Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Knights, we are thrilled to now share with you a specific launch date; Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be exiting Early Access on May 15th June 2nd (UPDATE)! 🎉

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(If you have a sec, please click through to YouTube to give the video a 👍 and leave a quick comment; helps a lot more people see it!)

I don't want to save this for last: thank you to each and everyone of you that has supported us during Early Access. Whether you've already bought the game or helped spread the word, we would not be able to make it to release on this one without your support.

EA gets a bad rep, and sometimes deserves it, but it's the only way indies like us are able to make a game with this depth, keep the creative control that makes our games what they are, and iterate on it to make the most of your excellent suggestions and feedback. And no worries if you're one of the many folks who simply prefer to wait for a game to be more fully baked before investing your playtime; we appreciate you even just for wishlisting, or for picking it up on a good EA discount to support us as a win-win. 🙌

An extra-special thanks to the now 700+ of you who have left a Steam review!!


[h2]Two Months to Go[/h2]
Don't worry, the updates aren't stopping. While we do have some content earmarked for a big release update, we still have plenty more to work on for regular updates on the road to launch.

And polish is a major focus as well. With your help we've long since squashed, fixed, and full-autoed any widespread major bugs, and are in the territory of edge cases, hotfixes for less-tested content, and jank-adjustment. We have a shortlist of animation, V/SFX, and small graphic improvements to push our production quality to our launch standard.

One big feature left on the roadmap that we're still working on is translations / internationalization. If you're fluent in any languages beyond English (we are particularly seeking Spanish speakers) and would like to get an early look / give feedback on our first translations of the game, let us know your Discord or email in this form.


[h2]More Release Details and Post-Launch Plans to Come[/h2]
We'll share more about the launch update content and the post-launch roadmap later, for now enjoy the recent end-game storyline added, mark your calendar for the launch date, and let people know it's coming! 😄

(Shareable announcement posts: Bluesky | Twitter | Reddit | Facebook | YouTube)

Knights and mercs, heists across the New Boston Zone are heading to a new, dangerous location with Update #222. We've added a new map, fixed issues with the Daedalus story, fixed issues with VIPs following the new Death Save rules and therefore surviving missions (:facepalm:), and resolved reported issues on Achievements as well as a huge pile of F10s about minor map issues.

We're hard at work expanding and improving the game from every angle - so please take a moment to leave a review and share the game with a friend.

[h2]New Map: Black Site Lab[/h2]

Every new map expands the game even further - so we're excited to keep up the pace, now adding the 29th room to the proc-gen map list and bringing the total proc-gen combos (maps X objectives) up to 197. The Black Site Lab is the kind of place where bad things happen and high-value research reports and files are stashed.

The Black Site Lab features distinct zones - multiple, crowded entry areas leading two a large, dangerously open research lab. The central hacking platform is exposed, upping the ante for hackers trying to make their heist and get out without taking a few bullets home as souvenirs. Some of the extraction options are locked behind a Blue Key bridge and some of the heists to the Black Site Lab feature an optional Gold Key room.

We're hard at work pushing up the variety of mission map content as we march toward release, and the total proc gen combos (map x objective) now total 197 as this new map adds +8 new combos.

The next big additional will be another new proc-gen objective with really exciting new challenges to continue to mix up the content!

[h2]Retirement Daedalus Storyline[/h2]

We released the major new storyline and Retirement feature last week with the Daedalus Bloc storyline! Over the weekend we fired off a couple of hotfixes to address immediate issues and are now putting out the first big patch for Daedalus Bloc story. This will help any players who were stuck in the defensive battle to protect the quant (all the enemies are dead, no victory condition) as well as fixing a number of other stumbling points, like a random VIP joining you on a mission where you're trying to recover stolen files.

This is a major chunk of content and we're going to expanding and refining it based on your feedback - so please share away :D
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1021210/view/501692943024783671

[h2]Starting Enemy Patrollers[/h2]

With Update #222, we've started the process of scaling the enemies that can start on the map as patrollers with mission Power Level. Up until this point, the enemies that could be selected for starting patrols were all very basic, low armor, low health and low special abilities. With Update #222, for Syndicates and Street Gangs, some of the specialists now come on the table as your progress through the Power Levels. The standard patroller unit - Street Grunt or Whistler - will still be the most popular, but this set will be seeded with more interesting types, some with more dangerous special abilities like Benders or heavier armor, like Shocktops.

