• Hello there! 

First of all and as always, Laura and I want to thank everyone and especially all the supportive members in the forums that helped us answer, offering help or sharing helpful tips to players.

We are fully recovered from the Flu/Covid that tied us to bed for almost 2 weeks and we are happy to be back on track with the development of Laurel's Campaign!.

So... what's cooking?

Laura and I finally resumed the development of Laurel's Campaign but that doesn't mean that the base game will stop getting fixes and updates, we would like to thank all the users that kindly reported and uploaded videos or pictures of the bugs or glitches found, this greatly help us to detect, track and fix way much faster the bugs.

In the upcoming hotfix a lot of the reported issues will be addressed, the most important ones are the ones related to some achievements not unlocking or not working as they should, collision issues and softlocking the game in the inventory under reaaaally frame perfect circumstances.

There are also planned some major QOL Improvements that will release on future updates (Maybe some of these will make it in time for the next patch).

• New Map Features:

  The map will now display unfinished puzzles or key elements that needs certain items (These will only appear once the player has interacted with the world element and will disappear once it is completed).

  

• Stackable Grenades:

  Grenades won't be limited to 3, you can stack them up to 25 and it will auto stack as     soon as you pick or craft one.

  A new error sound and message will pop up when the player is trying to craft a grenade but there isn't an empty weapon slot (A lot of players have complained about the grenades not working while trying to craft one without any free weapon slot, this will make it more clear).

• Amount Of Heal Items On Each Mode: 

  Depending on the mode you are playing on, some healing items will or won't be     available. This will help balance the health items in harder modes.

  

• Amount Of Floppy Disk On Each Mode: 

  Depending on the mode you are playing on, the number of Floppy Disks available will be different. This will help balance the gameplay in harder modes.

• New Shotgun Animations:

  I'm working on a new Anim Offset/Attack animations for the standard shotguns that will make aiming up more sense, working in a similar way as the Double Barrel Shotgun.

  

  

As Laura and I have always mentioned, we want to make each campaign feel like its own game but at the same time we want to allow the player to connect all the dots and understand each character point of view. In Laurel's Campaign you will be finally able to reach a lot of places you couldn't access in Liam's Campaign (And Viceversa).

• Yes! that means you can finally use these!

  

  

• Laurel also has unique skills that will allow her to traverse or access other areas (Similar to Liam being able to lift heavy items or push heavy boxes).

  

  

  

Laurel also has unique passive skills that will make the gameplay quite different from Liam, her height and weight will allow her to move faster and easier to avoid enemies, she will be also able to dodge incoming attacks if timed properly. These advantages also have a downside, since Laurel's HP is lower than Liam's and while her extra pockets will help you carry more items, her weapon slots are more limited (Keep an eye for upgrades!).

Also since Laurel is less experienced than Liam in combat, she lacks the ability to execute tactical reloads with guns, however she can reload other weapons more efficiently than Liam.

We will get into more detail in the next updates but for now let's take a closer look at some of the areas that are part of Laurel's Campaign! Can you connect the dots? Let us know in the comments!.

Thank you so much for being part of the Development of Echoes Of The Living.

See you in the next update!

Best regards, MoonGlint Studio (Alvaro and Laura).

(IMPORTANT NOTE: The Spanish version of the Game uses a different build that has been already scheduled to upload and will be available in the following hours)

(AVISO IMPORTANTE: La versión en Castellano del juego  usa una build diferente que ya se ha puesto en cola para su subida, estará disponible en las próximas horas)

Hello there! 

First of all and as always, Laura and I want to thank everyone and especially all the supportive members in the forums that helped us answer, offering help or sharing helpful tips to players.

Wow, we have been working non stop since the release of the game to make sure everything works as it should and always trying to offer the best experience to the player.

At this point Laura and I are both cream cracked but it is totally worth it since we can finally release the update that adds all the content and fixes that it should had have in the initial release + a lot of new fixes and content.

Please, let us know if you find any issues or bugs and as always we will try our very best to fix them as soon as possible!.

• Save System 100% Restored. (Now you can manually save in all the PC´s)

• New Difficulty Modes (Beginner, Experienced and Survivor).

• 2 New Secret Cinematics.

• 2 New Secret Endings (Only Available on Survivor Mode).

• 2 New Outfits (Obtainable with the New Secret Endings).

