Snipers, Bards, and Black Holes: What’s New in HEART ABYSS

Here’s another portion of news about the development of HEART ABYSS.

A New Level Is Ready!

We’ve finished working on a major level — the Capital of the Empire. After Leon fought his way out of the Mansion, crawled through piles of junk and mine carts in the Mines, and barely escaped the Temple full of deadly traps, he found himself in the ultimate nightmare for a social phobic — an overcrowded megapolis.

Here he’ll have to visit different districts of the city, explore manufactures, descend into the darkest slums, and unleash a bloody massacre in the wealthy districts.

Mystical Bards and Other Enemies

A new location means new enemies. You didn’t think you’d be fighting only unlucky guards or zombies the whole time, did you?

From the rooftops, Leon is watched by ruthless, well-trained Ashigaru with teppō. They’re armed with rifled guns and can shoot a squirrel right in the eye from a hundred meters. Or a fox.

*

But if Leon manages to get close, their fancy teppō may play a cruel joke on them.

Another new enemy is the Biwa-hōshi bards. Biwa-hōshi never take off their masks, know far too much, and wield magic. Clearly, they’re minions of yokai demons.

They play the shamisen with virtuoso skill, giving buffs to nearby enemies, and they nimbly slip away from Leon if he tries to approach. You’ll have to work up a sweat to get to them.

Another Boss

At the end of the level, Leon faces a duel with the location’s boss — Hitoshi Iwamoto. The best swordsman of the Empire and the shogun’s son. He craved limitless power so badly that he volunteered for experiments with implanting qi of jinko.

On the one hand, he gained many magical abilities, and on the other, he lost his mind. But who doesn’t have flaws, right? Unfortunately, he has set his sights on Leon and is clearly looking for a way to test how strong this redheaded jinko is.

The art is still in development, so you’ll have to take our word for it — he really is a terrifying, dangerous, and unpredictable opponent.

Leon’s New Abilities

Over these weeks of development, Leon (and the developers too) has grown so full of rage that he learned how to finish off Kibishi Fukku and Bruiser.

He also gained two powerful qi abilities: Black Hole and Little Gun.

The Black Hole sucks everyone in, and the Little Gun goes pew-pew. Simple as that. We’re very excited to see how you’ll use them in battle.

That’s the news for now. Work continues, and we’re not standing still. Tell us in the comments what you find the most interesting, and your likes are a true balm to the devs’ hearts.

With love,

The HEART ABYSS Team