Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Knights and mercs, its Saturday and it's another big update day for Cyber Knight: Flashpoint! We've dropped another exciting type of proc-gen objective on you, rebalanced some of the Knight's signature Talents a bit, improved the animation for damage previews, made it easy to toggle on all enemy sight cones, increased the size of your merc's Edit Notes field, and completed a really nice pass of polish on the game camera behavior.

This relentless pace of update is carried by the 3 of us doing gamedev, story writing and all the rest. If you're enjoying the game and how it has grown, please take a moment to leave a review for our team!

[h2]New Proc-Gen Objective: Exfiltrate[/h2]
In our press to release new maps and new objectives into the proc-gen pool, we are very excited to drop a brand new proc-gen objective, Exfiltrate! In this challenging objective type, a valuable human asset has been trapped behind enemy lines and needs you to perform a rapid extraction. Unlike a regular Escort where the VIP starts with you, this VIP is isolated and far away. You're on the clock to reach them before they're found by enemy patrols and then need to get that VIP to the extraction point.

This higher challenge type of mission is only available at Power Level 5+.

Don't let your VIP come to an end like this!

The new Exfiltrate objective is supported on 16 proc-gen maps currently, which adds a total of +16 new proc-gen combos, bringing the game's total of combos (map X objective) to 213 - vastly exceeding the original goal of 80! And while we've hit the first 16, we're excited to double this in the coming weeks.

[h2]Knight Talent Rebalance: Tact Surge, Rewind, Atomic Stutter[/h2]

With Update #224, we've completed another round of Talent rebalancing for the Knight. We're continuing to work through the entire Talent set making improvements - both nerfs and buffs - to smooth out the power curves, and make sure all Talents are interesting.

With this update, we've dinged the power of Tactical Surge a bit and increased its cost to fully upgrade. The default cooldown time on Tactical Surge has stretched to 6 Turns from 5 Turns (meaning you can, at best, get it down to every 4 Turns fully upgraded) and also increased the cost of the +1 Move Point upgrade node to 2 skill points. It is still the rawest powerhouse Talent around, but it is more expensive to make it peak powerful now.

We've moved the bonuses to Initiative and Move Speed off of Rewind's starting Talent, letting it focus on its unique and ultra ability to add charges back to Talents. These bonuses have been shifted into the upgrade node.

Finally, for Atomic Stutter, we've increased the total amount of Crit Vulnerability possible to +25% and dropped the "hang on" +5% Armor debuffs that were in that upgrade node. This makes the upgrade nodes cleaner with better organization and easier for you to choose if you want each or not.

[h2]Improved Damage Preview Animation[/h2]

Weapon damage in Cyber Knights is 75% guaranteed and 25% randomized - therefore if your gun does 100 Dmg, then you deal 75 + D25 Dmg before armor reduction. The animated damage preview used to just animate a preview of 87.5% Damage (the average Damage) but that was not giving you players the best information on the spot.

We've upgraded the damage preview to now show 75% of the Damage (after Armor reduction) in white and 25% of the Damage in flashing animated red, which is the variable part of the damage. This can help you spot that the enemy is guaranteed to die (all white) or might die (the end of their HP bar is flashing red).

[h2]Toggle all Sight Cones[/h2]

If you use the H (or left stick click) key to toggle outlines on, you can now hit the key again to toggle on all outlines AND all sight cones. This can help you plotting moves when working around enemy patrols and make your stealth turns faster. Hit H again to cycle back to no outline and regular sight cones. Thanks for the F10s!

[h2]Larger Merc Notes Area[/h2]

We've expanded the notes text box for your mercs by 400%! The max character limit and size of box have all blown up, making it far easier to use for multi-line notes and the like. Thanks for the F10s!

[h2]Game Camera Polish[/h2]
We're excited to be doing some big rounds of polishing on the little tiny specifics of gameplay as we get closer and closer to release. We've improved a number of things with how shot cam and regular camera works with Update #224.

For action shot cams, we've made sure they don't repeat (which never feels great) and we've made sure that all the HUD UI elements stay hidden during the shot cam and only re-appear the right time (during a kill shot, they were showing up too early, ugly!).

Also, after the action shot cam is done, we've adjusted the camera rules to ensure that the camera cuts back to exactly where it was before you started the attack. This prevents a lot of small panning or camera shifts that would slow you down during play.

Also, we've increased the snappiness and feel of the automated panning on the map, saving you a critical second here and there. But it makes the whole game feel more responsive!

Finally, we've fixed issues with Stun VFX and other VFX not disappearing immediately when an enemy dies.

[h2]Merc Status Paging[/h2]

While you are checking out a merc's status pop up, you can now page through your entire team rapidly using hotkeys or buttons show at the bottom of the status (default to tab / shift). Thanks for the F10s!

