Agents,
Your efforts to regain control of Section 13 base during the last beta has provided us with valuable intel for our future missions. Your feedback counts–even if it’s feedback on the survey: the beta feedback survey this time was different from that in CB2, based on notes we received from you.
Some of the changes you asked for have been in the works, and we have been able to bring them to you in our demo on Steam. Other feedback, we will take careful note and plan further changes and improvements for our Early Access, coming this year–and it could be sooner than you think!
Re: Agents
We saw more Agents experience Blackout Protocol for the first time in CB3 than in CB2.
Re: Matchmaking
This time around, we saw a greater portion of Agents playing in duos. However, when asked what their most wanted group size is, most Agents told us they would like to play in a full group of 3. We are happy to find out that Agents agree that the Blackout Protocol experience is much enhanced when you have good teamwork with a full squad.
Re: Combat
Even though quite a few of the CB3 Agents were new to the game, we saw that many Agents quickly picked up the various combat mechanics in Blackout Protocol.
We received similar feedback as CB2, such as difficulty and overall combat balance in various forms–friendly fire, character movement speed, reload mechanics, etc. Combat balance is something we are constantly monitoring and reviewing, so we will continue to make adjustments for Early Access and beyond.
Re: Permanent Growth and Roguelite Elements
Many Agents found permanent enhancements and unlocks to be helpful, similar to previous betas. We will continue to work on improvements in this area as well. For example, we are working on improvements to the weapon perk system including UI changes, as well as reviewing new weapon perk options.
Re: Other Topics
We saw that many Agents found each character’s appearance to match their background, which players found on the character selection screen. Lore and immersion is something that we’ve been working on diligently, so please look forward to seeing more of this. You can actually see some of that already in the demo, with the S2P Archives and new character selection screens!
Re: CB Feedback Implemented in the Demo
We’ve been working on quite a few changes based on your feedback from all the betas, and some of them have made their way into the public demo for Blackout Protocol available on Steam! While it has limited amount of content, we wanted to share some changes you may spot:
- The new character selection screen provides better lore and immersion of Agents, showing them “at work” before they came to the gate of Section 13
Make sure you check out their full idle & selection animations in the game!
- The new S2P Archives menu, where you can get a better sense of your permanent growth, presented in a way that fits what you will uncover at Section 13 base in the future.
Right now, you have access to the Armory (for all weapons you unlocked) and the Nethersphere (for all permanent enhancements you unlocked).
- The new Synaptic Enhancement selection UI, which is part of our effort to facilitate which enhancement to choose, especially with weapon perks in mind.
In addition to the 4 categories shown on the left, you now see information on the right that tells you your current weapons’ categories, as well as indicators for how many points you need for unlocking the perks on them. If getting a certain enhancement would unlock a perk, you’ll see that show on the UI as well.
Once again, thank you so much for playing CB3 and providing your feedback. We will continue to work on Early Access and bring more news to you. Don’t forget to play the demo!
– ODS GeeK
