Them Fightin’ Herds Development to Conclude with Season One; Players Outraged at the Reveal
In a Steam news post Mane6 revealed the future of Them Fightin’ Herds, which includes the end of development, their path forward, and details on the remaining two DLC characters.
According to the post, development for Them Fightin’ Herds will conclude after the Season 1 Pass is complete.
The Future of Them Fightin’ Herds
As we look forward to the release of Nidra and Baihe, let’s talk about what comes next. After the Season 1 Pass is complete, we will be ceasing active development on Them Fightin’ Herds. We will still be able to release small patches to address game-breaking bugs, but no new content will be produced. Unfortunately, that includes Story Mode.
Story Mode has always been an ambitious feature and one we truly desired to implement. We know how much our fans have been looking forward to Story Mode chapters, and we hope you understand how much we looked forward to working on and releasing them.
We are looking for opportunities to release content that has already been produced for Chapter 2, starting with a new stage, “Restricted Section”. This stage will be a part of the version 6.0 update alongside Nidra and Baihe.
Crowdfund Rewards
For any outstanding items related to our original Indiegogo crowdfund, this shift in development does mean we will need to adjust some of our originally planned perks. More information on this will be shared in the coming weeks via email and on our Indiegogo channel.
Steam News Post
In response to this update a number of players were quick to express frustration. At the time of posting Them Fightin’ Herds has a mostly negative rating for recent reviews, with only 35 percent of the last 75 being positive. Most complaints stemmed from recent communication issues, and frustration about story mode being cancelled.
These complaints are not unexpected, as Them Fightin’ Herds had consistent issues and delays with the mode. After an initial delay, story launched with version 1.0 on Apr. 30, 2020. When Modus Games took over as publisher, Mane6 optimistically claimed the mode would be completed before the end of 2022.
Barring any unfortunate circumstances we are confident that we can finish all main chapters (starring each member of the base roster plus a “final” chapter) before the end of 2022, still released as free updates.
We no longer think it’s possible to make the goal of finishing the entire thing before the year is over while maintaining the bar of quality. Working on console ports and new localization systems demanded more time from our engineers and writers than we thought. Once they’re complete, we can make story mode our priority again.
Chapter 2, starring Velvet, is still in ze works. When we have more to share, you’ll be the first to know.
Development Update
As the Steam news post implied, no story content was ultimately added in the past three years.
Bad news aside, Mane6 also added some details on the final two DLC characters, Nidra and Baihe.
DLC Character 3 – Nidra
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Nidra’s release has been delayed to allow us more time to get her ready. Here are some updates on her progress:
Nidra is, first and foremost, a Stance character. Sporting a total of 3 different stances, she moves through them fluidly during normal combat.
These stances may not usually have a large range, but have quite a bit of forward momentum on them. This allows Nidra to reposition herself mid-string and swap stances as she sees fit for the given situation.
Do be on your guard, because her stance moves will require you to switch blocks accordingly.
Nidra has a maximum of 4 magic stocks, and her usage of them comes in the form of bouncy, slow-moving projectiles.
These allow Nidra to both take control of areas of the screen, as well as potentially lock down an opponent for mixup opportunities. Each button strength of projectile has a different trajectory.
When at full magic, Nidra can enter her Awakened State.
Awakened State is an install that has a screen freeze on activation, allowing the player a bit of extra time to see what is happening on screen, or to use as a way to completely take their turn back during a series of blockstrings.
She may look and act sleepy at almost all times, but Nidra is far from a pushover. Be on your guard, or you will be overwhelmed by her large moveset and various stances!
Nidra’s Stage – “Slumber Sanctuary”:
DLC Character 4 – Introducing “Baihe”For the first time, we are revealing the final character in the Season 1 Pass: Baihe!
Baihe and Tianhuo have known each other since childhood, where fierce rivalry eventually transformed into a strong friendship. They both joined the Longma Special Forces to protect the Huoshan Empire, but a mission gone awry led to Baihe’s injury and disgrace. She sought a transfer to the Empress’s Royal Guard and became Tianhuo’s second-in-command. Now, they work together to safeguard all of Foenum from Predator threats and demonstrate the might of the Huoshan Empire.
Baihe is a zoner style character that specializes in long-ranged combat. Though she shares some movement options with Tianhuo, she is far less agile, preferring to plant herself in a fortified location and armor through incoming attacks.
Baihe’s Stage – “Smoldering Heaven’s Nest”:
We will unveil more info on Baihe as we head into 2024. She and Nidra will release together in early next year’s update, version 6.0.
Steam News Post
Expect more information when version 6.0 of Them Fightin’ Herds releases early 2024.
Grant Gaines
Hey, my name is Grant and I'm the Managing Editor, main reviewer and cover technology for Infinite Start. I've learned a lot over the years working for a variety of websites and reviewing literally hundreds of titles. I also have a background selling televisions, sound systems and more from my period at Best Buy, to the point where I was in the top 1 percent for sales and became Magnolia certified. I always look forward to sharing new and different information with our readers and hope they do as well. If you would like to contact me, my email is grant period gaines at Infinite Start.