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Tactical Breach Wizards News

Quality of life update is now live, with Save Slots and better mission select

We've just released an update focused on making it easier to jump around the campaign, and play the bits of the game you want to play in the way you want to play them.

There were already two ways to do this, but their naming and placement was confusing enough that a lot of people were not finding the right one for what they wanted to do, or finding it didn't quite work the way they wanted.

If you hit any issues please let us know, and see the bottom of this post for how to jump back to the previous build of the game if you need to.

Here's what's new!

[h3]Jump to Stage[/h3]
We've renamed the 'Mission Select' option on the main menu to better reflect what it really does. It's intended as a way to jump to a certain point to the campaign and play through the campaign from there, like loading a save game. But because you're loading a save game, not all of your current progress is preserved, so it's a bad way to jump around and e.g. get confidence goals you missed.

[h3]Save Slots[/h3]
If you do want to jump to a previous stage and play the campaign from there, previously you'd lose your progress through the current mission - especially awkward if you'd just finished the campaign. We've now added a save slot system, so that if you jump to a previous stage or start a new game, you're prompted to do so in a new save slot - and you can still jump back to your old one anytime.

Save Slots are fully independent, so you can also let someone else play through the game without affecting your playthrough.

[h3]The Missions Hub[/h3]
This is the tab you see between missions, and it lets you jump to any previous level and replay it with your current squad and perks. But a) it wasn't really clear that it was different from the Jump to Stage menu, and b) you could only access it from certain points in the campaign - some of them quite far apart.

We've now added an option to the in game menu to jump back to this anytime, and an option on the main menu to go straight to this screen. You can also use this feature to tweak your perks (if you have refund points) or change your outfits mid-mission.

Some more improvements here:
  • Previously you couldn't replay a couple of tutorial levels this way, since they'd break if you changed characters. Now you can, we just disable the ability to choose your own squad on those.
  • If you have the Special Edition and commentary enabled, you'll now see a tape icon on levels that have commentary.
  • Clicking the 'use defaults' option on team select will also enable the original breach dialogue.


[h3]Save data location[/h3]
All your progress should carry over seamlessly, we've had no reports of any issues there, but if you do wanna play it safe and back up your stuff, you'll find it in your appdata folder. For me it looks like this:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\LocalLow\Suspicious Developments\Tactical Breach Wizards\SaveData

[h3]How to roll back, if needed[/h3]
If for some reason you wanna get back to the old version of the game, right click on the game in your Steam library, go to Properties > Betas then choose the 'oldversion' branch from the drop down list in the top right. 

Do let us know what your issue was so we can work on it! Best way to report feedback is with the in-game menu where possible.

Cheers!



We have a quality of life update we'd love you to test!

We've been working on a new update focused on making it easier to jump around the campaign, and play the bits of the game you want to play in the way you want to play them.

There were already two ways to do this, but their naming and placement was confusing enough that a lot of people were not finding the right one for what they wanted to do, or finding it didn't quite work the way they wanted.

It's now ready to try, and we'd love to get some eyes on it to see if we actually solved anything! Here's what's new, and how to access it:

[h3]Jump to Stage[/h3]
We've renamed the 'Mission Select' option on the main menu to better reflect what it really does. It's intended as a way to jump to a certain point to the campaign and play through the campaign from there, like loading a save game. But because you're loading a save game, not all of your current progress is preserved, so it's a bad way to jump around and e.g. get confidence goals you missed.

[h3]Save Slots[/h3]
If you do want to jump to a previous stage and play the campaign from there, previously you'd lose your progress through the current mission - especially awkward if you'd just finished the campaign. We've now added a save slot system, so that if you jump to a previous stage or start a new game, you're prompted to do so in a new save slot - and you can still jump back to your old one anytime.

Save Slots are fully independent, so you can also let someone else play through the game without affecting your playthrough.

[h3]The Missions Hub[/h3]
This is the tab you see between missions, and it lets you jump to any previous level and replay it with your current squad and perks. But a) it wasn't really clear that it was different from the Jump to Stage menu, and b) you could only access it from certain points in the campaign - some of them quite far apart.

We've now added an option to the in game menu to jump back to this anytime, and an option on the main menu to go straight to this screen. You can also use this feature to tweak your perks (if you have refund points) or change your outfits mid-mission.

