Alien Grounds News

Update #27 - Headshot Indicator + Leaderboard Cleanup

[p]A small quality-of-life + polish update.[/p][p]Added[/p]

[p]New Portal option: Headshot Indicator (unlocks at 50,000 Overall Score)[/p]

[p]Leaderboard[/p]

[p]Removed zero-score entries[/p]
[p]All-Time Overall Score leaderboard is now visible on the Community Hub[/p]

[p]Fixes[/p]

[p]Beam weapon visual misalignment caused by weapon sway[/p]
[p]Latent tails in Enemy BP[/p]
[p]Settings UI: gamepad navigation now reaches all buttons[/p]

[p]Optimization[/p]

[p]Player IK foot updates only when looking down[/p]

Update 26 - first update of 2026

[p]A quality-of-life update to start the year.[/p][p]Gameplay[/p]

[p]Reduced spawn time when firing the Freeze weapon.[/p]

[p]Mission Start[/p]

[p]Simplified the Mission Start UI - scores are no longer shown there.[/p]

[p]Portal - Crosshair (available from the start)[/p]

[p]Small (Dot)[/p]
[p]Small (No Dot)[/p]
[p]Large (Dot)[/p]
[p]Large (No Dot)[/p]
[p]Dot Only[/p]
[p]Off[/p]

[p]Portal - HUD Type options[/p]

[p]Default[/p]
[p]Minimal[/p]
[p]Crosshair Only[/p]

[p]Portal - HUD Color options[/p]

[p]Default[/p]
[p]Cyan[/p]
[p]Yellow[/p]
[p]Lime[/p]
[p]Orange[/p]

[p]Violet[/p]
[p]Teal[/p]
[p]Red[/p]

[p]Progression[/p]

[p]Updated Portal unlock scores for smoother progression.[/p]

Smallfix - Revive Balance Update

[p]Adjusted revive penalties to better match difficulty and mission progression:[/p][p]Missions 1-5[/p]

[p]Easy: Revive penalty 0%[/p]
[p]Medium: Revive penalty 10%[/p]
[p]Hard: Revive penalty 30%[/p]

[p]Mission 6+[/p]

[p]Easy: Revive penalty 10%[/p]
[p]Medium: Revive penalty 20%[/p]
[p]Hard: Restart Mission on death (no revive)[/p]

[p]This keeps early missions more forgiving while preserving the high-stakes feel of Hard in later missions.[/p]

Smallfix Leaderboard

[p]Added an Around You section when your score is outside the Top 20 - so you can see your position and nearby players.[/p]
[p]Added your Leaderboard position to the Mission End Report, so you can check your placement without returning to the Main Menu.[/p]

Update #25 - Crosshair-Only HUD + Recoil Refresh

[p]New: Crosshair-Only HUD (Portal option)[/p]

[p]Full immersion - no numbers in the way[/p]
[p]Cleaner screenshots of the Alien Grounds[/p]
[p]HUD color option is planned next[/p]

[p]Weapon feel updates[/p]

[p]Updated recoil for Automatic Rifle and Pistol[/p]
- [p]Better match for the current game pace[/p]
- [p]More precise aiming and control[/p]
[p]Increased firing speed for the Automatic Rifle for stronger crowd control[/p]

[p]Crosshair[/p]

[p]Smaller default crosshair[/p]
[p]More crosshair presets are coming soon in Portal[/p]

[p]FX + performance[/p]

[p]Fixed Automatic Rifle muzzle flash detaching from the muzzle (less realistic, but more readable and common in shooters)[/p]
[p]Firing procedure optimizations for even better performance[/p]

[p]If anything feels off after the recoil + fire rate changes, tell me what weapon, mission, and input method you use (mouse or controller) and I will tune it.[/p]