[h2]VIP Survivors[/h2]

After the new Death Save rules when live, we've been running into a class of issues with VIPs from missions sticking around. If they get gunned down, they were playing by the same Death Save rules, which mean they might convert to a Survivor and then (unexpectedly) stick around and hang out in your safehouse. They should disappear the next time you reload the game, but Update #222 has fixed the root cause!

Sorry VIPs, your Death Save is 0%.

[h2]Continued Achievement Fixing[/h2]

With almost 100 Achievements releasing in a wave, we've had a few calculation issues to clean up. Sometimes Achievement 1 is incorrectly blocking you from getting Achievement 2 (once you got One Man Army, it was blocking Next Man Up) and sometimes the calculations or math was just wrong (The Quiet One was firing on Hack Only Missions where physical Sec Level is always 0).

We've resolved all reported F10s in this area, so big thanks to everyone sending in feedback!

[h2]v1.9.153 - #222: Weekly Map Release "Black Site Lab" - 3/10/2025[/h2]
- Added new proc-gen map "Black Site Lab": a clandestine corporate laboratory performing quasi-legal cybernetics research and weapons development, supports +8 new proc-gen combos (Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard, Assassinate VIP, Infiltrate and Download, Hardened Target)
- Fixed issue with unexplained VIP joining on one of the first Daedalus Bloc missions
- Improved starting spawn of patrol enemies for Street Gang and Syndicate to ramp up with Mission Power Level progression
- Fixed issue where VIP characters were not staying dead if your difficulty Death Save was high
- Fixed getting stuck in Daedalus Bloc defensive mission - end the Turn to continue or restart level
- Fixed multiple issues with Achievements firing at the wrong time or not firing when they should
- Fixed map bugs, sight line issues and bugs with open field spawns

Major update today Knights, with our very first retirement storyline: "Daedelus Bloc!" This 10-mission storyline becomes available at Power Level 6+, when a shareholder asks you to help them create havoc inside the Jupiter Group megacorporation.

This intricate power play is paced to give you plenty of time to engage with other late-game content, running heists on the side to build your warchest and grow your skills so you'll be ready to pull off the biggest jobs of your career at the very end.

It includes 2 brand new maps, new objectives, new additions to the proc-gen system, and is just the beginning of some very exciting new mission formats you'll see more of as Cyber Knights: Flashpoint continues to evolve.

We intend to add multiple retirement storylines to the game over time, staggered across multiple power levels to allow for playthroughs of different lengths and a variety of roleplaying choices in what kind of opportunity your Knight will give up their criminal power climb for, and who (if anyone) from their squad they'll share this escape with if they can.

[h2]How Retirement Storylines (or Death) Work[/h2]

Retirement Storylines are pinnacle opportunities in your Cyber Knight's career, accessible only when you've built a rep as the Knight that gets things done. Multiple offers will give you the opportunity to get started on a chain of escalating missions leading to one last big heist that could get you out of the game for good.

Come out on top, and you'll have a window of time to decide (and complete any lingering unfinished business with your mercs or other contacts) if you want to take the retirement opportunity, or continue running the streets.

Some Knights can't give up the thrill of the heist, and will continue to play hard and fast until they go out in a blaze of glory. Others are convinced better opportunities will come, for either a better life offworld or with more room in the opportunity to set up the squad members they've become closest to with a better life as well.



When you retire or die, you'll get a series of game-end screens sharing what becomes of you and your squad members, a key stats & achievements summary, and your save-game will be memorialized so you can come back and export appearance or talent tree builds.

[h2]Merc Stats Now Available[/h2]

You'll now be able to access merc scores - such as career kills, number of missions run, number of missions completed unseen, maximum damage scored in a single hit - at any time. Check out the "Record" tab from your squad roster in the Barracks.

In addition, for those Achievements that make sense, each merc can score individual achievements. Your grenade-happy Soldier might get the achievement for the 5X kill with Grenades while your Sniper will be hunting that 1000 pt Dmg in a single shot achievement.

[h2]Steam Achievements Now Active[/h2]

Score up to 100 achievements as you play and prove your skill.

Achievements run the gamut from first-time achievers (complete your First Heist or Install a second cybernetic in a character) to long run achievers (reach $25m credits, kill a Head Hunter, complete 100 heists) to limit pushers (kill 5 targets with Slashslide, complete a 4 merc mission with 1 merc, install the 7th cybernetic into your Knight).

Achievements are a prestige reward only, no in-game content is gated behind any of these, the only thing they unlock are bragging rights (and please do; gameplay celebrations and stories are always welcome in our Discord).

