The darkness is an entity of evil. Some say it is the manifestation of human fear and nightmares, others say it is a wandering mass of damned souls haunting us. The origin of the darkness itself is unknown, but one thing for certain is that we can keep it at bay through the power of light and fire.

Age Of Darkness: Final Stand is a dark fantasy survival RTS where you must illuminate, build and defend humanity’s last bastion against hordes of Nightmares.

Set in a dark fantasy world with the last vestiges of humanity fighting for survival, Age of Darkness: Final Stand features proprietary SwarmTech technology to render over 70,000 enemies – the Nightmares – that attack humanity’s last known stronghold.

Surrounded by The Veil, a deadly procedurally generated fog of war that conceals Nightmares and drains the very lifeforce from anyone brave enough to venture through it, the final enclaves of humanity must survive a series of five Death Nights, waves of attacks with an exponential number of Nightmares to overcome, so hope can endure.

Strategic construction, careful resource management, and rapid recruitment are the keys to surviving unrelenting swarms of Nightmares. Robust defenses to build, battle worn heroes to enlist, and the tug of war between light and dark all complemented with an original soundtrack by Path of Exile composer Kamil Orman-Janowski. Each Death Night brings with it ‘malices’, random gameplay modifiers such as reduced range of defence towers or even trained units leaving training halls as Nightmares, which test humanity’s strategies for survival. Meanwhile, mighty Heroes bring with them unique abilities that can help strongholds hold back the Nightmares during the night.

Set in the remnants of a kingdom consumed by a deadly fog, you decide. Will you hide in the light? Or take back your world.

PlaySide announced that it has re-acquired the full publishing rights forAge Of Darkness: Final Standfrom Team17.

After initiating discussions with Team17 earlier this year, PlaySide’s reacquisition of publishing control for the Age of Darkness: Final Stand IP will allow the studio to steer the future development and distribution of the game. The team is currently focused on delivering the full 1.0 launch out of Early Access, providing players, both veteran and new, with exciting new content and updates for the game.

PlaySide are excited to realize our vision for Age of Darkness: Final Stand, and have some additional updates to share later this week around its future content roadmap, multiplayer development, and the path to 1.0 and the end of Early Access.

"The first of these updates - ‘Seeds of Darkness’ - will be coming next week, and we can’t wait to share more details around this with you soon, and to continue on this new chapter together with you, our valued community."

Alongside the formation of an internal publishing division in 2022, PlaySide has continued to add to its portfolio of IP. The reacquisition ofAge Of Darkness: Final Stand is an affirmation of PlaySide’s commitment to investing in the development and communities of its original IP.

"We would like to extend our gratitude to Team17 for their support throughout the development process," said Ryan McMahon, General Manager of PC & Console at PlaySide. "Their partnership was invaluable in helping us bring Age Of Darkness: Final Stand into Early Access, and we are thankful for the opportunity to have worked with them."

"We are excited to now realize our vision for Age Of Darkness: Final Stand," added McMahon. "And we look forward to sharing updates very soon around our future content roadmap, multiplayer development, and our path to 1.0 launch. We are incredibly excited about the future of Age Of Darkness: Final Stand, and we can't wait to continue on this journey together with our dedicated community."

Key Features:

• Fog of War: Evolved: Light up a rich, complex, procedurally generated map to claim territory back from ‘The Veil’. A dynamic living death fog that conceals enemies, drains life from your troops, and hinders exploration efforts. Holding the line against this terror is not for the faint of heart. Any units unfortunate enough to be too close to ‘The Veil’ become ‘horrified’, sending them into fits of fear and lowering their fighting effectiveness. Only light cures the darkness, so fight in the light or pay the price.
• Death Nights: Brace yourself against huge tidal waves of Nightmares. Leveraging an internally developed technology called ‘SwarmTech’ Age of Darkness: Final Stand is able to  render over 70,000 enemy units on the screen at one time. These enemy legions claw their way up through seething fissures in the earth to reinforce ‘The Veil’. When the Death Night begins, you’ll be weakened by a Malice - a random affliction capable of undermining the best laid plans. If you are fortunate enough to survive until dawn you will be rewarded with a choice of Blessings. Live or die, Death Nights will test your strategic skills to breaking point.
• Heroes Vs Horrors: Lead the charge against the horrors of the night with powerful and unique Heroes. Using special abilities gained from levelling them up, these Heroes can be key to turning the tide of a desperate battle. But beware, the Nightmares have elite roaming champions of their own that drop precious resources when killed, posing an extreme and ever-present threat to your expansion. Are you the hunter, or the hunted?
• An Army Needs Training: Train and configure your army via a multi-faceted Army Skill Tree system where you decide upon multiple routes of progression for Melee, Ranged, and Siege units. Grant your Archers invisibility to scout hard-to-reach places. Imbue your Sentinels with rage so they may restore their health with each blow and install speed boosters on your Ballista’s to hurry them to new defensive locations. Each session, the choice becomes yours, though be warned, the most powerful abilities may cost more than just your gold.
• Day & Night transitions, expand by day, hunt by night
• Living Death Fog system that grows and recoils from the light
• Horror and Embolden based status effects which may curse or aid your troops
• Special Nightmare units, Spitters, Crushers, and Wraiths that test your combat skills

Age Of Darkness: Final Stand is coming to PC (Steam) in 2024.