Hello, Stalkers!
We are only a few steps away from the most important day for Chernobylite - the premiere. Although the time is short, we are still working intensively to bring you new content and improvements to the game, while hunting bugs and glitches detected (a lot of them by you). All this so that you can have as much fun as possible.
Speaking of which, we have no choice but to present you another Mega Patch, this time number 7. New stuff, new improvements, and new fixes. See for yourself what we have prepared for you this time, but first let us sum up almost a year of development. We wanted to show you how the game was and is changing, especially some of you may remember the older versions. We’re really proud how we’ve managed to make Chernobylite better. But, of course, this definitely doesn’t mean there won’t be any new changes in the nearest future!
Let’s get started, this will be a really big and important Report for us!
New trailer
First of all, take a look at our newest trailer. We consider it a showcase not only for our current players, but also for new ones.
https://youtu.be/xUwMsc7zhpM
You may see the name of the trailer, so… yes! We are officially announcing the console versions. This generation and the next-gen! Hope you’re as happy with this as we are!
And remember that’s the last time before the premiere you can get a discount. It’s now -30% on Steam!
Over a year of development
In the last 12 months, we were working on the game without any stop. So far, we’re bringing every piece of content as we promised you, but also expanding it. Do you remember the map called Lenin Square we were talking about what locations will be in the game?
1: One of the first & oldest test versions of the Pripyat Center map
2: How the Pripyat Central map looks now
3: Again, one of the oldest test versions of Pripyat Center map
4: How the Pripyat Central map looks now
If you do, you probably can’t see it in the game right now. Why? Because we joined it with another one, expanded and gave you an even bigger map than those previous concepts would be together. And now it’s called Pripyat Center.
The screenshots above are examples of how we managed to get to the current version almost from a scratch. And we would lie if we said that we’re not very proud of our work. But we would also lie if we said that we don’t see how we can improve it even more. So yes, if you still see something that can be done better, we are probably working on it for weeks now - it’s just tough sometimes to fix or improve something fast. First we have to make sure that these changes won’t break anything else. And that’s a real challenge!
5: one of the first versions of the iconic Ferris Wheel
6: current looks of the same place - it looks differently, right?
Not only the maps are changing, but the possibilities too! We’ve incredibly increased the number of objects that can be crafted both inside the base (furniture, workstations, other stuff) and during missions.
Some of the ideas were welcomed by you in a better way than we expected (mines, yay!) while some were considered not so interesting (e.g. building covers while on mission). We’ve changed a lot of mechanics during this last year not only because we wanted to improve them, but also because we’re listening to your insight, your reviews, ideas & feedback.
We know that you’re looking forward to having a great crafting system, so we’re happy that we’re delivering more and more content, which impacts the gameplay, not only visuals. For example, creating one of the new stations allows you to make yourself an armour. The more you upgrade your base, the better equipment you can have.
Same goes for personal protection, as there are 3 types or armour right now. Also improving weapons were brought to a higher level, as we added new possible modifications. The looks of the workstations and how they work was changed too!
10: how the pistol calibration tools looked like looong time ago
11: how it looks now
One of the recent examples is crafting in the base, which was expanded again - you’ll be able to create another new stuff for your in-game homes! We had really huge fun finally adding two new statistics to the overall “base experience”, like air quality and radiation security.
12: some of the stuff you can create using gathered chernobylite
13: one of the winning photos from our basebuilding contest
This will have an impact on your gameplay and will require you to plan what to build next more carefully. Most of the stuff you can create is NOT necessary, but will help you to face the dangers of the Zone easier. Like constructing armour, modifying your weapons, taking care of your companions’ needs for them to be more successful during their own missions.
We’ve also “cleared” another level of the base, so if you remember that flooded space… it is no more. We understand that having this much to craft will need more places to do so.
Another example of changes are our NPCs, like Black Stalker. He hasn’t changed THAT much, especially you could’ve not noticed that we worked on really small details. Actually most of the models were improved. Meaning not only visually, but also technically (to use less resources while looking better at the same time).
15: working on new NPC models
16: improving masks models
17: one of the first models of Black Stalker’s mask
Some of the NPCs were introduced recently, some a long time ago. But even those fairly new weren’t left alone. We’re still improving how they look, how they act, how they move or talk. Here’s how Major Kozlov, who you can meet during selected missions, looked as a first-gen model and how he looks now:
Even having in mind that we are working a lot on our own scans of the buildings and objects from the Zone, one of the most challenging improvements are not only models. We’re testing a lot of new mechanics, assembling piece by piece what we’ve designed a long time ago. This includes e.g. AI of the enemies. NAR soldiers, of course, but also monsters and how they interact together.
But these changes don’t limit only to NAR - we know that the fight with Black Stalker was quite “not enough”. So we’ve made it a lot tougher! Also, we tweaked the enemy drops, so after killing one of them, you can expect more diverse and interesting loot.
