First Dev Diary on YouTube!

We're back with a new update on the development of Prelude Dark Pain. This post should have been published a week ago, but we're publishing it now for a very good reason —as you'll see in a few minutes.

First of all, we want to say "thank you"— almost 1,000 backers have tried the Prelude Dark Pain demo. It’s been an incredible experience, we’ve gathered a lot of feedback, and we’re implementing it into the game. THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts, for everything—your support and this community are absolutely essential to us.

We're sorry we weren’t able to gift that extra key for a friend, but Steam only provided one key per backer. We hadn’t informed you earlier because we were trying to get a second key up until the last moment, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible. The demo codes have now expired and the demo will be deleted in a few weeks (October 31st), as we mentioned in the July update. If your code has expired, you forgot to redeem it, or it ended up in your spam folder, we have good news for you: there will be a new public demo during the next Steam Next Fest in February 2026, available for all players!

Remember to wishlist Prelude Dark Pain on Steam —we’re on our way to 50,000 players!

Development Progress

Development of Prelude Dark Pain is going very well and we’re thrilled to announce that we've been hitting the internal milestones set for the team. Almost all of the main story content for Act 1, which will be available in Early Access, is already finished. We’re currently polishing battles & environments, and making sure everything works smoothly. Likewise, Prelude Dark Pain's systems have now been fully merged... and Act 1 is playable from beginning to end!

Do you want more good news? All the Act 1 cinematics have already been drawn and are currently being colored, and the sound design for them has begun. We’re actually ahead of our schedule, which is a big relief for the art team.

We also have almost all of the music composed for the Act 1 main battles and other scenarios, and we can assure you—it’s absolutely stunning. Isaac Montes and Kumi Tanioka are creating something truly special.

Remember at the beginning we mentioned this post was a little delayed? Here's why: the first dev diary for Prelude Dark Pain is finally here! This first video covers the playtesting process we held behind closed doors at The Game Kitchen’s headquarter. Huge thanks to the creators of Blasphemous and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound for all the generous support they’ve given us.

We’ll be posting the next Prelude Dark Pain update at the end of November 2025, with more details on the development. In the meantime, once again, thank you all for your continued support—and for the love you’ve shown us.

Our friends at Epictellers Entertainment just launched their Kickstarter campaign for Starfinder: Afterlight, a sci-fantasy RPG coming to PC in Early Access in 2026. Please check it out! It’s a story-rich, turn-based RPG set in the Starfinder universe, with an amazing cast of characters. Think Guardians of the Galaxy meets Divinity. Just watch the Kickstarter Trailer!

Starfinder: Afterlight has also revealed a fantastic cast bringing life to a group of misfit companions that you will meet during your adventure, including Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil Village) as voice director, Kole (class: Soldier, voiced by Fred Tatasciore), Tycho (class: Operative,