Episode 5 Post Release Update and Roadmap

Hey folks!

It's been wonderful to welcome you back home to the Holler, and to finally start to share some of the story's big revelations with you. Now that we're a few days post launch, I wanted to give quick update on some changes that have been made as of the most recent patch, as well as our plans for post-release support of the Episode before we move on to Scarlet Hollow's conclusion.

What's already live:

• It was a little too easy for players to head straight to the farms and wind up with a shorter episode without realizing they were missing out on content. Choosing to head to the farms alone will now be met with a choice menu that diegetically signposts that this action will progress the story. While this is the sort of thing that would normally be handled using the (Explore) tag, the tension for the middle part of the episodes feels like it clashes with the use of that tag. Hopefully this new menu is a "best of both worlds" scenario for communicating the episode's point of no return without breaking the tension.
  
• If you used Book Smart to find the location of the next stone in the Estate, turning to Doctor Kelly previously would lead to her suggesting to immediately go to the farms, potentially locking the player out of her scene at the "general store." We've changed the hierarchy of Doctor Kelly's suggestions, such that she will push to go directly to the farms if you've either already received the map from Miles OR if you've already spoken to Oscar about the stones. If your only piece of evidence pointing you to the farms is the map from the Estate, however, she will suggest confronting Sybil first.
• Fixed an issue where mentioning Miles in the farms basement required you to have finished his scene without being arrested. For future playthroughs, this option should be accessible as long as you've finished his scene without abandoning him.
• We've made minor balance changes to the Tabitha confrontation that have been live since yesterday. In short, using the Book Smart save in the library in front of her now has a significant affect on lowering her guard, such that it outweighs the bonuses to her guard gained by the way that save increases her perceived intelligence of the MC. We've also slightly deweighted perceived intelligence in general, such that being perceived an idiot has been mildly nerfed, and being perceived as intelligent isn't quite as detrimental as it was in the past.

What's on the docket:

• Powerful Build feels undertuned in terms of game-feel (even if, IMO, it's one of the strongest traits in practice.) We'll be working to improve its experience in the next major content update. This will include an extra action in the clinic during episode 4, as well as the ability to override Tabitha taking the sacrifice for you in episode 3.
• We'll be adding a mid-Episode 5 scene at The Church. We'll also be providing an extra turn of exploration on some playthroughs before Franklin catches the player to account for this extra scene.
• We're working on a new short scene for players who have been arrested where they can talk to Franklin enroute to the farms, (essentially a more hostile version of the Franklin "friendship" scene). This scene will not be available to players who have been tasered. This scene will be added before the above two bullet points are addressed.
  
• We'll be making visual edits to the Avery shot and fused with Orange Julius ending for improved visual clarity and to give the player and/or Tabitha's initial attack more weight and gravitas. This will also likely be added before the above two bullet points are addressed.
  

Thanks so much for playing, and for your continued support :)
Tony and Abby