After planning 2 more paid acts, narrative scifi power-washer Ambrosia Sky is instead finishing its story in one free update to 'maximize' its focus on what players loved: 'People got in on that sapphic yearning right away'

Ambrosia Sky: Act One launched in November 2025 as the first installment of an episodic immersive sim narrative following spacefaring researcher Dalia as she investigates the fungus-overrun ruins of the station she once called home. But while developer Soft Rains initially aimed to complete Ambrosia Sky with two additional paid acts, it's now planning to finish Dalia's story of fungicide and forlorn yearning in Ambrosia Sky: Act Two, launching as a free update later this year.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Soft Rains narrative director Kait Tremblay and studio head Joel Burgess said the decision to reorient the studio's plans for Ambrosia Sky was driven first and foremost by feedback from its players, whose immediate investment in Dalia's emotional journey made it clear that a tighter, more impactful arc would be a better fit than a staggered three-act saga.

"It really codified that there were a bunch of green lights down the board that this is going to make the story tighter," Burgess said. "We feel like it's going to allow us to maximize the parts of the game we've built that people like, gameplay-wise as well as the narrative."

Tremblay said Steam reviews and player responses to Act One showed players reacted strongly to the emotional momentum that built as Dalia navigated The Cluster and reconnected with her past. Drawing out Dalia's story, she said, could risk losing focus on what Act One did best.

"I didn't want to pull the momentum out of that. It'd be like popping a balloon," Tremblay said. "Doing it in two parts really lets that momentum continue to build in a natural way and lets the pacing take its own course."

Burgess agreed: Soft Rain's initial three-act plans would've seen the second and third acts lean on a subplot from Act One as the driving force in the story, which increasingly felt like a misstep.

"When we saw what players were responding to in Act One, it really felt like going into that subplot and exploring that for a full act was just delaying the story that people were telling us they really cared about," Burgess said.

As for what, specifically, players were invested in: It was the space yearning. Players were so invested in Maeve and Dalia's dynamic, in fact, that it even took Tremblay by surprise.

"I was expecting it to take longer for people to care about Maeve and Dalia's relationship," Tremblay said. "But it did not. People got in on that sapphic yearning right away. Knowing how quick people were able to invest and emotionally attach was like, 'Okay, cool. That's really useful story data for me.'"

While Soft Rains ended up substantially revising its plans for Ambrosia Sky's releases, Tremblay and Burgess said that its episodic development allowed the studio to both release a game with a fully-formed identity, aesthetic, and mechanical framework and access player validation of what's really succeeding that would've been delayed in a longer, more traditional production.

"For Soft Rains, I don't know that there's a one size fits all approach," Burgess said. "But for Ambrosia Sky, I think this was the right decision for us, and I'm pretty happy we made it."

Ambrosia Sky: Act One is available on Steam now, and Act One owners will receive the concluding Act Two as a free update when it tentatively launches later this year. Once Act Two releases, however, Ambrosia Sky's price will increase from $15 to $25 for newcomers "to reflect the game's expanded, complete experience."

Additionally, Soft Rains is pairing the Act Two announcement with a 15% off sale on Act One until March 13. If you want to start Dalia's story for yourself, now's the best time to do it.