Warlord: Awaji - Lead a samurai invasion

[Asid]

Lead a samurai invasion into the mysterious island of Awaji! Recruit, promote, and upgrade your warriors while navigating the ancient world of feudal Japan. Use samurai weapons and strategies to conquer the entire island and become Warlord!


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Single Player


Warlord: Awaji Reveal




About

Warlord: Awaji is the second entry in a series of immersive strategy games created by Darkmatter Games. Step into the shoes of a samurai warlord, given special command and covert orders from the Emperor to conquer an entire island and recover a legendary treasure.

Instant Action Playtest
Join Darkmatter in the upcoming Instant Action playtest! Prior to the full release of Warlord: Awaji, this hands-on experience will introduce prospective players to the visceral world of samurai warfare. Only melee combat will be available in this playtest. Ranged and horseback gameplay will be present at full release.

Immersive Strategy
A unique combination of first-person strategy elements places Warlord: Awaji in a genre of its own. Immersive strategy, pioneered by Darkmatter Games, fixes the player in the shoes of their character, while presenting them with complex strategic gameplay. Lead a large army, establish forts, conquer villages and castles, and disrupt dynamic enemy forces, in a sprawling open world–entirely from this immersive strategy perspective. Turn the tide of battle by engaging directly in the action yourself, fighting alongside your own hand picked warriors fully in real time.

Dynamic Open World
The world of Warlord: Awaji is a sprawling island based on the eponymous real life location. Travel the roads cautiously and keep your eyes on the treelines, as convoys and roaming armies criss-cross the open world in real time. The local population will quickly spread word of your exploits, so choose your actions carefully. Manage the population's unrest levels and prepare for raids on your camp. Enemies will react aggressively to repeated attacks and transgressions by your samurai invasion force.

Massive Battles
Your warriors are your most important weapon. Recruit and maintain a powerful retinue of samurai to complete your army. Enemy forces can coordinate and number in their hundreds to oppose your advance. Use your troops carefully to attack local strongholds and settlements, and gain the upper hand. Every battle has lasting consequences and implications, so choose your fights wisely.

Base Building
Construct a series of camps and outposts as you conquer the open world. Clear the forests and put up defenses. Set guards and patrols to maintain a perimeter. At any time, you may pack up and relocate your camp, allowing for complex strategic maneuvers. Decide where and when to set up your base, and how long to stay before conditions become too dangerous.

Japanese History
All of the weapons, armor, structures, names, and gameplay featured are inspired directly from extant literary, iconographic, and archeological sources. Darkmatter Games, with the help of world leading experts on samurai warfare, has painstakingly recreated the 14th century world of feudal Japan in unrivaled detail. Historical authenticity is the core element of the Warlord franchise. Prepare to experience the visceral world of the samurai like never before seen.

Please check back later to view more trailers, screenshots, and details about the full game and Campaign mode as they are revealed!


Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Stylized blood and dismemberment portrayed on amorphous characters.

[Asid]

[Asid]

Demo Trailer
Sat, September 21, 2024



Playtest coming September 28th!




Warlords,

The first gameplay reveal of Warlord: Awaji is here! Check it out now on Youtube, and get ready for the Playtest starting on September 28th!


Join the Playtest first, then continue your experience in the Demo version during Steam Next Fest, starting October 14th.
The Playtest and Demo versions will be largely the same. Player progression carries over seamlessly.

Until then!

[Asid]

Warlord: Awaji - Playtest Released!
Sat, 28 September 2024



Join the fight!

Legates,

The time has come... Warlord: Awaji's Playtest is officially live!

If you already signed up, you should be receiving an email and playtest access from Steam. Players signing up going forward should have immediate access.

As a reminder, the Playtest will be replaced by the Demo on October 14th so the game can join Steam Next Fest. Be sure to download and try the Demo app too,
so Warlord: Awaji can stand out in the festival!

Thank you all for your support. Enjoy the game!

[Asid]

Demo Update 1.1
Fri, 4 October 2024



"I got readings, in front and behind."

Warlords,

Thank you all for jumping right into the playtest and sending me helpful feedback. I have been very happy with the reception of the new combat mechanics and graphics. I hope everyone has enjoyed the quantum-leap from Warlord: Britannia, and is excited for more info regarding the campaign.