[h2]On-sale to celebrate! Spread the word and leave a review?[/h2]
Cyber Knights is 20%-off for the next two weeks (there will be a short 4-hour gap between next Thursday morning and the start of the Steam Spring Sale)!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Please spread the word that we're wrapping up Early Access soon! And if you haven't already, taking a minute to leave a review, even just a couple of quick sentences, is one of the best ways to help us out. We're working hard to keep polishing (thank you all for the feedback through F10s and Steam forum posts!) and keep packing the game with more content as we approach the full release later this spring.


[h2]v1.9.147 - #221: Major Milestone: RETIREMENT - 3/6/2025[/h2]
- Major new end-game storyline "Daedelus Bloc" starts at Power Level 6+
- Option to retire at the end of the storyline or go back to the streets for "one more heist"
- Steam Achievements now active - score up to 100 achievements
- Individual merc career scores and personal achievements available in Roster "Record" tab
- New Retirement and Death screens tell the post-retirement stories for your team and display scores
- Created safehouse experience for death/retirement, still access the Appearance and Training for library, otherwise locked down

[h2]v1.9.149 - Hotfix #1 - 3/7/2025[/h2]
- Fixing Daedelus Bloc issues
- Fixed issue with Quant VIP where are not carrying items for their missions
- Fixed extraction location in second stage of BOILING POINT mission
- Fixed missing complications in OPENING BID mission
- Fixed some storyline missions not having their custom names (PANDORA'S SUITCASE, etc)
- Fixed Achievement issues with Pacifist, Next Man Up, One Man Army, The Quiet One and more
- Fixed Achievement issue where achievements were not setting until the game was closed
- Fixed missing achievement icons
- Fixed reported typos and dialog issues

[h2]v1.9.151 - Hotfix #2 - 3/7/2025[/h2]
- Fixing Daedelus Bloc issues
- Linked in missing dialog and complications in OPENING BID and GOVERNANCE DUST-UP
- Added new File Set to compile Nuke II (FAS) and new Utility Program type Dragline I
- Fixed issues with Bio-Verify Files having odd names (multiple Part III's)
- Added new special rewards to the Daedalus hacking missions
- Fixed bug with Daedalus missions sometimes referencing an incorrect mission name at the end of the dialog
- Fixed Daedalus Bloc defensive mission not spawning reinforcements
- Fixed bug where Security Level secondary objective could still appear even when it shouldn't (Ricksham Drips)
- Fixed bugs with Infiltrate and Download Files and Hardened Target objectives that could prevent mission from re-offering later
- Fixed bugs with Matrix Response Level being "None" sometimes for Street/Syndicate, with mission tags for Matrix Host Color being wrong
- Fixed confusing titles in Contact Limit Breaks for Service Upgrades
- Fixed typos and dialog issues

Knights and mercs, a new update is trickling down from the gleaming corporate towards the neon-baked streets of New Boston. Update #220 updates the Death Save rules for lower difficulties (allowing mercs to be knocked out of the mission but not die and for missions to fail correctly), added new hotkeys for Timeline manipulation in the Safehouse, improved balance of Matrix Hosts by Faction type, fixed the 1-frame T-Pose at the start of mission deploy, made all higher level Wounds a bit worse and fixed a big pile of F10s.

We are hard at work mixing bug fixes, polish, and final rule changes with more big content hits. Last update added a new proc-gen mission object and next update is going to blast a major story - so stay glued to this page. If you are enjoying the relentless pace of additions, please take a moment to leave a review. Remember, you can always edit it later.

[h2]Death and Death Save Redo[/h2]

This change has been coming for a long time - the review thread about it on Discord is old.

Tldr; the new Death Save % rules work like you would probably expect unlike the old rules that just made you kind of immortal.

(Old Rules) As we like to explain our changes and reasoning in full, I will quickly explain the old system. Every Difficulty had a Death Save % from 100% to 0%. Whenever you take Damage that would reduce you to 0 HP (dead!) and you were already Bleeding Out, your character rolls their Death Save %. If this roll passes, in the old rules, you simply stayed Bleeding Out and gained back some HP, basically "bouncing" back to life.

Notably, Difficulties like Brutal and Chrome had 30% or 20% Death Save, meaning you might take a fatal hit and just walk out the other side with more HP than you went in with ... ?

(New Rules) Death Save % is rolled whenever you take Damage that would reduce you to 0 HP (dead!) and you were already Bleeding Out to see if you survive the hit. Regardless of the result of your Death Save, you flop on the ground and are knocked out of the mission. The Combat Log shows whether you died permanently or survived by Death Save %.

