Hey Fighters!
Update day is upon us and we have another banger heading in your direction! Want a new map? New game mode? Balance changes? Or maybe some weapon facelifts and animations? Whatever you’d like to see, we hope we’ve got something for everyone. So enough chit chat, let’s check out what’s in store for you lovely people:
Before we start, we’ve got our eyes on a little hiccup of a combined shooting and punching issue, but no worries. We're on it, and a patch to fix things up is on it’s way shortly!
Maps & Modes
New map and Conquest mode return
Welcome to Holdout! A new mission location has appeared in the heart of New York city at Billionaire’s Row, overlooking the iconic Manhattan Central Park. Balance on the edge and join the fight in King of the Hill Mode available in regular matchmaking, or try out the beta version of the new Conquest mode in Custom Games!
Interactive object updates
Holdout is not just a new map, with it we are also bringing updates to all existing ones with new visuals for doorways, laser doors, healing stations and harvesters for capture points in King of the Hill and Conquest modes. This should increase readability and further cement the lore of the UltraHorse universe into SquadBlast. More updates to follow…
Weapons
IceLight → Walruz facelift
Heavy, cold, metal - that’s the new look for the ice grenade launcher, known in its modern form as Walruz by Raymor Inc.! Check how it looks in the hands of Sonny, and get back to making ice cubes on the battlefield.
Cataclysm > Hellion
What’s better then ice - fire of course! Well, it depends on your preferences, but to match the Walruz facelift, our Cataclysm grenade launcher is being facelifted and renamed to Hellion by Rimfire Ltd. The fire grenade launcher brings a touch of wood to your palms to keep them warm, while spreading fire to your opponents. This completes our cycle of facelifting our older looking weapon catalogue, so you can look forward to entirely new weapons in the upcoming updates!
New Animation previews
- New animations for Sonny and Arx in the Loadout reflect their abilities, more to follow.
- We’ve added special post-battle animations on the MVP screen for Paavo, Arx, Nigel and Dash as a small preview of upcoming feature that lets you customize your reactions to victory or loss. Tell us what you think in our discord!
Balance changes
Payload
- Payload pushing power for additional players significantly increased.
- Payload max time limit increased to 10 minutes.
Weapons
Melee weapon switch now is synced with animation and takes a bit of time.
Sound Updates
A new bunch of sound additions and improvements this time:
- New landing sounds for heroes to be closer to step ones.
- Updated sounds for stamina moves.
- Unique footsteps for Hantu.
- Updated music for match search.
- Beast mode sound attenuated.
UI Changes
- The chat itself is now more predictable and opens the keyboard only if you tap on the input field on mobile devices, not on every single tap.
- For the web version, there is a fast party sharing option, where you can just send an invite link to your friend and play together in a matter of seconds.
Other Changes
- Updated the Intro splash, Out with Nigel and Dash, in with Laika and Arx! Also, everyone’s favourite grenade made an appearance.
Bug Fixes
- On Underfoot map there is no more jiggly sliding on the left angular second level platform next to the capture point.
- In tutorial at the low levels of the map UI hints won’t cover you hero anymore.
- Fixed a bug that allowed instant barrel spawn after one was destroyed.
- Collision shapes for characters have been fixed.
- Fixed animation for when heroes use Uplifter walls, no more floaty hovering.
- Fixed animation for lockpicks on the screen during the case opening sequence.
- If the player left the battle, you can still check out his profile from the battle results screen.
- Visual effect should not appear on target if stamina is not being depleted, like for example when standing and holding Shift.
- Double jump now doesn’t activate a stamina use visual effect.
- Smoother animation and transition between stages of the roll stamina ability.
We're also diving into testing for the web version of SquadBlast, and we'll fill you in on all the details separately soon.
We've got more updates in the pipeline, and we want to hear your awesome ideas! So don’t be shy and feel free to join our discord and leave us feedback with any thoughts you may have, until then, we’ll catch you in the next one!
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/squadblast