Play as Rip Kim, a powerful warrior who’s the last of his kind. Journey through the dark and twisted levels of a ruined world in order to uncover secrets and vanquish evil spirits.

Featuring gorgeous art, stylish combat, and metroidvania elements, The Devil Within: Satgat is a side-scrolling adventure with a sinister soul. A once-peaceful world has been overrun with evil spirits, destroying much of the environment. Creatures of all kinds lurk, ready for a fight. Travel through the world striking down enemies one by one, gaining new abilities along the way. 

The Devil Within: Satgat invites players to venture deep into the vast interconnected maps. From decaying urban sewers to frigid mountains and dense forests, every area is an opportunity to uncover secrets, get upgrades, and defeat bosses. Learn amazing skills and use special weapons obtained from evil spirits.

As players progress throughout the levels, a more ominous story emerges. As Kim continues killing evil spirits, he realizes an uncomfortable truth: the best way of vanquishing these spirits is to harness their energy for himself. With each kill, he absorbs more and more power, gaining new abilities. Journey further into the dark corners of the world to discover how to control an increasingly evil body. 

Are you brave enough to search for the devil within?

Newcore Games announced that a new demo of The Devil Within: Satgat will be coming to Steam during the Steam Scream Fest on October 26, 2023.

Newcore Games was able to work with Matthew Kiichi Heafy, guitarist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Trivium, in making tracks for The Devil Within: Satgat. The new demo features 2 of Matthew Heafy’s tracks, which can be heard at the title screen and at the final boss fight of the demo!

Alongside new tracks created by Matthew Heafy, the updated demo of the game boasts several significant improvements and changes, such as: 

• Upgrading to Unreal Engine 5.2, allowing for major optimization upgrades
• A complete revamp in the storytelling to make it more player-friendly
• Adjustments to the combat mechanics to enhance player experience
• An updated skill learning system tied to exploration
• More interactive maps
• A renewed HUD and overall user interface
• Improved character modelling

Story Telling Adjustments

Our goal was to introduce the world of The Devil Within: Satgat and tell the story of Kim Rip, the main character of the game. However during the last demo, we received feedback where there was a gap between "the lore of the world" and "the amount of information a player is able to absorb at a given time." This gap was so large that it made it difficult for players to understand the information presented to them. In conjunction with this, we found that many players were leaving during the intermission-like area (Miraboel).

Based on user feedback and data, we realized that the way the story was told was against the design principles we have and decided to rework the initial part of the game.

The structure of story has been changed so that the conversations between Kim Rip and those around him are easier to understand. Changes have also been made so that players can enter the combat sections of the game faster than before, while balancing it with the lore and tutorial of the game.

Combat Improvements

We received a lot of great feedback regarding the combat of the game, but there was also feedback on the short-comings of combat. When looking over all of the feedback, we balanced it with the direction of the studio and made significant changes to make combat even more enjoyable!

Weak and Strong Attacks

The Devil Within: Satgat had two basic attacks: weak attacks (can be used at any time, no knockback and does not cost AP) and strong attacks (more damage, needs AP, but it can knockback the enemy). These two attacks were meant to be used in conjunction with one another and create a flow in combat.

However, when we watched players play the game, there were a lot of players who were frustrated with the mechanics. We thought, at first, that this was because players didn't know what our intentions were, but we took the wrong approach in this. We were concerned that either attack would become too strong and efficient, so we put in a punishing system -- weak attacks had no knockback and strong attacks needed AP, while both attacks could not be animation cancelled. However, this (amongst other reasons) didn't make the combat fun.

Therefore, after multiple tests, we made it so that weak attacks can stun an enemy and strong attacks can knockback an enemy. Also, weak attacks can be cancelled into a guard/evade/dash so that the flow of combat can keep going. We feel that this way, the attacks are balanced and combat is more fun this way.

We will keep a close eye on the feedback of this new demo, so please do let us know!

Damage Balancing and a Mean Personality

In conjunction with our thoughts about the attacks, we found that the monsters didn't really "greet" themselves to Kim Rip. This may sound odd, but most monsters died as soon as Kim Rip did a strong attack. This led players to feel like they made a mistake if they didn't preemptively strike the enemies. Alongside the fact that the amount of monsters was quite low, we felt that something needed to be freshened up.

