Hi Spacers!!!
I considered starting this update AGAIN with "things have been busy around here," but at this point that would be like informing you that space is, in fact, quite large. I’m fairly sure that “busy” is the natural habitat of board game developers, so let’s skip that part and move on ;).
As always, it's Maria on the other side of the screen, and it's a pleasure to sit down and write another update for you.
Over the last few weeks, we've been spending our time jumping between game design, production approvals, convention halls, and enough meetings to fill a small star system. Somewhere in the middle of all that, we also managed to make more progress on Enormity!
We know that many of you are eager to see what the game is becoming and where all this development is taking it. So, instead of focusing on just one aspect of the project, we decided to put together a little bit of everything.
In this update, we'll take a look at a brand new mechanic, revisit one of our Intruders after a major redesign, talk about character progression, share a few production milestones, and tell you a little about our recent trip to the UK.
So let's see what has been happening here!
Production Update
We’re aware that everyone is waiting for the Digital Copy update, LtP news, or the rulebook to be shared, but before we can announce these things, more maintenance is required here. The good news is that the work here never stops, and those who visited UKGE had a chance to observe the fruits of our labor. We are also aware that some of you live busy lives just like we do, and perhaps some of you didn’t have a chance to see or read anything about the current stage of the project. The good news is that we are working on something that might help with just that…
Lights, Camera, Attrition
So, we're working on exactly that.
We are currently preparing a recorded version of the demo we showcased at UKGE, with a few extra improvements to reflect the current state of the game. The plan is to release it on our YouTube channel and give everyone a chance to see Enormity on the table. We know you've been asking for gameplay footage. Many of you wanted a better understanding of how Enormity plays today and what the game has evolved into over the course of development. We think this is the best way to show the current stage of the project.
If everything goes according to plan (fingers crossed!), the video should arrive sometime around the next Enormity update. We hope it will give you a much better idea of the flow of the game and the many systems we've been talking about over the last few months.
In the meantime, below you can find a few sneak peeks of the components we brought with us to UKGE. Keep in mind that these are prototype, locally printed components, so their production quality is not yet final. Even so, there is something incredibly satisfying about finally being able to hold these pieces in our hands, and we hope you'll enjoy getting a closer look at them as well.
But, back to the production update…
Over the course of a few updates, we have been informing you about the long process of mold approvals for the miniatures, and now we are happy to inform you that it has been concluded. Just this week, we received the final samples of the miniatures that went through the mold modification process. These were the second samples for the models that had some quality quirks we weren’t particularly happy with, hence the need for modification. This time, the details that are important to us were sharpened, surfaces improved, and certain elements reinforced. Like I mentioned in the previous update, finding a balance between detail and manufacturability is always hard, and those who truly love their craft are never fully satisfied with the final result (which is one of the reasons why the work never stops!). However, I must say that I’m proud of what the team has been able to achieve with these miniatures and of the level of craftsmanship they bring to the table.
You can see the results for yourselves in the photos below. We are extremely happy with how these miniatures turned out, and we think the additional time spent refining them was absolutely worth it.
Still, the next major milestone we are working towards is the Digital Copy. Despite the delays we communicated in the previous update, we continue to move forward with the same level of commitment. Our goal remains to bring Enormity to your tables in Q4 2026, and that is what the entire team is working towards every day.
As always, thank you for your trust, your patience, your feedback, and all the kind words you continue to send our way. Your support means a great deal to us :).
The Violence-Propelled Cart
Escort missions, everyone knows them, right? You have something important and you need to move it across hostile territory. Naturally, we decided to put our own spin on the idea, because transporting a valuable payload through the middle of an Intruder-infested map is exactly as bad an idea as it sounds.
Meet the Mobile Transporter, affectionately known around our office as the violence-propelled cart.
It is a mobile platform, a heavy wagon designed to carry payloads across the battlefield. The Transporter is constantly on the move, and Spacers can load cargo onto it as it travels, using it to transport valuable objectives through hostile territory. That journey, however, is not without its own dangers. The cart has its own durability, represented by its Integrity Points (IP). This means the crew has to protect and escort it if they want to reach their destination. If the Transporter’s Integrity is reduced to zero, it comes to a stop and the Spacers have to find another way to complete the mission.
