THE SUMMER HEAT UPDATE Is Here!

Greetings Convicts,

It's finally summer! Good golly, it's warm. What better way to celebrate then with hot flames and cool drinks? The new Firestarter enemy is ready to turn up the thermostat and with it are a bunch of other summer-ish bits and bobs. As always, we have lots of new happenings to look forward to including:

• NEW Enemy: Firestarter

• NEW Pickup: Health Stim

• NEW Interactable: Vending Machines

• NEW Arenas

• NEW Music

• NEW Visual Overhaul of our Protagonist

• Overhauled Main Menu Visuals

• Robodex UI Reworks

• Balancing Changes

• Plenty of Bug Fixes

• BONUS: Secret Stuff...

The sun is out, the Hawaiian shirts are on, and it’s time to feel the heat! Lets take a closer look...

NEW ENEMY: FIRESTARTER

TEAM ROBOT IS NOW OFFICIALLY PACKING HEAT

Operating at a temperature that puts the Australian outback to shame, the Firestarter is the best in making their particular corner of the world somewhere you'd rather not be. Two arm mounted flamethrowers are willing to roast and toast anything that comes vaguely near them, which usually happens to be you. Unlucky. They might only deal a moderate amount of damage, but when grouped up they'll quickly boil you alive.

HAZARD PERCEPTION AWARENESS

The Firestarter also introduces us to a new mechanic. Those flamethrowers need a lot of fuel to keep going, and the thing about back-mounted flammable fuel is that when the robot who's back it's attached to explodes, it REALLY explodes. Be careful getting up close when one of them goes bang, because you'll soon learn about this particular chemical reaction the hard way. Oh, and that doesn't just go for you; other bots are just as susceptible, if not more so, to the blast.

NEW PICKUP: HEALTH STIM

"RULE 39, NEVER SAY NO TO BACTA"

To go alongside the recently(ish) introduced Adrenaline Injectors, you can now find Medical Stims around the prison ship in both crates and vending machines (more on that later!). Picking one up restores a set amount of health. Maybe you're just so good at the game that you're already at full health, in which case it gives you an overdrive boost; if you go above max health you'll receive a limited time damage reduction. You'll be out of the ER waiting room before you know it.

NEW INTERACTABLE: VENDING MACHINES

CRACK OPEN A COLD ONE WITH THE BOTS

I'm not sure what to class this as. You do interact with it, but it's more of a pickup-related one then anything else...anyway, please welcome the Vending Machine! Specifically the drinks machine. What does it do? Well, as we all know, robots have an eternal vendetta against vending machines. It's a tale as old as time. I'm sure I don't even need to explain it, since everybody knows this as a fact. Due to this, Protodroids have taken to stuffing whatever they can find up the machine's disposal chute in efforts to settle the score once and for all. Go on, order something. Who knows what you'll get? Maybe a cool refreshing drink, maybe a misplaced hand, even an Adrenaline Injector? Or perhaps something more secret?

You can also take out some pent up aggression by beating them up. Your choice.

NEW ARENAS & ROOMS

SOME SHOCKING NEW ROOMS THAT WILL SPARK NEW CHALLENGES

It wouldn't be a Breakout update without some new arenas being throw into the mix. With a good amount of arenas in the game, this presented a good opportunity to go back and rework older arenas to be more open and compatible with the current gameplay loop. As such, alongside the new rooms, there are a number of retooled and altered arenas. More will be reworked in future updates, with smaller rooms either being reworked into more open arenas or turned into what's now called "resource rooms", small little pockets with stocks for resupplying your grenades, health, etc.

NEW MUSIC TO RELAX WITH

AND BY RELAX, I MEAN SHOOT THINGS

A new update brings new music, as is the way of things.

• New Gameplay Track - RUST INTO DUST

• New Main Menu Track - MAIN MENU (2026 REMIX)

• New Pause Menu Track - PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

New music is also being uploaded to YouTube, soon to be followed by the rest of the in-game soundtrack! Other platforms are being worked on as we speak, so watch this space. Check out the new tracks below!

RUST INTO DUST

MAIN MENU (2026 REMIX)

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT...FOR THE PAUSE MENU

PROTAGONIST VISUAL OVERHAUL: INTRODUCING MICHELLE

SUNGLASSES ARE STANDARD PRISON ATTIRE

Not content to be relegated to footnotes in the collectable Datapads and with Dr Anderson getting so much spotlight recently, Michelle is finally ready to show her face. Well, it's a first person game, so some imagination required. You'll see her hands at least, that'll have to do. On the topic of where she'll show up...

MAIN MENU REDUX

A VERY ANIMATED ENTRANCE

She's also the robot-busting star of the newly redone and animated main menu, which also sports new music as mentioned above. This comes as part of a series of optimisations to cutdown on both load times and file size, so you'll be in game and putting her to work before you know it.

ROBODEX UI REWORKS

SINGLE LINE MENUS ARE FOR SUCKERS

Having a large list of things in one single line when you can only display 3-4 at a time? Who's bright idea was that!? This update brings some much needed UI reworks for the Robodex, since it's grown so large and full with all the post launch gubbins that have been added to it. Most menus now feature a grid system for selecting things, since there's now a ton of stuff in there and I don't expect anybody to scroll through a list that long. Some menus are still using the older system (Tutorials, for example) due to them not needing the extra space, but most menus are now large and in charge.

BALANCING CHANGES & LATE GAME OPTIMISATIONS

WHOOP WHOOP! That's the sound of the balance police. A ton of new optimisations have been done this time around, making the game consistently run smoother even on room numbers into the millions (trust me, I checked). As you get deeper into the prison, you'll encounter tougher enemies as you did before, but specials will have a higher chance of spawning, eventually replacing basic enemies all together (sorry Protodroids). You'll need to be smart about the upgrades you choose, it's no longer about what can deal the most damage now.

Ah, I almost forgot...

NEW SECRETS TO BE FOUND...

INTO THE RABBIT HOLE

Reports of strange smells, screaming and ketchup spills from below decks are of course unconfirmed, and probably just mice eating tomatoes or something. There's whisperings that people have started finding some unusual places, hidden doors and sneaky switches. A first step, but now's your chance to look deeper still. Secret areas have been further built out, and it's always worth a second look in case you missed something...

THOSE DRINKS WON'T VEND THEMSELVES

Assuming you've not melted from the heat, now's the time to fire Breakout up and crack some heads. All previous save games are compatible with this update as per usual, and if you have a late game run expect to have much better performance (though possibly harder enemy roster, you've been warned!).

Hate something? Bad day at work? Want to take it out on your nearest starving artist? Feel free to contact the little email gremlins at breakoutsupport@proton.me or post in the discussions!