Hey everyone!

So, uh… it’s been a little while, huh? I’m beginning to wonder if you guys and gals still have faith in BLANK at this point, considering the game was released over two years ago and the Spirits Within Expansion STILL isn’t complete.

Now as much as I would love to say that progress on the game is going well, I’ll be frank. It really isn’t… and why’s that? Well that’s because around a month and a half ago, I landed a Full-Time Position working as a Graphic Designer for a company. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy to have this job and wouldn’t want it any other way, it just means that I’m having a tough time juggling my Full-Time Job with my Personal Time and BLANK Development. Not only that, but I am still working behind the scenes on that other RPG I mentioned over a year ago. But you don’t wanna hear about that, do you?

You’re here for BLANK news and ladies and gentleman, I (thankfully) am in a stage where I am free to talk about what’s new in the world of BLANK. Buckle up, everyone. This is going to be a long ride…

THE SPIRITS WITHIN - Summary

Ominous

BLANK: The Spirits Within is a new Expansion Pack to BLANK, that adds several hours of new and exciting gameplay, including a brand new Campaign, new Enemies to fight, new Bosses to overcome, tons of new Items and Gauntlets, Mega Dungeons that will truly test your skills in the game.

As you can tell, this is a massive update in the works for the game, and I do plan on going all out with this. There will be so much more content for players to explore in this game and perhaps I may even take the time to continually improve things in the base game experience as well (New Secret Dungeons in Transech, etc.).

Now while I’ll only be talking about some of the new details about the expansion, let’s go over the most important one of them all. One that I have actually gone ahead an altered to better improve the fluidity of the experience.

The Story

Spirits

Unlike the base game for BLANK, which takes place in the odd world of Transech, The Spirits Within will take Veta and her Ring Spirits to Sanctaros, a mysterious and forgotten land filled with both mystery and danger. Your reason for being here is simple.

You are asked by a certain individual (who I will not be revealing) to go to this land to save their family from a dark threat. Initially believing this to be our good old friend, Corruption, our valiant Female Warrior makes her way to this archipelago of islands. Luckily for us, Veta is prepared for anything…

Uh-oh…

Well, almost anything… Yeah, it turns out that something’s gone very wrong in the land of Sanctaros. You see, Sanctaros is a sacred land, where the Spirits themselves roam free and live in harmony with both the land and the local Demans that live there (Fun Fact: They really don’t like Ring Spirits). But when Veta arrives in Sanctaros, she finds the land in chaos.

And why is this? Well that’s because apparently there’s a new threat to the world of BLANK. One that doesn’t just affect Demans, but the Spirits and land itself. While Corruption twists and mutates all those who come in contact with it, it can never affect the Spirits, for they are astral beings and are immune to its effects. But this new plague? Yeah, it totally can affect Spirits? So what’s it called?

Rubessence

A dark, sanguine-red essence that changes everything in the land, from Demans to Spirits. However, the big difference between this new plague and Corruption is that while the latter twists people into horrible abominations on a purely chaotic scale, the former appears to mold its victims. What I mean by this is those affected by Rubessence seem to transform through a specific algorithm of sorts (almost like a in-grained method, rather than pure chaos like Corruption). But don’t be mistaken, Corruption is still present in Sanctaros, and you will still be fighting against it.

And that’s not all you’ll be fighting. Remember those lovely cultists you fought back in Chapter 5 of the main game? Well some of them are located here in Sanctaros, lead by a dark figure known as Vikul.

Snek

Vikul, a small but influential leader, has taken command of a small sect of the Cult of the Void here on Sanctaros for one sole purpose. To bend the Spirits of Sanctaros to his will. But like all great Shyamalan films, there’s always a twist. And in this case, it would be that there’s another Cult that wants the power of the Spirits for themselves. And these lovely individuals are known as the Sanguine Order

Hiss

Now you may be making a connection here with the colours of these cultists’ robes, and you would be given a cookie for your excellent observation skills. This new cult appears to be somehow related to the recent rise of this strange *Rubessence substance and naturally it’ll be your job to find out how they’re involved. But thankfully, it won’t just be you doing all the investigating. Most of that will go to your new Companion, Verona.

Verona

Pretty

Meet Verona, Veta’s new Companion for the Spirits Within Expansion. Now what do I mean by Companion? Well if you’ve played any RPG games like Mass Effect or Fallout, you will know that Companions are NPCs who journey with you across the land. In this case, it’s Verona. She is the last member of a prestigious order of Deman priests known as The Seeresses’, a group of Demans who speak with the Spirits and the Watchers, the Protector Ghosts of Sanctaros. Because what you’ll find out very soon is that Verona is a central piece to the story of the Spirits Within and it’ll be up to you (the player) and Veta to help this lovely lady stop the threats of Corruption and Rubessence and save Sanctaros. Sounds easy enough, huh?

What’s that?

You already have Companions in the form of Ring Spirits and you dont’ wanna leave theme for some mysterious lady? Well first of all, that’s very inconsiderate of you. Shame on you. Second, Verona herself doesn’t like to fight. As a Companion, Verona will not participate in any battles and will not be a member of Veta’s Party. Rather instead, she will follow Veta around the land of Sanctaros, comment on the events unfolding and even allow you to initiate small talk (though I imagine it won’t be pleasant). A few people have expressed concerns on Veta’s relationships with other people (specifically her “family”) and have yearned to see her interact with another person who won’t die straight away or betray her. Not to worry, my lovelies… Verona will stick besides you for the majority of the Expansion. And heck, I’m sure you’ll need that TLC after encountering the new baddies you’ll face.

New Enemies

Yuck!

As you can see, Rubessence isn’t very nice. Like Corruption, it’s twisting people into strange abominations and here is but a small selection of the new enemies you will be fighting. (Keep note, some of these enemy designs have yet to have sprites complete, so they will be presented through simple concept art).

Yeah, those things don’t look very nice do they? Well if you don’t like those things, you’re REALLY not going to like what’s in store for you in regards to the Gauntlets.

The Gauntlets

RIP

The newest (and arguably my favourite) piece of content that will be awaiting you in The Spirits Within are The Gauntlets, Mega-Dungeons that are filled with some truly mind-bending puzzles, tough-as-nails enemies, unfair bosses and amazing loot. Better still is that they’re entirely optional. You don’t have to complete them to beat the main story of Sanctaros (but they will give you a more satisfying conclusion to certain events, if you catch my drift).

So far, my plan is to include two Gauntlets when the Spirits Within is released. They are as followed:

The Cathedral of Light - Enter the birth place of the Guardian of Light, Lumenax and uncover the truth of his madness.

The Ruby Void - Delve deep inside the darkest recesses of the Astral Plane and discover the source of Rubessence.

Welp, that’s all I have to discuss about the Spirits Within. Again, I’m sorry about not keeping you all as updated as frequently as you would like, I’ve just been very busy with life stuff. But if there’s any questions you’d like to ask, just send me a message or leave a response underneath and I’ll do my best to answer in time!

With that, I’m out! Have a nice day, everyone!

Kind Regards,
King Sangos