Shards Of Solitude news & patch notes

New:

- The “Madness” difficulty level has been added. There are no achievements associated with this difficulty level. It is entirely optional. Players do not need to complete it to make any progress. This difficulty was added at the request of some players who found the “Hell” difficulty level too easy. I will continue to balance this difficulty as the game evolves. Bug Fixes:

- Fixed a bug that prevented Miyuki from moving if the player hugged her near a turned-on old radio.

- Fixed a bug that caused the location to become brighter than intended after completing the first challenge on the “Lights Out” difficulty level.

- Fixed collision issues near the bulldozer.

- Fixed numerous spots that the player could use to easily avoid Miyuki.

- Fixed collision issues near the stairs in the room with electrified water, where Miyuki could get stuck.

Gameplay Changes:

- Miyuki’s movement speed while in a friendly state on the “Normal” difficulty level is now higher.

- Miyuki’s line of sight and hearing range have been slightly increased. These changes are minor and will not significantly affect gameplay.

- On “Hell” difficulty, if Miyuki isn’t currently chasing the player, she now has a 25% chance to suddenly jumpscare the player in certain locations and begin a chase.

- On “Hell” difficulty or higher, if the player’s HP drops below 19%, Miyuki will execute them instead of continuing to attack. On very high difficulty levels, Miyuki deals increased damage, which will inevitably lead to player death at that HP percentage.

- The music during the final battle against Miyuki has been changed.

In rare cases, some players have reported that the buttons do not work in pause menu. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any bugs related to the pause menu. I tried to reproduce various situations that came to my mind and that players described, but the pause didn’t glitch and worked as intended. It seems the problem lies elsewhere.

What's New:

- The “Training” difficulty has been added. This difficulty will help players explore the map and item spawns without worrying about Miyuki. However, you will not be able to escape, perform the ritual, or reach any of the endings.

- A secret room has been added with a teaser for a future story chapter. It may be difficult to find, but for players who know the map well, this won’t be a problem.

- The camera will no longer shake violently when you fall into a trap or hit by broken glass.

- On the “Lights Out” difficulty, Miyuki will now jump on the player while picking up items, increasing the player chance of dying instantly. Try to leave Miyuki behind for a moment to safely pick up the item.

- Miyuki’s footsteps on the “Lights Out” difficulty have become significantly quieter. It’s now nearly impossible to track her by her footsteps. However, she can still give away her position with her voice.

- The notification that Miyuki has spotted the player has been removed in “Lights Out” difficulty. Bug fixes: - Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to get stuck behind the door near the spawn point.

- The player’s movement speed no longer increases while crouching if they were previously injured by the trap.

- The global volume slider now controls all in-game volume except for Miyuki’s voice and music. These can be adjusted separately.

- Players can no longer climb onto the boxes near the red container.

- Players can no longer jump onto the fallen red container.

- Players can no longer climb onto the blue container and the red barrels next to it.

- Players can no longer jump onto the trash and the blue container next to it.

- Players can no longer jump onto the blue central container.

- Players can no longer climb onto the boxes where the old radio sometimes spawns.

- Fixed an area near the old radio where the player could get stuck with no way to escape.

- Fixed an area where the player could climb onto the white barrels and subsequently get stuck with no way to escape.

- Players can no longer climb onto the bulldozer.

- Players can no longer climb onto the box where a key may spawn.

- Players can no longer climb onto the blue barrel near the spawn point.

- Players can no longer climb onto the boxes in the main corridor near the spawn point.

- Players can no longer climb onto the crates near the spawn point.

- Players can no longer climb onto the yellow and red barrels and also can't jump on the abandoned equipment in one of the main rooms.

- Players can no longer jump onto the abandoned equipment from the second floor and can't climb onto the objects next to it. - Players can no longer climb onto the old orange vending machine or certain objects near the spawn point.

- Players can no longer climb onto the table with the laptop, Miyuki could kill the player through the wall from there. Thank you to everyone who helped find many of these bugs!

Gameplay changes:

- The music box has been removed from the “Lights Out” difficulty.

- Miyuki's appearance has been slightly changed in “Hell” difficulty to make her look more dangerous.

- Miyuki will no longer pull the player out of the closet in a normal mood on the “Normal” difficulty level. She will simply wait for you near the hiding spot.

- Miyuki’s spawn point after the first challenge is now farther away to give the player more time to leave the ritual room or hide.

- Now, after disarming the trap, it will be completely destroyed, allowing players to open the door immediately and avoiding visual confusion during the chase.

Bug fixes:

- Miyuki will no longer stand up and attempt to kill the player during the exit key cutscene on "Normal" difficulty if she was previously under the influence of the music box.

