- Depths of Sanity is out now on Nintendo Switch! - 29 August 2024
After two long years, Depths of Sanity is out now on Nintendo Switch! If you missed it, check out the launch trailer here! If you've been waiting for this release, thank you for keeping track of us over the years, and we hope you have a blast playing through it. And if it's the first time you’ve heard of us? No problem. In Depths of Sanity, you play as Abe Douglas, a naval commander tracking down the Baroness, a submarine staffed by his old crew that went dark while investigating a mysterious signal at the bottom of the ocean. You’ll utilize unique tools like sonar, diver suits, and tow lines to explore massive underwater biomes, battle monstrous bosses, and uncover a mystery that not only threatens your crew, but your own sanity. If that sounds like just the game you’re looking for, take the plunge and grab your copy here at our launch discount! And if you’ve finished the game and enjo…
- Depths of Sanity Launches on Nintendo Switch August 29th! - 2 August 2024
It’s been a long, LONG time since we last spoke. Apologies for the radio silence, but our team has been heads down and we didn’t want to reach out until we had big news. And now we do: Depths of Sanity launches on Nintendo Switch on August 29th! If you’re someone who has been following us and waiting for that version, check out the launch page and wishlist it here. We’ll be running a launch discount on Switch, so definitely wishlist and grab it the first week it goes on sale. Thank you for all of your support, and please tell your friends! It means a lot for us to finally have Depths of Sanity hit consoles, and it took WAY longer than we anticipated to make it happen (babies, ya’ll, they ain’t a joke). We’ll be in touch with a little more info as we approach launch week. Thank you, Bomb Shelter Games
- Checking In - Update 05 - 6 June 2023
Hey Everyone, We wanted to give ya'll a quick update since it's been a few months since the last notes. 1. The Xbox version nearly complete, and we're hoping to submit for approval soon. Switch version will likely take a month or two longer, we're having to do a lot of work on Biome 3 to make it run well on the machine (surprised us too). 2. Keep sending feedback -- we'll be pushing through another patch after the Xbox version goes out for submission. We've been a little slower on that front because... 3. One of our team members welcomed a new baby in the last few months, bringing the official Depths of Sanity baby count to 4, where it will hopefully remain lol. Hope to have some larger updates on the ports soon, but to everyone whose been submitting feedback and reviews, thank you. It's been a major help in getting the game discovered and making it the best version it can be. -BSG
- Popping and Soft Locking - Update 04 - 4 March 2023
Hey all! We're hard at working porting this fella to Xbox and Switch, so not a ton of Steam updates, just some bug fixes. Shout out to user Paradox for being too good at the end boss fight to cause a soft lock. Turns out if you killed one of the pieces within three seconds of killing another, the fight would soft lock. So that's fixed! And we forgot to include a piece of key art in the bad ending! Our bad (get it?). You may have noticed a flash to white at the end of the bad ending cutscene. That was supposed to be some sweet art piece that our artist whipped up. It is now in! You can view it below. But be warned. It's a huge spoiler. SUUUUUPER SPOILER WARNING. 100% don't look at the spoiler image below if you have not beaten the game with the bad ending. Thanks so much for playing and please send along any feedback you have. And if you haven't left a review, I will love you forever if…
- Hot Fix - Update 03 - 2 January 2023
Hey all! Back again this week with some bug fixes. This was a nasty one. Shout out to JubeJube1 for finding it. Turns out, if you missed the armor hull in the second world, then got the depth hull (or heat hull) then returned and got the armor hull later, it would override your better hull with the inferior armor hull. That meant you could no longer go to lower depths or withstand high heat at the end game, essentially blocking all progress. Sooooo, that had to get fixed. Thanks again, and please let us know if anything else pops up. We'll fix 'em as fast as you find 'em. BSG
- Improved Gamepad Detection - Update 02 - 21 December 2022
Happy holidays! Quick update this week. We've improved Depths' input detection. Some users were reporting problems with the game detecting their gamepad, this is now addressed. Input should now work for the most commonly used controllers (Xbox, PS4, PS5, etc.). Input will now also work if you have multiple controllers plugged in at the same time. Hell, if you want to have two people fight to steer the ship at the same time, you can do that. If you want one person to operate the guns while the other steers, you can do that too. If you do still run into any problems, just let us know and and please note what controller you are using and the specific problems you are having. While we work on fixing your specific problem, the keyboard and mouse controls will work perfectly. Many players actually prefer that layout due to the better aiming it allows. As a reminder, at any time you can hit th…
