Hey there everyone!

We hope you had fun with the new version! We're already working on the next one and while we're still finishing setting up the scope for the new area, we've made good progress on what isn't related to it.

Combat precache

This is more for our players that use the online version.

Up to now, the game would fetch assets only when it needs them, and on occasion, depending on the player's network, this could cause images to be late to appear during combat, leading to enemies/squad members/effects/etc showing up later than intended.

A new precache system has been added to the game, and it will prefetch combat assets as soon as a combat scene is initiated. Things like squad member actions, enemy idles, attacks, effects, etc, the game will do its best to cache them before you need them.

This is experimental but from internal tests the results have been pretty good.

Whispers in the barracks

While we're still etching out the boundaries of the new area and what it will entail, we've also decided that we've got space to squeeze in some extra love for the squad in general. There's a bunch of new sex scenes and interactions coming with the next update, with Echo featuring prominently, as we hadn't been able to give her the attention she deserves yet.Beyond that, we're taking advantage of the larger explorable area that Pandora offers us to give the squad more depth, your adventures and trials across the planet reflecting and impacting the squad more than before. The harsher environment and isolation lets us play with character development in a way that wouldn't have made sense in Installation Echo, and we're looking to take full advantage of the flexibility that offers us.

That's all for now!Have fun!