State of Development - Jetpacks, Squad Mates, Abilities & More

Captains,

It's been three months since the last update, and you know what that means - it's State of Development time! We've got a good chunk of new stuff to share, including new weapons, squad mates, ability systems and more. Chapter 2 is still well on track for a Q4 2026 launch!

But first, some quick housekeeping: Selaco is on a 30% discount during the Summer Sale. And with summer heat in full swing, the good news is that Selaco is light on your hardware. Your PC won't be cranking your room temperature any higher!

Selaco As always, if you picked up the game within the last week at full price, you should be able to contact Valve to have the difference refunded. Feel free to reference this post if needed.

Chapter 2 Information Recap

Before we talk about what's new, let's briefly recap everything we've talked about in the past. For long-time players, this is probably nothing new - so feel free to skip ahead.

• Chapter 2 Levels will have bigger environments, and will introduce allied soldiers who can fight by your side.

• All Chapter 1 levels will be improved / remastered, both in terms of level design and visuals.

• FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) elements tied to Weapon Kits have been reworked. You can purchase any Weapon Kits you've missed using Selver Credits.

• Optional Goal Markers can be enabled on the map to make navigation easier. These markers don't show you how to reach the objective, but they provide a much better frame of reference and greatly reduce frustration for players who tend to get lost. This feature is disabled in Hardcore Mode.

• AI has been significantly improved. We've reworked enemy pathfinding from the ground up, and enemy decision-making is far more advanced - resulting in more dynamic fights and smarter ambushes.

• A brand-new Light Baking System has been introduced, enabling proper shadow casting from all light sources while also improving performance. The best kind of optimization!

• All visual effects now use the new Particle System, leading to a major performance boost, especially during combat. Smoke has also been completely reworked from scratch to capture the same intensity but be far less demanding on your hardware.

• More VO will be added. This includes player barks, enemy callouts, friendly radio chatter and much more.

• Heavy Weapons have been added. These are powerful guns that you cannot store in your inventory. You drop them once depleted.

• Safe Rooms now feature a machine that allows you to adjust Mutators. You are no longer locked into the same Mutators for an entire run.

• You can equip two Weapon Kits at once and switch between them on the fly.

• Drop Pods, Tanks and other enemy vehicles have been added to the game.

• We've put heavy emphasis on expanding the game's World Building with new VO, art, and datapads.

• A new Passive Upgrade System for Dawn has been added that gives you an edge in certain mechanics of the game. This will be introduced later in the Campaign.

• Many new Deployable Items have been added.

• Improved Interaction System, allowing different actions based on whether you press or hold the USE button.

• A brand-new Requisitions menu has been added to the Weapon Station, allowing you to purchase numerous items using your Selver Credits.

  And much more which we'll reveal later in this blog post or in a future post!

State of Development

What Are We Working On?

In our internal development build, the entire chapter is playable from start to finish, with all mechanics fully functional but still a little lacking on polish. Many of the placeholders have been removed but there are still a bunch of assets missing - including proper VO for your allies, and missing set pieces inside the levels themselves.

We are spending most of our time refining what we have made and making sure everything's at the quality we want, and working with our voice acting crew to get the voices in.

Where Is The Technical Beta Test?

In our last blog post, we mentioned that we were interested in doing a Technical Beta Test. This is still the plan!

We're currently doing a beta test with all of our Patreon backers, which is going very well in terms of general stability, performance and gameplay mechanics, but we quickly realized that VRAM usage needs work, especially on lower-spec machines.

Given how a Technical Beta Test is about... well, testing technical stuff - it made the most sense to briefly postpone the Beta and spend some time in the engine to further optimize how we utilize our VRAM before doing a wider test.

If you signed the form, there's a solid chance you will receive a Beta Key within 1 or 2 months from now!

My Game Got A Patch, What Changed?

