[h1]Greetings everyone - and happy new year from the Tormental team! We’d like to update you a bit on what we’ve been working on and what’s still left to do before the Early Access release - let’s begin![/h1] Throughout the game, the player will encounter various challenges and quests. By completing these, the player will earn keys. Up in the [b]Vault[/b] is [i]Mental[/i]’s last line of defense; a giant Vault door locked away by unbreakable mechanisms. All of [i]Mental[/i]’s strengths and secrets locked away in these massive, strong chests that keep the mechanism in place are seemingly immutable. But, as with all things - there is a weakness. [i]Mental[/i] never figured anyone would be skillful enough to overcome these numerous challenges and pose any kind of a threat of taking his library of power. As you’re defeating [i]Mental[/i]’s hordes of enemies and overcoming all the challenges that [i]Mental[/i] deemed you would never overcome, you earn these keys, you unlock his most sacred chests and you get secrets and powers to use against [i]Mental[/i]. [b]Key by key[/b], you grow ever more powerful as you make the ancient Vault mechanism move and push its door closer and closer to finally yielding. This will go on until you become so powerful that the Vault can no longer contain you. At this point, when the heaviest and most important door of the game opens, there’s no going back - you may only carry on. And this is where Sam gets to hit [i]Mental[/i] where it truly hurts. We’re finalizing the presentation of these ancient doors, their mechanism and the Vault itself. Quests are being polished and continuously being tested. We will also be adding some more supporting NPCs for those. [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/338bcc96253f895629826a7045d31e149a9d3fa8.gif[/img] However, this world is not a fixed place. It is an ever-changing world inside the mind of a demigod. The only fixed points in it are its beginning (the [b]Hub[/b]) and its end (the Vault). As you wander around using your skills, weapons and upgrades to best [i]Mental[/i]’s horde, you’ll be encountering various non-threatening characters, hidden away in this world. These characters are [i]Mental[/i]’s manifestations of the secrets he’s keeping. They will tell you what you have to do to obtain one of [i]Mental[/i]’s cherished keys. And as their secret combination is revealed, [i]Mental[/i] becomes fully aware of your discovery of them, so they appear in the forefront of his mind (the Hub). And once the quest has been completed, their reason for being is no more, so they vanish. This goes along with the quests being polished, as mentioned earlier. [b]NPCs[/b] are working, we just need to set them up to appear at the Hub as well. They’ll even serve as a useful reminder if you try talking to them at the Hub, so you’re never lost as to which quests required which actions of you. If you don’t like the chatter, you can always take a look at your active quest list in your inventory. But it’s still a nice way to see how many quests you’re going after without having to dig through menus. [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/7b562f004d57177c981d5a3ca205084f1e9a380b.gif[/img] One of the main objectives while playing is to create strong combos of upgrades that synergize with each other. For example, if you have an explosive weapon, you might want to have a perk that creates big explosions! If there’s already plenty of explosions, [b]why not make them bigger[/b]? Creating powerful builds will be necessary for conquering later levels. We’re working on adding more upgrades, more synergies, but also more opportunities for the player to collect these. There will be optional challenges, various shops, and trades offered along the way while traveling the world. Make the right decision and you will become OP, but get too greedy, and you might just wind up dead. [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/f4f3c8a5fe11722eb7f97b4d334e3757a4e0c071.gif[/img] There is still some work left to do with the sounds and voices. [i]Bomb, Netricsa, and Bulb[/i] are still speechless. We also want every weapon perk (wall ricochet, piercing, homing, etc.) to add a unique sound effect that distinguishes every weapon build. There’s also some [b]sound effects[/b] missing for interactive objects, enemies, upgrades - and we wish for the UI interaction to sound very satisfying. [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/846cd90669db99705cd6fc9f0b16ab9a7b9c4be0.jpg[/img] Passive abilities, alternative stronger versions of enemies during looped runs, an introduction scene, procedurally generated Nightmare Caves, a shinier weapon evolution screen, new Bulb model, Vortex visual effects… all that remains to be done - [b]and it needs to be good![/b] The game’s difficulty and game duration needs tweaking as well, to provide enough bang for your buck. We still want you to have things to play with before we roll out the first big updates during [b]Early Access[/b]! [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/12c87cc090a92d3090bae5da3df95c42f220010e.gif[/img] Finally, we also need to make sure that the world hears about [b]Tormental[/b]. For this we need to create epic trailers, decorate the Steam page with exciting GIFs and descriptions, and create a roadmap that will show you how the game will be growing during Early Access. [h1]As we’re looking forward for the release, we wish you more Gnaars, Bulls, Implings, and Kamikazes in 2019![/h1] [img]https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31398110/821141dd166d0c9d84654a738bc82a97b49e907d.jpg[/img]