- It is no longer possible to climb onto the bricks located near all staircases in the main rooms. This allowed players to easily avoid Miyuki and sometimes force her to abandon the chase.

- Fixed a spot where Miyuki could get stuck after jumping from the second floor in one of the main rooms.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to get stuck on a box near the room with the cameras.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to spawn in the ritual room when the player finished the second trial.

- Fixed an incorrect light effect near the exit door on certain difficulty levels.

- The pistol now correctly disappears along with the character’s hands when moving to the first trial during the ritual.

- The pistol is now automatically removed from the character’s hands when the player picks up the flashlight for the pistol, so the player doesn’t have to do this manually to turn on the flashlight.

- Another attempt to fix Miyuki getting stuck near the ritual door. Hopefully, she will now immediately move away from there if she gets stuck.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to start moving during the cutscene where the exit key is picked up.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to start moving while the old radio was playing.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to become immune to damage while in her playful state if the player shot her or used a knife. Known issues:

- If you stop Miyuki using the old radio and then play the cutscene where you picks up the exit key on normal difficulty, Miyuki will get up after a while and attack the player.

- Fixed a bug that caused the pause menu to stop working after interacting with cameras near Miyuki.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to get stuck in certain closets.

- Fixed the Russian localization in the “Lights Out” difficulty. The text no longer extends beyond the edges of the screen.

- Fixed a bug that caused some interface elements to remain on the screen during the endings.

- Fixed a bug that allowed Miyuki to enter Demon mode on the Lights Out difficulty.

- The Lights Out difficulty is now listed lower than Hell difficulty. This was done so that players can understand that this difficulty is not harder than Hell.

The new “Lights Out” difficulty level is now available! This difficulty isn't harder than Hell difficulty. You'll just need to adjust your approach to the game a bit. Test yourself in this new challenge, which will add a bit of variety to your gameplay. On this difficulty, you’ll need excellent knowledge of the location, it’s not recommended for new players. The factory is covered in darkness, Miyuki’s behavior changes, becoming more dangerous when she’s out of your sight. If you used to feel safe when Miyuki wasn’t around, things will be completely different now. You can read more details in-game when selecting the difficulty level.

Please note that this difficulty level is optional, and you do not need to complete it to unlock all endings. The endings available on this difficulty level are exactly the same as on the Hard difficulty level.

New Content:

- Added a new difficulty level: “Lights Out”

- Added one new achievement.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed a bug in the Italian translation of Miyuki’s real name.

- Fixed a bug that caused Miyuki to check the player’s last known location for too long.

Gameplay changes:

- Slightly increased Miyuki’s hearing range.

Over 2,000 copies have been sold so far! For a small solo indie developer like me, this is an incredible and unexpected achievement! To celebrate, I'm offering a 10% discount from May 24 - 31! I’d like to thank voice actress Erusha for gifting her voice to Miyuki and for her excellent work! I’d also like to thank the community for your amazing support and for your feedback, which helped me fix many bugs in the game! Thank you!

I’ll continue monitoring the Steam forums, reading feedback and ideas from the community to improve the game further and fix any bugs that are found.

Let’s talk about the game’s future. What about new content? Here’s what I plan to add to the game:

- New, fun interactions with Miyuki on the Normal difficulty level.

- More secrets that won’t be so easy to find.

- A new ending that will change the overall vision of the lore and show it from a different angle, though this ending won’t be considered the “true” one.

- New achievements tied to the new content.

- More of Miyuki’s voice lines related to both gameplay and the story. I’ve already contacted with the voice actress, and our collaboration will continue, which I’m very happy about!

- A new chapter with a new map and a new look for Miyuki, which will reveal her past. The gameplay will differ from the main game and will be more like playing a simple horror game with a single ending.

Creating the new chapter will take a very long time, so don’t expect this content anytime soon, also, a lot depends on how stable my life is. However, the remaining content can be completed within three months.

I wish us all a bright future! Miyuki is always watching you and will be waiting in the next updates...

- Fixed the French localization. Joseph's gender was incorrectly listed in the French translation.

- Key doors (used for the code puzzle) will no longer disappear near the player.

- Fixed a spot where Miyuki could get stuck. On the second floor, near the ritual room.

- Added a new function when interacting with the padlock in case of a soft lock. Players can now press the Spacebar or Esc if, for some reason, the padlock stops working. This function should force you out of the interaction with the padlock.

I hope you don’t mind that patches are coming out quite frequently these days, they’re very small in size, so it shouldn’t be annoying. I’ll be offline for the next 3 days, so it was decided to release the patch now.

Bug fixes:

- The “Can Escape” note is now positioned slightly higher so it doesn’t overlap with the main interface.

- The Russian localization of the word “Girl” has been corrected, and the text in the prologue that was extending beyond the screen edges has also been fixed.

