Hey everyone, Kevin here again with another Dev Diary!
First off, apologies for the gap in between Dev Diaries, we have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes getting the game ready for the next Major Update and I’m really looking forward to doing a deeper dive into the contents over the coming week.
The focus of this Dev Diary though is the Cover debate, and our conclusion. Thanks again to everyone who jumped in to give feedback on this, I know cover has been a point of contention for many (including within the dev team) - you’ve all been brilliant about pointing out the good, the bad, and the “huh, that’s weird” moments.
If you missed our earlier post, here’s the short version: Grit and Valor originally launched with 1-sided cover - walls would only protect you from one direction. Based on your feedback (and a healthy dose of “but… a wall’s a wall, right?”), we decided to trial 2-sided cover. The idea was simple: if there’s a chunk of solid material between you and the enemy, it should block fire from either side. After a good amount of playtesting, here’s where we’ve landed:
Our Takeaways
It feels good. In most situations, 2-sided cover is more intuitive and realistic. You can move a bit more freely, take risks more comfortably, and split forces without feeling overly exposed.
It changes the flow but in a good way. You can hold ground more dynamically, make more interesting flanking choices, and in some cases avoid the “dash from one safe spot to the next” rhythm, often due to enemies arriving from a different direction and the cover you're next to happens to be facing the wrong way.
Enemies aren’t suddenly superhuman. We worried they’d start abusing cover against you all the time, but that hasn’t really happened except in some very specific situations (usually tied to poor positioning or unusual map layouts).
The Implication
To get the full benefit, we needed to rethink level layouts. That meant placing cover so it can be used from multiple angles without clogging movement routes, and balancing cover strength so it lasts long enough to matter without making it a permanent fortress. This ended up being quite a big job as it meant a review and rework of every level in the game. Some needed more tweaks than others but still, a huge undertaking for our small team.
Where we’re at
So, we decided to commit to 2-sided cover going forward and have now implemented the change. Here’s what you can expect to see in Update 4:
Stronger, better-positioned cover in key spots.
Fewer “useless” pieces that block movement without offering good protection.
More consideration for how both you and the enemy can interact with cover.
As always, we’ll be keeping an eye on how this plays once it’s rolled out. So if you find weird edge cases, keep letting us know - your feedback is what helps us improve the game.
That’s it for 2-sided cover but watch out for the next Dev Diary showcasing some of the other major changes we’re making for Update 4.
Thanks everyone, and see you on the battlefield!