Enjoy this content expansion and interface overhaul!
The game already had plenty of content, but a particular side plot was left open-ended to account for planned DLC. The DLC idea has been scrapped and it is now a free update to the game.
Apart from that, the main complaint people had about the game since it became stable was the interface, which has gotten a lot of love and attention. Is it still old school? Yes. But it's now more responsive and intuitive, consistently legible and easier on the eyes.
Again, I'd like to thank everyone for the valuable feedback.
Key points:
- A new major mid-game sidequest delves into the mystery of the ‘Strange Materials’ and provides more insight into certain factions in the game. About two hours of new content.
- Tied to this quest is a new character who will take you on a wild trip with unconventional science.
- Two new locations, one where you get to drive the Rover manually.
- Two new tracks added to the soundtrack.
- A new ending and ending states for the existing endings.
- New research, items and perks.
- The entire interface has been redone with better contrast, more awareness of overlapping clutter and better usability. It’s still an old-school affair, but it’s a lot easier on the eyes. Also includes mappable hotkeys and a special mode for people who have problems reading yellow text.
- The point-and-click system is now instantaneous and responsive. The character will move to an interactable location and no longer slow down to settle in.
- Many optimizations, fixes and updates.
Old save games will work with the new content, but not all reactivity with the core game will be in place unless you start a new character.
Is this the final version of the game? Content-wise, yes. It will still be supported and patched if necessary, of course.
These screenshots are scaled down, but just to get an idea:
New Dialogue screenshot:
New Construction Station:
New Map:
Hydroponics:
All other parts of the UI, such as inventory, tutorial, quest log, research, navigation, shipments, searches etc. have also been revamped.
A teaser screenshot from the new quest:
Complete changelog:
The key points above have been added, as well as:
Improvements
- All backgrounds are consistent and text-heavy areas are darker to improve contrast.
- No more overlapping UI elements with too much transparency.
- Items now become unselected when processed.
- Hotkeys are now mappable in a new 'input' section in the settings. Directional keys can be mapped in the launcher configuration.
- Straight from rover to outpost button.
- White Text mode is now an option in video settings, for people who have problems reading yellow.
- Tiny Toolbar mode option in video settings. Enable this if you think the toolbar is too large.
- Jingo Lacus Deploy button now shows even when you can't deploy and will show you the reason why. (Zone is under Chinese control.)
- ICE XI purpose made clearer.
- Increased plutonium amount in crashed satellite.
- Strange Material description no longer references Polelya Macula because it can be found in Guabonito as well.
- Free cam added to Cryovolcano.
- Player lights now follow head animation when this is visible.
- Can no longer drive the rover with arrow or WASD keys when you're not at the driver's seat. (This would move the player out of a location when typing w a s or d in a savegame)
- Vehicle camera doesn't follow tilt as much when driving the manual construction bot.
- Max limb size reduced at character creation.
- Ambient temperature of outpost reflects slight temperature rise due to fungal growth.
- Submarine can now be controlled by the keys defined as horizontal, vertical, roll, and pitch as well as the buttons on the submarine screen.
- More ways to get rid of Val when she's in the base.
- Pressing F1 (or whatever key you've mapped to 'help') will now open context-relevant help screen instead of main instructions.
- IPMS Voice can now be set separately in audio settings.
- Skipping the tutorial shuts up IPMS immediately.
- Interactable clicks directly responsive, character 'easing in' animation cut.
- Research currently researching text more consistent.
- Hologram effect for Logistical Map and Research Station improved. This was possible after redoing the interface.
- Death now closes search panel, acquire shipment panel and suit alert panels.
- Free camera stops moving when you're using the interface in the Frozen Lander.
- Frozen lander computer now has a portrait.
Bug Fixes
- Stranded Chinese Truck crane skill buttons no longer hide after you use the logistics skill when you could still apply another one.
- If Louam is occupying the bed in your rover while you rescue Kuo, Kuo sits next to the bed instead of lying on top of Louam.
- Bolsena Lacus has proper double mining rate.
- Dialogue with High Command dead end fixed.
- Passing a single day wouldn't advance research under certain circumstances.
- Dialogue inconsistency where you could mention Val mentioning something to Karl before you talked to Val.
- Val inconsistency before the crash fixed.
- Fixed rare bug where you couldn't build more tanks.
- "cannot sleep while caffeinated" notification no longer overlaps with work menu.
- Characters with Caffeine Addict trait recover from lower fatigue levels without stacking debuffs.
- Saving and loading in the bedroom at the throat of Kraken will now properly occlude the roof.
- Fixed crashed satellite memory module not triggering conversation option for Karl under rare circumstances.
- Watching the sculpture at the Cryovolcano no longer has a chance of hiding the skill icons permanently.
- Ling properly reacts to your transponder, both when you have it in your inventory or have it equipped.
- Kuo no longer immediately tells you about the sub if you somehow fixed it before ever talking to him, he will still talk about his predicament first.
- Added missing dialogue audio Kuo when you fail the negotiation with Kuo.
- Frozen, dead Adanech would sometimes appear in her bed even if she was still alive.
- Clicking on the outpost inventory in the stock room will open the inventory screen more than once.
- Leaving multiple rechargeable batteries in the inventory will no longer yield a single superbattery after loading.
- Stacked herschel polymers can now be processed, herschel polymers can be stacked.
- Picking a profile for NPC now blocks other input. Can no longer get stuck with Ekta.
- Ekta is no longer tagged as the player. This would turn the player into Ekta if you saved and loaded at a specific time, very rare and actually quite funny, but still a bug.
- Research images cleaned up.
- Outline in drone image fixed.
- Fixed bug where toolbar would show up after a certain negotiation result with Karen.
- Coming down from a caffeine boost while the time panel is disabled shows the correct buff value.
- Various typos.