A Word from the Dev Team

Hi, community,

We’re committed to making the aliens versus mercs interactions feel difficult but fun and fair, and we’ve been doing steady changes, testing out new combat styles for aliens and other balance changes. With the patch this week, we’re making an overhaul to how alien works, removing unnecessary energy requirements for skills but balancing that out with shared cooldowns for strong combos like EMP and Scream Wave and introducing longer cooldowns on respawn to send aliens back after their death, giving mercs time to breathe. We’re also redesigning how lights/weapons do damage to aliens to allow players to use all tools at their disposal for the fight and give both sides a bit more time to react to the opponent's actions.

• Added a short delay between toggling flashlights on and off;
  
• Mercs can now only have one light-emitting device (flashlight/UV Lamp) in quick slots;
  
• Reduced tactical flashlight damage from 30 to 15;
  
• Improved visibility with tactical flashlight;
  
• FoxFive and G-17 have an additional 3 damage modifier per bullet;
  
• [Developer’s note: we’re currently working on rebalancing the damage values of guns to have damage modifiers over bullets to be able to better balance gunfire damage against both mercs and aliens, lowering the spread of DPS between different weapons against aliens]

• Aliens no longer need energy to use Slime Spit, Egg Trap, EMP, Scream Wave, Gas Cloud, and Scan;
  
• EMP and Scream Wave now have a shared cooldown of 5 seconds (using one skill causes the second one to go onto a 5 seconds cooldown);
  
• Aliens now have separate respawn cooldowns that are higher than on-use cooldowns;
  
• Acid Cloud now has 100 seconds cooldown on respawn (44 seconds regular cooldown - unchanged);
  
• EMP and Scream Wave now have 120 seconds cooldown on respawn and 60 seconds cooldown on use;
  
• Scan now has 180 seconds cooldown on respawn and 120 seconds cooldown on use;
  
• Slime Spit now has a 30 seconds cooldown on respawn (regular cooldown of 25 seconds unchanged);
  
• Egg Trap now has 40 seconds cooldown on respawn (regular cooldown of 30 seconds unchanged);
  
• Reduced Egg Trap Activation time to 2 seconds;
  
• Eggs now also reduce cooldowns when consumed (5 to 15 seconds, depending on the size);
  
• Updated UI: Circle around the skill now shows the remaining cooldown of the skill and added a visual sign that EMP & Scream Wave cooldowns are connected;
  
• Alien gun resistance has been lowered from 80% to 70%;
  
• Alien light resistance has been increased by 15%;
  
• Scream Wave debuff has been reduced to 1/2/3 seconds depending on the amount of mercs affected;
  
• Aliens have 10 energy on respawn;
  
• Heal energy cost has been doubled;
  
• Energy regeneration has been lowered by 30%;
  
• Alien attack damage has been reduced from 17 to 15;
  
• Incoming light damage has been adjusted further to match the visual outlines of visible light;

• Fixed an issue when aliens' attack speed debuff was stuck for the whole match and did not correctly drop off after moving away from the light’s source;
  
• Resolution scale slider is now unavailable to change visually when DLSS is on;
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed stacking ammo into one magazine through dead bodies.

• 📌 New Experimental Solo Queue Mode: You can now choose between Solo or Squad when queuing up for a map.
  
• 📌 Solo mode is a 9v1 challenge on the same maps.
  
• 📌 Squad mode stays the same, but solo players queuing up in squads will now earn a 30% currency bonus when extracting.
  
• 📌 Fill in mode from squad play is temporarily removed.

• 📌 During this weekend, enjoy a +30% XP boost on both alien and merc accounts.

• Replaced Nail gun with a Fox Five pistol in the starting kit.
  
• New players will now get extraction tools for the Research Facility map on their first 5 matches.
  
• Improved the movement for mercs - we’ve identified and were able to fix character twitches that could happen when going in/out of sprint or suddenly stopping.
  
• Added report cheat button on merc’s death screen (prior to final screen).
  
• Melee weapons won’t instakill players without knocking them first.
  
• Improved visibility of player’s level on their dog tags.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Backup Power Device contract - it should now spawn properly.

• Egg Traps can now be placed near mercs, but take 3 seconds to “activate” before it can be triggered.
  
• If one of the aliens leaves the game or is disconnected, the other aliens respawn timer is reduced by 50%.
  
• Fixed most of the cases where aliens were getting light damage through walls.
  
• Increased radius at which aliens can charge from wires.
  
• Corrected visual and actual light damage zones to be the same size, so aliens can better see when they’ll start getting damage from merc’s light sources.
  
• Added a feedback sound when the alien's energy is drained while under the effect of light in invisibility.

• Fixed several previously bugged Steam achievements.
  
• Added unique sounds for solo elevator doors on Caves of Turion.
  
• Added unique sounds to warehouse internal room doors on Research Facility.
  
• Increased volume of warehouse door siren on Caves of Turion.

• Fixed an issue that allowed aliens to place eggs on the ceiling in certain areas, including the ice corridor in the Research Facility.
  
• Fixed an issue with flash drive disappearing from the map when it’s carrier has been killed.
  
• Fixed an issue with aliens getting the burning sound stuck when turning invisible.
  
• Fixed an issue with aliens getting visual effects of burn stuck on character after stopping getting the light damage.
  
• Fixed an issue where aliens could spawn with active invisibility skill.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing mutants in warehouses to spit with acid.
  
• Minor tooltip fixes for medkit stations.

• Flashlight running out of battery now has visual feedback on UI;
  
• Dog tags now also store the nickname of the owner's killer;
  
• Added the amount of reputation that an item will grant when sold to the item’s tooltip;
  
• Increased reputation gains for all sorts of items and contracts by around 50%;
  
• Reduced the cost of Caves of Turion extraction tools (Grappling Hook and Big Drill Card) by around 90% (reverted change from the last week).

