Is characters background available in the game? (spoilers?)

[Yopt]

I've just finished the game and accidentally stumbled upon the game wiki where a lot of background information about each spirit was given. For example that Gwen had a lung cancer and tried to commit a suicide, when Stella convinced her not to do it or Astrid hiding jewish children and later technically became Stella's adopted grandmother (which makes Giovanni adopted grandfather). I've talked a lot with all the spirits, but didn't see any of these interesting details in the game. Did I miss it somehow? Where does this information come from?

[ClockworkXI]

This information came from the artbook, where we exposed the backstory of the characters that were created in the design process. Not all of it is used in the game itself.

[Yopt]

Originally posted by ClockworkXI:

This information came from the artbook, where we exposed the backstory of the characters that were created in the design process. Not all of it is used in the game itself.

You mean the artbook that costs additional money to purchase? Like, I need to pay additional money to get the game lore and understand what's going on in the game I already paid for?

[ClockworkXI]

Originally posted by Yopt:

Originally posted by ClockworkXI:

This information came from the artbook, where we exposed the backstory of the characters that were created in the design process. Not all of it is used in the game itself.

You mean the artbook that costs additional money to purchase? Like, I need to pay additional money to get the game lore and understand what's going on in the game I already paid for?

It was never intended that way, that lore exists for us to be able to create characters that felt real. The goal in-game was to recreate the connection you have with people, where you'd get to know them but might not necessarily know everything about them. It was a narrative decision to leave certain parts art and not as a way to sell an artbook. The information in the wiki is a copy/paste of said book text.

[Yopt]

Originally posted by ClockworkXI:

It was never intended that way, that lore exists for us to be able to create characters that felt real. The goal in-game was to recreate the connection you have with people, where you'd get to know them but might not necessarily know everything about them.

It was never intended, but it's still there. And this is the second time I personally encounter such, let's say "unfair" practice, when developers put interesting and sometimes important for game understanding/enjoying information behind another purchase (developers of Far: Lone Sails did exactly the same). I understand that perhaps the goal was to make the artbook interesting to the players and make it "worth" their money.

But you do realize that you partially severed the connection you were trying to recreate or emotions you were trying to evoke (if any)? I mean some characters like Elena doesn't have much, but for example Atul's sudden disappearance was a bit wierd to say the least. And only after accidentally stumbling upon the wiki I've read that he actually disappeared in the same way in real life and Stella was very very upset about it. Playing as a Stella this is something a player should have known at least AFTER the event has happened, perhaps through an in-game diary of some sorts or similar way.

I also thought that this information (and information about other characters) might be available as a "digital goodies" you mentioned for subscribing for the company's newsletter, but it wasn't there, just some general copywrite style sentences. It's really wierd thing to put game lore under another purchase, especially in a game that tries to tell a story, especially an emotional story. But you are the one making the calls, thank you for the information nonetheless.

[ClockworkXI]

Just to be clear, we did not remove anything to put it in the artbook. The game was fully completed before we even discussed the artbook. We did not purposefully gate it behind a purchase, it was just not part of the experience we wanted the player to have. That being said I understand your frustration and I am happy the content has been made available through the wiki.