• 3 New Infinite Weapons (Unlockable only in Survivor Mode, can be used in any mode).

• 2 New types of Collectibles:

  • Mini Snailgers: 35 of these colorful snails are hiding in plain sight! destroy all of them in Survivor Mode to Unlock a New Infinite Weapon!

  • Custom Cards: 5 unique poker cards are hidden in Alba City

• Achievements:

  • Added 70 Achievements.

• Steam Points Store:

  • Added Trading Cards, Badges and Points Shop Items like Emoticons and Backgrounds.

  • Added Free Avatars of the Game in your Steam Avatar Section.

• Cloud Saves (Will be available in the next few weeks as we need to make sure it doesn’t mess with this update)

• You can now block zombie attacks with a breakable melee weapon, instead of getting bite it will reduce the durability of your current weapon, this % will depend on your Difficulty mode,  (If the durability is under 15% it won’t act as shield).

• Reworked enemies collision, no more walking brick walls, making it easier for the player to avoid enemies.

• Smoother Thumbstick movement.

• Reworked Flare Gun collisions, Flare projectiles are bigger now and won't miss enemies that often.

• Reworked Grab and Bite Animations, making the gameplay more fluid.

• Added an extra kick button for the mouse (now you can Kick with C or middle mouse button).

• Added the ability to target environment interactive objects.

  • (Pressing L3/Numpad 0/Mouse Wheel Up While Aiming)

• Added the ability to re-retarget the closest enemy while aiming.

  • (Pressing LB/RControl/Mouse Wheel Down While Aiming)

• Updated “How to Play” info displaying the new buttons/keys.

• Added tutorial explaining how to target environment interactive objects and re-retarget the closest enemy.

• Added a New Option for Steam Deck Users to increase the draw distance (This will address the issue of chunks of the level not displaying).

• Cinematics will now display the current outfit.

• Cinematics are now skippable ( Hospital and Lodares Passage Cinematics aren't possible as they act as loading screens and a few shorter ones).

• Locks in the Lockpicks Minigame are now more varied. 

• Reworked all the Archives, now it highlights key words in green.

• Added more facial details and texture work to some cinematics.

• Slightly reduced load times in several areas.

• The Storage box will sort weapons first and items next.

• Weapons now display the ammo and durability inside the Storage Box (Infinite Melee Weapons will display x0).

• Unlocked weapons can now be found in the Storage Box.

• Ending Result Screen now also shows Heal Items used, Enemies Killed, Number of Saves and Difficulty.

• Now is easier to kill small enemies with the knife.

• Now you can pet Wulfy!.

 General

- Fixed a Bug that showed the wrong ending (Madness) and outfit in the post credits scene

- Audio and Brightness settings now save and apply correctly.

- Fixed an  issue that allowed the player to obtain negative Floppy Disk Numbers making the game unable to save.

- Fixed several collision issues with the biomass.

- Fixed an issue with the rail cameras that desynced the camera if the player examines an item.

- Fixed not being able to exit the Map using the correct key/buttons.

- Fixed the  map not displaying the correct key/button icons.

- Fixed an issue with throwable and melee weapons that allowed the player to "destroy" the next weapon in the inventory.

- Fixed some items not showing the model while examining them.

- Added some missing zombies with special cameo outfits.

- Added a “Teleport” fix on areas where the player could get out of boundaries and end up falling to infinity and beyond.

- Fixed an audio issue when reloading any area with worm enemies.

- Updated the Lockpick tutorial to be more clear for deaf users.

- Renamed some rooms in the Maps to match the key description.

- Fixed some model minor clipping in the Outfits.

- Fixed an issue that added extra % cost on insta kill melee weapons if the player was aiming up or down.

- Fixed a minor culling  popping issue when loading an area.

- Fixed several typos.

- Added missing SFX in some cinematics.

Iron Gates:

- Added missing keyboard tutorial for the movable box.

Peacock Pub:

- Fixed a Bug that caused a fatal error after falling through the tables in the PUB.

- Fixed Zombies not moving in the background in the PUB Door Burst cutscene.

- Fixed Collision and placement of the Zombies behind the Security Roller near the Save Room in the PUB that had a chance of softblocking players making them unable to exit the Save Room.

- Fixed Pendantel’s Diary floating on top of the desk.

Streets after the Pub:

- Fixed an issue that allowed the player to enter Downtown B via the sewers even if the sewers were blocked by biomass.

