Proximity Chat is now available (regular update v0.19)

Proximity Chat & Radio are now live: distance matters, walls matter.

Today, we are releasing update 0.19. Proximity Chat is now live, bringing more tension, sometimes chaos, and unforgettable moments to your co-op sessions. This update is an intermediate patch like the ones we plan to publish between major roadmap milestones throughout Early Access.

This update is based on feedback shared by players. It also includes new features, adjustments, accessibility improvements, and bug fixes. Thank you to all players who reported these needs on the studio’s Discord server or on the Steam Hub.

Added

• New modifier: No Map. The ship's map in the command deck is unavailable, you'll have to rely on other means to locate your objective.

• Added Proximity Chat and Radio:

  • Added proximity effects on voice chat: Voices muffled by distance/obstacles, room reverb.

  • Added a radio for distant communication: hold the Radio button (check Settings > Controls to rebind which key to use) to talk to your teammates regardless of the distance

  Hearing your teammate’s voice fade in the distance, whispering through walls, or shouting over the radio can completely change how you experience every mission.

  • A teammate cannot speak while respawning

  • A teammate in Game Over can no longer speak on the proximity voice chat (but can still use the radio)

  • Added a tutorial prompt to use the radio in first multiplayer contract

  • Added a “Radio Only” option in the “Voice Chat Mode” audio setting. This will mute your own microphone on the proximity voice chat, but you will still hear others and your radio will still work, so use this setting if you want Push-To-Talk.

We designed this feature with emergent moments in mind: distance, team work, miscommunication, with a strong sense of immersion. If you’re a content creator, this update is a great time to jump back in with your community. This is perfect for unpredictable and memorable live moments and we can’t wait to see how it plays out during your streams.

The Proximity Chat feature required a full rework of our voice system, which took more time than expected for our small team to deliver properly. Thank you for your patience, we’re really happy to finally share it with you.

We also took advantage of this major technical update to introduce features you’ve been asking for, namely improved volume control and better handling of in-game voice communication.

• Added microphone on/off icons next to each player in the public session list → OFF if voice chat is disabled or no microphone connected

• Added preferred languages of communication next to each player in the public session list. Each player can set their preferred languages in the "Social" settings. These languages are also displayed in the "Crew Members" tab once in game.

• Added “Audio Input Gain” audio setting to adjust your own microphone sensitivity

• Added “Voice Chat Volume” audio setting to adjust the overall volume of voices

• Added per-player “Voice Chat Volume” setting in the "Crew Members" tab (when in a multiplayer session) to adjust the volume of each individual player

Changed

• Improved UI displaying objectives and contract modifiers (now also displays contract type)

• Improved settings UI: replaced some sliders with arrows, checkboxes, or dropdown lists

• Changed some default gamepad buttons to include radio on Y:

  • B to display objectives

  • X to switch wheels (weapons/communications 1/2)

  • crouch is now only on joystick click

• Display of an error message if the game fails to connect at launch and stays Offline (with details of the EOS error and a link to the Known Issues documentation to