ITORAH is a 2D side scrolling metroidvania, deeply ingrained in Mesoamerican style and themes. You take control of the titular Itorah, the only human in the strange & unexplored lands of Nahucan. While it may be an unfamiliar environment, the beautiful hand-drawn visuals provide a welcoming presence along with a sense of visual wonder. But alas, not everything has the same appreciation for beauty as yourself. A deadly plague is sweeping across the land, so it is up to you to take up arms to defend this new world, and uncover its secrets.
Watch the consoles release trailer for ITORAH now
Get ITORAH now, with a limited 25% launch-discount in your respective digital store, of your preferred console!
New ITORAH Update (v.1.1.0.0) is available now!
Great News Nahus! Today, we are happy to release a new update, including many improvements, changes, and fixes, also based on the overwhelming feedback we have received from you, the great Community of Nahucan! But, without further ado, let's dive into all the new things, coming with version 1.1.0.0!
Quality of Life improvements
We have added two new languages: Italian and French.
Controller vibration can now be toggled on/off in the input menu.
Input plugin has been updated: Enables better support for recent gamepads like the Playstation 5 controller.
Shards now have visual differences based on their value.
Added new tutorial hints for sliding and attacking upwards.
Chests and levers beyond Aracan do not show tutorial messages anymore.
Itorah
Itorah now has idlebreaker animations if no input is recognized for a certain amount of time.
Adjusted Itorah's ledge hang pose, so her hands are closer to the ledge.
Fixed a bug that allowed players to climb walls by abusing wall jump input tolerances.
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented a bounce when destroying blocks with stomp.
UI:
The Elemental Echoes received from the guardians now show up in the inventory, complete with localized item descriptions.
Fixed some texts in the menu that referenced wrong localizations.
Interaction UI for Ahui after the Storm Archives intro cutscene is now positioned above her, for consistency.
Fixed a bug that caused the particles on the title screen to freeze when returning to it from gameplay.
Map icon sizes reduced, for better readability while zoomed out.
Icons in upgrade menus now have a thicker outline.
Other visual adjustments in the UI.
Areas:
Entrances of the Forbidden Ruins, Cradle of the World Tree, Tlalocan, and Storm Archives are now blocked from the moment the player learns the ability in those areas, until the boss is defeated.
Fixed some flickering lights in Aracan.
First Aracan key cannot be carried back to the campfire room anymore. The door in the boss room cannot be interacted with anymore.
The ability room in Forbidden Ruins now requires learning the Walljump ability to proceed, preventing softlocks.
Fixed a bug where players could ledge grab falling water drops in Icy Caverns.
Adjusted the camera during the arena in Icy Caverns, so the player can see the flying enemy better.
Moved the lever at the bottom of Icy Caverns further away, to avoid activation without having the required Throw ability.
Previously, the lever in the ability room in Tlalocan was placed outside the camera. The camera now zooms out, so the lever can be easily spotted.
Ember Bastion elevator received a visual rework and is more simple to control.
Removed a door in Ember Bastion where players could lock themselves in.
All destructible blocks in Violet Temple can now be destroyed with both stomp and charge attacks, for consistency.
Fixed some respawn points at certain pits, which previously resulted in Itorah respawning inside geometry or in wrong places altogether.
Fixed some misplaced colliders in several areas.
Improved spacing of rings in several areas.
Enemies:
Improved enemy placement in several areas.
Rebalanced the damage and health values of some enemies and hazards.
Fixed animation bug in spore bomb that occurred if the player was already in proximity when the bomb landed.
Spore bomb damage timing on explosion adjusted, so it matches the visuals.
Forge Sprite smoke bomb effect now finishes properly instead of despawning along with the enemy.
Added larger death effects for certain big enemy types, to cover them completely.
Bosses:
Tocanantli cannot accidentally leave her boss room anymore.
Tocanantli now correctly triggers her scream during her intro. Claw impact effects are no longer displaced.
Boss room of Quetzalcoatl's head phase is now framed better to prevent the player from accidentally escaping camera boundaries and seeing the end of Quetzalcoatl's neck.
