It's the time of year to celebrate hard banging again. This is a relatively minor event in our calendar, and you might already have noticed that the first phase has started -- finding a gift for your lover. When the day itself comes around, you'll be able to hand it over and maybe get something in return. And if you don't have a lover, don't worry. There are a couple of preview items to find, and a certain someone might have a steamy spike just for you. We've also got some access codes for you, the first of which (for 20 credits) has already been shared over in our Discord server.
In other news, we're currently running a poll in our Discord for potential tweaks to the roadmap, so make sure to vote if you haven't already.
And finally, Happy Year of the Dragon. We don't have anything unique for Chinese New Year this time around, unfortunately, but we should next year.
Changelog
We've also got fair number of the usual updates for you:
Pistols now work in the same way as long and short weapons. - Select them via your Weapons locker. - They will then be available to equip in the usual way. - Holsters now play the obvious role. Concealed weapons are no longer a thing. Having appropriate weapons available will now give a generic Gun butt mêlée weapon instead. The M320, Survival shotgun and Sawn-off shotgun are now considered to be short weapons. You can now store long weapons, short weapons and pistols separately. Pistols now contribute a small amount to carrying weight. Three new pistols to find or buy.
The self-improvement mechanics have an overhaul. - Working on muscle, Working on cardio, etc. This includes new content and quirks, as well as rebalancing. New content and choices for the Teetotal quirk.
There are some new Bar stories. Newer characters can now think about The beat of the street. You can now turn a Basic surveillance drone into a Dead drone. You can now flip up your visor when wearing a helmet. Moved the Red headband into Caps and beanies.
New artwork. Made some performance improvements when working with slots.
Fixed some typos and minor bugs. Thanks for the reports!
Bugfix release
Fixed missing State of dress on the Plain jeans. Removed any quirks gained from Self-improvement. - This card was released early and is hidden again. Fixed a couple of other minor problems.
Minor update
All logistics teams have been brought up to the new standard. Adjusted skin slot items; some new and some might have disappeared. - Some outfits might need tweaking. Some related training stats (Toned, etc) have been tweaked. The skin slot will be auto-equipped if there is only one item available. Moved The smuggling trade to Life/Survival. There's a little more Ann stuff. One new item of clothing to buy.
New artwork.
Fixed the new Tank breather not wearing off while the game's closed. Fixed some inconsistencies with cold showers. Fixed some typos and other minor bugs. Thanks for the reports!
A Recap of 2023 and Sneak Peeks into the Dystopian Future
Well, Hustlers, here we are again. Start of a new year – one year deeper into to the dystopia that a generation of writers spent a few sad decades screaming and warning us about. Lucky them they’ll all be dead soon. Not like us here out in the mess: we all got to keep living with it! But enough about the cyberpunk present, let’s talk about the cyberpunk past: the recent past, of 2023.
On an open fire
Everybody in Cinci knows the best way to spend the holidays is hungover. Nobody understood it better than all of you wasters. This Christmas, Cinci received a visit from Saint Nick himself as part of our annual holiday event – and, in the name of good cheer, you guys cumulatively gave him more than 3,200 beers, wines, and shots. More than that: when Santa offered you his friendship, of the entire cyberpunkdreams community, only four miserable grinches turned him down. Guess the Christmas spirit is alive and well in the dark future after all. Unlike the Christmas trees, or the reindeer, or the little kids.
But hey – if you’re drunk on Christmas, and you’re gonna be drunk on New Year’s, why bother sobering up between them? In Cinci, all the real heads are gonna schlep it to the new revamped bar mechanics – currently active in Cowgirls and Frank’s and soon to be implemented across all of your favourite dives. Listen to the new bar stories to catch some of Cinci’s most sordid second hand: incest, accidents, and murders. Look, people gotta do something now that the Internet’s broke.
