Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well and staying safe. I took a pretty long break between updates to relax and reprogram my work habits a bit. By the time I launched the demo, I was really wound up for a myriad of reasons and I felt the need to step away for some time. I'm really thankful I have the freedom to do that because I know not everyone does. Anyway, about a month ago, I finally got back to work and began with making some improvements and changes to the demo. Most of what I did is now present in the demo but much of it was made in preparation for the future and won't really be apparent until later parts of the game are accessible. Below you will find an overview of those changes in order from first completed/remembered to last:

• New Particles: Added a few extra particles pertaining to water such as splashing footsteps and water drops for edges. The individual rain drops have also been changed so look nicer up close.
• New Water: A completely new and opaque water shader and game object. The shader has multiple layers like surface grunge, parallax subsurface grunge, and a faked parallax floor. It also features the usual mirror reflections, ripples and refraction. The game object will also create ripple and splashing particle effects for the player.

• New Creature - Shadow Figures: These, you won't see in the demo but are spectral shadowy figures that will stalk the player in future segments of the game.
• Text Shader Outline: The flat red text shader used for all in-game text prompts has been given an outline of sorts to make reading in complex lighting situations a bit easier. One of the worst case scenarios was finding a Pensive Undead at night with low health. The problem are my light volumes rendering in front of the text so there is still room for improvement. It's not quite so bad anymore at least...

• Next Scene Message Collision: Some players were able to skip through the Next Scene Loader messages because the collider was too small. I just made them bigger is all.
• Night Scene Laughing: There's a part where you can hear laughing in the forest at night. It's supposed to be limited to an area but would sometimes continue to the end of the level. I made sure to disable the laughing before you continue to the end.
• New Detail Objects: I made some detail objects like rocks and leaves to scatter around the environment. It's subtle but adds a nice bit of depth to the otherwise flat looking surfaces.
• Area 1 - Second Pass: I went back through and added detail objects to all scenes in the first area. Among the many small adjustments and additions, I changed some of the messages to only appear once if they are located on any main paths. Some players had the impression they were being blocked by these messages.
• Messenger Message: The Messenger now has a message for the player after they take the lantern.
• Area 1 - Spirit World Overhaul: The Spirit World is where you end up after dying. It used to be just a black void but I created a unique environment to explore while looking for your body. All future areas will have a similar Spirit World to explore in the event of death.

• QTE Button Prompt: When attacked, the attack button will flash on screen indicating what to press during this event. The graphic will reflect your control scheme (gamepad or keyboard) and there is also an option to select a PS1 theme if using gamepad.

• Spider Indicator: The spider in Area 1 - Part 2 now makes a sound when triggered. I noticed a lot of people running right passed her and either being confused about the sound effect or missing the event entirely. Not everyone stumbles on the spider's little cave there but at least now, it will be more likely someone will see.
• Visual Effects Note: New players or anyone starting a new game will be informed about the visual effects options located in the options menu. Many players who were uncomfortable playing the game with the dither shader on, did so with out knowing it can be switched off. 

And aside from probably a hundred other too-small-to-remember items, that's all that's new in the demo! I can't say it's worth playing through again for people who already have but at least it will be a nicer experience for new players and the changes will all carry over to future releases. However, if you have already played through and are like, "Spirit world? Night area? Enemies? What?" maybe give it another playthrough and avoid camping if you can :)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!