As a follow up to our State of the Game 2020 message, I would like to give you all a peek into our plans for 2021 with the Season Updates so that you have some clarity in what we’re hoping to accomplish and target for the year. I want to strongly emphasize that all these plans are subject to change as we progress through development, go through iteration and playtesting to see what works and makes the cut for release.
For 2021, we’ll once again be partnering with Saber Interactive throughout the year to deliver a similar level of content and features to what you experienced in 2020. To get more specific for our next upcoming Spring 2021 update targeted for release at the end of the quarter, here’s a high-level bulleted overview:
- New Weeklies
- Finally, after three years and popular demand, we’ll be looking to expand the roster of weekly outbreaks for the next update. We’re currently looking to do two new weekly modes for Spring and hoping to keep a similar cadence for the rest of the year so that we can double the number of weekly modes by the end of the year.
- Seasonal Event:
- New Objectives, Achievements, and Rewards for first-month post-release
- New Seasonal themed Cosmetics, bundles, and return of free Cyberpunk Ticket drops
- New Map
- Partnering with the community creator Sean 'synchaoz' Nielsen to bring another popular community map into the official fold that fits the event theme.
- New Weapons
- Developing 1 new weapon that will be available as a paid bundle as well as a new HRG Weapon that will be free for everyone.
- New Quality of Life Improvements and Balances
- The team continues to scour the surveys, forums, and community messages to improve the UX experience of the game based on your feedback in targeted ways as well as adjusting weapon and perk skill values to improve the overall balance of the game. A big thanks to everyone who participated in our state of the game survey. The data you provided is invaluable in helping us prioritize which batch of weapons and skills we target per update.
- Bug Fixing
- As usual, the Spring 2021 update will include a litany of fixing to content and features for both big and small issues. Additionally, sometime before the release of the Spring update, we’ll be looking to do a hotfix primarily centered around improving the most recent Elysium map for any issues that we didn’t quite have the time to address before the December release. Full details and changelog will be forthcoming as we are confident in nailing down a release timeframe.
- Beta Previews period for Steam and EGS PC before full release
- As we have for the past several updates, the Spring 2021 update will feature an open opt-in beta period weeks before release that will allow you all on those platforms to try the new content out early, provide feedback and give us that crucial information to polish and improve the update’s content before launch on all supported platforms. Full details for how to participate as well as feedback survey link information during the Beta period will be provided with the Beta changelog at the time of release. As we want to make the best possible first impression for you all that will participate in these Beta, target dates and cadence of the beta schedule will fluid as we undergo full testing leading up to us opening up to you all.
In the weeks leading up to the first beta for Spring, we’ll get more into the nitty-gritty details of everything I outlined above through our regular Merc Reports so stay tuned for more information. Looking beyond Spring, we have a full complement of quarterly updates planned for the year for Summer, Fall, and Winter which we look to outline to you ahead of time as we get closer.
As you learn what we have in store for the coming year, I do want to address some long-standing requests by many folks in the community asking for significant systems and balance overhauls towards the game. While it is still our fervent hope and objective to continue improving the game with the regular quality of life tunes and improvements, the current age and complexity of the current engine and systems make these larger requests increasingly difficult without a major restructure which in it itself is risky and it’s not something we feel we can commit to in a timely manner. It’s critical, we maintain the state of the game and be able to create new content that you have come to expect from our seasonal events and ongoing support for all platforms. We understand this may lead to some disappointment but we want to be open and clear with you about our expectations. That said, Tripwire and Saber are fully committed to delivering the best content and improvements possible and continually reviewing your feedback and response to drive us towards better quality and experience for all our users.
I want to once again thank the community for their overwhelming support and passion for Killing Floor 2. It drives in everything that we do to continue supporting the game and adding new fun elements. We hope you all have a happy, healthy, and safe new year. See you all on the Killing Floor.
David Amata
Product Director