Hello Team!
This update is rated E for everyone (as in everyone will get it). If you've not read the past few news updates, this is the one to check out since today's update changes the default game you've been playing. If you’re up to date on your news, get in there and keep fighting. If you’ve been away for a bit, read on.
Over the past several months we’ve listened to your feedback and tweaked the game for the better. This update is the fruit of all that labor. Combat is more fluid and mo’ better. Grimm encounters are more engaging. Bugs have been squashed. In all, there are loads of changes. How about a fancy bullet pointed list?
This is a long one, so feel free to skip over our finely crafted words to your topic of choice.
We won’t mind much...
1) Improvements: Combat, camera, enemy AI, play offline, control scheme, audio.
2) House keeping: Bug fixes, known issues.
1) Improvements
Combat
Our original combat offered the player a few ways to take out Grimm. Our improvements aim to improve and widen your evil-slaying options with style.
- Speedier combat animations and blending.
- Heavy Attacks - Attacks that do more damage, are chargeable, but some take longer to perform. Also breaks Grimm out of their block state when landed.
- New counter system - Grimm become open to a timed counter before they attack which leaves them stunned and vulnerable. You can now only counter 1 enemy at a time, you can fail a counter if you mistime it, and counter prompts are now shorter.
- Special → Ultimates - Special attacks have been renamed to Ultimates which have their own microprogression choices in the Character Upgrade menu. Ultimates are more powerful than before, but take longer to earn. As players beat up Grimm, their Ultimate bar fills up. Initiating an Ultimate damages all Grimm surrounding the player. These moves also have a chance to open a Team Attack.
- Team Attacks - We’re excited with the addition of and changes to Team Attacks. There’s a bit of mathematical wizardry happening under the hood, but each heavy attack has a probability to open up a Team Attack. Other things like counters and Ultimates have these probabilities too. Want a guaranteed way to to Team Attack? Hitting any stunned enemy with a fully charged heavy attack will open a Team Attack 100%. And when you absolutely, positively gotta Team Attack any creature of Grimm in the room; accept no substitutes.
Camera
Our old camera required gamepad users to constantly fix their camera placement. This new system is intended to allow players to focus on wiping out evil baddies rather than fighting their camera controls. We have two distances of camera: Explore and Combat.
- We pulled the camera in to offer a more detailed view of the characters which then pulls out to reveal a wider field of view during battles. Closer-in combat camera with variable distances based on number of enemies surrounding you.
- On a gamepad you can now center the camera with the Left Trigger to face the same direction that your character is facing.
- The camera will continually try to maneuver behind the player.
- Removed much of the auto-adjusting for Keyboard & Mouse players.
- Sprinting now always uses Explore camera.
Enemy AI
While battling Grimm has always been fun, it sure would be nice if they were more interactive. Well, read on!
- Grimm now attempt to block flurries of light attacks in various ways while being more vulnerable to damage from heavier attacks.
- Grimm can also be stunned by performing counters which leave them wide open for combos and charged heavy attacks.
Play Offline
Previously, you needed to be constantly connected to the internet to play Grimm Eclipse solo. No longer!
- You can now play offline in Single Player without an internet connection in the Play Offline mode.
- The number of Grimm are scaled down in this mode which plays identically to the online campaign.
Control Scheme Changes
To fit all of new abilities into your control scheme of choice, we had to move around a few inputs. Look at all that’s been added!
- Moved Revive/ Interact
- Added Heavy Attack
- Added Counter
- Added Camera Centering
- Added Ultimates
- Removed Specials toggle
That's a lot of red. Hmmm..
Audio improvements
- Blake’s placeholder VO has been replaced with actress Arryn Zech’s.
- Volume Mix normalization.
- New sound effects for enemies.
2) House Keeping
Bug Fixes
- Fixed issues with resolution and quality settings. NOTE: You now must restart the game for video setting changes to take affect.
- Fixed a bug where you could revive your teammates while down.
- Weiss’ ranged attack now breaks environmental objects
- Fixed multiple issues around seeing Friends’ games in a lobby and not being able to join their game
- Fixed collision issues in Emerald Forest and Mountain Glenn (apologies to the speed runners out there)
- Mutant Grimm no longer spawn in Mountain Glenn part 1
Known Issues
There are several issues still lingering. Remember to sound off in the discussion threads if you find more.
- On occasion you may notice VFX staying on your teammates bodies.
- Some subtitles get cut off and don’t show the entire statement.
- Chat messages disappear when there are too many lines entered.
- Some enemies still attack while frozen.
- If there are enemies around during a cutscene they attack you.
- Characters can be seen fidgeting when two players attempt the same Team Attack (Still tracking how this happens).
- Some performance issues (If you report issues, please include your machine's specs).
Give Us Feedback!
We hope this update shows how much we’re listening to this awesome community. Speak your mind in the Steam forums, Reddit.com/r/GrimmEclipse/ or even directly @Skilltacular on Twitter.
Keep it up, team!
Wanna reach us directly?
We’re a busy bunch, but we all love taking a little time to chat with the community. Say hey!
Name: Position: Steam Name or @Twitter
Michael: Game Director: @MPHadwin
Casey: Senior Engineer: @CaseyDonnellan
Abe: Senior Designer: @RobertsonAbe
Andy M: Senior Producer: Wizard_Poop (on Steam)
Jeff: Game Engineer: @jc_chamberlain
Andy C: Artist/Level Designer: @MaximumCortez
Jordan: Animator/VFX: @Jordy_JS
Brian: Associate Producer:@Skilltacular
Happy Hunting,
Rooster Teeth Games