So in order to have the monsters "greet" the player properly, we gave them a bit of a meaner personality when encountering the player, adjustment some damage numbers, and after some internal testing, we felt pretty satisfied with the results. Let us know how you feel!

Indication

It is no secret to anyone who talked to us or met us: we love parrying. The Onimusha series holds a special place in our hearts and the way parrying worked in those games.

We've had a lot of feedback regarding parrying in the last demo and despite getting a lot of feedback, we really couldn't find the issue. This hit us really hard because as much as we love the parrying mechanic, we also know just how frustrated players were getting. So to be frankly honest, we haven't really found what the solution is to that problem, but we did add some stuff to help us get closer to the answer and resolve certain feedback

1. Parrying happened but didn't register
2. Parrying happened but the concentrated counterattack didn't pop off
3. Parrying... just didn't happen

So to get closer to the answer, we added clearer indicators that tell you not just when a perfect parry happened, but also exhaustion and when you are out of bullets. We hope that with these indicators, we can get a better grasp of how to bridge that gap. We also hope that players will also get the timing down faster with these indicators in place.

Hello Mega Weta, My Old Friend

This boss had the most feedback in that this was where a lot of players had the most frustrations. Internally, we have done so many tests that we didn't get to see the difficulty spike at this point of the game.

So rather than just nerfing the boss, we made a lot of adjustments to help the player prepare for the boss before the fight and during the fight. We feel that a lot more players will get the hang of it this time with the adjustments that we made!

Skill Tree Renewal

In the previous demo, tech points were awarded to gain new skills and boost stat parameters. However, though the idea was to let the player have total freedom in how they build their character, we also found that players pretty much soft-locked themselves and made a very difficult build. This wasn't because there is a certain build to play, but rather players didn't have the knowledge of what the skills did or how they would work. In doing so, the players were not able to progress past certain points.

So in this new demo, the way to learn skills has somewhat changed. Instead of tech points, players will now gain "factors", of which there are 5 different types. This allows us to help guide the player towards certain base skills, but also gives the player enough autonomy to make their own build still. Leveling up will earn you these factors, but they can also be found be defeating certain enemies as well as exploring the map.

There are also artifacts that can be found in the game! These special artifacts can open up new skills that can be used in conjunction to what the player learns on their own.

Map Improvements

As mentioned about artifacts and factors that can be found in the wild, we knew that we had to improve the map as a whole. There were certain parts in the previous demo where it felt slightly static, so we added a few environmental gimmicks for players to solve.

These gimmicks will help unlock shortcuts, reveal hidden items, as well as solving certain missions. We hope you find everything that is out there!

Character Modelling

Character models have also been improved drastically. There were scenes where Kim Rip has an odd expression and it just takes you out in terms of immersion. There were also divisive opinions of the mysterious lady at the end, so she has been remodeled as well! Those cutscenes have been improved considerably!

Also, we added a costume change system! In the full version of the game, you can get different costumes to alter the appearance of Kim Rip.

Optimization

We are working on optimization as we go forward and this demo build is considerably better in terms of performance in comparison to it's predecessor. Optimization efforts are ongoing, so please let us know if you encounter issues!

Key Features:

• Traditional platforming action with a focus on flashy yet precise combat. Balance your AP gauge with beautifully animated skills and in-depth combos. 
• A variety of skills for you to learn as you level up - create a skill build that best fits your playstyle.
• Master the Concentrated Counterattack System - parry, dash, and dodge at precise moments to unleash a devastating counterattack.
• Explore action-packed levels filled with grotesque monsters and powerful bosses to find clues that uncover the dark story.
• Experience beautiful 2.5D graphics throughout the many environments of the game, including ruined cities, mountains, forests, caves, and more.
• Become a true force to be reckoned with as various weapons, skills, intricate combos, and precise movements are yours to master. 

The Devil Within: Satgat is set to launch on Steam Early Access in Q4 2023, followed by PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch at a later date.