Hello everyone!

Paul here from Cut to Bits. It’s been a long summer since launch and I wanted to do an update on the patches and some post launch notes from all the feedback we received from the community.

First up, a big thank you to everyone who bought the game and supported us. The feedback we received was invaluable and we think really helped bring the game up to a new level of quality. From all of us at Cut to Bits, we truly appreciate your support. You are a wonderful community.

So there is a lot to go through, let’s break it down!

We included many new features to reduce pain points. When you try to do something new, intent always leads, but at the end of the day it’s the player's enjoyment that really matters.We decided to make some changes to some design decisions. These meant late night calls back and forth but we collectively feel we made the right plans.

First up was the feeling of exploration. While the intent (you might hear that a bit) was to really create a deep dynamic world that backtracking should complement the rare drops from enemies and showcase the time of day, quests and NPCs, but there is only so many times you can hear that Rose the Dreamer’s quest was a right pain! So we did two things;

At the end of Act 2, we decided to give the pocket watch to the player. This allows the ability to change the time of day and cycle through the weather at any save point.
We also put in sewer entrances in a lot of places, that will allow immediate access to Rainybrook Sewers where you can fast travel to key biomes very easily. If you made a mistake, don’t worry, you can always leave and return to any point you previously left from. This was a really hard one for the team, as we really wanted the player to enjoy the world and backtrack and discover new things, but the feedback was quite visible, so we empower you, the player, to decide.

We rebalanced all the enemies in the game. This one took a bit of back and forth with the team, as the intent was to really reward those who value exploration and earnt the upgrades to become a monster. So we decided to really hone into the commonly complained enemies, such as the boar, fox and the nurse and higher powered creatures. We fine tuned a lot of variables and made enemies far less grindy at a lower level amongst other things. We also reworked the hit boxes for creatures which were flagged as being too unfair.

For those who really want a challenge we have the Prisoner Garb at Batty Badgers for an achievement which will make the game increase in difficulty. Just remember to equip when the shop opens and really earn it!

We set out to make a game that prioritises accessibility. With this we added new features to help more casual players who want a more narrative experience. We added a No Damage mode for those who are new to the genre and wanted to see the stories we spent so long on. This compliments the Extra Hit Points for an ‘easy mode’ and the Extended Parry Window.

Now we had a bit of a bumpy launch, as when we rolled out a game with so many systems and freedom of exploration, that on PC hardware and the steam deck, it’s hard for a small team to cover all bases. We made this our highest priority for our early patches. We worked very hard to optimise and squeeze the most out of what we can do and also support lesser common hardware setups (ultra widescreen and steam deck was a challenge for those who know the pain!). We thank everyone who sent their PC data and saves to really track and make retro fixes.

Finally, is the map. Making a map for a simple 2d game is pretty complicated at best. But as we have a world that is composed of layers of 2d that you can explore, the UX was super complicated. We set out to first look at a feasibility study of what we can achieve now and what would be cut to cover the cost. We deep dived into two modes. One with a more classic map and one with the classic intent of making a theme park kinda map and letting the player discover and not hand hold.

Considering our options and time, we decided to choose features that alleviate the frustration of backtracking and to add a new mutation. We added Homing Harmony to give a compass to allow guidance to find secrets and to help navigation.

It’s pricey, but rather good.

Now all this to be said we still value the feedback and in further patches we will prioritise the map as an extended feature.

As a conclusion from the team, it’s been a whirlwind summer. We thank everyone for their feedback. Autumn is a wonderful time, and inspiration for all of us to polish, refine and share new developments. Enjoy this wonderful Halloween and …. Become the monster !

Cut to Bits (and Paul)

P.s. to all on our discord server who really got involved … You rock!

V1.06 has more optimisations and stability fixes.

Achievement bugs have been resolved.

Hello from Studio Cut to Bits.

We have been listening to all the feedback from the community and we have some wonderful new additions to bring to you in our latest patch, V1.05.

More accessibility options, such as.

