Diplomacy Is Not An Option has been in early access for a year. A lot has happened but players should be happy to know that the official launch is planned this year. Right now, the game is being offered for $24.99, available on Steam, GOG, and Humble.
The Door 407 team revealed in a post some of the highlights of the past year:
- February (2022)
- Two weeks after the release to early access the first update was rolled out.
- The "City of Joy" mode was introduced which let the game be as close as possible to a city-building.
- March and April (2022)
- Community feedback revealed a preference for combat.
- May (2022)
- New update was released.
- Feedback revealed that players wanted victory conditions especially in Endless mode.
- June (2022)
- Challenge mode and photo mode introduced.
- August (2022)
- New update was released which expanded the range of troops available for players.
- Units added to the roster included:
- Foot Knight
- Horse Knight
- Mounted Archer
- Axe Warrior
- Burrdam Chimera
- Research tree overhauled with new technologies added.
- October (2022)
- Halloween-themed update released.
- New Challenges and Endless mode variants.
- Undead joins the fight.
- Improvement on the game physics.
- December (2022)
- New update was released to improve the late game.
- Resource starvation and repetition issues addressed.
- Infinite sources of iron and stone added.
- Rebalanced the chance of obtaining Soul crystals.
Story Campaign
The Door 407 team also shared something about the development of the game's Story Campaign. The team reminded everyone that Diplomacy Is Not An Option was designed to be a survival game. That means the only challenges between a player and victory are hunger, disease, war against superior enemy forces, and other hardships present during the medieval period.
Right now, the plan is to offer several factions for players to fight with, each one having special abilities to allow for mission variety. The team revealed that the first draft of the script had 12 missions with the story branching and affecting only cutscenes and dialogue. However, since the team wanted more from the campaign, they increased the mission number and added a wider range of objectives.
Diplomacy is Not an Option was released on early access in February 2022. The game puts players in the role of a minor lord that's been forced by circumstances to engage in battle with vastly superior enemy forces. Boxed in by a quarrelsome king, duplicitous advisors, and enemies on all sides, resolving this peacefully is not an option.
