A couple of weeks ago we gave you a general overview of what the campaign mode in The Riftbreaker will look like. If you haven’t read that article, here’s a little summary. You begin your mission on Galatea 37 in the jungle biome. Over time, you will gain access to planetary missions taking place in different areas of the this brave new world There are significant differences between those areas. The fauna, flora, weather, and resources are unique for each biome. Exploration of those areas will grant you the resources necessary to advance your technology and come back home. It is high time we spoke a little bit more about the other biomes you will see in the game (which you might have already seen in our latest weapons trailer).
The acid biome looks like a barren wasteland at first, not capable of supporting any life and not worth exploring. In this case, the first impression is highly deceptive. Various species of animals, plants, and mushrooms have adapted very well to these conditions, but not in a way you would see elsewhere. Instead of regular trees, this area is going to greet you with menacing, 15-meters tall, leathery mushrooms swaying in the wind. You might see some regular grass or bushes, but it’s much more likely that you will encounter huge plots of small, red, bulbous mushrooms. There are also various species of cacti present, as there is very little water available.
In fact, you most likely won’t see any fresh water at all there. Most of the liquid pools you can find in the acid biome are filled with acidic sludge. We already know that you can turn it into usable resources, such as flammable gas or water by using proper facilities, so it is a good idea to have them researched before you establish an outpost in the acid biome. That will grant you the ability to use gas power, which you will definitely need to mine the rich palladium deposits, as both wind and solar energy work at reduced efficiency due to the thick, acidic atmosphere.
Naturally, establishing a new base here won’t be a simple task. First, you will need to scout the area to discover what kinds of threats and conditions you can expect here. The indigenous creatures, like Granans for example, won’t stay indifferent to your expansion on their territory and they will do whatever it takes to stop you. That, coupled with dangerous weather events, such as our beloved acid rain will guarantee that even a simple exploration mission is going to be exciting. We won’t share more for now, but there will be opportunities to see gameplay from the campaign mode, be on the lookout for that!
As you can see, biomes in The Riftbreaker are not just cosmetics. They fundamentally change the way the game is played. Some tactics that you employ in the jungle might translate well to the acid biome, while others will do you more harm than good. Learning the ropes will be a big part of the first campaign playthrough and we can’t wait to see your reactions to all the little surprises we left for you! If you want more inside info, join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios and watch our streams. Both these channels allow you to ask us direct questions, plus being active there might get you an Alpha key!
EXOR Studios
New Trailer, Release Window, Alpha Update!
Hello Riftbreakers!
We have a lot of great news for you today. Let’s kick things off with the most important one: The Riftbreaker will be released in fall 2021. The game is very close to reaching the ‘feature complete’ status, which means that our internal development build is playable from start to finish with just a few functionalities left to be finished. We are currently focusing on filling the game with final content and balancing the final game mechanics for the campaign and the survival mode. You can see some of this new content in our latest trailer!
[previewyoutube="P8eTs4OKMP8;full"]
Ready for more news? Great! The Riftbreaker will be released simultaneously on PC, Xbox Series X|S consoles, and PlayStation 5. Our initial plan was to release console versions at a later date, after the PC release. Thankfully, the power of the next-gen consoles has changed our minds - they are able to handle The Riftbreaker with all its features with minimal changes and optimizations, reducing the required amount of work. In addition to that, we will be releasing physical, disc versions of the game for both Xbox and PlayStation thanks to our partnership with Maximum Games. Box copies of the game will be available globally on day 1.
Did you really think we’re done with the news? Not a chance! We are also releasing a huge content update for the closed Alpha build of The Riftbreaker. It’s one of our biggest updates yet, introducing the new research tree and a complete balance shakeup. You can read the complete changelog at the end of this article. As always, this is accompanied by a new wave of Alpha invitations. Check your Discord messages to see if you got one! The Prologue version of the game will receive its update at a later date. We will also have some extra opportunities for you to get Alpha keys, so if you haven’t joined www.discord.gg/exorstudios, you definitely should do so!
Changelog Alpha 5, April 22, 2021:
Features:
Completely redesigned research tree with new inventions, new upgrades, and new weapons (over 250 research items instead of the previous 60). More info in the articles here and here.
New creature species added to survival: Bomogan, Gnerot, Baxmoth, Kermon, and Krocoon. They are now included in survival attack waves and mix things up by a lot!
