1. They Speak From The Abyss: Zenith
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They Speak From The Abyss: Zenith News

The Home Stretch

[h2]Coming in 2025![/h2][p]Now clocking 2 years longer than initially planned, They Speak From The Abyss: Zenith is in the home stretch of development![/p][p]What was once intended to be a small free prequel has blossomed into a standalone title that feels worthy of a price tag. We estimate the game will take the average player about 8 hours to beat (closer to 5h if they're absolutely flying through it, and 10h+ if they take their time exploring every corner).[/p][p]We'll be sure to announce a release date and final price here once that has been set. We don't want to make the same mistake twice, blowing past a publicly set date. But we're feeling VERY good about a 2025 launch!![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]UI Improvements[/h2][p]After much playtesting the UI has continued to evolve a great deal. Micro improvements along the way have made it both easier to navigate, while also giving it more of a prestige feel. It looks and functions in a way that now feels like it does justice to the game that influenced TSFTA. At least, that's the hope![/p][p]Here's a quick look at how things have changed over the last year:[/p][h3]1 year ago[/h3][p][/p][h3]Today[/h3][p][/p][h2]Demonic Communion[/h2][p]A major mechanic in They Speak is being able to "Commune" with any monster you fight. Not all of them are willing to chat at length. But many have full dialogue trees, and special interactions than can only be found by chatting with them.[/p][p]With 50+ demonic enemies in Zenith, writing unique Communions for them all was becoming a major bottleneck. A new writer, probskay, was brought in to help with this process and a lot of progress has been made as a result![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Updated Demo (Coming Soon)[/h2][p]Thank you for taking this journey along with us. I love working on these weird games in this weird little world, and I'm very excited to get the games in your hands. After Zenith is done, I will be taking a small break, then returning full force to get They Speak proper done. Posts about that will be much more frequent than Zenith posts have been. [/p][p]We're in the last bit of Zenith's development, and the game will be shown off in a few showcases over the next couple months so that's a lot to get excited about! Since the game is much closer to the end of its development time, we're going to launch another demo build showing the game in a mostly finished state. Keep an eye out for that.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]And as always. If you'd like to both help with the game and be notified of launch, please be sure to add it to your Wishlist![/p][p][/p]

2025 Publisher Sale

[h3]Today kicks off the big 2 Left Thumbs Publisher Sale![/h3]
Explore the full event page to scope out loads of discounts, free games, bundles and more!



[h2]How about a FREE game?![/h2]
Croak Crusader: Spawn of the Spore Spectre launched TODAY, and is available 100% for free!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2997920/Croak_Crusader_Spawn_of_the_Spore_Spectre/

This free title introduces the general gameplay, protagonist and antagonists of the upcoming (paid) release, Croak Crusader: the Champion of Canada. Be sure to add that to your Wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152060/Croak_Crusader_the_Champion_of_Canada/

[h2]COMING SOON[/h2]
Very VERY soon! Novus Orbis is a combo-based roguelike deckbuilder, set to release into Early Access on February 10th. There's already dozens of hours of content, and the game will only be getting deeper and more varied from here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2437330/Novus_Orbis/

[h2]NEW UPDATES[/h2]
A collection of games have all timed free updates and big announcements for this event!

[h3]WizardChess[/h3]
WizardChess is a chess-like tactical roguelike with a near infinitely replayable amount of variety and depth. And today takes us a step closer to FULLY infinite replayability, with the addition of Daily Runs!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1274210/WizardChess/

[h3]Starground[/h3]
At the end of 2024 Starground revealed a planned development roadmap. Today sees the Brewconomic Cropdate, adding animals, fishing, potion brewing, and an improved Space Hub.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2793380/Starground/

[h3]Magenta Horizon[/h3]
In addition to making the awesome art for this sale, solo-dev Maddison Baek has crafted new community items for Magenta Horizon! Play the game to earn Trading Cards, and unlock awesome profile backgrounds and other Steam goodies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2109060/Magenta_Horizon__Neverending_Harvest/

[h3]Schism[/h3]
Schism has a new update dropping Feb 10th that adds some end-game content, and enhanced controller support. Keep your eyes peeled for that! But the BIG news here, is that Schism is leaving Early Access MARCH 10th!! There is no discount now, so as not to conflict with that launch discount.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2084300/Schism/

[h3]Tower of Kalemonvo[/h3]
While this classic-style hack n slash ARPG isn't out yet, it did just receive yet another demo update. The name of the game right now is polish, preparing for our newly set released date of MARCH 28th!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2351860/Tower_of_Kalemonvo/

[h2]FOLLOW ALONG[/h2]
Follow 2 Left Thumbs on social media to stay up-to-date on all the latest games and news. 👇

[h2]LOGO UPDATE[/h2]
I'm burying the lead a little here. But as a part of this event, I'm also debuting a redesigned 2 Left Thumbs Publishing logo - made by Fiend Folio artist RedRachis!

Aug 2024 Development Update

[h3]UPDATE[/h3]
Crazy as it sounds, we've crossed over 1 YEAR since Zenith was originally slated to release...

Nikki has been running monthly updates over on the Kickstarter page. As those are limited to backers of the main game, we thought it was high time we ran a new update on the Steam page.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393290/They_Speak_From_The_Abyss_Zenith/

[h3]WHAT HAPPENED?[/h3]
There isn't really any one single thing that slowed down the production of Zenith. This projected was begun as a trial to iron out any kinks ahead of tackling the FULL release.

