Are you ready to brave even more dangers as the Viceroy of the Scorched Queen? In Against the Storm, a city-builder title from Eremite Games and Hooded Horse, you definitely have your work cut out for you as you try to rebuild civilization despite dwindling resources and the ever-looming Blightstorm. Now, with the new Against the Storm: Nightwatchers DLC, you can continue your journey with the aid of newfound allies, a race of humanoid Bats.

Our Against the Storm: Nightwatchers guide has several tips to help you manage your settlements and tackle objectives in various biomes. We also discuss Against the Storm's core mechanics for those who are just starting their stint as Viceroy.

 

How do you unlock the Against the Storm: Nightwatchers DLC content?

The vast majority of content that’s part of the Against the Storm: Nightwatchers DLC becomes available as you’re progressing through your current campaign. These include the Bamboo Flats biome, Rocky Ravine biome, multiple World Events, Legendary Cornerstones, and more.

However, the Bat race only becomes playable once your profile reaches Level 11. You can also unlock additional perks for the Bats via Smoldering City upgrades:

• Brass Forge Level 10: Unlocks the Bats’ starting ability. Grants the Manorial Court blueprint.
• Brass Forge Level 12: Unlocks the ability to upgrade Bat Houses.

The world map, expedition setup, and Smoldering City upgrades

Against the Storm has an overworld region where each tile represents a biome with its own procedurally-generated map. These biomes have their own modifiers and effects—for instance, the Coral Forest has mutated trees that grant bonus resources, while the Marshlands have giant organism nodes that yield more materials. Likewise, there are World Map Modifiers and World Events that offer unique challenges.

Before you start a mission/expedition, you may choose from various unlocked species that will join your caravan. You can also start with extra resources via the Embarkation Bonus mechanic.

The changing of the world is governed by the Blightstorm Cycle, which happens every few decades. The more time you spend on each map/biome, the closer you get to the next cycle. When a Blightstorm occurs, all settlements are wiped out and randomized biomes/modifiers appear in new locations on the world map. However, you can increase the duration of each cycle by reforging Ancient Seals, which appear as large glowing glyphs on your screen.

Lastly, the overworld lets you access the Smoldering City menu. This is where you can gain rewards for the deeds (specific tasks or achievements) that you’ve completed. The global resources you earn can also be used to purchase permanent upgrades. Think of this as a meta-progression system that doles out rewards as you keep playing.

 

Gathering resources and exploring the unknown

The core gameplay of Against the Storm involves gathering resources, constructing buildings that can refine materials, and choosing the right species for each job. 

Buildings that gather resources include the Forager’s Camp, Harvesters’ Camp, Mine, and Rain Collector. Industrial buildings, such as the Kiln, Leatherworker, Smelter, and others convert resources into finished goods. These items might be required by villagers, construction projects, orders, and trading opportunities.

Perhaps the most important building early on is the Woodcutter’s Camp. This allows you to mark trees that will be chopped down by assigned villagers. This process not only nets you Wood as a resource, but also opens up new areas in a region.

Note that many buildings in the game have an effective radius, but they can be moved to new locations. So, if you need to cut down trees in another area, you can move your Woodcutters’ Camp there.

 

Glade Events, hostility, and other dangers

One Against the Storm: Nightwatchers tip to keep in mind is that the forest hides many secrets, good and bad. Small sections covered in fog, once revealed by your Woodcutters, might have Glade Events that yield bonus resources and villagers. Generally, though, they tend to contain resource nodes.

But there are also ominous entities lurking in the dark. They can be found in Dangerous Glades and Forbidden Glades, which are marked by large skull icons. These events often require you to deliver the necessary resources, lest you suffer the consequences. For example, the curse from an Ancient Shrine could kill several villagers if you don’t have resources to offer.

Lastly, the forests view you as an outsider encroaching on tranquil lands. As your settlement grows, so too will the forest’s hostility toward you. This presents new dilemmas, including forest mystery modifiers, weather effects, and other debilitating outcomes.

