Into the Dark available now!

Hello Riftbreakers!

The Riftbreaker: Into the Dark is out now! We’re really excited about the release of this chapter of The Riftbreaker story. We hope that you will enjoy visiting the Crystal Caves biome and have a lot of fun learning the secrets of this new environment. Huge thanks to everyone who participated in the beta tests for this update - your help and feedback mean a lot to us.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2108630/The_Riftbreaker_Into_The_Dark/

As usual, the release of Into the Dark paid DLC is accompanied by a huge free World Expansion update for all users. Thanks to this expansion, you will be able to play Survival Mode in Crystal Caverns and also utilize all the new technologies and quality-of-life improvements in Campaign Mode. In a nutshell, here’s what you can expect from the World Expansion II:

The World Expansion II free content update:

• Crystal Caverns biome - an underground network of caves and caverns for you to explore.
• A new Survival Mode scenario taking place in the new biome.
• An entirely new cavern-digging mechanic. Use Mr. Riggs’ drilling arm or explosives to clear out the space you need for expansion.
• Multiple new species of creatures, unlike anything you’ve seen before. Fight hordes of fearsome monsters lurking around every corner.
• More than 70 new research items and technologies to further enhance your base and Mr. Riggs’ abilities. Use drones to collect resources and valuable loot. Expand your energy grid using the Energy Relay Stations.
• New weapons and defensive towers. Build powerful weapons that will obliterate anyone threatening your base. Slice through your enemies with Bouncing Blades. Send a devastating barrage of energy projectiles with the Laser Gatling Tower.
• Numerous quality-of-life improvements, including the long-awaited Building Ruins feature.

The Riftbreaker: Into the Dark takes you into the unknown depths of an expansive cavern system below the surface of Galatea 37. Its unique ecosystem hides not only unthinkable riches but also a dark ghost from Ashley’s past. Into the Dark will pose a set of unique challenges and test your adaptation skills as danger lurks around every corner.

The Riftbreaker: Into the Dark paid DLC:

• Experience an exciting new branch of the Story Campaign taking place in the underground Crystal Caverns biome.
• Establish a unique subterranean Outpost by excavating soft limestone rock and shaping the environment to suit your needs,
• Expand your Campaign Mode technology tree by researching unique technologies that can only be acquired in this biome.
• Collect information on new creatures, vegetation, and other curiosities found only in this underground environment.
• Repel attacks from massive tunnel-digging beasts using new weapons and technology.
• Adapt your base-building methods to make the most of the terrain-shaping abilities and novel power-generation mechanics.
• Discover previously unknown details from Ashley’s past.
• The Story portion of this Expansion is integrated with the Main Campaign from the base edition of The Riftbreaker. The new branch and the contents of the expansion will unlock as you progress through the game. If you have previously completed The Riftbreaker Story Campaign, you can continue your adventure where you left off. The additional part of the Story will unlock immediately, giving you the option to explore the new part of the world.

But that was just the TL;DR! Here is a detailed changelog documenting all the new features and improvements from this update:

The Riftbreaker World Expansion II Update, May 29th, 2023 Changelog:

