Alter Evo News

[h2]After working on a game for six years, you start to forget why you even started it...[/h2][p][/p][p]The hardest part is watching other games blow up and thinking: Why are we spending years on a narrative game when we could pivot to a smaller, mechanics-driven design and gain traction a lot faster?[/p][p]Yet, we always come back to the same conclusion.[/p][p][/p][h3]Why did we stick with it?[/h3][p]Because our core inspiration has never been following gaming trends. We've always been determined to expand and contribute to the history of horror itself.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][h3]It was our passion for the ancient, weird, and obscure side of the horror genre that kept us determined to finish this project. [/h3][p][/p][p]We did a deep dive into the history of dark psychological literature - reading books dating back as far as 1794, and found that popular horror titles like Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia the Dark Descent often borrow from a genre of literature called The Gothic. The experience of reading gothic novels has been deeply moving. They've inspired us to invoke psychological terror in a way that has yet to be fully expressed in games.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]What is "The Gothic"?[/h3][p][/p][p]The Gothic: storytelling defined by psychological tension and the exploration of the uncanny or forbidden. It often deals with decaying settings, inner turmoil, and the supernatural. It also explores extreme mental states like paranoia, guilt, obsession and hallucination. Among our favorites are the novels listed above like The Devil's Elixir and Mysteries of Udolpho which strike a resemblance to the worlds of Silent Hill and Haunting Ground.[/p][p][/p][p]Most horror games are influenced by the works of Guillermo del Toro and Stanley Kubrick. We went further back—straight to the overlooked literature that inspired these filmmakers—and have created an exciting new vision of what horror can look like in video game form. [/p][p][/p][h3]Language Update[/h3][p][/p][p]We're happy to announce that Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Polish, Italian have been added to the demo.[/p][p]In researching localization options, we were excited to find Taiwanese, Indonesian, and Vietnamese audiences are enjoying horror game content that has strong overlap with the themes and tone of Alter Evo. We love games like Suffocating and Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol coming out of Taiwan, and found an amazing Taiwanese translator who was genuinely thrilled to join the project. We're so excited to bring our game to these like-minded audiences. [/p][p][/p][h3]Game Update[/h3][p][/p][p]Lastly, our levels have received optimization and baked lighting improvements which can be seen in our new level fly through video: [/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]In the next post - we'll be writing a bit about the Sci-Fi side of Alter Evo, and the various books that helped inspire it. Please follow our Steam page and checkout the demo: [/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]If you are curious what the demo is like, here is a video showing the first 3 minutes of game play - gun + melee combat and some narrative:
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Sincerely,

Technical Fiction[/p]

[h3]Localization Update[/h3][p][/p][p]The Alter Evo Demo v2 now has official translations for German, Russian, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Korean. Chinese, Polish, and Italian on the way.

Watch our brand new game play trailer:
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][h3]
Download Demo Update here:
[/h3][h3][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]
What's next?[/h3][p][/p][p]With all of the major demo patches complete - we will be focusing on promotion and marketing for the next few months - reaching out to streamers to play our demo and creating social media content to help players learn more about the Alter Evo universe.

Don't forget to Wishlist Alter Evo on Steam and share our Steam page.

Thanks,

Technical Fiction[/p]

[h3]Demo V2 is live now. Don't forget to download it from our Steam Page.[/h3][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Alter Evo Demo V2 is called: The Goth Next Door.

The update includes:[/h3]

• [p]extended story game play including a unexpected slumber party due to your neighbor's apartment catching on fire[/p]
• [p]new weapons including the SMG and Smart Mace[/p]
• [p]an upgrade system that allows you to improve your weapons[/p]
• [p]Enhanced ammo pick ups and lore notes[/p]
• [p]3 new enemy types and new enemy animations[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]11/6/2025 Bug Fixes [/p][p]-fixed melee animation to keep hands on the Smart Mace[/p][p]-fixed audio levels and a water treatment audio bug[/p][p]-fixed a single frame glitch when aiming the gun[/p][p]-improved haptics[/p][p]-fixed some lip sync issues for Apartment cinematics[/p][p]-other assorted minor fixes [/p][p][/p][p]Language patch coming soon.[/p][p][/p][p]-Technical Fiction[/p]

[h3]Demo V2 is here! It's been 176 days since the last demo update (May 2nd) and we want you to play again!

