Hey Goblins!

We have been toiling silently on a huge update to Atomic Owl! We found out pretty soon after release in July that we had to update our project to Unity 6, which caused a handful of animation issues, sequencing problems, and yada yada. It...was a pain.

So, whats in this release?

We are wrapping up all of the above fixes and submitting the 2.0 build, this Friday, October 31st.

The Planned release date for the V2.0 release of the game to drop on Steam sometime in November.

Happy Halloween, guys!

Your friends at Monster Theater.

Our Steam Broadcasting capabilities are now...

LIVE!

Tune in periodically to see Atomic Owl played by various content creators who love BIRDS!

CAW CAW PIGEONS AND BLADEWINGS!

While you're here, have you played our other main title, 'The Dark Queen of Mortholme?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3587610/The_Dark_Queen_of_Mortholme/

Eldar here!

Silksong is out.

Silksong is GOD.

(In indie game terms, anyway)

But...by now, many of you will have already beaten it.

Oh yeah, Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi also came out recently.

We understand if you haven't had time yet for Atomic Owl.

We really decided to put out Atomic Owl during a generational run. Thumbs up for timing!

But it's Atomic Owl's time now!

Don't forget to leave a Steam review! (Hugely important!)

Love you,

The Monster Theater Crew

Bladewings and Goblins,

The past month has been an absolutely crazy one.

Mainly because we thought it would be a good idea to release two games in the same month!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3587610/The_Dark_Queen_of_Mortholme/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2228490/Atomic_Owl/?beta=0 [i]Look at these two!

[/i]Also, yes, there's a pretty steep bundle available where you can get both of these on the cheap if you get the bundle.

The Dark Queen of Mortholme is our studio's first published indie game. Initially, we approached the developer, Mosu, to see if they would be interested in bringing The Dark Queen of Mortholme to Steam, and after agreeing, we got to work on not only bringing it to Steam, but also adding Steam Achievements, full controller support, and are currently working on Steam Trading Cards and workshop support for Mortholme.

As far as our first experiment goes with publishing indie games, we're really happy with how it went for Mortholme. Yes, the game is short, but it packs a big punch.

P.S. Has anyone found the Mortholme plushies easter egg in Atomic Owl?

[p align="start"]Hello Bladewings![/p][p align="start"]
Thank you for taking the time to not only play Atomic Owl but also provide feedback and tell us what you're loving (and not loving) about the game.
[/p][p align="start"]Here's what we fixed this time! [/p][p align="start"][/p][p align="start"]Version 1.1.9 // Major Improvements[/p]

• We've added tutorials! One of the largest pieces of feedback was that players weren't really aware of what did what, and we even had a player beat the game without knowing you could switch weapons! To remedy this, there are now multiple tutorial screens that showcase what each mechanic in Atomic Owl's function is.

  [/*]

• We've seen the reports -- the whip was too strong and the broadsword was too weak. We remedied this by increasing the base damage of the Broadsword while lowering how much damage the whip does to incentivize weapon experimentation.

  [/*]

• Beyond this, we adjusted the damage of the Flame and Poison Wing Remnants so that they do the same amount of damage, but stacked differently on enemies.

  [/*]

• We also accounted for some of the visual issues with lighting and have toned down how intense some of the neon lights are in the game to make it easier on player's eyes.

  [/*]

• Permanent Upgrade campfire controller glyphs are now uniform with the rest of the game.

  [/*]

• Fixed the Trigger button that appears when activating the Void Crow transformation.

  [/*]

• Fixed some cloud visibility issues.

  [/*]

• Fixed some issues with navigation in the Death Gauntlet levels.

  [/*]

• Mezameta sword appears when emerging from the tutorial Virtual Nest.

  [/*]

• Goliam was missing in the 2nd half of the game! He is now back in all of his glory.

  [/*]

• Adjusted the cost of 'Second Wind' in the Twilight Perch.

  [/*]

• Added some fun NPC dialogues throughout the game!

  [/*]

• Weapon glow color pertaining to shields is now correct.

  [/*]

• Added one more little secret easter egg.

  [/*]

https://monstertheater.carrd.co/

https://discord.gg/Kj2wfmY7r3

Friends and players,

It's been about...96 hours since Atomic Owl has arrived on Steam. Give or take? It's been amazing to see you all finally play the game.

