The update is finally done! This was an incredible amount of work and I hope you all love it.
It's going to be weird this time, there's a lot more story content and quests and such, but there is also a huge combat level with new enemies and lots of new mechanics. Depending on what you're interested in, you can now launch the game directly from any level from the main menu while still preserving story choices!
On this note, savegames will be invalidated! Sorry! I really tried not to do that but we added so many features that at one point it became impossible to maintain the old save file architecture. Thankfully you can use the launcher. If you were in the middle of the level when the update happens, post on the forums! I'll help you set yourself up with console commands so you can resume from where you were.
Here is a quick list of changes. It's not comprehensive, because we added so much, but here it is:
-New mission in 3 sections, same size as the last one! More stealth focus this time.
-Section one is an abandoned metro tunnel with a focus on stealth, section two is a fortified ramshackle village and section three is an incredibly over-animated factory with interactive puzzles that involve using the machines to progress
-Optional objective mission structure with rewards based on objective completion
-Finally implemented briefing shop where you can buy passive buffs that enhance things like attack and movement speed
-Vending machine system to load up on items and weapons mid-mission
-Hub level with quests, voice acted NPCs and meaningful story choices
-A restaurant in the hub where you can eat to receive buffs!
-Two story sequences with puzzles and more lore
-New enemy faction with abilities such as energy shields, leaping attacks and fixed machinegun turrets
-New stealth systems like security cameras, proximity drones and moving laser tripwires you have to dance through
-New AI which can search, reinforce patrols and respond to the player more dynamically in general
-New environmental hazards like grinders and molten metal pits to throw people into
-Knockback mechanics that allow you to juggle enemies and bounce them against walls to do damage
-New 3D boss with the possibly the best moveset we've made yet!
-New weapons that deal elemental damage which interact with the environment
-Barrels that leak fluid of different types to use in conjunction with the new weapons
-Environmental puzzles you need to use physics manipulating tools to solve
-New water mechanics that interact with props
-All missing audio added to the earlier levels, including cutscene sounds and new music for some segments
That's the highlights. There are also hundreds upon hundreds of bug fixes, of course!
Sadly, there is no longer a QA person, so I've been doing it myself while also developing and bug fixing at the same time. This means I probably missed a lot of stuff. I'm sorry, dear players, but you are now the QA team D:! I've fixed everything I could find and we all got together on the Discord server to try to push through the build as much as possible to catch everything, but I am 100% sure there are still issues. The good thing is that I think there are no game-breaking issues and I'll be here listening to you guys as you run into stuff, and live-patching it, like I always do.
I'll be making another post in the near future about what I'll be doing for the next month. I'm going to focus on fixes first, of course, but I have some other ideas too.
Okay, go play now! Have fun! I'll be in the Discord and on the forums.
See you all, space cowboys!
-Dizzie