Controller Support Guide:
I recommend playing this game with a controller if possible, preferred controller is a PlayStation controller if possible. There is keyboard and mouse support and the game is fully playable in that manner, but the best experience is with a controller.
Recommended controller use method: Enable Steam Input while outside of the game. There should be a controller config that ships with the game, but if not, there is a community config with modern controls.
Hope Deferred has built in controller support with limited remapping capability. It is recommended that you use Steam Input unless you want the authentic PSX experience, for example, looking up and down with the trigger buttons while the right thumbstick does nothing.
Please note, if you connect a controller while the game is running, the game will not detect the controller. You need to close and relaunch the game for the controller to be detected.
Troubleshooting
The following bugs have been reported on all platforms:
Spinning camera:
This is a SOMLI issue (the mouse injector / modern keyboard controls tech). This is reported to be fixable. Right click Hope Deferred in your library, Manage < Browse Local Files. Open dgVoodoo.conf in any text editor, find "FullscreenAttributes = fake" in the text file, and remove the word "fake" from this line and then save the text document. If that doesn't work, remove config.txt from the game files, this will fully disable SOMLI.
I've only ever seen the spinning camera issue when changing resolutions. Another possible fix is to just play with the default resolution, if that's the case.
Crash when entering a new level and or dying
Unfortunately, due to the engine, save files from previous builds are not compatible with new builds under certain conditions, and we meet those conditions this time. If you delete your save files and start a new game, this bug should never happen again. (Previous statement incorrect but in 1.1 it's 99% fixed) If you want to keep your old saves, you can opt into the 1.0 Beta by right clicking Hope Deferred, Properties < Betas, Beta Participation, select the drop down menu on the right and choose v1beta - Beta for old save files. You might have issues with 1.0 but some people don't. I highly advise you delete your save files and start a new game, but if you REALLY don't want to, opt into the beta. If you are experiencing this issue on the 1.0 Beta it's because of a separate problem which is now fixed in 1.1, sadly your save file is bugged, you have to start a new game. I also recommend deleting your save files: Right click Hope Deferred in your library, Manage < Browse Local Files. Delete the folder called "save".
(The previous information will be kept just in case, but there is now a fix detailed below which fixes the root issue.)
3/15/26 edit: There is now a definitive fix for this issue 100% of the time. If you launch the game through a new technology called Sword Master, your save files will be permanently fixed. You only need to launch the game through Sword Master once, and then you don't have to do it ever again. I'll outline how to do that here.
Download Sword Master from the Sword of Moonlight website. Scroll down to "Sword Master" on this link, click it to lead to a Google Drive page, and then download "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher". Run the EXE and place the entire Hope Deferred folder, (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Hope Deferred) into the "SoM Games" folder which is in the rar file. Then launch "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher" and select Hope Deferred from the drop down menu (if it's your only game in the folder it should automatically be there by default), below that in the DirectX settings in the program select Use DgVoodoo2 (so SOMLI runs) and then click "Apply & Play". Just launching the game this way will fix your save file permanently. You can keep playing the game this way, but the Steam Input controller function won't work, and if you want to use modern controls, simply take the entire Hope Deferred folder from where you just moved it, and put it back where it was before in the Steam folder (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common).
Ideally, a special version of Sword Master will be included in the next update to make this process easier.
Choppy frame rate
1/1/26 edit:
Another issue that has been identified is high system uptime. Try restarting your computer first and see if that fixes the issue.
This appears to be due to a patch that was implemented in 1.1 to fix issues with resolution. It has a simple fix across the board that appears to always work, luckily. Right click Hope Deferred in your library, Manage < Browse Local Files. Open dgVoodoo.conf in any text editor, find "FullscreenAttributes = fake" in the text file, and remove the word "fake" from this line and then save the text document. Doing this will cause some annoying side effects outside of the game, like when you Alt Tab or if you have 2 monitors, but it appears to fix the choppy frame rate, When working on this, I also uninstalled the game, restarted my computer, reinstalled the game, and then deleted the Save folder just to be extra careful. If the first step doesn't fix the issue outright, try those steps as well. If all of this doesn't work, Browse Local Files and remove config.txt as instructed in the 1.0 Troubleshooting Guide. You should not have to do this, but I don't know for sure at this very moment.
Pacifist ending (ending B) puzzle issue
When going to use the Cheap Cremation Box item on the Mortician, nothing happens. This is due to a bad trigger box. Turn around and exit the house, and look for two statues between the house walls and the brick walls. The statue on the right (facing the door) is where you need to use the Cheap Cremation Box. You are supposed to use this item at the Mortician NPC, but the trigger box is incorrect, as previously stated. This will be fixed in an upcoming patch, and dialogue will be added as well to make it more clear that something happened.
