Hello, everyone, I noticed I've been posting a lot of updates on my Twitter and Youtube, but never really took the time to post where the project is heading here.  I'd like to provide a summary of things happening with Ephemerium: Unreality for those that don't follow me on those channels. 

Following the game's completion, I wanted to immediately jump into Ephemerium: Doors of Yesterday but then, I realized that throughout my journey learning to make Ephemerium: Unreality, I had become far more experienced compared to when I started. That is why, I decided that perhaps instead of moving on and calling it a day, I could just go back to Ephemerium: Unreality and do everything I couldn't do before. 

With that said, although it's been in development for like 8 months by this point, I'd like to announce "Ephemerium: Unreality - Redux"! Here are the changes you can expect to see, and some videos to help the showcase: 

- Story overhaul : I wrote my original story of Ephemerium around my limitations as an aspiring game dev, so expect quite a few changes which brings a part of Mousey's journey in the game to a definitive conclusion in this game with the help of her friends. 

- New enemies : The base version of Ephemerium: Unreality only had Calliope Mori as the only enemy and boss encounter in the game with her also serving as a pursuer type enemy that appeared to slow down your progress. In the Redux version, I intend to have different enemies depending on the area of the game you're in, some of these new additions are Melware, and Ninomae Ina'nis, look forward to that! 

- New areas and Engine upgrade: To accommodate the changes to the story, the game will now also include a number of new locations for exploration. To also further the game's development and technology, we've moved the project from Unreal Engine 4.26 to Unreal Engine 5.2. You can see one of these new locations and updated visuals here: 

- Other Playable VShojo members : Aside from the main playable campaign with Mousey, there will be two additional shorter campaigns that can be unlocked if certain conditions are met. These campaigns will have Melody, Henya and Zentreya as playable characters with Henya and Zen sharing a single campaign.  

- Hidden boss encounters : While the general layout of the story remains the same, new story bits will be added to let you seek out additional challenges that unlock a new way forward if you're able to complete them. For now, I've planned for a total of four new encounters. You can view some of the hidden encounter locations here: 

Changes to some puzzles : Based on some feedback, especially from when Mousey herself played the game, I'll phase out some of the harder puzzles or at least simplify them. One important change; the sliding puzzle in the Art Gallery after entering the tomb of Darius III will be replaced with a boss encounter with Ina.  The original version of the game was meant to be "Anime Resident Evil", most especially the original RE trilogy that were really heavy on puzzles and reading files, but I suppose I'm a little old fashioned in that regard, and you younglings don't quite jam with that much reading ahahaha. I'm still keeping the file finding and puzzles, of course, but I will make them bite sized for digestion. 

Updated Ironmouse model : I remember Mousey was a bit disappointed her model wasn't "thick" ahaha, so after having a talk with the game's character modeler, Phynra, he created a new updated Mousey model that is based on her old VR Chat model, though we did keep the shorter pigtails. Here's a showcase of the new model vs the old: 

Updated physics and shader : Based on feedback I collected during Mousey's stream as well as when she graciously posted a video of the game, I also made changes to the game's shader so the characters appear more anime-like. Additionally, the old VRM phyiscs was replaced with Kawaii Phyiscs so characters look livelier when moving. You won't be seeing a stiff tail when Mousey runs anymore. 

Updated controls : Lastly for this post, the most common feedback I received from everyone who played the old version of the game was the game's clunky controls. Since the game was meant to be "Anime Resident Evil", that was partially intended, but with my experience level growing and the game's development direction changing through its lifecycle, I've changed the game's combat to a fast paced ranged magic combat system. You can see a showcase of the new combat system here: 

You might notice that now, you no longer have to scramble to find the game's hidden mana potions as they will be phase out, since now your mana regenerates over time. Additionally, your dash is no longer limited to a mandatory 3 second cooldown and is instead dependent on a new stamina bar. The old extremely short range melee attack has also been replaced with a new Shield buff that for a limited time consumes your mana instead of your health when you take damage to better accommodate the new fast paced combat system against much more agile opponents. 

EDIT: One last additional I forgot to include; the game will now have in-engine cutscenes now as opposed to the old still shots we used for our cutscenes. Here's an example of how the cutscenes will look like: