Hello everyone!

First, let's talk about what everyone is waiting for: When will the demo be released?

We successfully packaged the game yesterday, and then managed to do it again today, which means that the packaging process for creating the executable is now stable. There are just some final touches left to do, and then we'll release the demo on Saturday!

As I mentioned before, it will only have the combat arena. Kalyskah and the other characters won't be able to heal because we're trying to test how far people can get just by using the plain fighting system.

And we have GREAT news when it comes to optimisation: on minimal settings, we reached 200 FPS! On max settings, we were able to get between 60 and 100 FPS depending on whether DLSS was on or off. And that was with 5 enemies on screen!

The computer we're testing the game on is above average, but since we got so much breathing room, we expect you'll feel a massive improvement on your end too!

Kalyskah and Mirrors

Other than that, here's another lore video about the game! Here's the transcript:

Kalyskah is ancient and has never had a reliable way of seeing her own face. When she was born, people lived in tribes and mirrors didn’t exist yet, so the visage she knows of herself was what she could see reflected in water.

By the time mirrors appeared, she was already a vampire, and as appearances and fashion became more important around her, that uncertainty became an obsession.

But if Kalyskah’s canon appearance is so important to the story, why do we still have character customisation? As Amara mentions in one of their conversations, this lack of identity is what makes Kalyskah sometimes take on the appearance of other people, as though approximating her looks to someone she has seen and admired or simply found beautiful.

And as you can expect, that doesn’t resolve her uncertainty about her original face.

That’s why, when you explore the Karnstein Legion’s temple, you’ll find so many portraits of her. They show what we consider her canonical appearance, and to Kalyskah, they serve the purpose of mirrors, showing her the woman she believes herself to be: black hair, pale skin and a beauty mark above her lip.

Still, doubt clouds her certainty about their accuracy:

Did the painter get her nose right? Is her face really that symmetrical? Or were they afraid to paint something that wouldn’t flatter her?

As much as Kalyskah hates to admit it, this is a sensitive subject. She talks about it in a conversation where Ilreth jokes about how many portraits there are of her, and depending on how much Compassion Kalyskah has, she can lose her temper and slap the elf across the face.

This sense of self-image bleeds into more than just the story. As you play, your choices influence four of Kalyskah’s personality traits, which we call Tendencies: Loyalty, Compliance, Modesty and Compassion.

If your Kalyskah becomes very compassionate, those portraits will look different when she approaches them. She may see glowing eyes or blood on her painted hands and face. Instead of seeing the beauty she hopes the painter captured, all she can see is a monster.

So, what will your Kalyskah see? A creature, or an idealised beauty whose face she can never truly know?

How a Vampire’s Lack of Reflection Affects Kalyskah’s Identity #gamedevblog (YouTube)