Launch Update #1: Lighting, Weapons, Bosses, Puzzles & Survival Horror Polish

Our first launch polish update is here, and we’re already working on what comes next.

Hey everyone,

First of all, thank you.

The launch of Saint of Chains has been intense, emotional, and incredibly important for the two of us. We’ve been watching streams, reading feedback, checking reports, and listening closely to what players are experiencing inside the nightmare.

This first launch update focuses on the clearest feedback we received: lighting, weapon feel, ammo balance, boss tuning, puzzle clarity, objective flow, visual polish, and overall quality-of-life improvements.

The goal of this update is simple:

Make Saint of Chains feel clearer, tighter, more polished, and even closer to the survival horror experience we wanted to deliver.

Saint of Chains is still a retro psychological survival horror game about a desperate father, a demonic cult, symbolic monsters, limited resources, and a truth darker than the nightmare itself.

But now, the rot should feel better.

Launch Update #1 Patch Notes

Visuals, lighting & atmosphere

• Complete ranged weapon re-skin / retexturing.

• Lighting has been retouched across every level, with a heavy focus on the initial areas based on player feedback.

• Cutscene lighting has also been retouched.

• Changed the door materials in the area where you find the axe.

• Vastly increased the distance between randomized scare sounds to reduce repetition and improve tension.

• Fixed an issue where the mask item did not appear visually when used.

Survival horror balance

• Heavily reduced ammo across all levels to strengthen the survival horror experience.

• Increased shotgun range and damage.

• Fixed shotgun ADS aiming animation.

• Drastically increased hunting rifle damage.

• Decreased hunting rifle reserve ammo to keep its power balanced.

Combat & boss adjustments

• School boss balance adjusted.

• Sewer Boss Lockjaw was adjusted and given a longer delay before diving back into the water.

• Fly Boss charge attack nerfed.

• Fall damage tweaked to be more forgiving.

Puzzles, progression & objectives

• Unlocked the first locker to avoid an early moment where the player gets a key just to pick up an item that functions like a second key.

• Fixed a rare bug that caused the safe puzzle to get stuck.

• Added additional code to make the Private Office puzzle more intuitive.

• Added input helpers on puzzles for easier navigation.

• Added additional sewer signposting for the valve and statue puzzles.

• Fixed stacking objectives.

• Fixed some items remaining interactable after being solved.

• Changed item text descriptions and several hint descriptions to reduce hand-holding and provide a stronger survival horror experience.

Bug fixes & polish

• Fixed a rare bug that caused weapons to lose ammo when swapped.

• Various inventory fixes and stability improvements.

• Various minor collision fixes.

• Fixed a naming issue in the Mindmap.

• The Easter egg balloon in the sewers can now be popped.

We’re not done

This is only the first launch update.

We’re already working on a future major update for Saint of Chains, and it will be much bigger than this first polish pass.

Our current plans include:

• Full Gamepad Support

• More replayability

• Additional level design improvements (including tweaking levels that are very linear to make them more explorable)

• Hidden locations

• Collectible items (and NEW Achievements)

• More quality-of-life improvements

• More polish across the full experience

• And more things we’ll reveal when they’re ready

Full Gamepad Support remains one of our highest priorities. We know many survival horror players want to experience the game with a controller, and we want to make sure it feels natural, responsive, and worthy of the game before we release it.

Thank you for walking this path with us