Added screenshake on Quetzacotl's bite attack.
Quetzalcoatl now has a response to being stomped on.
Quetzalcoatl's head now reacts properly (visual/sound) to damage from throw attacks.
Quetzalcoatl's beam attacks are now rendered on top of his spike clusters.
Quetzalcoatl's head now deals proper contact damage.
Chantico's ground detection has been adjusted, so she does not get stuck in a jumping pose anymore.
Toned down volume of thunder fire combination attack sound in the violet witch boss fight.
Final boss now has a response to being stomped on.
Added new particle effects to the final boss.
Other:
Previously, some characters and objects did not appear/disappear correctly when the story progressed. This has been fixed.
Various visual fixes in several areas.
Small visual fixes in some cutscenes.
ITORAH Devlog #3 - The Animation of Nahucan
ITORAH has been released. But Grimbart has still a lot more to tell and share with you! This time, he will give you insights into the animation of ITORAH's beautiful creatures and characters of Nahucan.
Therefore, grab a cup of coffee, or tea, lean back, and enjoy the many things, Grimbart will tell and show you:
Let's talk animation! The way our characters are designed presented a special challenge for animation, due to their many small details and complex shading. In the end we decided to go with 2D rigs, sometimes referred to as cutout or paperdoll animation, to keep the workload manageable.
Animating Itorah
In a game with monstrous spiders, serpents and other gigantic creatures, Itorah still remains the most complex character rig, simply due to the staggering amount of animations she required. To up the quality of her keyframes and poses, Itorah has a huge library of different hands, feet and heads for Koda that can be switched out if necessary. This mostly benefited her combat animations since it enabled us to use large smears for her various attacks, but it also helped with acting during cutscenes.
Animating Enemies
While some characters like Chantico required a similar treatment with exchangeable body parts, most of our basic enemies are a bit more simple. Since their rigs don't need to be as flexible, they could lean more into shifting perspectives of existing parts, as seen in the example below.
The last step of any animation always involved some manual tweaking of the meshes to create lesser smear frames, or to push Itorahs clothing into certain perspectives.
Conclusion
All in all we strove for an animation style that is both easy to produce for a small indie studio and emulates traditional animation as close as possible. Other benefits of using 2D character rigs that do not directly relate to animation are the ability for our programmers to attach colliders, hitboxes and effects to certain bones, like you would with 3D characters. We hope this little window into our animation system provided you with some insight into how Itorah works under the hood!
You have missed Devlog #1 and Devlog #2 and wondering who this Grimbart is?
No worries, nothing easier than that: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1132910/announcements/detail/3087782926776071030
Visually stunning 2.5D action platformer ITORAH is Out Now!
Together with developer Grimbart Tales, we are excited to reveal that hand-painted beauty ITORAH is out now on Steam!
ITORAH's 2.5D action-platformer gameplay style utilizes a remarkable hand-painted art style rich in earthy, colorful hues. Blending the genres of platforming and action-adventure, this streamlined Metroidvania experience employs crisp controls, a mature story told through compelling cutscenes, and epic world-building within a unique setting sure to invoke a sense of fernweh. Contrary to ITORAH’s cute and wholesome art style, the game tells a tragic tale about sacrifice, loss, and the journey to redemption. Get a glimpse of the story in the Release Trailer or read the Devlog #2 about the inhabitants of Nahucan on Steam.
YOU ARE THE ONLY HUMAN LEFT IN A WORLD FULL OF MASKS Guide Itorah through a fantastic world inhabited by strange, masked beings. Mankind has vanished and Itorah seems to be the last of her kind! To uncover her past she will have to pick up her loud-mouthed axe and fight her way through lush forests, dangerous temples, stormy cliffs, and more hand-painted biomes. Their innocent quest for knowledge quickly turns into a mission to save this strange new world from its biggest threat: A mysterious plague that threatens to consume everything.