[b]
We're also really happy that everyone seems to enjoy it! A million thank yous for a positive rating![/b]

However, we need your help!

With any new indie game, a product lives and dies by its Steam reviews. Our particular challenge with this launch is that we gave away over 1500 Steam codes to backers, friends, family, and creators.

Why is this bad?

Well, Steam likes to surface games to new players and determine success based on Steam reviews that were purchased directly from the store, NOT given out by keys! So as a friendly reminder.

[b]If you're on the fence about purchasing a Steam copy of Atomic Owl for yourself or for a friend, please do so and leave a review on Steam!
[/b]

Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2228490/Atomic_Owl/

It will not only help us algorithmically, but also help show Steam that we have people willing to support the game outside of crowdfunding avenues!

That being said, it's International Owl Awareness Day!

Please remember to leave your community's friendly owls in peace, respect their space, and if you bird watch -- please do it from afar.

Be kind to our winged wizards of the sky.

your friend,

eldar

Hello Bladewings!

Thank you for taking the time to not only play Atomic Owl but also provide feedback and tell us what you're loving (and not loving) about the game.

We have another (smaller) update for you that addresses some small issues in the game!

There I go, diggin' in again.

Version 1.1.4 // Major Bug Fixes

• One of our players encountered an issue where the Jaki Jinki flying enemies could attack you during a cutscene. This has been fixed.

  [/*]

• There were complaints about visibility. This is mostly due to two sections of the game where we use torches that are visually overwhelming and obscure projectiles. These torches have been eliminated.

  [/*]

Version 1.1.4 // Minor Fixes

• Tweaked and fixed the controller rumble feature.

  [/*]

• Moved Goliam's boss's door away from the very edge of the screen, making it easier to see.

  [/*]

Version 1.1.4 // Game Tweaks

• Increased Meza Orb absorb speed so that you don't have to always stop movement to absorb them.

  [/*]

• Added more save points in the first two levels where pitfalls are present, making falling less frustrating!

  [/*]

We hope you enjoy playing Atomic Owl!!

Follow us here:

https://monstertheater.carrd.co/

Join the Discord:

https://discord.gg/Kj2wfmY7r3

Hello Bladewings!

Thank you for taking the time to not only play Atomic Owl but also provide feedback and tell us what you're loving (and not loving) about the game.

Today, just 24 hours after launch, we wanted to make sure we push through an update that reaches the vision behind what we had in mind for the game.

That being said, we have heard many reports that the game was too hard in the beginning and too easy in the end. We remedied this by balancing health between the start of the game and the end. Now, when you play as Character #2, you will not carry over health upgrades from the first character, and you will lose EXP and Wing Remnants acquired with that character.

We heard the game was "too slow", so we doubled the speed!

There was an issue where the game would not pause during the STATUS screen. We fixed this by pausing the game and enabling transparency to the menu itself.

We also saw confusion from players regarding Wing Remnant upgrades. We've added a text line under each pickup that explains what happens when you get two Wing Remnants.

There are lots of other changes, so let's dive in!

Version 1.1 // Major Bug Fixes

• There was an issue where the first boss, Goliam, would enter his ball state and bounce out of bounds. This has been fixed.

  [/*]

• The Void Crow transformation has been greatly balanced and patched.

  [/*]

Version 1.1 // Minor Fixes

• On certain aspect ratios, the door at the bottom of the Bladewing Dusk level would be obscured.

  [/*]

• Incorporated code side failsafes to ensure that players unlock the final boss-related Steam achievement.

  [/*]

• Fixed Yutameta binary text overlapping.

  [/*]

Version 1.1 // Game Tweaks

• Speed is now retained when jumping during a sprint state.

  [/*]

• Transparency on the Status Menu, the game pauses on this menu now.

  [/*]

• We gave Goliam and the second Omega Wing boss more health.

  [/*]

• Reset character 2's progression and stats to ensure fair play in the second half of the game.

  [/*]

• Added a little jingle to activate Save Terminals.

  [/*]

• Improved Lightning Tengu miniboss logic and behavior, and made him immune to the Lightning Stun Wing Remnant.

  [/*]

• Improved movement logic so that you can now dash using any direction based on input, not where the character sprite is facing.

