Hi, everyone!

Just to get the subject of the title out of the way, yes, the update has been slightly delayed - by one week, to be precise. I'm really sorry about this! Frankly, I severely underestimated the work required in creating brand new combat renders for all of the Boss Girls.

There is good news, however - the new combat system is, as of five minutes ago, completely finished! The test build is looking sturdy, and I think it'll be a lot of fun for everyone. All that's left to do now is move it from my test environment to the main build and then create all the necessary combat renders for the Boss Girls (plus a few other fun things I have in mind).

So, what exactly is the new combat system all about?

Well, the old battle system(s) were always an experiment. I wanted there to be a real sense of change, scale and stakes as things moved into Act Three. I had grand visions of seamlessly integrating a new mechanic with the main story beats and weaving side events into the whole thing.

Unfortunately it didn't work out that way...

There were two main problems with the old battle systems. The first was that going from a sandbox visual novel with mild RPG elements in the first 20+ hours of gameplay smack into a SNES style side-view JRPG battle system was giving people very understandable thematic whiplash.

The second problem was that the system was simply too separated from the story and side events, acting functionally as a gate between players and content. Again, after the first 20+ hours of highly story-focused gameplay, this was giving players whiplash.

So I added in systems to make it more enjoyable... and then more systems... and then a few more... until adding a single Boss Girl to the game became a full week's task. And people are still clamoring for more content with Boss Girls! But mostly in the style of the first two acts.

So, what exactly is the new combat system about, I hear you loudly demand after I just spent three paragraphs failing to answer that question.

In short, it aims to solve all of these problems. It will A) keep the graphical and thematic style of the rest of the game, B) will require little to no grinding (goodbye levels!), C) will streamline or outright cut back on the current Boss Girls systems to instead focus on much more personal and individual interactions with them, and D) will tie a lot closer to the storyline, acting as a way to unlock specific locations rather than generic "districts".

Oh, and yes, you'll still be able to skip the fighting if you want ;)

To everyone who actually enjoyed the previous battle systems: I'm sorry, but I think you'll like the new one even better! And to everyone who hated them: this should be a lot more pleasurable to interact with.

If you made it to the end, then congratulations! You're the real MVP. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or on the Discord, or tune in to my livestream next week where I'll be giving a sneaky preview of the new combat system and answering any and all CK questions you may have!

Thank you all for your patience. I mean it.

I love you all.