[/h3][h3]This is the final major demo update before launch and it has a LOT of great new features: [/h3]

• [p]The Goth Next Door Extended Story Content: Your neighbor AJ spends the night at your apartment because her's burnt down.[/p]
• [p]3 New Enemies: Henchmen, Corpse spawn, Ranged Henchmen + new enemy animations[/p]
• [p]2 New Weapons: Smart Mace (Melee Weapon), Smart SMG (Automatic Weapon)[/p]
• [p]Upgrade Bench + Upgrade System: find upgrade nodes and make your weapons stronger.[/p]
• [p]Improved Driving Feel: new camera logic, car animation, sounds, physics improvements, VFX and more.[/p]
• [p]Improved Shooting Mechanics: Feedback on hitting enemies, haptics, improved cross hairs, VFX and more.[/p]
• [p]Ammo Pick ups + More Lore Notes[/p]
• [p]Atmospherics, character art, multiple language support, and other QOL improvements across the board.[/p][p][/p]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Whether it's your first time playing the demo or you've played before - download The Goth Next Door demo today and let us know what you think. [/p][p]After extensive playtests and feedback sessions, we're really proud of how this demo looks and feels:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Here's our most recent game play trailer (updated one coming in the next couple weeks):[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Many thanks for your continued support. Follow us on YouTube, X, and Steam because we will have a lot of great content coming out in the next few months as we focus on marketing and promotion.

Sincerely,

Technical Fiction
[/p]

[h2]We completed our first full game play test with external QA.[/h2][p][/p][p]Here are 3 features that succeeded:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Story ːsteamthumbsupː[/h2][p][/p][p]They loved the story, the weirdness, and the characters, citing the relationship between Evo and Brunilda as a reason they wanted to finish the game. They also enjoyed the visual style of the game calling it beautiful.[/p][p][/p][p]One player said: "My favorite parts were the weird and creepy scenes... they are perfect and remind me of horror films that I love and it's what made me motivated to continue playing and find more of these strange and creepy interactions. I absolutely loved this aspect of the game and it's what stood out about it for me above other games... reminded me of the film Lost Highway's atmosphere."[/p][p][/p][p]We loved finding out that our game was resonating with fans of surreal film makers like David Lynch. He is a core inspiration for us.[/p][p][/p][h2]Performance ːsteamthumbsupː[/h2][p][/p][p]The game ran at 60fps on Ultra settings, except for one or two levels. This was incredible news as we had already spent a lot of time with optimization, and we were that it paid off.[/p][p][/p][h2]Game Duration ːsteamthumbsupː[/h2][p]
The game took between 4-5 hours to complete which was our goal from the beginning. This is NOT including discovering secret levels and hidden content.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Here is what didn’t go well:[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Combat ːsteamthumbsdownː[/h2]

• [p]Not clear when hitting enemies[/p]
• [p]Not enough ways to kill enemies[/p]
• [p]“Least favorite part of game”[/p]
• [p]Enemies attacking through walls.[/p]

[h2]Ammo and Enemy Placement ːsteamthumbsdownː[/h2]

• [p]Too little ammo[/p]
• [p]Too many enemies[/p]

[h2]Driving ːsteamsaltyː[/h2]

• [p]Though driving reviews were mixed, there was a singular loud voice stating the driving felt unrealistic and weird in a BAD way.[/p]

[p][/p][p]What are we going to do about it?[/p]

1. [p]Push back our release date[/p]
2. [p]Implement a list of specific fixes for these problems from the QA testers[/p]
3. [p]Invent our own creative ways to make combat more fun including a melee system, as well as some new shooting features.[/p]
4. [p]Launch a new demo once all of these changes are complete (as well as extend the demo to include more story content) and use it to promote the game for Steam NextFest February 2026.[/p]

[p]We are also keeping in mind that we are a narrative first game - our goal is for the combat and driving to add fun variety to the game - not be the reason you play it. You have to pick your battles.[/p][p][/p][p]Wishlist Alter Evo on Steam[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]-Technical Fiction[/p][p][/p][p][/p]