Over the past week I have been updating the Playtest and Demo builds frequently with small hot-fixes, which are posted on Steam and Discord, and I will link them below here. This update however adds something totally new, so it warrants a full announcement.

I quickly recognized the main friction people have had with the demo is identifying friend from foe, as well as the lack of overall battlefield awareness. To combat this, I have added two new things: a color-coded dynamic cursor, which soft-launched the other day in a hot-fix, and now, a radar system.

My idea is that this radar gives the player a look into the mind of their character, without cluttering the game-world with markers and icons. In real life, we identify people not only by their clothing, but also by the way they walk, talk, their posture, their height, and other small quirks that do not translate well into videogames. To simulate this innate knowledge, the radar acts as a quick way to identify friendlies and enemies, within a certain range, and in the player's field of vision. I hope this and the colored cursor improve the gameplay significantly. In the full campaign, you will be living day-in, day-out with your troops, and will quickly memorize their armor colors, but for the Instant Action mode it needed to be a little more quickly accessible to new players.

This update also significantly improves corpses. They are much more performant, and remain on the battlefield indefinitely. Expect more improvements and additions over the coming weeks leading up to Steam Next Fest on the 14th!

Full Changelog
    • Added radar
    • Optimized corpses
    • Corpses now remain indefinitely
    • Fixed kaishaku XP when gore option is disabled

Previous hot-fixes
https://steamcommunity.com/app/3123060/discussions/0/4847652627862669293/

Thank you all for your support. Good luck!
Darkmatter


P.S. Does anyone know where the quote in the subtitle is from, and who said it? Let me know below.

[Asid]

Next Fest Update
Mon, 14 October 2024



Support Warlord: Awaji in Steam Next Fest!

Warlords,

Steam Next Fest has officially begun. To kick off this event, I have prepared a final update for the Warlord: Awaji's Demo! As of now the Playtest is deactivated. If you were using the Playtest app, please switch to the Demo, your data will automatically carry over!

To make the new-user experience even more smooth, I have added unit highlights to help distinguish friend from foe. The level XP and damage scaling has also been adjusted to make early levels more forgiving, but still provide a good sense of accomplishment at the end of the Demo's progression. In addition, there is now an extra level, with a cool new armor color.


Full changelog:

    • Added level 13 with a new oyoroi armor color
    • Added character highlights with option to disable
    • Added option to disable radar
    • Added chance for spears and naginata to break instead of drop when out of stamina
    • Added ability to break props down when hit, showcased on the shields
    • Added assist half XP if an enemy the player had hit dies within 3 seconds
    • Lowered XP requirements to level up
    • Removed XP from killing injured or surrendered allies or taking their heads
    • Changed damage scaling to logarithmic, so early levels provide a faster damage boost
    • Increased drop chance of yari and naginata when out of stamina
    • Increased stamina cost to block with spear
    • Increased damage and hit force of naginata and odachi
    • Polished wood particle
    • Improved positioning of wounded characters to reduce physics glitches
    • Fixed kaishaku XP not triggering if gore option is disabled
    • Fixed permanent corpses not displacing grass
    • Fixed bug where allied corpses could not be hit

I hope this will be a nice "definitive" edition of the Demo. Should there be bugs or imbalances, I will work on those in the coming week. However, I am calling the Demo officially finished so I can pivot back to developing the main game!

Later this month I will have another exciting announcement, so please look forward to that.

Enjoy the Demo!
Darkmatter

[Asid]

Demo Update 2.0
Tue, 17 June 2025



A Warrior is Only as Strong as His Bow

Warlord: Awaji - Demo Update Trailer



Warlords,

First off, thank you all for your extreme patience. I try my best to reduce the wait between announcements, but this time was a special case. Shortly following the release of the demo last fall, I traveled throughout Japan for almost 3 months over the holidays. It was an enlightening trip, and I was even able to visit the eponymous (and mysterious) island of Awaji! I will share more about this expedition via Discord shortly.


(Central Awaji... looks like a fun place for a Warlord game)

While in Japan, I was able to research and plan out much of the remainder of the game. So immediately upon returning to the States in January, I got back to work developing. Although I was debating on whether I should release another demo, or save everything for the full game, I decided it would be more fun for all of us to have something exciting to try out while waiting.

