Lydia's fight for survival continues as she explores the tunnels underneath the manor. When you last left her, she had barely survived her encounter with a brute, was out of ammo and was desperate for safety. Your adventure picks up in the tunnels beneath as she faces new challenges, including pitch darkness. Featuring new Story Mode and Battle Mode chapters taking place in the tunnels. Can you survive the nightmare?
Patch v1.2
When Chapter Two releases, the next patch will be included. This patch includes enemy combat adjustments that give you more of a chance to dodge incoming attacks. It also includes graphics upgrades like volumetric lighting for Lydia's flashlights. There is also some minor difficulty and content adjustments and general bugfixes.
What do I need to buy to play?
You have several options. If you purchase The Complete Edition, you will have access to this content on the release date. If you own the base game, you can buy the Season Pass or purchase Chapter Two separately via Steam.
Thank you for continuing to support the Outbreak series! Get ready to survive this pitch black nightmare soon and tell your friends!
Weekly Dev Update - 6/3/2018
Bi-weekly is a type of weekly...
Chapter Two Progress Update
The last week included finishing the first drafts of both Story Mode and Battle Mode content for Chapter Two, including a bunch of fixes under the hood for the game. I would say at the time of this writing, Chapter Two is maybe around 75% complete and I feel like I'm on track for a Summer 2018 release on Steam (Xbox One will be later).
It's been a fun scenario to create given the focus on pitch darkness. The volumetric light from Lydia's flashlights really adds some dimension to the darkness and I think you'll enjoy watching the shadows bounce across the walls.
Chapter Two is also going to stress out you in some new ways. Many items that were "freebies" in Chapter One, like storage boxes, power weapons, etc... a bit more... secured in Chapter Two. You'll need to solve puzzles to unlock them, and let's just say it may not be possible to open everything up in your playthrough. You'll need to choose between opening up a new storage chest location and potentially opening a gun case for example.
My focus in the next few weeks is adding in all of the story lore, environment inspectables and polishing up the experience (including difficulty balancing). Stay tuned though, because I don't think your time surviving the darkness is too far off. ;) Thanks again for supporting the game and be sure to keep sharing news about it with friends!
Weekly Dev Update - 5/20/2018
I never said which week...
Chapter Two Progress Update
The layout for the Chapter Two map is virtually complete, but there's no actual game logic or events in yet. Get ready for a descent into darkness though as Lydia tries to escape the underground, while battling out-of-control gas mains spewing fire. The darkness is going to provide cover for the undead as well... and they can come from anywhere. In the coming weeks, I'll be working to add notes, interests and all of the other gameplay events that make an Outbreak scenario fun.
Combat Fixes
Chapter Two will also debut with some improvements to how enemies attack you. Right now, it's very difficult to juke an enemy and run past them without taking damage. There will be improvements that will allow enemies to only hit you when they're at a certain point in their animation swing. This has been one of the most requested features and it should greatly improve gameplay.
So when will it be out?
I'm still not ready to commit to a release date, but the goal is for Chapter Two to debut during summer. There's still a lot more that needs to go into it before it's ready. As always, it'll likely appear on Steam before Xbox One.
Thank you!
As always, thank you to the entire community for playing ALL of the Outbreak games! It's been great to see more and more folks trying the games and the good reviews pouring in. Keep sharing them with your friends and your support is super appreciated and critical to the franchise continuing. Thank you!
Weekly Dev Update - 5/5/2018
The irony of calling these updates "Weekly" is not lost on me...
You never write... You never call...
It has been an absolute whirlwind the last two months. Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles has now launched on both Steam and Xbox One (to pretty good reviews I'd say!). As such, a lot of my time has been spent preparing for those releases, working through cert and handling all of the "non-dev" parts of being an indie developer. I pushed a PC-side Steam patch a few weeks back and all of those fixes made it into the Xbox One version that was released a few days back. But with those releases behind me... it's time to think about the future...
Chapter Two
Chapter One saw Lydia's story continue as she survived the events of The New Nightmare and now found herself alone in a manor. Well, spoiler alert, but she survived Chapter One as well. Chapter Two picks up almost immediately after the end of the first chapter, with her exploring even further beneath the manor. She's going to find all new horrors down there and gameplay is taking a bit of a shift... There will be some new locations, but I don't want to spoil them too much in the screenshots here.
Being Alone in the Dark...
The theme of Chapter Two is going to be darkness. Let's just say near the start of Chapter Two, there's going to be a bit of a power loss in the underground section. As such, Lydia will need to rely on her trusty flashlight to find a way back to the surface alive. Anywhere she isn't looking, will be pitch black. Think of this as a loving homage to Silent Hill...
Graphics Improvements
With darkness being so prominent in Chapter Two, it made sense to make some lighting upgrades. Lydia's flashlight and chest light will now have volumetric light beams. This greatly helps in illuminating the darkness, but you'll also notice them subtly added to Chapter One. They're far more prominent in pitch black. You'll face this darkness in the next set of Battle Mode rooms as well...
So when is Chapter Two coming out?
It's going to be a while. I'm a solo dev working on the game in my limited free time. I'll try to keep sharing updates and I hope it won't be too long, but let's say we'll aim for sometime during the summer if things go well. I would imagine the Xbox release will trail Steam in general for The Nightmare Chronicles as I can release faster on Steam. Stay tuned for more details.