Not much! It's a very simple patch that fixes a couple of bugs. There was an issue where the gauntlet music in 2-3 sounded very compressed and low quality, some sound effects were quieter than they were meant to be, a few typos are fixed in the Manual, and we fixed a strange bug where blood decals could turn into map icons.

Nothing worthy of cool patch notes. We're very hard at work on Chapter 2 so it becomes a little hard to spend time on the current Steam Build.

New Chapter 2 Reveals

What most of you probably came here for. Let's talk about some of the stuff we haven't talked about yet!

JetpackSteam post image

A Jetpack with a mounted machine gun!

One of the new weapons in Chapter 2 lets you take to the skies and gun down enemies from above with pinpoint accuracy. On top of that, you can slam into enemies with a force that far exceeds the power of your slide kicks.

This weapon will only be available for a brief portion of Chapter 2, but after completing the game you can unlock a tweaked version in the Special Campaign that allows Jetpack use throughout the entire game - just with a slightly less powerful machine gun for balance reasons because the original machine gun is no joke.

Abilities

One of the new features introduced in Chapter 2 is Wristpad Abilities. That little device on Dawn's forearm is capable of a lot more than just relaying information - it also comes equipped with fancy technology to help you in combat.

You find new Abilities by exploring the levels, and equip them the same way you equip Weapon Kits; by interacting with a Weapon Station in a Safe Room!

Abilities can be used any time, as long as you have enough Energy. Energy recharges slowly on its own, no items required. You won't get many uses per combat encounter, but a well-timed Ability can swing a fight in your favor.

We'll expand further on this concept after Chapter 2. But for now, feast your eyes on the newly improved Gravity Manipulation that is no longer tied to the Plasma Rifle!Steam post image

[c](footage is from a test level)[/c]

Squad Mates

Steam post imageSteam post image

For a good portion of Chapter 2, Dawn will be teaming up with a fellow ACE Security soldier under your command. He'll follow you around and provide support fire during combat.

We took a lot of inspiration from Barney in the original Half-Life, but dialed his usefulness up to 11 (sorry Barney!). He gets kills, keeps up on the move, and won't need babysitting to stay alive.

There's no game over screen if you fail to protect him, but he can go down after taking enough hits. When this happens, you can either revive him during combat by holding [USE] on him for a few seconds, or finish the fight on your own - he will get back on his feet once the fight is over.

Prefer to fight by yourself? Command your Squad Mate to stay put and head out. If the campaign requires him for, say, a scripted sequence, he'll magically appear through the magic of off-screen teleportation!

As a bonus, there is a Mutator where you can have a buddy with you throughout the entire game!

Chapter 2 OST

The Chapter 2 OST is almost finished and we think it has some of Lawrence Steele's best work yet. It ended up having quite a bit more runtime than we anticipated.

If you own the OST on Steam, you will be getting all the Chapter 2 tracks for free! No "Vol. 2" purchase required.

Here's a taste - two tracks from early in the chapter!

More Dawn!

When the Chapter 2 update hits, Dawn will have a bit more to say throughout the game - including in the Chapter 1 levels.

The principle for Dawn hasn't changed: she speaks when it adds something to the world, and stays quiet when you want to focus. We've been careful to avoid having a protagonist that talks too much. She's more of a Master Chief than a Nathan Drake.

If you have a Squad Mate, Dawn will be making dynamic callouts. Like when an enemy goes down, when she reloads, when giving orders, and so on.

New & Reworked Weapon Kits

Existing weapons will receive all-new Weapon Kits, including Dragon's Breath, Shock Bombs and many more. Existing Weapon Kits that didn't see much use will be improved.

Here is one of the new ones for the Roaring Cricket: the Storm Shield, a Weapon Kit that lets you raise your offhand to block enemy fire while pushing forward.

[c](The effect is Work In Progress and will look better, promise!)[/c]

Remember the Auxiliary Launcher for the UC-36? You probably don't, because not many players used it! We've reworked it so it no longer requires the use of a precious grenade. Instead, you get a free Auxiliary Launcher grenade by simply picking up enough Machine Gun Ammo.