Another couple improvements here:
  • Previously you couldn't replay a couple of tutorial levels this way, since they'd break if you changed characters. Now you can, we just disable the ability to choose your own squad on those.
  • If you have the Special Edition and commentary enabled, you'll now see a tape icon on levels that have commentary.
  • Clicking the 'use defaults' option on team select will enable the original breach dialogue.

[h3]How to try the update[/h3]
Right click on the game in your steam library, go to Properties > Betas then choose the 'nextversion' branch from the drop down list in the top right. 

As always, best way to report feedback is with the in-game menu where possible. Cheers!



Tactical Breach Wizards cosplay reference

As Halloween approaches, we've been hearing from folks who understandably plan to dress as Tactical Breach Wizards and, commendably, want to get the details right. So our artist John Roberts has put together a little reference sheet for some of the faves:



If you make use of these, we'd love to see the results! If you're tweeting, mention @BreachWizards, or you can just e-mail director @ suspiciousdevelopments.com
We'll assume stuff e-mailed to us is not to be shared publicly unless you say otherwise.

So far we've greatly enjoyed this Jen & Banks team, and this self-styled but Zan-adjacent look.

And it's not cosplay, but my favourite bit of fan art so far is this Jen & Banks piece by TerkMC:



Implies so much with so little.

Small patch, version 2024-09-24: "Thimbleberry"

We just rolled out a new patch! Here's what's changed:

  • Level Complete screen for Dreams and replaying Missions now lets you chose to continue to the next level or return to menu.
  • Fixed animation when repeatedly using Brittling Dart.
  • Fixed enemies flying through level or bouncing repeatedly when knocked into a hole.

If you hit any issues, please hit Esc in game and report them there - helps us fix them faster.

Wizard responsibly, where practical.

Small patch, version 2024-09-12-2: "Barberry"

We just rolled out a new patch! Here's what's changed:

  • Brittle no longer removes armor when affecting attacks that ignore armor, extra Brittle damage is instead applied to health.
  • Perk Refunds are no longer limited after completing the campaign.
  • Added Configure Perks button when replaying Mission or Dreams, opens In-Game Perks Menu.
  • Fixed In-Game Perks Menu ignoring prerequisites when allowing players to change perk selection.
  • Fixed In-Game Perks Menu resetting Character Select after selecting new perks.
  • In-Game Perks Menu now warns it will restart the level after selecting new perks.
  • Fixed Chain Bolt pushing multiple people into the same hole causing one to remain active while appearing unconscious.
  • Broom Breach - Forced Entry can no longer target persons protected by Transference. This caused both Jen and the target to occupy the same tile.
  • Fixed using Resurrect on wizards in corridors or taking cover, causing wizard to remain on ground.
  • Fixed Banks using Resurrect on another living Banks causing both to play the casting animation.
  • Fixed Dall's "No-one else take damage" goal sometimes failing when a teammate is protected by Transference.
  • Lowered requirements for Spore Bomb damage goal in Medilan Mindgames - Tough Cookie.
  • Fixed Proving Grounds confidence goals sometimes not working when multiple copies of the same wizard are present, most notably the unconscious wizards in Medil Proving Ground - The Tank.
  • Anxiety Dream achievements will now unlock when replaying entire missions from the Missions tab.
  • Added confirmation step to Skip Level button.
  • Description for Rabid Bite no longer claims to end Rion's turn.
  • Description for Zan's innate perk now explains it only lasts for the final mission.
  • Description for Gale Grenade no longer states it can only be used once per encounter, perks may let it be used twice.
  • Fixed Helicopter being called Enemy Door.
  • Fixed Danger Wall, Shield Drone Operator, and Mafia Heavy not appearing in Level Editor.

We've rethunk how the Brittle condition interacts with slam damage (from bumping into things). Slam damage ignores armour, but on a Brittle target, "armour is lost like health". That meant slam damage would knock some armour off instead of directly hurting health.

Sometimes that's nice, cos it lets slam damage and regular damage collaborate to progressively weaken juggernauts like the Siege Cleric. But a) it could actually cause Brittle to save a target from a hit that otherwise would take it down, b) it doesn't really fit the concept - why would Brittle armour protect if normal armour doesn't? And most importantly c) it felt weird, weird enough that a lot of you reported it as a bug.

In our revised rules, we're letting "ignores armour" take priority over "armour is lost like health". So slam damage affects a Brittle armoured target exactly like it would a Brittle unarmoured target: damage is dealt straight to health, and increased by Brittle. Hopefully this makes more sense.

If you hit any issues, please hit Esc in game and report them there - helps us fix them faster.

Wizard responsibly, where practical.