Thank you to everyone who has purchased and played any games in the Outbreak series! It has been an awesome ride and the feedback and support is amazing. It's awesome to have such a great community and COME JOIN US ON DISCORD!
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles v1.1 Released!
We're happy to announce that v1.1 of Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles has been released for Windows, Mac and Linux. Changes include:
Greatly reduced the "frozen indicator" loading period while loading a new section. This means that the initial load of your new or saved game and subsequent sections should be faster while you play. (Note: This was not reported in the in-game notes but was included in this release).
Fixed an issue where the player could pass through a specific wall.
Reduced the amount of available ammo across the game.
Outbreak: The New Nightmare (co-op) is 50% off through April 23rd!
Outbreak: The New Nightmare is 50% off through April 23rd! Grab three friends and start trying to survive the apocalypse across the Campaign, Onslaught and Experiments modes!
Find out the horrific origins of Lydia and the other survivors before the events of Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles. Battle your way through the city and up into the foothills as you seek safety. But the horrible truth you discover will change you forever!
Featuring 4-player co-op, a diverse cast of survivors with different abilities and much more! Return to the world of co-op survival horror today!
Itr's been great to see all of the folks playing and enjoying chapter one! Lots of playthroughs have been popping up and being shared right on the Community Hub!
If you're enjoying the title and feel it deserves it, PLEASE consider filing a positive review. If you have technical or gameplay issues (or questions), feel free to reach out to me anytime here, on the discussion boards or on our official Discord! I very much appreciate the opportunity to handle issues before they get filed as a negative review and I'm open to chatting anytime!
I'm very interested in community feedback and I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone. Please keep helping with spreading word about the game!
Thanks and enjoy the game!
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles is now Available on Windows, Linux & OS X!
During launch week, the base game (including the Season Pass and Complete Editions which offer a built-in discount) will have an additional 10% off. New story and Battle Mode content will be made available during 2018 and 2019! Lock in now at this great price!
About the Game
As the city burns and the countryside is engulfed by the epidemic, the living are increasingly alone and forced to live with this new reality. Monstrous beasts and disfigured remnants roam freely with their numbers increasing rapidly, slaughtering everything in their path. In the opening chapter, Lydia finds herself separated from her fellow survivors and all alone. After fleeing into a large manor estate to escape the relentless horde, her only goal now is survival. She must explore the manor, locate supplies and find a way to wake from this nightmare. But somehow... she knows her fate is already sealed.
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles is an episodic unforgiving survival horror experience that takes place within the Outbreak universe. Death lurks behind each door as you fight to survive with the limited supplies at your disposal. Search rooms thoroughly and make the right choice when to fight - or flee - from the monstrosities. Featuring classic hardcore survival horror gameplay in a directed single-player experience, you'll need to stay on your toes to stay alive. You have a limited inventory and you'll need to leverage supply caches to store your equipment for use later. Saving your game is also highly restrictive and you'll need to locate the means to record your progress as you explore. Lydia's adventure is just the beginning... can you survive the chronicles and determine the fate of the other survivors?
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles Linux and OS X support announced!
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles will be launching on Linux and OS X in addition to Windows soon! In addition, the rest of the Outbreak series now supports these platforms as well, including cross-platform multiplayer co-op in Outbreak: The New Nightmare and Outbreak across Windows, Linux and OS X!
Grab some friends on any platform and return to the world of survival horror!
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles, featuring single-player adventures in the Outbreak universe, has been announced!
What is Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles?
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles is a slower-paced single-player survival horror adventure. Whereas Outbreak and Outbreak: The New Nightmare focused on high intensity co-op play, The Nightmare Chronicles instead focuses on a slower-paced, highly difficult survival horror experience. Taking place chronologically right after The New Nightmare concluded, The Nightmare Chronicles will follow the cast of survivors as they attempt to survive after being split up.
How will the game be structured?
The game will feature episodic-style play focusing on a specific character. The initial chapter, which features Lydia, will take her through an abandoned manor that she sought safety in after being split up from the group. This initial chapter will be a low-priced offering and subsequent chapters will be offered as paid DLC when they are available. This allows players to only pay for content they want while ensuring the game can be delivered faster in piecemeal form.
How is this game different than Outbreak and Outbreak: The New Nightmare?
Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles will focus on exploration and strict inventory management to survive. You will need to thoroughly search your environment to find supplies, solve puzzles and stand a chance against threats. The Nightmare Chronicles also forgoes the full, open maps from the previous games and instead features instanced rooms like in classic survival horror. This allows you to potentially flee a room to escape from a foe and face them later. The Nightmare Chronicles will feature linked storage caches for managing your items and require you to find consumable floppy disks to save your game.
What else has changed?
With the gameplay getting mixed up, you'll also find some improvements under the hood. Game performance in The Nightmare Chronicles will be significantly better than in The New Nightmare due to the ability to instance geometry and game logic in individual rooms or location. As such, the recommended and minimum system requirements have dropped significantly.
When will we get to play the first chapter?
There is no announced release date for the first chapter, which likely will be 1-2 hours of gameplay, just yet. Since this game is developed by a solo dev without a budget, these things take time to build and polish. We'll be in touch later on with more information.