  [/*]

• Increased the damage dealt by the Death Gauntlet when it grabs you. Also gave it a little 'Bone Crunch' SFX when grabbing Hidalgo. It's brutal.

  [/*]

• Removed an NPC that made you feel bad for exploring.

  [/*]

We hope you enjoy playing Atomic Owl!!

Follow us here: https://monstertheater.carrd.co/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/Kj2wfmY7r3

It is TIME, Bladewings!

After three years in development, Atomic Owl is available now. You can add it to your Steam libraries, tell your friends about it, review it, unlock Steam achievements, or even speedrun the game!!

PLEASE give it a review if you are enjoying the game~!

Omega Wing has brainwashed your friends, and its up to you to take your world BACK!

Experience a challenging platforming and combat experience where you must learn the world of Atomic Owl to progress. Hack and slash through hordes of Tengu using multiple avian weapons, equip devastating power-ups called Wing Remnants, and fly through a variety of challenging platforming levels in a rogue-lite made for the SNES era.

Join our Discord here:https://discord.gg/Kj2wfmY7r3

Follow us here:https://monstertheater.carrd.co/

Thank you for letting us make games for you.

- Your friends at Monster Theater

Hey Bladewings,

It's Eldar. Not Miyamoto. Today...it is time for an update!

Atomic Owl is launching next Thursday, July 31st, for $15.99, a $4.00 discount from its original price of $19.99.

steamthumbsup Yes, alongside the new Ninja Gaiden...but let's support the Owl Ninja instead!! steamthumbsup

We've been working on Atomic Owl for about three years, and we're excited to see everyone explore the world of Judanest as Hidalgo and your new favorite "insane in the membrane" sword, Mezameta.

I'd like to do a little self-imposed Q&A about the game now, so everyone knows what to expect when the game launches!

What is the gameplay like?

We took the formula of a 2D sidescroller like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon or Azure Striker Gunvolt, and gave it some light roguelite elements.

In our opinion, we're defining a new genre of 2D platformer.

Where in roguelite games like 'Dead Cells' the gameplay loop is randomized and feels infinite, we've combined the feeling of the NES/SNES style "beat it in one sitting" gameplay loop with roguelite elements. In Atomic Owl, you start the game over from the very beginning every time, and try to beat it in one sitting (retro-style), but every time, you are stronger and have more tools at your disposal. The core difference is that, unlike modern roguelites, you know exactly what's ahead of you.

[b]We are truly answering the time warping question of "what if roguelites existed in 1991?"
[/b]

Who do you play as in Atomic Owl? What's the story?

You play as Hidalgo Bladewing, the captain of the Bladewings, the guardians of Judanest. After a sudden attack by the game's antagonist, Omega Wing, Hidalgo finds himself awoken from slumber by his sword, which now speaks! Hidalgo must rescue the Bladewings that are under Omega Wing's control and save Judanest from the Crow Sorcerer's evil clutches!

But...there is more to this story that we've never revealed publicly.

How hard is Atomic Owl?

Atomic Owl is a retro gamer and speedrunner's dream! The game relies on pixel-perfect combat, engagement, focused platforming, and a dash of luck to get through.

While not necessarily as difficult as something like, let's say, Castlevania III, it is about as tough as a Mega Man X5 or like, Ori and the Blind Forest's end game. Maybe like...Hollow Knight.

Your feathers WILL get cooked a little, but before long, you'll be attack cancelling with the best of 'em.

Let's connect!

I'd love to see more of you in our Discord and on our socials like X , Instagram , and Threads !

Have you had a chance to check out our game's final trailer from the Indie 3 showcase last month?

We're also releasing another game on August 15th, The Dark Queen of Mortholme. I would love for you to wishlist that one as well!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3587610/The_Dark_Queen_of_Mortholme/

SEE YOU ON JULY 31st!!!

Together...we can stop Omega Wing!

A monstrous goblin wants to battle!

FIGHT
MAGIC
ITEMS
RUN AWAY!
ASK FOR ATOMIC OWL UPDATE

Before we talk about the Owl Ninja, I wanted to update everyone on where we're at with our second upcoming title, The Dark Queen of Mortholme (Steam Edition)

[b]It's going really well! We just cracked 30,000 wishlists!
[/b]

We're excited for you all to experience The Dark Queen of Mortholme!

