Talking Chapter 7 and Early Access Wave 3 (Patreon)

It's takin quite a bit to get here, but I think it's time to start the full breakdown of the new content that will be arriving soon.

As of this morning I completed my playthrough of Chapter 7, meaning it's officially playable from start to finish with no glaring bugs. There are of course a few things that need tweaks or fixing, but the main hurdle has been cleared.

For those of you who have forgotten, the plan is to release Chapter 7 as part of Early Access Wave 3. This is the last standalone Wave. Wave 3 will be priced at $9.99 and include chapters 1-7. It is a one-time purchase of the full game, and will be updated to completion. I'm still looking into how I want to approach releasing this version to Itch, so as a result I expect the initial release to be here on the patreon, before expanding to itch. Alongside Chapter 7 will come a long overdue update to the games demo, brining both things closer together with some of the updated features.

Speaking of which, let's take a look at some of the things that have been added to the games earlier segments.

More Lore! Yay. Lore documents have been added to a variety of places in chapter 2-6. Most notably are the Diary of Beastman items that were not completed in time for the initial release of Chapter 6. Though there are little things sprinkled all over the place.

Chapter 3 now features a Crimson Butterfly that guides the player through the Witch's house and toward the mirror. Just a fun little detail.

Vestiges of the Past have been added to the game. Girls resembling Red or the Forgotten, that appear as spooky apparitions. They will appear in various locations and seem to be leading Red toward something? Whether you follow them or not is up to you.

Aside from that are some general QOL and bug fixes, as well as some updates to Chapter 6 that allow Red to unlock both The Hangedman and The Moon arcana souls during the story (though you can still get them after without having to replay anything if you already cleared that section).

And then of course, we have the new chapter, Chapter 7: The Cave.

Chapter 7 introduces a number of new enemies, including the return of the Tenty from earlier builds.

The core plot follows Red's reunion with the Sickly Man, Skoll. After finding him passed out in the cave, Red brings the Witch's medicine to him and the two share a tender moment together.

However, before they can make it out of the cave, the floor collapses beneath their feet, sending them plummeting to the depths of the mysterious cave.

The depths are full of all sorts of strange and unnatural obstacles and interactions. Pink fleshy walls block your path in every direction, as if a creature's body is expanding through the very caves itself.

Tentacles line the walls and try to grab and snatch at Red, acting as a constant threat to both your armor, and your ability to evade enemies.

And perhaps strangest of all, are the bloody holes that line the walls, almost inviting you to climb inside...

Enemies in the depths are inspired by Leeches, and they come with plenty of skills that will drain your HP to recover themselves. Be prepared for lots of bleeding.

But it's not all enemies that lie in the depths. Cheshire can be found within the cave and will expand her shops services for a limited time.

This means that aside from trading her rare stock with you, that she will accept gold for standard items. Since you'll be stuck inside the cave without any way to escape, Cheshire will be an invaluable resource for any and all goods you might be lacking.

As you push deeper in, you'll encounter the core gimmick of Chapter 7. Black, beating hearts found in hidden corners. Stab the hearts to tear down the walls blocking your path. Make your way through the maze-like structure of the cave and inch your way closer to the final obstacle blocking your path.

But the further you go, the more dangerous things become. There's no shame in hiding from certain battles.

Make your way through the maze and eventually you'll find yourself face to face with the root of it all. The Tentacle Beast. Survive this one last battle and your freedom to the outside world awaits.

There's one last scene at the end of the chapter that will cap off Skoll's role in this story, much like Hati and Scarecrow in the prior chapter.

However, that doesn't mean's nothing else that can be done in chapter 7. Aside from the main path you can find a very important location to keep in mind for later.

An ominous, massive mansion stands in the depths of the forest. Something about it gives you the creeps...The mansion is not accessible in this chapter, however the pieces of the mystery revolving around this place are already being set up. You may even have a piece of the puzzle without even realizing it yet.

But until you can find a way to open this strange gate, the mystery will stay sealed shut.

I've been stuck on chapter 7s development for quite some time now, and I'm sure nothing shown off here really FEELS like it was worth the extra time it's taken to get things right. But I'm sure once you play it, you'll see the sorts of things that I've been keeping my mouth shut about it. Maybe it'll even give you a nice scare? Who knows haha.

Either way, I think I'm done with going above my skill level of coding for the rest of this game.

Before I sign off, I wanted to give a bit of a heads up as to the next round of updates and what I expect to do with them.

The current update that will add Chapter 7 will also include:

Various updates to Tarot Cards, including brand new ones, and making the enemies drop more unique varieties, the inclusion of the Doll Finger item back into the game, allowing you fight another super boss, the inclusion of 3 new Arcana Souls, the various updates listed above and more.

Chapter 8's update will include 2 new NSFW scenes involving both Red and the Witch, as well as a 3rd scene to conclude the Camp Sign event questline.

Chapter 9 will include some expansion to the offerings of the Eros skill tree, including some NSFW pixel animations that can be accessed freely.

Chapter 10 is planned to reimplement currently cut content, such as the other rooms in the mirror world.

And Chapters 11-13 will simply mop up whatever other content I still need.

Currently I'm expecting Early Access Wave 3 to launch on the patreon this Friday. That gives me about a week to clean up the issues spotted in my playtest, make sure some of the alternate routes are working, and implement a few other quick additions.

A more in-depth version of this post will be created for the Itch devlog at some point tomorrow, so don't be surprised when you see some similar stuff posted over there.

Until then let me thank you once again for your continued patience and support! I think I speak for us all when I say I'm ready to move past this stupid cave already :P