Development Update (v.25.2)

Steam Changelog

# A note from the developers

One of the major themes of FOREWARNED has been the concept of risk vs. reward. Players can venture as deep (or as little) into the ruins as they'd like, with their earned rewards reflecting the risk taken while surviving the dangers of the tomb. This update adds content to further epitomize this theme and empower players to decide whether to depart with the treasure they have, or venture deeper than ever before and risk it all for greater rewards! We've also implemented changes designed to promote a smoother starting experience for newer players, while still providing players who seek extra challenges with the options to experience them as well with increased rewards.

Thank you for your continued support! We'd love to hear your feedback in our official Discord.

# Changes

## New Gameplay Mechanic - BANISHMENT RITUAL

While players can still choose to take the relic back to the jeep and escape, you now have the option to descend further into the ruins to perform a banishment ritual on the Mejai, offering an alternative method of completing the expedition for significantly increased rewards and challenges.

The means to perform the ritual can be found during your explorations as well as within transcribed lore pages, therefore, we encourage players to experience these new changes first-hand. However, for those interested in reading about the changes ahead of time:

* All ruins now possess a lower level. Activating the blue escape lever will also unlock entry into the lower level where the ritual chamber can be found.
* Starting the ritual requires several items to be placed on the altar in the ritual chamber. This includes the relic, canopic jars (found throughout the ruins), and the ushabti.
* The ushabti is obtained by completing a unique, randomly-generated puzzle room found in the tomb's lower level. Each of these puzzles possesses a solution that is dynamically generated at runtime.

## New Map and Tomb Variation

A new outdoor environment, Sobek Oasis, has been added. This map has both nighttime and daytime versions, with a brand new procedurally generated map style within the ruins.

* 25 new rooms, including 5 new dangerous trap rooms
* New tomb door style and lighting within the ruins
* New ambience and sound effects
* New enemy type lurking throughout
* New objectives unique to the ruins

## New Gameplay Mechanic - BLESSING OF OSIRIS

After much debate, Osiris has convinced Anubis to grant fallen archaeologists the opportunity to return to life and redeem themselves, thereby introducing the Blessing of Osiris mechanic to the game. Specifically, when players die, this mechanic will allow the option to pass through Osiris' gate and return to life as a human player instead of an undead mummy. Note that this path can only be taken once per round - dying a second time will place your fate in Anubis' hands once again.

The Blessing of Osiris mechanic can be toggled on or off as a room option. Successfully completing a round with this option disabled will grant additional gold and experience, scaled per difficulty level.

* Easy: +5% bonus gold and experience
* Normal: +10% bonus gold and experience
* Hard: +15% bonus gold and experience
* Brutal: +20% bonus gold and experience

**Developer Note:**
*Similar to the timer rework in our last major update, the idea behind this change is to give more control to players in regards to their experience with the game's overall difficulty and mitigate frustrations for newer players attempting to progress and familiarize themselves with the gameplay. Those seeking the classic challenge of FOREWARNED can continue to play with this option disabled, now with increased rewards.*

## New Tools

* Divining Rod
	+ The long-awaited divining rod is now in stock in the shop! When activated, this powerful tool will serve as your guide while traversing the ruins, briefly rotating towards the nearest collectible treasure such as gold, lore pages, and rare artifacts. Be warned - using this tool will anger the Mejai, so use it sparingly... Upgrades can be purchased to decrease the cooldown time and enhance the tool in other ways.
* Medkit
	+ A new default item, the medkit, can be used once per round to restore health. The kit can be used either on oneself or on a teammate in close proximity. It can be upgraded up to level V to restore higher amounts of health per level. Medkits can be toggled on or off as a room option. Successfully completing a round with medkits disabled will grant additional gold and experience, scaled per difficulty level.
		- Easy: +3% bonus gold and experience
		- Normal: +6% bonus gold and experience
		- Hard: +9% bonus gold and experience
		- Brutal: +12% bonus gold and experience

**Developer Note:**
*This introduces another way for players to control their experience with the game's difficulty. Players who appreciate a health restoration mechanic now have it, while those seeking the extra challenge of playing without medkits can disable them for increased rewards.*

## New Treasure and Rewards

* As an added motivation for players to retrieve the Mejai's relic, upon successfully completing an expedition with the relic, a bonus gold multiplier will now apply to your total gold collected during the round, with higher difficulties applying greater rewards.
	+ Easy: +25% bonus gold
	+ Normal: +50% bonus gold
	+ Hard: +75% bonus gold
	+ Brutal: +100% bonus gold
* Successfully completing the banishment ritual will result in an even greater gold multiplier bonus:
	+ Easy: +125% bonus gold
	+ Normal: +150% bonus gold
	+ Hard: +175% bonus gold
	+ Brutal: +200% bonus gold
* Each time players successfully complete the banishment ritual, a new collectible type will be earned – an ushabti. In Ancient Egypt, these small figurines were often buried within tombs for the purpose of performing service on the deceased’s behalf in the land of the dead. There are 50 unique ushabti to collect, all of which will appear in your archaeological study with the rest of your collections as you progress. Note that ushabti are retained even if you prestige.
* The jeep now has room for players to place recovered documents and ancient treasure found during expeditions. Just like the relic, these items must be placed in the back of your jeep. Successfully doing so will grant a large portion of XP and gold when completing the round, with increased amounts rewarded per map size and quantity gathered.
* Five new achievements have been added to the game related to the banishment ritual.

