How are you? How’s your crusade against everything that is good and alive going? Great? Moriana is pleased with your engagement - as we are!

Looking at the latest statistics, you have been very busy necromancy adepts. Thank you so much for such a colossal commitment!

Exactly one month ago, we launched the Early Access version of Be My Horde on Steam, and we couldn’t have dreamed of a better start! Thank you all for your support. Your reviews, feedback, and suggestions give us the much-needed boost to continue our work on the game. As we mentioned in previous announcements, this is just the beginning of this adventure!

Today, we celebrate. We’ll look back to calmly check out what the hell happened in the last four weeks. We’ll take a look at the present to share with you what the hell is going on in Polished Games right now. And, of course, we’ll take a look ahead to tease a little bit about what the hell will happen. Grab your snacks and drinks - let’s go!


It happened on June 18th at 7:00 p.m. (CEST). It was evening, but still bright outside. The sun was still fighting the night, and it was quite warm and nice on the other side of our windows. The whole Polished Games team gathered on our internal Discord server for a video call. We live in various places in Poland, so we work remotely. We started counting from 10 to 1, and at the right moment, Krzysztof Dadełło, the Game Director, pressed that magic green button, and… nothing happened because, on Steam, you need to confirm the release by typing the correct command, and we forgot about it. :D

Well, that was anticlimactic after all that countdown, and the champagne was opened too early. However, in the end, after a few more seconds, Be My Horde was available for everybody to try out. We crossed our fingers and spent one of the longest nights of our lives in front of our computer screens. We had no idea what would happen next.



Be My Horde is a small, simple project that we started working on mostly to learn new things and to gather a crew. At the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, we hired new people for the company, and we knew we couldn’t throw ourselves into a big, massive project right away. We had to make something smaller to learn to work as a team. So, we put a lot of effort and heart into Be My Horde, but at the same time, we didn’t have big expectations… And then the launch happened.

You can’t imagine how happy we are that so many people met Moriana, our glorious necromancess. However, we think that’s enough talking about the past. Our trip down memory lane ends here, and we’re back in the present.


The first major update was launched some time ago, and we’re happy it has been warmly received. We gathered more feedback, and as we speak, we are crafting a new update. We want to apologize for not sharing many details. We have that approach that sometimes we are a little bit afraid of showing what we’re working on. Don’t get us wrong; we love to be transparent - honestly answering your questions and letting you look behind the scenes occasionally. But at the same time, we don’t want to share something that is not ready and that we’re not sure we’ll even implement.

It is tempting to say: “Hey, we’re working on the X feature,” to hear your reply: “Oh, that’s great, we can’t wait,” and then find out, through tests, that perhaps the X feature isn’t such a good idea for Be My Horde. And then, we need to tell you: “Hey, do you remember that X feature that you were excited about? Yeah, it won’t happen…”. We really want to avoid that. That’s one reason we’ve never shared any roadmap with you, even if it’s a common thing to do during Early Access. We want to ENSURE that what we’re preparing is good and will meet your expectations.

For now, about the preset, we can share that we’re working on and polishing (hehe) the next major update that will happen in August. We’re thinking more about the first half of that month than the second half, but still, we don’t want to throw any dates in your direction not to disappoint you. What will you find in this closest update? We won’t tell you - sorry. At least not now. However, we think may tell you a little bit more about our plans for the future!


We have our general internal plan for Early Access. If everything goes according to plan, we’re considering launching Be My Horde in full sometime in Q1 or Q2 of 2025. As we mentioned many times before, we don’t want to make our Early Access phase too long. We feel like those 8-9 months from the launch are enough to polish (hehe) the game correctly, add much-expected content, and improve the gameplay.

Regarding the content, our plan is to create 2-3 additional levels. Now, the game has just the basic one, the plains, but we want to implement a few more. Each would have its own look, extra mechanics, and completely new enemies ready to be slaughtered and added to your malevolent horde.

At the end of each level, you’ll meet a boss. A powerful unit with unique abilities, challenging to defeat. Killing such a foe would mean that the level has been beaten. Naturally, our first step in this direction would be officially closing the first level you can already play by adding the boss to it. We already have a plan for him and some ideas. Unfortunately, we know he won’t be implemented with the closest major update, but maybe with the next one, sometime in September-October.

Various levels and their bosses will also allow us to tell an engaging and funny… story! Yes, we will add more lore to Be My Horde to share more about who Moriana is and generally prepare a proper script. Keep in mind that it won’t be anything spectacular; our game isn’t a massive RPG with plenty of characters and choices. But we feel and got confirmation through your reviews and suggestions that Be My Horde needs a cool story. Even if it's a simple one!

So yes, we will spend a lot of time improving the gameplay, polishing (hehe) the features, and making the experience of becoming a powerful necromancess much more enjoyable. But at the same time, we want to implement a lot of new content regarding levels, enemies, abilities, and the story mentioned.

We hope you’ll like it!


That’s it for now. We bow ourselves under Moriana’s whip and are back to work. We are aware that we say it very often, but THANK YOU! For supporting this small project. For your reviews, feedback, and suggestions. For spreading love to Moriana among your friends and family. All of it means a lot to us and motivates us to continue our work.

This weekend, we are planning a little celebration. There will be a party and sleepless nights. But after that, on Monday, we will roll up our sleeves. We genuinely hope you’ll enjoy what we’re cooking for you.

If you have any questions or further suggestions, please share them here on the Steam forum or our {LINK REMOVED}Be My Horde Discord server.

Take care, our lovely horde and…

PRAISE BE MORIANA!
The Polished Games Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2499520/Be_My_Horde/

The moment you've been waiting for is finally here—our first major update for Be My Horde! Without further ado, let's dive straight into what's new and exciting.


