Hi everyone, this is Carter Chang, developer of The Righteousness: SanGuo.

It’s the dog days of summer, and everywhere I look — news, short videos, whatever — everyone’s talking about how it’s the perfect time to lose weight.
And then I suddenly remembered a friend once said to me:

“Your 2D game takes over 6GB? What is this, a 2D AAA?”

Yeah… that one kind of stung. I couldn’t even argue with him. So, I decided it was time for The Righteousness: SanGuo to go on a diet too.

Here’s this month’s development update:

Since I’ve been developing the game solo from the start, I know exactly where the old pitfalls are — mostly issues with inefficient asset usage. So I went through and optimized a ton of art assets, created more shared resources, and cleaned up a lot of unused stuff.

The game size has now been reduced from 6.4GB to 4.97GB. (The last screenshot showed an even smaller patch size — this one bounced back a little due to new Chapter 8 content.)

But don’t worry — visuals, music, effects — everything is still intact. Nothing’s been cut, and performance has actually improved. Many scenes are now noticeably smoother and more stable.
In short, the diet worked!

While I was at it, I also made some adjustments to a few earlier stages.
Some paths were way too confusing and easy to get lost in. A few hidden spots were originally planned but never really implemented — now they are. I also added some small exploration paths here and there.

Overall, the difficulty has been toned down a bit, and convenience has been improved.
Feel free to revisit earlier stages — you might just stumble upon something new. (No screenshots here though — spoilers ruin the fun!)

The main story has now reached the end of Chapter 8, which is fully completed.
I’m currently working full-speed on Chapter 9, and it should be ready for release soon. (There will be 10 chapters in total.)

To be honest, the story beyond Chapter 9 deals with some major turning points in the characters’ arcs, so it’s a bit more complex to design than the earlier chapters.
They’ve all been through a lot by now — it’s only natural they grow and change. That’s taken some extra time to get right, so I hope you can bear with me!

Quite a few players have given feedback about things like combat feel, hit response, and pacing. While I may not be able to fix everything at once, I’ve taken note of it all and will continue making improvements step by step. Expect more updates in these areas soon.

All in all, the game is still under active development. Content is getting deeper, and the gameplay is being tuned to feel more satisfying and responsive.

I truly appreciate all the support from everyone — especially during the summer sale. Seeing so many of you buy the game, leave comments, and leave likes honestly left me a little overwhelmed (in a good way!).

I’m not really great at promotion, and I’m not the most social guy either, but I do read every single comment, and I reply wherever I can. Thank you so much for your support and patience with The Righteousness: SanGuo.
If you enjoyed the game, feel free to wishlist or follow — it really helps a lot!

This little “weight loss” update is just one small step forward.
There’s a lot more coming soon — please look forward to it!

We’ll meet again very soon.

— Carter Chang

Hello everyone, I'm Huangjin Alucard, the developer of The Righteousness: SanGuo.

I’m thrilled to share some great news: our game has been selected for the “Eastern Martial Artists Game Week” hosted by Spiral Up Games!
Many thanks to the mentors and industry veterans for your recognition. To celebrate, The Righteousness: SanGuo is now available on Steam with its first-ever limited-time 20% discount!

If you're into passionate combat, story-driven gameplay, and that nostalgic vibe reminiscent of old Famicom games, come give this heartfelt, indie martial arts action game a try!

Now let’s talk about the actual game.
The Righteousness: SanGuo is a Metroidvania-style action game that blends traditional Chinese art with side-scrolling combat.

Think classic styles like “Nine-Colored Deer” or vintage Romance of the Three Kingdoms illustrations—that’s the look we’re going for. You’ll play as Yang Xiu, navigating a chaotic world where war and monsters coexist, carving a path of righteousness alongside legendary allies.

Key Features:

• 🎨 Art inspired by Chinese lianhuanhua (picture storybooks) and 90s schoolbook illustrations—deeply nostalgic.

• 🎭 Over a dozen historical and original characters, each with distinct personalities.

• 👹 60+ monsters inspired by the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing), each with bizarre forms and unique mechanics. We've carefully crafted detailed dismemberment animations—guaranteed to satisfy action game fans.

  

• 🤝 Dual-protagonist storyline full of emotional twists, loyalty, and fateful decisions.

  

Beyond the visuals and story, let’s talk gameplay.
I’m a huge fan of classic games where each level felt fresh and surprising.
Remember how Devil May Cry 1 had a flying shooter finale? Or how Chōjin Sentai Jetman on the Famicom ended with a giant robot brawl?

I wanted The Righteousness: SanGuo to give you that same feeling of “every stage feels different.” So I’ve integrated a variety of gameplay styles directly into the main campaign, including:

• ⚔️ Side-scrolling action stages, now updated with a 2.0 combat system for faster, smoother battles.

• 🐎 Horseback chases and aerial shooting segments to switch things up.

  

• 🗺️ Overworld map exploration, random martial arts encounters, and outdoor caves (still in development) waiting to be discovered.

  

• 💎 Treasure System – Collect and strengthen items to unlock new areas and deepen your Metroidvania-style progression.

  

• 🧍 Morality-based encounters – Help Liu Bei build a world of righteousness. Some enemies you meet aren't hostile—free them to receive rewards and add a light moral choice element.

  

• 👹 Epic boss fights – Challenges abound in various forms… including a mech battle against the Black Tortoise in image 2!

  

The Early Access version currently includes about 70% of the main story content and is stable and fully playable.

It’s true that the last update was over a month ago—but don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned the game!
I’m still actively working on it behind the scenes. I haven’t pushed new builds recently mainly because there hasn’t been much new feedback or visibility, but I promise: if issues are reported, I respond and fix them quickly!

Right now, Chapter 8 of 10 is in development, and I’ve been fixing various bugs along the way. These bugs shouldn't significantly impact your experience in the current version.

Here’s what’s planned for future updates:

• ✅ Full main storyline completion

• 👾 More enemy types and new map areas

• 📜 Additional side quests and exploration content

• 🕹️ Continued refinement of combat rhythm and gameplay feel

After all that, the main thing I want to say is this:
This is a game my father and I spent five years building in our spare time.
Maybe The Righteousness: SanGuo didn’t catch your attention before—but I can honestly say that today’s version is much more fun and polished than what we had back in March.

⚔️ Amid the chaos of the Three Kingdoms, we await your blade!

And finally, here’s a photo of my father and me, working day and night across thousands of miles, pouring our hearts into this game. We’ll keep improving it, and we hope to deliver something that makes both you—and us—proud.

Thank you all for your support!

— Developer, Golden Alucard