After years of setbacks and unexpected turns, Flame in Glass finally has an Early Access release date: September 24 at 5:00 AM PDT.

From its earliest conception through production, making this game has been a journey full of twists and turns—dramatic enough to be a story of its own. We have only made it this far thanks to the support and encouragement of countless people. But we don’t need to tell that story here, because it shares the very same soul as the story within the game. It was everything we witnessed and experienced in this world that led us to put everything on the line to create this story.

We originally considered releasing the game once the first two chapters were finished. But with so many characters and story threads to establish, the early chapters are largely about laying the groundwork. The story only truly takes flight in Chapter 3. So we held on, found ways to keep going, and pushed through to finish that chapter as well. (We took on so much translation work to make that possible that, at this point, we’re probably closer to translators than game developers…) Please keep reading until you get there. You’ll understand why we poured so much care and effort into all that foreshadowing. And compared with the climaxes later in the story, even Chapter 3 is just a taste of what’s to come. We want to push the limits of what storytelling can achieve.

We also have a new feature to share: you can now click a speaker’s name on the left side of the dialogue box or dialogue history to jump straight to their character profile, provided that character has already been unlocked in the Character screen. This should make it much easier to keep track of the cast and follow the story as you read.

The game is still in development, but we estimate a playtime of 35 hours or more without skipping dialogue.

The original soundtrack will launch alongside the game. Future chapters will introduce more music, including several vocal songs, so the album will be updated along with the story, with over 60 tracks planned for the complete collection. Incidentally, even the track count should give you some idea of just how much there is to this game. We really aren’t exaggerating.

We’ll also be offering bundles of Flame in Glass and the Melody of Iris, with two options: the two games on their own, or both games plus their respective soundtracks. Their stories are connected, but you don’t need to have read Melody of Iris to understand Flame in Glass. Melody of Iris is one of our earlier works, and it feels rather youthful and rough around the edges to us now. But if you don’t mind that, we’d love for you to give it a read as well.

We’ve said plenty already, so we’ll leave it at this: welcome to the world of Flame in Glass!