- New placement for certain enemies in Downtown B to avoid a 0.001% chance of getting softblocked and not being able to leave the Save Room.

- Fixed an issue that allowed Pendantel to Spawn in its previous form after you beat/find him in the Crypt section.

- Fixed an issue that allowed the player to spawn 2 Pendantel's breaking the laws of space and time.

- Fixed Music not playing after the enemies enter Fioribello Theater.

- Fixed Magnum Ammo inside a Police Car being unpickable.

- Fixed a bug related to the City Hall Gates Crest Puzzle, now you need to collect or at least try to collect all the crests in order to be able to interact with the puzzle.

Office Apartments:

- Fixed a Softblock that trapped the player inside the Office if the Safe Puzzle was left unresolved and the game was Saved/Loaded.

- Fixed an Issue with the Seeker enemy at Octavia’s Office being invisible or not being able to move trapped behind a window.

Construction Site:

- Fixed an issue with the door event resetting after loading.

Reaves Hospital:

- Fixed worms at the Hospital Sewers being able to spawn infinitely.

- Fixed several ammo pickups events spawning before they should in Downtown and the Hospital.

- Fixed several collision issues in the Hospital.

- Fixed enemies respawning after loading the area if the Reaves' Crest has been already picked up.

Park/Cemetery:

- Fixed the map showing an incorrect texture inside Blade's Crypt.

- Added Missing Save Room Music to the Save Room near the cemetery.

- Added multiple missing lore items inside Blade's Crypt.

- Added missing sounds for the traps inside Blade's Crypt.

City Hall:

- Fixed Zombies not moving in the elevator cutscene at the City Hall.

- Moved some Zombies placement in the City Hall to avoid being grabbed as soon as you enter a room.

- Fixed Metal Scraps pickup in the City Hall's Floor not playing the "Floor Grab" animation.

- Fixed enemies not “freezing” while using the VHS or the Elevator.

Underground Tunnels:

-Fixed an issue that prevented the player from inspecting the “Old Key” from the inventory.

Wilhelm's Manor:

- Fixed an issue that allowed enemies to attack the player while playing the "rope" animation in the upper garden of the Mayor's Manor.

- Fixed a softblock that prevented Octavia to help Liam inside the Mayors Studio.

- Fixed Zombies being able to grab you through doors in the Mayor's Manor.

- Added text to all the locked doors.

- Fixed a low res material while inspecting “The Book Of Secrets”.

- Adjusted several zombie locations to avoid insta grabs as soon as the player enters a new room.

Caves:

- Added a few missing music areas.

- Overdose: Beat the game in Survivor Mode meeting “Madness” requisites, Heal more than a “certain amount” of times, Save more than a “certain amount” of times and “don’t be nice” to Pendantel at the PUB.

• Reward: BadBoy Outfit, Iron Fists (Infinite Melee Weapon)

- Nightmare:  Beat the game in Survivor Mode meeting “Hope” requisites while healing and saving as “liiiiiittle as possible” and find a "For your eyes only hidden item”.

• Reward: Detective Outfit, Z-Buster (Infinite One Handed Shotgun)

Thank you so much for being part of the Development of Echoes Of The Living

See you in the next update!

Best regards, MoonGlint Studio (Alvaro and Laura)

Hello there!

We are finally compiling, testing and uploading the Pre-Update builds, this means that the game will show players additional info about the update, even if it is not available to download yet, tha's why we want to mention a few things:

• IMPORTANT REMINDER: Checkpoint Data will be removed with the New Update, only the Manual Saves will remain available

• Steam Point Items, Tradding Cards and others may appear as available now but will be part of the Update.

• Achievements should be now visible for everyone but won't be unlockable until the patch releases.

"Laura and I will do a few more runs to check if everything is finally working as intented and we will release a new announcement with the release of the patch"

Hello there!

First of all Laura and I want to thank everyone and especially all the supportive members in the forums that help us answering, offering help, sharing helpful tips and provide detailed bug reports that help me to find and fix issues quickly. 

Also apologize for the time this update is taking, restoring the Save System was not an easy task and has been really stressful and time consuming. Testing everything related to the Save System is taking us way more time than we initially had in mind, since I'm the only programmer, 99% of the testing relies on Laura and we need to be very very very cautious to make sure not a single bit of data is lost or any softblock is created by accident. 

