Update #70: Hunters Stalk the Shadows

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, we're here to drop another expansion of the Contact Limit Break system on the New Boston Zone. Tonight, the focus is on your enemies or those who hate or hold grudges against individuals on your team and allowing them to pay Head Hunters handsomely to settle these scores. Of course, this is in prep to release a new wave of Head Hunters into the NBZ ːtoxcloudː In addition, we've released variations of the latest head ware cosmetic options, and completed more parallel work with the game's translation team to get the English source into the best shape it can be. [/p][p]Thanks to everyone playing and especially those enjoying the latest focus on improving the Contact simulation. This keeps opening up new and exciting possibilities. Cheer us on with a review! ːsteamhappyː[/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]Since you'll always be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to reiterate our saved game policy so everyone understands our commitment to your games. No saved game will ever be invalidated by an update. All new content and features will be added immediately to all saved games (with the reasonable exception of New Game options). You never have to restart if you don't want to. This is a studio commitment that we have made and kept for many years and games. We stand by it. So do not stress about the deluge of updates that is coming your way - heist on my good heisters.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Head Hunter Sources[/h2][p]While some hostile Contacts (those with status Burnt or Enemy) could dispatch Head Hunters against you through their Limit Breaks, Update #70 significantly increases the number of Casting Director matches that can allow for a Contact to decide that they do want to send Head Hunters.[/p][p]To expand this footprint and help find more cases where a Contact on a Power Play may choose to send Head Hunters, we've built out the match set so that any Contact who Hates, Hunts, wants to murder, etc etc a member of your team (including your Face or Knight) may now choose to dispatch Head Hunters. This covers a number of Contacts who previously might not have opted into the option and generally increases the chances that you'll see Head Hunters coming out of Contact Limit Breaks enough to keep things more dicey out there.[/p][p]Which is important, because in the next update, a new batch of legendary Head Hunters are coming to the NBZ and we need to make sure they've got contracts![/p][p]In addition, we've expanded a few places where it feels cool to have a specific storyline always risk generating a Head Hunter call. We've specifically added two story beats that allow Head Hunters to be sent - one for the starting Scourge (August) and the Syndicate Boss he tried to take out as part of his backstory. This Badu Jack may discover - on a Power Play Limit Break - his would be poisoner on your team and decide now is the time to take revenge.[/p][p]In addition, the megacorporate lead behind Taylor Strizek's lab may also send Head Hunters if you've completed Truck Job Part 2 and dealt a disastrous blow to her organization.[/p][p][/p][h2]Appearance Headphone Variations[/h2][p][/p][p]Some of the most recently added cosmetic options were the headphones joined by a headband. They're a cool look for different characters but the band that was included could make them hard to use with certain hats and hairstyles as it was could cause a lot of ugly clipping. [/p][p]Thanks to the players who requested the option, we have included new variations of these cosmetics simply without the band, which allows them to be used in more cases.[/p][p][/p][h2]Improved Clarity / Fixed Text and Rules[/h2][p][/p][p]As the translation project keeps ripping along, we've been making a lot of changes to the underlying English rules text for the game. In some cases, we've been removing old strings, other places we've been improving our consistency of use of terminology (in this update, Recovery Time vs. Injury Time is now always used correctly). And we've been doing other things that will be invisible to players in English, like splitting text for genders, reducing the complexity of some of the strings for translation, etc.[/p][p]We also fixed a number of strings that accidentally got bumped and turned into string codes instead of English text.[/p][p]If you do see a string that switches to a code, please F10 it and we will fix it quickly. [/p][p]We're excited to be moving forward with our community review of the game translations! Stay tuned for more news and next steps for a upcoming public beta.[/p][p] [/p][h2]v2.5.33 - #70: Hunters Stalk the Shadows - 2/20/2026[/h2][p] - Contacts who specifically hate/hunt a merc on your team can now send Head Hunters when on Power Play[/p][p] - Added two new cases where Contacts might send Head Hunters based on existing stories - after Truck Job Part 2 and starting Scourge's Syndicate target[/p][p] - Added 2 modified cosmetic options - headphones without the band if you want to use them on hair / hats or other options that were clipping badly [/p][p] - Improved English rules text for clarity, consistent usage of terms like Recovery Time and Injury time, simplified some Talent descriptions[/p][p] - Fixed issues with random strings appearing as string keys instead of English due to mistakes in translation effort[/p][p] - Fixed issue with the cybernetic eye implant popping off the side of some character's faces[/p]