Agents,
ODS GeeK here. For those who may not know, I serve as one of the elves in packaging goodies (or one of the gremlins breaking things behind the curtain) at Ocean Drive Studio. You’ll see my paw marks all across various places, including random GIFs on our Discord server.
Today, I’m here to touch upon some of the roguelite elements in Blackout Protocol. While I cannot say I am the most avid roguelike/roguelite player, I have played my share. Some of the things I expect from roguelites are: temporary power-ups and permanent power-ups, spiced up with some RNG elements (though chance usually works against me). Guess what? Blackout Protocol has it all!
First up is the Synaptic Enhancement, which would be the main source of temporary power-ups. Interacting with the shiny cube (it has a name, the Nethercube!) opens up a nifty UI where you get to choose 1 out of 3 random Synaptic Enhancements. Synaptic Enhancements will last through your current run.
Each Synaptic Enhancement comes with a grade. It is pretty straightforward–the higher grade is, the more powerful the enhancement is. Another bit of RNG element here, where getting a Platinum grade enhancement has a greater impact than a Bronze grade one.
Then there are weapons and tactical gear stashed in strategic locations, including the Safe Room. You can think of these nicely lit platforms as snack vending machines! And yes, you do have to pay for it in credits. There is no such thing as a free lunch at S2P.
As for permanent power-ups, they can be accessed in the Safe Room. The one you will rely on the most often is the DNS Defragmenter. If you collected Data Nugs (those glowing blue cubes), you can unlock permanent enhancements by spending them here. Since there are multiple tiers unlocked based on the number of Data Nugs you spend, make sure you spend them all. Even if you are only a part of the way of unlocking a perk, that will still help you.
Then, you have the Weapons Printer. Here, you will turn in the weapon blueprints you picked up while roaming around in Section 13. While unlocking the weapon will not give you immediate access to it, you’ll find it sitting nicely in your trunk (or frunk) the next time you’re swinging by Section 13 to continue on with your mission.
I’m sure our Agents picked up on the fact that the core gameplay loop is to get to the Safe Room to keep unlocking more enhancements. With the permanent power-ups, your mission in Section 13 is bound to be successful. It is just the matter of when.
We’re looking forward to bringing Blackout Protocol’s Early Access to you on July 19 PT (July 20 in some time zones). If you’re also excited, make sure you wishlist on Steam to get notified as soon as the game is available!
– ODS GeeK