ITORAH's Features:
Hand-Crafted Quality: Explore a beautifully realized world inspired by South and Central American landscapes, each lovingly hand-painted by the development team to breathe life into the world of Nahucan
Fluid controls: Enjoy a staggering amount of animations that truly bring Itorah and her amazing range of abilities to life in the hands of players
Good ol’ Fashioned Platforming: When she isn’t hacking and slashing her way across the landscape, Itorah will need to keep her jumping and dodging skills as sharp as her axe as she conquers progressively more difficult puzzles and platforming challenges
Challenging bossfights: Face Nahucan's voracious fauna and imposing boss fights
Unravel the Mystery: Is Itorah the only human left, and if so, what happened to everyone else? Get to the bottom of the mystery with plenty of exciting twists and turns along the way as the brave young warrior battles her way through lush forests, ancient temples, and more on her quest to save Nahucan
Make Friends Along the Way: As the old saying goes, the “real treasure is the friends we make along the way”. Meet a bunch of odd, quirky characters who may or may not help Itorah on her quest
Captivating sound design: ITORAHs lovingly crafted, dynamic soundtrack invites to lose yourself in the beauty of Nahucan.
The “Save The World” edition contains ITORAH as well as the official Soundtrack and the visually stunning Artbook and is a great way to show appreciation for the developers, while simultaneously supporting a good cause. Assemble Entertainment will donate 10% of the proceeds for every sold “Save The World” edition to Survival International in support of indigenous people around the globe.
Additionally, Assemble has just started their Publisher Sale on Steam today with up to 90% off!
Check out the Trailer here: [previewyoutube="Hg16d2FMIUY;full"]
ITORAH Devlog #2 - The Inhabitants of Nahucan
As promised in our first Devlog, our boss, Grimbart, has a lot more to tell! This time, he will give you insights into the many and colorful inhabitants of Nahucan.
Therefore, grab a cup of coffee, or tea, lean back in your chair, or couch, and enjoy the many things, Grimbart will tell and show you:
Chimali
When approaching the central forest of Nahucan, one may spot a few small huts and little campfires betwixt the trees. Once the colossal log walls are within sight, you know you've reached Chimali - one of the few bastions of sentient Nahu in this wilderness. Lead by chieftain Yuma, the villagers settled down here to pursue a more civilized life.
Ahui and Yuma
Two scholarly siblings with vastly different outlooks on life. While Yumas pursuit of knowledge turned him into a wise and responsible leader to his people, the more solitary Ahui prefers archeology and explosives instead. Naturally this causes much bickering about the problems Chimali has to face, as Ahui made it a habit to disappear and sift through some ancient ruins in search for solutions. Despite this they still care about each other and simply disagree on how to tackle big issues. Ahuis endeavors provided her with plenty of cryptic clues about the elusive humanity, but her research begins to run dry until she unexpectedly meets her first actual specimen.
Craftsmen of Chimali
Chimali attracts all sorts of curious people, among them a strange robed figure called Cipactli the Merchant. He provides esoteric services like fortune telling to the villagers, but some rumors say he also dabbles in magic involving Echoes; the physical embodiment of memories every living creature posesses. This may come in handy for Itorah, who seems to have a unique relationship with these crystals and draws her regenerative powers from them.
Nana and Tata are an inseperable pair who are well-versed in the art of feathersmithing, a magic that imbues the fashionable feathers many people wear on their head with blessings of good health and stamina. Fortunately Itorah wears some feathers of her own and may quickly become the favorite customer of this lovely lady and her blunt friend. According to hearsay this duo used to work at a mysterious forge within a volcano, until the safety regulations motivated them to resettle in Chimali.
Over the course of the game these individuals will provide Upgrades to Itorahs Health, Stamina and Healing Powers in exchange for Echo Shards and specific ingredients found in the world.
Villagers of Chimali
The rest of Chimalis villagers go about their daily lives; be it agriculture, foraging or guard duty. Not everyone can help Itorah out, but some of them may still provide directions or other bits of information. Many of the character vocalizations have been provided by the developers themselves. Our lead programmer in particular may have awakened a slumbering talent when he recorded Cipactlis pleasant laughter!
...and there's more.
Chimali is not the only speck of civilization in Nahucan. There are other, more reclusive groups who rarely see visitors. As such, their hospitality should be called into question when Itorah stumbles into one of these territories...