New types of towers have been added to the game. You can now build and use rocket, plasma, laser and minigun towers. Oh, and there's also the heavy artillery - 2x2 size, shoots nuclear shells. You're welcome.
Vegetation lifecycle has been introduced. The plants that get cut down will grow back over time. This makes plant biomass power plants more viable even without access to flora cultivators.
The First version of mech upgrades added to the game. There are lots of modules you can now research and install in the Mecha-Suit. They grant various bonuses that are also randomized.
Added a penalty for player dying. Upon death, the player now drops equipped items based on the difficulty level. The player can then pick their items back up from the ground.
Higher levels of HQ added to game - 5, 6, 7. These are required for downloading and researching advanced technologies.
Added steathComponent support. It allowed us to introduce invisible units and also give Mr. Riggs items that engage an invisibility cloak.
New effects for the geo scanner - it can now also detect enemies hidden underground. It will flash red instead of blue and play a different sound if that happens.
DamageSystem: add DamageEffect::REFLECTED. You can now install new armor modules in your Mecha-Suit that will deal a portion of the damage you take back to the attacker.
Save system has been refactored. Saves take up less space, they are more robust and include a screenshot for easy navigation in the menu.
Particle effects now scale with damage. More damage - more boom.
Added support for damage resisted status. Creatures with elemental resistances will take a % amount less damage, according to the resistance value.
Proper display of disabled grid based on building exclude terrain types. What this means is - if you can't build somewhere, you will immediately see why because of icons on the building grid.
Bestiary screen added - more information in the article.
Added new music - the adventure playlist.
Added Ribbon System - it allows us to create more aesthetically pleasing energy trails (eg. like the one in the sword attack).
New and better attachments with level numbers have been added to a lot of buildings.
Changes:
Reworked Survival mode difficulty
Big weapon balance iteration
Rebalanced resource drops from monsters and environmental objects
Rebalanced crafting costs
Crafting of consumables is now manual instead of automatic
Handheld shield item and forcefield item category removed. Forcefield stat has been added to armor properties.
Repair items now have a much longer cooldown. This nerf is offset by adding many items that have regenerative properties.
Geothermal vents are now more visible on the minimap.
Minigun - default piercing turned off
All advanced, superior and extreme weapons rebalanced: burst rifle nerfed - piercing and projectiles per burst swarm missiles nerfed - splash radius, fire rate laser buffed - damage multiplier cooldown, piercing, damage railgun buffed - beam width, fire rate, damage rocket laucher buffed - splash radius, damage, fire rate shotgun buffed - range small machinegun buffed - damage grenade laucher buffed - damage
The inventory screen has been changed visually - the mech now has an idle animation and some extra effects have been added. There are less colors in the item lists.
The "run" sound is turned on only when the monsters move fast.
Blood effect templates for all kinds of monsters - particles and decals.
The Rift Portal now costs 25 carbonium.
Splash damage changed to area damage in ResistanceComponent.
Physical damage changed to area damage in the nuclear mine.
Fixed uneven storage space for solid resources.
Loot is now conditional - certain items will drop only after requirements are met.
The Canoptrix Spawner has been significantly improved - the effects are better, the model changes as it receives damage, destructible parts have been added.
CrashReporter: add content corruption warning. This lets us know if the game files were okay at the time of your crash.
Water or supercoolant is now required by the nuclear powerplant.
Radiation damage added to nuclear explosions.
Animal biomass powerplant gives more energy.
Changed the cluster projectiles spread angle defaults. You can now aim with the ricocheted projectiles.
Rare resources are not needed for crafting - all items require only carbonium and ironium (this is temporary, rare resource costs are coming soon).
High-level weapons are much more expensive.
Special weapon and ammo stats can only be added by mods - lifesteal, cluster, auto-aim, homing, splash, time damage, stun.
Tweaked mech ammo production time.
Smaller mech ammo storage and ammo production
Elemental mod effects added to muzzle, hit, and projectile effects for weapons with projectiles
Announcement timeouts increased to avoid audio spam.
liquid_pump new model (textures, meshes, material)
Target effect added to the grenade launcher.
Repair kits are now more expensive, but they do not require animal biomass for crafting.- Changed the HQ portal to an energetic version - it had a metal frame before.
Building cap added to armory, comms hub, and laboratory. It can be increased by researching higher levels of these buildings.
All prop file names and references to those files have been standardized and moved into their proper folders. This is a huge change that included over 40000 operations on files. Hopefully, the folder structure will be much clearer to you now. The caveat is that old mods will no longer cooperate with this new file structure.
