Gunlocked 2 launches in Early Access on Steam in August 2025. Wishlist on Steam today! Last update I talked about the challenge of balancing between fresh and familiar. In it, I showed an updated version of the warp menu. The warp system is probably the first change I envisioned when an idea for a sequel finally started to coalesce. Removing the old level select, and instead creating a more visceral light speed jump from section to section was immediately appealing for two reasons:
First, it was just a cool visual. Something to say, "Hey, it's Gunlocked, but not like before. How cool is this?" The second, and (maaaybe...) more importantly, was replayability via player choice. Having different options, destinations, and battles to choose from felt like just the hook the game needed to stand out from the original. But as I mentioned before, simply adding more of something (in this case, choice and variety) isn't a guaranteed solution.
Initially, the warp menus were cluttered with too many icons, indicating all kinds of different variables, including (but not limited to) a complete breakdown of each individual item reward you'd get. In practice, I found this actually killed the momentum of the game. Information overload, choice paralysis, and other two-word catastrophes stopped the game in its tracks. And something I, and many others, loved about Gunlocked was the breezy pacing.
I had to figure out how to implement this new system in a way that provided meaningful choice, but quickly. In the current version, the solution is to convey important information in broad strokes, using only 4 icons: Threat, Primary Faction, Zone Type, and Reward.
Threats are your standard combat zones, elite zones, and boss battles. Elite zones immediately tell you that the fight will be harder, and the rewards will be better. Elite zones can have a number of environmental hazards, and other challenges to make it a risk vs reward proposition. In some cases both zone choices might be elites, but more often there will be an easier, but less rewarding alternative.
Faction tells you about the kind of enemies and challenges you'll face. Each faction of enemy has their own style, with some overlap, that might be stronger or weaker to your current build. This is never so important that you can't win with certain builds, but it might increase the risk enough if your health is low. You can still face enemies from other factions in any given zone, but the primary faction will appear the most. It also determines which bosses you can face, and that in turn changes what upgrades you'll be offered at the end of the battle. Each boss now has a unique loot table to draw from, so learning the bosses and their possible rewards will provide more mastery over the game.
Zone Type ties heavily into the new item drop system. In every zone, there will be opportunities to collect items like reroll tokens, hull repairs, and data disks. Some zone types will offer you a chance to collect more items, or more gems, and some will allow you to spend your data disks in unique exchanges that can offer even more items that can't be found anywhere else.
Reward tells you the kind of beacon that will appear. Data Beacons in the original Gunlocked, were a way to get a free, random upgrade without needing to level up. They showed up a few times per game. In Gunlocked 2, they appear in every zone, as an important way to earn upgrades regularly, and they aren't random. You'll be able to choose from beacons that make copies of upgrades you already have, or beacons that drop a specific weapon or elemental type, and at various different rarities.
With this system in place, experienced players will be able to quickly assess the danger each choice presents from the Threat and Faction icons, and the benefits from the Zone and Reward icons. Ultimately, you're still going to be getting classic Gunlocked gameplay at warp speed, but with enough choice and variety to prevent you from going on auto-pilot.
You'll get to find out for yourselves, soon enough, as Gunlocked 2 has a planned Early Access launch date of August 21st.