Operation Athena — Major Update #14
Major Update #14 is here, and Version 0.7.0 is the biggest update we have ever released for Operation Athena.
This update brings a major Enemy AI Overhaul, the brand-new Drug Bunker map, lockpicking, day and night support for every map, the Sandridge Isle / Woodlands V2 exterior rework, Character Customization V1, Glowsticks, Breakable Props, the P90, a full weapon animation pass, a new optimized scope system, an expanded Homebase, and updates across every map in the game.
Important Save Data Note
Some players may need to delete old weapon save data after this update to fix certain attachment or weapon display issues. We are working on an automatic solution for this in a future update.
Your save files can be found here:
C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\AppData\\Local\\ProjectAlpha\\Saved\\SaveGames
Only delete weapon/gun-related save files if needed. Do not delete any save files named Options, Progress, or Appearance, as those are used for your settings, progression, and character customization.
Major Highlights
Enemy AI has received a major behavior overhaul
Lockpicking has been added as a quieter option for locked doors
New playable map: Drug Bunker
Every map can now be played during the day or at night
Sandridge Isle / Woodlands exterior has been completely redone
Character Customization has been added
Glowsticks have been added
Breakable Props and more bullet-reactive objects have been added
Lights can now be broken by grenades
P90 has been added
Every weapon that was missing animations now has animation support
New optimized post-process scope system added
Homebase has been expanded
Every map in the game has received adjustments
Performance, audio, UI, gameplay, and bug-fix improvements
Enemy AI Overhaul
Enemy AI has received a major overhaul in Version 0.7.0.
Enemies now have stronger combat focus, sensing, cover usage, room-holding behavior, flanking, and breach reactions. They are more capable and more aggressive, while also behaving in ways that better support tactical room clearing and breaching gameplay.
Enemy AI updates include:
Smarter enemy combat behavior
Stronger sight, hearing, and sensing behavior
Sharper reactions when spotting players
Stronger alert and combat behavior
More deliberate ranged attack behavior
Dynamic hold-position behavior
Stronger cover usage and room-holding behavior
Flanking and tactical movement behavior
More believable behavior around doors and locked spaces
Enemies should no longer unrealistically push through locked doors
Better performance during larger fights
These changes make breaching and room clearing feel much closer to how a tactical shooter should play. Enemies are more believable, more reactive, and meaner than ever.
Quieter Door Entry: Lockpicking
Players can now lockpick doors as a quieter alternative to hard breaching.
Instead of always forcing entry with a louder breach, players now have another option when approaching locked doors. Lockpicking gives players a more controlled way to enter rooms, avoid unnecessary noise, and approach encounters with more tactical flexibility.
Players now have more meaningful choices around locked doors: quietly lockpick, prepare a stack, or commit to a louder breach.
New Map: Drug Bunker
A new playable map, Drug Bunker, has been added to Operation Athena.
Drug Bunker takes players into a concealed underground drug operation built around tight corridors, cluttered rooms, hidden workspaces, and close-quarters engagements. The map focuses on tense room clearing, limited sightlines, and compact tactical combat.
Drug Bunker features:
A brand-new underground map
Dense close-quarters combat spaces
Drug operation environment and theming
Custom bunker visuals, sound, and atmosphere
Gameplay built around room clearing and close-range engagements
Day and Night Support for Every Map
Every map in Operation Athena can now be played during the day or at night.
This gives players more variety across the full mission roster and changes the feel of each operation depending on the selected time of day. Existing maps can now be replayed with different visibility, atmosphere, and tactical considerations.
Day and night support adds:
Day and night options for every playable map
Different visibility conditions depending on time of day
New atmosphere across familiar missions
Sandridge Isle / Woodlands V2 Exterior Rework
Sandridge Isle, also known as Woodlands, has received a major exterior rework.
The outside area has been completely redone as a V2 version of the map, giving the environment a stronger visual identity, cleaner movement flow, stronger outdoor combat spaces, and a more polished sense of place.
Sandridge Isle / Woodlands V2 includes:
Completely redone exterior area
New outdoor layout and flow
More detailed environment work
Updated outdoor cover placement
Stronger lighting and atmosphere
New System: Character Customization V1
Character Customization has been added to Operation Athena.
Players can now customize the look of their operator from the locker before heading into missions. This first version introduces selectable appearance options, saved presets, and new soldier assets to help players personalize their operator.
Character Customization includes:
Locker-based operator customization
Multiple appearance categories
Saved appearance presets
Renamable custom preset slots
New soldier gear and appearance assets
This is the first major version of Character Customization, and we plan to continue expanding it with more options over time.
New Utility: Glowsticks
Glowsticks have been added as a new deployable utility.
Players can place glowsticks to mark cleared rooms, paths, entry points, or important locations during missions. They are especially useful for night missions, darker interiors, larger maps, and team navigation.
Glowsticks are a small tool, but they add a lot of utility for communication, navigation, and night operations.
Currently, a cap of 10 can be placed per player.
Breakable Props and Bullet-Reactive Objects
A proper Breakable Prop system has been added.
More objects in the world can now react to gunfire and explosives, making firefights feel more physical and less static. Breakable props have also been added to Homebase, and more environmental objects now respond during combat.
Breakable and reactive object updates include:
New Breakable Prop system
More objects react to bullets
More objects react to explosives
Lights can now be broken by grenades
Certain lights can also be destroyed by enemy fire
More environmental feedback during firefights
Weapon Updates and Tuning
The P90 has been added to Operation Athena.
The P90 brings a compact, fast-handling weapon option to the arsenal, giving players another choice for close-quarters combat and aggressive room clearing.
The Venelli M4 shotgun has also received a major update. Its old model has been completely replaced with a much higher-quality version, along with brand-new animations, animation system adjustments, and a suppressed variant.