The Mobile Transporter can also interact with other mechanics in unexpected ways. Some scenarios and even certain boss fights can modify how it behaves, creating entirely new tactical challenges… but we will leave those surprises for you to discover during your playthrough.
From a purely mechanical perspective, the Transporter is a 2x1 tile with three Traits: Automove, Killmove, and Mobile Platform.
As you can probably guess, this means it can move in two different ways. The first one is automatic, thanks to the Automove Trait, which advances the transporter at the beginning of each Spacer's turn. The second method, the one responsible for its office nickname, is much more straightforward. By killing Intruders, you can trigger the Killmove Trait and push the Transporter forward. Sometimes the best fuel source is simply overwhelming violence ;).
The Transporter is also a Mobile Platform, which means that certain components, such as Payloads and even Spacer or Intruder miniatures, can stand and move on top of it. This creates all sorts of interesting interactions and tactical possibilities. One Spacer might ride the platform while the rest of the team clears the way, pushing the Transporter forward by defeating Intruders, only for that Spacer to jump off in a completely different part of the map.
The important part is that the Transporter cannot simply stop.
This leads to several unique interactions. If an Intruder is standing in its path, the Transporter can hit it, causing the Intruder to become Suppressed and Displaced. If an Intruder would spawn on the Transporter itself, it is also immediately Suppressed and Displaced. However, Spacers also need to be careful. If the Transporter crashes into one of them, that Spacer suffers a Crash and is Displaced. What’s more, every collision damages the Transporter and makes it lose its Integrity Points. Remember: if its Integrity ever reaches zero, the wagon stops moving forever.
The Intruders are not completely helpless against the cart either. If, during their activation, the shortest possible path to their target leads through the transporter, they climb onto it, end their activation, and the transporter loses Integrity. Likewise, if an Intruder would end its turn adjacent to the transporter, it also deals damage to the cart.
As it turns out, putting a heavily loaded platform on tracks and sending it through an active combat zone creates all sorts of interesting situations. We have seen it save missions, ruin carefully prepared plans, launch Spacers into unexpected places, and bulldoze through unsuspecting Intruders. We hope you'll have just as much fun with our violence-powered cart as we had while designing and testing it.
Light my Fire
Fire has always been one of the less cooperative forces in the universe. It spreads, it jumps, it punishes bad positioning, and it has a nasty habit of turning small mistakes into much bigger problems. So, when we took another look at one of Enormity's most recognizable Intruders, we decided to lean even harder into that fantasy.
If you have been following the project for a while, you might remember that we did a spotlight on the Torched almost exactly a year ago. Quite a bit has changed since then, so it might be fun to revisit that old update and compare the two versions.
The first change is a simple one, the Torched is now simply called the Torch.
The second change is much more important. We made several mechanical adjustments that we wanted to share with you.
The old Torch was an enemy whose protocols heavily limited its mobility. Most of the time it would either attack an adjacent Spacer with a Zone 1 attack or stand still and use its ranged attack. In practice, this often meant that it barely moved around the map and, in certain situations, did not move at all, creating awkward stalemates.
Its Radioactive Contamination Trait also created some unintended gameplay patterns. Wounding a Torch would leave Radiation behind, which could become especially frustrating during missions that required backtracking through narrow corridors. In some cases, our testers discovered that it was actually better to intentionally fail an attack and apply Suppress, avoiding Attrition (a special type of Intruder Activation that happens when you disengage from adjacency with an unsuppressed Intruder) and preventing Radiation from blocking an important passage. You know, that wasn't the kind of decision-making we wanted this enemy to create.
The new Torch is designed to challenge players in a different way. It should force you to rethink your usual gameplay routines and come up with new strategies for dealing with this particular Intruder. At the same time, it should be far more mobile and create much more movement across the battlefield. Because of that, Radioactive Contamination is being phased out. Instead, the new design focuses on two core ideas.
The first is a Chain Melee Attack. Fire spreads, and so does the Torch. Its attacks can jump from one Spacer to another, making tightly packed groups much more vulnerable, especially in small rooms and narrow corridors. Mechanically, after a Torch targets a Spacer with a Chain Melee Attack, that attack “jumps” and targets another Spacer, adjacent to the original target. Each time the attack jumps from one target to another, one die is demoted to a lower now – the attack becomes weaker. This repeats until there is no target.