[h2]v1.9.165 - 3/15/2025[/h2]
- Added new proc-gen objective: Exfiltrate VIP from behind enemy lines - VIP starts separated from your mercs, often in danger
- Exfiltrate appears at Power Level 5+ and has 16 new maps available for Exfiltrate, +16 total proc-gen combos
- Knight's Tactical Surge cooldown bumped out 6 Turns (+1 Turn), increased +1 MP upgrade node to 2 level point cost
- Knight's Rewind moves bonuses to Init and Move Speed out of main Talent, only available through upgrades
- Improved Knight's Atomic Stutter to deal +25% Crit Vulnerability once upgraded, dropped the last -5% to armor
- Enable Highlight (H or left stick click by default) now toggles on outlines, then toggles on all sight cones, then turns off both
- Improved damage preview in target Health Bar - white for guaranteed damage, animated red slice for rolled Damage
- Merc's Record tab no longer shows achievements that have not been accomplished (don't always show that my Soldier didn't achieve Melee Kills)
- Hovering over an offered Blueprint reward in mission planning will show its details
- Prevented Recruits from showing/counting tags like "Training Ready" in the roster or barracks summary
- Fixed bug where you might be floating in the sky off a rooftop when starting Wreckspire map
- Added hotkey/button to cycle through mercs while looking at character status mid mission
- Improved rules for Cybersword's Preempt - melee Overwatch is more careful about your final destination, avoids putting you "out of bounds" or in walls
- Increased the size and max length of the merc notes text field
- Polishing: HUD hovers and other elements no longer reappear too early during an attack that kills target
- Polishing: avoid repeated action shot cams during attacks in play
- Polishing: increased automated panning speed of camera and better easy for a snappier feeling
- Polishing: improved camera behavior after attack, returns to exact location it was at before action shot cam
- Polishing: VFX of dying characters/enemies (such as floating stars of Stun) disappearing instantly on death

Knights and mercs - we've got Street Sweeper, Update #233 tonight landing with a bunch of bug fixes, map improvements, resolving story issues and invisible contacts! It's a big update that sweeps up and tidies up, cleaning out the F10 bin from this week, especially around the Daedalus Bloc retirement storyline. Let's dig in!

If you're enjoying the Early Access and relentless pace of updates (more coming!), please take a moment to leave a review. We are a tiny team and every review counts so much for us!

Also - did you see the release date news?
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Daedalus Bloc Fixes[/h2]

The 10 mission storyline for Daedalus Bloc is the largest one we've released yet, and it has had its fair share of content bugs to iron out. Nothing that has left any saved games permanently hung, mostly just interruptions in your ability to play on in the storyline. Tonight we've hit a few big patches for Daedalus:

• You might be stuck in an infinite conversation about CLUSTER DROP mission - this will not continue!
  
• You might be stuck on the first map of the CLOCKWORK RESCUE mission with a broken terminal. If you are, next time you load your game, you'll find yourself back in the safehouse with the story leading up to the mission about to start (again).
  
• If your Quant disappeared in the second mission of GOVERNANCE DUST-UP, you should be good to go. You can either play through the level as is, or restart the level and the quant will appear correctly at your starting location.
  

[h2]Invisible or Missing Contacts[/h2]
Another bug resulted in some Hardened Target and Infiltrate and Download missions being offered by an invisible contact. This was confusing and not great - now it is fixed. If you already have a conversation or mission offered by such a contact, that will be the case until it is finished and the next one will be normal.

[h2]Black Site Lab Bridge[/h2]

If you've been hitting any issues with the bridge in the new Black Site Lab level, this update will fix them up for you. The bridge terminal is working and once raised it can officially be crossed.

[h2]Nuke II (FAS) and Others[/h2]
There have been some longstanding issues with some of the Nuke programs having wires crossed. This included Nuke II (FAS) and we've now unwound these. The program shows its special stripes and should load correctly during hacking now.

[h2]Endless Map Fixes[/h2]
We're constantly working to keep up with little tweaks and fixes to maps. We fixed some oddly floating can props, some open field spawn issues, some places where cover shields didn't appear correctly, and more.

[h2]v1.9.157 - 3/13/2025[/h2]
- Fixed issue with Black Site Lab bridge terminal causing level to lock, bridge impassible
- Fixed infinite loop bug in Daedalus Bloc storyline to accept CLUSTER DROP mission
- Fixed issues with Quant not appearing in GOVERNANCE DUST-UP second stage, restart stage or mission
- Fixed issue with mission stuck for CLOCKWORK RESCUE in Daedalus Bloc - you will return to safehouse with mission coming again soon
- Fixed issue with invisible or non-existent contact offering Hardened Target or Infiltrate and Download proc-gen missions
- Fixed issue with Nuke II (FAS) not showing its special Hybrid-Utility rules
- Fixed description of "The Loud One" Achievement - complete mission with 9 Sec Level or higher
- Fixed open field spawns in some maps, odd cover locations, floating soda cans
- Improved lighting in Urban District HQ map

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)! 🎉

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
(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