Hello world! Here's another update on Whispers in the Moss, the full-scale textmode JRPG set to be released in June 2024.

After finishing the game's main story arc in late 2023, I conducted several very detailed playthroughs, playtesting and polishing things. It took me longer than expected, but now I'm happy to announce that the game is finished and it will be released in June 2024. Hooray! As it stands, the game will be available through Itch.io, Steam and also GOG. Check out this new trailer for the game below:

In addition to all the polishing and bug fixes, I ended up adding a significant amount of new content to the game too during the playthroughs of the last months. This included a few superbosses, new mini dungeons, around 30 new enemies, lots of new enemy attack types, new battle mechanics and updated visuals, new side quests, lots of new NPC interaction, dialogue and scenes, et cetera.  I also gave countless of maps, enemy sprites, and other graphical assets overhauls. A major theme was balancing the difficulty of the game. In addition to balancing enemy difficulty and player skills, I also added two optional difficulty modes: a story-driven mode with easier battles and increased EXP gains, and also a more difficult game mode for those looking for the extra challenge. I also introduced a "stacked EXP" mechanic, which allows the player to accumulate EXP rewards from side quests and mini games as an alternative source of EXP should old-school grinding not be your thing.

A major addition during these playthroughs were the sound effects. While I composed the soundtrack myself, I decided to go with third-party sound effects (mainly from the awesome users at Freesound.org). The game has around 110 different sound effects, and while hardly a surprise, it's worth noting that they add a massive amount of juice to the gameplay.

I've also done plenty of work on the menus, UIs and stuff like the bestiary. I decided to ditch the achievement system I had planned for the game earlier. For completionists, the main task will be to complete the game's bestiary with 170+ unique enemies, but finding all the chests (240/240), completing all the side quests, and mastering the mini games (fishing, colosseum, et cetera) will be some additional challenges to undertake. After finishing the game, you'll also get access to a New Game+ mode, which allows you to transfer most of your stats and inventory into a new save.

That's it for today. Stay tuned!

- T / Uncultured Games