PIONER News

Start your day with an intense battle in the Manufactory raid!

You can see some exciting new mobs in the video.
The dungeon isn't meant to be completed solo, but if you are properly prepared: equipped with good gear, upgraded all skills and rested, then no, you'll still get crushed in there.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’ve recently invited a number of media and content creators to experience a demo version of PIONER and present it to their audiences. We are thrilled that so many people discovered PIONER for the first time and appreciated our unique setting, while longtime fans got to enjoy the gameplay.

During the demo presentation, we received a variety of opinions and gathered feedback that was extremely helpful to us.

The team has discussed and planned (or already implemented) a number of solutions, some of which you can see in the changelog below.

The demo version of PIONER contains one-tenth of the full game’s functionality and has no network content, but these fixes will help us successfully extend that experience to the full game.

New settings

Camera shake strength adjustment
Game gamma, brightness and contrast adjustment

Detector

Interaction with the detector has been expanded. In the trailer we used a more up-to-date build, where you can move easily while holding the detector. You will also be able to use “E signs” while using the detector simultaneously
Ability to adjust the detector sound via the built-in interface. There will be more features that were not included in the demo. ** Fast movement on the map**
The ability to teleport to previously discovered travel points. The phone that Edgar gives you in the prologue will come in handy.

Artificial intelligence improvements

We have a large amount of work to do with the AI. Major fixes will include:

Fixing the cue spamming bug in battles and increasing the variability of cue playback
Improvements to AI behavior in various aspects including flanking, attacking, taking cover, accuracy, and enemy agility/avoidance ability
Fixing incorrect enemy reactions to grenades

Prologue and story quest improvements

Improvements to the sound design and staging segments of story quests 1 and 4
Improvements to combat engagements. In particular, reworking the combat in the branches and in the church

Scheduled graphical improvements

Hair appearance improvements
Work on lighting and overall scene contrast
Reduction of vignette effect (already implemented)
Planned improvements to dialog animations
Works with facial animations (major works)

Ammunition issues

We have increased the amount of ammunition received when using an ammunition crate (implemented)
We will install ammunition crates more frequently, especially in combat-heavy areas
Tutorials will be added to better explain what ammo boxes are and what they look like
Installed additional ammo magazines in safe areas (implemented)
Increased the probability of ammo drops from enemies in the open world and quest zones (implemented)
Increased compensation for ammo lost due to multiple deaths

Navigation improvements

We plan to improve navigation for key interactive items, including the workbench and character stash, to make them easy to find when first exploring the location
Additionally, the location of guides should also be labeled and highlighted

Improvements on the interfaces we plan to make:

Workbench menu uses outdated item card with irrelevant parameters
Ability to hide interface elements in the settings or optionally

Improvements to localization and voiceovers.

Introducing the new official PIONER trailer - "Collapse"
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The inventory has been significantly improved following testers' requests. Here are the examples of the improvements:

- Improved positioning and animation of the character in the frame
- Improved readability of items and inventory slots
- Redesigned the icons for the entire inventory and trading system
- Specific resources and item types (like ammunition and medicines) are now highlighted with special patterns for easier retrieval
- Now the inventory has a special highlight for armor sets. Wearing 2 or more items from a set will give a certain bonus. Such sets have highlighted frames colored by the rarity of the set items.
- Added sorting by quest items, which was very much requested
- Improved user button navigation - it is now easier to manage and sort items, making it much simpler for gamepad players
- Item cards have become more informative and gained more details, and the most important weapons and armor data is now placed in a more convenient way

Shishkar, which you may have seen in the recent materials, is a blade that has been upgraded in crafting. It is an advanced modification of a cold weapon.

Depending on the upgrade options, it can be helpful in combat with various creatures, as it can cause both fire and energy damage in different upgrades.