No damage mode - a setting which disables death on the player for those who want a narrative adventure, to play and explore the world at their own pace.

Fast Travel - Rainybrook, has opened up the old manholes, to now allow for more access points to get to the sewers to allow faster exploration between distant areas.

Enemy rebalancing - Polish on AI, hitboxes and also enemy hit points rebalancing to reduce grinding powerful enemies.

Optimisation and bug fixes. We have increased performance for those using the steam deck and for those who are running on lower end specifications. This also includes new fixes for ultra wide monitors.

Many small fixes to improve more polish for quests, maps and for localisation.

Step into the eerie town of Rainybrook with a 20% discount for Steam’s Summer Sale. And if that’s not enough to give it a try, we have released a new extended demo that lets you play through the prologue and Act 1 for free.

Once you start meeting Rainybrooks residents and find yourself wanting more, you can carry your progress into the full game with you.

This is the perfect time to Venture to the Vile.

Studio Cut to Bits

We have released a new patch for Venture to the Vile that will significantly improve performance on PC and Steam deck. We have also addressed issues of players preventing side quests and achievements. We have resolved over 250 issues and tasks in this patch and the highlights of the fixes are as follows.

• Optimization to address crashing and performance issues on PC and Steam deck
  
• Quality settings have a greater impact on game performance
  
• Implementation of “Homing Harmony”, an unlockable skill to find items in a level
  
• Implementation of the time skip feature that allows players to progress time (unlocked in Act 3)
  
• Enemy and Combat Balancing (go to the VttV discord for more detailed information)
  
• Audio polish
  
• Increased the number of supported resolutions
  
• Achievement bugs resolved (retroactive)
  
• Skill page UI improvements
  
• Added a limit to Maximum upgradeable health
  
• Game completing percentages have been fixed
  
• Increase the chance of catching rare fish
  
• All rabbits will be respawned to ensure all players are able to complete challenges
  
• Costume related bugs
  
• Added checks to make it harder to fall through the world
  
• Will-o-wisps in the Lost Thicket fixed
  
• Side quest fixes

Thank you for playing Venture to the Vile and being patient with us as we improve the game. We will continue to support and improve the game so I hope you all have a great time playing.

Join our discord for game discussion and additional information on the game!
https://discord.gg/jv2dPDqEBY

A patch that fixes language issues and achievement is now out.

The fixes in the patch are as follows
-Additional keyboard input support for ui (arrow keys)
-Fixed a bug where language selection on the first launch would only partially change the language
-Fixed achievements not being awarded issues (issue still present for Wisp o' the Willows and Horseshoes) this is retroactive

We are working on Patch for mid-June to address quest and audio issues and improve performance.

Thank you for your understanding and patience, we are doing our best for you to have the best experience of our game as early as possible.

Studio Cut to Bits

Hello adventurers,

We’re excited to share that Venture to the Vile is out now on PC with a 10% launch week discount!

Check out the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, which includes the stunning original soundtrack as well as a digital copy of the game’s gorgeous companion comic book.

Enjoy your time in Rainybrook!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2153750/Venture_to_the_Vile/.


Follow us on other platforms below!
Twitter, IG[www.instagram.com], Discord[discord.com], TikTok [www.tiktok.com]

皆様により本作品のことを知っていただくための紹介映像を公開しました！

皆様により快適で面白いゲーム体験をお届けできるように本作品の開発に努めてまいりますので、今後とも変わらぬご愛顧をいただけますよう、心よりお願い申し上げます。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNNrpPcFb-0

Para poder ofrecer la mejor experiencia a nuestros jugadores, el lanzamiento de Venture to the Vile, antes fijado en el martes 7 de mayo de 2024, se ha retrasado.
Fecha de lanzamiento: 7 de mayo de 2024 → 22 de mayo de 2024

Queremos disculparnos con todos los jugadores que están deseando que el juego esté disponible y esperamos seguir contando con vuestro apoyo mientras damos los últimos retoques a Venture to the Vile.