• EMP duration now depends on the number of humans affected similar to Scream Wave. Duration is 3/5/7 seconds, charge reduction is 30/40/50% of battery based on the number of targets hit (1/2/3+);
  
• Aliens on Caves of Turion have more energy when spawning;
  
• Improved visual feedback on UI when using skills or when aliens are unable to use skills due to GCD/stagger/not enough energy;
  
• Added an option to change Alien Vision to Toggle in settings.

• Preparations for the Weekend Event;

• Fixed an issue that caused an unexpected short delay when shooting with pistols;
  
• Flamethrowers can no longer be put in safe slots;
  
• Fixed an issue where Aliens on Caves of Turion could not see the Elevator being called through Alien Vision;
  
• Fixed several server crashes;
  
• Fixed several client-based crashes related to monsters and UI;
  
• Fixed an issue with flashtrap sound missing;
  
• Fixed an issue where visual feedback for healing through first aid kits would be missing.

• 📌We're putting in some serious work to beef up our anti-cheat system. First, we'll be rolling out a feature that will ban offenders automatically.
  
• 📌We've also got some sneaky tricks up our sleeves to catch cheaters in the act. I can't spill the details, but you should definitely notice the difference once we've implemented them.
  
• 📌Last but not least, we're cooking up a more extensive, complex solution that should make a real impact. We can't reveal everything just yet but expect to see these changes drop within a week or two.

• Numerous balance changes for both classes based on player feedback and data. We are grateful to you for sharing your thoughts with us.
  
• Merc movement Improvements
  
• Max stash size increased
  
• General environment fixes: Improved camera shake and sound feedback
  
• Bug and crash fixes
  
• New weapons available for barter & purchase from traders: M4F1, RD-707, Malyuk
  
• New cosmetic skins
  
• We've held two weekend REP events where you could search for a unique item. We're set to organize those every weekend.

• Introduction of a separate mode explicitly designed for solo players. This mode will allow them to participate in matches without competing against teams, providing a more balanced and fair experience.
  
• Introduction of a reward system for mercenaries for eliminating aliens in the game.
  
• Introduction of Mutations for aliens, allowing them to adapt to different situations in the game.
  
• Ability to select the desired region for matchmaking to minimize latency and improve connection quality.
  
• Review and adjustment of melee weapon characteristics to improve game balance.
  
• Special rewards for solo players participating in trio mode.
  
• Introduction of changes and additions to make it easier for new players to get into the game.
  
• Improving the anti-cheat and anti-fraud system.
  
• An update for the item switching system in the game to make it smoother and more responsive. Players often seem to encounter issues where switching weapons or using items feels "clunky" (awkward, delayed), which can detract from the experience. We're inclined to address that.

[www.tiktok.com]

[discord.gg]

• Most crashes related to looting have been fixed. However, some may still occur. Please let us know if you experience any further issues.

• Ammo Exploit Fix: UI now correctly displays the proper amount of ammo.
  
• Reaper Skins: 3 new skins have been added for the Reaper character.
  
• Fixed a bug when ammo of the same type wasn’t stacking in the backpack.
  
• Merc visibility has been improved, allowing for better vision without extra light sources. This was broken in the last patch.
  
• Nailgun's fire rate has been increased by 10%.

• Slime Spit Update: Slime Spit is now more visible, flies slower, and its damage scales with the time you hold the ability (the longer you hold, the more damage it does). Spitting near a flare will prioritize the flare. The spit ability now functions as a skill-based mechanic—you'll need to aim and calculate the trajectory to hit your target.
  
• Currently, when the spit hits a wall, it expands and splashes, affecting nearby players. However, only the spit that lands on the floor should cause damage with its splash effect.
  
• Alien Skins: 3 new skins have been added for the Alien.
  
• Improved Invisibility feedback: The vignette effect is now brighter and more visible when your invisibility energy is running out.
  
• Improved sound hit feedback: Monster attacks should now feel more impactful.
  
• Fixed a bug where Slime Spit could not be canceled.
  
• Alien rewards up to 10% for Research Facility and up to 15% for Caves of Turion.
  
• The stamina cooldown for Merc and Alien is reduced to 1.5 seconds.
  
• The slime spit ability now costs energy again. We've reverted this change. This change was made to address frequent ability spamming.
  
• Alien respawn time has been increased from 30 to 40 seconds.

• Improved Cheater Report UI: The button no longer appears if you weren’t killed by another player.
  
• Blackout Ending Feedback: An audio message now warns players 3 seconds before the blackout ends.
  
• Light Switches: Both maps now have synchronized time for light switches.
  
• Speed hacking protection has been added.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game’s language would randomly reset to English.
  
• Research Facility Map: Major cleanup and fixes, including optimized wall models and adjustments to LexRoom. Fixed invisible and black props, such as wooden crates in the warehouse and a laundry machine in Sector A hall.
  
• Caves of Turion Map: Major cleanup and fixes, with optimized small rocks and bobcat model (unused materials deleted).
  
• Patient AI Zombie: Added cloth simulation for more realistic animations.
  
• Main Menu: Various optimizations, including the removal of a laggy skeletal mesh. Adjusted map selector and squad switcher buttons with a darker background added to the switcher. Added a blue line animation to the main TOP menu buttons.
  
• Load Screen Titles: Corrected titles ("LOOT AND EXTRACT / HUNT AND KILL") for Aliens and Mercs.
  
• New optimized ambient sound system.
  
• Some small fixes.

• Fixed a crash while looting.