Creating It Lives Within was an incredible honor, and we're so proud of what we made. That said, because we released the game as we were writing it, we never had the chance to edit it as a single, cohesive work. And looking back, there were a lot of things I wished I could fix.
It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is my chance to do so. In addition to cleaning up pacing issues and strengthening weaker arcs, it also includes:
New art
New audio tracks and sound effects
Robust character customization
All-new scenes
Hundreds of new personality-based dialogue variants
A new MC hobbies/interests mechanic
Post-ending bonus episodes
Open code to let people edit their sprites and help others learn from our code, if interested
And more!
Keep reading under the cut for more details 🔥
Note: It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is a separate app from the original game. The original will remain available on our itch.io page, alongside Obsidian, under the name "It Lives Within: Legacy Edition."
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
NEW BODY TYPES
It was always our ultimate vision to include more body types. Now with our improved skills, we are happy to announce FOUR new body types!
Feminine Slim and Masculine Solid
Masculine Slender and Masculine Full
UN-GENDERLOCKED HAIRSTYLES
As the eagle-eyed may have noticed in the above screen shot, we also now have resized ALL hairstyles for ALL genders, for Devon, Harper, and Rowan alike. You can also now pick Harper's clothes!
BETTER ACCESSORY CUSTOMIZATION
Glasses, piercings, and earrings are separated so you can now mix and match as you please (example in the video below).
NEW HIJAB OPTIONS
New hijab options, plus you can now pick ANY hairstyle with the hijab, not just hairstyles that could be layered under the hijab without peeking out.
IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE
This video will showcase:
Revamped settings UI (you can now delete saves in game!)
Item descriptions and page tabs
Easier to navigate closet
Improved accessories selection
Background panning
Improved game animations
Auto-hiding settings buttons for a less cluttered screen
GAMEPLAY ADDITIONS
PERSONALITY SYSTEM REVAMP
I have meticulously gone through the game and adjusted countless dialogues and sprite reactions to help the three personalities (genuine/sarcastic/aggressive) feel more consistent. No more weirdly upbeat grumps or overly sarcastic sweethearts. You'll feel your MC's personality at all times - not just during menus.
INTERESTS SYSTEM
The Obsidian Cut gives Rowan the option to pick two hobbies or interests: a primary and secondary trait.
These interests will occasionally influence automatic dialogue, give Rowan unique dialogue options, and alter how certain scenes play out.
NEW SCENES
Let's just say what's the point of releasing a new edition if there aren't some new scenes? Have some teaser screencaps, and know there's more where that came from!
NEW OUTFITS AND SPRITES
Lincoln has new, meticulously hand drawn tattoos. Noah's new outfit was also drawn from scratch. While his outfit will be consistent throughout the game, Lincoln's is an alt that is worn on occasion. Other sprites and outfits may have been edited, but these two were the biggest jobs.
In addition to that, we also have some completely new creature sprites, and the final game product will showcase a some updated CGs as well!
BONUS EPISODES
And last but not least, you'll get to play some additional episodes following the end of the game:
The Beach Episode: Lincoln invites all your friends to Seaside, Oregon, for a group vacation. Mixed and blood routes.
The Shadow Episode: Amalia's graduating, and her friends are there to support her. Shadow route.
Because of the massive number of variants possible upon reaching the end, there will not be an additional episode for any of the other endings.
OPEN CODE
In addition to all these new features, we will be leaving the code open. As such, it will allow players to customize in-game sprites, so have fun editing and putting your character directly into the game! We also hope that the open code will be educational for anyone interested in making visual novels or Choices fan projects.
IN CONCLUSION:
It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is an edited alternate version of ILW that will be released in the next few months, started because I wanted to edit the game. It includes new art, scenes, game mechanics, and a streamlined user experience. That said, certain lines of dialogue were changed and other scenes were cut during the edited process. If you find yourself missing things that were in the original but are not in Obsidian, feel free to stick with It Lives Within: Legacy Edition.
Excited to share my work with you! Thanks for your support, and happy Halloween!! 🎃👻
This started as a warm up bc i was struggling to draw iruka, but now im giggling at the thought that the most intimate thing kks can do is read ao3 in nothing but his pants (maybe)
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