Permanently Dead or Survived Dying, you are knocked out of the mission. This allows missions to fail, even on lower difficulties, without achieving game over or permanent loss of characters.

And Death Saves values have been rebuilt for high Difficulties - Normal is now 50%, Hard is 25% and Brutal and Chrome are ... well, sorry to say it, 0%. Of course, you can customize your Difficulty to your heart's content and play any way you like, these are just the starting defaults.

So, this does make the game harder. In the case that you are losing a mission or taking deadly hits, you will lose faster and harder than before. But this was always the design and the "everliving zombie" Death Save was a mistake that took too long to correct.

[h2]3 New Timeline Hotkeys[/h2]

Three new bindable hotkeys have been added to make controlling the Safehouse timeline easier. There is Start (V), Stop (B) and Toggle (N) by default. You can rebind them as you please, depending on which ones you want to use. This helps reduce any complicated movement you might have been doing between pause and play, if you like having rapid-fire control over the timeline.

In addition, we've improved how the ESC (or B on controller) works in the Safehouse. If the Timeline is running, hitting ESC will stop the timeline where it used to stop the Timeline and open the pause menu. If the Timeline is not running, now it will just open the pause menu. So, ESC functions as a nice Stop Timeline hotkey if it is running.

[h2]Better Matrix Balanced Based on Faction[/h2]
In previous updates, we adjusted the Matrix Host color grading by faction so that Street and Syndicate Factions were prevented from rolling the top colors like Orange, Red or Ultra (this is cyberpunk, ultra is a color!!!!)

With Update #220, we've improved this system as well to include the Matrix Q-Sec AI. In the same way that it makes sense that a street gang can't field a Red host, it makes sense that they can't get access to Pit Viper Q-Sec AI. Street Gangs will have access to lower Q-Sec like Boas and Sidewinders, while Syndicates can reach higher, even sometimes (if rarely) fielding a Pit Viper.

[h2]All High-Level Wounds - Worse![/h2]
In fixing a bug where Brainburnt 1 and Brainburnt 2 were found to be the same level, we completed an analysis of the Wounds that might have matching stats. With this analysis completed, we've ramped up the bad parts of higher level Wounds a bit more and fixed all the duplicates. You're going to have extra incentive to get your Wounds treated early now and "carrying" a Level 4 Wound is just going to hurt more.

[h2]Fixed T-Pose in Mission Deploy Screen[/h2]

For oh-so-long there was a 1-frame T-Pose that you could spot your mercs holding when you first entered the mission deployment screen. It would only happen once per visit to the safehouse and it was fast enough you might think, "Did that really happen?"

We are so glad it is fixed!

[h2]And More F10s![/h2]
Quality and polishing are a big part of what we are working on daily as we head toward launch. This update includes another big wave of F10 fixes, including resolving issues with controllers in Victory/Defeat screen, fixing the duplicated Rarity filter in Cold Storage, resolving the T-Pose in mission deploy and fixing a bug that could cause the game to lock up if your current character was gunned down by enemy Overwatch.

Thanks for all your F10s! We are fixing daily.

[h2]v1.9.145 - 3/5/2025[/h2]
- Fixed rules for Death Save - when reaching 0 HP and Bleeding, you go down and roll a Death Save % instead of staying immortal
- Survived/Dead is revealed at end of mission for those mercs who went down
- Allows Easy/Normal difficulty games to fail missions by mercs being eliminated (dead or survived)
- 3 new hotkeys can be bound - Start, Stop and Toggle Safehouse Timeline
- Pressing ESC or (B) in the Safehouse will first pause the Timeline if it is running before opening game pause menu
- Improved balance of Street/Syndicate/Milsec hosts to ensure they have fair Response Levels as well, Street Gangs cannot field Diamond Cobra RL
- Worsened the effect for all higher level Wounds, more reason to get them healed, harder to ignore
- Fixed bug where the current character being killed by enemy Overwatch could lock up the game
- Fixed issue where Brainburnt Wound Level 1 and 2 were the same
- Fixed 1 frame T-Pose appearing first time you load mission deploy screen
- Fixed issue with Rarity filter appearing twice in Cold Storage tabs
- Fixed controller input issue in Victory/Defeat when a mission is multi-stage the selection could get stuck
- Fixed issue with mission deploy and long character lists that could cause the character UI to become misaligned