Nearly seven years after its original debut under Forgotten Artifacts, Lost Relics, one of the longest-running blockchain-integrated games still actively maintained, has released its latest major update, Valor Expedition: Frostfang. More than just a content drop, the update is being framed by developer Codebit Labs as the moment where the game’s core systems finally “lock in,” closing a foundational chapter of development.
For a title that began as a minimal dungeon runner with no town hub and limited inventory trade-offs, the transformation is substantial. Frostfang doesn’t just add new content; it consolidates years of iterative design into a more coherent gameplay loop, one now positioned to support long-term progression and future expansions, including long-awaited co-op features.
Frostfang Update: Systemic Overhaul and Economic Rebalancing
The Frostfang update is less about spectacle and more about structural refinement. Across combat, economy, progression, and itemization, nearly every system has been adjusted to reinforce decision-making and long-term balance.
One of the most impactful overhauls targets consumables. Potions have been fundamentally redesigned: they now last only for a single adventure (or floor in endgame modes), cannot be pre-stacked for extended runs, and are capped at stack sizes of five. Immunity potions have been removed entirely, while others, such as damage and transcendent variants, have been reworked. The intent is clear: shift consumables away from defining entire builds and toward tactical, moment-to-moment utility.
To compensate, pets now grant a universal “Cleanse” ability, allowing players to remove crowd control and damage-over-time (DoT) effects at the cost of energy and cooldown. This change ties survivability more directly to player timing and build choices, especially as status effects have been significantly extended. Poison now lasts up to 300 seconds, while other debuffs range from 20 to 60 seconds.
Beyond combat, Frostfang introduces major economic sinks and crafting loops. The new Artisan Kiln converts surplus crafted resources into Artisan Sigils, while the Shatterforge allows players to dismantle unwanted collectibles into “Shattercore,” a new currency used to acquire high-value items. Crucially, dismantling reduces the global supply of those items—an explicit attempt to stabilize scarcity in the collectible economy.
Expedition systems have also been reworked. Progression is now tied to total levels cleared rather than fixed runs, making rewards like Nightmare Vaults more accessible while adjusting entry costs to maintain balance. Rewards themselves have been streamlined through Valorbound Marks, giving players more agency in choosing upgrades.
At the top end, Colossi encounters have been reimagined with the introduction of Titanforged gear: temporary, expedition-bound equipment that resets at the end of each season. Players can no longer rely on their existing loadouts, creating a more controlled and challenging encounter design.
What Lost Relics Is About
Lost Relics is a free-to-play action-adventure RPG set in the fantasy world of Lunaria, where players explore dungeons, towns, and diverse biomes in search of rare relics and hidden rewards. The game blends exploration, combat, and loot-driven progression with a strong emphasis on player agency.
Rather than traditional classes, Lost Relics uses a classless system built around artifacts and weapons, allowing players to craft highly customized builds. Gameplay revolves around dungeon runs, resource gathering, crafting, and incremental upgrades, with high-difficulty modes like “Descending Nightmares” offering endgame challenges.
While currently centered on a single-player experience, multiplayer and co-op have long been part of the roadmap. With Frostfang marking the completion of the core gameplay loop, the developers have now confirmed that co-op is actively in development, though expectations are being carefully managed. Planned features point toward small-scale, instanced sessions for 2–4 players rather than a full MMO-style shared world.
Additional systems—such as housing in Inverdhen, marketplace access tied to rare items, and seasonal expeditions, further reinforce the game’s hybrid identity between ARPG and persistent online economy.
The Web3 Layer: Scarcity, Ownership, and Controlled Decentralization
Lost Relics integrates blockchain functionality through the Enjin ecosystem, enabling players to own and trade certain in-game items as NFTs. These include weapons, pets, cosmetics, and other collectibles, many of which have limited supply and persistent value outside the game.
The Frostfang update deepens this integration by introducing more explicit supply controls. Systems like the Shatterforge actively reduce circulating item counts when assets are dismantled, reinforcing scarcity, a key pillar of blockchain-based economies.
The game also incorporates the Enjin Coin token as an optional reward mechanism. While not mandatory for progression, it underpins parts of the broader asset economy and connects in-game rewards to external markets.
However, Lost Relics remains a hybrid model. The game itself is not open source, and all gameplay depends on centralized servers. While players retain ownership of blockchain-backed assets, their utility is still contingent on the game’s continued operation, an inherent limitation shared by most Web3-integrated titles.
From Foundation to Expansion
Frostfang is less a culmination than a pivot point. After years spent refining systems, balancing economies, and iterating on core mechanics, Lost Relics is transitioning into a phase focused on expansion rather than construction.
The next major step—co-op gameplay—will test whether the now-solidified systems can support shared experiences without compromising performance or design integrity. The developers have already ruled out large-scale MMO ambitions, instead targeting smaller, controlled multiplayer sessions that align with the game’s tightly tuned loops.
For a project that has persisted through multiple waves of blockchain gaming enthusiasm and skepticism, this update represents something more grounded: a mature, system-driven ARPG that has finally established its identity. The challenge now is sustaining that momentum—and proving that a seven-year foundation can support the years still to come.
Game Page: web3gamer.net/games/lost-relics
Website: Lostrelics.io