Unable to cross small bridges in Towers level (Linux / Steamdeck exclusive bug)
As the title implies, this only occurs on Linux / Steamdeck, which officially the game does not support. According to user reports, you can bypass this by finding a special perfect spot to get across the bridges. Besides that, there is a way to skip the entire level, but that is not preferrable if possible. If you absolutely must skip the level, you can find this skip by watching the Hope Deferred Speedrun World Record on Youtube. This video is linked in the Videos section of the Hope Deferred Community on Steam, or you can just search it on Youtube. This bug will hopefully be fixed soon.
Map selling NPC has 255 of a blank item for 0 gold
This bug appears to be completely harmless, it's just goofy. You can buy all 255 and it will not appear in your inventory.
Duplicate symbol of the murderer
This is an oversight and is harmless. There are just two ways to obtain this instead of one. This will be fixed in upcoming patch.
Catacombs and Bunker key skips
You can skip picking up the key for Catacombs and Bunker by doing specific jumps and spamming spacebar to interact with the warp doors. Doing so will likely soft lock you as you will not be able to exit these levels without meeting special conditions. This will be fixed in upcoming patch.
Returning bugs that were not addressed in the 1.1 update (due to technological limitations that are to be fixed in a tech only update in the future):
Launching from Steam, game immediately crashes
Go to Manage > Browse local files. Then, launch the exe file directly from the folder (HopeDeferred.EXE). This bug has not actually been verified as ever happening in 1.1, but we didn't do anything to fix it, so I can only assume it will return.
Edit: If nothing works, try launching through Sword Master.
Download Sword Master from the Sword of Moonlight website. Scroll down to "Sword Master" on this link, click it to lead to a Google Drive page, and then download "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher". Run the EXE and place the entire Hope Deferred folder, (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Hope Deferred) into the "SoM Games" folder which is in the rar file. Then launch "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher" and select Hope Deferred from the drop down menu (if it's your only game in the folder it should automatically be there by default), below that in the DirectX settings in the program select Use DgVoodoo2 (so SOMLI runs) and then click "Apply & Play".
Various issues with remapping keyboard controls
For example, if you remap Cast Spell to Shift, pressing shift will make the player attack and cast a spell. You cannot remap keys to existing hard coded keys, you can only remap controls to unused keys. We hope to fix this bug in a patch ASAP. It appears you cannot set the Esc key to open the menu, it just doesn't work. This will be fixed in the tech only update in the future, currently it is a limitation of SOMLI that is fixed by Unsealer, but Unsealer is not stable right now. More news on this soon.
Misc sound issues
Sometimes, sounds won't play when they should. This issue is fixed by Unsealer but Unsealer is not stable right now. More news on this soon.
3/15/26 edit:
This issue has been isolated and will be patched in the newest update, but you can fix it yourself if you don't want to wait for that.
Option 1 (download a file): Join the Sword of Moonlight Discord server and ask in the Hope Deferred channel for the sound bug fix EXE. Download " som_rt.exe " and rename this file to HopeDeferred.EXE and then go to the Hope Deferred folder (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Hope Deferred) and replace the existing EXE of the same name there with the new EXE. This will just patch the issue outright.
Option 2 (fix it yourself): Using a hex editor, check offset 0x00049F9D in HopeDeferred.EXE for "0x5", change it to 0x40.
Option 3: Wait for next major update. This fix will be noted in the changelog.
Bad culling, especially visible outside of 4:3 aspect ratio
Culling can sometimes occur at the sides of the screen, especially bad when using modern aspect ratios. If you switch to 4:3, such as 1024x768, this issue should be mostly resolved. We hope to fix this in a future update, but it's likely this can not be fixed. It could possibly be a permanent limitation of the engine.
3/15/26 edit: This issue has been identified and should be fixed in the next major patch. It is not a simple fix, so it may not be ready by then. But the fix is indeed coming.
issues with dual monitors or OBS
Again, this has not actually been verified as happening with 1.1, but I have to include it anyway just in case. 1.1 by default has FullscreenAttributes = fake so if you're still having issues, it's probably issues with DgVoodoo. If that's the case, you should replace DgVoodoo with DDrawCompat. Join the Sword of Moonlight Discord server which is linked on the store page, and myself or someone there will be happy to give you the files with the preset for SoM already configurated, and tell you how to replace DgVoodoo. Once Unsealer is ready, as I spoke about above, this will be fixed, but Unsealer is not stable right now. If Unsealer is not going to come out for a very long time, in the future I will upload a Beta for DDrawCompat to simplify this process.
Edit:
You can still do the above, but launching through Sword Master is easier.