You have missed Devlog #1 and wondering, who this Grimbart or Itorah is?
No worries, nothing easier than that: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1132910/announcements/detail/3087782926776071030
Mesoamerican-Inspired Platformer ITORAH Gets Release Date and New Trailer
Securing the fate of the world is a heavy burden to bear. Today, together with developer Grimbart Tales, we are thrilled to announce a March 21, 2022, Steam launch date for ITORAH, our extraordinary 2.5D Mesoamerican-influenced side-scrolling platformer coming to Steam and GOG.
Embark on an unforgettable journey with the titular ITORAH through the exotic and mysterious world of Nahucan, meeting strange, masked beings and discovering the secrets behind a terrible plague that has befallen the land and its inhabitants. Complimenting the release date news, the developers have also unveiled a brand-new gameplay trailer, showcasing the various bosses and enemies to be found (and slain!) in this charming hand-painted Metroidvania-esque adventure.
ITORAH showcases a visually stunning art style and breathtaking environments, complimented by carefully crafted depictions of verdant forests, rocky cliffs, and ancient temples. Despite its deceptively breathtaking visuals, the story is a tragic, bittersweet saga of sacrifice and loss. Together with her smart-mouthed sentient weapon, an axe named Koda, ITORAH will journey through the cursed land while unraveling its mysteries, told through enchanting gameplay and meticulously illustrated cutscenes.
Watch the new gameplay trailer for ITORAH here:
[previewyoutube="sJSeVB17gxc;full"]
Features of ITORAH:
Hand-Crafted Quality: Explore a beautifully realized world inspired by South and Central American landscapes, each lovingly hand-painted by the development team to breathe life into the world of Nahucan
Good ol’ Fashioned Platforming: When she isn’t hacking and slashing her way across the landscape, Itorah will need to keep her jumping and dodging skills as sharp as her axe as she conquers progressively more difficult puzzles and platforming challenges
Who’s the Boss: With axe in hand, battle and subdue Nahucan's voracious fauna through exciting and challenging boss fights
Make Friends Along the Way: As the old saying goes, the “real treasure is the friends we make along the way.” Meet a variety of odd, quirky characters who may or may not help Itorah on her quest.
Captivating Sound Design: ITORAH’s lovingly crafted, dynamic soundtrack invites players to lose themselves in the beauty of Nahucan.
Recent impressions for ITORAH have been overwhelmingly positive:
“ITORAH Looks to Be One of the Most Breathtaking 2D Games to Come Out This Year” — IGN
“Nintendo Game Boy-Inspired ITORAH Is A Hand-Painted Beauty” — Screen Rant
“It's apparent that ITORAH has all the features of modern platformer games and is similar in terms of gameplay to titles such as Dead Cells and Hollow Knight. What sets ITORAH apart from other platformer games is its Mesoamerican inspiration.” — Game Rant
Learn more of the fascinating world of Nahucan in the first Developer’s blog on Steam:
ITORAH launches on Windows PC via Steam and GOG on March 21, 2022. Keeping with Assemble’s charitable endeavors, there will also be a "Save the World"-edition available. This special edition contains the official ITORAH soundtrack and artbook, with 10% of the proceeds donated by Assemble to Survival International, a charity supporting indigenous people worldwide.
ITORAH Devlog #1 - An introduction to Grimbart Tales and ITORAH!
To start this off: That's right, our boss is a badger. Not just any badger. Grimbart. An old wise vagabond, who's been through a lot. His journeys have provided him with plenty of stories to tell. To share these stories he came up with Grimbart Tales; to give life to his ramblings in videogame form.
ITORAH is a 2.5D action platformer with streamlined metroidvania elements. Inspired by many classics from our own childhood, we aim to create a game that may become the cherished memory of somebody else, someday. The narrative of ITORAH is largely conveyed through its characters and environmental observations, so the following Devlog will focus on introducing our protagonists and world to you!
Who is ITORAH?
