Hello Ninjas!
Another month has gone by, so let's catch up, first the big news:
As you've probably gathered from the title, we're pretty excited to show the game to all of you in playable form. Playtests are now open to everyone.
Just press the green button called "Join the Playtest" on the game's store page and you'll be given access. We plan to keep playtests running for about a week, so don't wait too long to start your journey.
One short and sweet tutorial quest to start you off. Here you'll be liberating your estate from the iron fist of the general while familiarizing yourself with the game's keybinds and systems in a more linear fashion.
One open map - Forest Valley - here's where the real fun begins. It's pretty big, and it's up to you which quest you do and how you do it. Just remember to extract silently afterward.
Four quests - we've tried to give you a wide variety of quests to test, from tenser ones, like making your way through a military camp to kill General Heisuke, to more relaxed ones, like fixing broken chapels while exploring the map. There will be more quests available on this map in the final game.
A selection of skills - not all planned skills are here, but there's some variety for you to check out and pick your favourites
Two of the in-game vendors, the Craftmaster and the Alchemist - You can unlock new tools like smoke bombs or potions that will help you disappear. Or upgrade existing ones. In this build they're in the hub menu, but in the full game you'll meet them in your own estate.
There's still work to be done on plenty of things, like optimization, animations, and bugs, so don't expect a finished game. But your feedback now is extremely valuable in helping us understand what you'd like to see more of and what you don't like so much.
So please, after some playtime, let us know by filling out the survey!
Over the last month we've mostly focused on:
Polishing the playtest build: we fought right up to the last minute to polish the game you can play right now, squashing bugs and making every gameplay beat as satisfying as possible.
Beehives - new opportunity weapons: we've added a new way for the player to make enemies life harder - just check the gif above
New ways to hide: in the newest build you can find wardrobes that are useful for hiding yourself, as well as enemy bodies.
New collectibles: every map has a few hidden scrolls waiting to be found in the places that reward the most curious players.
More intelligence for our enemies: not every enemy will be drawn to you when you whistle anymore. For example, the more dangerous enemies will just observe the place the sound came from instead of walking into your trap.
A new map: our maps are pretty big and open ended, and each one is meant to give a different feel as well as different gameplay opportunities. We just finished the prototype stage for our third map, and it's now in the hands of our talented level artist, Natalia. Fans of small Japanese villages should be pleased.
New animations: Bartek prepared a lot of new animations - like enemies reacting to the aforementioned bees, hiding bodies in the wardrobe, and enemies being confused when you whistle.
New comic book quest intros: every quest is going to have an intro in the form of a comic book, created by the amazing Zofia.
Thank you for your patience, please remember to fill the survey and go get that loot!