Download Sword Master from the Sword of Moonlight website. Scroll down to "Sword Master" on this link, click it to lead to a Google Drive page, and then download "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher". Run the EXE and place the entire Hope Deferred folder, (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Hope Deferred) into the "SoM Games" folder which is in the rar file. Then launch "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher" and select Hope Deferred from the drop down menu (if it's your only game in the folder it should automatically be there by default), below that in the DirectX settings in the program select Use DgVoodoo2 (so SOMLI runs) and then click "Apply & Play". If you're still having issues, instead of Use DgVoodoo2, try Use DDrawCompat.
Missing all textures and/or all painting JPGs are garbled
You'll know if you have this bug because you'll launch the game and all you'll see is a sea of red with no textures anywhere. This is a dgVoodoo issue and the fix is to use DDrawCompat instead, or if you want to raw dog it like your parents did on Windows XP, just remove dgVoodoo and don't replace it with anything (I don't advise this second option, but in the profoundly unlucky situation that both dgVoodoo AND DDrawCompat don't work for you, it's all you can do at that point. As directed above, for the DDrawCompat preset and detailed instructions, join the SoM discord and ask in the Hope Deferred channel. As I said previously, if it looks like Unsealer won't come out for a very long time, in the future I'll create a Beta you can opt into for DDrawCompat instead of dgVoodoo.
If your issue is only that the painting images look corrupted (bright white, no colours, harsh black and you can't make anything out) and nothing else, this doesn't impact gameplay all that much. The same fixes listed above should resolve it though if you want to try.
Edit:
You can still do the above, but launching through Sword Master is easier.
Download Sword Master from the Sword of Moonlight website. Scroll down to "Sword Master" on this link, click it to lead to a Google Drive page, and then download "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher". Run the EXE and place the entire Hope Deferred folder, (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Hope Deferred) into the "SoM Games" folder which is in the rar file. Then launch "Sword of Moonlight Game Launcher" and select Hope Deferred from the drop down menu (if it's your only game in the folder it should automatically be there by default), below that in the DirectX settings in the program select Use DgVoodoo2 (so SOMLI runs) and then click "Apply & Play". If you're still having issues, instead of Use DgVoodoo2, try Use DDrawCompat.
If you experience any bugs that aren't listed here, check the 1.0 Troubleshooting Guide too, and please post in the Discussions board on Steam or in our Discord server.
Patch notes:
Fixed an issue that caused crashing when warping from one level to another or dying.
Redesigned level 3 AKA "The blue level" or "Towers" by removing all moving objects. The issue appeared to have something to do with refresh rate, but it's not worth risking it just to show off some crazy thing you can do in SoM. It didn't work right for almost anybody. RIP Super Mario Sunshine moving objects but also, this will be a massive QoL for 99% of people where it soft locks you or was nearly impossible.
Changed the launch resolution to 1080p. If you want to play the game as it was intended, change the resolution to 1024x768 in the in-game menu to play the game at 4:3 stretched. I assume more people are going to play at 1080p than want to play in 4:3, even with bad culling.
Changed DgVoodoo FullScreenAttributes to fake.
Fixed issue with flashing screen on death continuing to flash after respawn and continuing even after loading on Level 4 "Paradise", Dungeon 4 "Secret" and Dungeon 5 "The Heart". Fixed exploit in Level 2 "Swamp" where players could pick up items and talk to NPCs through walls.
Fixed possible soft lock in Level 2 "Swamp" where a player could beat the boss, somehow ignore the Mourner's Key, and walk off the edge without it. Although there is a back path to skip this entirely, just to be safe, I put in a safeguard to absolutely force the player to pick up the Mourner's Key before jumping down. I never saw anyone ever do this but realized it was possible.
Moving from Level 3 to Level 4 now stops the music when the sound effect plays. Level 1 "Cells" opened the locked door with the corpse with worms eating it. There was no reason for this door to be locked. Level 1 "Cells" replaced the locked door looking into the room on the bottom floor of the King's castle that has all of the treants (tentacle monsters). Now the door cannot be interacted with at all, it will not show a "locked" prompt when inspected. Level 3 "Towers" corrected clipping waterfall.
Various removal of black triangles appearing when looking into bottomless pits from very high places.
Various typo corrections.
Post notes:
If the major bugs truly are fixed, then this will be the last update until Unsealer is finished. I hope to put at least 2 more secret endings in at a later time. Neither of these updates should break anyone's save files like 1.1 is going to. At the very least I take solace in knowing the same exact thing happened to TotM.
1/1/26 edit:
There are still some issues that need to be patched but nothing huge. There will be another patch some time soonish but it should not break saves.
1/9/26 edit: Added more info.
3/15/26 edit: added info about the audio bug.