Play now or wait?

[Tommy]

Hi, I can't wait to play this game. I know that there will be full release in 2025. My question is: do you advice to play it now anyway or is it better to wait? Thanks in advance for any reply.

[poetic]

Hey there, thank you for reaching out.

It kind of depends also on your preference - do you enjoy role-playing different characters? E.g. male/female, physical/willpower/diplomatic build?

There is also replay value in story-branching, each of the current 2 acts having 2 separate branches. The full release will add another 2 branches in the 3rd and final act together with 5 distinct endings.

Another source of a different experience are all the dice rolls, as failures often allow you to continue the game with a slightly different flow.

And some dice rolls done by NPCs change their reaction, so you might find a playthrough quite different, should an NPC you knew as an ally turn hostile or vice versa. It does not feel random and you know when the changes are happening and can influence them, but still, with some NPCs you might want to see their both sides.

For me, a playthrough now, and a playthrough after full release would be enjoyable, as I would be playing different builds and enjoying the variety brought by the game simulating NPC behavior. Also, the full release won't be right away come new year, so the pause between a playthrough now and then should be sufficient for the game to feel fresh after full release.

[Grumpy Englishman]

Originally posted by poetic:

Hey there, thank you for reaching out.

It kind of depends also on your preference - do you enjoy role-playing different characters? E.g. male/female, physical/willpower/diplomatic build?

There is also replay value in story-branching, each of the current 2 acts having 2 separate branches. The full release will add another 2 branches in the 3rd and final act together with 5 distinct endings.

Another source of a different experience are all the dice rolls, as failures often allow you to continue the game with a slightly different flow.

And some dice rolls done by NPCs change their reaction, so you might find a playthrough quite different, should an NPC you knew as an ally turn hostile or vice versa. It does not feel random and you know when the changes are happening and can influence them, but still, with some NPCs you might want to see their both sides.

For me, a playthrough now, and a playthrough after full release would be enjoyable, as I would be playing different builds and enjoying the variety brought by the game simulating NPC behavior. Also, the full release won't be right away come new year, so the pause between a playthrough now and then should be sufficient for the game to feel fresh after full release.

Or buy it and wait for full relase ..i might do that

[poetic]

Originally posted by Grumpy Englishman:

Or buy it and wait for full relase ..i might do that

Thanks, I appreciate the thought, as every bit of support helps.

[timo_poehner]

Hi there,
the game is already lots of fun even unfinshed.
As a little advice when customizing you character, spend most points in the raise of the body attributes and intelligence.
My first attempts when raising other attributes ended in disastrous fails and were really frustrating. Keep the raising anger in mind.

[Grumpy Englishman]

Originally posted by timo_poehner:

Hi there,
the game is already lots of fun even unfinshed.
As a little advice when customizing you character, spend most points in the raise of the body attributes and intelligence.
My first attempts when raising other attributes ended in disastrous fails and were really frustrating. Keep the raising anger in mind.

Thanks noted i do own the game now but will still wait for final product ......i kind of like a good charisma play though

[poetic]

Originally posted by Grumpy Englishman:

Thanks noted i do own the game now but will still wait for final product ......i kind of like a good charisma play though

Then you're up for a treat :) Cheers!

[Grumpy Englishman]

Originally posted by poetic:

Originally posted by Grumpy Englishman:

Thanks noted i do own the game now but will still wait for final product ......i kind of like a good charisma play though

Then you're up for a treat :) Cheers!

Looking forward to it

[CloudKira]

Originally posted by poetic:

Hey there, thank you for reaching out.

It kind of depends also on your preference - do you enjoy role-playing different characters? E.g. male/female, physical/willpower/diplomatic build?

There is also replay value in story-branching, each of the current 2 acts having 2 separate branches. The full release will add another 2 branches in the 3rd and final act together with 5 distinct endings.

Another source of a different experience are all the dice rolls, as failures often allow you to continue the game with a slightly different flow.

