2025 - Year in Review

Hey, folks!

Another year is now behind us. We started it with a sorta-special dream featuring Rowen.

And we're ending it with ➡️Naomi's XXXmas special!

Yeah, I'm stretching the definition a bit, but I really wanted to repeat the whole "full circle" thing from last year again (and plug the latest special), so bear with me. In any case, this is just a small part of what we did in 2025, so let's go through everything.

But before that, I'd like to thank you, our players, our followers, and most of all, our Patrons, for making it possible for us to continue working on the game and creating other cool and/or questionable stuff we're creating!

This outgoing year was a year of improving the general gameplay, making big changes, and overall setting the game well on its way to completion. We've massively improved some of the core elements, started the move to the new graphics/animation pipeline, and finally got to the point when we can talk about the ending.

Apart from that we did a record number of specials and special-adjacent content this year, so the higher Patron tiers now actually get something more than just our admittedly massive gratitude!

And two of the studios we helped get off the ground fully launched, so lemme quickly plug them.

First one is the ➡️Horny Herring - a 3D/VR animation stuido! Not only are they creating awesome animations, we did a Maid Lyriel special in collaboration with them, and their expertise helps us with our move to the new pipeline. There certainly will be more collaborations in the future, so stay tuned and support their work if you like what you're seeing!

Second is the ➡️Horny Union - a 2D sandbox sex sim! It's only tangentially related to AHITR, but we wanted to branch out a bit. We might do a collab with them in the future as well, maybe bringing some of the House girls into the Union! The game itself is shaping up quite nicely, so check it out if you are at all interested in 2D waifus!

Now let's once again dig deeper into the advances, changes and updates of 2025.

What's been good

Most of the girls' personal stories got a fair bit further this year. We can finally start setting up the endings. Slight spoilers ahead! So scroll down to the second image after this one if you want to avoid them.

So, the "real talk" events with Lyriel, Cait and in v0.8.06, Naomi. Those are going to decide the possible ending for the girls. Not just one talk, though. You'll see some differences in the future events depending on your choice, but we're not going to start doing a true branching narrative this late into development. The personal stories of the girls are going to play out and tie into the main story. Then depending on your choices and your final words, you'll get one of the quite a few possible endings. The girls will have their say, though, so don't expect to just select the ending you want at the last moment.

End of the spoilers. So, overall, I'm very happy with how the personal stories are progressing. We are finally getting to the big reveals, and it's all starting to tie together. I hope you are enjoying the ride as well!

While the girls' personal stories are good and all that, the game itself was starting to buckle under its own weight. It still sorta does, and we're going to keep working on it, but the new lewdness system was a huge improvement. The quest log is now much less cluttered, the sexy times requirements are much more clear, and from our polls, you folks really liked it as well! So I'm considering it a straight-up success, and we're aiming to upgrade the intimacy system next!

Speaking of systems, the Action system was introduced last January, and while we haven't added any new actions in a while, I also consider it a success. The interactions are quick, fun, and they add a much needed variety to the everyday happenings of the House. We've been scaling back side content due to the new render pipeline, but we're definitely going to add more of them! And while so far there's only one action-related sex scene, the system is ripe for adding many more!

Apart from action-related sex with Blair, we've added a lot of other scenes this year. The alchemy minigame got expanded with new recipes and new events. Lyriel can finally put her size envy to rest with one of the potions!

Another potion helped Naomi get in touch with her softer side. You folks were seemingly all for it!

And Yona got to try a few new things without resorting to any alchemical help! She liked it quite a lot, too!

The one standout is, of course, the Lyriel-Cait threesome. You voted for it and you got it. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest sex scene in the game by the number and duration of animations. It was a lot of work, but I'm pretty sure everyone liked it.

The new movie night sex scene with Rae, on the other hand, is not the biggest one, and there are some issues with it, but it was the first in-House sex scene using the new pipeline, and I consider it a success as well. We are still improving the look of the renders, adjusting the materials and lighting, but the main thing is, the new pipeline is already good enough to include in the game, and it's going to become even better! We are already doing things we couldn't do at all in the old pipeline, so just you wait until we really get a hang of it!

And when we really get into stride, you can expect the in-game content to match the things you could only see in the specials! We did quite a few of them this year, and technically, even Halloween Rae was only completed in January, so we can sorta count it as this year's special as well. Then there was the Erotic Estates artbook, the Lyriel Maid animation, and finally, the new Naomi's XXXmas special! Per your vote, we're going to expand it further, and add some alt versions, too. We should probably have a poll about specials in general, but from the reactions and the comments we can already tell that you folks by and large enjoy the specials. There's gonna be more!

There were other things as well. The House screens got a much-needed makeover.

And the girls' sprites were all cleaned up and updated.

Small changes for sure, but they go a long way toward keeping everything consistent and nice.

They can't all be winners, though, so let's talk about...

What's been not so good

The move to the new render pipeline was essential. We were at the limit of the old pipeline as it is, and the planned story events would've pushed it way beyond the breaking point. I was seriously considering cutting some of the planned story because I was sure we just couldn't even make it look decent, much less good. In the end, we decided to move to the new render pipeline. Now we are sure we can do the last chapters of the main story justice.

That said, we should've started sooner. We seriously underestimated the amount of content we had to move or re-create. There are issues with the characters' rigs. There's more work to be done with materials, lighting and postprocessing. The animations themselves are already way beyond what we could do with the old pipeline, but the whole thing still needs a lot of work.

This move to the new pipeline is one of the main reasons the last few updates were on the smaller side. While I'm happy with the overall progress, I certainly would have liked to add more events over the last couple of months.

The other big reason for the slowdown is that while our team actually got a little bigger over the year, a few folks who were in the studio since the early years wanted to try other things and parted ways with us. I of course wish them the very best, but it's always tough to lose experienced people, especially for a small studio. Nevertheless, the work continues, we're still growing, and with your support we're definitely going to make great things!

Questionable but fun

Oh, and there was that one special, the Rae cosplay set. I'm going to be honest, we didn't know what we were getting into. The logistics of it were so much more complex than we anticipated. We had no idea how the commissioned cosplays work and we kinda dropped the ball on this one.

Still, it was something new, and we learned a lot. I'm not sure if we're going to commission more real life cosplays, but I hope you folks were entertained by this one!

To sum it all up

For A House in the Rift, this was a year of strengthening the foundations, trying new things, and getting it all in order before our final push to complete the game! I'm not going to promise anything with regards to the timeline, because I honestly don't know myself, but we're getting there!

2025 was also a year of growth and experimentation. Our Patreon is doing the best it ever has, so I'm fairly certain we're on the right path. We've tried new things, and almost all of them were very kindly received by you folks. There were some things we worked on, but never showed until now. Here's one such thing:

Mind, this is not a secret project in active development or anything like that. We are definitely going to start thinking about our next game soon-ish, but not before we're firmly on the final stretch with AHITR. 

And we still have a lot to do in the House.

With that, let's say goodbye to 2025.

And look forward to 2026 in A House in the Rift!

We'll talk more about future plans in the January dev update, and let me assure you, we have many! Stay tuned! Oh, and we will be posting a few free goodies over the next few days!

Last but not least, the whole team loves hearing from you, folks! So please leave a comment with basically anything you want to share with us, ask a question, or just wish everyone a happy new year! 

For now, Happy New Year from me personally and everyone on the team!

And see you soon!