The second idea is the new Leap Attack. Essentially, if a Torch cannot reach its target the regular way, it will leap toward the furthest Spacer within a specific zone, rapidly closing the distance and threatening parts of the map that previously felt relatively safe. In game terms, the Torch will ignore any obstacles while seeking the shortest possible path towards its target (although it still won’t move through walls or out of the bounds of the Shepherd!). After that… Well, the Intruder will bring a fiery death upon the unsuspecting Spacer.
Combined, these mechanics encourage a very different style of play. Grouping your Spacers together becomes much riskier, as every additional target can extend the Chain Melee Attack. At the same time, keeping the Torches away is no longer a reliable strategy. Instead of simply moving into range and attacking from a distance, , the new Torches can move three spaces and then Leap the rest of the way to a Spacer, giving them a level of mobility that is quite unique among the Intruders.
Keeping your distance is still possible, but it comes with a cost. Leap Attacks distribute significantly more Radiation, creating a different kind of pressure than the previous version.
The sweet spot is finding the right balance, staying close enough to avoid triggering Leap Attacks, but spread out enough to avoid giving the Torch multiple targets for the Chain Melee Attack. We like how this changes the flow of exploration and combat, and how it forces players to abandon old habits and adapt to a new kind of threat.
The result is an enemy that feels more dynamic, more aggressive, and much more faithful to the fantasy of an unstoppable living flame. It’s also a good example of the kind of work that happens behind the scenes. We don’t want our Intruders to behave like an anonymous zombie horde. Each enemy should have its own identity, and that’s why we so often revisit old designs.
Quantum of Solace
If you played any of our games, you already know that our d6 dice are filled with different symbols. There is Power, there is Potential… And in Enormity we introduced an additional one: the Quantum symbol.
Quantum is a special result on a die that activates extra abilities, whether they belong to Spacers, Gear or even Intruders. Today, however, we want to focus on how the Spacer can make use of it.
As your characters progress, they will unlock new ways of turning Quantum results into powerful tactical advantages.
One of the systems we wanted to design from the very beginning was Masteries, specializations that represent a Spacer becoming increasingly skilled with their equipment. Few things are as satisfying as seeing a character who has survived dozens of difficult Incursions grow stronger over the course of a campaign.
At the same time, we didn’t want this progression to feel lazy. Simply giving a weapon type a flat +1 Power bonus (or something along these lines) not only wasn’t particularly exciting, but also felt like a lazy design. So, instead, we focused on something that has always been at the heart of ITU games – close cooperation between the members of the crew. That said, every basic Division in the game (Ops, Security, Engineering and Science) has access to its own unique Weapon Mastery. And there will be plenty of opportunities to put those Masteries to good use. The weapon selection in Enormity is enormous (pun intended). During Scavenge Runs alone, players can discover more than 200 different weapons, and that does not even include Story Gear found during narrative scenarios, Boss Gear obtained from major encounters, or some of the more mysterious postgame equipment we are not quite ready to talk about yet.
No matter what your preferred playstyle is, you will find something you will enjoy.
Remember, balancing is still ongoing, so treat the examples below as work in progress.
So, what kind of abilities can you unlock? Decoy gives you the ability to move another Spacer. First Aid allows for another Spacer to regain their vitals, Resupply provides another Spacer with an opportunity to regain some Ammo, and finally Rally lets another Spacer lose some Stress. All activate when you perform a Fast Attack, and depend on the number of Quantum symbols you roll, so you don’t have to use a separate action to use the new ability!
Of course, not every Mastery is about supporting the team. Imagine a Spacer wearing a heavy Suit, trained to fight in brutal close quarters combat. This is where the Finisher Mastery will come into play! When you have this Mastery and perform a Fast Attack you may deal a Wound to as many adjacent, suppressed Intruders as the number of Quantum symbols you rolled! What’s more, these wounded Intruders will not be able to respond to this attack in any way.
BUT NOT JUST WEAPONS!
Advanced Classes gain access to more than just Weapon Masteries.
Every Spacer is equipped with a personal Scanner, one of the most important tools for gathering information about the dangers ahead, especially hidden Blips. Because of that, every Advanced Class also gains access to Scanner Masteries that modify this fundamental action. Anomalous Seeker allows you to identify the Anomalous Signals that appear on your Scanner. Engram Seeker helps you make sure you will get exactly the Engrams you want, and Scan’n’Gun makes you the first to notice danger and lets you act before it gets to you and your companions.
