The Cycle: Frontier - Closed Beta 2 starts March 10
Greetings Prospectors and welcome to something a lot of you have been eagerly awaiting these past weeks.
The Cycle: Frontier was made available to the public in our previous Closed Beta last year and enjoyed a great deal of popularity. We were absolutely thrilled by its reception and have been hard at work polishing the game since then: adding new features, upscaling our infrastructure and refining gameplay, all in reaction to your great feedback.
With all that in mind, we have an exciting piece of news for you all: our second Closed Beta session will kick off next month on March 10th 2022. This will be the perfect opportunity to experience once more the tensions and excitements of Fortuna III while taking a proper look at what we've been working on.
We are very much looking forward to seeing you walk the surface again. In the meantime, let's take a quick look at some of the additions you can expect to see directly in-game.
Faction campaigns
Last beta, you had been doing odd-jobs for Korolev, Osiris and the ICA, the 3 different factions of Prospect Station. These contracts were a great way of building up reputation and earning a few extra bucks, but weren't the most narrative experience around.
This time you will be able to experience 3 brand new faction campaigns, one for each faction. These campaign missions will guide you through your first steps on the surface and will eventually lead you into the usual contracts, all the while granting you a little bit of insight into the lore of The Cycle: Frontier.
You will also unlock valuable gear as you progress through the campaigns, so make sure to see them all through!
New surface activities
We've received a lot of praise about meteors and how they tend to derail casual drops, both in a rewarding and dangerous way. We want to integrate more of these activities to make Fortuna III the most exciting planet around.
For now, we are ready to introduce you to a previous fan-favorite, reworked and improved, something that will surely please both older and newer fans of the game: the Korolev Laser Drill.
Once you're done with their campaign, Korolev will offer you contracts allowing you to call on a Laser Drill on the surface. These contracts can be very rewarding, but you should always stand ready for a fight, as anyone in the vicinity can see the Drill coming down and decide to grab a share for themselves!
Monster variations
You've met the cute little Striders, the disgusting Rattlers, the monstrous Crushers and, of course, good old Jeff. Facing these beasts was a tough ordeal at first but with time you've learnt how best to deal with each of them. What more could there be to fear? We're so glad you asked.
Expect to see the Fortuna III fauna in a new, sturdier, deadlier light. Creature variations will provide an even greater challenge to those bold enough to explore the less welcoming area of the planet.
Of course, greater challenges often come with greater rewards. After all there has to be a reason these "elite" types decide to hang around specific places eh?
Map refinement
Last treat for today, we've taken another deep look at Bright Sands and Crescent Falls. Both maps have been reworked, revised and overall refined, based on the feedback you've provided us.
New paths have been added while a lot of other existing ones have been tweaked. We've also smoothed out a lot of specific spots, making edges easier to climb and making sure you won't remain stuck in certain areas. Traversal will overall be easier.
Loot has also been revised in several places, balanced out between contract requirements and what you would expect to find in some points of interest.
Finally, we are constantly refining the visuals of the planet, making sure Fortuna III is striking that perfect balance of threat and beauty.
And that's all for us today. Of course, we have been working on a lot more improvements for the game, including bug fixes, audio fidelity, combat balance, optimization and more. Be sure to keep an eye on our social media for an early glance at some of those.
So on that note, have a great day Prospectors, and see you in March on Fortuna III. We hope you like a bit of dungeon crawling...
CONTENTS: • Server stability improvements - we should be fully back once the maintenance is done. • Big infrastructure upscaling and further improvements, to make sure it doesn't happen again for the remainder of the Beta. • Fixes for rubberbanding issues. Hopefully, it'll be fully gone or barely noticeable now. • Fixed 2 exploits that had been running around.
Lifting of the NDA & Closed Beta Patch 1.1
Heya there Prospectors!
We are applying a small patch to the Closed Beta build to fix a few issues and improve the overall experience for the remainder of the Beta. Check them out!
NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
As a result to the positive reactions from our community, we have decided to lift the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) until the end of the Closed Beta.
That means you will be allowed to record, share and stream any and all content the game has to offer once the patch is applied. As a note, the starting screen will be modified to reflect that decision.
Have fun streaming The Cycle: Frontier!
