Tutorial Overhaul & Progression Journal: Closed Playtest Round 2 Tonight

Update Overview

A focused clarity and systems pass landed this week based on closed‑playtest feedback. The build tightens onboarding, simplifies item and quest logic, and adds tools to help you track progression and plan crafting. Audio and pacing improvements make the world feel livelier and less grindy.

What’s New:

• Progression Journal — Automatically logs every item you find and craft, including discovered properties; also keeps short bios for characters you meet.

• Active Quest Tracker — A collapsible, top‑left tracker that shows current objectives at a glance.

• Recipe Pinning — Pin recipes from the workshop to keep track of required materials for things you want to craft next.

• Materials List for Gathering — Replaces the phase‑skip sundial with an inventory‑driven materials list that shows totals and, on hover, which recipes use each item.

• Streamlined Item Properties — Pruned and reworded properties for clarity; only the two most prominent materials now contribute properties to crafted items to reduce clutter.

• Simplified Quest Items — No more separate “quest versions” of items; if someone requests an item you craft, they will come pick it up. If you accidentally sell it, they’ll return when it’s back in stock.

• Audio Overhaul — Many new SFX plus a 5‑track OST playlist replaces the placeholder music for a more immersive looped soundtrack.

• Tutorial Expansion — The tutorial now teaches recipe pinning, phone upgrades, material purchases, and the pros/cons of selling/haggling/declining; the forced sell step is replaced with a short free‑play customer session.

• Economy Rebalance — Major price reductions for core upgrades to improve pacing and reduce early grinding (example: starter pack and several upgrade tiers significantly cheaper).

Gameplay Impact

These changes reduce cognitive load and make progression feel intentional. Players can now plan builds with recipe pins, see what they’re missing at a glance, and learn systems through a clearer, less punitive tutorial. The item and quest system changes remove confusing inventory edge cases and keep the game flowing.

Presentation and Tone

Narrative text in the early acts has been tightened to improve context and character clarity. Visual and audio polish make interactions feel more responsive and alive without changing the game’s cozy‑occult tone.

Playtest and Roadmap

I’m running Closed Playtest Round 2 this weekend to gather targeted feedback on these systems. Planned next steps include incremental upgrade tiers, more SFX/OST additions, and further tutorial refinements. Target launch remains late 2026, pending playtest results.

How You Can Help

If you’re in the closed playtest, please focus on clarity of goals, how useful the journal and pins feel, and whether the new economy pacing reduces grind. I’ll be collecting feedback and iterating quickly for the next private build. Also if you're not in the closed playtest and would like to be, let me know and I'll squeeze you into the next one. If you haven't wishlisted the totemist yet, now is a great time; View on Steam See you on the next one! - Shutin