Masteries are meant to make progression feel meaningful by giving players new tactical tools and encouraging stronger cooperation between the crew. We want experienced spacers to feel different from fresh recruits, and we want every division to gradually develop its own identity and role within the team.
Back From the UKGE!
Last week, we finally returned from UKGE, and now that the dust has settled (and we have almost recovered from the lack of sleep), we wanted to share a few thoughts.
While we had our own small booth at Essen 2023, UKGE was our first event on this scale. We built a much larger booth and prepared a really truly ambitious demo schedule. It was a significantly bigger and more complicated undertaking, and, to be completely honest, we did not know what to expect.
What we definitely did not expect was just how much interest there would be in Enormity! The demos were a huge success, and the response to the game exceeded our expectations. Seeing tables constantly occupied, talking to so many of you, answering questions, and watching people discover the mechanics of Enormity for the first time was an incredible experience for the whole team! We hope it was just as exciting for you. It gave many of you a chance to see that the game is very much continuing to evolve. But it was just as important for us, because after all this development, there is nothing quite like putting the game in front of you and watching how YOU approach it. We would also like to give a very warm welcome to everyone who joined the Enormity crew after playing the demo at UKGE! Thank you!
And just as importantly, it was wonderful to simply spend time with all of you. We had countless conversations with you about our games, other games, miniatures (resin and plastic), sci-fi, fantasy, Greek mythology, schedules, and everything in between. Meeting members of the community face to face always reminds us that there are real people behind every piece of feedback we receive.
We also have to give a huge thank you to our amazing volunteers. They did an incredible job demoing our games and sharing their enthusiasm with everyone who stopped by. So, Aaron, Andrew, Akwa, and Neil, thank you so much, we couldn't have done it without you!
Of course, after several days of constant demos and meetings and running our stand, we came home absolutely exhausted, but it was the good kind of exhaustion, the kind that reminds you why you love making games in the first place.
It would not be a proper convention story without at least one small disaster, though.
Unfortunately, our miniatures and several other products did not arrive on time, which meant that on Friday we did not have them at the booth at all. We know that some people visited UKGE only on that day, and we do not want anyone to feel that they missed out because of circumstances outside of their control.
Because of that, we have decided to make our remaining convention stock available through our store earlier than originally planned. Originally, we wanted to wait until after Essen, but we feel that it would not be fair to the people who only had the opportunity to visit us on Friday. At the same time, this will also give those of you who could not attend UKGE for any reason a chance to pick up some of the convention items as well.
Once the remaining stock returns from the UK and we have had a chance to count everything properly, we will share all the details across the updates for all of our projects, including the exact date and time of the sale, as well as a full list of what will be available. We know that we still have some convention merch left, including Enormity T-shirts and tote bags :).
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth, played a demo, said hello, or simply shared a few kind words with us. UKGE was an unforgettable experience for the entire team!
Transmission from Other Dimensions
Before we wrap things up, we have a couple of small transmissions from our other corners of the ITU universe.
Kingdoms Forlorn
By the time you’re reading this update, Alloyed Resurgence should already be available!
For those of you who don’t already know, Alloyed Resurgence is a short (by ITU standards) campaign set in the Kingdoms Forlorn world, specifically in the Principality of Stone. It is composed of five full Quests that will take you on an adventure deep into this accursed realm, where you will learn its dark secrets and make choices that will change the face of the Principality forever. Meet intriguing new NPCs, foster bonds with the various Factions that make up the Alloyed Resurgence, and face down the most vile and violent villains of accursed Eisernwald!
You can find more info HERE.
Aeon Trespass
Meanwhile, over in the world of Aeon Trespass, there are only FOUR DAYS LEFT to enter our Design Your Own Miniature for Aeon Trespass Contest! And before anyone says, “But I can’t sculpt," don’t worry, you don’t have to.
You don’t need to know anything about 3D modeling or miniature design. If you have an idea and can put it into words, that’s enough. Our team will help turning your concept into a real miniature. And the winning design will actually be brought to life.
If that sounds like something you would like to be a part of, you can find all the details HERE.
Aaaaaaaand that wraps up another transmission from our corner of the universe. See you in the next update, Spacers!
