Soul Mates News

Hey Panda Peeps,

Do your haunted hallways feel a little… lonely? Are you dreaming of having your chains well and truly rattled? Is there a dark and somewhat unsettling void in your life that can only be filled by something of unnatural, and quite frankly, otherworldly beauty?

March 6th to 15th marks the WINGS Women’s Day Sale, and during that time, Soul Mates is 10% off! For those who have been lurking in the shadows, now’s the time to don your ghost-hunting gear and woo as many creepy cuties as your spooky little heart can handle!

Phantoms and boogeymen aren’t the only things that’ll go bump in the night.

We love you so hard,

The Pandas

Hey Panda Peeps!

We’ve got some good news to share! After a few days of beta testing (and no major bugs reported!) we’re excited to say that a brand new update is now live for Soul Mates!

This update unlocks the third level of the mansion, introducing a brand new ghost girl: Jane! If you’ve finished Lydia’s level and claimed her key, you can head back to the foyer and open the third door to begin your next eerie romance. Jane’s level comes with new puzzles, new scares, and a fresh slice of tragic backstory for you to uncover.

What if you don't have a save file with Lydia's Key? Well then all you have to do is hold down the numbers 1, 2 and 3 (simultaneously, along the top of your keyboard) while clicking the New Game button on the title screen and the game will start up as if you had just finished Lydia's floor. You can then go to the foyer and use the key to open the next door from there.

We’ve also added a little teaser for the fourth floor (oOoOoh…) plus some extra polish throughout the earlier levels, including balance tweaks, bug fixes, and additional music/sound effects!

As always, thank you so much for playing, testing, and sharing your feedback with us. Early Access players like you are helping shape Soul Mates into something truly special, and we can’t wait to keep building out this haunted house adventure
If you happen to run into any spooky issues, please let us know on the Steam forums or via our support email ([email protected]) Otherwise… enjoy meeting Jane. Just remember, some doors are locked for a reason!!

We love you so hard,

The Pandas

Is Friday the 14th close enough to Friday the 13th to release a new patch for Soul Mates? We think so!

[h3]New Content[/h3]

• We've added a guest book to the foyer so you can learn a bit more about the people who have visited before!
  
• The game can now boot in offline mode.
  
• Added support for gamepad input of text for those of you playing on Steam Deck and Steam Big Picture.
  
• Vastly improved the resolution of in-game animations, which should result in much nicer jump scares and other types of animations.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a soft lock that could occur after a game over.
  
• Reduced the maximum number of times you may need to move from room to room to encounter a ghost.
  

We've also added a new beta branch to Soul Mates, which you are welcome to join. The password is `soulmates1234` and can be entered on the "Betas" tab of the properties of Soul Mates.

Thanks to our community for reporting bugs. From all of us at Sad Panda Studios, we hope you have a hauntingly great weekend!

Programmer Panda

[h3]Happy Halloween![/h3]

What an appropriate day for an update to Soul Mates! We've put together a second patch, and we're continuing to work behind the scenes on the next floor. This patch includes:

[h3]New Content[/h3]

• Updated Mary's cinematic to use new assets
  
• Changed the brightness setting popup so that it gives a better preview of how things will look in-game
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a regression that caused the closet door animation to pause while dialogue was being played
  
• Fixed an issue where the heart sound effect wasn't playing in all cases when getting more hearts for a ghost
  
• Fixed an exploit that allowed you to bypass some minigames by using inventory items
  
• Removed the duplicate eyes in the library
  

[h3]Other[/h3]

• Exported higher resolution versions of the zombie feet that are shown when hiding under the bed, they should look less pixelated
  
• Improved performance/lag when entering the squeegee minigame
  

I hope you have a great weekend, and thanks again for checking out our Early Access game!

Programmer Panda

[h3]Ghoulish greetings![/h3]

I hope you're having a great weekend so far. We really appreciate you trying out Soul Mates, and we've put together our first patch addressing some of the feedback we've received so far. This patch includes:

[h3]New Content[/h3]

• Added additional Oui-oui board hints, including a hint about the tiara.
  
• Added a brand new hiding location in the basement cellar.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Re-exported higher resolution versions of some of the animations.
  
• The mini-games will now pause when the settings or pause menu are opened.
  
• Fixed a bug where the journal would show 3 notes when there were only 2 to find.
  
• Faded out the sanity meter when in the mansion foyer so that all the portraits are visible.
  
• Fixed a bug where Lydia wasn't showing up immediately after finishing her requirements.
  
• Reduced the size of one of the notes on Lydia's floor.
  
• Disabled the settings button from being clickable when the pause menu is open.
  

[h3]Other[/h3]

• We changed the way the story elements are chained together. This shouldn't result in any noticeable in-game changes, except for it maybe taking a few extra moves to have a ghost appear. This makes adding additional content easier for us.
  
• Added a sparkle effect to one of the peep holes.
  

We'll be putting together a beta branch soon so that we can test even more content soon! Artist Panda is also putting together a road map to share our upcoming progress. We'll have more to share soon! Sincerely,

Programmer Panda