[DEV UPDATE] Room 713: A month after release.

Hi! GoragarX here. It's been a month since Room 713 was released, and I wanted to talk about how everything went and my future plans regarding this game. But first, I want to sincerely thank everyone who bought and played Room 713 for supporting my work; it means the world to me.

It's been... rough.

To put it plainly, it's been rough. I spent roughly 7+ months of dev time putting my heart and soul into this project, but despite my efforts, I didn't make it.

My goal was to sell 1000 copies, and I'm currently sitting at almost 400. This isn't the right place to discuss earnings, but I'm afraid we'll need to postpone the yacht party :(

What went wrong?

If I'm being honest, I don't fully understand it. Maybe it's just anomaly genre fatigue. Maybe the premise/hook wasn't strong enough. Or maybe I leaned too much into psychological horror and the narrative, which isn't what the audience for these types of games is looking for.

I wish I had more actionable feedback to improve the game, but those who enjoyed it really enjoyed it (thus the great reviews!), while those who didn't simply didn't care enough to share their thoughts. Maybe the word to describe Room 713 is just 'niche'.

If you have any suggestions, I'm listening. All the new features of the upcoming update are things players requested via email and Discord (join my Discord! https://discord.gg/rvBNRCjBm7)

So, what's next?

In the meantime, I have an update ready that primarily focuses on UX and QoL features. I will update the game in the following days.

I genuinely want to expand and keep working on this game. I feel there is still room (pun intended) for more anomalies, more documents to read, more hidden tapes to find, more stories about the Grand Hotel to be told, and a deeper dive into the backstory of our tragic starring family... but I also feel it's time for me to wrap everything up and move on to other projects.

I don't want to say definitively that there won't ever be any new content updates, but...

This is it, for now.

Maybe some of Room 713's mysteries were never meant to be solved.

New Update

The update includes the following changes, all requested by you, the players:

• Cloud saving.

• Anomaly compedium is now accessible during gameplay.

• Fast restart option for Speedrun mode.

• UX QoL features (example, pressing ESC in the main menu triggers the exit modal window, etc).

• UI changes aimed for Steam Deck compatibility.

• Further optimizations

• Better Russian translation (thanks to Rina Malmstin)

• Better hints for some of the anomalies

As well as many bug fixes and one extra anomaly.

Speaking of anomalies, even if I add more, the requirement for the "On Observation Duty" achievement will remain at 37 anomalies spotted (the exact number the game had on release day).

I don't want to revoke my players' well-deserved achievements each time I update the game.

Other

Room 713 will participate in the Steam Summer Sale with a nice -20% discount. If you are looking forward to playing the game, I'd actually recommend waiting just a little bit so you can save $1 ;)