Letter from the Creative Director
Hello Agents,
As of today, Blackout Protocol has finally launched into Early Access! This is the second project from our studio (our first being Lost Eidolons, a turn-based strategy game), and entailed assembling a whole new team. Because unlike LE, Blackout Protocol is not a turn-based game: it’s an action-driven roguelike (or rather, roguelite).
For a new studio to launch two games in entirely different genres back-to-back is fairly uncommon, and it was only possible because the dev team had faith in our vision, and full support from other teams. And most of all, we had valuable feedback from players who participated across various betas, helping to shape the game into what it is today. For that, you have my thanks.
When I first envisioned this new project, the core idea was, “An action roguelike with a modern setting.” For roguelike games, it’s essential to have a concept that allows for various combinations of classes, skills, weapons, and other elements. I initially thought of basing the game on urban legends, and soon came to learn about the rich lore of the SCP Foundation (on which our game’s S2P is loosely based). I was also inspired by various Roblox and Minecraft mods, and of course other indie games, which gave me encouraging confirmation that there was a niche for a game like this.
Another aspect our team focused on was blending co-op gameplay and roguelike elements. The core fun of a roguelike game is having wildly different experiences and progression, as a result of player choices, randomized elements, and looping gameplay. We believed it would be fun to throw players together and see what happens – my choices shaping your gameplay, your RNG affecting mine, etc.
But this is mostly uncharted territory for the genre, without many prior examples to draw from, which is part of why we’re launching the game in Early Access. I hope you’ll like what we’ve done with the concept so far, and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts on where to take things next.
Our roadmap from now until launch is pretty firm, but we consider your feedback to be of the utmost importance. So whether you’re a fan of the genre or just love urban legends and SCP stuff, I hope you enjoy this early peek at the game, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
Thank you,
Dongsoo Oh
Creative Director
What to Expect in Early Access
- 5 levels with different variations
- A mini boss you’ll find in the 5th level
- 15 types of Quarantined Entities (QTs) lurking in Section 13
- 13 different weapons, 12 of which you will unlock different levels through blueprints
- A roguelite progression system with temporary boots (Synaptic Enhancements) and permanent boosts (DNS Defragmenter)
- An experimental Swarm Defense mode
For future plans, please refer to our EA roadmap!
Known Issues
- Swarm Defense Mode
- Private Room feature not working
- Rooms not showing in the lobby list once the first wave starts, even when starting a new run
