Hi all,

Thanks for checking in. This is a big one! 

Can you believe it? A little over a year ago, Endling was released into the wild. Time sure flies when you're having fun - or reliving the perfect day! Now, some 400 days of devlogs, screenshots, bug fixes, and Let's Play videos later, we come to you with an anniversary present: a true labor of love and a token of our sincerest appreciation for you all!

Introducing Endling: Anniversary Edition! That's right, your friendly neighborhood spiders have been hard at working cooking up a new, flashier, and altogether perfect-er version of this small, quirky indie game about freedom, choice, and loneliness. This new version features improved lightning, updated graphic assets, enhanced acoustics, tweaked choice outcomes, subtitles, and more! In other words, the game has never looked, sounded, or played this good - it really is the Endling of our dreams.

You can find a complete changelog at the bottom of this post, but right now, words can barely express our gratitude - or our excitement! Let's take a look at this comparative piece instead:

Not bad, huh? Seems the caretakers of the house changed a few light bulbs or something. Whatever they did, returning players will find a smoother, more vibrant experience with tons of subtle tweaks and changes. Enough for a replay - or two! And for those who have yet to try the game? Well, there's never been a better time to see what the fuss is all about! Here's another shot highlighting some of the changes:

Making a game is tough. Putting that game out there for all to see (and play) is even tougher. Will people like it? Hate it? Will they even care? Suffice it to say, for the past year we've been positively, veritably, absolutely blown away by the game's reception - by all you fine folks and the myriad comments, screenshots, memes, tweets, and videos you've shared with us. Knowing that Endling has done something for someone (let alone so many) out there, in the great unknown of cyberspace... we really could not be prouder of the game that we've made, nor happier with the loving feedback that we've received.

It is exactly thanks to all this feedback (some of which was gathered through the research edition - more on that in another devlog), that we've been able and motivated to tweak and improve the game. In every sense, Endling: Anniversary Edition was inspired by and made for you - the players. 

Before we set you free to delight and destroy this reworked release, we'll turn you over to our designer Martin, the mastermind behind the Anniversary Edition, who had this to say: 

"As our narrative (and devlog writing) mastermind Magnus beautifully puts it, we’ve been extremely humbled and inspired by the reception our little game has received. This update was made through the application of a year’s worth of gratitude and growth, and I hope you’ll all enjoy it. Endling marks a highlight of our studies, where we got to make something special with some of our favorite people, all of whom have gone on to create even more wonderful things. If you’re interested in unique games and art, then I’d highly recommend looking at the game’s credits and keeping up with the team 🙂!"

Finally, check out this absolute unit of a changelog:

New:

• Unique audio characteristics for each environment implemented with Resonance Audio.
• Subtitle support added.
• Additional outcomes for certain choices. 
• Complete post-processing & VFX overhaul.
• Additional animations for key moments. 
• Lightmap switching during key moments.
• Contextual tutorial prompts.
• Much more!

Changes:

• Re-baked lightmaps throughout all environments.
• Broken objects now have appropriate momentum.
• Game set-pieces greatly enhanced & optimized. 
• Various changes and fixes to improve the house model.
• Optimized scene changes to reduce visible lag. 
• Refractive glass shader added to glass surfaces. 
• Credits now transition back to main menu. 

Fixes: 

• Improved orientation of certain carriable items. 
• Greatly reduced jitter when transitioning between animation and gameplay. 
• Issue where a carried items would float upon entering animation is fixed.
• Color banding issues with directional lights are fixed.

That's it for now. We hope you enjoy this new and improved version of the game - as always, do let us know in the comments, on Twitter, YouTube, or someplace else entirely! Tell us what you think - oh, and tell your friends! There's a lot of love in the Endling community and it goes 'round, 'round, and 'round. Finally,  stay tuned for more updates in the not-too-distant future and until then, from bottom of our hearts...

THANK YOU!!!