Episode 4 released (Patch 4.0)

Dear followers,

today we celebrate the release of Version 4.0!

Episode 4: The Cat in the Mirror

… is now live on Steam and contains a big pack of new contents:

• A new chapter extends the storyline with completely new contents that guides storyline straight towards the big finale in episode 5.
• Direct continuation of Episode 3, starting at the cave.
• Explore a brand new area: The Swamp!
• Episode 4 adds 56 new camera perspectives/screens!
• New game play elements Portable Lightsources and Magic Mirrors!
• Do you like popping bubble wrap? You will love new Mushroom Hunt!
• 7 new achievements to gain!

And new improvements that enhance all episodes (implemented from your feedback!):

• Get better guidance with exit hints! Blue sparks show screen exits while CTRL key is pressed.
  
• Double click on grounds to make the character run!
  
• Automatically walk to hotspots: When clicking on a hotspot that is too far away, the character will walk to the hotspot and trigger it when reached.

See below for full details on bugfixes and changes.

Also don’t miss the brand new trailer for Episode 4

How to get Episode 4

Update to Episode 4 is free for everyone who already purchased the game! If you only played the free demo yet, purchase a full version in the Steam store now to get Episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 immediately (plus episode 5 when it releases in summer 2017).

How to play Episode 4

Open Steam and let the client update your game installation. Start A Room Beyond and continue a saved game. As Episode 4 continues Episode 3 it is not possible to directly start in Episode 4. You have to finish Episode 3 to continue to the next chapter via the Episode tree shown at the end of each episode:

This release was tested to be stable in common. However if you find a bug, let me know so I can fix it. 🙂

Best,
— René

CHANGELOG for PATCH 4.0GeneralThe full version release of the game was extended with the complete contents of Episode 4: "The Cat in the Mirror"New Content & Design Changes

• A new chapter extends the storyline with completely new contents that guides storyline straight towards the big finale in episode 5.
• Direct continuation of Episode 3, starting at the cave.
• Explore a brand new area: The Swamp!
• Episode 4 adds 56 new camera perspectives/screens!
• New game play elements Portable Lightsources and Magic Mirrors!
• Do you like popping bubble wrap? You will love new Mushroom Hunt!
• 7 new achievements to gain!
• Get better guidance with exit hints! Blue sparks show screen exits while CTRL key is pressed.
• Double click on grounds to make the character run! (‘Running’ may be unavailable for some regions like very small rooms or while diving.)
• Automatically walk to hotspots: When clicking on a hotspot that is too far away, the character will walk to the hotspot and trigger it when reached.

Optimizations & Adjustments

• A setting for exit hints was added to Game Settings.
• Footstep sound changes according to ground now also in the cave at the end of Episode 3.
• Footsteps in general are now faded when the player starts or stops walking.
• It is now possible to gain Episode 2’s achievement Ghost Hunter later in the game, i.e. when spiders are killed on the beach in Episode 3.
• "Explore the environment" tutorial slide is now shown for a longer time span in Episode 1.
• Rendering of hotspot hints was increased in general for better perception. Sparks ignore soft particle settings now which makes them clearly visible all time. Also particles’ sizes adjust to camera distance now to ensure a property sizing for all scenes.
• Motion quality of some player animations like walk and talk were slightly improved.
• Sparkle Hints are darker now for some distant hotspots to improve spatial perception.
• Sparkle Hints sound was redesigned/adjusted as feedback was given that the previous sound’s pitch was too high and therefore perceived unpleasant. A direct comparison of old and new sound can be found in this video.
• All Quality levels for rendering have shadow rendering activated now as this is essentially required by the contents of Episode 4.
• Quality-Dropdown in Launcher Dialog is no longer disabled on Windows.
• In Episode 1 there is now an additional Tutorial text telling that some inventory items can be combined with each other.

Bug Fixes

• In Episode 2 the player character walks properly around the cocoon now, no longer intersecting it.
• Recommended is selected as default rendering quality level now. It was mistakenly set to Minimum before.
• Some obsolete empty pointers were cleaned up in all episodes.
• Capsules in Episode Tree do reflect the current status correctly. Previously there was a wrong fade-in of Episode 2 capsule each time the screen was seen.
• Various other small fixes and improvements.

Special thanks to Third Comma Games for pointing out some bugs and improvement options!