Dear Inmates,

Back to the Dawn is still on sale at 15% off, but the discount ends tomorrow. If you haven’t "entered prison" yet, now’s the time—don’t miss out!

Our game first entered Early Access in the winter of 2023, and it’s thanks to your support along the way that we’ve made it this far.

Some players once told us, “Thomas's storyline was already rich enough at the start of EA, why not move on to developing the new character, the Panther, sooner?” We truly appreciate this kind of understanding, but our small team tends to be a little stubborn. Just like how we insisted on entering Early Access in the first place—even if some players felt Thomas's route was already complete, to us, it wasn’t. So we chose to remain in EA until it felt truly finished.

To be honest, being a "Chinese EA game” has brought some doubt, and made some players hesitant to buy. But we have no regrets. Time will speak for itself. This was our first time developing something entirely the way we wanted.

And when we launched the game, your support gave us the confidence to go all-in. We poured all our resources and passion into this project, even at the cost of overextending ourselves.

This is the reality of most indie games—we constantly walk the line between ambition and practicality. Breathing life into this world and its characters is far from easy. Due to time and budget constraints, we’ve had to give up on many creative ideas we once envisioned.

Back to the Dawn is not a perfect game, but we can proudly say: we love every brick and tile of Boulderton Prison, and we’ve done our best to polish it with care. What we can promise is this—in the limited time we had, we gave it everything we’ve got.

On August 5, the game will officially leave Early Access and the price of the game will increase to $23.99 USD. This is something we promised from the beginning and a decision we made carefully. Rest assured, even though the game will be officially released, our work on Back to the Dawn won’t stop. We’ll continue monitoring its performance, actively fixing issues based on your feedback, and releasing optimizations as needed to provide a more stable and complete experience.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1735700/Back_to_the_Dawn/

Time flies—it’s already the beginning of autumn again. It’s been three and a half years since we released our very first demo. Thank you for sticking with us all this time. As a CRPG, Back to the Dawn is not a “simple” game, and we’ve been lucky enough to meet a group of “not-so-simple” players.

Thank you for taking the time to experience the game and share it with your friends. Most of all, thank you for your support and patience. If this game has brought you any joy, then we’ve achieved our goal.

“Adversity may break us, but don’t let it defeat us.”

- Metal Head Games

Update on the Pricing Adjustment Progress:

Dear Inmates,

We have submitted a pricing adjustment request to Steam, but it was rejected as price changes are not allowed within 30 days after a game’s official release. We are currently confirming whether this 30-day period is counted from the end of the discount or from the release date. As a result, we will need to postpone the price adjustment to the week of August 18. If there are any further changes to this timeline, we will promptly update everyone.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Dear inmates,

Thank you for your continued support and feedback!

Here are the patch notes for this update:

Optimizations & Adjustments:

• Improved the loading speed when using Memory Recall, with a faster loading animation and removal of scene information display.

• Optimized performance in sewer-related scenes.

• Adjusted the Befriended condition. You must now befriend a prisoner before you can deepen your understanding of them.

• Adjusted the trigger time for Thomas’s monologue when already befriended in Start New Game+. It can now be triggered on Day 1.

• Improved collision detection for the package cart on the first floor of the prison.

• Added the method to claim the Artbook in the DLC Bundle Guide on the main menu.

• Adjusted the method of claiming items from the package cart. The cart will now display a maximum of 100 item records at a time. After collecting items, reopening the cart will refresh and show the remaining items.

• Adjusted the UI layout of the Memory Recall (Load/Save) feature to improve the visibility of the New Save button.

• Adjusted the save logic in Fenra’s chapter. Automatic Memory Recall saves will no longer be generated during this chapter.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a softlock issue that occurred after helping prisoners play cards in the General Building when time passed 5:30 PM.

• Fixed an issue where placing a Toothbrush Shank under Hakuna’s bed would show time consumption but did not actually consume time.

• Fixed an issue where the Black Panther escape cutscene with Fenra would get stuck in the operating room.

• Fixed an issue where players could challenge Crunchy in the hospital.

• Fixed an issue where entering the hospital examination room by guessing the password would result in a prompt saying the player had no password upon exit.

• Fixed abnormal door behavior for the Church Lounge and the Staff Block cleaning room.

• Fixed an issue where weapons with cutting traits could not use combat skills, specifically the Holy Sword.

• Fixed an issue where invisible walls appeared around chairs in the cafeteria.

• Fixed a text display issue where speaking to the guard in the Staff Block and going to the infirmary would result in garbled text.

• Fixed an issue where having the Iron Throne skill would prevent stamina gain when using the toilet in certain locations.

If you come across any issues, please let us know by filling out our bug report form[forms.gle]. Your feedback is crucial in helping us improve the game and ensure your prison escape experience is as smooth and thrilling as possible.