Echo Mates — Update: Brooder Clutch, Cryo Haul & Loot Carts
This update brings two new contracts, a new kind of room, loot carts, a proper payout screen and a long list of quality-of-life changes. As always: everything that makes noise can get you found.
New contracts
- BROODER CLUTCH — Brooders have nested on the floor, and the company wants their eggs. Each egg is heavy and fragile: drop it and it breaks, and loud noise (running, jumping, screaming) makes it crack. If an egg breaks, a Puffling hatches. Kill the chick and its own mother will come for you.
- CRYO HAUL — Warehouses and labs now have 2–3 cryo rooms each, stacked with cryo barrels. Get the barrels to the van. They are heavy, and a barrel that gets thrown or dropped bursts into a large cryo spill. Step in the spill and you freeze solid in about a second. Creatures freeze too, so a barrel is also a weapon.
- BLOW THE LINE (Metro story contract) — The demolition charges now wait on the floor beside the lift doors, and unplanted charges show up on the minimap. The countdown board is bigger and can be read from both sides. If you ride the lift up with the fuse still burning, you'll hear and feel the tunnel collapse beneath you.
Brooder eggs and cryo barrels can also turn up as finds on other contracts, in freezer cabinets and in the occasional stray nest.
Loot carts
- Cart — buy it at the shop and push it by the handle. It fits through any door, carries several finds at once and can be rolled up the ramp into the van.
- Soundproof cart (blueprint) — a sealed case on wheels. With the lid closed, no sound gets in, so crystals, eggs and cryo barrels inside are safe from noise, and very little sound gets out. Open the lid to load or unload.
- Your character now grips the cart handle with their hands. With the tablet raised, one hand holds the tablet and the other steers.
Contract payout screen
When the run's money lands in the bank, everyone's tablet comes up by itself and shows CONTRACT COMPLETE or FAILED with a grade from F to A+. Then the bank counts up by your reward. No more silent payouts.
Lift: leave early (if you're sure)
You can now leave before the job is done. The lift terminal asks "the contract will fail — are you sure?" and then asks once more. If the crew carries in everything needed during the countdown, the contract still counts. Your tablet now beeps whenever a departure countdown starts.
Cause of death
The death screen now tells you what killed you: which creature, which explosion, suffocation, acid, freezing, a fall, the lift leaving without you, or a violation of your NDA. If a teammate was responsible, their name appears in their colour. If it was your own mine, it says so.
World
- Warehouse sliding doors — warehouse rooms now have sliding doors. Some open automatically on a motion sensor (for creatures too), and the rest open by hand. Doors are sound barriers, and now locks have somewhere to hang.
- Living liquid in sample flasks — the liquid now sloshes and settles as you carry, throw or turn the flask.
- Your stuff stays in the shop — items left around the shop yard no longer disappear when you head down, and they're saved with the campaign.
- Floors don't stay empty — creatures you kill are slowly replaced, one at a time and never above the floor's starting population. Clearing a floor and going quiet no longer leaves it empty for the rest of the shift.
Feedback & hints
- The armor plate now has a distinct sound when it saves your life. The first time it does, a one-time card tells you it's broken and you're no longer protected.
- The first time you pick up data (folders, disks, laptops, servers), a one-time card tells you that data unlocks new gear via blueprints.
Fixes & polish
- Various fixes to explosions, creature kills and death attribution across the roster.
- Breakable props, eggs and barrels shatter more convincingly.
- Assorted tablet, terminal and localisation fixes.
Thanks for playing, and keep your voice down.