Almost every file in the game was changed over the past few months, so while a complete list of changes is impossible to generate, here are the "big ticket" items new in this demo!


Update Log

    - Horses, horseback riding, and mounted AI

    - Bows and ranged AI

    - 5 arrow types and ammunition switching

    - Advanced arrow ballistics including penetration depth, ricochets, bounces, and shatters

    - Massive physics optimizations, especially noticeable in large battles

    - New instant action map

    - Updated and expanded foliage including bamboo

    - Warrior's mansion environment (The smallest possible example, just a taste of what is to come. Also note it is missing interior props for now)

    - Yabusame (traditional horseback archery) track, go WSW from the spawn point to find it

    - Dynamic interior lighting

    - Interactable and destructible doors and shutters

    - Shield deploying AI

    - Blood fidelity improvements

    - Melee animation follow-through and hit lags

    - Unique melee sounds for each weapon

    - Outdoor sound reverb

    - Improvements to AI movement and fluidity

    - General improvements

Please enjoy this new demo, and let me know either on Steam or Discord if you come across any bugs. Following this release I will be hard at work on the campaign portion of the game!

Also, I am thinking about hosting a Yabusame competition using the new track, so if you are interested in that, join the Discord to stay up to date!

Until next time,

Darkmatter




Updated Demo available Now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3123060/Warlord_Awaji/ Jump back into the exciting world of ancient Japan in this new demo!

[Asid]

Development News
Wed, 20 August 2025



Warlords,

Thank you all for your patience. I wanted to provide a brief update regarding Warlord: Awaji's development. I plan on releasing some news like this once every 2 months, so everyone knows I am still alive and kicking. I would love to provide a dev log in a more entertaining and digestible format, like a video, but I am a game developer first and foremost, not a content creator, so please understand this is the best I can do! Anyways, let's get to the news.

The last demo update went very well. I feel like the combat ecosystem of the game is in a decent place, and it is fun to play, but you have not seen everything yet in terms of weapons. I have noted some suggestions regarding the melee combat, things like adding a basic parry/perfect block system. This could be interesting should time allow, but overall I feel like the combat is already a quantum leap above Warlord: Britannia, and will play out nicely in the open-world campaign.

After the demo update released I pivoted to implementing the actual Warlord elements of the game. Namely, the camp, army, and open world mechanics like settlements and convoys. So far things are coming along very nicely and I have no doubts WLA will live up to and exceed it's predecessor. Having created a Warlord game once before, setting out to build features from scratch in WLA has been satisfying and efficient. Now that I know all of the pitfalls and gotchas that came with implementing these systems in WLB, I can write maintainable code from the get-go, which keeps my technical debt low (although not zero, but we are only human).

Even after only a short time implementing Warlord elements into the new game, some big differences have arisen from WLB. I would say the biggest paradigm shift is with the save system. In the previous game, you could only save your progress when at camp and not under attack. This was reasonable and by no means prevented people from enjoying the game, but I felt like it was adding friction. For example, if I want to assault a nearby village, I need to make sure I actually have 10 or 15 minutes to do it. If I have to go to a doctor's appointment in 20 minutes, this would result in me calling it quits. The lack of a true pause when opening the escape menu contributed to this issue. Now I am glad to say both saving and pause features have been made universally accessible during gameplay.

Another big change in Warlord: Awaji has been a simplification of harvesting, building, and storage. I found that while satisfying to watch your troops build structures and harvest resources in WLB, more often than not it became a source of frustration when things didn't go right with their AI, or when the player was unsure if they were experiencing bugged behavior. The interaction between these three elements: the building of structures, harvesting of resources, and storage space created a long list of edge cases and odd behavior. Storage space did not feel like a value-added feature, more like a chore you had to keep up with. AI building and harvesting was cool but became cumbersome and slow, and often frustrating. So for WLA, I have decided to forgo AI building (instead, the player's builds are automatically completed with a timer), harvesting, and storage space entirely. That being said, there should still be tools to allow for clearing of trees and foliage, and decorative storage builds. Plus the extra free time given to your troops around camp will be used for other immersive purposes, so no worries there.

