Major Development Update (v.65.1) - Spectral Awakening

Steam Changelog

# A note from the developers

The FOREWARNED: Spectral Awakening
major content update is here! The past few development updates focused on improving the existing experience, including visual overhauls, AI enhancements, expedition modifiers, and many quality of life changes. Our next focus introduced in this update has been filling the tombs with increased scares and immersion via new environmental events and new interactions between the Mejai's spirit and player, designed to add further unpredictability and uniqueness to each expedition. This update also comes with the long-awaited TNT
item, core gameplay changes, treasure improvements, and more!

Please share your feedback and suggestions in our official Discord!

# Changes

## New Spirit Interactivity

While previously believed to be relatively passive, the Mejai's spirit has grown further enraged by the countless desecrations of its tomb. This anger has empowered the Mejai's spiritual form to have a more active role during the investigation phase of your expeditions...

* The Mejai spirit's appearance has evolved into a more terrifying, corporeal embodiment
* Its AI has been improved in a number of ways to make it more intelligent, including its movement and general behavior when haunting the tomb
* It will make itself more known during the investigation phase of your expeditions and has grown more protective of its tomb, not taking kindly to desecrations of any kind
* The spirit has a variety of newfound abilities, including the ability to interact more with the environment and props within the tombs
* In addition to environmental interactions, the spirit now has several additional ways of interacting directly with players, including moving them, causing them to suffer hallucinations, and more...
* Improved the pacing/cooldowns of ambient sounds, spirit effects, and phenomena
* The spirit's audio methodology has been improved to reduce possible repeat sounds it makes during an expedition

Developer Note:
*While the Mejai's physical manifestation phase is generally considered the most tense part of each expedition, we wanted to add further excitement to the investigation phase to bolster replayability and keep players more on edge. Both environmental events and spirit/player interaction events have been implemented in a way to respect the game's pace, avoiding events occurring too close together, repetitively, or after too long of nothing happening. Players diving in to this update can look forward to discovering over 75 unique ghost events. Given this, each expedition should feel more exciting and unpredictable, with the possibility of experiencing something brand new each time.*

## New Tool: TNT

Have you been missing that certain spark in your life? Do you want to break down barriers getting in the way of your success? Look no further than Archeobay's latest in-stock item, TNT! This explosive new tool is a blast, capable of demolishing obstacles, halting danger, and more!

* Players now have the ability to purchase TNT in the shop, a one-use item per expedition. (Your TNT replenishes at the start of each new expedition; you will not need to re-purchase it)
* TNT can be used to demolish cracked walls, allowing you to access new areas. Be warned, while these sealed areas likely have more treasure, there may be additional threats to watch out for...
* TNT can also be used to deter or even eliminate certain threats altogether. Seek cover before setting it off!
* Due to its destructive nature, the Mejai's spirit will become further enraged when it's used

## Gameplay Tweaks

A few changes have been made to the core gameplay loop to help deliver the best experience for new players and veteran players alike. Specifically, the game will better scale in terms of difficulty as players ascend from level 1 onwards to ensure the game remains appropriately challenging while also respecting the chosen difficulty setting.

* Previously, the Mejai would immediately begin to physically manifest when players entered the inner tomb. With this update, the Mejai will now only begin to physically manifest once the relic has been picked up
* for the first time. This will give players time to explore the inner tomb at their own pace while preparing to overcome the Mejai, and also fits better with the lore
* More dynamic behavior has been added to the blue escape lever spawn-in methodology, including taking into account player positioning within the tomb. This will help mitigate cases where it spawns at the furthest possible spot away, while also reducing cases where it is made too easy by spawning right outside the inner tomb. Overall, this change is designed to make the physical manifestation stage of the expedition more exciting and balanced between expeditions
* For expeditions with more experienced players and on higher difficulties, canopic jars/keys will be more likely to spawn in challenging locations, such as behind puzzle/trap rooms instead of chests located in simpler locations. To balance this, the number of possible empty chests has been reduced
* For newer players, the entrance to the tomb's lower level leading to the ritual chamber will now always be connected to the start room. The nearby note has also been reworded for clarity regarding the ritual itself. Additionally, when the tomb entrance has been unsealed after Mejai manifestation, the archways to the lower level will glow. These changes are intended to help players discover the banishment ritual portion of the gameplay loop earlier on, which we notice sometimes gets entirely missed by those new to the game!
* The inner tomb note related to Mejai names will now display in a more dynamic manner depending on player level, in which veteran players will refer to the research notes in their PDA

## Treasure Changes

We've made what we believe to be the final pass on the way treasure collection works, keeping the best parts of the existing system while boosting the intuitiveness and fun of collecting everything.