The prologue mission received its own version of the research tree. Try to break it. NOTE: we're still talking about the prologue mission in the Alpha 5 build, not the free prologue. We will update that version too at a later date.
Removed HQ requirements from most buildings.
New version of proximity mines. They require a couple of seconds to arm themselves after being placed down. They can be destroyed by creatures in that time. No more running into a pack of canoptrix and blowing them up at will!
The emergency explosions skill can be researched and crafted in four rarity levels, each with different stats.
water OR supercoolant is used by fusion and nuclear powerplants and magnetic stabilizers
The creeper is now more intelligent, actively growing towards your base
Building limits can be upgraded by completing research for the armory, research lab, and comms hub
New crafting costs added to all skills, consumables, and upgrades
Tweaked water filtering plant - resources input/output ratio is more reasonable now
Longer cooldown for power jumps and special dash to prevent abuse
More visible uranium damage effect
No floors can be built under the creeper
Bigger death effect for quelver
Disconnect the save system from the AdaptiveMusicSystem - being stuck in a 'battle' playlist will no longer prevent the game from saving your progress outside of combat.
INFINITE PARTICLE VERTEX BUFFER!!! Blow things up as much as you like (and as long as your pc can handle it).
Graphics:
New models for each upgrade level of walls, gates, and towers.
New icons for weapons, skills, and consumables.
Building level numbers are now attached to buildings with level 2 or higher.
Light with raytraced shadows added to the teleport exit effect.
Tweaked the big atomic explosion - smaller, better shockwave.
Refactored CameraShakeComponent - we have a greater deal of control over screen shakes now.
Sounds:
New sounds for many creatures, both old and new.
Changed instance limits on some announcements - if you research multiple items at the same time, you won't get attacked by the same sound multiplied.
Ambient sounds added to magnetic rocks
Mech footstep sounds change with the kind of surface you're walking on.
Fixes:
Improved CPU and GPU performance optimization
SettingsScreen: fixed crash on display modes detection failure
Fixed basic tower not hitting air units
D3D12: add support for stretched-scaling modes in GetSupportedVideoDisplayList
HUD: fixed scale/size on ultra-wide displays (action menu, augments menu)
fixed radius_name in pumps lvl 2 and 3 - higher level pumps can't be built next to each other anymore
sniper rifle renamed to High Caliber Rifle
Fixed a lot of bugs with the DX12 renderer, thanks to your help back in January.
Stun time changed from 10s to 2s in all weapons to prevent the player from stunlocking bosses and other high-health enemies.
Added Exor::IsWindows10OrGreater implementation - We check this to see whether we can enable DirectX 12.
Fixed fullscreen focus lost with always on top applications
Better and much cheaper lava pool effect - this reduced the performance hit in lava regions.
DisplayRadiusSystem: fix tower range on the minimap - The minimap used to show the range of towers twice as big as they really are.
Fixed AMMO_COST mod stat - it now properly give you a chance to fire a bullet for free!
Inputs: fixed input leaks from "Pause" to "Gameplay" state.
Fixed artillery idle turret rotation. Artillery Towers in idle state aim upwards.
fix load game after failed game - you can no longer get stuck in the load game screen after losing and trying to reload your last save.
Meet the Phirian
Hello Riftbreakers!
Last week you had a sneak peek at one of the most disturbing inhabitants of Galatea 37 - the Phirian. Well, to be completely honest we showed it to you even earlier, back in September, as a little Easter egg in one of our other news pieces. To be fair it was well hidden - which is fitting. Phirians are not the most sociable creatures on the planet. Today let’s take a more detailed look at this mysterious creature and discover all the different ways they are going to try and ruin your day.
All Phirian variants with the mech for scale. The mech is 5 meters tall, by the way.
The Phirian is unlike anything we’ve seen before on Galatea 37. It is a weird amalgamation of a reptile and a humanoid. The creature uses its five muscular tails to push its tall, slender body along the ground, almost like a snake, but the similarities end there. Phirians keep an upright position, giving them a great overview of their immediate surroundings, which means that if you see one, it can most definitely see you as well. This will give you a chance to have a closer look at one of the Phirian’s most prominent features - its arms.
Phirians are actually pretty chill when you are not around...
