Hey all! Alex here with another update on where we’re headed with the development of Stories from the Outbreak. First things first - the game’s PRICE WILL BE INCREASED together with the next update. We feel that the original price no longer reflects the scope of the game and its planned updates. This won’t be a large bump, we’ll raise the price from 12.99 EUR to 14.99 EUR (or your regional equivalent), and this won’t affect those who already own the game. There may be another price increase once we leave early access. With that out of the way, we’re happy to announce that the next update is approaching completion, and the planned release date is the 15th of August! This will be the second major update for Stories from the Outbreak, and we certainly hope you’ll enjoy the new content and features it will bring. But first, I’d like you to meet the new survivor - Beāte. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42469305/23e4a03087c409bcf59c2a575f35e20d2265285c.png[/img] What’s a zombie apocalypse without a creative use of chainsaws? When used well, Beāte can achieve a higher damage output than any other survivor. Unfortunately, she’s prone to taking great risks, so to utilise her effectively, you’ll need a great setup of tank and support characters that make sure she doesn’t take things too far. She also has great potential for synergising with other characters or trinkets (of which there will be many new ones, by the way). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42469305/90c7c22b46584522edbc83f7add0e1f9182e0aea.png[/img] Surely, if the player’s arsenal is receiving welcome additions, then the enemy must be getting stronger as well? For veteran players that have already reached the point of easily beating the game on every run, we bring a brand new type of punishment - challenge modes! Challenge modes resemble ascension systems you might have seen in similar games, but we wanted to keep them in this game’s spirit - highly customisable and open to various weird system interactions. It’s quite similar to the base game, but you have to choose a special challenge trinket - a nasty debuff that you’ll have to learn to live with. And, once you’re done, you can try again, this time selecting two challenge trinkets, and so on. It gets quite ridiculous. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42469305/c41b3a4317296779a90fbacb18868fc504b51395.png[/img] Challenge mode will be in a somewhat early state when we’re releasing it in the next update - we’re still planning on improving it in many ways in the upcoming updates, but we definitely want you to already get in on the joy of getting absolutely crushed. No promises that you’ll be able to make it very far - though we have slightly nerfed enemies at least. If this is all too grim and dangerous for you, perhaps you’d like to try the custom mode, where you can increase your odds of survival instead. Oh, and you know how the game locks in one of your characters in character selection? No more of that. The main goal of this feature was steering the player towards using sane team compositions, like tank + damage (whereas something like support + support would get destroyed easily in the early game, even if the characters are useful). Plus we want some variety in character selection, instead of having the player always pick their favourite two. Well, we’re now using a carrot instead of a stick for that - when opening the character selection screen, the game picks three characters that start the game with a free inspiration point. Rerolling by going to the main menu no longer works for that either. Another important addition will be many gorgeous backgrounds! The intricate Art Nouveau and the rich (although dilapidated) architecture of the city centre is staying in the first map, but, as your team makes their way to the outskirts of the city, they will discover the less tourist-friendly side of Rīga. Our pixel artists have really outdone themselves in this update, from new backgrounds to images for events and perhaps an enemy or two - it’s all a feast for the eyes. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42469305/6f392d68945979c26dd0e1b4966383f3b79b3d07.png[/img] Balancing has also taken another leap forward. These have mostly been minor improvements, getting the ability upgrades a bit more even in power (huge thanks to players who left their feedback about this). There’s still work left to do, and there are quite a few abilities we’re planning on entirely reworking - though some of that will have to wait for future updates. Not all our plans made it into this update - specifically, we want to add many new enemies and bosses that will have to wait until future updates. After this update, we’ll be working on modding support and a rework to the game’s narrative - especially events. See you in 0.9! Oh, and did I mention we’re adding full controller support - including tooltips? May your Sprīdītis be a productive member of society, Alex and the rest of the Coldwild Games team