What the removal of harvesting does is cut out the bottomless supply of resources from nature, and instead makes their procurement part of the overall progression ecosystem, which is something I really want to lock in for this game. Another reason why I decided to go this route is due to the samurai setting itself. Samurai field camps were not nearly as complex and well defended as Roman marching forts, so extracting massive quantities of wood from nearby forests simply doesn't compute. So I think these changes will be both historically authentic, and beneficial to the player's experience.

In other news, I have experimented with the base terrain for Awaji island, including the surrounding seas and landmasses of mainland Japan and Shikoku. I am still unsettled on the overall size of the map (determined by the scale factor to real life), but so far a roughly 1/3 or 1/4 scale is seeming appropriate. For comparison, Britannia (actually the real life island of Jersey), was in 1/2 scale and ended up being roughly 10km long. Awaji could be rendered between 1/3 and 1/4 scale and end up roughly 15km long, which may be too large for Warlord gameplay (some would argue WLB was already too big). So I will be tweaking and testing the map to ensure a vast open-world that feels adequately filled with content, is easily traversable, and retains recognizable valleys, mountains, and beaches from real life.

Let me know what you think about this. I look forward to reading your comments here and on Discord. Until the next news update I will be hard at work on the remainder of the campaign mechanics, then hopefully start to fleshing out the open world itself. Still no official release date yet, but it definitely will not be this year, so we still have a little ways to go. I hope it will be worth the wait! Thank you all for the support.

Until next time,
Darkmatter


(Greetings from somewhere on the Northern tip of a barren Awaji)

[Asid]

Development News
Sun, 8 March 2026



March 2026

Warlords,

Greetings. I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday season and a good start to the new year. For this development log I decided to skip the last two-month cycle so I could include more interesting information as I began to implement the campaign features in earnest. Instead of the typical paragraph text block, this time I am trying to create a more satisfying article with headers and images. So please enjoy!

Also a quick note, although assets are finished, the following images are of arbitrarily set up scenes which do not necessarily represent the layout of locations in the final game. Trees and ground scatter are also disabled, so the background will look unusually bare.


3D Assets Complete


Buddhist monks praying in a temple's main hall. An armed monk looks on.

Getting back to work after the holidays I quickly set out to wrap up the 3D assets and animations required for the launch of the game. The only items left on my checklist were the religious and civilian animations and character models. Buddhist monks and Shinto priests now bring life to the temples and shrines in the game. Some Buddhist temples are also home to armed corps of sohei, or soldier monks. In the image above, you can catch a glimpse of the iconic headwrap associated with the sohei. This was an important part of their habit, called a kato-no-kesa.

New animations added include of course the praying and meditating poses, as well as some civilian actions like farming and cleaning. The sky is the limit with adding these kinds of details to the game, but I felt like I was able to add a decent amount of life without totally blowing the budget and derailing the schedule. With these final elements added, I was clear to begin work on the "real" Warlord development.

Read on...

[Asid]

Development News
Sat, July 18, 2026



July 2026

Warlords,

I hope you all have been having a fun summer. I sure enjoyed the 4th of July, and I survived it with all of my fingers intact (can't risk Awaji's release at this point). It is hard to believe we haven't had a dev log since March. So much has been finished and the game is truly in the final stage of development.

A discord user started keeping track of the days spent "waiting for Warlord Awaji" right after the last dev log. He is on Day 133. I can safely affirm that the remaining days we will have to wait is far less than that number. The time until a release date can be announced may be measured in mere weeks, not months. Please have a little more patience as I bring everything together at the end here!

This dev log will detail what I have been working on over the summer. That is, filling in the open world of Awaji. I will also discuss what remains to be done before release and touch on my reasons for Not choosing Early Access.


New World
Warlord: Britannia's map was an island roughly 9x9km in size. This equates to 81km^2, but that includes some water and empty areas, so realistically there was probably 40 square kilometers of play area. This area contained a single barbarian "faction," 75 settlements of 6 different types, and only 3 geographic regions: the forested lowlands, the rolling midlands, and the barren highlands dotted with hill-forts. There were only two types of trees and grass.

