are faster than others, but also riskier). Alternatively, if your sentence is short, you can choose to sit it out and get released with a clean criminal record. This comes at a price, though, as you might lose a few skill points due to malnutrition and neglect for the time you spent in the foul cell.


Unsurprisingly, you will spend most of the time in your cell while in prison. But sometimes, you might get an opportunity to leave the stinking hole. Here, the guards need help picking the lock of a rich man's villa who lost his key. Do you think they will share the reward?


New gameplay mechanics

Some QoL features have been added, including the option to upgrade your satchel for an extra quickslot, and attaching a lantern to your belt to keep both hands free for your weapon and shield when exploring a dark place.


Two new items expand your inventory's capabilities. The "Lord's satchel", a fine leather pouch of exquisite craftsmanship, can hold a bit more than the standard variety, but comes with a hefty price tag.
The "belt clip" allows for attaching certain items to the belt, including a lantern.


Interactive tutorial

Knights of Frontier Valley is a complex game with many features, and some of them are presented in unique ways. The new interacive tutorial will guide you through the most important and interesting ones.


Design goal for the interactive tutorial: "make it not be annoying". Let's see if I can pull it off.


Improved NPC behavior

Like in every prior version, NPC behavior including daily routine, reaction to threats, handling of combat, and more has been tuned. But this time, entirely new behavior patterns will be added for city inhabitants, making cities feel much more alive.


New content

There are new items, objects, and characters. There are also new graphics, animations, music, sfx, and PC voice output.


Many other improvements

There are improvements to the UI, the handling of audio playback, the main menu, the credits screen, and many internal things for performance and stability. 23 bugs have also been fixed so far.

I hope you are getting as excited about this release as I am... there is a bottle of Zinfandel I have been saving for this moment for eight years.

Until next time,

Martin

[Asid]

Steam Playtest now open for sign-up!
Fri, December 12, 2025



The game has been years in the making - time to show what it is like

Venerable Knights,

Six months after Alpha 3.fun went out to a closed group of testers, the next big Alpha milestone is almost ready for release - but this time, everyone gets to play it. Including you. For free.

You can join the Steam Playtest by clicking the button here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1085830/Knights_of_Frontier_Valley/

The game will unlock mid-January for everyone. Some of you waited for years to try out this unique RPG inspired by classic tiles, and now we are just a month away!

Mind this is not yet Early Access, but you will get a fully playable version that is quite representative of the final experience, although a lot more will be added before the game is officially finished.



Get to know many of the deep features of "Knights of Frontier Valley" in the tutorial adventure "Aldhelm's Path". Help unlucky thief Aldhelm out of trouble by crafting items, using your persuasion skills, stealth, lockpicking, and any other means you see fit.

Then guide him from a bustling city to a dark dungeon following the clues contained in a mysterious treasure map! Use your tactical finesse to defeat enemies that stand in your way towards riches and a better life.

When you are ready for more after solving this quest, start the main game with your own character and dive into a completely new challenge. Exploring new cities, dungeons, and other places you will advance through the first few chapters from the final game.

Make new friends and enemies in a detailed world with complex NPC behavior, changing seasons, day-night cycles, and realistic weather.

Customize your character, choose a profession, and specialize in a branch to become a master of your trade.

You can look forward to 6 to 10 hours of fun in this Playtest version of an old-school RPG with procedural world generation that makes every game unique.

See you soon at the palace in the grand city of Thyle!

Martin

[Asid]

Playtest release candidate available!
Fri, December 19, 2025



The biggest update yet is coming your way, and fast

Most Honorable Knights,

it is with great pleasure that I can announce the completion of the Playtest release candiate. The first version of the game that will go out to everyone is finally ready!

A series of all-nighter coding sessions made it possible to stick to the dev schedule, and testing is now in progress to make sure you will have a smooth experience.

Should you have been among those who participated in the closed testing round for Alpha 3.fun, you can find a list of changes below.

Looking forward to your feedback when the Playtest unlocks on January 15.

