Hello Responders!
It’s been two weeks since Genesis launched, and we’ve taken that time to dig deep into some of the feedback we got around the melee combat changes. We appreciate all the responses we received and wanted to take this opportunity to communicate our process, both in development and addressing feedback.
We are still in Early Access, and we expect updates to be rougher in nature as we develop alongside the community, with the goal of building foundations to iterate upon. In the update notes for Genesis, we call out that the melee system rework is a standardization pass prior to additional work as well as knowing there would be animation issues. However, we could’ve been clearer about the intent of this new system and clearer in our future goals.
With that in mind, we’ve worked to bring the rest of our melee changes sooner than originally planned with a hotfix containing a balance update Tuesday, February 24th. These changes weren’t originally ideated well enough to be in Genesis, but through community feedback our designers were inspired and confident in that vision to craft these adjustments. Balance updates are something the team would like to do post-1.0, but in this special case we’re doing one in Early Access to gather data and get our intended vision out sooner. To make this happen, the team rallied around accelerating their plans, and we want to give special thanks to our Community Testers who assisted us in iterating faster with feedback.
Here are the main topics we heard that we are looking to address through this update:
Melee combat, and specifically one-handed weapons, feels slow and ineffective now.
Melee weapons overall lack a distinct feel and purpose from each other, especially those of the same rating.
The combo system sometimes is restrictive or has unintuitive moments that inhibit smooth gameplay.
We’ll be making pretty substantial changes to the weapon archetypes, individual weapons ratings and statistics, as well as the systems that interact with melee so we’ll be taking players from the most macro lens downward to understand the intent. Let’s dive right in!
Diversifying Slashing & Blunt
Currently in NMRIH 2, there is little difference between Blunt and Slashing weapons when it comes to the situations players want to utilize them in. Our goal moving forward is to offer a clear choice when picking up either type that allows for playstyle expression through unique strengths. For Blunt weapons, this already exists through their aptitude at stability damage, which we plan to fully lean these weapons into through enhancing their ability to control a crowd while slightly lowering their base damage. Blunt weapons now will be the choice for those who want a safer damage option that knocks zombies around and opens up opportunities to exploit a downed state.
Slashing weapons, by comparison, will be trading away their stability damage (outside Heavy attacks) for enhanced base damage and limb severing potential. Zombies who lose limbs will also be interrupted, giving this identity a focus around quick dismemberment and brutal follow-ups to vulnerable foes. (and for those concerned about a certain leg-focused strategy, legs will be a bit more durable and Crawlers more lethal as a part of this balance update!)
The expectation for this archetype refinement is to create moments of deliberation for players when a certain type of zombie approaches, to search for the right weapon for each moment to maximize their potential. This may manifest as sticking with a buddy who has a weapon that compliments yours in group fights, or potentially carrying a suite of options on your responder to be ready for any threat.
Individual Weapon Feel & Responsiveness
For individual weapons, we’ve made focused statistical changes to all of them, both in conjunction with our goals listed above as well as defining personalities for each. The Small Knife, as a starting weapon, offers very fast swing speeds with slightly better base damage than even a Tier 2 One-Handed Blunt, but is very dangerous to use as it’s not as fast at severing limbs as Slashing upgrades.
When you get up to the two Tier 3 Slashing One-Handed, the Hatchet and Machete are clear upgrades statistically to any weapons below them but also differ in feel and purpose. The Hatchet is faster at heavy swings, maximizing damage per swing to dismember limbs while the Machete excels at quick swings that hack limbs with more combo-oriented gameplay.
This is just one example of the type of identities these weapons now have, allowing for deeper connection with each as players discover which feels best for their playstyle and builds. Speaking of which, we’ve removed the changes in weapon damage across difficulties, with the intent of allowing muscle memory to stay consistent and letting the more novel modifiers add complexity to Nightmare runs. All these adjustments, alongside various fixes to issues like combo input queueing, come together to make this iteration of melee combat our most robust.
Refining Tiers & Emphasizing Looted Weapons
Tiers have not been quite as important between similar weapons or across options as they should be, so when we look a level deeper at the weapons within these archetypes, changes were made to refine the experience of upgrading mid-run. Overall, weapons that share a handling & type (e.g. Two-Handed Blunts) will now have obvious increases in effectiveness as you trade upwards while still offering differentiation in their own rating band.
As an example, both the Baseball Bat and Sledgehammer will offer best-in-archetype stability damage but differ in base damage, reach, and swing speed. (being the fastest and slowest swinging Two-Handed options respectively). This not only helps each time you find a higher-tier option feel meaningful, but also encourages upgrading across archetypes when you stumble upon a new choice. In conjunction with the changes to Blunt & Slashing, this makes ground looting more relevant even for Responders who enter with strong base gear as they will want to find more tools to answer all combat styles.
Re:Genesis
This process, from the level of iteration that has occurred to the testing required to make sure these changes land well, is part of why Genesis was delivered with only the foundations of this plan as opposed to the whole vision at once. As we look towards the future, we have other areas that we know need this level of work and care into envisioning them at their best for 1.0 and onward. We hope these insights help convey the team’s vision when it comes to large-scale changes and our development process, especially while still in Early Access.
As always, stay safe out there!
The NMRIH2 Dev Team