A large weapon tuning pass has also been completed across the arsenal, with many weapons receiving damage, recoil, handling, and balance adjustments.
Weapon updates include:
P90 added
Venelli M4 shotgun model completely replaced
New Venelli M4 animations
Shotgun animation system adjustments
Suppressed Venelli M4 variant added
Damage, recoil, handling, and balance tweaks across many weapons
Full Weapon Animation Pass
Update #14 includes a major animation pass for the weapon roster.
Every weapon that was previously missing animations now has animation support. Several weapons also received additional first-person polish to make handling, reloads, and presentation feel more complete.
Weapon animation updates include:
Missing weapon animations added across the weapon roster
First-person weapon animation pass
Reload presentation pass for several weapons
Shotgun animation work
More consistent weapon handling across the arsenal
Optimized Scope System
A new optimized post-process scope system has been added.
This replaces the older render target scope setup with a lighter system designed to improve performance while still giving players a clean scoped view.
The new scope system brings:
Optimized post-process scope rendering
Improved performance when using scoped weapons
Cleaner and more efficient scope visuals
A stronger foundation for future optic improvements
Homebase Expanded
Homebase has received a major expansion and polish pass.
The Homebase area has been expanded with more environmental work, lore details, layout adjustments, and new interactable spaces. This update continues building Homebase into a more complete staging area for players between missions.
Homebase updates include:
Expanded Homebase exterior
More detailed staging area
New lore and environmental storytelling
Updated armory, locker, and mission flow
Breakable props added to the space
New playable arcade machine as a smaller Homebase extra
Map Updates Across the Game
Every map in Operation Athena has received adjustments in this update.
The goal was to improve mission flow, readability, performance, collision, lighting, audio, and combat spaces across the full game.
Notable map updates include:
Sandridge Isle / Woodlands exterior completely redone
Blacksite adjustments
Hospital adjustments
Sandstorm fixes
Killhouse audio and lore work
Villa layout and polish adjustments
Gameplay and Equipment Improvements
Several gameplay systems and equipment interactions were improved in this update.
Gameplay and equipment updates include:
Non-Medic operators now carry 2 Medical Injectors
Certain lights can now be destroyed by enemy fire
Additional equipment and objective interaction polish
Audio Improvements
Update #14 includes several player-facing sound improvements and fixes.
Audio updates include:
Drug Bunker sound and reverb pass
Killhouse sound and lore work
Updated door sounds in certain areas
Fixed missing light sounds on Sandstorm
Fixed moving snow sound issues
Lowered footstep volume for hostages
Footstep timing polish
Audio settings added
These changes should make the game sound more consistent and help improve the mission atmosphere.
Performance and Optimization
Version 0.7.0 includes a large performance and optimization pass.
This update improves performance across AI, maps, assets, projectiles, scoped weapons, and heavier combat situations.
Performance improvements include:
Better performance during heavier combat
Optimized scope rendering for scoped weapons
Reduced unnecessary combat processing
Projectile behavior and cleanup optimization
NPC death handling optimization
Character asset optimization
Map performance cleanup
Collision and movement cleanup across maps
General stability improvements
UI, Menus, and Quality of Life
Several UI and quality-of-life improvements were added.
UI and quality-of-life updates include:
Main menu XP display improved
Mission selection board adjustments
Homebase UI improvements
Chat now appears when other players type
Chat usability improvements
Additional Fixes and Polish
Update #14 includes additional fixes across gameplay, networking, AI, maps, weapons, UI, and multiplayer.
Additional fixes include:
Fixed grenade count issue in multiplayer
Fixed weapon cloning issues
Fixed medic-related issues
Fixed spectator camera issues
Fixed interactable issues
Fixed weapon model cleanup when switching guns
Fixed several particle issues
Additional AI movement, door interaction, and combat behavior polish
Fixed movement issues caused by grenades and shells
Fixed missing and incorrect map sounds
Fixed main menu XP and stat display issues
Fixed chat-related save behavior
Fixed several collision issues across maps
Fixed multiple issues likely not listed here
Future Plans
Some work completed during this development cycle is part of larger upcoming systems that are not public-facing yet.
Most notably, we have continued work on our future large scale operations experience. Operations is not part of Update #14, but it remains part of the long-term direction for Operation Athena.
We will share more about Operations when it is ready to be shown properly.
Team AI While we initially planned to launch Team AI with this update, our development team determined during final testing that it requires an additional week of polish. We want to ensure your first experience with Team AI meets expectations, and we appreciate your patience as we put the finishing touches on this feature. It will be arriving very soon. Price Increase Notice
After the current Steam sale ends, Operation Athena’s price will increase to $14.99 USD.
We feel Version 0.7.0 is a major step forward for the game, the Enemy AI Overhaul, Drug Bunker, Character Customization, day/night support for every map, Glowsticks, Breakable Props, the P90, and many more improvements now included.
If you have been thinking about picking up Operation Athena, the current sale will be the last chance to get the game before the price increases.
Closing
Major Update #14 is a huge step forward for Operation Athena.
With a major Enemy AI Overhaul, lockpicking as a quieter approach to locked doors, the new Drug Bunker map, day and night support for every map, the Sandridge Isle / Woodlands V2 exterior rework, Character Customization, Glowsticks, Breakable Props, more bullet-reactive environments, lights that can now be broken by grenades, the new P90, a full missing-weapon animation pass, a new optimized scope system, Homebase expansion, and updates across every map in the game, Version 0.7.0 should make Operation Athena feel more complete, more replayable, and better supported for solo players.
As always, Operation Athena is still in active development, and feedback continues to help shape what comes next.
Thank you for playing and supporting the game.