Howdy, ladies and gentlemen! It's been a minute, and I apologize for that.
This has been a patch we'd intended to... wait a minute... I feel like I've said this before...
And that's because I have! Sorry for the wait, guys. Life has been a hotbed of chaos. Between the console ports, New Game +, the OST, and the Steam Trading cards, we've had a lot in the oven that kept disrupting our ability to push this patch out the door. We'd originally wanted to have this update out by October, but as you can probably tell, we're a pinch late on that front. The very moment we'd have the patch just about ready to head out the door, our work on some other aspect of the game would come to bite us in the butt and slow us down, or 5 other bugs would be found by players that we felt the need to fix before pushing another update would crop up, or the business of the holiday season would come knocking, and real world resposibilities... or blah blah blah, blah, bluh blah blah...
The point is, we've been going a bit stir-crazy trying to get this patch out, but it is finally here! This was mostly meant to be a quick fixer-upper patch before the upcoming mega-update this year, but a few more weighty, substantial features ended up creeping their way in, so let's talk about those!
The Return of Seasonal Skins
A few years ago, we introduced the seasonal tab in the graphics options menu in tandem with a special Halloween update, but prior to the game's full release, we had to temporarily remove it. Several changes/alterations to how our in-game sprites were handled ultimately saw the Seasonal content being broken, and by extension, a lot of enemies we wanted to give Halloween skins simply did not have them, and in the lead up to release, we didn't have the time to make said skins. In addition, the existing Halloween skins were pretty old and needed updating to better match the in-game sprites, which have been substantially improved since that update first dropped. Well now... All that work is done... So it's time for the seasonal tab to return!
Several enemies that were formerly costumeless or simply didn't exist at that point in the game's life cycle now feature brand new Halloween-flavored sprites! Along with brand-new props and decorations befitting the hallow tide, spread across all 3 Chapters!
In future, we are looking to expand the seasonal tab a bit more, potentially via adding a summer vacation themed skin set, so keep an eye out for that!
Visual Updates to Several Levels
Chapter 3, in particular, had a few levels that, to my taste, were a bit visually bland. By far the biggest offender was "C3L3 - Virile Vanity", a level which suffered entirely from too much brown brick with not enough color or decor to spice it up.
With this new update, a good few levels have seen moderate visual improvements, most prominently "C3L3 - Virile Vanity" and "C3L4 - Nihilistic Necromonancy", which now feature a few new textures and props to give these levels more life.
The Nomad Bishop
With the upcoming New Game + mode, various enemies not featured in the game's standard run of the campaign will make an appearance, and one of them is the new Nomad Bishop! With that, though the New Game + is not part of this patch, he has, in the meantime, joined the ranks of extra foes who make an appearance in Viscerafest's enemy randomizer. We hope you... uh... enjoy! The antics he brings to your randomized combat encounters.
But Without Further Ado
I think it is time for the...
Patch Notes
New Additions:
Updated Unity Engine Versions to account for needs related to console ports.
The seasonal tab in the graphics settings has returned with brand-new Halloween-themed sprites, not featured at its debut during the Early Access period.
New decorations, geometry, and visual elements have been added to "C2L3 - Boggy Besiege", "C2L7 - Arche Ascension", "C3L3 - Virile Vanity", and "C3L4 - Nihilistic Necromancy".
The "Nomad Bishop", a new enemy type, has been added to the rotation of flying enemies for the enemy randomizer.
General Tweaks:
Various audio mixing tweaks.
Tweaked the scaling of the Skully Counter's text on the HUD.
Tweaked the visual scaling of several ammo pickup's Rings.
Tweaked various prop sprites.
Tweaked the scaling of colliders and damage colliders on Chapter 3's Blade Pillars.
Level Tweaks:
Added an additional Bunker Buster ammo pickup in the Bunker Buster secret in "Prelude - Intruder Inbound".
Tweaked the timing of the opening elevator doors in "C1L3 - Fragmented Folly" so that their opening is synced like all other elevators in the game.
The Infinite Ammo powerup now opens the chokepoint doors in "C1L5 - Slipgate Central".
Flight pathing has been improved in several locations in "C2L3 - Boggy Besiege", "C3L1 - Theopathic Thoroughfare", "C3L2 - Blighted Babylon", "C3L3 - Virile Vanity" and "C3L4 - Nihilistic Necromancy"
Added additional enemies and ammo within the bathrooms of "C2L7 - Arche Ascension".
Adjusted a save beacon's placement in "C3L1 - Theopathic Thoroughfare".
Wind vents in "C3L4 - Nihilistic Necromancy" now have colliders to prevent the player from moving past the zone of the wind vents.
Made lighting adjustments to "C3L6 - Compulsory Contrition".
Enemy Tweaks:
Tweaked various enemy sprites.
Tweaked how thick the game's navmeshes consider several enemies to be in order to better account for their visual scaling.
Tweaked the fire volumes for several enemies. (This also adjusts where the Lock-On tracks on several enemies)
Banshee Husks now ignore the Eldritch Walker Powerup. (As such, all invisible enemies should ignore the effects of invisibility on the player)
General Fixes:
Fixed an issue where canceling a file name input in the main menu would lock the input field to the file select screen whilst using a controller.
