Janitors, we are mutating!
Thank you for all the feedback, and, of course, the nice reviews. Since the demo was released, the team has been working on the project with even greater dedication - and we’re pleased to bring you the first demo update:
- Death and Resurrection
While we want to preserve the game’s hardcore and survival horror elements, we’d also like to give players more room to experiment. After all, it’s one of the key elements of any immersive sim. So, in the event of death, we only have to return to our corpse to extract our genes (if we want to get rid of the cloning error), but from now on we won’t lose items from our inventory - at least not on this (medium) difficulty level, which is playable in the demo.
- Bodies left behind
We noticed that bodies sometimes end up in the wrong place or even disappear. We've improved this system, so now it's much less likely that your body will vanish or end up in an inaccessible location. It still can happen rarely, in very specific cases, so we'll tweak this system further.
- The "black screen" issue
Some users encountered a black screen when starting a new game, and it wouldn't go away. Although we couldn't reproduce this issue internally, we were able to resolve it with the help of a few helpful players. (thanks again, guys!) In theory, this shouldn't happen anymore after the update.
- Cloning Error fixes
Two cloning errors proved to be a bit more annoying than we had expected: “alcoholism” and “bad manners.” We refined both; their mechanics remain largely the same, but their effects occur much less frequently.
- Tanky enemies
The enemies are intentionally extremely tough; that’s part of the game’s core loop. But we’ve noticed ourselves that if the opponents needed just one or two fewer shots or hits to be defeated, it would provide a much more balanced experience. (especially on a medium difficulity) So, without taking away the hardcore edge of the game or nerf the enemies, we made the weapons a little bit more powerful.
- Way too dark
Again, the game is dark for a reason, but some of you understandably stated that the game can be too dark, especially in the second part of the demo. Without altering the game's atmosphere, we've managed to significantly improve this by adding a few extra light sources here and there, and making the flashlight brighter and able to shine further.
- Mantling (ledge grabbing)
The ledge grabbing aka mantling mechanic needed a little extra work. Now it's easier to handle, you can now use it in tighter spaces, and you can even climb into vents with it.
- New shortcut
In the second half of the demo - after "thath thing" happened, there is a new shortcut and traversal option open to give even more opportunities for the players to explore and experiment. Also, this will help find something in the end of the demo, which may have caused some people a bit of a headache. (without holding the player's hand!)
- PDA & crouching
You can now use the PDA - aka "PHCD" - even while crouching, so it's much more stealth-friendly and won't snap you out of your current state.
- Shorter loading times
We've managed to significantly reduce loading times. This mainly affects slightly less powerful machines, but even those with more advanced hardware will notice the difference.
- Localization fixes
We fixed a few text and/or localization errors. (For example, in one place we accidentally referred to Professor Hammond as "Dr. Hammond")
...and a bunch of smaller bugs were also fixed!
Be sure to update your build, the new versions's build number is 5855 which you can find on the main menu, in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Stay tuned, Janitors!
We’ve taken note of many of your suggestions and are already hard at work on them, so you can expect the game to continue evolving in the near future.
So expect: further balancing, tweaked mutamods, more bugfixes and tweaks, and more performance updates!
Thank you once again for your feedback, comments, and ideas. It means a lot to us, and we’re doing our best to meet everyone’s needs while staying true to the game’s original vision.
See you soon! - The Team
