Demo Update v0.40.1 Alpha: The Devil Speaks

The big one this update: Hellrifters now has a story. A narrative wraps around your missions, the Campaign is open from the start, and you can preview every character and loadout before you commit. Here is everything new since v0.36.2.

New: a story layer

Hellrifters now has a narrative running through the Campaign, woven into the menus and the missions themselves. The General and the Devil each deliver their lines in their own mumbling voice as the text types out, giving them a distinct presence without a word of spoken dialogue.

• Mission briefings. Before each mission, the General briefs you in on a dedicated briefing screen, complete with the Rift Order's own tactical illustrations laying out the threat and the objective.

• The Devil. At the start of each mission, the Devil himself speaks to you. He performs a grand, cosmic-horror menace, but it is a mask he cannot keep up. The further you push through the campaign, the more it slips into petty, theatrical outbursts before he hastily re-composes. He even loses his composure out loud: his mumbling swells, rises higher and accelerates, racing ahead of him before he reins himself back in.

• Rift Order bulletins. The campaign menu carries rotating in-world propaganda from the Order: folksy demon-slaying proverbs, absurd Grand Council bureaucracy, a few genuinely unsettling lines, and folk-wisdom that is secretly a gameplay tip.

Jump straight into the Campaign

The Campaign is now open from the start. No more being funneled through Quick Demo first. Quick Demo stays as an optional jump-straight-in sandbox, and Battle Arena still unlocks by recruiting the full squad.

Try before you spend: previews everywhere

• HQ roster:Hovering or focusing a character previews them as if selected. Stats, weapons, armor, description, and unlock or upgrade cost fill the panels instantly, then snap back when you move away. Locked characters preview too, so you can compare before spending points.

Meet your enemies your way

New enemy types now introduce themselves the first time they appear during a Campaign run, using the same pausing intro card as Arena mode. Preview a new threat from the menu before launching, or skip it and let the enemy introduce itself in-run. Either way, each enemy is introduced only once.

Options for veterans

Two new ability-browsing toggles: Simple ability icons shows compact icons above your leader instead of the on-screen popup, and Ability slow-mo lets you turn off the time slowdown while browsing. Keyboard ability browsing (Q and E, plus 1-4) always switches at full speed.

Smoother gamepad onboarding

A big cleanup of controller navigation through the menu tutorials. The cursor now snaps to the button each step asks for and stays on the relevant choices instead of wandering onto unrelated buttons. Covers entering Headquarters, unlocking a character, the Perks menu, attaching a module, and the level-up upgrade tutorial.

Balance

• Hellploders (the exploding enemy objects) now hit twice as hard when they detonate, with explosion damage raised from 500 to 1000. Give them room.

• The Electrified Atmosphere premium upgrade had its base damage doubled from 500 to 1000.

Bug fixes

• Fixed your squad sometimes staying stuck on the pistol after a pause event (level up, onboarding, enemy intro) when Mobility was held as the pause began.

• Fixed the Chaingun sometimes appearing as a special weapon pickup. Only the Plasma Cannon drops as a special weapon now.

• Fixed ability browse keys triggering a time slowdown when no ability was usable.

Known issues

As noted above, menu and gamepad navigation got a big cleanup this update. It is a large system though, so a few rough spots remain. I will keep smoothing them out in upcoming updates. Thanks for bearing with me during the demo.