Hey patrons! We hope 2026 has been treating everyone well 🫶
We’ve jumped right back into the swing of things after our little hibernation and are so excited for all this year has in store 🎉
Without further ado, let’s jump into the first Monthly Update of 2026!
🎂 Happy Birthday, Kuras!
Starting off strong, we celebrated a literal angel’s birthday 🥰 Kuras turned Ũ̷̧̳̣̱͖̭̦̐̋͘N̵̟͍͕͕̜̓̏̀͆̍͠K̸͚̭͓̱͚͓̒͜N̷̖̼͈͇͕̽̄́͋̔͠Ǫ̶̛͙͚͈̻̖̹͊͆̅̂͗̂̆̚͜Ẅ̸̨̧̛̞̠͈̤̳́́̌̈̇͑̈́̈́͛Ǹ̴̢̧̰̞͇̖͚̀̉̒͜ years old on January 1st!
It feels very fitting that he’d be the first birthday of the year, just like he was the first LI to appear in the demo (and the first LI in many of our hearts 🫶).
As always, we were blessed by some of your gorgeous fanart and can’t wait to compile some of our faves in the next Community Spotlight 🥹
🛠️ January 2026 Dev Snapshot
Narrative
Chapter 1 – Writing | ⚒️ ~ Dialogue locked
Full Game – Writing | ⚒️ 93% Drafted, 75% through final passes
Full Game – VO Prep | ⚒️ In Progress, scene + line selects underway for remaining characters
Voice Acting
Full Game – VO Recording | VO recorded for 3 characters so far!
Art & Implementation
Chapter 1 – CG & UI Art | ⚒️ 90% Complete, final polish in progress
Chapter 1 – Implementation | ⚒️ 79% Complete, final art in progress
Full Game – CGs & BGs | ⚒️ ~66% Complete
Systems & Testing
Full Game – Systems/Code | ⚒️ 68% Complete, revamped UI in progress
Chapter 1 – QA + Bug Fixes | 📅 Testing Phase Complete, Fixes Underway
Localization Planning | ⚒️ In Progress, negotiating with translation partners
Release Plan
Chapter 1 – Early Access | 🔓 Launched December 5, 2025 for qualifying backer tiers
Chapter 1 – General Access | 🔓 Launched December 12, 2025 for all other backers
Full Game – Public Release | ⏳ Targeting 2026 (exact quarter TBD)
We’ve been locked into implementing backer feedback on the Chapter 1 Preview, along with cooking up a bunch of other game content you’ve yet to see 🤭 We are also exploring ways of getting all of you lovely Patrons more involved in the process this year, so keep your eyes peeled!
It’s been so rewarding updating these Snapshots and watching the numbers get closer and closer to 100% each month. No matter when you joined our dev journey, thanks for sticking around to 2026! We can’t wait to cross the finish line with all of you!
🎨 Art Preview
Lots of our team is based in North America where we’ve definitely been feeling the wintry long nights 🌙 While we’re waiting for spring and the sun to come back on this side of the hemisphere though, our art team has been working on some spooooooky backgrounds befitting the dreary, dark weather. Check out this teaser for a creepy crypt! 😱
This is just a tonal draft, so we’ll be breathing more life into it in the final version but I’m already vibing with it at this stage! As a horror girly, I love to see it! 🤭 Although, I’m scared to eventually play through it LOL.
🎵 Vere’s Character Theme Sample
It's been awhile since we've blessed your ears, so enjoy this snippet of Vere's character theme! 🎶 [Click the Vere image above to play the track!]
We've previously shared Ais's and Mhin's, but this one is my personal fave so far. It's been so much fun listening to everyone and hearing the different vibes!
Vere's theme is so ANGSTY, it almost sounds like he's in mourning? I could totally see him picking at his shackles to this 😭 He’s such a snarky character, it’s nice to see the more vulnerable sides of him in his theme.
Mhin's theme has got some angst to it too, but it feels less broody than Vere's. Vere's has this kinda angry undercurrent to it, whereas Mhin's comes across sadder to me. It's soft and melancholic... Maybe a little lonely too. It makes me think of them out on a moonlit walk by the river with no one but the stray cats to keep them company 🥺
Meanwhile, Ais's theme is giving me SEXY and POWERFUL 🫣 Confident, tense, seductive! Like he's constantly itching to punch or kiss someone LOL. I can definitely see him mid-fight, wiping blood off his chin with that fanged smirk in my head 🤧
This is all my ✨ community-manager-speculation though ✨ Maybe we could rope some other team members in for a deep dive on the music direction process in another update? 👀 Let me know if you'd be interested and we may do a deep dive soon!
In the meantime, we'd love to know what YOU think! Let us know what you imagine when you listen to the themes! Do they match your expectations with the LIs so far? Which one are you most eager to hear the full track for first? We can't wait to hear your thoughts 🫶
💌 Till Next Time
That’s all for this one! We’re excited to share more juicy updates in the coming months. Until the next one, stay safe and warm!
👀 Got Questions?
You can always reach us:
via comments
With love (and my headphones blasting our own soundtrack),— Sofi @ Red Spring Studio