Sigh of the Abyss: Shadow Bonds
Sigh of the Abyss is available NOW!
The game is dark yet tender, cruel, hopeful—just like life, it has its moments of levity, of despair, of resilience. I hope you will enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
What about Shadow Bonds?
Shadow Bonds is now non-canonical, but it's still a good introduction to the setting & characters.
It will stay available as a free game!
Thank you for all your support. See you in Carolise!
-Rascal
Mark your calendar ✨
📅 Friday, October 11th
It's still 'around September', just a handful of days after.
Testing everything is more time consuming than I thought 😅
Development progress
Proofreading
All done ✨
Voice acting
Some 300 or so lines are still missing. I should hopefully receive them during the month!
Voice lines need some light engineering to have the same volume/quality across different characters in a scene, and that process is unfortunately on hold until I have all the lines.
Coding
I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Only the last chapter and the endings are left to do. Of course, it happens to be the meatiest chapter... 😅
Trailer
Now that I have a release date locked in, I want to commission a new trailer to reflect some changes (like the VA recasting) and announce the release date with oomph~
So close to the finish line! 🏁
You'll have the game on your screens before you know it 😊
Have a wonderful day ✨
NEW voiced demo ✨
The Steam Next Fest is an event centered around upcoming games and their demos.
It's a treasure trove of incredible gems, and every year I have a blast discovering new games to look forward to ✨ I'm really excited to join this year—it's my first Next Fest as a developer!
You can download the demo from the main page of Sigh of the Abyss:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
The demo
The demo is meant to be concise & accessible to players who are not acquainted with the cast.
It features a ton of voice acting—around 70% is voiced!
Ascanio makes his first official appearance in there. He's the only love interest not featured in Shadow Bonds, and I wanted everyone to meet him, especially because he became a love interest thanks to the support of the Kickstarter backers.
The demo is somewhat representative of the full game, but it's also... not.
Character creation has been simplified.
You can customize the name of the Envoy and determine her personality in the demo, but her powers have been pre-determined since they are only featured in one minor choice.
This will not be the case in the full game—she will be fully customizable there, and her powers will have more impact!
Choices, branches and lines had to be cut to streamline the experience.
This is the direct result of the new context behind some scenes!
A major choice has also been cut. In the full game, infiltrating the Halls is not mandatory! You can also heed Sylas' pleas, let the matter rest & find a subtler way to find out what happened. This slow-burn approach spans multiple days and is not voiced, so it was cut from the demo.
When you play the full game, events will play differently!
Three romance options are available in the demo.
You'll be able to enjoy the company of Sylas, Alpheon and Malec. Their scenes have been taken from early in the game, before committing yourself to your beloved, and feature variations based on your romantic preferences ✨
What does it mean for Shadow Bonds?
A lot has changed between the first draft and the final script of the game, so Shadow Bonds is now non-canonical. You can call it a side story / what-if of Sigh of the Abyss!
I hope you will enjoy the demo! I would love to know what you think ːcharmwitchː
I have created a new section in the forums to collect feedback—you can find it in the game's main hub.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
Have a lovely day! ✨
Sigh of the Abyss joins the GAMES WITH WINGS showcase 📣
Hosted by award-winning creator, Ebonix, and Krista from WINGS, the showcase will include gameplay trailers (including that of Sigh of the Abyss!) and several exclusive interviews with talented women developers behind popular indie games.
Have you seen the new look of the Sigh of the Abyss' Steam page?
I redesigned the Steam page of Sigh of the Abyss to tell you more about the game and showcase some of the amazing art:
Click on the widget below to take a look, and wishlist the game to ensure the game's announcements will show up in your library hub ✨
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to check out the showcase 👋
P.S. Here's a countdown to know exactly when the stream starts!
Sigh of the Abyss joins the Storyteller's Festival ✍️
Today's announcement is jam-packed with information about Sigh of the Abyss, the full game!
Let's dive right in!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
Release date
Sigh of the Abyss has a release date! Mark your calendars, the game will become available June 26!
A new voiced demo will release some weeks prior as well, and I will try to make save files compatible between the main game & the new demo!
Sigh of the Abyss will be priced at $17.99 / € 17.49 / £ 14.99 £ / A$ 26.50 / CDN$ 23.49 (and make use of Steam's regional pricing tool 😃).
