It's been a long road, but we're nearing our destination! Catalin from GrimTalin here, game director.
We started working on The Crimson Maid in January 2023. We've revealed our first demo in December of that same year. Since then, there were many who asked us when is this game coming out. While we don't have the exact date yet, it's going to be very soon. Here's where we're at.
Most importantly, the game is content complete - has been for a while now. All the chapters are done, all the gameplay has been polished and every bit of this intense and extensive story has been transferred from our hearts into the game. We can't wait for you to check it all out!
In case you've missed it, we also announced our collaboration with none other than Wales Interactive, experts in the narrative games field, to bring The Crimson Maid not only to PC, but also to PS5 and Xbox. The console ports were one of the things we've been working on lately and we're happy to announce the builds are already certified.
We're very happy about working with Wales Interactive. We've clicked with them immediately when we met David and Richard, their two CEOs at Reboot Develop, and we've had great chemistry with Sam, our producer, as well as Ben, Shaun, Christie and the rest of the team.
One of the benefits of our partnership is that The Crimson Maid is now fully localized in English, German, French and Simplified Chinese. And we surely needed their help here, as our game has more than 70.000 words. It would've been impossible for us to take on this endeavour without them. Now, I don't speak any German or Chinese, but I can take a very amateur crack at French and, I have to say, the game feels great in the language of the romantics. These are professional localizations, not your run-of-the-mill AI translations. I had to explain to the loc team what the subtle meanings behind various dialogues and documents in the game. We went over the short poems you can find, verse by verse, so they could come up with quality adaptations.
All's good and well, but I'm sure you're wondering what's next. We're currently getting ready for June's Steam Next Fest, where we will have a new demo. It includes acts 3 and 4, the first one taking place inside the mansion, and the second inside the old house where Irina resides. While the first two acts are more introductory in nature, the following two set the events in motion, have more intricate interactions with the characters, more puzzles and give you a better taste of what you'll find in the full game. If you haven't tried the demo yet and want to experience the first two acts now, make sure to play them as soon as possible, before we update the demo in the following weeks.
We will also release our new gameplay trailer soon, so make sure to wishlist and follow The Crimson Maid to check it out as soon as it's available.
P.S. As I'm a geeky developer and I've recently played some games where doors hit me in the face and my character clipped through them, I want to do a brief devlog about how doors work in our game. If at least one of you is curious about doors, just write "doors" in the comments and I'll do it. I might do it anyway, but with your support I can defy any opposition I might encounter on the matter.