This is the first of the three updates mentioned in the last announcement. I thought it would take longer than this, and it was intended to be much shorter... but hey, there you go.
First, while I call it a “new route”, what’s actually being added to Sickness is an unlockable extra. After you’ve finished the main route you’ll be able to play through certain key events (and several side events) as Misa, meaning we’ll finally get to hear what’s on her mind while seeing a little more of what’s going on behind the scenes. Many events are purposely omitted, however, so if it’s been a while since you played the main game, there may be a few moments where you feel like you’ve missed something.
The extra clocks in at just over 45,000 words, making it more than 1/3rd of the length of the main game, and bringing the total word count of Sickness up to roughly 183,500 words. Who knew Misa had so much to say?
Many of the events being covered are already present in the main game, and there are no choices to be made, but there are new scenes littered throughout the extra for which Suoh is not present, or has no knowledge of. There are also 4 new CGs, 1 new sprite, 4 new music tracks, and a few new backgrounds as well.
Also, this extra is mostly light-hearted, with more focus on comedy and romance rather than blood and gore. It centers around Misa’s relationships with others and her personal growth rather than her job, so if Sickness was more gritty than you’d like, you may enjoy this extra more than the main game.
Second, the sale. I wanted to have one sooner (for Valentines Day) coinciding with the release of Sara’s route, but I misunderstood the regulations surrounding Steam sales, so that didn’t happen. And this time, when the next update was ready, the timing coincided with Steam’s Anime weekend sale, making the update’s sale a bit redundant. I’m bad at this, aren’t I?
Oh well. I wasn’t going to delay the update because of poor timing. This just means the sale for Sickness will last 11 days instead of 7. I’ll worry about getting this sale business right next time.
More importantly, further progress on Sickness. By this point, the inconsistent backgrounds from the initial release have been replaced. Although the backgrounds still present weren’t all done by the same artist, and there are some differences in style, they’re far more consistent and appealing (at least to my unartistic eye) than they were before.
Finally, the next two updates. Although this extra was completed earlier than anticipated, the next big update might not be ready until late 2016 or early 2017. This is because I will be working on other games, mostly other peoples’ games, and also because I will likely need to find a new CG artist.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new extra. I do not have any plans to do something similar for other characters, but I won’t rule it out. So wait with baited breath for the next announcement, and look forward to new routes and development.