Chernobylite Complete Edition News

Please note that below you will only find a list of "important stuff" changes. Additionally, in the patch you will find over 500 tweaks, fixes and quality of life improvements that are impossible to list.

We are entering the final phase of the project, expanding the testing team and digging up old topics (also resulting from your feedback) that we have not been able to deal with before. The game gets better every day.



Some of the most important new stuff will be the missions! We have added two new ones, Hard Truth and Black Stalker, thanks to which you will be able to learn more about the story of two key characters and discover some deeply buried secrets.

If you thought that the weapons arsenal in Chernobylite could not be expanded anymore, we have a message for you: it is possible and we even did. The Chernobylite Blaster and Anti-Chernobylite Burner will expand your possibilities in the Zone. How? You will have to see for yourselves!



The new additions are also levels, which will have a great impact on how you will understand the whole plot and what you will choose in the future. These are “Stealing Ariadna’s technology” and “The Woman in the Red Dress”.

Besides mentioned above, we've also made some requested improvements to make your life easier while playing Chernobylite. One of them is the ability to load the game save from the last checkpoint during a pause from the menu. Thanks to this solution, you will be able to avoid any unpleasantness during the game...



In line with your suggestions, we've added the ability to disable both the entire interface and its individual elements. Of course, we will continue to improve this feature.

[h3]So, here's the list[/h3]
Changelog:

Content Additions:

• New quest: Hard Truth (part of Olivier's chain)
  
• New quest: Black Stalker (part of Olga's chain)
  
• New weapon: Chernobylite Blaster (surprise!)
  
• New throwing weapon: Anti-Chernobylite Burner (another surprise!)
  
• New level: Fractal World “The Woman in the Red Dress”. It is the conclusion of a new investigation on the board.
  
• New level: Stealing Adrianna's technology (not a big deal, but many of you have asked how exactly Igor got the VR helmet, so we decided to expand this thread)
  
• New story character: Konstanty (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
  
• New story character: Locksmith (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
  
• New story character: Semyon (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
  
• All levels have been filled with lots of new events. There are over 40 of them in total.
  
• All levels have been extended with additional locations that you can access using Anti-Chernobylite Burner
  
• We have added the ability to upgrade magazines for all weapons. Each change has a huge impact on the operation of the weapon and the animations. We've also added few other minor upgrades.
  

Technology improvements:

• You can now load the last checkpoint from the pause menu. Thanks to this, some bugs should stop being so terrible anymore…
  
• We greatly optimized the sound in the game. People with weak CPUs should experience a significant increase in FPS
  

Improvements/Additions:

• We've greatly improved how soldiers behave when patrolling and searching for a player.
  
• Black Stalker's AI has been finalized and balanced. Now, fighting him is a real challenge.
  
• We improved the dialogue system and added character portraits to it. You can adjust it to your preferences through the game options.
  
• Now enemies are marked on the compass when we hit them or are hit by them.
  
• We improved the indicators that appear during the fight - some of them were given a more immersive form, and some were visually adapted to the rest of the UI.
  
• We improved the weapon upgrade system. Now it should be more interesting and dynamic. The whole thing has also been carefully balanced and should have an even wider and more visible impact on the game.
  
• We improved the tab UI with Igor's skills.
  
• All tab UIs should be comfortable and intuitive to use with the mouse.
  
• We've revised all the in-game tutorials to be clearer and take into account all the mechanics we've introduced over the past months.
  

Redesign, balance and feedback:

• In accordance with your numerous requests, we have added the ability to disable both the entire UI and its specific elements. We will continue to refine these functions to give you even more freedom.
  
• You said that in the later stages of the game, the size of the base makes it practically impossible to expand it. So we enlarged it with an area that was previously flooded with water.
  
• We have completely rebuilt the looting system. Now, what your opponents drop should be interesting and better suited to the challenge.
  
• We have balanced the view ranges of the opponents and how they react to the sounds made by the player. Now stealth should be more difficult, but also more honest.
  
