Preyers!
The arrival of the Revelations Update is nearly upon us - we’re planning to release it at 6 PM CET on the 18th of June, so if you’re reading this on the day of the blog post publication, it’s tomorrow. The work doesn’t stop until the very last minute, so while we’re polishing the build and making our final pre-flight checks, here’s a bite-sized summary of everything you’ll be able to experience very soon.
Marshland
The map selection screen is about to have no placeholders left - the destination on the far left is yours to explore, as soon as - as usual - you find the chart for it and reach the required Gnosis level. If you meet these conditions, you’re welcome to dip your toes in the bog, venture through the bushes and trees surrounding the ruins of a Cathedral, and try to solve the mystery of a place considered one of the Vatican’s failures.
Strange new creatures roam these lands, accompanied by monsters you already know. Your old foe, the Gravedigger, loves to hang around, as Marshland is the final resting place of many. Marrowflies, Carriers, Laments, and Bloaters are - on the other hand - nothing but words to you for now, but that will change very soon. And those of you who happen upon the new Familiar (who some players have already identified) will hopefully live to tell the tale.
Bonus: Outskirts region is now available from the map selection portal, too.
Narrative Foundations
We’re setting the stage for the story reveal in 1.0, and new pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. You’ll finally be able to interact with NPCs via the newly introduced dialogue system.
We love old-school RPGs and took our time crafting this feature, but we believe the result is an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and readable solution that pays homage to some of our favourites, such as Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Disco Elysium, and Planescape: Torment.
It’s obviously for you to judge, but bear in mind that we will continue developing it, and the characters you encounter in Revelations are far from the full roster. We’re still keeping plenty of things in reserve for 1.0.
Fallen Preyers
But since Fallen Preyers have been mentioned - until now, they haven’t played as large a role as we’d hoped. They’ve been available as help during battles, but we know many players haven’t paid them much attention. To be honest, we mentioned in one of the earlier diaries that they are among the most underutilised features in the game. The most hardcore crowd sometimes forgets they even have a demonic weapon equipped, so a handful of characters running around isn’t exactly what they remember in the heat of battle.
We hope you’ll become more invested in them now that you’ll be interacting with them directly - not only collecting fragments of their masks, but also learning their stories, why they perished, what their sins were, and ultimately rendering judgement over them.
Will you condemn them or absolve them? Each choice will have consequences, so tread lightly.
Support for 14 New Languages
The barrier to entry has been quite high until now. While we’re crafting a difficult but fair gameplay experience, we know that one of the biggest obstacles stems from the so-called Babel Incident, after which humans found it much harder to communicate.
We recognise the efforts of the community and the various language mods created during Witchfire’s long period as an English-only game, but that changes with Revelations.
We’re adding support for 14 new languages, and we’re hoping this will broaden the game’s accessibility and appeal. We hired experts, asked for your help testing the localisation, and we’re hopeful that this expansion will bring new people to the game. The full list of newly added languages can be found in the handy image below.
New Vault
Last year we promised to bring you two new vaults. One of them has been available since December - you can enter it via the gate atop Velmorne. The second one has been MIA, but not for much longer.
The Outskirts Vault is about to open, but you won't be buying your way in. Reaching the door is a puzzle in itself, and the Vault gives up nothing to those who haven't earned the way through. Solve it, and there's plenty of shooting on the other side, with a prize that should make it worth the trouble.
The challenge has already been put through its paces by some players invited to the Revelations closed beta, and they seem to agree that it’s one of the best Witch Vaults in the game. We’re waiting to hear from more of you, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts if you manage to conquer the dungeon.
World Corruption 2.0
This feature was supposed to be one of the main attractions of the previous update, Reckoning. Sadly, we dialled the difficulty up a bit too much and turned the game into a festival of pain.
While that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for some of you, the lion’s share of the feedback was rather damning: we had gone too far and made the game feel unfair.
Even before the release of Reckoning, we started redesigning the system, but we needed more time - and that’s exactly what we got between the previous and upcoming major patch.
We’re handing the steering wheel back to you. You decide whether you want to engage with it and enter the fight, rather than having it forced upon you. But you still need to be wary.
Your choices will shape the world around you. The more brash and loud you are, the more corruption will spread around you. Force open locked chests, pick up cursed treasures, give in to too many Temptations scattered throughout the map, or commit the final offence and get your hands on the Latent Orb, and the world will not watch idly.
We’re sure many of you will do it on purpose (much like causing Calamities or riding tornadoes in the original version of World Corruption), but this time it’s your choice.
Garden
And when it’s finally time to retreat to the safe walls of the Hermitorium, we’re giving you a chance to wind down in a new area - one that some members of our community have already correctly guessed lies behind the gate marked with the Early Access stamp.
The Garden has been built so that you may grow resources required for incenses on your own terms, rather than collecting them between expeditions. You’ll need to plant each resource in its dedicated spot and wait for it to grow, but you now have an alternative that doesn’t require you to traverse the maps.
We’ve also placed a wooden bench there for those moments when you feel like admiring the vista of the bay, with the sinister Witch Mountain visible in the distance. From the Hermitorium it looks peaceful and tranquil - a polar opposite to what lies beneath it, as those of you who’ve already been there know.
New Gearpack
To round out Revelations, we have a new set of toys for you: three new revolvers, a raygun, and two new spells.
We’ve already covered them in greater detail in this post (revolvers and spells) and this post (Tempest), so if you’d like to learn more before getting your hands on them, follow the links.
We also mentioned new melee weapons. We currently have three working prototypes (well, four if you count the pan), but as of this moment only one has been deemed polished enough to be worthy of inclusion in the game.
To the disappointment of some of you (sorry!), it won’t be the zweihander making its debut in Revelations, but something entirely different: a cursed bell.
Where to find it and how it works is for you to discover. And don’t worry - the other two (yes, t-w-o) are still coming. We’ll do our best to include them in future Revelations patches.
You may already know the drill: we release huge updates, then go back into our caves to continue crafting, experimenting, and building things away from your eyes.
That won’t happen immediately. First, we’ll be watching closely, reading your feedback, patching, tweaking, and improving things until we’re confident that what we’re leaving you with is worthy of your time.
Then we’ll set sail toward 1.0.
We’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s still much more to do. The future is bright, but it’s not quite here yet.
For now, enjoy Revelations. Explore the new map, investigate and judge the Fallen Preyers, conquer new challenges, fight new enemies, and tell us all about it.
Tomorrow, the next chapter begins. Buckle up and have fun!
