Hi there, Shatterliners!
We are happy to present you with another big update in two months. And the changes are big!
EXPEDITION
Back in January, we announced that Shatterline needed some more work and fine-tuning before it was ready for release. One of the game’s key features is, of course, Expedition, and we brought our primary attention to it to make it a real crown jewel of the game.
So here we are, two months past, to present you with our first iteration of the all-new Expedition. Kindly note that this is a work in progress, and we will expand on what you will see in the present update.
In revisiting Expedition, we focused on the exploration aspect, putting the player’s choice of what to do first, thus making Expedition a non-linear experience with diversified gameplay and high replayability.
What changed? Well, a lot. We won't spill out all the beans here, but here are the key changes.
1. The map is now divided into four sectors, each one having a different Threat Level ranging from 1 to 4. The Threat Level governs the number of hostiles and their deadliness, and the starting sector always has Threat Level 1.
No worries: the Contamination Levels are still there to make your expedition in the Zone anything but a cakewalk.
2. It’s for you to decide what to do in the sector or whether to proceed to another one. To identify what to explore, you have a nifty tool: the Environment Scanner, which scans the surrounding area for activities you may engage in for different rewards. Such activities include Dungeon Clearances, Sector Bosses, Contracts, etc.
3. Supply Drops are no longer a given thing: it is now your option to call for them via Mule Communicators, special communication devices scattered around the map. But to do that you need to spend some Red Salt.
What’s the Red Salt you ask? Besides the fact that its collection is the primary objective of Shellguard’s expeditions into the Zone (as the Red Salt is the backbone for those cool special abilities and weapons Shellguard operatives use), it is the in-Zone currency you may either spend on Supply Drops or carry with you by extracting from Expedition and convert it into Season Pass progression points.
4. When exploring the Zone, you may stumble upon Secret Stashes where you can find blueprints, game credits, and Chosen weapons. These stashes are not visible on the Environmental Scanner.
5. There is a dedicated melee weapon: the Tactical Kukri. It’s available from the outset of the mission along with a handgun, and you can draw the Kukri by long-pressing the default V button (the quick melee action is still available via quick-pressing the V button when the Kukri is not in use). The big perk of the Kukri is the ability to parry melee attacks by clicking the right mouse button, thus considerably reducing the received melee damage.
6. There is no final boss, and your mission is to extract in time before the Threat and Contamination Levels are so high, you are doomed to die. Extraction can be requested via the same Mule Communicators.
BALANCE CHANGES
Health regeneration speed now depends on your movement speed. The regeneration speed is at maximum when you are not moving, decreases when you are walking, and decreases even further when you are running. A special icon to reflect the current regeneration speed was added under the player health bar.
MISCELLANEOUS
- We've implemented the first iteration of the Text Chat. It is available for communication within the team in session in all game modes (default "Y"). Coordinating your actions is now easier.
- Fullscreen and the 60 FPS cap are now the default settings. You can change them in Options to your liking.
- Active weapon modification perk is now displayed on the Esc-button menu.
- A special animation when a new weapon is unlocked.
- A QR code with a link to Shatterline Discord Community was added to the Expedition loading screen while at the beginning of an Expedition a prompt to press the default T to use the in-game voice chat is shown.
- Weapon inspection for the SAG-8 Reaper sniper rifle.
BUG FIXES
- Crash fixes, various character and weapon visual fixes, and localization fixes.
- Fixed bug where the player could get stuck in the crates at the Strafer Base in the Intro Mission.
- Fixed bug where the player could get outside of the Queen boss fight arena in the Red Lake episode.
- Fixed bug with the G9 Kungel pistol inspection where the inspection sounds could continue after the player interrupted the inspection by starting moving.
- Fixed bug when a Glasshead that was blinded by a flash grenade could start sliding toward the player.
- Fixed bug in Expedition with invisible walls at the Strafer Base and at the Waterfall.
- Fixed bug in Expedition where the Research Station door wouldn't close after the encounter activation.
- Fixed bug in Expedition where the Spiked Orb could spawn too high in the sky if there were high cliffs around the encounter site.
- Fixed bug in the Red Lake episode where the player could get stuck in the rocks near the Third Transmitter.
- Fixed bug with a blurry RN Stilcomb sight for the Λ-9 Legatus assault rifle when the player was aiming down sights.
- Fixed bug in the Escort map where the player could get to a non-playable area using Ram's ultimate ability.
- Fixed bug in the Escort map where the shots didn't get through the wrought iron fence of the second-floor terrace.
- Fixed bug where movable objects didn't destroy crystalline.
- Fixed bug where the operative's ability video in the Operatives menu could get stuck if the mouse was moved to a non-equipped ability.
- Fixed bug in the Shooting Range where the distance marker fell underground after a dummy target was killed.
- Fixed bug in the Armory where all weapon modifications perk descriptions were mentioned twice.
- Fixed bug where the %sl_presence% text was shown in the players' Steam badge to their Steam friends instead of a PvP match status in the game.
- Fixed bug where the CLAW FP grip for the Λ-1 Centurion submachine gun increased the weapon's stability instead of accuracy.
- Fixed bug where the Momentum Booster attachment added a bullet after every kill instead of every two kills.
- Fixed bug where event tasks were shown when there was no active event.
- Fixed bug where the Dragonfly Stradivari and Dragonfly Constellation sniper rifle modifications with the AM4 MAG magazine had 22 bullets instead of 21.
- Fixed bug where activating Ram's ultimate ability and interacting with an object a split second after that made Ram lose his weapons, abilities, and sprint function.