[Dev Note] The Hideout's Transformation: A New Home for the Survivors

Hey there, Survivors!

In the last Dev Note, we talked about the new Restoration Level system that’s coming to REMORE.

This time, we’ve got something that might hit even closer to home for you: a revamp of the Hideout.


[h3]Bring the Hideout to Life[/h3]
The Hideout has been around since Early Access—it’s where you get ready before heading out on an Expedition. Every Expedition starts and ends there, and using its features to gear up for what’s next has always been a core part of how the Expeditions flow.

But in Early Access, the Hideout was more about function than story. As you played, new characters joined you, unlocking new features and giving you more ways to prepare. Still, when it came to who those NPCs were or what the Hideout itself really meant, we kept it pretty functional—just enough to support gameplay without diving too deep into the narrative side.



However, since REMORE’s story is getting deeper and more detailed, we figured it makes sense to give the Hideout a stronger narrative purpose. More specifically, we need to clearly explain what the Hideout is and what role the NPCs there play.

We started by looking at what the Hideout really means. In the Early Access version, the Hideout was just a random isolated house found thanks to the blacksmith “Jorgyn” It was simply a safe spot to hide from monsters during the apocalypse.

But now, the story has a more detailed setup — the monster apocalypse is actually “darkness spreading because the Memolith exploded.” So, the Hideout needs to mean more than just a safe place; it has to protect the group from that darkness in a meaningful way.

Because of that, the Hideout got a new meaning: it’s the place where a new Memolith is being rebuilt, taking the place of the one that blew up. The group uses the light from the Memolith to keep the darkness away, lights up guiding pillars during their expeditions, and collects Memolith fragments to restore the light to the land. The process of restoring it is shown in the “Restoration Chart” we shared in last week’s dev note — the Memolith in the Hideout slowly gets its power back and regains the strength it had lost.



Because of all this, we needed a way to restore the new Memolith and unlock its power. The expedition members are great fighters and the main characters of the game, but there wasn’t really a good reason for them to be the ones handling the Memolith directly. That’s where two new characters come in — Giuseppe, a scribe, and Ellen, the Flamekeeper.

They were introduced to help fill that gap. They're both originally members of the Sunfaith, a group that worships the Memolith, and they were the ones guarding the Hideout before the expedition team arrived. So, it makes sense that they’d know how to restore the Memolith — and even how to extract the memories of the fallen from its fragments and bind them to the expedition members.

We’ve also prepared deeper narrative content related to these two, which we’ll share in a future Dev Note.



[h3]Hideout Features[/h3]
When it comes to the Hideout's features, we're still sticking to the same basic idea as in the Early Access version — each NPC is assigned a specific role. But since the exploration system has changed quite a bit — shifting from a linear stage-by-stage structure to a free-movement one — we had to rethink and narrow down which features to really focus on.

In Early Access, the timing and number of Hideout visits were fixed. Basically, after every stage, you had to return to the Hideout. That meant each visit was a key moment to regroup and upgrade your team as much as possible.

Also, since the resources you earned and your overall progress were pretty predictable based on stage progression, we could balance how much you could power up your squad and how useful each resource was. To put it simply, it followed a clear pattern like: Stage 1 → Hideout 1 → Stage 2 → Hideout 2... and so on — which made it easier to control when and how new Hideout functions were unlocked.



In the new version we’re working on, players can choose when and how often they visit the Hideout. Since you can also pick the order in which you tackle stages, there are now countless variations in when and how you’ll collect certain resources. Because of that, we can’t rely on the old system where Hideout features are unlocked based solely on how many stages you’d cleared. With players visiting the Hideout more frequently now, we needed to rethink how those features are balanced.

As for unlocking Hideout features, that’s now tied to the “Restoration Chart” we introduced in last week’s Dev Note. So instead of just counting how many stages you’ve cleared (or how many guiding pillars you’ve lit), we also take into account the importance (or size) of those guiding pillars, and how many Memolith fragments you’ve recovered. All of that affects what gets unlocked and when.



Since players will now be visiting the Hideout more often, we had to condense its features a bit. The original features made sense for the older expedition flow, but with the new system, it started to feel like there was just too much to go through every time you stopped by. So, we streamlined things down to four main functions: Checking the Restoration Chart, Memory Binding, Blacksmithing and preparing the next expeditions.

xcept for the expedition part, the other three are all tied to clear reasons for returning to the Hideout — like needing to gather enough Restoration progress to unlock new abilities, collecting enough Memolith fragments to bind memories to characters, or gathering materials to craft stronger weapons.
In short, the new Hideout is now a more focused space, built specifically around strengthening your expedition team.



[h3]The Result: The Hideout Becomes the Core of the Game Flow[/h3]
After testing these changes internally, we found that the overall gameplay flow felt much more natural and intuitive. The goals of the expedition and the tools to reach them now connect more smoothly through the Hideout, making it feel like an integral part of the whole experience. Both team members who lean more toward narrative and those who prioritize gameplay agreed — the new Hideout just feels more natural.

As development picks up speed, there’s a chance the Hideout may see even more changes. But its core purpose — helping each expedition flow more naturally — will stay the same. We're really excited to bring this new experience to you, our Survivors!

Stay tuned for next week’s Dev Note.
Thanks as always, Survivors!
REMORE