Until then,

Martin

New Features

  - Quickdemo mode ("Aldhelm's Path"), including a new quest and new cutscenes

  - Crafting of items

  - Prison mechanics

  - Treasure maps

  - Readable books

  - Interactive tutorial & quick hints

  - Steam Achievements

  - Steam Cloud Saves

New content

  - Added new NPC types

  - Added new objects

  - Added new items

  - Added a new map location

  - Added a new dungeon type ("Ancients")

  - Added new music tracks

  - Added new sound effects

NPC behavior improvements

  - Added a new NPC behavior pattern: tavern

  - Added a new NPC behavior pattern: city life

  - Added an additional work shift to increase NPC schedule variety

  - Added NPC reactions to theft

  - Added some special behavior for certain character types

  - Improved handling of how criminal acts affect the personal relationship between characters

  - Improved guard behavior during a manhunt

Character improvements

  - Added new ways of interacting with items and objects

  - Added the concept of natural armor

  - Added a new behavior mode (crouch)

  - Added logic for some NPC types to never sleep (like undead)

  - Added storing of time when the PC last attacked an NPC - they will remember what you did!

  - Added a general mechanism to recover an NPC who is stuck (needs to be used more often still)

  - Improved the animation and movement speeds of some characters

  - Improved the footprint definition of some character types

Map improvements

  - Added new NPCs to human settlements

  - Added concept of hidden map locations

  - Added the Thyle supermap to the overview map

  - Added signs to country roads

  - Improved procedural generation of natural cave dungeon maps

  - Improved some settlement and building maps

  - Improved handling of door locks and implemented lock traps

  - Improved rendering of trees, especially during tactical combat

  - Enabled the overview map in dungeons

  - Enabled the campire action in dungeons

NPC combat behavior improvements

  - Improved logic to position for an attack

  - Improved archer behavior

  - Improved behavior when NPCs occupy the same space

  - Improved escape logic

  - Improved logic to scroll/zoom the map to the appropriate position in combat

UI improvements

  - Added option to customize portrait book behavior (pinned, transparent, or sliding)

  - Added hover descriptions for attributes and skills

  - Added concept of having action icons directly shown on the map

  - Added progress bars when loading

  - Added loading screen

  - Added feature to move items between containers using a right-click (and updated tutorial)

  - Added highlight of slots in the inventory where items can be equipped

  - Added indicators for hunger/thirst/fullness levels to health screen

  - Added indicator to show when distributable points or perks are available

  - Added visual indicator when the PC receives an item

  - Added hover description to several buttons

  - Added hover description for any item special status (stolen, quest, etc)

  - Added feature to open journal entry when clicking quest or criminal record banner

  - Added display of estimated power when prompted for quick resolving a combat

  - Added icon to display the state of a manhunt

  - Improved and simplified concept of damage and life points (and added label for the value)

  - Improved the readability of status messages

  - Improved the combat UI (fonts, font colors, added backplates)

  - Improved the resting panel

  - Improved inventory belt clip background image

  - Improved size of book widgets

  - Improved timing of some hovers tooltips/popups (now appearing quicker)

  - Improved the display of written tutorials and added feature to show them on the map

  - Improved readability of hover popups (now hiding mouse cursor)

  - Improved positioning of screen size setting (now visible if resolution is wrong)

  - Improved determination of applicable mouse cursor asset during combat

  - Removed obsolete combat actions (Communicate: now interaction, Item: now used via quickslot)

  - Many smaller improvements

Balancing improvements

  - Reduced the stamina penalty from blood loss

  - Increased the skill roll bonus (or penalty) from high (low) attribute values

  - Improved character power calculation (life points, armor, sleep status)

  - Adjusted NPC group sizes

  - Added more starting money and quest rewards

  - Reduced prices for metal items

Audio handling improvements

  - Improved timing of when music begins to play

  - Greatly reduced audio stuttering when map changes (more work needed)