ADJUSTMENTS
Tutorial rewards have been tweaked a bit. You will now be able to craft a green quality backpack as part of your first missions.
Insurances will now only cover gear and won’t include ammo, materials (including Old Currency), keys and consumables.
Insurance payout has been slightly reduced as it was deemed a bit too high.
The weight of some items has been adjusted to help with the early game:
Compound Sheet – Weight decreased.
Salvaged Insulation – Weight decreased.
Some drop rates have been adjusted to help with the early game:
Rattler Skin drop chance increased to 20%.
Strider Head drop chance increased to 10%.
Some crafting requirements have been tweaked to help with the early game:
An Uncommon Helmet will now require a Strider Head instead of a Rattler Head.
An Uncommon Backpack will now require 4 Insulations instead of 4 Fabrics.
BUGFIXES
Using health consumables while sliding won’t activate them instantly anymore. No more acrobatic jabs!
Fixed an issue with AZERTY keyboards. You will now be able to apply mods on your weapons (default: mouse wheel button).
Fixed some collision issues at the Dig Site.
Energy fields are now working properly and you shouldn’t be able to just blitz through them.
The “Kill Striders at the Observation Area” contract is fixed and should now work as expected.
Having a full stash won’t affect the item generator in your Private Quarters anymore.
Various improvements on performance, specifically regarding ADS stuttering and rubberbanding issues.
KNOWN ISSUES
New players may have to restart the game after going through the tutorial missions before being able to send and receive friend invites.
Garage office keycards don’t seem to be working at the moment. We’ll find the right lock soon, promise!
Hardened Bone Plates can only be dropped from Marauders, despite the tooltip just stating “creatures”.
The “Projectile Penetration” stat on weapons show no changes when applying an Armor Penetration attachment.
The Cycle: Frontier - Closed Beta starts today
Prospectors, it's time to enter a new Frontier!
The Closed Beta starts today. Servers are open, so get ready to jump in a drop pod and take to Fortuna III!
If you've requested access and didn't get a key yet, check your inbox. If you already took part in the closed alphas, download the update and you're good to go as soon as the servers open.
Granting access to you is a process that is ongoing, so please don't worry if you did not receive your access yet.
To get you in the mood check out our brand new announcement trailer! [previewyoutube="VK3zyN8SeWA;full"]
And if that's not enough, check out our new and improved game intro! [previewyoutube="6C5DKLQs9bc;full"]
Hope to see you on Fortuna III, Prospector!
Closed Beta from Sep 30 until Nov 1
The future of the Cycle is entering the next stage with Closed Beta 1 starting Sep 30!
We’ve received tons of great feedback during Closed Alpha and the game has made leaps since then.
Among the new and improved features is the first-time access to our second map, Crescent Falls, which has been rebuilt to fit the new direction of the game. There’s also brand new and devastating enemy type waiting to crush unsuspecting Prospectors and you can expect more diverse loot, improved crafting, and weapon modding, updates to the private quarters, and so much more
You can even earn an exclusive outfit for participating that will carry over into release! For us to test the long-term progression and get even more feedback from our players, the test will run from Sep 30 till Nov 1!
If you haven’t already, you can request access via the button on the Steam page. Make sure to tell your friends to come and join, after all, Fortuna III is a little less deadly if you're not on your own. And if you like what you see, why not add the game to your wish list?
See you on Fortuna III, Prospectors!
Play The Cycle - Closed Alpha 2 - Jul 22 - 27
The Cycle is undergoing a fundamental rework touching on all aspects of the original game. An entirely new and more suspenseful experience awaits you, with a world more beautiful and dangerous than ever. Expect a thrilling high-stakes PvPvE sci-fi shooter all about taking risks, where all your choices matter.
If you die, you lose your stuff! If you make it back alive, you get to keep your spoils.
The test will run from 22nd till 27th July and will introduce features like squad play, weapon attachments, the player quarters, a deadlier storm, and more. There is even a new creature prowling around the surface ready to take you out with a swipe of their massive claws!
To take part, follow the link to the Steam page of The Cycle and "request access" to the playtest before July 22nd.
Important notice: This will be a closed test under NDA and Participants will not be allowed to stream, record video or audio, or take screenshots!
