The Lab: Appliance of Science Update

Update News

What's science without a little competition? Why, it's barely science at all! That's why we applied some science to The Lab and created the Appliance of Science Update, introducing a spirit of bloodthirsty competition to the world of ethically questionable research. Now you can compete with your fellow test subjects on the new global leaderboards for Longbow, Xortex, and Slingshot, and prove to the world that you're the best at science. But hold on to your grant money, because we didn't stop there. We've also made a bunch of gameplay adjustments to all three games. Longbow now features an unlimited number of enemy waves, along with a new scoring system to reward slaying enemies, nailing headshots, popping balloons, and more. Each successive wave includes more enemies, who will move faster and have an increased chance of wearing armor. Your exploding barrels and oil cauldrons reset every eight waves, so be sure to use them! Xortex now offers a brand new way to play, Xortex Infinite, with progressively more frantic action as you maneuver your drone to collect powerups, increasing your score multiplier while gunning down enemies. Xortex Infinite also replaces the Laser with a powerful Bomb, which destroys all nearby threats. Use it wisely, however--detonating your Bomb also resets your score multiplier. Finally, the rebalanced Slingshot will present you with new core calibration career opportunities. Wipe out the Aperture Storage annex with bigger, better barrel explosions, as well as a host of scoring adjustments to help you solidify your place as a world class calibrator. Speaking of world class, the Appliance of Science Update also adds support for subtitles and text localization, along with a host of other additions and improvements. You can read all about those in the patch notes. The Appliance of Science Update is now included in The Lab, available for free on Steam. So strap on your headset, grab your Nobel Prize or other favorite blunt object, and populate those leaderboards with your own empirical data, for science!

Longbow Updates

• Longbow now features infinite waves and a global leaderboard, visible on the rear tower

  • The first 8 waves are the same. From wave 9 onward, enemies slowly become faster, more plentiful, and have an increased chance to wear armor

  • There is a break every 8 waves

  • Oil Cauldrons and Exploding Barrels are restored after each break

  • New scoring system added which awards points for enemy kills, headshots, popping red balloons from enemies if gate health is full, remaining oil or barrels at wave end, and for completing a wave.

• Fixed several cases where enemies would get stuck as they tried to walk past each other

• Using the -longbow launch command now places the player directly into the game, skipping the approach to the miniature

Xortex Updates

• Added Xortex Infinite, a boss-free score attack mode with a global leaderboard visible at game over

  • Picking up powerups increases a score multiplier. The maximum multiplier is 10

  • Super Laser replaced with a Bomb which destroys nearby enemies, charged by picking up 2 powerups

  • Using the Bomb resets your score multiplier

  • Enemies and bullets become progressively faster with time

  • Added a new enemy which appears in Xortex Infinite and Classic: The Spinner, which spews bullets from its front and behind as it spins

• Enemies in Xortex now heat up and glow as they take damage, and then begin to heal over time

• Certain enemies die automatically if left alive