Happy February everyone!
I apologise for the radio silence for the past few months, in relation to The Clown's Forest news that is.
I promise you though it is for a fantastic reason.
The Clown's Forest: Update 1.4.0
This Update will include a ton of new features that I am very excited to share with you today before it releases in Q2 2025!
I will only tell you about some of the major changes I have done in this update, why this update came to be despite me saying the previous content update was the last one, and what is going on with the future of the series.
So here is the changelog for the upcoming content update!
Update 1.4.0
- New Locations - Some new locations were added in this update to add more 'lore' to the game and to tie it into later instalments in the series.
- New Characters - New Characters enter in with ties to later titles and even spin offs! Even some references to unseen characters yet to be introduced
- Updated Story - The story had to go under some revision as I added new locations and characters, and I decided to make the story not too different, but different enough to capture some interest!
- Redone Voice Acting - Due to my lack of writing experience the original voice acting from the 1.3.0 update wasn't something I was too proud of, so with this update, I got the voice acting completely redone with rewritten dialogue to make the story feel that much more compelling.
- Two new endings - While yes the original game had 10 endings, this update adds 2 more into the mix, bringing the total up to 12! Oh boy, ain't that exciting?
- New Collectibles - For those who, like me, tends to explore every inch of a game map to find secrets, I have now added new collectibles. Whether that be story-related notes, or Blitzo the Clown figurines, there is plenty of secrets for everyone.
- Map Updates - Some of the old maps have been updated with new layouts to make the manor feel much bigger. Even some exterior maps were changes to help with detail, or to fix some confusion among players.
- New Achievements - Stay tuned after this changelog to know what I truly mean about New Achievements. It may make some of you upset, but ultimately, it is for the better.
- Puzzle Revision - Some puzzles, primarily the Boathouse and Clock puzzles have been completely remade to have a more 'fresh' feel every playthrough. I have even added another puzzle into the game.
- Bug Fixes and Optimizations - Now this is a gimmick that applies to every update to a game. But primarily some of the map updates in this game had to be done for optimization purposes. More on that down below
And that is just a few of the changes for this update. Even that is a lot I must admit!
But don't go anywhere just yet. Before I get to explaining why this update came to be, I will explain a bit about the achievements.
The Clown's Forest's current achievements will be deleted and replaced with completely new achievements, that will temporarily be hidden from view to you all. This is for the fact that a lot of the achievements in the game right now, don't fit in with the new direction. That being said, these achievements will add plenty of new excitement to those who yearn to collect them all!
Some of these achievements will be unhidden when the update fully drops.
And now to explain why The Clown's Forest Update 1.4.0 became a thing despite saying 1.3.0 would be the last content update.
A couple months ago, I got into contact with a console publisher. (I won't name them yet) We got talking about the game, and what is in the game. They played through TCF and were super interested into porting the game to select consoles. (Again not naming what consoles currently as plans can change) When talking about some of the stuff in the game, some concern cropped up about some lag related to Blitzo's Pathing and also overuse of some events in certain maps (Namely the Library having over 80 Events)
Thus we eventually decided that I should update the game to include some optimization fixes for the game and to also try and fix some of the frame issues with Blitzo's chases.
I then decided to take this time to reflect on what else I could change in the update and ultimately decided to change up the game a bit to fit in with a better storyline not just for use in the overhaul of The Clown's Forest 2: Waking Shadows, but for the other games, The Clown's Forest 3: Haunting Apparitions, The Clown's Forest: Fear of a Survivor, and even The Clown's Forest 4.
I have already got TCF4 fully planned out and ready, so I can now start retroactively adding stuff to fit in with the overall story for the series.
That said, The Clown's Forest console ports haven't started development yet, as this update stills needs to be finalized before the publisher can start work.
I will definitely keep you all updated on when the Console Ports start development, and when you could expect it!
Anyway, I think this is already a pretty lengthy announcement!
I will see you all very soon!
- SilentWraith