While the left arm of this abomination would be enough to deter most people from ever wanting to deal with the Phirian, it is the right arm that takes the spotlight. Yes, that’s a sword. Yes, it’s bigger than your sword. No, running away will not help you. Despite being almost 10 meters tall, Phirian’s signature attack is a blisteringly quick dash towards the target, accompanied by a powerful thrust of the sword arm right through the victim. This is preceded by a short preparation period when the Phirian coils its body up in order to get the most strength out of its horrendously long and muscular body. If you can spot that, you can also avoid the strike.
...but if you are around they are going to slash you into pieces, also destroying everything along the way.
The entire upper body of the creature is covered with thick armor-like plates, meaning you will need to work really hard to punch through. Gather all the samples that you find and make sure to use the bioscanner to find the Phirians’ weaknesses. You will need every edge possible in order to combat these creatures. Luckily for you, it doesn’t seem like these creatures’ population is that big and it is highly unlikely you will meet them in larger groups. If that happens, do the reasonable thing - just teleport back to base, pack your bags and go home ASAP.
Just kidding. As long as you don’t allow yourself to get cornered, Mr. Riggs’ equipment and weapons will take down even the toughest creatures you could find on Galatea 37. They may be scary. They may be ugly. They may be gross. But they are no match for you. You are The Riftbreaker, the best of the best, and the entire world is counting on you. Do them proud.
Cannon Fodder!
Hello Riftbreakers!
For the longest time our gameplay videos and news articles had one (well, three, to be accurate) things in common - the enemies. We had a small unit in the form of Canoptrix, a slightly larger, range attacking Arachnoid and the beefy Hammeroceroses. This trio was quite enough for us to test our ideas and the initial mission design - especially since we were confined to the jungle biome only. As the game expands, so does our bestiary, including the basic cannon fodder. They seem a little less important than bigger creatures, but don’t be fooled by their small size. They are a very important part of the game design and they take the spotlight today.
They might be small, but they are not safe to be around.
Each biome has its own type of small, close-combat creature that’s a counterpart of our good old friend, the rabid space doggo - Canoptrix. However, they are not carbon copies of each other with a slightly different model. All the small species have their own characteristics, posing a different kind of challenge for Ashley and Mr. Riggs. Make sure to collect samples and visit the Bestiary to learn how to approach them. Enough of beating around the bush, release the gremlins!
KILL THEM WITH FIRE!
Galatean deserts are home to Mushbits. They are insects, living in large colonies and always appearing in packs. These creatures have developed remarkable survival mechanisms to withstand the scorching heat and radiation of their home biome. Mushbits are incredibly quick, giving them a significant advantage over other species while fighting over territory or food. Yes, that includes you - trying to outrun these creatures is doomed to fail. Mushbits’ bodies are covered with an exoskeleton that grants them protection from heat and radiation. Their claws are also made of the same material - it’s razor-sharp, but also quite brittle. Physical damage should do the trick.
Granans jump with joy every time they see you!
Let’s travel to a different part of the planet - the Acid Biome. Life has found a way to adapt to this area quite well and the area is teeming with plants, mushrooms, and animals, including Granans. They are happy little critters that skip around the place using their two short legs. One of their most prominent features is the bioluminescent appendix on the top of Granans’ heads. It is used to lure small animals into the Granan’s giant maw. As if hundreds of teeth were not scary enough, these creatures can also spit acid, albeit at a short range. Better equip Mr. Riggs with some protective armor. On the plus side, Granans don’t handle fire too well, which cannot be said about our next species…
KILL THEM WITH FIRE! Oh, shoot, doesn't work on these guys...
Morirots dwell in the rocky Magma Biome. They are completely resistant to fire and heat, which makes sense, given that they live in areas of high volcanic activity. For a creature this small, they are really tough, so you should fight them only when it is absolutely necessary. And it will be necessary. They are a very aggressive species and will do whatever it takes to get rid of your presence in their domain. We heard good things about cryo mods, you might want to give them a try to make fighting with them a little easier.
...and they just keep coming...
Each creature we showed you today comes in three flavors, from the most basic one to the heavily beefed up Ultra version. All in all, these creatures might be small, but they are the bread and butter of the attack waves and almost all combat scenarios in The Riftbreaker. Do not forget about them while preparing your defenses. Don’t forget about the streams every Tuesady and Thursday, either! We go live at 3 PM CEST on www.twitch.tv/exorstudios. Join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios to receive notifications about them.
Research part 2: ALIENS!
