Steam's popular Zelda: Breath of the Wild rival drops update for must-play free taster

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It was just last month that we first introduced you to Stormforge, an excellent open-world adventure with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild style visuals.

To say that the response to the game was positive would be an understatement, with Roboto Games’ upcoming survival crafter hugely resonating with the GAMINGbible audience.

It’s precisely for this reason that I want to fill you in on the fact that not only has Stormforge now locked in a launch date, but it’s improved and expanded its free demo offering.

To bring you up to speed, Stormforge sees you traverse a procedurally generated open-world either alone or alongside friends as magical storms form and cross your path.

This world is being drained of its life force by evil forces who, of course, you need to stop.

You’ll be able to choose from ranged, melee, and magical fighting styles as you take on these “sinister foes” who draw power from those aforementioned storms.

As a survival crafter, Stormforge players also need to build a base and scavenge for supplies, plus there’s a hefty amount of exploring where you can simply uncover secrets about this land.

The free Steam demo should keep you occupied for around four hours or so, supporting eight-player sessions.

You can only explore the first two biomes - Meadow and Forest - with two Build Mode sets available, with those being Wood and Stone.

There’s also a 24 square kilometre limit on the demo despite the full game offering an endless world.

Again, the demo has since been updated, so here’s what’s new.

Every major new feature and adjustment in Stormforge’s must-play free demo

Roboto Games has dropped a steady stream of updates across the last month, but we’ve rounded up our favourite changes and additions.

• Storms are now more dangerous the closer you are to the centre, with enemies growing more powerful.
• The glider’s minimum speed has been boosted to improve traversal, while glide distance has also been increased.
• Quest objectives have had icons added.
• Storm effects have been adjusted to allow for easier sight when inside a storm.
• Rain has been fine-tuned to make you wet over time instead of instantly.
• Melee attack movement now takes distance to target into account.
• Glider controls have been added to the HUD.
• Inventory and chest sorting has been introduced.
• Upgrading items now improves their durability.
• Item sources can now be found in their description.
• Overall RAM usage has been reduced, allowing for the demo to run more smoothly on your hardware.
• You can now join and invite friends on Steam.
• Players can hide control hints in the HUD.
• Menu tutorials have been introduced.

That’s just to name a few of the adjustments that have been made. Clearly, Roboto Games ins’t resting on its laurels.

What’s more, we now have an early access date for Stormforge. It’s set to arrive in full on PC on November 10.

“We will have more details on what you can expect at launch in the coming weeks as well as a roadmap of what the team will be focusing on during Early Access,” devs noted on Steam.

At the time of writing, the demo has an approval rating of 78%.

“I really enjoyed this demo! The gameplay is fun and engaging, and the art style is absolutely beautiful. It was quite challenging, and I died many times, but I still had a lot of fun playing it,” wrote one player.

“Fun game with great art and a nice aesthetic. Gives you what you're craving for a survival crafting game, with the added challenge of venturing into storms when you're ready,” added another.

We’re excited to see how this one continues to develop.