• How the fractal timeline works was not entirely clear to you, especially when you came across it before completing any story mission. Now you can see not only events that have already happened, but also those that may happen.
  
• You don't really like the possibility of building covers while exploring the zone. So we replaced it with the possibility of building machines that have a global impact on the zone.
  
• Following your request, we've added the ability to toggle aim and crouch, as well as an alternative way to use the Dodge.
  

General:

• The problem with Xinput1_4.dll should no longer occur on Windows 7
  
• We've toned down the amount of radiation that appears on levels over time
  
• Music should now turn down properly in the game options.
  

[h3]Hello stalkers![/h3]
What are you going to say about the next Mega Patch? Yes! It’s right around the corner!
There will be new story characters, new missions (of course), but also with new events which will let you feel even more that the Zone is alive.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/5290000119105789746
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2907595185816845243

That will be the 7th Mega Patch, so there will be only one left to have all the content we’ve promised when we were starting Early Access. And a lot more, as we never limited ourselves to just make what we had on our list - we have made a lot of both large and small changes to the first ideas or mechanics.

Quickly reminder of the last Mega Patch:
https://youtu.be/Xrv1AlrkELI

Today we will talk about two missions that will find their way into the game really soon and also we will answer one of your questions from the recent Q&A. Let’s start!



[h3]Hard truth[/h3]
One of the missions we’ve teased you with last week is “Hard truth”. We can’t call it conclusive for the plot, but it’s really important for further Igor’s decisions (or should we say: your decisions).

The action takes place in the Red Forest, where Igor meets major Kozlov - you may remember him because of some other missions. He’s kind of hard to analyze, as Igor doesn’t know his motives or goals, but this time he may be able to help.



In the Red Forest, Igor can find information about people who are close to him now… or were in the past. Not only this, maybe he’ll learn more about his adversaries, about chernobylite, about the whole purpose of being in the Zone.

But then again, nobody says it will be something he would like to find out. Will the revealed secrets help our main character or will them complicate everything even more? You will have to wait until the new Mega Patch to find out.



[h3]Black Stalker[/h3]
This one will also be available in the Red Forest. What Igor can find about Kozlov and NAR is one thing, but this mission will be really important to him because he will learn more about Black Stalker. So we can say “his worst enemy”.



We can’t spoil you exactly what Igor will encounter, but it will have a lot to do with several aspects of the game. First of all, he’ll discover some additional information about the compound he’s using in his portal gun, chernobylite. It may bring him closer to the truth which he craves to reveal.

Olga will help him a bit, as the mission is a part of her mission chain. She’ll guide him in the right direction, but what will happen after he reaches the goal? You’ll see for yourselves, but let’s just say that even your worst nightmare can have a “human face”.



[h3]About that scanner...[/h3]
You asked why we made the refresh time of the scanner longer. The answer is simple.

Since the premiere, there were many voices that the environment scanner is too powerful and discourages players that feel less joy from exploring. We thought that it was a matter of gameplay balance, which would be impossible to set up reasonably without looking at it in a wider perspective.

When we have a system of experience gathering which works correctly, when the companions can “offer” Igor to teach him all perks, when we’ve changed a bit the balance of crafting by giving you access to the recycler and making the findings in the Zone more plentiful… well, now was the right time to finally work on the scanner’s performance.



[h3]Community content[/h3]
Remember we’re eager to see your crafts! Screenshots, videos, virtual photos - everything that has a connection to our game! Here are links to our social media - we would love to feature selected content that you create:
Facebook fanpage (link)
Twitter account (link)
Instagram account (link)
YouTube channel (link)
Discord server (link)

[h3]So that’s all for this today[/h3]
We hope you’ve enjoyed the news and the assets we’ve shown you!
Take care, stalkers!