We want to extend our gratitude for all your suggestions and feedback on the Scrolls of Fate feature. We've taken a closer look and not only rebalanced the existing scrolls (details in the "Rebalance" section), but we've also added SIX brand-new ones. These additions will allow you to further customize your playthrough and discover new ways to play Be My Horde. Let's explore the new scrolls!

💀 Aura of Decay - Activating this Scroll creates a magic circle around Moriana that damages any hostile units that approach. While you still need to protect the necromancess, she's no longer completely defenseless!

💀 Swift Decay - Some of you noticed that you could rot the in-game trees, but it was just a visual effect. Not anymore. With this new Scroll, you can gain a temporary speed boost by corrupting any tree in your path. And yes, the buff adds up, so the more rotten trees in a row, the longer you stay faster.

💀 Poisonous Ashes - Unlocks poisoned urns that harm the living when broken. The affected unit will eventually die, even without your extra help. We warned you about Moriana's toxic company, but you didn't listen....

💀 Wind of Ashes - Doubles the number of urns on the level. Combining it with other urn-related Scrolls can yield interesting results!

💀 Corpse Explosion - When this Scroll is active, EVERY corpse you resurrect explodes, damaging all nearby enemies. As they say, if you have to go, go with a bang.

The last new Scroll is probably the most important one, as it changes the gameplay greatly. We got a lot of feedback from you about too much smashing of the button to resurrect in the late stages of the game. So, we reveal a new level of necromancy art before you. The last scroll is:

💀 Automatic Ascension - This enables passive necromancy. When the Scroll is active, Moriana resurrects minions automatically, sparing you from pressing the button. The cooldown for this ability depends on your overall necromancy level. Let the game handle the work, and give your poor Space button a break.


You can now build a new structure in the Dominion, allowing you to adjust the difficulty of your run by increasing the enemy’s damage. If you find the basic Be My Horde too easy, give yourself an extra challenge. To unlock each difficulty level, you must first finish the game (reach the 30-minute mark) on the current level. It's not easy to impress Moriana, but you might just earn her attention and admiration by challenging yourself. Maybe. Probably not.


You'll spend a lot of time in Moriana's Dominion, building new structures and learning new abilities. And so, we put much effort into it.

💀 We've enhanced its visuals by adding new effects, adjusting existing ones (like the souls effect when building structures), and revealing previously invisible lava pits.

💀 We've also rebalanced the progress in the Dominion. It requires less grinding as bigger upgrades have been changed to a few smaller ones. Progress is simply quicker, but it’s still not too easy.

💀 Additionally, we've separated the abilities to increase health points and unlock health regeneration into two different structures.

We hope you enjoy your new dark and hellish base!


💀 The pause menu now shows active Scrolls;
💀 Increased the maximum zoom level;
💀 Higher tier units now have even bigger priority when selecting units to resurrect;
💀 The end screen now shows the “New Record!” message;
💀 Minions can now corrupt plants and trees;
💀 Added highlight effect to all interactive buildings in the Dominion;
💀 Changed Scroll point icon color from white to teal;
💀 Improved Mages’ fireball sound effect;
💀 Changed alive Priest heal effect to yellow;
💀 Removed the chance to spawn a Peasant in urns;
💀 Weather type is now predefined for the first several runs;
💀 Improved button navigation in the Scrolls window;
💀 Improved interface scaling for non-16:9 resolutions;


💀 Fixed the issue that caused Hold Instant Cast to have a delay between resurrections;
💀 Fixed the issue that caused Great Plague graves to spawn units with incorrect stats and abilities;
💀 Fixed the issue that sometimes caused Mages not to attack; the issue mostly affected Undead Mages;
💀 Fixed the issue that caused the resurrection cast to be interrupted when leaving the range;
💀 Fixed the issue that allowed urns to spawn on summoning circles;
💀 Fixed the issue that prevented the player from continuing dialogue with a mouse during the second dialogue;
💀 Fixed the issue that caused visual problems with the portal when entering the hub for the first time;
💀 Fixed the issue with inconsistent checkbox positioning in options;
💀 Fixed the issue with inconsistent Moriana portrait sizes;
💀 Fixed the issue that caused the sound effect in dialogues not to be affected by sound settings;
💀 Fixed multiple text issues in dialogues.


💀 Late-game units now deal more damage to Moriana to balance out more health upgrades.

💀 SCROLLS

Blood Dust: Increased spawn rate.

Speed Dust: Increased spawn rate; Speed urns now have a unique sprite; Obtaining a new speed buff while the previous one is active now adds to the timer instead of only refreshing it.

Spiritual Revive: Changed healing from 0.25 per resurrected corpse to 0.5 per cast + 0.1 per corpse.

Great Plague: Changed the starting spawn time from 0:30 to 0:00; Grave sprites now show which unit they contain.

Circle of Death: Doubled the amount of spawned enemies.

Storyteller: Increased their spawn rate during the 20:00-30:00 time frame by 50%; Decreased priest healing by 50%.

Wooly Boomer: Decreased Scroll cost from 3 to 2; Significantly increased Sheep’s spawn rate in the 0:00-5:00 time frame; Doubled Sheep’s spawn rate in the 5:00-20:00 time frame; Slightly decreased Sheep’s spawn rate after minute 20:00.

That's it for this update. As always, please share your thoughts on any improvements or changes, as well as the game in general. You play, and we'll get back to work—we have plenty more in store. While we're currently focused on enhancing existing features, completely new content is coming. We hope to share more information very, very soon. Take care!

Praise be Moriana!
The Polished Games Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2499520/Be_My_Horde/