 

Making the right choice: Reputation, Orders, Blueprints, Newcomers, and Cornerstones

To win in each biome or mission in Against the Storm, you must amass enough Reputation before the Queen’s Impatience reaches its maximum threshold. These facets are represented by a blue bar and a red bar, respectively, at the bottom of your screen. Reputation is primarily gained by:

• Completing Orders, i.e. completing a specific task, such as constructing a building or gathering a particular resource, to earn rewards.
• Meeting the needs of villagers and increasing their happiness/resolve.
• Exploring the region.

Each expedition you undertake also presents more choices and dilemmas:

• Blueprints: Select from various buildings to be added to your construction pool. Choose buildings that can exploit or refine the resources around you.
• Newcomers: Recruit additional villagers and gain bonus materials.
• Cornerstones: Activate buffs that last throughout the entire mission.

How to manage your Bat citizens

The Against the Storm: Nightwatchers Bats are a hardy folk that excel at metallurgy, both the preliminary mining and the ensuing production of items. That said, they don’t enjoy other kinds of work. They may appear in the caravan options or as part of a batch of newcomers once you reach Level 11.

Here are their additional quirks:

• Needs: Basic Housing, Bat Housing, Biscuits, Paste, Skewers, Coats, Brawling, and Education.
• Species buildings: Bat House, Grill, and Academy.
• Starting ability: Grants the Manorial Court blueprint.
• Passive ability - Dedication: Gain +1 resolve/happiness for every two members of a different species that leave or die. A stack of Dedication is removed each time a Bat leaves or dies.
• Manorial Court mechanic: Select a member of a species and send them away. Increases the diligence of those who remain in your settlement and affects the Dedication of Bat villagers.

The Dedication boost provided by the Bats’ passive (and the Manorial Court's ability to manipulate it) should hopefully offset any issues when you lose members of other species.

 

The Bamboo Flats biome and the Fluffbeak

Against the Storm: Nightwatchers also adds two biomes: Bamboo Flats and Rocky Ravine. Bamboo Flats has the following biome effects and unique mechanics:

• Rainwashed Soil: The entire map does not have naturally occurring patches of Fertile Soil.
• Giant Fluffbeak: Friendly creatures that produce Fertilizer so you can manually create Fertile Soil.
• Farmer’s Pride: Farms have a +5% chance of producing double their yields for every Fertilizer obtained.

In Bamboo Flats, you have to take care of the Giant Fluffbeak by providing its needs. These include different types of herbs and food, water, and sources of warmth. The creature grants beneficial boons at 50% happiness and higher:

• Village Mascot (at least 50% happiness): Grants +2 Global Resolve for all species.
• Fertilizer (at least 65% happiness): Automatically creates Fertilizer. You can click on the “Clean” button once you have three of these so it can make some more.
• Breadwinner (at least 80% happiness): Grants +10% chance for all villagers to produce double the yield for assigned tasks.

The Rocky Ravine biome and the Black Market

The Rocky Ravine biome is an inhospitable place where you must carefully manage your scarce resources. Here are its biome effects:

• Resource Hub: Speeds up trade route speed and trader arrival by 10% every time you sell goods worth 20 Amber.
• Black Market: Allows you to construct the Black Market.
• Royal Patronage: Start your expedition with +40 Wood and +10 Amber.

Surviving in this region involves having a lot of goods that you can sell to traders just to gain more Amber. You can then buy the resources that you lack from the Black Market.

That does it for our Against the Storm: Nightwatchers DLC guide. We hope these tips help you journey ever onward across hazardous realms!

Against the Storm and the Against the Storm: Nightwatchers DLC are available on the Epic Games Store. You can also complete your collection with the Against the Storm: Keepers of the Stone DLC, so you can play as the Frog race and try out their biomes, buildings, and challenges.