[u]https://store.steampowered.com/app/3587610/The_Dark_Queen_of_Mortholme/"" style="color:#bb86fc;text-decoration:none;">You can wishlist it right here [/u]

Alrighty, let's chat about Atomic Owl.

We're moving the game out by two weeks. We were looking at a launch of July 15th, but we've decided to push it out to July 31st.

Why?

We want to give our playtesters more time to scrounge up bugs, and give our programmers more time to fix 'em! Beyond that, we want just to add a few more bits and pieces of polish to ensure that you get the absolute best experience possible.

Thank you for your patience and for these extra two weeks!

Here's the fancy boilerplate press image explaining the delay.

That's it for now!

Please reach out on our Discord if you have any questions. We hear for you.

- Eldar

The final launch trailer for our indie game, Atomic Owl, is here.

This weekend, to an audience of millions being co-streamed by OTK at the OTK Games Expo, we surprise-dropped the second game in the Monster Theater catalogue, and our first published game: the viral indie hit 'The Dark Queen of Mortholme'

You can wishlist it here.
It is launching in just two and a half months, on August 15th.

Monster Theater is bringing the Queen to Steam with full controller support, over a dozen languages, Steam achievements, expanded community support, multiple endings, and more.

Let's chat about the game, and a little about what we're doing with our new approach to publishing.

Launches do not always unfold the way game developers want. Game Devs can dedicate all of their time, passion, and resources to their creations, but they still come up against things out of their control: bad timing, low reach, and let's face it, poor marketing strategies.

What I've always wanted to do with Monster Theater is create a publishing mission to ensure every game has its moment to shine. We will carry the torch and treat your game with respect, care, and effort, to help devs achieve whatever success means to them.

We believe in a personal, hands-on publishing approach focused on genuine connection and organic growth. We treat your game as if it were our own while ensuring the world knows its entirely yours.

Specifically with 'The Dark Queen of Mortholme', I saw an incredible title that was a pure work of art.

When I played it, I felt that it hit the exact ethos behind the games that I want to bring under our umbrella. Short form indies that pack a punch. I hope you see what I mean in August.

Have a game to pitch to us? Reach out! www.monstertheater.games

It's almost time to party, owl ninjas!

Leading up to launch, we'll be revealing more of the game and what you can come to expect from launch.

Which, as a reminder, is July 15th!

The new trailer will reveal...

Gameplay of all three playable characters
All new levels
All in-game weapons and mechanics
Some new music!

Also, you may have caught that jaw-dropping artwork. It was done by none other than KingSloth, and we will be featuring this artwork on console release as well.

SEE YOU JUNE 3RD!

GOBLIN INTERN #3498 HERE

*ahem*

WE CAN FINALLY ANNOUNCE THAT...

Atomic Owl was a winner at the Winter Game Awards 2024

We're extremely honored and proud of our team for reaching this milestone -- our first industry award! We can't believe it! I'm jumping for joy ov' here!

With this award comes a grant that we will use to make Atomic Owl even better. A gigantic thank you to OTK and Ovilee from the OTK team for helping make this possible and believing in our team -- and our first indie.

Onwards!

I didnt have a grand blueprint when I started making Atomic Owl.

I thought, "Its a platformer. How hard could it be? Maybe a year of work?"

Oh, how wrong I was.

"Okay, but I want Samurai and Ninja Bird warriors. Let's make THAT happen."

And...we did!

The journey to this point has been anything but straightforward. When I began, my game development experience was minimal. Id interned as a playtester at Gearbox for Borderlands 3 and spent a year as a producer at PeopleFun, a Dallas-based mobile game studio. There, I led teams building word gamesnot the same as crafting a side-scrolling platformer.

But I had a vision. I wanted to create something that prayed at the church of Katana Zero.

At the time, I didnt know how to code, animate, design UX, or make pixel art, but I did have my North Star. I felt, and still feel, that indie games were missing that nostalgic Saturday morning cartoon vibe. Think Sewer Shark, Gargoyles, or Ronin Warriors. I wanted to capture that magic. Games like Shovel Knight and Katana Zero, which channeled the spirit of Mega Man X, were my inspirationsand I wanted to add to that pantheon.