Like maybe try out the new content in the sex shops on Gamble Street. You get one guess what’s goin’ on in there. But you know – how ‘bout you go and check it out your own self, just to make sure? And clear your schedule while you’re at it because there’s a lot going on. Or maybe you’ve been up and down Gamble Street before; maybe now you’d prefer a different kind of opening up. Players who’ve been given permission from the local powers (if you have to ask, you don’t have permission) should poke through your Life/Survival deck and look into Opening up the street: this promised deeper look into Gamble Street has been behind the content wall for quite a while. But those of you allowed past the wall can enter the Golden Chrysanthemum: the nicest place you’ve ever been, full of the worst people you’ve ever imagined. The menus don’t have price tags because nobody who can afford to be there has to know. They trade in richer currencies than money.
Of course, by now the holidays are over and sooner or later you’re gonna have to get back on the beat. But before you do, check your iron and make sure you got it right.
7 MAC 11s
At the start of December, we rolled out a weapons update that mostly changed things under the hood, though players who spend a lot of time with guns noticed a few convenient changes to their inventory management as well. We also tweaked a few other things here and there in the weeks just before and after – weapon holsters, multiple delineations of weapon size, and experimenting with switchable ammo feeds being the big ones. Now it’s easy to equip, swap and manage multiple weapons at the same time – not to mention a whole lot easier for us here on the production side to add new ones. For example: we also, and this is the most important part, added a katana. Yeah, that’s right, like all the real cyberpunks have. Did you get yours already? You should, all the guys who own katanas are meeting up in Discord to talk about how cool and practical our weapons are.
Speaking of practical weapons.
A thing you won’t find in the magazines
You’re welcome.
So that’s the present and the past covered. Let’s talk about miseries yet to come.
Out here in the fields
Players who keep their ears to the ground already heard the cars coming: the rest of you can think of this message as the roaring coal-rolling v8 motor of a deathproof Ford Falcon. This year you’ll be further from the PZs than ever before when you venture out into the badlands. West of Cinci’s border there’s vast sprawl of dust bowls, famine, and subhumans that some still call Indiana. We have made the difficult and questionable decision to depict this way of life in our game cyberpunkdreams, which we understand some players may find in poor taste – but other players will find that poor taste is just where it begins. Trekking along the abandoned highways you’ll find a world of indifferent hazards, and people who are…a little screwy. Sometimes the kind of screwy that Wes Anderson puts in movies and sometimes the kind of screwy that Tobe Hooper puts in movies.
I’m not at liberty to say too much, of course – that’s called showmanship, friends, it’s why they gave me this job. But I’ll just say that you need to keep your car in good condition, keep your spares secure, keep your shit on you, and keep your eyes open: one day you might make it all the way to the Mississippi river, but for now you’ve got to cross a rust belt full of danger.
Don’t call it a comeback
She’s been here for years. Soon players will have the chance to become the cut man and cornerman for Zara – a familiar face for gym rat players, who will soon become an entire full-fledged character. Get an up-close the illicit thrills and high stakes of combat sports, illegal and otherwise, where fighters rely on dirty tricks and clean supplies to achieve victory by any means necessary. Zara’s next bout places her as an underdog against an accomplished athlete. You can pick whether her story ends like one or four – but either way she’s comin out of this like Apollo Creed.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
Zara’s not the only one who can take a questionable route to better health. If you’re looking for an edge you can always get yourself implanted with a hookworm: a specially bred symbiote that lives in your lower intestines and eats some of your food, increasing your hunger. In exchange, it’ll help you too: it can boost your immune system to fend off infections; it can release endorphins to help build muscle mass. Maybe there’s a few knock-on effects down the road but it’s nothin you can’t handle. Right? Well, only one way to find out.
Sadly, that’s all the news for now – but who knows what might happen next? I got no idea – and, buddy, I work here! But if you wanna see it all happen earlier-than-early, and see what everyone else is saying, join the discord and get yourself plugged in – or follow us over on twitter, where we’re always blasting our funked-up beats right onto the airwaves. We’ll keep ourselves safe until next time, you try to do the same – and remember, don’t trust anyone with a big hat and a tiny gun.