Now compare these numbers to Warlord: Awaji. The new map is 16x16km, which is a whopping 256km^2! With water areas removed, the real area is probably half of that or less, but even then, we are talking about a playable area roughly 3-4 times the size of Britannia. At the time of writing, I have finished setting up roughly 100 settlements already, comprising 6 samurai clans and about as many monk factions. This is only 1/3 of the map... Conquering Awaji will truly be a great journey.


The starting beach, farmers work the onion fields.

One of the major complaints about Britannia was the lack of new content as you progressed further into the game. It was just more settlements to conquer and barbarians to defeat. You could unlock the full legion and see all of the barbarian settlement types while still in the lowlands. This was the fault of a still immature developer. In Awaji, I have worked hard to ensure that content is rolled out across the entirety of the campaign. As you progress through the map you will gradually build a larger army by distributing conquered land to warriors, and acquire new equipment that has a real impact on gameplay. In addition, settlements, types of which now number almost 20, tripled from the first game, will gradually become larger and more sophisticated, and enemy resistance will increase accordingly as they have more resources at their disposal.


An armed checkpoint. In the northern starting region, enemies only have access to spears, swords, and basic "belly-protector" armor. A far cry from their well equipped southern counterparts.

The physical journey over the terrain is also more varied in Awaji. Britannia's terrain was quite tame. Once you climbed up the bluffs, the island was relatively level until encountering a few hill-forts in the final region. Awaji on the other hand is vastly more diverse elevation-wise. You will begin on a beach, naturally, and climb the bluffs into the starter region, which is hilly and forested. Then you will backtrack out of the starter zone and cross a large mountain range, which descends into the southern, main part of the map. The main island mass is itself separated many times by smaller hills and ridges into self-contained plains containing different samurai clans and Buddhist factions.


The valley leading up and out of the starter zone. As the sun goes down, mist forms in the low areas.

Awaji's terrain is also much closer to it's real life state. In fact, the underlying terrain was not changed at all, it was simply scaled down (only by 1/3) and treated with erosion simulations to create a more amenable surface for gameplay. With this scale factor, any mountain, hill, valley, bay, or plain in real life Awaji can be visited in the game. Samurai clans are named after their closest real-life locality, and all Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines found in the game exist in real life.


A bronze temple bell. Many of these were melted down during World War II, but some have survived for well over a thousand years.

Filling in this natural world is a larger variety of trees and foliage. There are plains, forests, ancient forests, bamboo groves, black pine groves, and hinoki cypress forests in the mountains. Ground cover has also been vastly improved and made more diverse with a number of native-Japanese species.


Cultivated pine woods behind a temple.


How to Create Awaji
About a month ago, after I had painstakingly finished all of the settlement types, I sat down to start placing settlements on the actual terrain but was met with a problem. What comes first, the settlements, or the roads? Where should settlements be placed? Should I set civilians first, or their samurai protectors? How do I fit temples and shrines into this? I was experiencing what we would call "analysis paralysis." There were simply too many variables to calculate all at once and I found I needed a solid workflow to move forward. Awaji's terrain is far more varied than Britannia and contains more settlement types, so I devised a system by which I could create each region.

First, I start by studying Google Earth. This usually takes an hour or two per region. I check it out for notable temples and shrines, and try to get a gauge of where the large population centers are. I compare the Google Earth reality with the scaled down game map. This simple survey is enough to get me started. From there I can place down the real-life temples and shrines I want to include in the region. Then with the remaining land I create the samurai clans, the player's main obstacle.


A mini, unattended shrine on a mountain.

Creating a clan involves choosing it's "center of gravity," which in this case I define as its headquarters, by placing a samurai mansion or estate. This acts as that clan's heart. From there I fan out over the nearby fields and forests to identify open plots of land in which farms can reside. More southern, richer clans replace farms with more urban villages and markets, as it is assumed in the "canon" of Warlord: Awaji that the rural northern region sends food south in exchange for crafted goods. Here is where I decide what weapons and armor said clan will have access too as well, which is how I control progression across the map.


A warrior's mansion, which acts as the headquarters of a small clan.

