March is here, and that means Version 0.4 is around the corner! Today, we have a preview of the Campaign Revision.
New Characters
The core plot remains the same - you're stranded on the planet, you're fighting Axons, and there's some illegal mining operation going on that seems vaguely relevant. However, many of the surrounding details have been overhauled.
For starters, there's more characters. And we're not just talking Chapter 3. This, for example, takes place in the updated Mission 4:
Ignore the Dev overrides in the corner, they are not part of the story... yet.
Nearly the whole script has been rewritten or touched upon in some form.
Gameplay Updates
Every existing mission has received revisions or complete overhauls. Certain mechanics have been reordered. For example:
- Credit Generators happen way sooner
- Axons start gaining Armor in Chapter 2
- Axons start gaining Shields in Chapter 3
- Multi-path missions are far more frequent, but don't worry; we ease you into it.
Prebuilt Defenses on nearly every mission are now activated by default. Every mission is 1 or 2 Waves longer. Bosses will spawn in the latter half of the mission instead of early on, giving you a chance to actually build up.
And Mission 15 no longer requires combining the paths to win:
This is a little different than I remember...
Tech Tree
Progression-wise, the order you unlock Defenses has changed. For those of you that got annoyed by having to constantly redo your Defense Upgrades because you changed your active Loadout, that menu has been done away with. You will now unlock them in batches:
- U1 is available by default
- U2 is unlocked after beating Chapter 1
- U3 is unlocked after beating Chapter 2
- Global Upgrade is unlocked after beating Chapter 3
As for the Tech Tree, that's received a much needed overhaul:
It's actually readable!
Additionally, certain missions have Challenges. These are optional objectives that, when cleared, provide you with 1 Extra Tech Point for the Tech Tree. Early ones aren't too difficult, but later ones, well... good luck!
Do I have to restart my progress?
Short answer, no. If you don't want to replay the existing Campaign, you do not have to (with the exception of backtracking for Challenges). You will notice that your Loadout has different defenses, you'll have to reassign your Tech Tree, and you may be confused by the new characters, updated progression, order of mechanics, etc.
If you want to reset your progress and experience the Campaign Revision from scratch, we will offer a way to do so. But we won't force this. You are welcome to continue without replaying Chapters 1 & 2.
There's a few other little additions for the Campaign. For example, Patricia & Omni have expressions (we plan on adding more to other characters down the road). There's a Journal, containing extra info about the world as well as personal logs.
Oh, and of course, Chapter 3 will arrive with 9 New Missions!
Look forward to the updated Campaign and more next week, when Version 0.4 releases on Friday, March 8th!
A new Axon carries its allies forward. Coming in Version 0.4!