New Features and Content

• New Survival Mode Biome: Crystal Caverns - a new survival mode map taking place in an entirely new underground biome. It introduces a completely new rock excavation mechanic - you will have to make room for your base and you will be able to shape the terrain to your advantage. Resources are plentiful, but traditional ways of generating electricity work only to a limited degree. You will have to develop an entirely new set of skills to survive in the cavern system beneath the surface of Galatea 37. The new biome comes with a complete set of new species of flora, fauna, as well as new technologies - all described below
• New Creature: Crawlog. A fast, relentless melee attacker that may rise up from the dead if you leave its body intact.
• New Creature: Gulgor. A slower, more bulky creature that prefers to attack from a safe distance. Shoots volleys of cryo-damage projectiles.
• New Creature: Necrodon. A mysterious, menacing support creature that lurks the caves of Galatea 37, summoning crystallized versions of Galatean creatures, as well as resurrecting fallen ones. You might have seen it in some places around Galatea 37 before - it has received a total rework.
• New Creature: Drillgor. It's a very large creature that rushes for the player's headquarters at the beginning of each attack wave, drilling a tunnel for the other creatures to follow. It will generally ignore the player and tries to dig in a straight line.
• New Creature Variant: Cave Gnerot. It's a Gnerot strain that adapted to living in the new biome and taken on a new form of camouflage.
• New Creature Variant: Crystaros. It's a species that is quite similar to Stregaros but dropped its chitinous carapace in favor of utilizing crystalline growth as its armor.
• New Creature Variant: Canomortus. Its origins are unknown, but the creature resembles a reanimated corpse of a canoptrix and shares most of its behavior and properties.
• New Creature Variant: Arachnomortus. Similarly to Canomortus, this creature seems to be a reanimated husk of a regular Arachnoid. However, instead of secreting acid from its tail gland, the creature can form crystal shards to shoot at enemies instead.
• New ambient creatures of the Crystal Caverns biome - Crysders and Crystugs - have been added to the Crystal Caverns biome. Crystugs are distant relatives of the Moltug species. They carry beautiful, crystalline 'shells' on their backs.
• Added a new type of resource deposit - Wind Tunnel. It's a spot of increased wind speed that allows the player to take advantage of wind power in the Crystal Caverns biome.
• The ruins system is now complete and enabled by default. Destroyed buildings will leave ruins behind that can be reconstructed into the original building for their full resource cost and build time using the repair tool. Ruins stay behind indefinitely, so you don't have to worry about them disappearing on you. Ruins can be removed using the deconstruction tool.
• Expanded research tree with 75 new research items.
• Added a new building category - Traps. Traps are completely flat structures that trigger when an enemy steps on them. Traps have a variety of different effects that will help you defend your structures from incoming attacks. They do not require ammunition or energy to operate. There are six distinct trap types available, some of them can be researched, while some are available as bioanomaly reward unlocks.
• Added a new tower - Loot Collector Drone Tower that spawns drones that collect loot for the player within the operating radius of the tower.
• Added a new tower - Acid Spewer Tower. This liquid-based tower shoots acid projectiles that do not deal any direct damage. Instead, they leave trails of acid on the ground that deal acid damage to enemies walking through them.
• Added a new building - Automated Resource Excavator that spawns drones that collect resources of all types within the building's area of operation. This is a universal resource collector-building that can operate on multiple resource deposits but with lower efficiency than specialized buildings.
• Added a new building - Energy Pylon. This building is used to connect separated energy grids to the main energy grid in a given location. It has a long construction time and is relatively expensive, but it enables easy maintenance of remote bases without the need to create very long power lines.
• Added a new building: Crystal Walls. Taking your suggestions from the beta testing period into account, Crystal Walls automatically rebuild themselves after being destroyed. If a piece of Crystal Wall is brought to ruin, it will regrow back to its former self after 60 seconds. The wall won't be at full HP. However, it will regenerate over time as long as it doesn't take damage. Thanks to our community member, Piisfun, who suggested this feature!
• Added a new projectile weapon: Bouncing Blades - The weapon shoots a spinning blade disc that pierces through enemies and bounces after colliding with walls.
• Added a new projectile weapon: Shard Gun. This weapon shoots crystal projectiles that deal physical damage and shatter into another projectile upon hitting the target. The 'splinter' projectiles deal 100% of the damage of the original.
• Added a new projectile weapon: Immolator. Shoots a fireball that explodes on impact, dealing area damage, as well as setting enemies on fire.
• Added a new weapon: Fire Spewer. This weapon shoots projectiles that deal no impact damage but set the impact area on fire. That location burns for a while, dealing fire damage to enemies and setting them on fire as well.
• Added a new weapon: Acid Spewer. This weapon works very similarly to the Fire Spitter, but deals acid damage instead.
• Added a new weapon: Cryo Spewer. Same case as the two weapons above, but with cryo damage and a slow-down effect this time.
• Added a new melee weapon: Sonic Fist. They are slower compared to regular power fists and deal physical damage instead of energy damage. However, they have a longer effective range, as each hit propels a small shockwave in the direction of the attack, dealing damage to enemies further back from Mr. Riggs.
• Added a new melee weapon: Seismic Pickaxe. It's a weapon that is similar to the Hammer but deals area damage in a different manner. Instead of dealing damage in a large radius, the impact force is focused forward, creating a narrow but long shockwave.
• Added a new Mech Upgrade: Gathering Tools - Installing this upgrade module gives Mr. Riggs a loot-collecting drone, increases the mech radar range, and movement speed. Higher-quality modules also upgrade other, randomized stats.
• Added a new Mech Upgrade: Discovery Tools - Installing this upgrade module gives Mr. Riggs a loot-collecting drone, increases the resource drop rate and mod drop rate. Higher-quality modules also upgrade other, randomized stats.
• Added a new consumable - Sonic Grenades. They are much weaker than regular, explosive grenades but have a higher area of effect.
• Added a new consumable: Holo Decoy. Once set, enemies will target the decoy instead of Mr. Riggs. The decoy has a large amount of HP, giving you a chance to escape from a tough fight or to target a specific enemy.
• Added a new consumable: Cryo Sentry. It's a cryo-damage counterpart of the regular sentry tower consumable.
• Added a new consumable: Flare. It's a throwable item that shines a bright light on the surrounding objects. It can be useful during the exploration of dark places where you can't set up permanent lighting.
• Added a new consumable - Acid Cluster Grenade. This type of grenade explodes into multiple, smaller grenades and it allows you to deal acid damage to enemies in a large area.
• New Skill: Flame Wave. It will send a traveling wall of flames in the direction that Mr. Riggs is facing, dealing massive fire damage to enemies.
• New Skill: Antimatter Ball. It sends a ball of antimatter (duh) that explodes on contact with an obstacle and deals energy damage to all enemies in its vicinity as it is traveling through the air.
• New Skill: Generator Overcharge. It sends an energy shockwave to stun and damage enemies and boosts the Force Shield recharge speed.
• Completing Campaign Outposts for the Volcanic Area, Radioactive Desert, and Acidic Plains will grant the player a reward in the form of unlocking a unique blueprint. The unlock will persist across game saves.
• Added three new skins for Mr. Riggs as rewards for completing the Into the Dark Story Campaign, completing Survival Mode in the Crystal Caverns biome, as well as one that is unlockable via bioanomaly drop.
• Added a new bioanomaly variant for the Crystal Caverns biome.
• Added multiple new map tiles for the Jungle, Acid, Magma, and Desert biomes to improve map variety. This will make your Survival runs and new Story Campaigns playthroughs a lot more varied. Please not that your old saves won't be affected - only newly generated maps will make use of these new tiles.