[h3]Hello stalkers![/h3]
Last week our Creative Director summed up some of our recent activities and wrote about what’s happening right now, what will in the nearest future. If you missed that Report, read it here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2907595185816845243

[h3]Remodelling dialogue system[/h3]
So do you remember how some of the players told us that the dialogue system could be either better or even completely different? Well, we’ve got to say that we really took your opinions into consideration, so here is a work-in-progress screenshot of a new version of that system:



As always, please note that these images may not show the final version, as we’re still thinking about how to make it even better. Here’s another screenshot showing bit more of “behind the scenes”:



[h3]New missions and stealth[/h3]
That’s just a really small teaser, but we wanted to share that two new missions are getting ready (almost finished, actually) to be implemented in Chernobylite. You know well when that kind of updates happens, so you better pay a lot more attention to our announcements in the nearest future.



From other news, we’re reworking the stealth system to be more balanced, but also more demanding too. We’re testing how the stealth system should work, how it is working when rebalanced, but this isn’t limited to Igor alone. His adversaries will be impacted by these changes too - in example, we’re looking into their “sight” (how far they can see, how well), but also their actions.

[h3]Community content[/h3]
We’re still working on the huge Q&A which we held recently, but this time we want to encourage you to share you Chernobylite content with us!

Here are some examples of our great community work:
Jack1_1Hammer

svid.vp

ChrisinSession

This can include your videos, streams, virtual photos, funny screenshots, etc. So if you want us to, reach out to us! Of course, we can’t promise that we will publish every single image or video we will get, but nonetheless, we will be happy to see how much fun you have with the game!

Here are links to our social media - we would love to feature selected content that you create:
Facebook fanpage (link)
Twitter account (link)
Instagram account (link)
YouTube channel (link)
Discord server (link)

[h3]So that’s all for this today[/h3]
Take care, stalkers!

Hello, stalkers!

It’s only one week until the anniversary of our Early Access launch. We’ll summarize and celebrate it a bit later this month with the delivery of our last Mega Patch, which will be the conclusion of new content pushed to Steam before the final game release.

For now, let’s just pretend that we’re working as always (what’s not necessarily true, because some of us already entered the finalization-craziness-mode where you know, that it’s the last moment to add something to the game before the beta testing starts and the producer tells you “no more changes until new patches”). And this is why the Weekly Report is being written on Saturday because believe me, even chernobylite-driven creatures like we, need to sleep for a few hours per week.

Then what happened last week?

[h3]Chernobylite blaster almost done[/h3]
Yes, soon you’ll be able to shoot the chernobylite-driven energy projectiles into your opponents. As you may see, the gun utilizes the original parts of the Portal Gun that Igor is using constantly throughout his journey. But what are all these crafting workshops for, if you couldn’t turn the portal-opening device into the monster-smashing armament? This is just one of our tributes to classic hard sci-fi books and movies of the 80s, where crazy scientists build the nuclear-powered tools to fight for their salvation. And Igor seems to be a bit crazy, right? Well, that’s not that simple, but you’ll figure this out after you finish playing the main storyline. And most likely you won’t finish it without using this terrific device.



[h3]The Heist mission under construction[/h3]
Believe me, I’m 20 years in the video game development and I have never been working on something so complex as this part of the game. I’m not saying this is the most complicated thing ever designed for a video game. But for sure, with the non-linearity and branching of the previous game sequences, comparing the Heist mission with our previous projects, it’s likely 20 times more sophisticated in design than the whole gameplay loop of Painkiller, 10 times more difficult than the plot of Deadfall Adventures, and at least 5 times more difficult than the design of Get Even endings.



Is it worth all these efforts? We’re very strongly convinced that it is. But it’ll still take quite a time and hard work before we polish it enough to let you enjoy it with the final release of Chernobylite. And before it happens, let’s just focus on facts that we can share without spoiling the juicy story twists.
First of all, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant location is growing every day to let you explore it on your way to the truth. We’ve added many sections of both outdoor and indoor environments, and at top of it, we’ve improved the look of existing objects and added a lot of details to the previously presented Power Plant buildings. Famous Golden Corridors are now having new rooms and windows, letting you see outside of the building, the underground sections are way bigger and more detailed, and many new sub-locations are places all around. To not let you get lost, we’ve taken care of giving you better blueprints of the Power Plant.



