Thunder Lotus Games (TLG) has addressed some of the challenges it encountered during the launch week of its sophomore production Sundered, a hand-drawn Metroidvania released on July 28th. In a blog post published this morning by TLG President and CEO Will Dubé, the developer strikes an optimistic tone, expressing gratitude towards the fans of the game, while openly acknowledging the various technical and gameplay issues that have required the developer’s full and ongoing attention since launch.
The developer has been proactively updating players on Sundered’s known issues and patches, both on its website and on Steam, where a healthy dialogue between the developer and the community has been ongoing since launch. Along with the continual improvements being made to the game, the developer’s efforts at open communication and transparency seem to be bearing fruit: the proportion of positive user reviews on Steam has steadily risen from a low point of 69% the day after launch, to 75% as of this writing.
Clearly distinguishing these necessary improvements to Sundered’s quality from any possible changes to the game’s core design, M. Dubé firmly defends Sundered as an original take on the Metroidvania genre, stating that planned future content for the game would not alter its fundamental game systems, but rather build upon them.
“Sundered has tons of potential,” Dubé states. “We know the game isn’t perfect, but we’re fiercely proud of the step up we took from (TLG’s debut game) Jotun. And we can’t wait to show you what we’re doing next.”
Sundered is a horrifying fight for survival and sanity, a hand-drawn epic from the creators of Jotun. You play Eshe, a wanderer in a ruined world, trapped in ever-changing caverns teeming with eldritch horrors. Harness the power of corrupted relics to defeat gigantic bosses, at the cost of your humanity. Resist or Embrace. Sundered was released on July 28th, 2017 on PlayStation®4, Steam, GOG, Humble Store, Origin, Twitch, Nuuvem, Uplay PC, and Chrono.gg. Retail price is 19.99$ USD.