Hello Riftbreakers!
On Wednesday we published a news piece about our research tree redesign. Once again your feedback on the Prologue and streams has given us plenty of valuable information on how to improve the game. That knowledge and a dash of our own new ideas evolved into the research system that is very close to what we can call a ‘release candidate’. However, there is still some work ahead of us and we haven’t told you everything about the system just yet. Today we will dive deeper into the secrets of Alien Research!
Alien research is the third 'tab' of our research tree.
It’s been an ongoing meme that Ashley uses bullets and rockets to ‘investigate’ and ‘research’ the local fauna and flora. We’ve had plenty of lines of dialogue that suggested the importance of gathering alien samples for future experiments. Now the memes become reality and all the specimen samples that drop from fallen enemies have their purpose. Collecting samples of extraterrestrial organisms will unlock access to entirely new technologies for Ash to use during her mission on Galatea 37.
An intense research session.
The samples you gather are analyzed in the Laboratory. We showed this building to you some time ago. Laboratory works in conjunction with your existing Communication Hubs. The results of experiments conducted in the Lab are uploaded back to Houston, where teams of scientists and engineers develop new blueprints for equipment that further enhance Mr. Riggs and your base. These new inventions range from Environmental Shielding modules, designed to protect you from hazardous conditions, to entirely new weapons, such as Gravity Grenades or Railguns.
You won't find toys like these anywhere on Earth.
In order to start researching alien technologies, you need to gather enough samples of an alien species. They do not drop often, so you will need something to track your progress. That’s where the Bestiary screen comes in. Here’s what it looks like:
Oooops, we seem to have leaked a creature... Or did we? Perhaps we showed it to you before but no one noticed?
The Bestiary records your encounters with alien species and counts the number of specimen samples you collected. The higher the number of samples, the higher your Familiarity Level. Familiarity Levels unlock additional information about the species, such as their statistics, weaknesses, resistances and possible loot drops. These levels are also required to gain access to new technologies in the Alien Research category.
If you are not a fan of decimating the alien population of Galatea 37 there is another way of collecting samples - the Bioscanner. It is a non-invasive device that allows Ashley to scan creatures from a safe distance and synthesize samples on the basis of the scan results. It is especially useful in the case of very rare creatures - they do not appear in large numbers and killing them does not guarantee a useful sample. By scanning the aliens first you give yourself two chances at finding out something noteworthy. The same goes for non-aggressive species. There’s no need to kill these innocent creatures. Just scan them and be on your way.
I said there was NO need to kill them, you maniac!
That’s a lot of information to drop on you at once, huh? Do you know what the best part is? These are not just concepts. We have all of these features working in the game already! We are going to update our Alpha with the new Research System soon, so be on the lookout for that! Additionally, you can always drop by on the stream to see how it all plays out in real gameplay situations. Follow us on www.twitch.tv/exorstudios and join www.discord.gg/exorstudios not to miss a beat.
Research System Revamped, part 1
Hello Riftbreakers!
This week we would like to show you one of the major changes we introduced to The Riftbreaker in the past couple of weeks. Ever since we let you play the game in the form of the Prologue or the closed Alpha you have been giving us tons of feedback about the Research screen. We read all of your suggestions and spent hours thinking about how to make it right. The result is a complete overhaul of our research system. Those of you who joined our stream in the past month have already seen it in action (we stream every Tuesday and Thursday, 3 PM CEST, by the way). Now we’re taking a closer look at it.
You can click the image to view the full-resolution version. The visual design is mostly done, but the order of unlocks and everything else is not final and will change before the release.
The Communications Hub doesn't seem too important, but if you want to develop your base, you will have to protect and upgrade this building at all costs.
Our initial version of the research screen was a simple list of blueprints that Ashley can download using the Communications Hub. It was quite easy to navigate both using a gamepad and the mouse + keyboard combination, but it had its issues. It was not easy to see the relations between various research items. To combat this we have moved, as many of you suggested, from the ‘list’ style research screen to a more visual representation of technology development in the form of a tree. Now it is much easier to see which research items are related and what their requirements are.
The old style of our research tree was easy to navigate, but difficult to understand.
This style also makes it easier for us to clearly show you technology tiers. Most of the available research options are now connected directly to Headquarters upgrades, showing that the HQ is not just a building you respawn at after ‘accidentally’ aggroing half the planet’s population. The Headquarters level is the focus of your base development, as it gives you access to more advanced research opportunities. Completing them will give you a better chance of surviving tough missions in other regions of the planet by giving your infrastructure and equipment a much-needed boost.
