Hello Mercs!
The time has come to announce the next major content update for Dead Grid.
First, I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates in 2024. I run a small studio, just me and my cat. The cat handles most of the programming—as long as I keep the treats coming, of course. This year, I had to take on additional work to help finance the development of the game, which has put a significant strain on my time.
Now, let’s get to the main topics of Content Update 6!
This update is likely the most significant in terms of reworking existing skills since the release of the Revenant class. I’ve watched a lot of gameplay videos of Dead Grid—if you’ve posted a video on YouTube, there’s a good chance I’ve seen it. These videos are incredibly insightful, as they allow me to observe players’ choices and strategies. This helps me step outside my design bubble and come up with new ideas to improve underutilized skills.
NEW PROGRESSION SYSTEM
Before diving into all the new skills, I’m excited to introduce a new system called Elite Perks.
Elite Perks are a powerful set of 40 class-wide passive abilities that you get to randomly discover.
Unlike earning and spending skill points, these are unlocked through a mechanic that blends the excitement of finding a rare item with the satisfaction of achieving a milestone. Engage in various combat actions, such as attacking, parrying, taking damage, and more, to start uncovering the requirements for unlocking a perk. The initial chance to unlock each perk can be low but gradually increases over time, boosting the likelihood with continued effort.
Perks can also be discovered in any order and are tied to each playthrough. You might get lucky and unlock a powerful perk early, turning the tide of zombie slaying in your favor. Keep in mind, none of the perks are required to finish any content in the game.
There are 40 Elite Perks in total, 8 per class!
CLASS TRAITS
The Leader's passive trait has been completely reworked to provide a more noticeable and impactful presence on the battlefield. While the Commando and Enforcer mercs have undergone a slight adjustment to affect only adjacent mercs, rather than all mercs in play.
Remember, you can always reposition mercs using the arrow keys during your turn to take advantage of their traits.
SKILL CHANGES
LEADER
Many Leader skills have been phased out and replaced with new ones, please take a look.
COMMANDO
Commando received a significant buff to the middle tree for abilities focusing on firearms.
Full auto now fires a lot more rounds and focuses on the same target, but overflow damage would still spread on other targets when your primary target is eliminated.
The skill Flaming Blade has been reworked to include a new mechanic that mirrors the functionality of Frag Grenade, while still focusing on fire damage.
ENFORCER
I feel that Enforcer sits in a decent place at moment, but noticed almost no one used the middle tree, so it got a new skill as well.
TACTICIAN
Some skills were renamed and updated with new art.
GAME BALANCE
Extinction - New Game Difficulty
Even more punishing than Apocalypse for those of you looking for a bigger challenge.
See the upcoming patch notes for full details on this difficulty mode.
Bosses
Eliminated bosses no longer drop skill point cards as it caused a lot of confusion why returning from a mission granted 1 point instead of 5. Bosses continue to drop unique weapons with a chance based on the difficulty of the game.
Shield Damage Re-balance
With the introduction of the Lab - Armory, I overlooked the scaling of shield damage. Currently, shields can be upgraded to a point where they deal damage comparable to, or even greater than, many blunt weapons of the same item level, while still providing protection. This made many non-shield weapons less advantageous, so shield damage has been significantly reduced—roughly to half of their sharp or blunt counterparts. However, shields remain viable in combat, particularly due to their high chance to stun.
Card Draw and Turn Pacing
Drawing non-minion cards from the enemy threat, such as loot bags, triggers an additional draw. This should reduce many turns with nothing to attack without using Initiative.
Mission Balance
- Re-balanced the difficulty of most mid to late game missions, generally made them a bit harder.
- Extended tutorial (covering mission repeats) for the first 4 region locations has been shortened for all difficulty levels by a couple of repeats. This means enemies will start to enrage sooner.
Squad Power
- Re-balanced the recommended squad power of many missions on the region map.
- Re-balanced player's squad power to better reflect the health attributes with invested skill points.
- Player's squad power now also adjusts right away when spending skill points in health boosting attributes.
- Player's squad power adjusts right away when upgrading equipped weapons in Lab's Armory.
- Re-balanced equipped shields scaling player's squad power.
Armory Upgrade Restriction
One of the primary purposes of the Armory is not only to upgrade the level of items but also to increase the item level of new drops within the same category, which includes new unique items that could be useful for your squad. The ability to upgrade unique weapons had made finding and upgrading non-unique items less appealing. The goal of this change is to make discovering new uniques with a higher item level than your current best weapon more exciting. Keep in mind that many exceptional-quality (purple) weapons are nearly as powerful as uniques, so upgrading them remains a viable and effective option.
QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGES
New Create Character Interface
Completely reworked the New Game interface to be more streamlined for first time players.
Improved Gear Management UI
New Card Details in Combat
Other
Many small UI changes to increase various font sizes, new tool tips, improved icons, etc
Horde Enemies
Enemies on missions that are affected by nearby hordes will now have their special abilities indicated in the card details. I noticed this caused significant confusion for many players while observing their gameplay. Combat log also reflects this triggered status.
Silenced Firearms
Silenced firearms now correctly display their noise reduction in the card details.
NEW CHALLENGE
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
- 2 very difficult roaming hordes
- new consumables and weapons
- new achievements (fame)
- 5 new music tracks
RELEASE AND FUTURE PLANS
I'm currently working on finishing everything up as this update includes a lot of changes.
I will be posting more news of the release date on the forums and in Discord. Stay tuned.
There are two major content updates planned for the game (including this one) before the 1.0 release. The final update will introduce a victory condition, but you’ll still be able to continue playing after reaching the victory screen. A significant portion of the work for the final update has already been completed and just needs additional polish, so I’ll be delaying that content to ensure it meets the desired quality.
Thanks for your support, reviews, suggestions and bug reports!
I can't wait to see you play with all the new toys.
-- Paul