History of the Game

Welcome to the history section of this game. On this page we as a community are trying our best to preserve the history of the game's development changes until the release date, as well as the present day. This page will also house major changes or added content. This page must be taken seriously because we are keeping history of the game here for future players to view.

### **Initial Development**

Laika: Aged Through Blood started development on January 2019 with the studio going through multiple iterations of the game over the following months. One of the very first prototypes was made in collaboration with the developer Stuffed Wombat with wanted posters made as a reference to his participation, these can be found in both the beta and the release version. Another iteration made tasked the player in collecting rocket parts to escape a barren planet together with Laika's brother, this is were the name of the game comes from. Not much is know about other versions however the overall history and character development changed drastically between them, with Puppy and other supporting characters being introduced to complement the main characters.

Early Laika concept artConcept art of Laika's helmetScreen capture of an earlier buildOn September 14th, 2019 Laika: Aged Through Blood was announced on the Brainwash Gang's Twitter together with other games in development. A screenshot showing the game world was shared with a basic description of the game.

> ***Laika: Aged through blood: We showed a demo in a event here in Spain. Now we're deep into its development and we'll show you some cool stuff about it. All we'll say for now is motorbikes, shooting, motherhood and really awesome characters.***
>
>

Over the next months, multiple screenshots, animated scenes and gameplay footage were shown in their Twitter, with the first gameplay footage seen in September 28th 2019 just a few days after the announcement.

First sneak peak at the gameFirst gameplay showcaseSecond gameplay showcase, the old ammo counter can be seen in the top left cornerFirst look on what would eventually be Camilla's BarFirst dialogue interaction showcaseGameplay footage showing the manoeuvrability of the bikeSecond dialogue interaction showcaseOn May 8th 2020 a new refined version of the game was shared, containing the first sneak peak into the bullet time feature that would eventually be used in the final version of the game. A similar design decision was made regarding the ammunition counter, which was moved to the cursor were it would remain until release. On the 23rd of October a quick sneak peak showing some animation work on the first boss was also shared.

Gameplay footage showing the bullet time mechanic and the new ammo counterAnimation work on the first boss (Boss 01)In April 21st 2021 as part of the Brainwash Propaganda a trailer for the game was released, featuring gameplay and the first bosses the player would fight, this trailer can be seen **here**. This iteration of the game was the last one prior to the design change, it would task the player in defending the last remaining members of the Riders Tribe: Laika, Puppy and Laika's Bother. Multiple systems which would react to the player's play-style were planed, including a ''Affection System'' were Puppy would grow more violent and cold if the player was away for too long or didn't engage with her enough. A Demo of this version can be downloaded and played **here**.

Character design artBoss 01 concept artBoss 01 final design, would later become A Hundred Hungry BeaksOld version of *Bone Memorials*Old version of Laika´s FamillyCharacter concept artBartender character design (Early Camilla)Concept art of the BirdsThis version of the game also utilized many of the songs that would eventually make their way to the release version. These track were used in the normal cassette player and could be bought at a merchant using body parts. Some of the bosses tracks and dungeon songs were also refined and reused, two examples are the Pope Melva VIII soundtrack which is a reused version of the Dam-builder Mutant (Boss 02) sound track and the Floating City track used in Laika's memories in this version. The changed and scrapped songs are:

### Design Change

On November 10th 2021 the first trailer was re-released on Twitter together with the information that the game had finally acquired backing from the publisher Thunderful Games (who would later be known as Headup Games). A post from Thunderful stated that the game would be released in 2022 for PC and Console, however this date would not be met.

A short time after the publisher announcement on December 03rd 2021 new footage from the game was released however this was different from previous sneak peaks, showing prototype footage for a new aiming animation. This would later be recognized as the start of the change in design style and in the history that would be told.

Over the next months the developers would redesign and reuse many of the characters and sounds used in the final version, however much of the overall map and assets from the initial versions were scrapped with few assets still remaining available to the public. Most character personalities however would be recycled and the character were given new visuals, a example of this would be Camilla and Herman, both of which kept their personalities but changed visuals.

On February 09th 2022 a concept and prototype gameplay was shown in the Brainwash Twitter featuring the level Where Rock bleeds. In this footage we can see that assets from the old versions such as the player and enemies models were still being used as placeholders. Over the year 2022 not much was presented to the public, with a art book being show in October 27th during Indie Dev Day containing the new Bone Memorial designs

Concept art for Where Birds LurkConcept art for Where Birds LurkConcept art for Where Birds LurkConcept art for Where Birds LurkLevel design art for Where Rock BleedsConcept art for Where Rock BleedsConcept art for unknown locationConcept art for the final bossDesign art for a alternative final bossConcept art for the Mimic enemyConcept art of Where We Live
### Final Development

On June 10th 2023 a new trailer was released featuring both the new style and a new cast of characters, the trailer also confirmed that the game would launch on the same year. This would mark the final stages of development with a few features such as the Outsiders sub plot and content such as the Think of the Children quest being cut due to time constraints. The trailer can be seen **here**.

#### First Demo

A few days later on the 19th of June a new demo of the game was released to the public on steam. Despite being a substantial cut from the final game this preview contained a lot of content accessible to the normal player. The quests that could be accessed and completed in this demo would be:

* Rage & Sorrow
* A Heart for Poochie
* The Remnants
* Family Tree
* A New Sheriff in Town
* Old Warfare
* Shake Off the Dead Leaves
* Desperately in Need of Music

However as some players discovered, using the Shotgun abilities, one could exit the official playable area intended and travel to most areas of the map unopposed. Some of these areas contained the Wastelanders NPC's which could be recruited even if the quest prompt was not present and traveling to Where Rock Bleeds the players could also fight the first phase of A Caterpillar Made of Sadness. A few of Puppy's Treats were also available to collect.

#### Second Demo

On September 19th 2023 during a Twitch Stream by the publisher Headup Games, a new version of the demo was accidentally shown to the public, this new version contained more dialogue, graphical effects and introduced the bonfires into the map, many of the Large Bone Memorials were also removed and replaced with their smaller counterparts.

This demo version was officially released to the public on October 8th 2023 on Steam, it removed the previous shotgun exploit and reduced the total amount of quests the player could complete. However the saves made in this version were compatible with the final release version.

## Release

The game was finally released on October 19th 2023 on Steam, Epic and GOG with praise from critics achieving a **9/10** review from IGN and a **96% Overwhelming Positive** review score on Steam, joining Friends VS Friends as the only two Brainwash games which achieved this score.

Updates were pushed out over the next weeks after launch fixing many bugs that made it to the release version, with developers helping many players by manually fixing their saves. However the overall experience of the playerbase was very smooth.

The console release for **PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X |** **S** has been released on December 5th 2023, the Nintendo Switch release was due to release on **January 11th 2024** however it was delayed due to Issues.

## Future Content

Until now (early 2024) no new content was stated to be in production however this might change as the sales revenue rolls in, with comments from the developers stating that there is interest in doing additional content.