Eight response tones, and no universally good button The same kind of response can build trust with one person and shut another down. · Dialogue uses eight tones: care, pragmatism, directness, humor, principle, caution, dare, and openness. · Characters react according to personality, not a simple good-or-evil scale. Which tone do you choose most often?
Every survivor brings value and a cost A new person in the bunker is not just plus one population. · Survivors have professions, skills, weaknesses, needs, and their own views of the System. · They may improve a room, open a personal story — or bring a new conflict. Who do you take in first: a medic, an engineer, or a fighter?
Liam O’Connor: the rescuer who always goes first When someone calls for help, Liam is already moving — usually before there is a plan. · Before the catastrophe he was a firefighter; in the bunker he supports construction and heavy work. · He values care for others and bold action, but can mistake caution for cowardice. Do you stop Liam, or run after him?
Marcos Rodriguez: discipline and dry humor Marcos can joke under fire, but he will never forgive a plan with no exit route. · A former soldier and survival instructor, he supports security and team training. · He respects directness and dry humor, but rejects coddling and reckless dares. What convinces him faster: a clear order or a reckless “we’ll make it”?
Emily Rivers: healing others while avoiding her own pain Emily always asks, “Are you hurt?” before she asks what you brought back. · She was a nurse and became the group’s medical anchor, but carrying everyone else’s pain pushes her toward burnout. · Emily values care and openness, while cold calculation and badly timed jokes feel cruel to her. Would you admit your fear to her or try to break t…
Nathan Cole: the engineer looking for the source of the catastrophe Nathan helped build a safe AGI. Now he lives in a world where every answer about artificial intelligence sounds like an accusation. · Before the catastrophe, he was an engineer and systems architect on Project Phoenix X. · Now he must understand the System, keep people alive, and decide who can be trusted at all. If your own pr…
You hear gunfire behind a wall. It could be a chance to help people — or a perfectly placed trap. Events trigger directly in the location and ask the player to act within a specific area and time. It may be a firefight, an escort, or a supply signal that turns out to be real — or bait. Do you investigate the gunfire or protect your route to extraction?
A secret rewards attention, not mandatory grinding A crack in the wall should spark curiosity, not hide a mandatory path to victory. · Secrets may be weak walls, psi illusions, suspended containers, fleeing rare enemies, or physical puzzles. · The reward should feel good without turning secret hunting into mandatory optimization every run. What kind of secret would pull you away from a safe route?
Seven damage types, seven reasons to adapt If one damage type solves everything, a build stops being a choice. — The canonical set includes physical, fire, ice, electric, poison, psi, and mental damage. — Enemy resistances push the player to change weapons, utilities, and abilities for the situation. Which damage type do you bring into an unknown fight first?
An implant changes the build An implant should change a decision, not just raise a number by one percent. — Implants are installed and replaced in the operating room as part of persistent character preparation. — An implant matters through its interaction with weapons, psi, and the character’s role. Would you build a flexible generalist or a narrow specialist?
The psi hall: upgrade more than weapons Sometimes the best pre-run upgrade is not a new gun, but a more reliable ability. — Psi abilities grow in their own meta progression and require time and resources. — They give characters different roles: damage, healing, control, or protection. Which fits your style: fire, healing, telekinesis, or a shield?
Training between outings Your next build begins in the bunker training room, not on the map. — Strength supports physical power and carry weight, agility drives mobility, intelligence develops the psi layer, and constitution supports health and stamina. — Growth between outings shapes a character’s persistent combat identity. What would you train first for an extraction outing?
A fractal is not a recipe A rare find does not have to become a finished item immediately. — A fractal is assembled to 100%, researched in the laboratory, and only then unlocks its linked recipe. — The discovery becomes a promise of a future capability rather than a one-use reward. Would you carry an unknown fractal home instead of a rare weapon?
