Agents,
Congratulations for getting through part of Section 13 successfully (or not) during the demo! We hope you enjoyed fighting off some QTs while getting more insight into how the game has been progressing throughout the months.
As you already know, we’ll be launching Early Access for Blackout Protocol on July 19th at 4PM PT! Before we head into what to expect the week leading up to Early Access, let’s take a step back and review what our team has learned from the demo feedback.
Re: Agents
We saw many new players try out Blackout Protocol during the demo, and many of them heard about our game through Steam’s featuring and recommendations! Thank you Steam Next Fest and the push for indie games!
Re: Combat
As many of the Agents were new to the game and spent less time playing the demo–there were so many games to try in this summer’s Steam Next Fest!–we saw that some Agents weren’t able to pick up on the various combat mechanics in Blackout Protocol as previous Agents had in our Closed Betas. We are exploring different ways to help Agents notice these nuances as they continue to play Blackout Protocol.
We received feedback largely similar to previous CBs, focusing around character movement speed, difficulty, friendly fire, and reload mechanics. Combat balance is something we are constantly monitoring and reviewing, so we will continue to make adjustments throughout Early Access.
Re: Permanent Growth and Roguelite Elements
Less agents found permanent enhancements and unlocks to be helpful compared to previous betas, most likely due to the limited content of the demo and Agents spending less time playing. Also only 3 tiers of Permanent Upgrades were available through the DNS Defragmenter. We will continue to monitor Agents’ feedback regarding permanent growth during Early Access and ensure that Agents feel a difference in their growth as they progress.
Re: Key Art
We saw that many Agents found our current key art to be a good representation of the game. When presented with multiple images, the current key art was clearly the favorite with 45.3% of the votes, with a distant second coming in with 17.3%. Lore and immersion was incorporated into the demo with the addition of voice acting and we hope to bring even more throughout Early Access and beyond!
Re: Early Access
Don’t forget that Early Access starts on July 19th at 4PM PT! We know that all of you cannot wait to get playing, so in order to help with the wait, we’ll be starting a daily blog series tomorrow! We’ll be launching a blog post every single day until Early Access release day with in-depth information regarding Blackout Protocol that you may or may not have known previously!
We hope you all enjoyed playing the demo of Blackout Protocol and are looking forward to Early Access and more! See you all in Section 13 soon.
– ODS Kangaroo
