Ghost Realm Update

18 Mar 2024Developer post

New Features

Coming across tasks has become more interesting with the introduction of a new guide. When entering an area that contains an important object, an ethereal spirit will lead you to it.

When completing major tasks or coming across important objects, a flashback sequence will now playout in the area to visually tell the story of the event. This has been a feature we've wanted to implement for a while and we're excited to finally do a first pass on it!

Overall we're aiming to introduce more ways than note reading to tell the story of each case to make the experience more engaging and entertaining. As mentioned before this is a first pass, we will be introducing more variety in future updates to flesh out this feature as well as expanding their role.

We first introduced the ghost realm maze over a year ago in January, 2023. Its main purpose was to give players a second chance after being caught by the ghost. This update we reviewed this mechanic and completely overhauled it to be far more dynamic, interesting, and fun.
When the ghost begins hunting for the first time, a gateway to the ghost realm will open up somewhere in the house. You can enter it at any time but beware there is no turning back. Once entered the exit must be found deep within the ghost realm.
If caught by the ghost for the first time during a hunt, the player will be sent to the entrance of the ghost realm.

This area now has many differing themes, and rooms. The layout of rooms and how they're connected to each other is random each case. Multiple paths can even be created, but there's only 1 exit so be careful or you may end up at a dead end!

A handful of new enemies, hazards and loot items have been added to populate these rooms as well!

With recent updates continuing to add new items and sellables, the shop has become difficult to use. With this overhaul we aimed to create a grid layout that supports more items on screen, a faster and better selling experience and additional QOL features.

Categories, items, and information have been neatly organized and kept simple to make sure the shop experience feels intuitive to interact with. Shopping should feel much nicer!

Buying and selling items now directly takes from your vault instead of your inventory to make overall item management much easier. This means currency must be in your vault to be spent!

Added new item: Adrenaline, gives stamina and speed buff.
Added new item: Medical Kit, Completely restores all health.
Added hurt idle camera shake.
Added dance camera shake.
Added ingame tips for when the player has not found an important object, used their flashlight and tablet, and more.
Added musical cues to important moments during investigation.

Small increase to default player stamina.
The player character and first person camera now ragdoll when dying. This replaces the generic death animation that has been in use for a while. A death jingle has also been introduced to help the overall experience.
Fridges and ovens now have unique interaction sounds.
Inspecting objects is now faster.
Every item is now sellable.
Reduced overall fog for cases with weather active.
Tips during loading screen sequence now cycle.
Inspectables with important items such as keys or codes now have particles emitting from the object to draw the player's attention.