Tales of Seikyu News

Exciting news, Seikyuans! After hearing the wonderful news that we were one of Steam’s most-played demos, we’ve decided to keep the Tales of Seikyu demo up on Steam ❤ This is such an exciting honour for us, and we wanted to acknowledge all the love and support you’ve given us by keeping the demo online so everyone can enjoy it and get their hands on the demo exclusive Serpent Rattan Armour!


[h2]Your Feedback Matters![/h2]
We really appreciate everybody who took the time to review the demo over on Steam, and we’re making a note of every single piece of feedback we get on the game. From bug fixes and optimisations all the way to input on game mechanics, character personalities, worldbuilding, and beyond, we’ve got lots to think about ahead of Early Access! If you haven’t left a review for the demo already, you can leave one here at any time. Oh, and we’re still after your bug reports ~(￣▽￣)~*

[h2]The Road to Early Access[/h2]
We’re launching in Early Access this Spring (full date TBA) and your demo feedback has helped us pinpoint exactly what we want to be focusing on. We’re feeling super motivated, and it’s all thanks to you! Looking for a way to support the developers between now and Early Access? Make sure you wishlist the game and share it with your friends! Wishlists are the best metric Steam has to gauge how much interest there is in a game, and we’ve got algorithms to contend with!

We know you’ve got plenty of questions about Tales of Seikyu and its Early Access journey, and we’re doing our best to answer them directly, but we’re also working on putting together a little FAQ for you soon. Keep an eye out (✿◕‿◕✿)

[h2]Join the Conversation[/h2]
Meet your fellow Tales of Seikyu fans, chat about your favourite NPCs, speculate on lore, share fan creations, and more over on our social channels! You can find us on all major social media platforms including Discord, X, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit. Join our communities for news, information, announcements and merch giveaways!

Right, we’re off to work on the code that makes Heph’s muscles so big (joking, they’re powered by pure protein, baby!). From all of us here on the development and publisher teams, we want to say a MASSIVE thank you for making Tales of Seikyu an amazing project to work on. We can’t wait for what the future holds and we’re excited to bring you more 🌸

Steam Next Fest always tends to be a thriving hub for farming and life sims, but the demo of Tales of Seikyu takes you on a more magical adventure than your standard dirt tilling, seed sowing simulator. Instead, you're a shapeshifting member of the fox clan who has moved to an island infested with yokai and yokai-adjascent villagers. So as someone who already finds every excuse to try a new farming simulator and adores the weird and wonderful world of Japanese folklore, this game wasn't exactly a hard sell...
Read more.

Hi there Seikyuans! We hope you’re enjoying the Tales of Seikyu Steam Next Fest demo and that you've grabbed the demo-exclusive Serpent Rattan Armour. (hint: it's in the mailbox outside your farmhouse!) We’ve been hard at work implementing your feedback and suggestions, so thank you for filling out our forms!

There’s a lot that goes on during a game’s development that the community doesn’t get to see, and we’ve been wanting to share more behind-the-scenes insights into our work on Tales of Seikyu! So, that’s what we’ll be focusing on with this update! 😀

One of the first things we wanted to share with you is a look at our art-creation process. We know this is something people have been keen to see more on, and we’re making a real effort to gather more behind-the-scenes footage from our artists for you to enjoy! Our artists are an incredibly talented group of individuals, whether it's 2D or 3D art, and they're more than happy to share their working processes and gather feedback so that the world of Seikyu can become an even more beautiful place for you all to enjoy!

So far, we’ve got timelapse footage of us working on Shuten’s Yokai form and portraits for Prince and Miss Ama. We’ve also got a special guest-artist feature from the wonderful Hiduki Miwa who created our Tales of Seikyu Chinese New Year painting! 🐍🌸

Watch the Miss Ama character portrait creation process video below and head on over to this playlist, which we’ll be updating regularly, for more art-process videos!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]2D Artist Interview[/h2]

We also caught up with the artist behind the Miss Ama portrait above for a little more info on her process!

Tell the community about yourself! You can call me Liz, and I’m a 2D designer. I’ve been working in the creative field for about ten years now. What I enjoy most about working with ACE is the recognition and the chance to bring my designs to life.

Can you share a little more on your creative process? When I create character portraits, I mostly use SAI. I usually start with a rough sketch, then work on defining the shapes before adding color. Once the colors are in place, I often make adjustments to the shapes because the color blocks highlight any flaws in the original linework. After setting the basic lighting and shadows, I refine the details. My tools are pretty simple—mostly basic brushes for the drawing, and I use layer modes like Multiply or Glow to enhance the effects.

Do you have any advice for artists aspiring to do the kind of work you do? For anyone who wants to do this kind of work, my advice is to follow your passion and stick with it. Start with what you love, whether it’s drawing characters, animals, or environments, and keep practicing. The more you create, the more you'll improve.