Changes

• Resources, bioanomalies, and other points of interest that are detected using radar will show up as 'unknown' on the minimap. They will change to their regular minimap icons once they are observed directly. This change affects all biomes, so we would love to hear your feedback on this.
• Introduced higher difficulty attack waves for Hard and Brutal difficulties for the Acidic Plains, Radioactive Desert, and Volcanic Area biomes in campaign mode. The campaign mode should provide a better challenge now.
• Added Metallic Valley biome attack waves to the HQ attack pool after completing the Metal Terror Campaign.
• Added difficulty level scaling for the Shegret attack event. It happens more often in the Crystal Caverns biome and is more significant than it used to be.
• Flammable objects will now catch fire from incidental sources, such as burning debris spawned from explosions. Even more wildfires!
• Stone and Metal-based lifeforms are no longer flammable.
• Changed the Carbonium Power Plant energy output from 50/100/150 to 60/120/180.
• Increased the Arachnoid Sentinel 'aggressive' state trigger distance to match other species.
• Introduced a large number of improvements and fixes to our GUI. With these changes, implementing navigation and interaction functionalities should be a lot easier for us and less buggy.
• Volcanic Rock Rain in Magma Survival has been shortened (30-90 seconds changed to 30-60).
• Large Cryoplant collisions are now slightly smaller, making it easier to navigate the biome.
• Wild Phirians will no longer attack other units on the map.
• Added a cheat command: cheat_buildings_ignore_limits. It will allow you to build any number of cap-limited buildings, such as traps, armories or communication hubs.
• Added a cheat command: cheat_unlimited_activations. It will allow traps to stay functional indefinitely, with no activation limit.
• Added support for destructible rock patterns and light mask materials spanning over multiple tiles. You can now create custom masks that are larger than one tile when creating modded maps in the Crystal Caverns biome.
• The game will now display a warning icon on saves that were created with mods if any of those mods are missing.

Graphics

• Added volumetric lighting. This rendering technique adds advanced lighting effects to the scene to better simulate fog, air density, and other aerosols. It allows the viewer to see beams of light shining across the environment. All biomes in the game have been updated with the new lighting and fog settings. This option is enabled by default for all users, as it is compatible with both DX11 and DX12 systems.
• Added a per-object, camera-based object culling system that allows the player to see through tall objects. Rocks will no longer obstruct your view when passing underneath rock arches. All game tiles have been adapted to take advantage of this technique. You can read more about it here.
• Rendering upgrade: Tiled Deferred Shading. This rendering technique handles scenes with large numbers of dynamic lights more efficiently. It provides a 10-15% GPU performance boost on average. You can read all about it in our article from a couple of weeks ago.
• Improved non-raytraced soft shadows. The shadows now look much more natural and feature a variable penumbra. In human terms - shadows will be sharper and more defined at noon and more subtle in the morning when the sun is softer.
• Added two new loading screen artworks for the Crystal Caverns biome.
• Added a custom Rift Station icon for the minimap to make locating it easier, especially in large bases.
• Added an 'unknown' marker icon for the minimap. This icon appears when the player has discovered something important with their radar but has not yet revealed what it is from within the fog of war.
• Added a custom minimap icon for bioanomalies.
• Changed the icon of railgun towers in the Alien Research tab of the Research screen.

Sound

• Added a new music playlist - anticipation. A new set of "anticipation" music is played in a loop to prepare the player for an incoming significant attack wave. At present, it triggers when you upgrade the Headquarters, before each significant attack in the Story Campaign, and during the final sequence of the Survival Run.

Fixes

• Introduced a huge number of fixes and optimizations to nearly all game systems. Most of the changes we made have been aimed at the multiplayer portion of the game, but they should still positively affect the game's stability and performance.
• Made changes to the random volume selection algorithm to prevent objectives from spawning in one area all the time.
• Fixed numerous crashes and errors - way too many to list.

As always, we will be carefully monitoring our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios, the Steam forums, and all our other channels for your feedback and suggestions. Make sure to let us know if you encounter any problems or if you have suggestions on how to improve things.

We would love to tell you more about our plans for the future and give you our roadmap update, but this article is probably already too long. Please give us a week or two to come off the 'release mode' and back to our normal selves (as much as that's possible). We will then give you a detailed update on what's happening at the studio, where we're headed with The Riftbreaker, and, of course, how co-op mode is doing.

We hope you enjoy your time with this update!

EXOR Studios