Plenty more reworks like this throughout the update.

Scout Enemy Rework

We want all enemies in Selaco to feel dynamic and life-like. The Scout (Sniper Enemy) did not quite achieve this in Chapter 1 - they stood in place and were essentially long-range turrets. Boring!

This changes in Chapter 2. Here are the primary changes:

• Scouts now have their own look. No more greyed out Engineers!

• Scouts will now relay information to the ground forces over radio.

• Scouts will now provide support to their squad by deploying Smoke Screens and destroying your equipment (this includes Grenades!).

• Scouts can now move around and reach new vantage points during combat.

• When the player gets close, Scouts will switch to a different weapon and attempt to hold their own in close-quarters combat.

• Scouts are our first female enemy type and are now voiced by Aimee Smith.

• Scouts will now spawn in the Special Campaign.

The SMG Gets Its Own Ammo Pool (Finally!)

Whenever we ask our players about what their favorite weapon is, the SMG doesn't often make that list - and when it does, it is largely because of the Dual SMG Weapon Kit. We want our guns to be powerful on their own merits, so we got to work!

The SMG is now a highly accurate weapon with minimal Spread and Recoil. As a trade-off, it now has a Damage Falloff to prevent it from being used as a long-range weapon.

And yes, it will no longer share ammo with the Assault Rifle. Not a lot of people enjoyed the shared ammo pool, so it clearly needed changing. Chapter 2 has dedicated ammo pickups for the SMG!

Weapon Variants

Chapter 2 introduces a Weapon Variant system, letting us add many new weapons without overwhelming your inventory, and adding an extra layer of decision-making to the game.

Here is how it works: each Weapon Slot holds one Weapon at a time. For example, the Plasma Rifle and the new Charge Rifle both use Slot 6 - pick up the Charge Rifle and the Plasma Rifle drops to the floor.

Inside Safe Rooms, you can swap back to any Weapon you've owned.

New Utility Items

Chapter 1 introduced a lot of explosive items - Chapter 2 introduces defensive ones.

• Mini-Turret: A throwable emplacement that automatically fires at enemies. Upgradable for more ammo, a better Weapon, and more.

• Sentinel Drone: A friendly drone who follows you around and provides cover fire in battle. Its weapon can be customized with Weapon Kits.

• One-Way Shield Emitter: A device that absorbs incoming enemy fire while allowing you to fire your weapon through it.

We'll keep the rest a secret for now!

Remember, you can only hold 3 different types of Utility Items at once!. If you pick up the fourth one, it will replace whichever you currently have selected.

All Of Chapter 2's Weapons and Systems Can Be Accessed In Chapter 1

Players will grow attached to a lot of the stuff introduced in Chapter 2 - the Dawn Upgrades, the new abilities, allied soldiers, and more. After completing the game, all of this becomes available in the Special Campaign, where you can experience it much earlier.

Want a random chance of encountering friendly soldiers? You can. Want Chapter 2 enemies in the early game? Enable the setting for it. Want to bring Wristpad Abilities into the original campaign? Done.

Conclusion

Addressing the elephant in the room - we know things are taking a while. When we launched into Early Access with 10+ hours of content, the plan was for that to buy us the time we needed to cook up the next chapter. That trade-off worked, and we're grateful for how supportive everyone has been so far.

Chapter 2 is coming along really damn nicely. There's plenty of work left, but we're almost there. In fact, this could be the last State of Development before Chapter 2 launches - both a scary and exciting thought for us. We'll do a Q&A blog post a couple of weeks before launch to answer your questions in the meantime, and post Technical Beta information details when the time comes.

If you haven’t joined our Discord yet but want to stay up-to-date, feel free to hop in! We're very active there, and have a tendency to "leak" chapter 2 stuff by "accident".

Or, if you’d like more in-depth development blogs and want to provide additional support, consider signing up on Patreon.

As always, thank you for sticking around and giving us time. Just a few months left, we can't wait for you to play it!