- Bug Fixes - Update 01 - 4 December 2022
Hi all, Thanks so much for playing Depths of Sanity and offering your feedback! We read everything you write and are always working hard to improve everything that we can. So that said, our first update is a few bug fixes that the community has found as well as some small balancing tweaks. Bugs: Fixed a typo in one of the crew logs Fixed an issue in the Barrier Reef where if you opened a puzzle door, then left the room, then reentered, the door's collision would be out of sync with the art. In the Stem, the player can no longer get stuck behind a fast dash door if they shoot the opening switch before the door closes. Fixed an issue where some players reported losing the heat hull after defeating leviathan. Fixed an issue where some players were instantly exploding due to one of their save files being corrupted. Fixed a bug where if you stunned the final boss while it had retreated into…
- Depths of Sanity is OUT NOW on PC! Experience the nightmare today! - 2 November 2022
After six long years, the day is finally here: Our underwater metroidvania Depths of Sanity is out now on PC! Check out the launch trailer here: If you’ve been following along waiting for the official release, now is the time to dive-in. And don’t just take our word for it — check out these Early Access reviews from several customers to get an idea of what you’re in for: “Depths of Sanity is a bewitching Metroidvania that should take you between 10–15 hours to complete if you want to discover everything…all in all, this game is a hearty recommendation from me to any fans of this type of throwback game. Depths is best in class and I’m surprised that it’s not more talked about.” — The Beak “When I started Chapter 4, I couldn’t put the game down…as my descent continued, I encountered increasingly sprawling environments, fun upgrades (the booster especially) and a few genuinely disturbing m…
- Earn the Right to Stop the Player (Lessons from Writing Depths of Sanity) - 13 September 2022
How, exactly, do you write your first videogame? Well, to be honest, that’s an incredibly broad question, and the answer can vary heavily depending on the genre you’re working in. However, after completing my first indie game — Depths of Sanity, a 12–15 hour metroidvania nightmare set entirely at the bottom of the ocean that releases this Halloween — I think I have at least a few guidelines that can help all of you starting the journey to get your story into shape. A bit of background so you know where I’m coming from: I was brought onto the team about two years into the game’s development, after all the basic mechanics were established as well as the general level flow and initial premise. I’d written a lot of other work, but this was my first videogame. Here was the basic pitch I was given: You are Commander Abe Douglas of the G.O.A.A. (Global Oceanic and Atmospheric Association). A f…
- August Dev Log: We're Leaving Early Access on Nov 2nd - More Updates Inside! - 30 August 2022
Hey Everyone, Some big updates this week! First of all, Early Access is coming to a close: Depths of Sanity will officially launch on PC on November 2nd! We’re incredibly pumped to finally launch the full game. It’s been two years in Early Access at this point, and your feedback has helped us IMMENSELY in shaping the experience for the better. That said, this will be the last blog highlighting build improvements - as we near the launch, we’ll just be talking about the game in its entirety and aiming to explain it to players who have only just heard of us. That said, here are a couple of the things you can expect when the game fully launches if you’ve been playing along with us: Gameplay Enhancements: Equipment Scanner: This is a new tool you can find late in the game that shows what hidden unlocks are still located in each level to help out those of you trying to 100% the experience. Na…
- Pax Rising, Steam Summer Sale, and the Road to 1.0 - 28 June 2022
Hey Everyone, Apologies for being silent outside of a small patch released after the finale dropped. We took a two week break to enjoy the fact that - oh my God - Depths of Sanity is now complete in Early Access. Speaking of which, we're discounted 10% right now during the Steam Summer Sale if you feel like taking the plunge :) But break time is over. The team has been back at it for the last month refining and polishing the experience to gear up for the full 1.0 launch later this year. Let's dive into that for a minute: The team decided that unless a major bug is discovered (which, thankfully, we haven't heard any new ones from the community) we're going to just wait and drop the one big update right before we exit Early Access, rather than push out piecemeal improvements for the next few months. To be frank, it's much easier for our small team to truly test the game and iron out any k…
- Hot Fix v0.4.02 - 7 May 2022
Hot Fix: Fixed an issue in the Tectonic Rift where a puzzle was unsolvable. Thank you to Another Stolas Gaming for catching that. Fixed an issue where if you skipped the opening splash screen too quickly the screen would stay black.
