Since the release of the game is almost right around the corner, I decided it wouldn't hurt to set some expectations and maybe also answer some questions some of you might have!

In comparison to Phobia, SHOWMAN'S: The Awakening has had a massive visual overhaul, from the menus to every single environment. I tried my absolute best to make it look great and honestly, I think it turned out looking so much better than I was even expecting! It's nothing amazing graphically, but it is a lot nicer looking than Phobia.

The gameplay is mostly the same, with some slight tweaks to a few character's behaviors to keep players on their toes just a little more. All their movement speeds remain untouched from Phobia, meaning the challenge is just about the same.

A lot of the sounds and music from Phobia have been kept, such as the music that plays throughout the nights. Some things have been changed, however, but that is only because they needed to better fit with the new changes.

In terms of completely new additions and major changes, I won't say much to avoid spoiling anyone. All I will say is that I put a LOT of hard work into them and they're easily my favorite things I've done for this game. A lot of them are also a major reason why the game has taken so long to develop!

I think I said this before, but story-wise, it is still the same chapter of the same story. However, one great thing about this game's super long development is that it allowed me to do a lot of planning ahead. I'd say the entire lore and story of the possible series is roughly 80% fully planned out as of right now. I know what has already happened, what will happen next, and what is currently going on. So even if you're left with a lot of questions, a lot of things you will see in The Awakening was put in there for a reason and even has meaning. Assuming the series continues, most of your questions from each game will eventually be answered.

Phobia lacked a lot of context to its story due to a bunch of things being cut from the game, plus I only had a very rough idea of what the story was going to be at the time. It's honestly funny to think that Phobia was technically an unfinished game simply due to me not wanting to work on it anymore. I had NO idea I was ever going to release it publicly at the time of finishing it, and if I did know, the game probably would've been pretty different on release.

And if anyone wants to know, no, there is no custom night in SHOWMAN'S: The Awakening, nor will there be one in any possible future games. 90% of people play custom nights for their hardest difficulties, and that's already the later nights of this game. Making a mode where you need to beat a potentially impossible night just doesn't sound very fun to me. I'd much rather make an "Ultimate Custom Night" style game where it is the primary focus, with something like unlockable characters, in-game currency to buy powerups, and other things that just wouldn't fit in a game like this lol. I don't know if it'll ever happen but if it does, I'll do it that way.

The last thing I want to mention is the save data.

It uses the same exact save data programming Phobia did, so if the issue where your save data goes away after closing the game happens to you in Phobia, it probably will in SHOWMAN'S. This used to happen to me, but it stopped after I did something I can't remember for whatever reason. I've tried to fix it for people many, many times in Phobia but I've been met with 0 luck to a point where I honestly think it's a user error (or just a hiccup that can be fixed easily), but I'll still try my absolute best to help anyone who might encounter this issue once the game releases!

We’re very very close! I should have big exciting news coming up in only a few days or so.