And some dice rolls done by NPCs change their reaction, so you might find a playthrough quite different, should an NPC you knew as an ally turn hostile or vice versa. It does not feel random and you know when the changes are happening and can influence them, but still, with some NPCs you might want to see their both sides.

For me, a playthrough now, and a playthrough after full release would be enjoyable, as I would be playing different builds and enjoying the variety brought by the game simulating NPC behavior. Also, the full release won't be right away come new year, so the pause between a playthrough now and then should be sufficient for the game to feel fresh after full release.

If someone asked you whether the game will be ready in 2025 or whether the game will be ready ONLY when its polished enough (even if its not 2025 or 2026) what would be your answer?

No mean intent or sarcasm even though one may easily come to that conclusion I suppose.

I say this because its kinda weird how at this point there is still no firm release date and the testing phase is going like for half a year already which only tends to happen for huge AAA games. Its like as if the dev was still not pleased with the game's current state and tempted to keep expanding and improving on it further.

Scope creep exists though and it killed countless EA games. Just a friendly piece of advice. Knowing when to finish is just as important as to releasing it well polished. The number of devs who ended up running out of funds or ended up burned out/depressed/sick by getting caught in scope creep is utterly horrifying in EA.

[poetic]

Hey there, thank you for your interest, I can tell you mean well, and I appreciate the concern.

The answer is hands down the game will be ready in 2025.

I'm content with how the game looks and plays, and also what branches and endings the script covers, so I'm not spending time on polish or on expanding the script - the thing I'm wrestling with is the sheer scope of the last 3rd act and it's many states and new visual assets.

The testing started with only the script finalized and a handful of scene made playable, so I'm building the playable Act 3 visuals/assets and RPG stat changes/dice rolls line by line during this phase, that's why it takes time.

It would be tempting to go for an all out crunch towards 1.0 to get rid of the tension of being an unfinished game, but that's where the sad dev stories come from, so I make sure to keep a steady and sustainable pace, exercise and spend time with my family, as I progress towards v1.0. In the meantime, I thank you all for your support and patience.

[murometz]

Originally posted by poetic:

It would be tempting to go for an all out crunch towards 1.0 to get rid of the tension of being an unfinished game, but that's where the sad dev stories come from, so I make sure to keep a steady and sustainable pace, exercise and spend time with my family, as I progress towards v1.0. In the meantime, I thank you all for your support and patience.

And this makes perfect sense. Over the years I've seen many, many games (and mods, too) die early deaths because they lost sight of their goals, and too often accepted the well-meaning advice of players--just tweak a little here, maybe add this there, perhaps create a few more side quests in this branch, etc. It only works out well if the game developers have found a gold mine under their homes.

Hint: no game developer has ever found a gold mine under their homes. :\

So good for you! You've certainly taken a realistic POV to creating your game. I've been watching this game site for a year, and wish you the best in 2025.

[poetic]

Hey murometz, I'm sorry for my late reply and thank you for your interest and kind words, I appreciate the support. Cheers!

[Napoleonic S]

so is the story complete yet now?

[poetic]

Hey, there thank you for your interest.

No, the story is not complete - you get two out of three acts currently in the paid Early Access version. Plus access to roughly half of the third act in a testing build via our Discord.

The first time the game will have the complete story will be in the 1.0 release.

[Napoleonic S]

Originally posted by poetic:

Hey, there thank you for your interest.

No, the story is not complete - you get two out of three acts currently in the paid Early Access version. Plus access to roughly half of the third act in a testing build via our Discord.

The first time the game will have the complete story will be in the 1.0 release.

If I started playing now and "finished" it in EA form will I be able to complete the story at the 1.0 version?

[poetic]

Hey,

it should work technically, but you could miss out on the extended character customization, some Act 1 and Act 2 scene upgrades, and some ruleset upgrades coming in the 1.0.

Also historically speaking, there is like a 1% risk of the save file not working, and having to restart from one of the checkpoints. I try to help with corrupted save files if I can, but if you're truly concerned about this, I can not guarantee it.