Finally once I am happy with the location of settlements, I go about connecting the region up with dirt roads. These come in a wider main road, which acts as the player's guiding path throughout the campaign, and thin offshoot paths which sidetrack the player and lead him to more settlements and points of interest. My rule of thumb is that the main road always leads to samurai settlements and temples and shrines. If the player follows this road, they can complete the game.

Offshoot paths always lead to something, but they are not necessary to progress. Farms and other civilian settlements are connected with thin paths too, but they are short, and it is clear on the map where you are going and that you will return to the main road. True offshoots will be take you out of your way to explore, so that is left up to the player to engage with or not.


A warrior monk guarding his temple's gate. Temples are often secluded in the mountains of Awaji.

By following this method I have managed to fill in about 1/3 of the map and am on track to complete the rest very soon. Although it is complex, it is actually quite fun, and I am getting better and faster at it with each region done. Seeing Awaji come together has been very gratifying. Too bad it will be spoiled for me! I envy all those who have yet to explore Awaji for themselves.


Private Beta
Unbeknownst to most, a private beta test has begun behind closed doors in the Darkmatter Games discord server. This has been limited to a select group. So far, the results have been great. With their help, I have crushed a ton of bugs, identified a number of things that need rebalancing, and am working on QOL improvements. After the rest of the map is moreless ready, I will do another closed beta to ensure the game is fully functional and balanced throughout. I hope this will vastly improve the day-one experience for you all. No doubt there will still be bugs and balance issues that I will address in the weeks following launch, but it should be relatively smooth.


The big mechanical changes from Britannia also seem to be received well. There was some initial confusion, as testers naturally compared Awaji to Britannia, but they quickly adapted to the new system. The biggest change is how resources work. Instead of harvesting a nearly limitless amount of trees to build, and taxing an unlimited amount of supplies and money, now all resources are fixed at the start of the game. Settlements start with a set amount of items that you can take once. After that, they do not regenerate. There were many reasons for this change. First, it incentivizes constant action. No more holing up in your base waiting for tax money. If you want something, you have to go out and take it! Second, it supports the game's structure as a strategic adventure, and not as a colony or kingdom manager, which it truly is not, although it shares elements with such games when viewed at face value. This is part of the game's concept of immersive strategy, something I have been talking about for years.


Monks praying, resting, and cleaning. AI units go about basic daily routines including sleeping at night.


To Be or Not to Be... Early Access
That is the question which I have considered since before even starting work on Warlord: Awaji. Early Access on Steam is designed so developers can release not just an unpolished, but unfinished game many months or even years before it is called "done." This includes lofty promises and expansive roadmaps that bind the developer to their word (whether they mean it or not). I personally play some EA titles, there are many successful examples, and I am not against it per say, especially considering it provides a way for developers to crowd-fund an anticipated product, but the elements of "promise and potential" are concerning. For developers, it means they are locked in on their promise, whether revenue pans out and supports their goals or not. For players, it means they could be purchasing a product which on paper has potential but in reality could lose backing and fizzle out.


I had these thoughts when releasing Warlord: Britannia, which in hindsight, was the ideal candidate for Early Access. My idea with Warlord: Britannia, which is the same now for Awaji, is that I will create a finished, playable game, with a clear content scope to the best of my ability with a set time frame, release it, provide support, and see how it performs sales-wise. No promises or roadmaps until I know for certain I can deliver on them. This is why EA has always been something I just can't commit to. Thankfully for Britannia, the sales performance was strong, and I was able to create and fully deliver on a year-long roadmap of largely player-suggested updates.


Warlord: Awaji will be releasing in a vastly more content-rich and polished state than Britannia, at the same price-tag, so we will see if adding a roadmap is warranted. Regardless, no EA!


A temple in the foothills of a large mountain range. Awaji is fully explorable on foot.


Closing in on Release
With the recent beta test going so well, I am growing increasingly confident that I can maintain my internal release schedule (yes, I have had a date in mind for a while now!). After the open world is finished up and the final elements are added into the game, mainly quests and achievements and museum mode, the game will be ready to roll and you Warlords clear for deployment! There will also be a couple trailers leading up to launch, which I will share aggressively.

Please stay tuned in the coming month! Things are going to finally start happening around here again. Thank you all for the support and understanding as I bring this game to a finish. Feel free to reach out with questions here and on discord!

Darkmatter