We’re happy to bring you our latest update to Generation Zero, Dangerous Experiments! This update will do precisely what it says, to bring you new dangerous top-secret military plunders, as well as a whole lot more to make Östertörn even better.
Let’s start with what you’ve all been talking about; the new Experimental Weapons! The Resistance has been really nifty this year with both new weapons and tactical equipment, and to end the year on a high note, they’ve now managed to salvage three brand-new top secret experimental weapons for you to start using. These weapons will have a chance to drop as all other experimental ones by beating Rivals, Reapers, and completing Base Defense missions. But enough talk about the Resistance; let’s take a look at what they’ve put together!
The Experimental .44 Magnus - The Shrapnel Gun
Shred your enemies to pieces with the Experimental .44 Magnus! This canon will blast straight through your enemies and materials to create a shotgun-like blast behind your target, surprising any foe that might be behind with its deadly shrapnel blast. Great for crowd control!
The Experimental KVM 89 - Thermal Machine Gun
It’s getting hot in here; the KVM 89 just got an experimental alloy upgrade! At low temperatures, the alloy has terrible performance; it is inaccurate and inefficient. But when the heat is on, and the temperature rises, the barrel alloy performs exceptionally well, giving you extreme accuracy, efficiency, and damage. Be careful, though; you do not want to overheat it!
The Experimental Älgstudsare - The Artillery Rifle
As you fire the bullet from the Experimental Älgstudsare, it is covered by a slow-burning coating, slowing the bullet down a bit but completely changing its behavior. The longer the bullet stays in the air before it hits something, the higher the energy build-up of the coated shell. At short ranges, it does minor damage, but as the travel time of the bullet increases, so does the damage. A true Resistance fighter makes this weapon exceptionally lethal by hitting targets that are more than 100 meters away!
Tomas, one of our Game Designers, has this to say about the new experimental weapons: “We know that many of you appreciate realistic depictions of real-world firearms. We also acknowledge that there are many of you that enjoy a moderate dose of sci-fi. Thus, we decided to introduce more experimental weapons to the game. Top secret, military, prototype weapons that balance in-between realism and fiction.
Make the most out of these weapons by leaning into their experimental nature. Conduct your own experiments in the field to figure out how to use them efficiently. If unsure where to start, read the weapon description to get a general idea of its function.
Want to turn the experimental up to 11? Try combining these weapons with experimental ammo and see what happens.
These have been very interesting to develop, and we hope you have as much fun using them as we had making them!”
Time to go on a hunt again; a new collectible set has been added to Östertörn! Bringing you 9 new war figurines and a strategic map to go with them, these collectibles are spread all across the North Coast for you to find. If you know your way around Östertörn well enough and manage to find them all, you’ll be treated with a deeper understanding of what really happened as the Soviets came to Östertörn!
Amanda, our Mission designer, adds: “With these collectibles, we wanted to give some more information about why the Soviets came to Östertörn. What goals do they have in Östertörn, and what hardships they met as they arrived. The narrative is focused on the experiences of different individuals among the Soviet forces. Through these soldiers’ eyes, we were able to give a new perspective on what’s happening in Östertörn and how it is to live in this dystopian war between machines. We hope that you will enjoy the stories and the pretty figurines that come with them!”
Crafting schematics will now be unlocked in an entirely new way! Previously, when you found them hidden throughout the world, you will now be able to unlock them through the Schematics tree. Five new paths, each allowing you to purchase Schematics with its own currency of points; each currency earned by crafting items or completing specific gameplay. Additionally, where the Schematics previously could be found in the world, there are now new pickups that will give you Schematic Points and XP to help you jumpstart your progression! And don’t worry, if you have already picked up a Schematic out in the world, it will be unlocked for you already.
“One of the pain points of crafting in the past has been unlocking the Schematics. Particularly for newer players, having only a small number of Schematics unlocks stops them from taking full advantage of the system, and there was no clear path to unlock more. Now with the Schematic Tree, unlocking schematics becomes much more straightforward and gives players more agency over which Schematics they unlock first. We hope this lets more players craft what they want and, in turn, can play how they want by crafting the ammo/consumables they most enjoy using.” our Senior Systems Designer, Matthew, comments.
Along with the addition of the Schematics Tree, you can now craft 17 consumables that you couldn’t craft before! To make it more intuitive for the player where to find the materials to craft items, we’ve also made it so they can be found more predictably from logical sources. Wondering where these materials can be found? It's now explained in the description of the craftable item!
Talking about recycling, you can now see ahead of time what recycling an item would actually give you back.
And finally, you can now tag items used to craft to keep track of what you're looking for and see when you’ve found the right thing.
“These last several patches have all included improvements to crafting, and this is the next piece of the puzzle. Crafting is more useful than before, giving you access to more items and making it easier to seek out the resources you need. We hope you enjoy the crafting improvements and look forward to hearing what you think of it!” says Matthew.
There are not only new things introduced to the game with this update, but we’ve also taken a look at how the game performs and how we can improve that for you players. Here’s a short rundown from our Gameplay Programmer, Giulio:
Memory optimization: “Now, the game should use less memory; this should help the players on earlier console versions to experience much fewer crashes while playing, especially in very big cities. This is a step in the right direction, and we’re constantly working to improve this to prevent crashes while roaming with vehicles.
FPS boost: “We worked on improving the CPU workload in FPS-heavy situations like chaotic fights and roaming in big cities. This should ensure the player a smoother experience, especially on Gen 8 consoles.”
Streaming time improvements: “The game should be able to stream certain big areas faster now, resulting in less loading time and fewer graphic artifacts when moving fast.”
“All of the above was done without reducing the graphic quality or touching the rendering pipeline of the game. This means that the graphic of the game isn't changed and still remains amazing, but also that players on PC that were GPU bound won't see any improvement unless they reduce the graphic settings.”
The Farmlands has gotten a little retouch! With the New Dawn Update, we introduced 12 new Control Points to the Farmland. Now, we’ve taken a stab at three of them to offer a more varied experience and expand on the narrative a bit. Look out for these changes:
Floda Control Point - This one has turned into a Community grown garden with allotment garden plots used by the locals in the past. Post-cataclysm, this location has been used by the Resistance as a source of food production, and now players can set up their base in this garden to protect the potatoes.
Broängen Dirt Track Control Point - This one used to be a regular farm field. Now it has changed into a Dirt track for motorbike riders. Within the build area for the Control point, there are also opportunities for some stunt riding.
Överby Control Point - Located south of the Airfield where there used to be a farm field where Machines and the Swedish military had battled each other. This narrative has been expanded upon, and 2 lines of defensive trenches have been dug out around the Control Point. The first line has been overrun, and the second one is more fortified and acts as a second line of defense.
Beneath a growing tree
The apples are placed.
But can you see their beauty?
It is time to feel.
