Today marks the start of something special - as announced in our last update, we will start our series to properly introduce our new, second project - Tales from Beyond - the very thing we have been obsessing over for the last months since we finished our preview for One for Sorrow.

Even though we already shared a good amount of content over the last weeks, much more has been growing and going on behind the scenes like deciphering the ancient art of 2D rigging, lore cultivation, and figuring out how to code all of that with the help of our programmer. This series hopefully manages to involve all of you even closer in our creative process and give enough background so we can also build a base for informed community input and votes in the future.

In this first entry, we would like to introduce you to the heart of the game and why we think it's worth telling.

So, what is Tales from Beyond?

Our story is told as a fantasy, romance visual novel - dark, quite steamy, and sometimes emotionally devastating, in which you take the role of a female protagonist. After a death in the family (yeah, we have a pattern), MC returns to her childhood home to wish farewell and grief in peace.

But peace is not an option.

After a string of curious events in the old house, our MC is sucked into the Nether, falling straight into an unknown world beyond, where she will be faced with witches, werewolves, and vampires - which might occasionally want to kiss you, fight you, or drink your blood. Probably all three at some point.

Because falling through multidimensional portals is not the only falling we'll be doing; hopefully, we will also be falling in love with one of the two love interests, explore their stories and intimacy with them, and witness how each path will change our MC in one way or the other.

But beside our wish to create a monster/supernatural romance, we also want to grapple themes of identity and legacy, of power, prejudice, and making difficult choices in a world that hasn't decided yet if you are a savior or a threat. (Note: The gallery picture shows Killian on the left and Caleb on the right.)

What can you do in Tales from Beyond? How will you experience the story?

Even though we all do love a proper smooching, it's not all our game is about. You can also have sex.

Jokes aside (even though that's not untrue, we definitely will do NSFW), we also want you to get your fictional hands dirty in our world. Live in it and explore. Here is what you can expect:

• Choices with real weight. Emotions matter, tone matters, and the way you treat people does affect how they respond to you. We want you to be able to give your MC a face in character creation and a voice in her conversations and actions (metaphorically yet, because VA's are quite pricey).
• Time and resource management - Mini games and witchcraft. Beside potion brewing and house repairs, you will juggle magical rituals and errands. And what you focus on will shape your growth and romantic options. Some of these we plan to turn into a mini-game, others we will implement in the narrative.
• A romance that evolves - intimacy mechanics.  Your relationship with the love interests will build through choices, dialogue, shared experiences, and (depending on how bold you are) through tender and very spicy moments. But not just cutscenes. You will touch, explore, and tease your love interest through our body map system and reactions are tied to trust, desire, and the moon/blood cycle. Consent matters. Trust is earned. Desire can be mutual or...well, complicated.

With that summary and first impression, what can you expect next?

In the coming posts, we'll share:

• Character Introductions and deep dives later on
• LORE
• Behind-the-scenes writing and other creative processes
• System and Game mechanic introductions and breakdowns (like the emotion-based dialogue wheel, intimacy system, and the moon cycle dynamics, which we can't leave out of a vampire and werewolf romance game guys)

After all that information, we would love to hear from you. Our circle is still small, so we have time and energy to answer questions and give insights into things you'd like to know.

Next update, how about you decide who to meet - Caleb or Killian? Let us know in the poll below.

Much love Nuri from TripleThirst <3