Who is she indeed? With a stoic expression and not much love for words, one would assume ITORAH likes to keep her secrets, but this couldn't be further from the truth: She has no idea what is going on herself, having just awoken on a strange altar in the middle of nowhere - in a world bereft of other humans. With no memories of her own, ITORAH sets out to explore the surrounding forest and meets a bunch of colorful beings. These newfound adversaries and friendships ultimately define her role in the fate of this new, unknown land as she chases the memories of her past.
Where are we?
A kind soul who smells of gunpowder welcomes ITORAH to Nahucan, a mysterious world that emerged after the apparent downfall of humanity. It is a lush, verdant land, best described as multiple biomes mashed together in a cacophony of creation and destruction where the primal rules of nature reign supreme. Nahucan's flora, rocks and ruins hide many secrets of the past, but the daily fight for survival seldom grants opportunities to uncover them. Rumors of an ominous plague also make the rounds and complicate explorations further. The denizens of this place are called the Nahu; masked beings that come in all shapes and sizes.
Aracan and Koda
Nahu also display varying degrees of civility, so ITORAH's first encounter with other living creatures results in quite the predicament. She finds herself captured and locked away in Aracan, a mountain cave inhabited by monstrous spiders. Fortunately for ITORAH the other captive who keeps her company happens to be a talking axe named Koda. He seems a bit disoriented himself, but ITORAH's athletic abilities and Koda's natural predisposition to... well... cut things help facilitate their escape. With both of them being amnesiacs, they immediately form a kinship and stick together to take on this great unknown world. Nothing can go wrong when you're with Koda, the self-proclaimed greatest warrior of Nahucan.
Rumors of a dark threat
A drop of deep purple ooze, besmirching a tree; a scout mentioning the unusual behavior of animals. Little reports in the back of the mind of every civilized Nahu, as of late. A remnant encroaches on Nahucan, and soon everyone shall partake in the hunt for tranquility.
Passing over to the developers
Unfortunately, the old badger has no clue about game development, so he left the task of developing this interactive tale to his team. As specialists in the field, they will ensure that his fables are perceived in the manner he intends them to be. While they do all the work, he comfortably leans back, smokes his pipe and buries his snout in old, dusty books of eld.
Mesoamerican-Inspired Platformer ITORAH Receives Release Date and New Dev Diary
Today, together with developer Grimbart Tales we are happy to announce a spring 2022 launch window for our ITORAH, a dazzling action-platformer featuring beautiful hand-drawn environments and themes heavily inspired by Mesoamerican culture and legends.
In ITORAH, a curtain of evil in the form of a plague looms over the beautiful and once-thriving Nahucan. Alone, and seemingly the last human on Earth, the titular Itorah and her mouthy companion, a sentient battle-axe, are tasked with navigating the treacherous lands and defeating deadly foes to liberate Nahucan and its inhabitants. Today, Grimbart Tales brings us a new video, showing adventurers what lies in wait in ITORAH.
Watch the ITORAH developer diary here:
[previewyoutube="i37-4qvkr0g;full"]
About ITORAH
In the spirit of “easy to learn, difficult to master”, ITORAH captures the balance between platforming combat, puzzles, and impressive visual storytelling. A true labor of love, the studio has thoughtfully captured the best elements of the 8-and 16-bit platforming days, blending them with gorgeous hand-painted assets and quality character animations. Explore a variety of diverse biomes, battle enemies ranging from pint-sized to leviathan, and solve the mystery of humanity’s disappearance in this strikingly beautiful and heartfelt adventure.
To learn more about ITORAH, please feel free to add the game to your wishlist here on Steam:
ITORAH will launch on Windows PC and Mac via Steam in Spring 2022.
New ITORAH demo available during Steam Next Fest!
To celebrate the Steam Next Festival, we will release an exciting new playable demo for Itorah. The demo will showcase brand new, never before seen content, so be sure to be one of the first players to try it out.
Itorah is a charming Indie 2.5D action-platformer featuring a streamlined Metroidvania experience, with a stunningly beautiful visual style, crisp controls, a mature story and epic world building.
The demo will go live at 7pm CET/10am PST/1pm EST October 1st, 2021. It will end 7pm CET/10am PST/1pm EST October 7th, 2021.
Itorah is scheduled to release on Steam in late 2021.