We'll be sharing more of Liz's artwork along with work-in-progress videos, concept art, and more from the rest of our art team, so make sure you're following us on X, Bluesky, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok! Finally, we just want to say a big thank you for all your support during Steam Next Fest and beyond. We're grateful to have such a warm and welcoming community who are interested in the work we do and who want to celebrate and support our art team.

Fixed an issue where NPCs would get stuck in a tree on the path to the farmhouse.
Fixed an issue where quest items would be sent to the mailbox when the player inventory is full. Players will now receive an on-screen prompt letting them know their backpack is full and to try again after making some space.
Fixed an issue with the bug-report tool failing to accept game logs.
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes soft lock when opening the map.
Fixed an issue where the map would not load fully.
Fixed an error where English-language descriptions would sometimes display in the Chinese-language version of the game.

Get a head start on your Seikyu adventure with 3 glorious days in the countryside. The Tales of Seikyu Steam Next Fest demo is playable NOW, so head on over to the demo page to download it.

We've packed plenty of activities into this demo, but don't worry about experiencing it all in one go; the demo is designed with replayability in mind, meaning that you can redo any villager interactions that didn't go as planned ≧ ﹏ ≦

We hope you have a blast playing the Tales of Seikyu Next Fest demo, and we want to take this opportunity to remind you that this is just a small teaser of what’s to come! The demo is by no means a final representation of the game and we’ll be doing oodles of development work between now and when we hit Early Access in Spring 2025. With that in mind, we’d really appreciate some feedback on your demo experience. Please use this form to share your thoughts with us when you’ve had a chance to play!

Finally, we’d sure love it if you could leave a review on the Tales of Seikyu demo page here. This is one of the single best ways to support the game and our indie dev team. Not only do your reviews show us what you love and what we should be working on, but they help us out by letting Steam know that people are interested in the game. There are so many amazing demos out there playable during Next Fest, but this also means we’re competing with lots of voices for Steam’s attention, and your reviews make a big difference here!

[h2]Meet the Villagers[/h2]
Your visit to Seikyu starts at the customs registration office, where you'll meet the adorable Seabert and get set up. From here, it's a tour of the town with mayor Yui Oda where you'll meet the villagers. From the charming Yohji to the battle-hungry Nyotengu, there are lots of first impressions to make. You'll have plenty of opportunities to get to know the villagers over the course of the demo, find out their favourite gifts, and maybe even go on a date!

Top Tip: Looking for something to give as a gift? One Yokai's trash is another's treasure, so make sure to check any bins that you pass by. There's no penalties for rifling through the trash and, who knows, you might even find something valuable!

[h2]Don't Miss Demo-Exclusive Armour[/h2]
One thing that might incentivise you to load your save data at Early Access is our cool, demo-exclusive Serpent Armour set! Celebrate the Year of the Snake with a fresh new look that can only be obtained by playing our Steam Next Fest demo. It’s our way of saying thank you for being with us on this magical journey ╰(*°▽°*)╯



[h2]Uncover Your Fox-Spirit Ancestry[/h2]
There are Inari Shrines dotted all over Seikyu and activating them will help you on your travels. There's much to learn about your ancestry. Uncover your latent powers of transformation, explore the ruins, and take your first steps on discovering what happened to your parents and the rest of the fox spirits. Your sister, Kon, is keen to uncover all she can about your shared past and there's plenty to learn from the villagers too.



[h2]Celebrate Your Arrival[/h2]
Your final day in Seikyu will conclude with a celebratory bonfire to mark your arrival. This is the perfect place to meet any villagers you might have missed on your travels. Everybody is excited that you're here and for what you'll achieve throughout your time in Seikyu. There's a lot of pressure, but we're sure that you and your sister can rise to the challenge and win the hearts of the villagers.

[h2]Load Your Saves at Early Access![/h2]
Had a blast playing the demo? Wish you could just pick up where you left off when the game hits Early Access? Say no more. We’re giving everybody who plays the demo the option to load their save data once Tales of Seikyu enters Early Access in spring this year – perfect for players who crafted cool items or started building relationships with villagers. Of course, you’re welcome to start afresh if that’s more your style. Either way, there’s plenty to look forward to as the seasons change and we approach our Early Access launch.

Wow, you made it this far without rushing off to play the demo? Talk about an iron will! Make sure to head on over to our community Discord if you want to discuss the demo with other Seikyu fans (we recommend using the spoilers channel to discuss in-game content!).

As always, we want to sign off with a big thank you from all of us here at ACE. It means so much to see lots of support for Tales of Seikyu and hearing from the community always puts a big smile on our faces! That’s all from us…we’re off to write more romance dialogue for your favourite NPCs (✿◡‿◡)