Rather than announcing an update or a few bug fixes, this post will be closer to a real devlog, highlighting the new features and changes coming to Verloren.

First, a general overview of the 'plan'. Chapter 4 of Verloren will consist of four distinct phases:
-A relatively short first phase at the Monastery of Life
-A second in Alzano, introducing a brand new dungeon
-A third in a huge city
-The fourth and final phase will take place in a large dungeon.

The third phase will be by far the most ambitious, both in terms of new content and the freedom given to the player.
The first phase is currently 100% complete. Most of it has already been available since the September mega-update.
Phase 2 is currently under development and will be the focus of this devlog. It will be the basis of the future mega-update.
Phases 3 and 4 are still at the design stage.

New maps

Phase 2 will focus on the city of Alzano. The Alzano maps don’t need to be redone or improved in any way, so the mapping will be limited to the creation of the new dungeon.
Alzano has nonetheless been given a new place to visit, accessible from Chapter 3, which foreshadows the events taking place at the end of Chapter 3 and the beginning of Chapter 4.

So let's talk about this new dungeon, which I've named the 'Alzano Road'. It's located in the western part of the Black Forest and it's a luminous forest on the edge of a large lake. I got a bit carried away when I was creating it; the Alzano Road is made up of five huge maps with a total of 34273 squares(!). 

*Note: some of the secrets of this dungeon may have been deliberately edited out.

The main activity here will be to find 16 among 24 items scattered throughout the dungeon, so it needs a large playing area.

New playable characters

You'll be joined on your journey through this forest by two new characters: a certain character who had his solo appearance at the start of chapter 4, and another blonde-haired character you met at the end of chapter 3.

I won't say any more about them, I'll leave you with the surprise. ^-^.

New enemies

Most of the enemies on the Alzano route will be familiar faces from the Black Forest, with some sort of bonus to keep them dangerous. They will, however, be assisted by four new recruits, and not the least.

You know what's worse than a magic-resistant flying enemy? A magic-resistant flying enemy that violently fights off any aggression. This fearsome little mage will ask you for some adaptation.

This monster is a rat/poisonous spider upgrade. It can use AOE attacks to inflict poison on the whole team. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to eliminate.

This enemy has good defence and resistance plus a good pool of HP. It's rather slow, but it has the unpleasant habit of protecting its comrades in danger, forcing you to either neutralise it first or use powerful attacks to finish off your targets.

Meet Il Giudice, a miniboss whose 8 strength and magic points give you no idea of the damage it is capable of inflicting. Expect a tough fight.

New artworks

The upcoming mega-update will include at least three new illustrations covering events from Chapters 3 and 4.

The guild badge, golden hourglass and diploma will also now have pretty artwork (the diploma already had one, but it was clearly out of date).

The next update

Here's a summary of my current progress towards the next mega-update:

Mapping: >90%
Monsters and encounters: >90%
NPC dialogues: 50%
Cutscenes: 50%
Quests: 10%
Testing and translation: <10%

I still have to implement the three new quests proposed in chapter 4 (and adapt some quests from chapter 3 so that they can also be done in chapter 4).
There are still a few cutscenes to do, but they can be counted on the fingers of one hand and won't be particularly long (at least, not as long as at the start of chapter 4...).
The NPC dialogues will also take a while. As the story has progressed, all the NPCs are entitled to new dialogues. As a reminder, NPCs generally have two sets of dialogue at any one time. Some of them also directly involve the new team members.
Finally, all this will have to be tested and translated, which will take a while.

I expect to publish the new update in early December. In any case, there will be something for the 17th of December to celebrate the first anniversary of the English release.