- Depths of Sanity's Final Chapter is Out! Experience the Whole Nightmare Now! - 2 May 2022
Hey Everyone, Today is a monumental day for our team: the final chapter of Depths of Sanity officially enters Early Access! For those of you who have been playing along, this chapter – The Stem – will conclude Abe’s journey. For those of you who are new, you can officially play through the entire adventure from beginning to end and experience every biome, uncover every secret, discover each ending, and more! Check out the launch trailer here: If you’ve already been playing along with us, we can’t wait to hear what you think of the final chapter (and what ending you wind up getting!) But if you’re new (or just wishlisted us from our latest PAX appearance) here’s what you’re in for: Depths of Sanity is an underwater metroidvania nightmare. You play as Abe Douglas, a Commander in the G.O.A.A. tracking down the Baroness, a submarine staffed by his old crew that went dark while investigating…
- Depths of Sanity’s Final Chapter Drops on May 2nd! - 18 April 2022
Hey Everyone, Sorry for the lack of updates over the last 2 months – we’ve been working our butts off to hit this latest milestone and time got away from us. But we have a hell of a lot of good news to share. First off - Depths of Sanity’s final chapter is entering Early Access on May 2nd! This chapter – The Stem – will not only cap the game off, but will come with a slew of under-the-hood changes from your feedback, including a weapon rebalancing in order to make some underutilized ones more useful and powerful. It’s been a long time coming, but on May 2nd you'll finally be able to finish Abe's adventure. We take a few risks with the finale, so we're incredibly interested in your feedback, and we can't wait to see which ending the community winds up seeing more of. On top of that, to help promote the launch, we're going to be at PAX East this weekend with a new demo, showing off some m…
- February Chapter 6 Dev Update - Testing Our Stalker Enemy and Adding Art - 15 February 2022
Hey Everyone, We hope you all had a great Holiday and a good start to the year! We’ve had a busy month and a half on our team. Progress on Chapter 6 is moving along nicely, with the team currently playtesting most of the scenarios and puzzles before they’re locked for the level. The rest of the month is focused around implementing all of the remaining art assets for the Chapter, of which there are A LOT. Unfortunately, that means that we don’t have a lot to show you for this update. Or at least, nothing that looks great lol. However, to give you a flavor for the final area of the game, here’s one of the parallax backgrounds for the level – things have officially taken a turn for the nightmarish for poor Old Abe: The final chapter is also going to challenge you in some new ways. One of the biggest is that you’ll be dealing with an enemy that continually stalks you throughout much of the…
- Chapter 6 Dev Update - Release Window, Multiple Endings, and More! - 21 December 2021
Hey Everyone, Damn, it’s been a while hasn’t it? Apologies for the radio silence after the release of Chapter 5 in September. A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes, and wanted to give a big Holiday update on our progress with Chapter 6 - the finale of Depths of Sanity. First of all, we want to thank everyone who has been with us in this Early Access journey, whether you joined during our initial launch or with the release of subsequent chapters. Your feedback has been invaluable for improving Depths of Sanity every step of the way, and we appreciate seeing the reviews that say the game keeps on getting better with each chapter. Development on Chapter 6 has been steady, though there have been several big redesigns along the way. We initially had imagined this being the longest chapter in the game, but after playtesting the early builds we decided to restructure the finale, cu…