- Fixed a bug that prevented Miyuki from climbing the central stair in the large room with containers.

- Fixed a bug that allowed Miyuki to teleport to the player after being neutralized by a ritual if the player made a mistake solving the picture puzzle.

Player suggestions Implemented:

- You can now hide/unhide the hud by pressing “T” by default. This does not affect subtitles. Many players like to take screenshots with Miyuki, so this option will be useful.

- The damage from broken glass has been increased to 5 on the Hell difficulty level. On lower difficulty levels, the damage remains the same.

- The player’s detection radius for disarming traps has been slightly increased.

- I've fixed the code that should force Miyuki to leave her position near the ritual room, in order to prevent a bug where she gets stuck near the door for a long time. After some testing and code tweaks, I noticed that this function is working as intended, so I decided to release a hotfix immediately. I hope this bug is finally fixed now.

Bug fixes:

- Fixed a bug that could cause Miyuki to get stuck behind an open door in the hallway with two pipes on the wall.

- Fixed a collision issue near the small stair in the large room with containers, players can no longer crawl under the staircase.

- Fixed a bug that prevented the player from exiting the padlock interaction when Miyuki transitioned from a calm state to a mad state.

- Fixed a bug that allowed the player to be killed through the wall in the starting room when climbing onto the bed. You can no longer climb onto the bed.

- Fixed a bug that could make the padlock inaccessible for the rest of the game if Miyuki came out of her mad state on Normal difficulty right next to a player who was standing near the padlock at that moment.

- I’m not sure if I’ve fixed the bug that sometimes causes Miyuki to stand near the ritual door and stay there indefinitely until the player performs some loud action, since this bug occurs randomly, but I’ve added a new code that should monitor Miyuki’s status near the door, if she stands by the ritual door for too long, a function in this code should force her to leave that spot and go to a random location on the map. Gameplay Changes:

- A new item has been added: A Water Bottle. Water bottles will now be randomly scattered across the map. You can only carry one water bottle at a time. The bottle icon will indicate whether you currently have one or not. Use the water bottle by pressing “V” (by default) to fully restore your stamina. This item can be used effectively during a chase to keep running without stopping. The number of water bottles on the map depends on the difficulty level.

- Miyuki’s player detection radius has now been slightly increased based on the last position where she saw the player. The changes are very minor, so you may not notice a difference at all, or only a slight one, as I’m afraid of overdoing it and making the chase too difficult.

- Players can now disarm traps. Crouch and approach the trap, an interaction icon will appear. Press “E” (by default) to disarm the trap permanently. The icon will not appear unless you crouch.

- Damage from broken glass has been reduced from 5 to 2. Some players felt this mechanic could be annoying, so I decided to lower the damage to ensure it doesn’t become too significant during the chase.

Many players encountered some difficulties while performing the ritual, so I decided to make the next changes.

- Added an interface to track collected slabs. It will be located in the lower-right corner of your screen. Now you will always know how many slabs you have collected and how many you have left to collect.

- Added a hint at the start of the first trial near the candle.

- A flickering light visible from any distance has been added to the first trial to make it easier for players to track Miyuki’s voice. Now, when you hear her voice, a flickering light will appear for a short time at the location you need to go to. This will repeat until you reach the correct spot.

- Fixed a bug that could cause the padlock to be broken ( the player couldn't enter the code ) on "Hell" difficulty.

Thank you for reporting any issues you find in the game! I always try to fix them as quickly as possible!

- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented players from entering the last numbers of the code. - Fixed a bug where the player could not stop interacting with the padlock while Miyuki was in a "friendly" mood.

- You can now carry two keys at once, instead of just one.

- Miyuki's player detection radius and angle have been slightly reduced.

- The slow-down duration after triggering a trap by player has been reduced from 10 to 6 seconds.

- Chinese is now available and working as intended.

Thank you for your patience.

“Shards of Solitude” is a short game where you must find a way out or banish the ghost of a girl who will try to stop you. The game features seven endings and three difficulty levels. On each difficulty level, Miyuki’s behavior will change, and escaping will become more difficult. To reach a specific ending, you must either escape or banish Miyuki; the ending will be influenced by various choices and non-obvious decisions.

There is a tutorial section in the menu; check it out if you encounter any difficulties during the game. On "Normal" and "Hard" difficulty, the endings differ by default. On "Hell" difficulty, the endings are the same as on "Hard" difficulty, so you don’t need to play through it if you plan to unlock all endings. This difficulty is designed only for those who want to experience true nightmare.

Miyuki will get you very soon, this will happen on April 14th. Try to escape the crazy girl or banish her. The decision is yours!

Due to some issues, Chinese language will be available later. Thank you for your patience!