Main Menu improvements

  - Added hover popups

  - Added sparkle effect to game logo

  - Improved the wishlist icon

  - Now showing if the max number of saves has been reached

Credits screen improvements

  - Added links to socials, Discord, Website, Steam

  - Improved the copyright notice

Internal improvements

  - Improved handling of absolute timestamps

  - Improved handling of NPC behavior patterns when time gets skipped or the game gets paused

  - Improved performance when switching to a screen that shows the last screen in the background

  - Overhauled action handling

  - Improvements to the dungeon map generation process (more efficient use of arrays)

  - Now disposing all static TextureAtlases with the static disposal mechanism

  - Updated included libGDX framework version to 1.14

  - Updated included LWJGL library version to 3.3.6

  - Added many new generic Requirements

  - Moved data folder from "ProgramData" to "Saved Games"

  - Tied the attribute "quest item" from Item to ItemInstance

  - Improved handling of output logfiles (now keeping those of three sessions)

  - Removed superflous calls to setting the generic popup active

Fixes for bugs present in Alpha 3.fun

  - Fixed: app does not start anymore when a saved game is corrupt

  - Fixed: app hangs when spam-clicking while a new game starts, corrupting the database

  - Fixed: crash when an NPC flees to a different dungeon level

  - Fixed: crash when confirming a new combat move while just arriving from another move

  - Fixed: crash when an NPC's update queries the database after the PC died (database erased)

  - Fixed: crash in Pathfinder when there is no route around an entity

  - Fixed: crash when entering city map and patrol resumes at last waypoint

  - Fixed: crash when looting dungeon container with colored item

  - Fixed: crash when combat starts while mounting horse

  - Fixed: crash when a manhunt ends at a certain building level

  - Fixed: crash when storing criminal record entry with too many witnesses

  - Fixed: crash when NPC is trying to get to a spot on top of a building, but there is no path to it

  - Fixed: hang (NPC who is not yet to appear in the game incorrectly gets loaded)

  - Fixed: error when saving game while mounting horse (action name too long for db)

  - Fixed: lock components are not persistent

  - Fixed: procedural lock generation gets stuck if there are not enough valid trap slots

  - Fixed: NPC in explorable building, PC outdoors same town: isOnMapInMemory value incorrect

  - Fixed: group is not fully removed when a character is moved out of a single-member group

  - Fixed: bystander NPCs sometimes get added twice to the combatant list when attacked

  - Fixed: town guard behavior pattern not always gets started when needed after a map change

  - Fixed: in rare cases, it is incorrectly determined whether the PC is indoors

  - Fixed: when the game loads in a static location, the shown room can be wrong

  - Fixed: season Fast-Forward hover shows without the icon being available

  - Fixed: unable to cancel activities while the spinner is up

  - Fixed: outdated hover popup still shows up after a modal dialog appeared

  - Fixed: NPC's action queue stuck when leaving building and PC is in a static location

  - Fixed: rider and horse out-of-sync when opening Credits screen

  - Fixed: book widget "inventory" not fluently scaling

  - Fixed: book portrait visuals sometimes incorrect around the edges

  - Fixed: popups with large amounts of text exceed the screen bounds

  - Fixed: items can incorrectly be dropped in special locations using the key shortcut

  - Fixed: when re-positioning checkbox, hovered and checked variants remain at the old spot

  - Fixed: when loading game, effect trigger for an item not restored if it is inside a container

  - Fixed: widget icon rollover status can be incorrect after setting it externally

  - Fixed: a criminal record entry is added when picking a lock of a self-owned object

  - Fixed: rendering order incorrect when indoors (precipitation not showing through window)

  - Fixed: flickering on character sheet screen when animations are loading in the background

  - Fixed: when game is paused while in a special location, key commands still work

  - Fixed: Thyle city watch is not a unique special location, causing ambiguous guard behavior

  - Fixed: function to query the position of a building that is not in memory sometimes crashes

  - Fixed: incorrect behavior when a manhunt is triggered by a guard on top of a building

