Hello everyone! It's been just over three weeks since we dropped the first demo for Sleuth Saga: Under Starless Skies, and we've already had such a great reception, including lots of fanart from several very cool artists who've been sending things our way - thanks so much to those who already have, and we'd LOVE TO SEE MORE!! On that note, here's a reminder that you can follow / interact with us on Twitter / X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram - @SleuthSaga on all of them. 

In the weeks since launch we've been working on the first update to the demo, with a focus on fleshing out a few existing features and fixing known bugs. We're calling this "The Debate Update", and it should swiftly become clear why. Once you've finished reading this post, you can head over to the main page to download the new build and give it a try. Simply replace your old Sleuth Saga files (executable on Linux, executable and .pck on Windows) and you should find your save files / options configs remain intact! Anyhow - on with the update notes.

Firstly, we've redesigned the visuals for Debate Showdown to better support the newspaper-inspired look. Now there's a more immersive layout, as well as dedicated animations for skipping left and right. We hope that this makes these segments feel even more satisfying and involved!

We also added a variety of new dialogue scenes across several gameplay sections that account for more specific interactions the player may attempt, even when these might not be the "solution". 

These can range from unique comedic interactions as a result of particularly silly answers to alternative conversations that avoid tallying a miss for the player and help to point them in the right direction - the aim here is to make all the gameplay sections feel more reactive and responsive, as well as to help avoid unnecessary confusion during some puzzles.

Finally, we expanded the Viewfinder mechanic you can use as Faith to now let you reveal her thoughts about the other people present in the room. 

This is further optional dialogue which can serve various purposes, such as to aid the player in narrowing down their approach to an investigation, even if Viewfinder is not necessary to progress through that section. We'd like this to encourage players to remember to try using Viewfinder even when it's not the solution to a puzzle!

As mentioned above, in addition to the expansion of these features, we also fixed a multitude of small bugs and issues, many of which were reported by our testers or, in some cases, by public players like you! If you try EPISODE 1, you can report any issues you encounter using the appropriate google form! We use that first and foremost to inform our bug-fixing priorities. 

We also use the demo feedback form to direct how we should develop and expand existing aspects of the game, so if you've given the game a try already, we'd GREATLY appreciate you taking 10 - 15 minutes to fill out the feedback form and let us know how you felt!

Anyway, that's everything to say about the first update to the demo - hopefully you enjoy! From now on, our development efforts are going to be focused on the production of the next episode - EPISODE ZERO - and we hope you'll join us when the time comes to share more about it. Thanks for reading, and if you haven't already, please head to the game's page and give EPISODE 1 a try entirely for free!