When I started work on Total Rendition in 2018, I had some really high hopes. Back then, I already believed Total Rendition would help save narrative-driven gaming, as well as save the world, by telling a story that is unfortunately getting more relevant with each passing year. When the first prototype of Total Rendition was completed in May 2019, I was eager to get the kind of funding necessary to make the tens of hours story-driven experience that was envisioned.

Of course, this kind of backing has proven to be elusive thus far. There are plenty of people (across Europe) who do not want work on Total Rendition to be completed, and it is scaring off investors.

I, for one, had hoped that bringing Total Rendition to Steam would bring the breakthrough it needed to get development started properly, yet instead, amateur gaming critics have appeared to have momentarily succeeded in killing off interest in this project by misrepresenting the purpose of Total Rendition’s Early Access presence on Steam. Whether out of ignorance or out of malice hardly matters.

Nonetheless, events of the last few years, from January 6 to the Dutch toeslagenaffair, to the normalisation of Neo-Nazism in the West in response to спецопераия have proven the relevance and power of Total Rendition’s narrative. I believe that if SchiZotypy Games obtains the resources to develop Total Rendition into the game it is supposed to be, Total Rendition has the potential to become a truly great game.

This is why the nature of Total Rendition’s Early Access is changing. Access in the open playtest will be more exclusive. Also, Total Rendition now sells at $89.99 with the rationale explained here. There probably won’t be much, if any, updates until funding arrives, which may take some months from now. However, do note that Early Access is a privileged insight into the development process. It is akin to visiting a studio.

I am eager to get development of Total Rendition properly started. The changes are necessary to convince investors that narrative-driven games are worth investing in, which is necessary to retain and bring in the talent needed to complete Total Rendition into the tens of hours long narrative-driven experience building on the innovation of earlier titles of the 1990s and 2000s.

As always, thank you for reading, as without you, this journey becomes impossible! Instead, let’s make Total Rendition going gold possible!