Hey guys!

Beta week is over, the backlog is mostly cleared, and v0.6 goes public today!

If you read the beta post, everything I promised made it in. And somehow, beta week turned into an entire second update on top of that.

Let's go.

QUICK RECAP — WHAT v0.6 IS

Act 1: Stillmere

A completely rebuilt opening. Start as a level-1 nobody with a real party of three, caravan runs, night rests, and party banter.

The Cathedral of Closed Eyes

The biggest act in the game so far. Infiltrate the Church's heart, raid the Archives cell by cell, and face a boss who grows during the fight. The Cathedral stays open after the story as a repeatable endgame zone.

Vivienne's Arc

Devotion or fracture. The night fire scene. That interrogation. Two endings. One way out.

Two Minigames

Essence Hunt and Oobie: Overflow are now available from the main menu after recruiting their respective characters.

Size Matters

Height differences now affect combat damage by up to ±20%.

NOW FOR THE NEW STUFF

MEET AURELIA — YOUR COMMUNITY-DESIGNED COMPANION

The community-designed companion is finally here, and you chose a dragoness.

Aurelia—an ancient dragon worn down to "merely" 2.11 meters, carrying a century of stillness behind her, with a patient, warm, and quietly doting way of looking at the hero.

Her growth revolves around treasure.

Feed her gold and valuables, and she gradually reclaims her ancestral size across seven awakening stages, each with dedicated artwork. Her height jumps are the largest of any companion in the game.

Breath-weapon artillery

A true mana caster with fire, frost, acid, and storm stances. Freeze bosses solid. Melt armor off entire warbands. Then apologize for the mess.

Fully voiced

Battle sounds, growth sounds... And yes. You can boop her.

THE MIRROR OF REFLECTION

Many of you have been asking for a proper comparison screen, and it's finally here—my take on the idea. It's still a bit of a work in progress, but I really enjoyed building it, and I'm honestly very happy with how it turned out. Illia now sells a small handheld mirror. It does not show your face.

Compare any two characters side by side — your whole party at their current growth, plus defeated bosses preserved as memories.

POV mode — see exactly what the hero sees looking up at a 5-meter demoness. The camera work here is my favorite thing in the update.

Full measurements — 21 stats per character, metric or imperial, with the party commenting on everything. Every pairing has its own banter. Some characters are very aware they dominate the hero. They will say so.

AUTO-BATTLE

Combat now includes a half-automatic mode. Enable it from the Party Configuration screen or during battle with the AUTO button.

Companions now fight according to their personalities.

The Demoness hunts kills.

Vivienne protects wounded allies.

Fern manages seeds and debuffs.

Oobie eats things.

You can continue controlling only the Hero—or simply lean back and let everyone handle themselves. Grinding is much faster now. One day, there won't be any of it...

LOOT & THE 64-SLOT BAG

Battles now drop loot.

Consumables, crafting materials, upgrade components, and the occasional piece of equipment are added directly to your inventory during exploration, then summarized afterward.

The inventory has also expanded to 64 slots.

Stacks merge automatically.

And there's finally a button to unequip every inactive companion when reorganizing your party.

THE CATHEDRAL BOSS

New(?) boss that grows — a slow, surging transformation, sprite melting into sprite, fully voiced from the first moan to the laugh at the end. And after the chains break, her stolen power visibly bleeds away turn by turn. Survive the peak; time is on your side after.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Journal overhaul — the main quest actually tracks your whole campaign now, with a clean unified design and category filters. Quest Board shows recommended levels for every quest, based on what's actually waiting for you in there. Amber warning if you're about to do something brave. Repeatable Cathedral cleansing is now genuinely endgame-tier. Bring your best.

FOR FREE PLAYERS — THE TRIAL HAS DOUBLED

The trial cap goes from level 40 to 80. That means the free version now includes recruiting Vivienne, the entire Withering Grove arc, Serpentina, the Fox Village, recruiting Fern, and the Deep Forest expedition loop. The trial ends at a sealed door deep in the forest — and by the time you reach it, Fern will be strong enough to open it. What's behind it is where the full game continues.

PLAY HERE

https://in-her-shadow.netlify.app

PS

About the anniversary surprise... One more day. I want to test it a little more before revealing it. Let's just say it's not digital this time. It's something you can actually hold in your hands 😄

Massive thanks to everyone who beta-tested — especially Gard, whose bug reports basically ran the QA department this week. The game is dramatically more solid because of you all. There are still a handful of bugs left, and I'll be squashing them throughout the week, so expect a few hotfixes.

And Aurelia exists because you designed her. This whole community-design experiment worked way better than I expected. We're definitely doing it again.

— All the best, CM