Hello everyone! We hope you’re all doing well. It’s been a month since our release day, and we could not feel more grateful for everyone’s support, patience, and feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to report bugs, suggest new elements that could improve the experience, and read your comments on what 9 Years of Shadows has been for you.
In fact, because we’ve seen many people in different countries willing to play a game that wasn’t localized in their language, we wanted to get Europa’s story to as many people as possible. That’s why we worked with a localization team for 9YoS to be accessible in German, French, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese, as well as making adjustments in Spanish and English.
We hope this makes the journey more appealing for our community and that everyone can travel alongside Apino.
Furthermore, we have been fixing many reported bugs that affected the overall gameplay. There are other bugs we continue to work on, which will be solved in future updates so we keep on improving everyone’s experience. Our newest patch covers the following fixes:
Fix for crash due to main character entities memory leak
Fix for elevator bug allowing to to jump or shoot in the background
Fix for the jelly-fish type enemy for its collider
Fix for the Horned God rays collider causing damage in the anticipation stage
Fix for some buttons alignment in the Main Elevator menu
Fix for the background movement for Elevator cinematics going the right way
Fix for Hibino's answer when trying to upgrade the Grace of Auriel
Fix for the Shadow of Demise additional collider to prevent the player getting locked on the left
Fix for the Shadow of Demise hit SFX not triggering
Fix for the map layout for special rooms
Fix for the additional distortion effect when killing an enemy with strong attack
Fix for Big Kitty and Fully Equipped achievements to be unlocked retroactively
Fix for the missing cursor inside the gameplay when using KB+M
Build update #2 - 1.0.19
Hello everyone! Support and feedback from all of you guys have been incredible! Thanks for being patient while we create fixes and solutions for the game. We've got a new patch today to continue our efforts of giving you all the best experience.
If you want to talk with our dev team, report an issue, or join the community, please join our Discord! We'd love to hear from you all!
Bug fixes:
Fixed additional memory leaks that were causing crashes
Fixed a crash that could be triggered by transitioning into new areas
Fixed a bug that caused a soft lock by fighting the Shadow of Hope
Fixed a bug that caused a soft lock by fighting the Hekate's Illusion
Fixed a bug that rendered incorrectly the rooms on Sector H
Fixed a bug that froze the game when speaking to Michiru or Hibino after upgrading everything
Fixed a bug that prevented “Trust Issues” achievement to be awarded
Missing achievements now unlock retroactively by entering into your previous save log
Varios typos were corrected
We are still working on a solution to retroactively fix the map rendering issue some people had with Sector H. Will be ready on the patch for next week.
Build update #1 - 1.0.16
Hello everyone! Your support and patience throughout the release week have been outstanding! We've got a new patch today to continue our efforts of giving you all the best experience.
If you want to talk with our dev team, report an issue, or just join the community, please join our Discord! We'd love to hear from you all!
Bug fixes:
Fixed a memory leak that was causing crashes
Fixed a media rendering bug that could occasionally cause crashes
Fixed a crash bug that could be triggered when Europa dies
Fixed a bug that made Apino occasionally move erratically
Fixed a bug that made the Portrait of Hope boss respawn
Fixed a bug that made the game stay in grayscale after defeating the Portrait of Demise boss
Fixed a bug that froze the game when the player skipped the first part of the prologue cutscene
Fixed a bug that allowed Europa to remain in Siren form outside of water
Fixed a bug on the Elevator Menu "Cancel" input
Fixed a bug that prevented some enemies from appearing in the Bestiary
Fixed a bug that prevented some rooms from appearing on the map and certain room types from not
Fixed numerous bugs that prevented Achievements from being awarded (mostly boss fights and upgrade related)
Fixed a bug with for the Object Spawner (most noticeable on The Magma Ball spawners)
Various typos were corrected
Made Hibino stop overcharging his hard-working customers
Improved support for more controller types
Fixes and visual adjustments for some bosses and mid-bosses
Various fixes and visual adjustments on environment art throughout the game
Fixed a visual bug with the Phoenix Fire Explosion layers
Update #41 : We're Live!!
Hello everyone! The day has finally come! 9 Years of Shadows has officially launched on Steam!
We cannot stress enough what every single one of you means to the Halberd team; thanks to your belief in us when we had only started with a small team and a big dream, we managed to come this far, and it showed us what the power of community could do. After launch, we plan on releasing additional levels and new game+ as DLC, and we’ll keep you updated on the concrete dates as we continue with the development. Please consider leaving us a review here on Steam. We love to hear your feedback and it really helps us out.
Stay tuned to delve further into the world of 9 Years of Shadows!
Earnestly grateful and with all of our love,
The Halberd Team
Update #39 The Release
Hello everyone! We hope you’ve had a great week filled with excitement. Everyone on Halberd Studios certainly has, as today we have released some long-awaited news.
If you have kept up with our latest updates, you know we were just featured on IGN’s Fan Fest 2023, where we launched our newest trailer. If you missed it, go ahead and check it out on IGN’s Youtube channel:
Therefore, we have never been more excited to announce that we have an official new launch date! Everyone can expect to play 9 Years of Shadows on Steam on March 27th! We appreciate the never-ending patience our community has had with our development process, and the moment has come to share this world that is so dear to us with you all.
