Steam News22 June 20263d ago

Beta 13.3 - Improved New Player Experience

Beta 13.3 - Improved New Player Experience Developer commentary Practically every single system was looked at with the intent to improve how we onboard a new player to the game.

Full notes

Full Clairvoyance update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

2 fixes11 additions14 changes3 removals

Gameplay
Balance
Events
UI and audio
Fixes

addedDeveloper commentaryPractically every single system was looked at with the intent to improve how we onboard a new player to the game.

changedGameplayImproved tutorial to show each mechanic one at a time in a more logical progression

changedGameplayArcade mode first two levels spawn enemies specifically to teach the player basic controls mechanics

changedRemoved "bleeding edge" difficulty, replaced with new values:Cutting edge (Normal): 4x health, 2x damage, this is the same as the original easy mode

changedRemoved "bleeding edge" difficulty, replaced with new values:Experimental (Hard): 2x health, 1.3x damage, this is slightly easier than old hard mode but harder than old normal mode

changedRemoved "bleeding edge" difficulty, replaced with new values:Standard (Insane): 1x health, 1x damage, this is the same as the original insane mode

Clarity changed to range02000

Beta 13.3 - Improved New Player Experience

Developer commentary

Practically every single system was looked at with the intent to improve how we onboard a new player to the game.

Gameplay

-Improved tutorial to show each mechanic one at a time in a more logical progression

-Arcade mode first two levels spawn enemies specifically to teach the player basic controls mechanics

Removed "bleeding edge" difficulty, replaced with new values:

-Cutting edge (Normal): 4x health, 2x damage, this is the same as the original easy mode

-Experimental (Hard): 2x health, 1.3x damage, this is slightly easier than old hard mode but harder than old normal mode

-Standard (Insane): 1x health, 1x damage, this is the same as the original insane mode

-Gave taekwondo a drawback: if the passive buff isn't active, your next attack takes 1.25x the regular energy cost.

-Kyokushin given drawback: cannot animation cancel to start its parry. Go all in.

-Added a random event system to breakout mode

-Arcade mode rewards taper off, giving a logarithmic growth to your number of gene mods

-Temporarily removed sandbox mode, as it is insanely outdated. Will be re-added at a later date.

-Added a short "pick up weapon" animation

Progression

-Arena Mode level requirement for unlocking Breakout Mode lowered to 15

-Tutorial is no longer a requirement to unlock Arcade mode: the first two levels of Arcade mode should teach the player the bare basics: dodging, turning around, attacking, weaponry.

-Style and character unlock rework: each one has a simple skill check

-Made non-clairvoyant have a secret unlock condition

-Arena requirement wave to unlock Breakout mode lowered from 15 to 10

UI/Aesthetic

-New character/style selection UI: select character and style every time before starting arcade/breakout mode instead of it being buried in the customization menus

-CUSTOMIZE renamed to CHARACTER as you no longer select your character from this menu

-Updated most UI assets

-Epi-C renamed to "Energy Shot" in game

-Morphine-II renamed to "Healing Stim" in game

-Removed arcade mode score multiplier, since each difficulty tracks its own score

-Clarity changed to range from 0 to 2000 instead of -1000 and 1000, start at 1000 at base. Functionally identical, but less confusing since 0 is now the lower bound.

-Danger indicator static circle made slightly less opaque, and grows to become opaque as the timer runs out. This should help further clarify which indicators will hit first.

-Updated move icons for jump kick, parry

-Mod icons have a thicker border when evolved, instead of just having 1 or 2 next to the icon

-Added option to turn off stance indicator pulse effect

-Added progress floaty text in tutorial

-Added "current objective" to breakout mode to explain what the current objective is

-Hovering over the clarity bar only shows the best clarity sources for the character

-Added dialogue box for routing enemies through the fear meter

-Added dialogue box for getting a healing stim in arcade mode

-Added floaty text for weapon breaking