- The Descent Continues: Depths of Sanity Chapter 5 is now in Early Access! - 28 September 2021
Hey Everyone, Big News: Chapter 5 of Depths of Sanity has arrived in early access, and it brings Abe to the biggest and most horrific environment yet – Whale Fall – and includes plenty of new enemies, weapons, ship upgrades, and more. Check out the launch trailer here: If you’ve already been playing along with us, we hope you enjoy the penultimate chapter! But if you’re new, here’s what you’re in for: Depths of Sanity is an underwater metroidvania nightmare. You play as Abe Douglas, a Commander in the G.O.A.A. tracking down the Baroness, a submarine staffed by his old crew that went dark while investigating a mysterious signal at the bottom of the ocean. The entire game takes place under the sea, flipping a lot of the usual metroidvania mechanics on their head. There are no double jumps to save you here. Instead, you’ll use unique tools like diver suits to squeeze through tight areas, s…
- Chapter 5 Releases September 28th - And Contains a Major Game-Wide Update! - 31 August 2021
We have A LOT of updates regarding Depths of Sanity’s fifth chapter. First is that we now have our official launch date – September 28th. In a few weeks we’ll drop the official trailer alongside a list of what the Chapter brings, and we can’t wait for you to see it. But the reason we’re putting this blog out is because we want to talk about another change coming with this update: we’re doing a massive game rebalance. In all the feedback we’ve received, one thing we’ve continually heard is that the game is a bit too easy after the first two chapters, and if you’re exploring thoroughly, it’s possible to get too powerful too early in the game. At the same time, on the dev side, we’ve been having our own issues when it comes to balancing player rewards. In the back half of the game, we’ve been running out of ways to reward players who thoroughly explore, relying too heavily on torpedo and d…
- Chapter 5 Aiming for a September Release - Details Inside - 21 July 2021
Hey Everyone, We hope you’ve been having a good summer! We’re back for our monthly Depths of Sanity dev update. Last time we told you Chapter 5 takes place in the grossest, strangest environment yet – Whale Fall – and introduces several new obstacles, like deep-sea pressure that can crack your hull and kill you if you stay in areas that are too deep for too long. Right now, the entire team is really working through the nitty gritty of the chapter, replaying the build each week and giving feedback for improving the puzzles, tuning the obstacles, and generally making sure the pace of the area really sings. Our goal is to get all those tweaks done by early August so we can do bug runs after. For a peak at a new obstacle, enemies are continuing to mysteriously transform in worse ways. Here’s the new version of of the rock shrimp you’ll be facing off with in one of our test environments: Mea…
- Chapter 5 Development Update and Steam Summer Sale! - 16 June 2021
Hey Everyone, It’s been about a month since our last update and A LOT has happened. The biggest news is that we welcomed the very first development baby to the fold! Our programmer Jim was graced by a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago, and we’re incredibly happy for him and his wife. On top of that, because we worked ahead in anticipation of Jim’s baby, most of Chapter 5 has already been designed gameplay-wise, and much of what we’re working on now is art/sound/story related. Chapter 5 takes place in the grossest, strangest environment yet – Whale Fall. A Whale Fall occurs at several of the deepest portions of the Atlantic. When a whale dies, its corpse falls to the bottom of the sea, where it’s body and bones decompose and become hosts for other organisms. Eventually, their entire carcass becomes a thriving ecosystem for hundreds of other sea creatures. And in Chapter 5, you and Abe…
