Hello, Generals!

It's Genesis Devlog Friday, and this week we're stepping back to celebrate something special: the Genesis of Heroes Fan Art Contest. 

About a month ago, we asked you to imagine your favorite Kingdom Rush heroes in their Genesis-era versions, the way they might have looked and lived in the timeline before the original Kingdom Rush. The response was beyond anything we could have hoped for: over 200 incredible entries from every corner of the community.

We sat down on Tuesday's livestream with Octarina and Roko from the art team to go through as many as we could, and honestly, we could have kept going for hours. From hand-drawn sketches in pencil to full digital paintings, animated portraits, and even watercolor pieces, every single entry made us smile, laugh, or stop and stare. So before anything else: thank you! This creativity is what makes the Kingdom Rush community so cool, and we had a lot of fun reviewing every single entry.

fan favorite heroes

One of our favorite parts of going through the entries was seeing which heroes you all wanted to see again. It says a lot about which characters left a mark over the years. Here are the top 5 most-drawn heroes from Genesis of Heroes contest:

1. Gerald Lightseeker (10 entries). No surprise here. The original paladin showed up again and again, with and without his iconic helmet. The helmet debate clearly lives on.

2. Nivus (7 entries). The Archmage of the Arcane Academy was a runaway favorite, with versions ranging from solemn ancient wizard to mischievous trickster in glowing pants.

3. Oni (6 entries). Wow, you all really want Oni back. We saw Oni-Deva, Ronin Oni, Oni before the war, Oni after the war, Oni with a daughter… each more deadly than the last.

4. Elora Wintersong (6 entries). From apprentice mage at the Arcane Academy to a wool-spinning shepherdess, Elora got some of the most creative interpretations of the bunch.

5. Alric (5 entries). The sand warrior in his earliest days, before he led the Desert Forces. The Scarlet Ending take had us at "colossal sand army stood in silence."

Honorable mentions in the recurring heroes in the Fan Art contest go to Raelyn (3 wildly different origin stories!), Lord Blackburn, Captain Blackthorne, Lucerna, Hacksaw, Tenshi, Wilbur, Bonehart/Faustus, and Torres. Speaking of, all those beautiful entries of certain cursed fates we've been seeing in the contest? Maybe keep those in mind. At the Stream, we teased they are indeed onto something!
 

The Winners

After much deliberation, here are our Top 10 Winners, who will each receive a key of their choice:

🏅 Thunder Steak: Wilbur

🏅 戈谭噩梦: Ingvar & Elora

🏅 回来了-都回来了: Alric

🏅 LorencitoMax: Bonehart

🏅 Plague Knight: Torres

🏅 loquat ceres: Margosa

🏅 Clay Junky: Sheepy

🏅 Marky: Lord Blackburn

🏅 braki: Nivus

🏅 Marky: Miguel

You can see their amazing entrie in full on social media and dive in even more in the stream.

Congratulations to all of you, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated, whether you submitted one entry or six. We were genuinely blown away by the quality, the variety, and the heart you poured into every piece. Contests like this remind us how much love this community has for the world we're building, and we cannot wait to host another one in the future. Keep those pencils sharp, Generals!

And that's all for this week. Next Friday, we're returning to our regular programming with a closer look at the heroes of Linirea's holy order: the Knights Order.  Remember to wishlist the game and subscribe to the newsletter so you never miss an update!

Onward!

Q by Vincent: Is there a chance that we may see Dark Army towers and Heros from KRA betray Vez'nan and join early Lineria?

A: Vez'nan keeps a tight grip on his ranks (he's not the forgiving type), so don't expect any defections. But you'll definitely see plenty of familiar dark faces in Genesis... mostly on the wrong end of your towers.