We cannot wait until the launch date to see years of fruition end, and we are sincerely grateful to have such a wonderful community be part of our first game. Remember to keep up with our socials – especially our TikTok if you want to see the team in action– and stay tuned for more!
We hope to see you all soon!
The Halberd Team
Update #38: The Countdown
Hello everyone! We hope everyone had a pleasant holiday and started the year with renewed energy. With a new year comes a new chapter in our lives as we approach the end of the game’s development. As you know, ever since the last update, we have been working on small details, polishing, and bug fixing to have a stable build, and everything is finally coming together nicely. Take a look at how it’s looking right now:
Therefore, we have never been more excited to announce that we will be featured on IGN’s Fan Fest 2023 on February 18th, so don’t forget to check it out if you want to hear some long-awaited news!
The team is excited to share more about the development after some months of silent work and we are sincerely grateful for your patience and support. We strive to keep the community in the loop as much as possible, so rest assured that more updates will come soon.
Remember to keep up with our socials – especially our TikTok if you want to see the team inaction – and stay tuned for more!
We hope to see you all soon!
Dev Update #13: A Final Request
Hello everyone, we hope you’re doing well and starting the holiday season in high spirits. With the launch date rapidly approaching, we wanted to craft this update a little bit differently.
Our current state
As the game's development progressed, the whole team put their heart and soul into the project, dedicating the entire week and weekends to meet deliveries and fix bugs, often giving up rest for the sake of the game. After people from all over the world tried the 9 Years of Shadows demo on Steam Next Fest, we gathered valuable feedback and noticed relevant issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible but that aren’t easy to solve.
If you have followed our journey closely, you’ll know that we are committed to delivering a worthy product, and while we know no game is perfect, we are confident we can do better. Our publisher has been very understanding of our situation and has supported our choice to regroup, take care of the team, and handle any lack of resources that due to our pipeline.
Release date
It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to delay the launch of our game a few months into 2023. This is an announcement we do not make lightly.
Our loyal community has been a driving force for every member of Halberd Studios, and delaying the game again is something that pains us greatly. However, in order for us to continue, we must ensure the well-being of the devs and reassess how we will approach the obstacles ahead. Rest assured that this is the last time we will resort to a delay, and are determined to finally release the game as promised.
We also want to reassure you that 9 Years of Shadows’s content and features are virtually finished, and the additional time we will take is going to be focused directly on polishing.
In fact, we would love to share a couple of things that have been in the works for a while. Firstly, take a look at the preview of Master Hibino's song, The Serpent Prince. If you have been enjoying Bayonetta 3's soundtrack, his collaboration in 9 Years of Shadows is just for you.
Also, we wanted to share a glimpse of an interesting area. What do you think this is?
To our loving community
From all of us, we earnestly thank you for the lasting support and good wishes for these past couple of years. There is nothing more we could ask of this wonderful community but to hang in there just for a little longer. In the end, it all comes down to a matter of time, and with it, we know your patience will be worth the wait.
As always, we will keep you posted on our progress with regular updates and through our social media, so make sure you follow us to stay in the loop
In genuine appreciation, The Halberd Team
Demo Update #2
Hello everyone! Your support throughout Next Fest so far has been amazing! Please keep the feedback coming! We've got another patch today to continue out efforts of giving you all the best expereince. If you want to talk with our dev team or just join the community, please join our Discord! We'd love to hear from you all 😊
Bug Fixes
Fixed a visual bug regarding bloom/saturation that would significantly break the overall experience and readability.
Fixed a visual bug that upon dying and respawning at the save room, the background decoration wouldn't load correctly.
Fixed a bug regarding the Xilos Paladin (enemy for the Shield and Armor quest) were the player would sometimes get stuck its shield.
Fixed a bug were players that died after obtaining the Grace of Zeus upgrade, would still have have it unlocked upon respawning at the save room
Adjustments
In order to balance the Xilos Paladin fight, Apino projectiles no longer damage the Xilos Paladin's shield.
Demo Update!
Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for your support so far throughout Next Fest! We're excited to bring you all our first update to the demo fixing up a couple things to hopefully bring you all the best experience possible.
Adjustments
Added "Controller recommended" splash screen
Added SFX explosion when defeating a mid boss
Removed extra confirmation window upon saving the game
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug in which triggering the pause menu in the middle of a dialogue would disable input
Fixed various visual bugs with the decoration
Fixed mid boss soundtrack from not triggering correctly
Fixed a bug in which Michiru Yamane's soundtrack in Degollado Theater wouldn't play correctly
Fixed a bug in which the Dwarven Guard mid boss would get stuck on the ceiling at the beginning of the fight
Next Fest Livestream 2!
Hello everyone!
We're excited to be participating in the Steam Next Fest! Catch our livestream with Halberd Studios on Oct 6th at 2pm ET, where they will be showing off the latest demo.