Crafting without accounting punishment Crafting should answer three questions: what will I get, why is it locked, and when will it finish? — Recipes remain visible while locked and state the exact reason: resources, station, skill, power, worker, or unlock. — The player queues production runs and immediately sees the total output and time. Which crafting lock is worse: one that is unclear or on…
Storage: two limits that change the plan A full storage can stop more than looting — it can stall the entire bunker. — The shared stockpile is limited by both slots and weight. — If production cannot deposit its output, the greenhouse, well, or crafting station does not discard it — work waits for space. What matters first: expanding storage or expanding production?
The hospital: one bed, one difficult choice When the hospital can treat only one person, the queue becomes strategy. — One hospital treats one patient at a time; upgrades speed treatment and unlock harder cases, but do not add beds. — Without power, treatment pauses while the occupied slot remains taken. Who gets the only bed before a difficult mission?
Three ways to end an outing Extraction is not a single green door with one correct ending. — You can leave with the objective and loot, extract partially without the main goal, or unlock a special exit through an event. — Even an early retreat has value: sometimes a smaller reward is better than a crushing defeat. Would you leave with half the objective or stay for the full result?
Your bag is full: weight is part of the decision The most dangerous item in your bag may be the one that stops you from running properly. — Inventory is limited by more than space: carried mass affects movement, stamina, and available actions. — That means valuable loot changes the route to extraction, not just a number in a menu. What goes first: the heavy resource or your spare ammunition?
Death does not erase a hero, but it leaves scars A failed outing does not delete the character. It brings them home changed. — On defeat, unextracted loot is lost while the character enters heavy recovery with persistent consequences. — Burns, intoxication, or concussion can change who is ready for the next operation. Who goes next: the wounded veteran or the healthy rookie?
If this combination sounds interesting to you: — a dangerous run; — the “leave or risk more” decision; — extraction with loot; — a bunker that genuinely changes after you return, then System Arrival is definitely worth following further. Next month we will show more specific moments, systems, and consequences. That is where we go deeper into separate parts of the game.
At this stage, a few things about System Arrival have become especially clear to us: — the run must create tension; — extraction must feel like a decision; — loot must have a clear meaning; — the bunker must feel like a place, not a menu. If those four supports hold, the game starts feeling whole. That is what we want to keep showing.
Right now, the most useful way to look at System Arrival revolves around three things: — is the first goal clear; — does extraction tension work; — does the run -> bunker connection feel readable. These are the points that most strongly decide whether someone understands the game quickly and wants to stay with it. Which of these matters most to you first?
Sometimes a game is sold not by an explanation, but by one strong image. For System Arrival, psi abilities can be one of those images: — they hook visually right away; — they show that combat is not only gunfire; — they make runs feel less predictable. What matters to us is that these moments are not only flashy, but readable and useful in the actual game.
Part of the long-term progression in System Arrival is built around finds that matter beyond the current moment. The ideal logic is: — you find something rare outside; — you bring it back; — you start research; — you gain a new tool, recipe, or advantage for future runs. So the risk pays off not in one second, but across several later decisions.
The bunker becomes stronger when the people inside it feel like part of the consequences, not decoration. If the base has survivors with roles, fatigue, work, and needs, then every run is felt differently. The question is no longer only how much loot you brought back. It is also who that loot supports, what it keeps running, and what it prepares for next.
The classic mistake in games like this is very simple: “one more crate and then I leave.” The problem is that this is exactly when: — ammo runs low; — the route back gets more dangerous; — the cost of a mistake rises fast. We want failures or near-failures in System Arrival to feel fair. Not “the game suddenly broke the player,” but “the player crossed the line of risk.”
A game with several systems needs a simple and strong first step. For System Arrival, that step can be: go outside, find a needed resource, and bring an important part of the bunker back online. Why it works: — the goal is clear immediately; — the risk becomes meaningful; — the loot gets concrete value; — the result is visible right away.
We did not want the base in System Arrival to feel like a stack of dry menus. The bunker should read as a real place: — people live there; — resources are spent there; — things keep running there; — the next outing is prepared there. The game does not end when you return. It simply shifts into another phase.
—
Announcements are the developer’s own posts to the game’s Steam news feed: updates and their patch notes, in-game events, releases and sales. The important ones are marked on the players chart.