Now that the manual has been restored 100% we have been able to bring back all the additional content and features that were tied to it.

So... when will the update be released?

We are still aiming for this month or early February, but I want to make sure everyone is up to date with all the progress we made with this post. Laura and I have been working non stop on this update and we are really happy to finally be able to show how the development goes and what kind of features, fixes and additional content it brings!

This update will include:

Essential Fixes:

- Manual Save System restored at 100%, now you can manually save from the Start to the End of The Game with Floppy Disk, no more Checkpoint system on the streets after the PUB.

(BE AWARE that ALL Checkpoints will be DELETED with this update, so make sure to have Manual Save data available in the PUB or the CITY HALL section).

- Audio and Brightness settings will be saved correctly and won't reset anymore.

- Reduced load times in several areas.

Quality of Life Improvements:

- Now you are able to target defensive items in the world with a key/button:

- Now you are able to re target the closest enemy.

- New Grab and Bite animations that allow a faster and fluid gameplay:

- Reworked enemy collisions, no more walking brick walls, this will avoid frustration caused by unfair enemy grabs or getting stuck between zombies making it now easier to avoid enemies.

- Reworked smaller enemies collision, now you can knife down those pesky worms and roaches.

- Storage box items will be sorted into weapons first, then items, it will also show the amount of  ammo, quantity or durability of each weapon, making it easier to find what you are looking for:

- Now the cutscenes will show your current outfit:

- Cutscenes are finally Skippable (only a few of them are still needed to load/save data, but none of them are more than 6-8 secs long).

- The result screen will show number of Saves, Health Items used, Enemies Killed and Completion Time.

- Added the option to Kick with the middle mouse button.

- Smoother Thumbstick movement .

- Cloud Saves.

New mechanic:

- Now you can block Zombie grab attempts with a Melee Weapon (Except the Knife)

This "blocking" feature will be only available if you are aiming with a melee weapon, if you miss the swing or the zombie grabs you before you land a hit instead of losing HP, the weapon will take a %, if the weapon is under 15% or the player is not aiming it won't block any grab (This feature ONLY blocks zombie attacks).

In Hard/Survival Mode the weapon will take a massive % making the weapon able to "block" 1 or 2 attacks and reducing a lot the number of hits the weapon can deal.

New content:

- +50 New Achievements.

- Three New Difficulty modes: Beginner, Experienced, Survivor:

• Beginner: Way more ammo, tons of health and unlimited saves.  ( Making use of Echoes of The Living basic mechanics will make your run even easier)

• Experienced:  Standard balance, the one you have been playing since the release. ( Making use of Echoes of The Living basic mechanics are essential to survive)

• Survivor: Less ammo and Stronger Enemies that deal CRITICAL damage.  ( The knowledge of every single mechanic of Echoes of The Living is crucial)

"Also Survivor Mode brings a new challenge, the infection level will increase each time you get bitten or puked (not only when exposed to the fog as the other modes) and it won't decrease unless you use a mix of minced  sapplings (Lore Accurate).

This makes enemies like the Fogger WAY more scary and dangerous since the player not only will need to keep track of their HP but also the Infection Level."

- New Tutorial/Training mode that allows the player to learn all the core and basic mechanics in the game before jumping into action!.

- 2 New Secret Endings.

- 2 New Secret Cutscenes.

- 2 New Outfits.

- 2 New Weapons.

- 4 New Melee Weapons, each one with its own strengths and weaknesses.

- Two new type of collectibles:

• Hidden Cards: Collectible items that are "hidden" and won't glow.

• Mini Snailgers: Collectible/Destructible items hidden in the world that have a unique glow color:

Bugs Fixes:

• Big number of fixes that will be detailed on the patch release notes.

 Steam Store:

• Trading Cards, Badges and Points Shop Items like Emoticons and Backgrounds.

Oh my! What a list.

Once this update is released we can finally get back to work on Laurel's campaign while fixing any issues or bugs that players may find. Also we plan to release mini updates showing how the development of Laurel's Campaign goes, sharing pieces of media and posting cool features that are unique to Laurel's (Similar to the ones that are unique to Liam). Laurel’s Campaign will be available when leaving Early Access this year.

In the meantime let us know if you had any issues and we will reply back with a solution as fast as we can!.

Thank you so much for being part of the Development of Echoes Of The Living.

See you really soon!

Best regards, MoonGlint Studio (Alvaro and Laura)