[h3]No more “no name/no face” stalkers in the Zone[/h3]
When you were playing the Early Access versions of Chernobylite, for sure you’ve noticed that most of the characters you meet in the Zone look basically the same, differing only in the colors of a jacket or texture of pants. Unless it’s the Star Wars franchise, the existence of the army of clones is never good for the immersive story, but from the game development process point of view, it’s reasonable to use so-called “placeholder” models as long as you have your story designed and you precisely know what kind of character you want to present here or there. However, Chernobylite above all is a story about human beings and their fight for survival and redemption. Our intentions were always the opposite of this cloning frenzy - we wanted to give EVERY character in the game the specific personality, backstory and emotions. And now, getting close to the design and writing conclusion, we could define all the visual qualities of each character, to let you finally know if Anton is more handsome than Olivier, if Little Stalker is cute or if Semonov has any charm in his eyes. Our 3D department is working to deliver all secondary character models and at the same time, our scanning and photo artists work on the depiction of characters faces presented in the game during dialogues. Just yesterday we’ve made the photo shooting sessions to prepare the final material for this.



[h3]Last but not least - optimizations, improvements, balancing[/h3]
But it would be absolutely not fair to say that we’re happily building the remainings of the new content and enjoy the creative process. Most of the team is pushing for countless changes and adjustments to all aspects of design, balance, environments, sounds, optimization, and bug-fixing. Usually, it’s much harder to show here such a spectacular picture as the new weapon or new character renders, but just imagine that every day we’re making literally hundreds of alterations to textures, sound files, animation setups, dialogue lines, and tiny straw of grass placements on the locations. As for examples: last week we’ve done very strong optimization of the audio system, quality improvements for dozens of environmental objects, proofreading of text for more than a thousand dialogue lines, fixing the interface issues, and fine-tuned some of the weapons reload animations. High five for all members of the team doing this!




And that’s all for today. Take care, stalkers, and wait for the cool stuff coming next weeks.

Wojciech Pazdur,
Creative Director

[h3]Hello stalkers![/h3]
You’re often asking us about upgrading some aspects of the game. Of course, some of the most important things are models! Especially a lot of them were scanned by us in the Zone, so we pay a lot of attention to how precise they look.

We’ll also tell you a bit about a new effect and new level that we’re working on right now!

If you’re interested in the recent Reports, take a look here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2792752124088934742
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896334282667241398
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896333730298683249

Let’s start!



[h3]New models[/h3]
This section of the Report will be a short one. We just wanted to show you how the Portal Gun is changing. Just let’s take a look and enjoy the view! Any idea why the Portal Gun is changing this way? New functionalities, new possibilities to use it not only for opening the portals... Or?

Did you know that Chernobylite is the most radioactive substance in the universe and it’s also the source of power for this device?



But here're some other screenshots of work-in-progress!


[h3]The Heist[/h3]
We’re still making new things that will find their way into the world of Chernobylite. One of those things is a level. Or should we say “THE level”.



Final mission, called The Heist, is closer to be implemented in the game every day, so we wanted to share our joy of how it’s getting done. Take a look at these screenshots, but remember - that’s still not finished!


[h3]Working on the new stuff[/h3]

Also, we’re working on new feature. We thought adding this small thing can increase the immersion of the game. This little thing is simple: shooting the window will have an impact, it will leave some marks on the glass.

Take a look at that short GIF how it looks now, but again - it’s just a sneak peek, as we don’t consider it finished.


[h3]So that’s all for this today.[/h3]
We hope you’ve enjoyed the news and the assets we’ve shown you!
Take care, stalkers!