Chapter 12: Grandma (Patreon)

​Well, I sorta missed the mid-month update...BUT I can now give you one bulk update addressing the completion of Chapter 12!

First of all, let me just say, I simply cannot share about this chapter like I have previous ones. I do not want to confirm if Grandma exists, what Grandma might look like, or anything of the sort. As such, I will not be showing you any maps, any character sprites, or anything that I consider too much of a reveal.

So, what can I show?  Well, Chapter 12 includes the games four core endings, that being A, B, C and D. And so, todays update will primarily focus on reveals related to these endings, showing a few CG's and talking a bit about how you, the player, can go about unlocking these. With that out of the way, let's jump in!

The bulk of my work this month has been on the various CG's attached to each core ending. If you've played the game enough to unlock ANY ending, you know those can kind of range from a simple description to a single art, to a larger sequence. These core endings are absolutely more of the later, each containing at least 4 images.

How do I unlock a core ending?

The endings are quite easy to understand. All you have to do is get to the end of Red's journey. If you've completed Chapter 11, and survived the final boss fight, then your ending will automatically trigger once you progress to the end of the forest. How then do you decide what ending you get? Well, I'm happy to say that there is no last-minute choice that dictates anything. Your ending in fact, has already been decided before you even began this chapter. As is told to you at the very start, your actions, your choices, will ultimately decide what Red's fate is. You've of course seen this already, if you've made some silly choices and ended the story prematurely or lost in battle. When it comes to A, B, C and D, there are two main factors that the game looks for.

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​The most important thing to decide how your journey concludes is the games affinity system. Throughout your night, you've made choices that align with one of 3 different Goddesses. The Unknown Goddess, Vesta, The Blood Goddess, Ichor and the Goddess of Love, Eros. So, earning these 3 endings is pretty simple, just end the game with a high affinity score with the goddess of your choosing. You can have fun simply seeing what ending you got naturally, but you can also manipulate the outcome, either by replaying the game with a specific target in mind, or by using new in game items that can both increase and decrease your affinity with a Goddess of choice.  I would recommend saving the game when the game prompts you to right at the start of chapter 12, that way you can always go back and explore the other routes at your leisure, provided you have the resources of course!

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Some of you might then ask, well, if there are multiple endings here, which one is the REAL ending? This is a valid question. Since obviously the endings currently unlockable are more so gag ends, or dead ends. But the answer to that is a little tricky...Chapter 12 of course is the games ending, but if you've followed development for some time, you may also know that the game is not 12 chapters long. It's 13 chapters. So, which of these endings is the real ending? Well, in short. None of them. Or maybe all of them? Chapter 12 does provide a route that should satisfy players enough even if they haven't uncovered the truth. But if you want the REAL story, and to really figure out the truth of everything, well that isn't found here. Some of you likely already have a strong idea of where the truth lies, and how you might solve the story, but I'll save any discussions related to that for a later day, when we talk about Chapter 13 in full.

​And for those of you keeping track, we have 3 goddesses for 4 endings. So, what's up with that? One ending is unaccounted for? Ending D is a pretty special ending that I can't imagine many players will see without considerable effort. Is it worth the effort? I don't know, but there was never a world where this ending wasn't going to be represented.

Personally, it is my hope that you enjoy your time exploring and experimenting to unlock various endings and see what sorts of different events play out, or how your choices might have affected things. Not all endings can be achieved on a single save file, that is sort of the unfortunate consequence of making your actual choices during the game impact what ending you get, but you CAN view all endings across 2 playthroughs at least, and new game plus features like an added boss fight and new Arcana Souls to channel and level up should hopefully make that a relatively engaging experience.

In short, chapter 12 should give players a range of different endings to explore and end their experience in a way that leaves them satisfied, though with many questions still unanswered. Chapter 13 then, is for those of you who have really been paying attention. Who have found the clues, connected the dots, and put the puzzle pieces together. Chapter 13 asks the player not to walk into the ending, but to turn around, and complete their unfinished business instead. And in doing so, well, there's going to be a whole other devlog about that. A new dungeon, brand new enemies (including the return of some that have been cut form VERY early builds), the true final boss, and a few more endings that start to clear up all your burning questions. 

As of today, once this devlog is posted, development will officially shift from chapter 12 to Chapter 13: Project Red. And truthfully, development has already started. I began working on the final dungeon at the end of last week, and pretty much all of the enemies have already been drawn ahead of time. We are very rapidly approaching the games completion now, so I hope you'll be patient for just a little longer!

As always, I want to thank everyone for your support! Whether it's leaving comments, sharing the game, purchasing the early access, or supporting me on patreon. It's all been such an incredible journey to go on. And I can't wait to get the finished game into your hands.

My brain has already been jumping into the next one with all sorts of ideas cooking up. I really can't wait to jump back into things and bring back the actors for brand new content. But for now, I gotta keep my head down, and keep working on what's right in front of me. Hope to talk again soon!