Some like it hot
Our first update of 2024 and, surprising no one, we've got some new stuff for you -- bars and shops especially. Read the full changelog below:
There are a load more random encounters at the Sex shops. New mechanic: Bar stories. - Replaces the generic "Scuttlebutt option. You can now sometimes get prompted for
Christmas in Cinci
Christmas is more or less just an excuse to party hard when it comes to 2090s Cinci.
People don't have a lot to live for, so why not? So come and join us in Interstate (and our Discord) for some good times.
To help you along, your breather limit has been doubled for the Christmas period. As well as the city changing its face a little for the holidays, we've got some some unique events for you. If you're in a relationship, expect a gift from your significant other. If you're out on the streets expect to meet a drunk Santa with an unexpected story. If you're on the prowl for new duds, you'll find some exclusive preview items. And more.
We'll also be sharing some exclusive access codes to our Discord community, but here's one for everyone (note that you'll need to be playing during the event to activate it):
We've added a whole new shop this time around -- Onda, largely a sporting goods shop, that's been planned for a while. Find it by asking around at other shops. It has quite a few new items to buy, and will feature some additional content in future (Cinci messengers, perhaps?) There are also a load more items and accessories to buy elsewhere, a couple of new bags and some other bits and bobs. This update also features a lot of new content in testing that should see a public release early next year.
Christmas event
Our regular Christmas event will also start in a few days, and will last for a couple of weeks. We'll have access codes, new gifts from lovers and more, including a new short story. So even if you've done Christmas in Cinci before, there's still something new for you.
Read the full changelog below
New shop in the slums -- Onda. Frank's Bar has had a little work. Added a load of new accessories and items of clothing. -- Some already previewed, some totally new. Added two new bags. There are a couple of new supply packets.
New artwork.
Fixed heavy weapons having zero value. Fixed some typos and other minor bugs; thanks for the reports!
Minor update
You can now buy holsters. - They don't do anything yet; get them before they do. Some weapons are now classified as short. - These have a separate equip list to your Long weapons. - You can carry one at a time. - They're hidden by most short jackets and the like. The FR P98 now counts as a short weapon, not concealable. The Kettec KSG now has switchable ammo feeds. Horse mutants can now have A proper session.
New artwork.
Fixed some problems to do with recent weapons changes. Fixed Irene not appearing if you invite her over. Fixed some typos and minor bugs. Thanks for the reports.
Minor update
Two new mêlée weapons and one new firearm. You can now pick an attitude within each temperament that you have. You can now pick an attitude towards Tower. You'll now get Word from Black Moon if you're a member.
Fixed not being able to load the Kridd Vector. Fixed the Revvington shotgun giving too much Loaded up. Fixed not being able to equip the Sledgehammer. Fixed auto-clearing of slots (especially Accessories causing a blank screen). Fixed some typos; thanks for the reports!
Fully loaded
Today's changes to the weapon mechanics are intended to be fairly transparent to players, but they simplify a load of things under the hood, which will make adding new weapons (especially firearms) to the game much easier in future. You'll also notice some quality of live improvements (you no longer have a separate *Stored* version of each weapon), and we've taken the opportunity to add a bit more flexibility to the weapons you can equip and to clean up a few other things.
There will be another tranche of weapon updates in the near future, which will introduce pistol holsters into the game and add a few other things. The reason we're working on this now is that it's really been a block for adding new weapons to the game, and it'll also be required for the badlands.
Other things we've got in the works: - We've bumped Zara to Q1 2024, but she might be in testing this year. - Dating Miriam is currently in testing. - New mission content is in the works. - As is body modding and tattoos.
Read the full changelog here:
There are some new street occurrences. New life card:
