Bright Memory to restart development after early access success
Rewritten memories
Bright Memory, a blend of FPS and Devil May Cry-style combo-heavy combat by solo developer FYQD, is to restart development almost after selling better than expected in early access. Those who bought the original 'Episode 1' version of the game will be upgraded to the new Bright Memory: Infinite when it's released, although it's anyone's guess how long that'll take. The new version of the game is aiming to be a short-but-sweet three hours long, but with a rewritten story, and a major rework planned for the levels in the initial release. See the sadly action-light reboot trailer below.
The original version of Bright Memory was, in the developer's own words "kind of a demo or crowdfunding version". Its seemingly overnight success on Steam and glowing response from Chinese players forced FYQD to re-think plans for the game. Instead of releasing as a trio of episodes, it sounds like they're aiming for a single, lengthier release. Only a few hours long for a single play-through, but as with Devil May Cry and others, it's designed to be replayed, with tougher fights and more abilities unlocked each time round.
The final version sounds like it'll be even more of a technical showcase. The original release could be a little messy sometimes, but was a graphical treat. The new Infinite version will even let folks with fancy cutting-edge GPUs flex a little, thanks to RTX ray-tracing support. Given the huge number of shiny surfaces in the original release, the end results could be spectacular, so long as they don't go and crush performance. I'm curious to see if the final game's art direction is a little more consistent too, with some Episode 1 enemies feeling like they'd wandered straight in out of Dark Souls.
The original Bright Memory episode is still available on Steam for £5.19/€5.69/$6.99. There are plans for it to increase in price later in development. It's around an hour long, but holds up well over multiple replays on higher difficulties.