Revita - Newsletter November 2021
What happened in November? A LOT!
You might have heard that we have released the Old Friends update, the last update before the full release of Revita. It's been 9 months since the Early Access came out. What a journey!
The dev team and the community achieved so much in the past few weeks. We have reached more than 200 reviews thanks to you. A lot of new players joined our Discord to share their experience with Revita and we even added some holiday goodness via a holiday patch.
We loved seeing your reactions when you discovered the new area and encountered [REDACTED] for the first time.
Your kind words about the game and its development mean a lot to us and we appreciate all your fanwork and feedback. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 💙
The story is not over yet though, we still have a ways to go. But for now, let us tell you some more behind the scenes information about some of the things we kept secret over the last few months.
Please, if you haven't beaten a full run yet, be aware that there are spoilers in this newsletter.
And for your information, Revita is 20% off until December 13th!
Hi, it me, Ben.
It sure has been tricky keeping quiet about all the things we added in the last update. So many people saying "Wouldn't it be really cool if you could have multiple different starting guns?" and me nodding in silence. We added so much in the last update that I probably can't even remember everything. From area modifiers, different starting guns, completely rebalanced hp economy, to the new area and much, much more.
I really hope you are enjoying all the new additions and changes, with the entire team going all out for this update. =D
This update’s biggest focus for me was the underground weapon room.
In the works for this update Ben introduced the idea for a new room in which it would be possible to switch the weapons! At first it was a small chamber but I thought it would do the weapon’s more justice if they had some room that was really symbolic, like a focus for or as it’s ‘source’ So I quickly pictured this sketch and send it to Ben who then got back to me with a updated sketch of his desired layout with the idea.
We were really fond of the idea of subtle connections to the levels above, so hints of the metro platform above, maybe even roots from the tree that manage to find themselves all the way down. For the architecture big arches that make the room feel grand but focus the room towards the center interactables. In the end I’m really pleased of how this room turned out and with the other additions I got to do, including NPC’s like the granny and technician for which I was allowed to ask in some friends to voice act them!
Hey, everyone! =)
The new Revita update has recently been released and along with it a ton of new music! The original soundtrack is growing to a total of 45 (!!) tracks, and it's hard for me to grasp this number. Let's break down some of the new additions:
- SPOILER WARNING -
Some of you were expecting the fifth area to be Ticking Tower Top, previously only known as the tutorial area, and you were right! I composed the music for area 5 right after I had just finished working on area 2 – yes, the tune for Ticking Tower Top was actually created quite early in development. Similarly, another tune from the tutorial section makes a return: Mortis Memoria, which plays during your fight against Enigma. However, unlike the tutorial version, this one is longer, has more instruments and overall juice to it. It's one of my personal favorites from the soundtrack!
Furthermore, the Accordionist that you might have noticed in the very first reveal trailer finally makes his debut. He has his own theme called „Ballad of the Fool“ playing when you're approaching him in Memoria Station. You can listen to a lot of Revita's tunes in-game simply by talking to him. But... if you think that this is everything, I have to tell you that you're wrong. I've written many more tunes for this Fool! Have you tried sitting down next to him instead of talking to him directly? I wonder what's going to happen there...
*Announcer's voice* But wait, there's more! I've written more tunes for this update. Once you beat Enigma in an epic battle, you may think the run is over. But isn't it odd that after fighting bosses called Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression, the final one is called Enigma? You're right, there's something missing, and that something is called Acceptance! Unlike the previous bosses, Acceptance gets their own epic battle theme, the longest tune in the game even, clocking in at a total of 3 minutes! I'll admit that given the fact that the battle itself is hectic as heck, you might not have paid much attention to the final boss theme. If you're interested, you can listen to it as well as all the other new additions on my bandcamp. Once Revita is at 1.0, the price for the album will rise, so if you're on the fence about buying the original soundtrack, now would be a great time to do so!
Did you also notice that the Ending theme is a combination of both the game over theme „Nex Mortis“ and „Acceptance“? Next time you've cleared a run, take some time while you're sitting on your throne – the tune is longer than you may expect! So, that must be all new additions, right? Right?! Nope! There's more.
Remember how there's a small percentage for each area to have different background music? Yep, you guessed it, the same goes for Ticking Tower Top! And the best part about this is... ALL THE ALT SONGS ARE NOW ALSO INCLUDED ON THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK! \o/ Go get it xD
- Chris
Ben and I were super excited to expand on Enigma as we approached the Old Friends update. It’s something we’ve been talking about since day one. As a character, Enigma has some of the best lines, certainly the most direct, not to take away from the charming sass-mouth of the Caretaker.
Writing a villain is a different bag. Their POV has to be unique, and if possible, relatable while still implying a torrent of emotion just waiting to spill over onto everything. Maybe that emotion is cruelty or exasperation. Perhaps it’s resentment. In this case, it’s got a splash from all of the above. There’s something satisfying in that sort of meta world-weariness that we loved bringing to the game. That’s why we made sure to include some of it in the trailer.
We’re in the endgame now, the countdown to launch, and I couldn’t be more enthused with not only what we’ve done but what’s yet to come.
The plan is simple: we'll be working on 1.0. To be honest, we have already started. But everything remains secret for the moment! Hope you are looking forward to it!
In the meantime, don't forget to participate to our Hall of Fame. It ends in January!
Feel free to join our Discord and follow us on Twitter. To support us and to be informed of our news, you can also wishlist Revita on Steam!
See ya!