There's nothing stopping you from rushing out some key technologies if you like. Example chosen for no particular reason.
Naturally, it is not necessary to research all of the technologies in any given tier. If any of the research options do not fit your playstyle you can skip them completely. In the previous version of the research system, it was a risky move since you had no way of knowing whether you are locking your path to a technology you would actually want to use. With the research tree redesign, it is now possible to study all the possibilities, plan ahead, and download only the blueprints that are relevant to you.
That’s quite enough information for now. Join us on Friday for the second part of this article, where we are going to tell you more about the research tabs, as well as alien research and… The Bestiary Screen! If you can’t wait until Friday, you can join us at www.twitch.tv/exorstudios tomorrow at 3PM CEST and see all the new developments live. Also don’t forget to join our Discord - www.discord.gg/exorstudios.
See you on Friday!
Easter Break
Hello!
Spring is in full force here for us in Poland. It’s warm, sunny, the flowers are blooming, which also means that Easter is coming! Although this year’s celebration of this holiday is still taking place in the looming shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our team are taking a couple of days off. We’re going to use this time to rest and clear our heads before taking on the final challenges of The Riftbreaker project.
To everyone reading this, whether you celebrate Easter or not, we wish you and everyone around you safety and good health.
This week we won’t be posting any articles and we won’t have a stream tomorrow. However, we have a couple of nice surprises waiting for you after we come back. We know for sure that at least one of them will get you excited for things to come!
Happy Easter! EXOR Studios
New Creature Reveal: Hedroner
Hello everyone!
On Wednesday we showed you one of the creatures that are new to the game, but were ‘spoiled’ a little bit during our streams. Today we have a completely new one, never seen before and fresh from underneath the painter’s brush and the coder’s keyboard. The hero of this article is a nasty cross between Hedorah, a pile of mud, and The Groke from Moomins (if you have no idea what it is, you had a much happier childhood than I did). These things are called Hedroners. Get acquainted, you will see these guys a lot.
As usual, we kick things off with a size comparison between Hedroner variants and Mr. Riggs.
Hedroners are large and slow creatures. Their bodies have very few distinctive features - apart from the arms, claw-like hands and the giant, gruesome maw you can’t really tell which part is which. The creatures move around by sliding on the ground with considerable effort, which suggests that their bodies are really dense and massive. This fact comes into play a lot when trying to take a Hedroner down - regular bullets simply get lodged in its gelatinous body and seem to do very little in terms of stopping the beast.
They are so cute!
Hedroners spend most of their time around pools of liquids scattered across Galatea 37. In fact, most of the time you meet this creature in the wild, it will materialize straight up from the pool itself. Are they a really strange species, or perhaps the manifestation of the Galatean ecosystem fighting back against your exploits? You will have to gather samples and find out yourself, but it won’t be easy. If you manage to take a Hedroner down, It is highly probable that it will dissolve into a puddle of whatever they came out from.
Animations and state transitions are still 'work in progress'.
Our sludgy friends will fight you both with melee and ranged attacks. In close-quarters situations, they will flail their massive arms and try to slap you back to where you came from. When given the opportunity, Hedroners will utilize their strength to fling rocks at you and your base structures, making them dangerous even if you keep your distance. Moreover, Hedroners are not ‘bound’ to the resource pools they crawl out of. They will often attack your base along with other creatures during the regular attack waves. Ready your lasers and set them to ‘vaporize’.
Use Mr. Riggs' nimble movement skills to avoid attacks. Hedroners are not too big of a threat solo. They get much worse, when they come to your base!
You will get to see a lot of new creatures and features very soon, we can promise you that. Stay tuned, follow the news here and on Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios. Also, make sure to join our streams at www.twitch.tv/exorstudios every Tuesday and Thursday at 3 PM CEST.
New Creature Reveal: Kermon
Hi!
After a couple of weeks without much news, we are back with another portion of updates from development. We’re sorry for the break in content delivery. We promise we spent that time well and you will be able to see the results in April. We have loads of announcements to make. Follow closely! Let’s kick off this week’s news cycle with a reveal of a new creature. If you’re an avid viewer of our streams you’re probably familiar with this one - it’s Kermon.
All Kermon variants compared to Mr. Riggs.
