Welcome back, everyone! This is Mothership from Daev Team.
Exciting news: Episode 2's final build is greenlit and set for release on October 26th!
In anticipation of its release I will talk some more about exploration, and the adventure that awaits outside of the arena.
NEW MAPS TO EXPLORE
Episode 2 will entroduce 12 new levels: The storyline mirrors the structure of the first episode, with key plot points unfolding linearly. However, towards the the latter half of EP2, players will discover a new sense of freedom. Thanks to the seamlessly interconnected world, they'll be able to roam between areas at their own pace, unraveling the game's secrets and exploring everything it has to offer.
SECRET SIDE AREAS
For those who played Episode 1, you may recall certain pathways intentionally sealed by Skull Sigils. In Episode 2, as new abilities can be unlocked, one of them will allow to unseal these paths. This newfound ability will guide players to uncharted territories, unveiling entirely new areas to explore.
Among the 12 new levels, some of them can only be accessed from other secret areas, rewarding the completionists; these secret locales hold rewards in the form of upgrades, new weapons, and snippets of lore.
DYNAMIC LIGHTING
Considering the player's ability to explore at their own pace, I've envisioned an additional feature: maps in Episode 2 set in Real Space, not bound by a fixed linear story progression, will dynamically change their lighting to daytime or nighttime depending the time of day when you play the game. For those who prefer consistency, an "Always Daytime" option will be introduced in the miscellaneous settings of the game, allowing you to toggle and maintain the default lighting for these maps.
REALS PACE AND VIRTUAL SPACE ARSENAL
Player's freedom of exploration means that you can travel between the Virtual and Real space, and this lead to the implementation of a semi-permanent inventory system.
Guns and ammo gathered in Realspace will stay with you instead of resetting when entering a new level; however, any realspace gun in the arsenal will temporarily disappear when the player goes into a game world's area. The real-world guns and ammo will become available again as soon as the player returns to the real world.
Upgrades such as armor and abilities will persist both in Virtual and Real spaces.
This allows for players to have an experience closer to the one of linear shooters from the late 90s. In layman terms, more Unreal-like than Unreal Tournament-like.
I hope you found this entry interesting, and I hope to see all of you here again on October 26th once Episode two arrives!