## Gold Rework

Gold has been reworked in a few ways to help address community feedback on the existing mechanics.

* The gold collection objective is no longer pile-based. Instead, players will now be tasked with collecting a certain number of pieces throughout the ruins. The minimum amount required to collect will scale with difficulty.
* The previous concept of “objective” gold piles vs. “non-objective” gold piles is no longer applicable as all gold found within the ruins will count towards the objective.
* With the above point in place, the Team Split loot sharing mode will act as intended and split all gold collected by the team evenly. The Finder’s Keepers mode will continue to behave as designed.
* The more gold you and your team collect, the greater XP bonus you’ll earn. Collecting 100% of the tomb’s gold during an expedition will grant an even larger XP bonus.

## Additional New Content

* Players can now access all of their settings at any time while on an expedition using a newly designed settings menu found within the PDA. Mummy players now also have the ability to adjust their settings.
* Further sound control has been added in the game, allowing the volume of ambience, sound effects, and music to be adjusted at any time.
* Implemented a new interaction framework for generic items, in which PC players can pick up certain objects in their off-hand while continuing to hold and use a tool in their primary hand. VR players can continue to pick up such items in either hand.
* The archaeological study lobby has received several renovations, including a new room to house all relics and new ushabti collectibles. Many items throughout can also now be picked up.
* Given its importance to puzzles and counteracting certain Mejai, the Tablet is now a default tool.
* To signify the physical manifestation of the Mejai, prior to spawning, a visual effect will now occur for a few moments in the spot where the Mejai will appear
* Slightly increased the spawn-in time for Mejai after entering the inner tomb on Hard and Brutal difficulties
* Added additional variety to Ouphris' inventory when roaming in physical form
* The tutorial has been modified for clarity and additional information useful to new players
* Lore pages #88 and #100 have been modified to reflect the banishment ritual
* Interactive treasure chests have been added throughout all ruin variations
* Introduced 30+ new sound effects that the Mejai’s spirit can make for greater variety. Additionally, optimized the audio clips themselves.
* Applied visual effect improvements to fire stands, wall torches, and the handheld torch
* Interaction prompt tooltips will no longer show on levers that have already been activated.
* Performed thorough network optimizations to reduce latency and mitigate disconnections
* Improved volumetric lighting for the rare artifact display cases in the archaeological study
* Added a new means to cross an area previously impassable. When there’s a will, there’s a way.
* Added color variety to the objective monitor text to help visually distinguish / split up tasks
* A notification has been added upon falling below a certain health threshold for checking your smart watch, which displays the player's current health status
* Improved the menu UI of the lobby menu display for non-English languages
* Improved the material on the inner tomb's red button
* Improved the mouse sensitivity slider in the Controls menu for greater flexibility
* Minimized the verbiage of some hover tooltips to keep the language concise and the UI minimal
* Applied a new skybox to the Crypt of the Great Pyramid map

# Fixes

* Fixed an issue in which gold would not drop if a player disconnected from the game during an expedition
* Fixed an issue that allowed sarcophagi to be toggled while in a moving state
* Fixed issues that could cause certain objects to desync between players
* Fixed an issue with Necreph and Talgor’s pathing in tomb variation #3
* Fixed an issue that allowed ambient sound effects to play back-to-back
* Fixed an issue where phenomena would not get invoked after inner tomb entry
* Fixed an issue that would cause level I flashlights and headlamps to produce less light and range than intended
* Fixed an issue in which fire stands were not expiring after a certain amount of time
* Fixed an issue where players would not be shown a disconnect message on the lobby menu when disconnecting during an expedition
* Fixed an issue where XP would display inconsistently on the results screen due to certain tasks completion status not resetting between rounds
* Fixed an issue where Mejai could potentially spawn too close to players
* Fixed an issue where the Radar Sensor tool would not visually reflect its current upgrade level
* Fixed an issue with the inner tomb past-excavation note not appearing in tomb variation #3
* Fixed an issue related to capturing evidence of past explorations and the Mejai's spiritual rage value
* Fixed an issue with lighting the torch while swapping inventory items
* Improved certain font assets for crisper appearances
* Fixed an issue that caused inconsistent reflections off of certain materials
* Fixed an issue related to shadows cast by certain items like tools and relics
* Fixed an issue where players who launch the game in offline mode receive overlaid menu screens
* Fixed an issue with the expedition Timer that could result in several bugs with the objective system