Piece by piece, as Zenith was added to and improved upon, it would shine a spotlight on other areas that were no longer up to par. Often this sort of revisionist approach would be the death of a game. But this was done by design here! Even if our estimates on the timeline were significantly off...

Through private playtests, attending events, and any other feedback that could be gathered - it became much more clear where work was needed, all while laying the groundwork for the final title!


[h3]WHAT'S CHANGED?[/h3]
As a breakdown since you last heard from us:
  • Nikki spent some time honing her 3D modeling, and was able to give the game a MAJOR update on visuals
  • The choice was made to drop the 4:3 ratio (which also meant redoing a bunch of UI and other art) as can be seen in the all new screenshots!
  • The combat was overhauled to be more interesting
  • The UI was completely redone
  • Cutscene revisions
  • Dialogue rewrites
  • Endless bug fixes and improvements to how the game renders and runs!

[h3]RELEASE?[/h3]
While we're still not quite ready to set a new launch date, the game is well underway, with a brand new demo nearing completion!

We also officially moved the main THEY SPEAK game back to "2025".
While a lot of the foundations will already be laid through Zenith, it is a MUCH larger title. So development will be notably faster, but is still anticipated to be a lengthy process!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075460/They_Speak_From_The_Abyss/

There is art on that page that is already over 2 years old!!
When we're ready to launch Zenith, we'll be sure that page receives a revision to reflect the changes in style and gameplay.

Thank you all for your patience!
I'm confident it will be well worth the wait - especially for all you lovely Kickstarter backers who are now getting TWO games for the price of one ;)

-Graeme
(2 Left Thumbs)

Steam Next Fest - Demo available NOW!

[h3]PUBLIC DEMO[/h3]
They Speak From The Abyss: Zenith has it's first public demo available NOW!
Here is a presskit for any creators who want to give this game a whirl.

This game has improved by leaps and bounds the last few months, and we feel it is finally ready for a public debut. This whole journey started nearly 2 years ago with the release of a demo. The interest shown in that simple build encouraged us to pursue a Kickstarter campaign, that funded the next stage of development!

Zenith is a standalone prequel, featuring a separate protagonist, story and events from the full They Speak From The Abyss game - setting the stage for the upcoming full release!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]WHAT NEXT?[/h3]
Development has been happening behind closed doors for a long time now, doing our very best as a small team of 3 to playtest this game and polish it as thoroughly as possible. The game is very much still under active development, and the feedback we receive at this time will be invaluable for finishing Zenith, carrying forward to the full game.

Please drop your bug/crash reports over in this Steam discussion thread.

After the Next Fest, we will be drawing out an internal roadmap towards release, and will hold off on announcing a release date until we're 100% confident it will be achievable. Much of the important mechanical work is already in place, so we expect development to hit a nice healthy stride again after this event.

[h3]CALL TO ACTION[/h3]
The #1 thing you can do to help us at this time, would be add both Zenith and the full TSFTA to your Steam Wishlist. This lets Steam know people are interested, and can help grant us wider visibility around the store. Thank you all SO much for your support!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393290/They_Speak_From_The_Abyss_Zenith/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075460/They_Speak_From_The_Abyss/

Realms Deep 2023 & Development Update

[h2]REALMS DEEP 2023[/h2]
We are thrilled to have Zenith chosen to take part in Realms Deep 2023! This project has always been rather niche. So having an event as prominent and well regarded as Realms Deep single us out is both incredibly flattering, and motivating!!



We fully intended to have a playable version available for this event. Our apologies to anyone who landed on this page from the "Games with Demos" category. I don't think there's any way to drop out of that list at this stage?? The why is a bit longer of a story...

[h2]DEVELOPMENT UPDATE[/h2]
Zenith is a standalone Prequel to They Speak From The Abyss. This isn't a glorified demo, uploaded as a "Prologue", which has become a rather common developer trick here on Steam. While Zenith features locations and character from the Main Game, it is fully it's own game and experience!

[h3]Zenith will no longer be free[/h3]
Our initial decision to make this Prequel available for Free was made when the game was a fraction of it's current size. Zenith was originally conceived 7 MONTHS ago!! The project has grown a LOT since then! As an example, the game now features over 50 unique monsters, and 30 originals tracks in the OST.

With a growing scope, a challenging move to a new city mid-development, followed by Unity fully melting down - we had to re-evaluate a lot of things. It was decided that development will continue in Unity (starting over would be too costly), but not after weeks spent agonizing over whether that was still feasible. Especially when Free releases could potentially end up costing money to release with Unity's new Runtime Fee. That situation is a mess...

It took quite some time to come to terms with it - but Zenith will now be a paid release. We promise the price tag on this game won't break the bank! It will likely be somewhere close to $5 at launch.

No release date is set - and unfortunately due to missing our original release target, we are unable to change it to anything other than the "Coming Soon" you currently see. A demo is in the works, and will be announced on Nikki's twitter as soon as it's available! And be sure to Wishlisht the full game so you are notified for it's full release!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393290/They_Speak_From_The_Abyss_Zenith/

-Graeme
(2 Left Thumbs)