Progress
All the backgrounds of the game are complete, and so is the soundtrack!
Have a taste of both in this video about the sights and sounds of Carolise:
I am currently editing the script, which is also being looked at by the proofreader. It's... 396k words in total?! 😳
Once the script is ready, coding will begin in earnest, and selected scenes will be given to the VAs to receive voiced lines ✨
The Storyteller's Festival
Sigh of the Abyss has been invited to the Storyteller's Festival! If you enjoy narrative games, you can't miss this event! Head over to the festival's Steam page to discover amazing new games, demos & more ✨
Soon, very soon!
I'll be sharing more about the game as the release date approaches. A wishlist not only helps a ton, it also ensures the game's announcements will show up in your library hub ✨
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
Thank you so much for reading until here.
Toodles~
FULLY FUNDED! Now... onto stretch goals?
🥳THE CAMPAIGN IS FULLY FUNDED!! 🎉
Thank you so much for the outpour of support and kind words! I'm stoked to bring voice acting to Sigh of the Abyss, and can't wait to show you what the voiced game will be like. I'm so excited!!
What's next?
Let's talk about stretch goals!
If the campaign reaches €15k, a fifth romance option will become available in the game! Who might this mysterious suitor be? Even big spoilers get small hints...
40% of the stretch goal funds will be used to commission illustrations for the romance and modify the above illustration to give it a romantic spin. The remaining 60% will be used to voice act the romance-specific scenes and add more voiced scenes in general to the game!
Thank you all once again!
Let's make the stretch goal happen!
Do you enjoy tea? GIVEAWAY
In the world of Sigh of the Abyss, tea is a rarity known only to Marané and a handful more.
In Kabaret, however...
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1525580/Kabaret/
Fellow WINGS-funded game Kabaret releases on April 5th! This visual novel is steeped into Southeast Asian myths and folklore, and is the story of a boy turned into a monster. You will:
📖 Talk to monsters & learn their stories
🍵 Brew tea
🕹️ Play minigames
To celebrate its release, write in the comments the name of your favorite tea blend to have a chance to win a key! You can do this in this post or in the Sigh of the Abyss one (or both, to double your chances)!
Kickstarter progress
We're halfway through the campaign and over 70% funded!
Backers have access to exclusive posts like the making of Malec & Alpheon, and OST previews, with more behind-the-scenes coming!
So... what's your favorite tea blend?
Mine is dragonwell tea!
Shadow Bonds joins the Storyteller's Festival!
The Storyteller's Festival is in full swing ːsweetelfː between discounts, dedicated streams and new demos, it's a treat for all lovers of narrative games! Both Sigh of the Abyss and Shadow Bonds were invited to the festival, and to celebrate, the artbook is 20% off:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944690/Sigh_of_the_Abyss_Shadow_Bonds__Artbook/
Kickstarter progress
The campaign is over 60% funded with almost three more weeks to go!
The Kickstarter updates include some in-depth devlogs like this public one, about the Triune Goddess, and private updates with more about characters and setting!
There's also a set of community goals that will unlock the Threads of Carolise DLC for free for all backers! This is a PDF with short stories and ficlets set before, during and after the game. To complete the community goals, make this Twitter post reach 150 likes, follow our developer page on Steam, and spread the word to reach 600 backers or reach full funding ːcharmwitchː
Good luck!
The Kickstarter for Sigh of the Abyss is live!
I'm thrilled to show you two previews of what voice acting would sound like in Sigh of the Abyss!
Listen to Malec, Marané, Ascanio and the protagonist:
Listen to Sylas, Alpheon, Atri and the protagonist:
Having the character talk truly makes a game feel more alive, more engaging and immersive, don't you think? That's why I launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring voice acting to Sigh of the Abyss!
I would love your support—even just sharing the link helps a ton :D
Thank you!!
New trailer & Kickstarter date announced!
I had mentioned a trailer being in the works, and now that it's finished, I can't wait to show it to you!
Take a look below:
I'm also thrilled to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for Sigh of the Abyss will launch on March 15!
Hit 'notify me on launch' to be the first to back the game and take advantage of the early bird offers!
Have any questions?
Whether they're about the prologue, the full game or the campaign, ask away!
You can also find me on Twitter or reply to newsletter issues :)