Fixed some issues related to menu navigation. (primarily with a controller)
Fixed the Carcosa's Wrath ricochet effect being far too distant from its impact location.
Fixed a variety of context-specific issues with the Eldritch Walker powerup, including some enemies ignoring the effects of the powerup that they should not have.
Fixed an issue with auto-cycling crushers not crushing after loading a save in rare circumstances.
Fixed Yellow Push Handles geometry not properly aligning with the textures.
Fixed several bugs involving softlocks and spawn issues with both the weapon and enemy randomizers.
Level Fixes:
Fixed several doors in various levels across the whole game using the wrong sounds or wrong speeds.
Fixed switch textures not saving in several levels when flipped.
Fixed an issue with the "Hub - Heuristic Halls" spawns dropping the player into incorrect locations.
Fixed the Plague Rifle and Deus Mortis weapons being swapped in the loadout selection in "Hub - Heuristic Halls."
Doors in "Prelude - Intruder Inbound" that were missing lock interactions now feature them.
Added several lights that were missing in the green key secret in "Prelude - Intruder Inbound".
Fixed the bridge skullies in "C1L5 - Slipgate Central", changing location upon loading a save.
Fixed a ladder in "C1L7 - Evanescent Evacuation".
Fixed a bug in "C1L7 - Evanescent Evacuation" where you could partially trigger the tram secret but not fully, causing it to never open.
Fixed the texture alignment of some trees in "C2L2 - Cthonic Crypt".
Fixed some issues with the push cube in "C2L3 - Boggy Besiege".
Fixed possible soft-lock in "C2L4 - Ethereal Egress" with the puzzle elevator.
Fixed floating explosive barrels in "C2L5 - Ceremonial Sacrilege".
Fixed an issue in "C2L5 - Ceremonial Sacrilege" where the player faces the wrong direction upon moving locations via a secret slipgate.
Fixed some enemies not appearing in "C2L6 - Monorail Massacre".
Fixed a bug in "C2L6 - Monorail Massacre" where you could complete the level whilst dead.
Fixed some broken railings in "C2L7 - Arche Ascension".
Fixed a broken secret trigger and or the secret counter in "C2L7 - Arche Ascension" (not sure which).
Fixed inconsistencies within Chapter 3's Switch Textures.
Fixed some broken doors in "C3L1 - Theopathic Thoroughfare".
A blood puddle in "C3L1 - Theopathic Thoroughfare" has had its height adjusted so it no longer clips through the floor.
Some secret triggers in "C3L3 - Virile Vanity" and pickups within those triggers have had their collisions adjusted so that you cannot acquire the pickups without triggering the secret it is in.
Some secret triggers in "C3L4 - Nihilistic Necromancy" and pickups within those triggers have had their collisions adjusted.
Doors in "C3L6 - Compulsory Contrition" with locked interactions now disable the lock interactions when opened.
Fixed the damage volumes in "C3L6 - Compulsory Contrition" using the wrong liquid properties.
Fixed occlusion pop-in present within the levels "C3L6 - Compulsory Contrition" and "C3L7 - Alter Alvus".
Fixed all enemies missing on Extreme difficulty in "C3L7 - Alter Alvus," making the level unplayable on that difficulty.
Fixed "Nuts.Blend" Not forcing a pistol start for a first-time playthrough like it is supposed to.
Enemy Fixes:
Fixed a graphical issue with enemy sprites where untextured level geometry would be visible through the sprite in levels with fog, giving the sprite a semi-transparent quality.
Fixed several issues with the behavior of flying enemies.
Boss Fixes:
Fixed the Elder Banshee's Rune Attack's sound so that it no longer blows out the audio and stops the music.
Fixed several animation/graphical issues that occurred when killing the boss in "C3L7 - Alter Alvus" as it was performing certain attacks.
Some Closing Thoughts
So! About the OST... Yeah, Deja Vu, I know. Jokes aside, in the time since we'd last talked about the OST, we had ultimately decided we needed to move on without John S. Weekley. Since that decision was made, we still haven't heard from him. As a matter of fact, I even had a friend of his reach out to me to see if the man was still alive... so uh... pray for him, only God knows where he is at this point. Regardless, we ended up reaching out to composer INI, who had done the OST for the Incision, as I figured he would be a good fit for Viscerafest. We ran into some issues composing tracks early on, following which we lost touch over the course of the holiday season, but after reconvening post-December and trying our hand at it again, both me and INI concluded that things weren't quite going to work out, and as such he has stepped down in that regard. Since then, we have reached out to 2 other composers, one you may know, and one you may not, but both are super talented individuals, one of whom we hope will help lead to us over the finish line. Aside from this, our trading cards for Steam are just about done and coming VERY soon, and the New Game + mode is likewise approaching the finish line.
But That's All Folks!!!
We hope you enjoy the new update! And we thank all ya'll lovely people for your love and support!
Our hope, as always, is that you would have a wonderful day! And we pray that the Lord God keep you, bless you, and make his face to shine upon you! adios!
Noah Dickinson,