Of Devotion and Despondence [v0.2.1] By Earliestbird

Earliestbird Games released a new game called Of Devotion and Despondence and the version is 0.2.1. The game’s story is about Of Devotion and Despondence a visual novel with heavy RPG elements that follows the journey of a man exiled to a shifting world, a place where humans are not expected to survive for long. It is written in first-person narrative and tells an emotional story that focuses on mature prose, romance, and erotic scenes.

Developer:	Earliestbird
File Size:	383.72 MB
Version:	0.2.1
OS:	Windows
Languages:	English

game details

Game Version Changelog:

v 0.2.1:

A complete rework of the combat system! Each bodypart is now protected by Armor (both for the player and the opponent), and there’s a much higher emphasis on deciding which bodypart to target. Every 3 turns the player recovers energy, so there will always be decisions to make no matter how long the fight goes on. There is more variety in opponent actions, and several player abilities to unlock.
Added a player skilltree! Use Talent Points to unlock new active and passive combat abilities. From old moves such as Cleave or Parry, to new powerful skills like Steel Explosion and Blade Flurry, there is a lot to play around with.
Replaced the ARCA attribute with FORT! Short for Fortitude, FORT gives 3 Armor for each bodypart, and scales some abilities. Although mostly a defensive attribute, there are ways to make your opponent hurt with it. It’s also a better fit for the main character from a story perspective. (But don’t worry, magic is not gone. It now mostly revolves around items and Shielding.)
Remade the inventory system! The old “offensive, defensive, ornament” system got replaced by “head, chest, legs, weapon, ornament”. So yes, that means 2 new item slots to equip at the same time. The inventory also received many visual improvements, like duplicates not cluttering the screen anymore, and nice little icons for equipped item types.
Added starter Classes! At the start of the game, players will be able to choose between several classes (with room for more in the future). From the Smith who makes use of the fully upgraded smelter right away, to the Rhythmist, juggling the days and his HP bar. Decide how you begin each game you play.
Added lots of new items, and changed many existing ones.
Added 1 new building.
Added 3 new Collection cards (1 Common, 1 Elevated, 1 Legendary).
Remade all of the Collection cards, making their artwork much higher quality.
Added 1 new Aspect for the Pantheon, the Aspect of Style.
Completely replaced the images for 2 Aspects (Divination and War).
Skirmish now has more flat difficulty and less scaling (harder earlygame, easier lategame).
Increased base game volume. Hopefully it’s no longer too quiet.
Lots and lots of visual improvements. New Main Menu background, better base background, cleaner UI elements, etc.
Um, there might be more stuff I can’t remember. I’ve been working on this update for a very long time now.

Note: Balance will be truly and utterly fucked. I didn’t have time to test a lot of things, especially enemies later on. So please, voice your feedback (forums, discord, reviews, Patreon) so I can fine-tune the game until it becomes a perfect middle ground between easy and hard. Also, expect bugs.
As for more events for the main love interests, they are coming. Mel is the biggest priority right now, but the story is entwined between them all.

v 0.1.16:

Added the next row of adventure events: Learn more about the plans of the Unmade, settle a feud between a redheaded captain and a dangerous wyrwolf, or just have some (not so) peaceful fishing time! 7 new locations, 3 erotic scenes, and multiple images of actual penetration – which is something I intend to have more of moving forward.
Added an option to show Player Skills during adventure events.
Cheat Start is now split into two options: Cheat Resource gives 200 of each resource, and Cheat Combat gives enough attributes to make combat trivial (30 PHYS, 30 ARCA, 10 CHAR)
Changed the Aspect of Obsession requirement to the following: “The two highest Player Skills must be higher than all other Player Skills combined.”
Added some new items to the game.
Added text that provides guidance in New and Old Rozan to let players know how to proceed
Increased Skirmish scaling and flat difficulty
Red Lock of Hair now gives 4 to lowest skills, down from 10
Gods’ Humility now costs 100 resources, up from 50
Players start the game with 1 additional ‘Food Rations’.
Balance changes for Dalena’s Passive Talents (more Defense, less Player Skills)
Made some fixes for two Raven outfits (Enhance the butt!)

Developer Notes:

Hey there! You’re looking at an early version of my game, a novel-with-visuals that aims to focus on three things: to provide a genuine romantic experience, dripping erotic scenes, and fun / original gameplay.

Currently the game is still barebones content-wise but there are many features already in place. There’s a fully working combat system, out-of-combat stats used during events, an inventory screen that ties into the day-cycle with the fusing mechanic, the residents screen for future girls, and the very beginnings of the building system.

The game might be buggy as hell. I only started my journey as a programmer a few months prior, so I apologize in advance for the myriad of technical issues that are surely on the horizon.