* Treasure found in the ruins and turned in to the treasure collection tray will now also appear in your lobby's trophy room
* Rare artifacts no longer "spin and float" off the ground, but instead can be picked up and brought to the treasure collection tray
* The rare artifact spawn chance has been greatly increased, making each tomb much more likely to have at least one per expedition
* Rare artifacts / treasure have been given a subtle additional glow effect to make it easier for players to distinguish them over regular props
* Lore pages also no longer spin and float, but have now instead become the hieroglyphic documents. That is, turning in hieroglyphic documents to the collection tray will now count as lore collected
* Note that the previous gold/XP rewards for collecting treasure/hieroglyphic pages are unchanged, so you will still receive the same bonuses for collecting them
* When hieroglyphic documents and treasure are picked up for the first time, new players will receive a hint as to their purpose
* The trophy room has received newly designed display cases more fitting to the room aesthetic and capable of holding all 24 rare artifacts/treasures

## Additional Changes

* The inner tomb has been made more epic within each map variation, befitting the resting place of the Mejai's sacred relic
* When players respawn as mummies, they now have a new passive skill that allows them to see where any living players currently are in the tomb
* When players are submerged in water for too long, new visual and audio effects will now occur to better convey that they are drowning
* The Zealots of Akar have received improved materials and textures
* Attempting to swing an unlit torch will now first perform the "ignite" action, lighting the torch
* Updated the lobby display with an option to show/hide private lobbies
* When canopic jars are picked up for the first time, new players will receive a hint as to their purpose
* Added Marker Flag and TNT journal entries to the PDA's Tools section
* Made the "Leave Game" button text more obvious in the PDA settings menu
* Performed further network optimizations, especially during round ending

# Fixes

* Fixed an issue in which switching from a good mummy to evil mummy, or vice versa, would retain the previous mummy type's powers and UI
* Fixed an issue with a visible gap in the ground outside the lobby area
* Fixed issues related to VR teleport areas
* Fixed an issue with Necreph being unable to kill players after players die via incorrect Mejai guess
* Fixed an issue in which VR players could lose the ability to interact with their lighters/flags/headlamps
* Fixed an issue in which mummy player screams/footsteps could no longer be heard when respawning more than once as a mummy
* Fixed an issue where doors wouldn't swing after release of a VR player
* Fixed an issue in which an expedition room would still appear in the lobby menu even if everyone left
* Fixed an issue with Marker Flags not resetting to Level I when prestiging
* Fixed an issue with shadow casting on a few items
* Fixed an issue in which good player mummies couldn't use levers in a certain case

# Hotfix v.65.5

## Changes

* Treasure and lore pages that have yet to be collected by everyone in the group are now further prioritized when spawning
* Public lobbies will now always appear first in the lobby list

## Fixes

* Fixed issues related to artifact/treasure spawning, including duplicate artifacts and more than 2 appearing during one expedition
* Fixed an issue in which gold found within hidden TNT areas skewed the required gold collection objective
* Fixed an issue with missing radar floors in certain TNT areas
* Fixed an issue on tomb variation #1 with the TNT room walls sticking through the steps of the start room

# Hotfix v.65.6

## Fixes

* Fixed an issue with the appearance of the Chalice treasure in the collection display
* Fixed an issue that could still cause duplicate treasures for players approaching a full collection
* Fixed an issue that could result in a missing room in tomb variation #3
* Fixed an issue with objectives related to rare treasures, in which the objective for collecting them would still appear even if none spawned in
* Fixed an issue where the lower level archway would glow even when the incorrect Mejai was guessed