Hi everyone,
With the release of our latest Major Update we’re now on the path to Full Release, so we thought it was an appropriate time to update the Roadmap.
First, if you haven’t been keeping updated on the changes thus far then here’s a brief recap – and you can click on the image for each major update to be taken to the post with the full details.
MU5 added a completely new start to the game with the Prologue campaign. Difficulty modes, an overhaul to enemy behaviour spread across campaigns, full gamepad support, a new enemy, reworked turrets, loadout specialities to influence the start of your runs, enemy path previews and merged boarding parties were other headline changes.
In Major Update 4 we added Tech modules that allow you to lean into certain playstyles and mix up your runs. You could gain more by completing optional Tech Challenges in battle. All menus and UI had been reworked and improved, along with better status effects, a new enemy and the addition of two new levels.
For Major Update 3, we added Hazards and Merits. The former introduced random difficulty spikes to combat, whereas winning battles gained merits that provided assistance in your campaigns. A crew menu allowed you to rename crew, change their uniforms, apply armour or revive them. Melee weapons and new levels accompanied a host of other improvements.
Our second major update introduced co-op, along with new levels and lots of quality of life improvements.
The first major update added a ship launch menu where you chose a vessel and campaign, with Starfarer being introduced alongside the original mission. Four new enemies, six pieces of equipment (2 weapons, 3 deployables and one piece of gear) and a new level joined the roster.
That was the journey thus far; here is what we’re planning next…
Full Release
Our top priority in the immediate future is working on the campaigns.
First up is the addition of Vanguard, where you’ll get to take the fight back to the Collective. We don’t want to spoil too much but here’s a glimpse of some concept art of the final sector:
We’re also planning to:
- Revisit the Starfarer campaign so you have some different gameplay to finish the run
- Make cutscenes for completing each campaign so you get a more satisfying payoff
- Add some interesting visuals to each sector so it feels like you’re on more of a journey
That should then complete the main narrative arc of SENTRY, taking in the initial invasion of Earth, the ensuing escape, gaining intelligence vital to striking back before getting some payback, human style!
We’ve also put a large chunk of time assigned to improving the most important areas of the game. There is a looooong list here and your feedback will certainly help us prioritise, so please keep the forum/Discord posts coming and we’ll talk about this stuff more in the monthly dev transmissions.
There’ll be some standard v1.0 additions we’re planning too, such as further optimisations, achievements and Steam Deck verification.
We’re estimating all of the above will take us to Spring 2027.
Post Release
We continued supporting our previous game for many years after it left Early Access and we expect to be doing the same for SENTRY. There’ll undoubtedly be things that – while lower priority – didn’t quite make it for full release that we’ll want to squeeze in, so there’ll likely be a free major update after full release, with subsequent smaller free updates for a long time yet.
We may also work on other DLC if the community is keen for bigger/more in-depth additions, although we’ll only consider that once all of the above is sorted.
Oh and don’t worry, we plan on launching the soundtrack once we’ve stopped making new music, so most likely on the run-up to full release.
I’ve kept some things vague here so we don’t spoil everything – we’ll be sharing more in the monthly dev transmissions, so keep an eye on those.
And thanks again for all of the support, it’s massively appreciated and keeps us going. We’ve certainly spent longer in Early Access than we originally thought, but we’ve been enjoying expanding the game so just kept going :)