Kermons are humanoid creatures that could serve as the definition of an apex predator. They live and hunt in small groups, targeting animals of all species as their prey. There is no direct evidence as of yet to confirm their ability to communicate with each other, but their cooperation and teamwork strongly suggest that. Kermons ambush creatures of all sizes and take them down with ease using their razor-sharp forearm blades. Seeing a pack of dismembered Canoptix should put you on high alert because you might be next.
Kermons are very aggressive and try to kill all creatures they encounter just for sport.
Getting sliced in half or being made into a giant, robotic kebab will be the least of your worries, as these creatures can also turn invisible at will. Well, not exactly invisible - Kermons employ an advanced camouflage technique that makes them almost entirely transparent. Noticing them in that state is very difficult, but not impossible. You can see a slight distortion of the image in the area occupied by a cloaked Kermon, comparable to vibrations of the air on a hot day. Additionally, their bodies still affect what’s around them. If you see grass or bushes bending on their own, run or prepare to fight.
Invisibility deliberately turned off. Kermons are not as tough as they look, but then again, nukes solve most problems.
Luckily, it’s not difficult to break Kermons’ stealth - they become visible every time they are attacking or taking damage. If you suspect that a Kermon is around the corner, fire off a burst from your minigun or sweep the area with the flamethrower. That should reveal any nasty, unwanted surprises you might have otherwise walked right into. Trust us on this one, we learned to do it the hard way!
Again with invisibility off. Kermons' strength lies in burst damage and surprise factor. As long as you don't get caught by them you are fine.
Who knows what researching these creatures might lead to? Well, we do, but we won’t tell you just yet. Are you looking forward to meeting Kermons in the wild? If you are, then we don’t know what to say other than that we are concerned. You have no survival instinct. It’s okay though, your Mecha-suit will keep you alive, but try to be more careful next time... If you enjoyed this little article, there is a chance you will enjoy our biweekly streams as well - we’re live every Tuesday and Thrusday at 3 PM CET (we’re shifting to CEST next week, mind you) on www.twitch.tv/exorstudios. You can also catch us on Discord - www.discord.gg/exorstudios.
See you there!
Rocket and Plasma Towers
Hello everyone!
The stronger the tower, the more muzzles it has. Facts.
Another week, another portion of news from The Riftbreaker camp! For the past couple of weeks, we haven’t been as active here as we usually are, but we have a good reason for that. There is a new trailer coming your way with LOADS of great new content. We have finished recording all the scenes and the post-production should wrap up in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed! Here’s a sneak peek at some of the new content you will be able to find in the upcoming video: even more new towers!
Midrange attackers stand no chance against the power of rockets!
The Rocket Tower fills the void between the Artillery Tower and more short-ranged solutions. These new defensive towers use explosive projectiles (as the name suggests) but fire them in a straight line towards the target. This way when the initial target moves away from its initial position that the tower was aiming at, the rocket still has a decent chance to hit some enemies coming towards your walls. The splash damage from the explosions is a nice addition as well, allowing the Rocket Tower to take down a couple of smaller targets at once. Compared to the Artillery the downside here is that you won’t be able to hit the targets further in the back. The key is to find the right balance between these two types. When you do, you are in for a great spectacle of alien blood, gibs, and explosions.
We may not have disco lights (yet), but we have shiny Plasma Towers.
The next tower we have for you today is the Plasma Tower. It’s a high rate-of-fire defensive structure that uses the energy from your power grid to create its own ammunition. During intense combat scenarios that usually means a big spike in the power consumption for your base you have to account for. However, the firepower you get for your trouble is really worth it. The plasma cells fired by these towers deal a lot of damage and since the fire rate is really high it is not a problem for the Plasma Tower to switch between targets on the fly. It is a high-cost and high-maintenance weapon, but with an all-purpose spectrum of uses. We’re sure it will be a common sight in your bases!
Plasma towers keep pew-pew-pewing until they have nothing to pew-pew-pew at anymore.
Both of the defensive tower variations we presented to you today are available in 3 power levels. Getting access to each of these levels will require additional research, so it’s a bit of an investment, but it will pay off really quickly. We hope you enjoyed this little presentation of the new tech available in The Riftbreaker. More information is always available on our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios and during our streams on www.twitch.tv/exorstudios - every Tuesday and Thursday at 3 PM CET. We have been doing some live testing of the new research tree lately, so check out the VODs if you’re interested in that and leave us a follow to get notified when we go live.
