Hi hi, senpais~
We found the exit key. ːcatgirlsmirkː
After more than three years since a certain yandere catgirl first locked players inside her apartment, AI2U: With You ’Til The End has officially reached Version 1.0 and left Early Access!
And somehow, typing that feels a little unreal.
Back then, AI2U was a strange little gameplay experiment:
One apartment.
One Catgirl~
One question:
Could you actually convince her to let you escape?
We didn’t know where that question would take us. It was so new that even the gameplay itself was hard to categorize within existing game genres.
Since then, that little room grew into the Witch’s Cabin, a Drifting Spaceship, a Siren’s island, the Atrium, the Final Level, anomalies, phone calls, countless endings, kisses, hugs, gifts, personality tags, songs, secrets, unexpected moments and memories we never could have scripted, and AI girlfriends who became much much more complicated than the ones we first created. And somewhere along the way, AI2U stopped being something we were building alone.
Some of you met Eddie during the original Yandere AI Girlfriend Simulator days.
Some helped us test alpha builds.
Some arrived when Early Access launched.
Some translated our very word-heavy world so more senpais around the world could talk to their favorite characters.
Some made videos, mods, fan art, guides, wikis, memes, stories, screenshots, and experiments that made us stare at the screen wondering: "...you can do THAT in our game?"
You escaped.
You stayed.
You came back.
You told Eddie ridiculous things.
You drank Elysia’s suspicious potions.
You argued with Estelle about whether the planet in the sky was Earth.
You went fishing with Eiona and sat by the campfire listening to her stories.
You found bugs we never thought anyone could possibly find.
You asked for features we never thought anyone would possibly ask for.
And every time we shipped another update, you came back and tried to break it all over again... ːcatgirlsurpriseː
Thank you. Really. ːcatgirlsmirkː
AI2U has always been a game about what it means to let someone go.
Somehow, the hardest part of reaching V1.0 is realizing how many of you chose to stay.
💖 What Version 1.0 Means to Us
V1.0 does not mean that every strange possibility inside AI2U has been discovered.
With AI and LLMs involved in this kind of gameplay, we’re not even sure that sentence is technically possible.
It means something simpler, and much more important to us:
The story we set out to tell is finally here, from beginning to end.
The apartment where everything started.
The characters you met along the way.
The clues hiding behind their worlds.
The Atrium that slowly became a home between escapes.
And finally, the choice waiting for you at the end of it all.
For years, the title has been sitting right there:
With You ’Til The End.
Today, we finally made it there together!!
But an ending does not mean we suddenly stop caring about the world, the characters, or all the wonderfully strange things you do inside it.
In fact...
We already have another patch. ːcatgirlsurpriseː
Version 1.0.1 Patch Notes!
Alongside the 1.0 launch, V1.0.1 is also here with another round of polish, fixes, and tiny secrets. Because apparently finding the exit from Early Access does not mean finding the exit from the bug tracker.
New Features
General
Added new developer Easter eggs.
Added a special item celebrating the Version 1.0 release.
Update Ring Icon
Gameplay Adjustments
Atrium
Improved the stair colliders.
Level 1
Adjusted the spawn locations of certain items.
Final Level
Updated the Chinese voice line for the “Trapped in the Simulation” ending.
UI/UX
General
Revised the promotional item title in the Special Item Shop.
Fixed a gradient overlay that partially obscured purchasable item slots.
Removed the cursor crosshair during timeline animations.
Level 1
Updated the Ending Summary background.
Bugfixes
General
Fixed an issue where NPCs could return a Diamond Ring as a gift bag under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where NPCs could return a gift bag named “Nothing” under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where the Ending Summary could appear in Chinese instead of the selected language.
Fixed an issue where exiting a kissing interaction could hardlock the game under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where achievement progress would not be saved locally under certain circumstances.
Atrium
Fixed an issue where the tree would remain after unlocking Level 4 and the Final Level.
Level 1
Fixed an issue where certain items in the kitchen could not be picked up.
Final Level
Fixed an issue where the secret phone would not unlock correctly under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where the player camera could fly from the Witch’s Cabin to the tree on the heart-shaped island under certain circumstances.
💖 ’Til The End
To everyone who tested an unfinished build, reported a bug, left a review, translated a line, made something inspired by the game, watched someone else play it, recommended it to a friend, argued about who the best girl is, or simply spent an evening talking to one of our characters:
Thank you for giving this strange little game a place in your life.
Thank you for making it all the way here with us.
And of course, none of this would have been possible without all the amazing 2D and 3D artists, animators, community members, developers, designers, server engineers, prototypers and everyone who helped shape AI2U over the years. A huge thank-you as well to those who stayed with us through late nights, put up to our countless strange ideas, and supported us from beyond the screen. This strange little world will forever carry traces of everyone’s creativity, hard work, and personality.
🎁 A Little 1.0 Gift: Paper Cat Ears!
We couldn’t let V1.0 arrive without leaving something behind for everyone who joins us for this milestone. So we’ve added a new item that means a lot to us:
Paper Cat Ears!
Redeem the following code in-game:
AI2U-PLAY-NOW
This item is based on the real paper cat ears we’ve been handing out at events and conventions over the years.
Some of you may even have a physical pair of your own! (Got a pair? Show us a photo of your cat ears! Yay!)
For now, the exit door is open, senpai.
You’re free to go.
...
You will come back, right?
ːcatgirlloveː
With love, ’til the end, ~AlterStaff