20: NAR soldiers taking cover after being shot at
21: Chernohosts attack a group of NAR soldiers
During the course of these last 12 months you could experience new enemies. The Chernohost mentioned before is one of them. You probably encountered Chernobylite Monster (this skinny thing with long arms and legs), but they were originally meant to be found in particular places - inside the buildings, narrow corridors. So outside the buildings they kind of kept place for other adversaries: Chernohost and Duster.
22: one of the first full models of Chernohost
23: Duster’s concept art
24: Duster attacking the player
Did we limit ourselves solely to the new monsters? Nope. We also introduced a new NAR enemy, who is especially tough and creates situations which need a totally different approach. Armored Soldier is, well, armoured pretty heavily, but he’s also able to aim at you properly to deal significant damage.
Doesn’t sound too scary? Maybe if he’s alone, but if you’ll meet him when he’s assisted by regular soldiers… that can mean the death of Igor. Imagine trying to fight him while being shot at by three or four other soldiers, hiding behind some covers and surrounding you.
Would it be enough? Not at all. Making models look great is one thing, but then you have to think about animations and how they will perform while being in motion. One of the examples is a ghost you’ve probably encountered at least once if you played Chernobylite more than an hour.
He and his similar looking friends are disappearing if you come too close to them. So we worked on this dissolve effect a lot:
Other old effects are always constantly looked into to see if they need to be improved. A great example is lightning, which also has changed. Not only itself, but also what it’s leaving after the strike (so this greenish flames).
UI is improving too. We know how important it is to have a readable and easily understandable interface. That’s why we have made changes on how it looks and works. A while ago we added a new effect which will show when you use a first aid kit, for example. But then again, some of the mechanics also work differently and that’s connected to how we plan the balance of the gameplay. Like e.g. using a first aid kit now requires a few seconds to have an effect, but on the other hand you can assign it to one of the quick menu buttons.
30: changes in the UI
31: changes in the UI
Last but not least, we’re still working hard on the final mission, which will introduce a whole new area - the Power Plant. You’ve seen a part of it, but in The Heist there will be much more of that.
Of course, these are only some selected examples. If you haven’t played Chernobylite for a few months, we can say that there’s a very high probability that you’ll find our game totally different (in a good way).
So now let’s talk about the most recent changes - Mega Patch number 7, “The Woman in the Red Dress”.
New missions and characters!
We have added two new missions, Hard Truth and Black Stalker, thanks to which you will be able to learn more about the story of two key characters and discover some deeply buried secrets.
And while speaking about characters, we've introduced three new ones to the game: Konstanty, Locksmith, and Semyon. Well, actually that’s not their debut in Chernobylite, but definitely the first time they have their own models.
The new additions are also levels, which will have a great impact on how you will understand the whole plot and what you will choose in the future. These are “Stealing Ariadna’s technology” and “The Woman in the Red Dress”.
Ariadna is a technology that allows Igor to conclude the investigations. These are terribly important for you to understand what happened to Tatiana and (maybe) choose a different option while you’ll decide about Igor’s future.
So we can say that the new Fractal World, which is possible to access after gathering enough intelligence (clues, notes, etc.), is inevitably connected to this technology. And the new Fractal is exactly a conclusion of the new investigation called “The Woman in the Red Dress”. If you played enough, you surely know that the woman is Tatiana (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler).
New weapons and spots!
If you thought that the weapons arsenal in Chernobylite could not be expanded anymore, we have a message for you: it is possible and we even did. The Chernobylite Blaster and Anti-Chernobylite Burner have joined the set of weapons that players will be able to use. See for yourself what they can do.
Because we’re adding more not only on the new maps, but also on the ones you already know, we’ve planned to make some of them inaccessible. Okay, maybe not inaccessible - they will just require you to have something to unlock them.
Sometimes it’s a completely new room that has been locked - and you can now create lockpicks since one of the previous Mega Patches - while other times it’s chernobylite blocking the way. How to deal with that, you may ask? Not so simple as it may look, as it will require you to upgrade your base and thus to be able to create an Anti-Chernobylite Burner.
It looks like an ordinary flare, but it’s not - it is used exactly how the name suggests, so to clear some space from chernobylite.
Changes, changes
In addition to the new content, we've also made some requested improvements to make your life easier while playing Chernobylite. One of them is the ability to load the game save from the last checkpoint during a pause from the menu. Thanks to this solution, you will be able to avoid any unpleasantness during the game...
In line with your suggestions, we've added the ability to disable both the entire interface and its individual elements. Of course, we will continue to improve this feature.
In Mega Patch, we also managed to completely rebuild the looting system (what the opponents leave behind has more value and is better suited to the current game), enlarge the map available at a later stage of the game with an area that was previously flooded, and balance opponents' view range and the way how they react to the sounds made by the player (now stealth should be more difficult, but more honest).
Read more about the changes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2935744583749181154
That’s it for today!
We hope you had a really good time reading this over-a-year summary of our work and also a conclusion of what the new Mega Patch brings to the game.
Remember to join our streams, we’re planning to have some contests in which you may win additional keys for Chernobylite and digital versions of our artbook, but maybe also some physical goodies!
Take care, stalkers!
See ya next week!