Update 30 - Son of a Gun of an Update

February 16, 2023

It’s time for a new take on guns! After collecting a bunch of data about how players interact with guns, listening to a ton of feedback on the modular weapon system we rolled out last fall, and testing a bunch of different gun distribution methods internally, we’ve made some significant changes to the weapons that are available and how they’re distributed and we’re finally ready to show you all what we’ve been working on.

First, a note: While we’re making big changes to the types of weapons that are available, this update doesn’t include the cosmetic changes that are still in the works for the guns. Sound and animation changes, which contribute to a lot of the gun feel will land in a future update.

For this update, we first identified a bunch of different archetypes and sub-archetypes of traditional shooter weapons that made sense given the unique combat environment of The Isolode. Don’t worry though, we’ve kept the airlock weapons you’re familiar with—the SMB, Plasma Rifle, and Blaster—the same as they always have been.

The big change is that we’ve gone back to a limited number of well-defined guns, each with a unique name and a defined role in the game, rather than randomly assembling weapons out of available parts. We’re excited about this because it let’s players experiment with different roles and share information with each other about the guns they find.

We’ve also changed how we distribute guns to players. First off, we’ve removed the traditional airlock guns from the normal loot spawns. That means when you see a gun on the ground, you’ll know that it’s something new and exciting. We’ve also added weapon caches, occasional spawns of multiple different weapons, to make sure everyone gets to try some of the good stuff. The Director likes to keep it real for everyone.

The influx of new weapons and the power curve that they live on means that we now have what we need to make a weapon progression that happens throughout each episode. As you progress deeper into the episode, more powerful weapons are added to the loot pool, which ramps up the overall intensity of the game.

We’ve also pulled a couple of our favorite special weapons into the main weapon slots and adjusted them accordingly. So you know what to look for, here’s the tier list of guns we’ve added to the game.

Tier 1

  • Plasma Rifle Mk1 - Burst-fire variant of the Plasma Rifle

  • Heavy Plasma Rifle Mk1 - full-auto, high-accuracy, slow-shooting variant of the Plasma Rifle

  • Sunshot Blaster - It’s a Blaster but it also lights everything on fire

Tier 2

  • Overclocked Blaster Mk1 - A semi-automatic blaster variant that fires as quickly as you can pull the trigger

  • Heavy Plasma Rifle Mk2 - An upgraded Heavy Plasma Rifle with better penetration, slightly higher rate of fire, and a bigger magazine

  • Stasis SMB Mk1 - A relatively low damage SMB that applies a short-term stasis effect on anything it hits

Tier 3

  • Stasis SMB Mk2 - An upgraded damage version of the Stasis SMB

  • LMB - A light-machine gun with enormous magazine, high aim-down-sight accuracy, and low rate of fire

  • Overclocked SMB - An extremely high rate-of-fire sub-machine gun. You’ll want to use this ADS’d.

  • Overclocked Blaster Mk2 - Upgraded Blaster with higher magazine capacity.

Tier 4

  • Overclocked Blaster Mk3 - Extremely upgraded Overclocked Blaster with a much larger magazine capacity, even faster rate of fire, and a larger spread.

UI Changes

  • We’ve also updated the main user interface and added previews to some aspects of the Loadout page. This is a work in progress and will continue being updated in future patches.

Minigun Changes

  • We’ve dramatically reduced the recoil and the movement penalty for the Minigun. While the ammo holds out, it should be the most sustained DPS in the game.

Holdout Changes

  • The new weapons have also been added to Holdout. They change the way Holdout works significantly, so we’d love your feedback on this.