Atomic Owl was born.

The development process wasnt perfect. I skipped prototyping entirely, assembling the games muscle, sinew, and string cheese before its skeleton. My team and I had to work backward, but here we are today, with a game on the verge of completion.

Were aiming to go gold by June, tighten a few screws, and press that mythical "Launch" button. So far, the public has seen only 1520% of whats in store. Weve hidden narrative twists, gameplay innovations, and new characters and enemies that we cant wait to reveal.

To OTK, thank you for letting us unveil our release date at the Winter Games Expo. To everyone who supported our Kickstarter earlier this year: thank you. To our amazing Monster Theater Discord community for spreading joy, memes, and feedback: thank you. And to the Monster Theater team: your work has made this milestone possible.

I cant wait for you all to experience Atomic Owl next summer.

With gratitude,
Eldar,
Your friend in Bladewing City

"What's happened to Hidalgo? He seems very...askew"

In celebration of our new release date trailer being showcased at the OTKGamesExpo, here's something else for our loyal Bladewings, a first look at the Crowfeather skin in Atomic Owl!

During our Kickstarter, we teased the inclusion of a DLC skin called "The Crowfeather", which is a play on the plague doctor look recently popularized most by Bloodborne. We wanted to have a skin that represented not only our love for Bloodborne but an homage to that Eldritch/Lovecraftian feel.

The Crowfeather skin will be a FREE skin included in the base game on launch, players will be able to select the skin from the game's campfire hub.

A VERY SPECIAL WINTERY ANNOUNCEMENT

We are featuring a BRAND NEW exclusive story trailer for our game + THE RELEASE DATE!

• https://www.otkgamesexpo.com/
• https://twitch.tv/OTKnetwork
• https://youtube.com/@OTKGamesExpo
  

• https://discord.gg/Kj2wfmY7r3
• https://www.patreon.com/MonsterTheater
• https://x.com/monstertheaterx
• https://bsky.app/profile/monstertheater.bsky.social
• https://threads.net/@monstertheatergames
• https://instagram.com/monstertheatergames
  

[b]Bladewings, it's time for you to play Atomic Owl.

Demo page: [/b]https://store.steampowered.com/app/3159870/Atomic_Owl_Demo/

Since our successful Kickstarter launch this past spring, weve been dedicated to making our debut title's demo as polished, bug-free, and enjoyable as possible. Last week, early Kickstarter backers at the Bladewing tier and above downloaded the demo and played it through the weekend.

But today, our game's demo is available to everyone as part of Steam Next Fest.

We've already had a handful of content creators playing as well!


Let's talk about the demo a little bit!

Atomic Owl is a neo-roguelite fusion sidescrolling platformer, inspired by games like Celeste, Dead Cells, MegaMan X, Hollow Knight, and more. However, we've recently made some interesting changes to the combat. Rather than the old design approach of hitting enemies repeatedly until they die, we've implemented a new way to engage enemies that we think you'll find very interesting and rewarding--a time stop + chain method of dispatching enemies, similar to games like Katana Zero, but with our spin. Easy for new players, but actively rewarding for high-level players and those who want to be stylish!

The demo showcases a fair bit of story from the main game as well, but you are free to skip any dialogue and get straight into the action if you choose. The demo is also fairly short, roughly 20 - 30 minutes if you take your time. We wanted to get our most polished levels out but also give you a taste of what you can expect when we launch next year, but not give too much away.

Demo Specifics:

Quick 500 MB Download
Full Xbox/PS4/PS5/Keyboard Support
Full Steam API Integration
Playable on Steam Deck, but not completely optimized. If you choose to play it on Steam Deck, you will see bugs in the UI.
Widescreen is supported, but you may see some letterboxing

We look forward to your feedback.

Want to talk about the demo on socials or in our Discord?

Join the party here: https://monstertheater.carrd.co/
Haven't wishlisted the full game yet?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2228490/Atomic_Owl/?beta=0
The full game will be released in 2025 on Steam, GOG, Playstation 5 (Digital and Physical), Nintendo Switch (Digital and Physical), and Xbox Series X/S (Digital Only)

Atomic Owl is published by EastAsiaSoft, publishers of games like Cursed Castilla EX and Habroxia.

Thank you for being a part of the Monster Theater story!