Devlog #10

Friends, in anticipation of the upcoming major update “Heavy Weight” we will share the work progress on Tenebris: Terra Incognita.

We apologize that we haven't released any news about the game for a long time, some of the players might have been alarmed by it. But we want to reassure everyone, everything is fine and the development is in full swing!

Operations Headquarters

We are finalizing the new “Operations Headquarters” ship bay. Here you will be able to send groups of heroes on missions in the background. This bay will become an additional source of resources and equipment for you. And the most important thing is that you will be able to get experience for multiple groups of heroes at once. This improvement will significantly reduce the need for unnecessary grind in the game.

In addition, this bay also serves as a Memorial, where you will be able to view the statistics of your fallen heroes.

New ship upgrade system

After the game was released in early access, we received a lot of suggestions and requests from you. Many players praised the tactical component of the game, but criticized the strategic depth. We have taken into account the criticism and changed the ship bay upgrade system, at the same time increasing the number of upgrades. This should add more variety and depth to the game.

New Enemies

We have already added new bugs to the test build and are currently working on new bosses. The new creatures are designed to noticeably diversify the game experience and remove the monotony in the first part of the game.

Regenus Regenus is the bug colony repairman. The substances it secretes, like high-strength assembly foam, repairs the damaged chitin of its kin and after some time becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the shell. Regenus can dump the spent products of its repair fluid on its enemies in the form of poisonous and toxic mucus.

Carabid The existence of Carabidae suggests strong intraspecific competition among the different hives. Apparently it was necessary for local evolution to create a living spear to inflict massive damage to flesh and cover it with razor-sharp armor. So attacking this thing in close combat is not a good idea.

More bosses have been added as well, they are cunning and dangerous. Some of them are completed and being tested, but for now let's get to know them better.

Venenum Ballus Who's the most poisonous in the hive? - asks the inexperienced fighter. Venenum Ballus, of course! At a glance you can see that the creature's impressive belly is like a huge poison barrel, but that's not all! The creature spawns vile Boomitus minions at an enviable rate. So what do we do? Should we take more medics or should we stock up on flamethrowers?

Albinus A lone monster with unusual coloration, resembling an arachnid rather than an insect. Not only can it detect a well-disguised opponent, but it clearly enjoys hunting down weak prey that is hiding from a predator. It secretes a slime that protects it from all effects, but like any bully, it is frightened when left unprotected.

Scutigeromorpha An eternally hungry monster that grinds its opponents with dozens of blade-like paws. Scutigeromorpha will try to devour its prey, even when it is still alive and actively resisting. Add to that an incredible regeneration ability, and you get a terrifying enemy that will appear in your nightmares more than once.

Androctonus This creature has been endowed by nature with a unique vision system and tough, spiky armor. Not only can its sharp paws inflict life-threatening wounds, but also any attempt to cut through its protective chitin will have the same results. Androctonus will always find a way to twist and pierce the attacker with its spikes in return.

Continuation of the story and a new biome

The human expedition has finally managed to breach the airlock leading into the alien ship beneath the Devil's Throat. New enemies will be waiting for you there, ready to test your build with their unique mechanics.

The “Crystalloids” faction is represented in the game in the form of the ship's defense system. Aggressive mechanisms made of metal alloys, crystal growths and wires. Inside is cybernetic flesh-like tissue. These mechanisms are immune to some control and DoT effects. Such as fear and stun, as well as poison. However, they can be knocked down, set on fire and hit with acid. And since they are cybernetic mechanisms, they can also stop functioning from blood loss.

Members of the Crystalloid faction place special “High Priority” tags on their enemies. While the tag is in effect, the other Crystalloids deal increased damage with special attacks.

The player's task is to adapt to the new challenge and develop individual tactics to fight it. We've found 3 good ways to counteract the creatures, how many will you find and which one will you choose?

New hero balance

We have received a large number of suggestions from you to improve hero talents! There were a number of heroes who, when switching to a new subclass, lost variety in their playstyle. Others were forced to dump talents they didn't need in the T1 branch. Libritor suffered in particular, as the class was almost unplayable as a Damage dealer.

That's why we significantly reworked and balanced the heroes. We replaced and added new passive and even active talents. Now the heroes are close to our ideal, and we believe that you will appreciate the new changes!

Vidua had the opposite situation, the hero had high damage, control and initiative at the same time. However, we didn't do what most developers do by simply weakening the class. We took a different route by introducing new enemies that Vidua would have trouble with. The character is still powerful, but now not in all biomes.

Talents of the “ Special Training ” type have been changed from simple passive character enhancements to more interesting, and specialized for the class and the whole archetype.

Battle effects

We've reworked the first tier negative over time effects such as poison, burning, bleeding, acid, and shock making them more diverse. There will be no more duplication of the mechanics for the effects, they are all unique now. There are also improvements to the second level effects waiting for you. The Acid Concentrate effect has appeared. And, perhaps, the most delicious thing: we will introduce third-level lethal effects, such as NanoPest, Super Acid, Wildfire and Bloody Mess. You will be able to activate them by converting level two effects in combat.

Professions and mini-games

We have finally implemented full-fledged lock picking mechanics. Now these are interactive mini-games in the best traditions of video games. Multiple attempts and rewards. The players will have to interactively try to get valuable loot or open a secret passage.

Moreover, we have greatly expanded this aspect of the game by introducing professions to the heroes.Each profession will depend on the hero archetype and will significantly affect gameplay.

• Technicus has been given the profession of “Hacker”. It will be possible to open chests in the game without him in the group, but having a Technicus on the mission will grant you additional loot and resources. However, you still require Technicus to break into terminals and locked doors.

• Medicus has been given the profession of “Reanimator”. Some heroes you meet on raids can be rescued, thus adding to your hero collection.

• Defencor has received the profession of “Strongman”. Thanks to his outstanding strength, the hero will be able to try to clear rubble to gain access to hidden paths on missions.

• Miles received the “Marauder” profession. Searching the bodies of dead fighters will now have a chance to obtain additional equipment of higher quality.

• Pellentes received the profession “Scout”. Thanks to the profession, finding hidden secrets on the mission will have a chance to receive additional resources.

Combat mechanics

Significantly improved the display of information during combat. First of all, we got rid of unnecessary information in pop-up texts and polished this block.

Moreover, when pointing at an enemy in the battle scene, you will see the hit chance for active skills.

When hovering over allies, their skill bar is displayed, showing skill cooldowns. Now it will be easier to track the heroes' actions in battle, for example to trigger combos or control enemies.

We also received complaints about the initiative queue. The older bug portraits were too similar and confusing. So we completely redesigned them in high detail.

Audio design

In addition to new audio for the new content, we are also working on music diversity. Our goal is to increase the number of tracks in missions, so right now we are working on several new tracks.

New mission types

The process of assembling new level types is well underway. We have already introduced new “Hunt” type quests where you will have to fight bosses, sometimes in multiple phases, or wandering creatures. We are now working on “Defense” style quests, where on every difficulty enemies will attack you in waves, and the player will need to hold out to win.

Crisis mechanics and world bosses

We decided to postpone this mechanic to the pre-release update, as we faced a lack of content at the moment. We came to an opinion within the team that in order to effectively implement this mechanic, the game should be 95% ready.

What's next?

We are very grateful for the hundreds of suggestions and wishes we received from you. It took us 3 months to sort these endless pages of texts out! We are looking forward to the release of the new patch, which will significantly improve the game by removing unnecessary grind and adding a lot of new things.

Our current goal is to polish the new patch in time for May and make you happy with the Heavyweight update!