  - Fixed: attacker gets too close when positioning for an upcoming combat

  - Fixed: after dropping coins, carried weight does not get updated immediately

  - Fixed: in the map editor, cellar levels are exported twice

  - Fixed: possible PC actions not reset to default when starting a new game during same session

  - Fixed: descriptions for locations on the travel map are incorrect (indexing issue)

  - Fixed: even for non-humanoid NPCs, average armor is calculated based on humanoid body parts

  - Fixed: map inappropriately changes when PC is taken to prison while in a static location

  - Fixed: on some screens, modal dialogs are rendered under any screen darkening

  - Fixed: The UI renderer does not correctly return the hovered status

  - Fixed: some dungeon doors are locked although they are open

  - Fixed: dungeon containers not always filled correctly

  - Fixed: next quest step not always shown

  - Fixed: in tactical combat, nearby enemy cannot be selected after canceling a move

  - Fixed: quest "True Hospitality" proceeds incorrectly if the PC does not act for a while

  - Fixed: music stuttering when changing maps and deleting games

  - Fixed: incorrect item for starting campfire shown if using tinder pouch

  - Fixed: flintstone sound missing when igniting object with tinder pouch

  - Fixed: coin treasure item can include zero coins

  - Fixed: NPCs can block themselves after being spawned on a new map

  - Fixed: store visitors have a superflous action to enter the building on the queue

  - Fixed: children and some other characters are unable to talk in certain scenarios

  - Fixed: incorrect south stairscase asset in human dungeon

  - Fixed: lantern (on) does not show a flame in inventory

  - Fixed: the leader of the Dark Ones does not own the robe he is wearing

  - Fixed: various issues with activity spinners

  - Fixed: tutorial combat with bat can be started as quick combat when fleeing first

  - Fixed: when camping in dungeon, sleep actions are shown incorrectly

  - Fixed: after closing the gravestone overlay, interaction menu choice stays highlighted

  - Fixed: when holding Alt, entities stand out that should not

  - Fixed: wraith's footwear not rendered when attacking

  - Fixed: "door close" sound sometimes plays twice when PC leaves a building

  - Fixed: attacks incorrectly occur against already destroyed body parts

  - Fixed: signpost assets have incorrect filenames in settlement winter atlas

  - Fixed: temporary road and river paths are not disposed in travel map maker

  - Fixed: incorrect dialog text in quest "True Hospitality" after PC attacked goblin and left

  - Fixed: a selected NPC leaving the map stays in the interaction panel

  - Fixed: incorrect hover text for "Take all" button on loot screen after taking selected items

  - Fixed: character output related to food consumption is not correct

  - Fixed: if one side in combat is powerless, power bar not showing correctly

  - Fixed: life point bonus in power calculation incorrect

  - Fixed: PC name instead of target's name is mentioned in status message after PC attacks

  - Fixed: archers move to invalid positions on the map (outside the content area or in water)

  - Fixed: incorrect music might come up if the PC joins an ongoing NPC-NPC combat

  - Fixed: during combat, non-humanoid characters can open doors to escape

  - Fixed: issue in conversation with Chosh in quest "All bats are gray in the dark"

  - Fixed: incorrect result when determining whether a mounted character is in attack range

  - Fixed: after being in combat hit while mounted, cannot dismount and animation stuck

  - Fixed: sometimes, the wrong combat music variant starts

  - Fixed: town guadrs sitting in a tavern do not get up when spotting a criminal

  - Fixed: quick combat portraits sometimes show incorrect number of fighters

  - Fixed: "construct shelter" action available in dungeon after loading game

  - Fixed: after tuning towards an enemy during tactical combat, action sectors not always updated

  - Fixed: coins can be dropped in special locations (impossible to pick them back up there)

  - Fixed: combat gets stuck in quest "True Hospitality" if PC starts combat with the guard around

  - Fixed: the retiree does not appear in quest "Echoes from the Past" when skipping time

  - Fixed: corpses are incorrectly added as crime witnesses

  - Fixed: dehydration level not correctly restored after loading