FIREFIGHT RELOADED: 2024 in Review

2024 was a crazy year for a lot of us, a bunch of things happened, such as the release of the seventh TF Comic, Everyone Knows That and the "Most Mysterious Song on the Internet" being found, a bunch of Epistle 3 projects having their demos released, and of course, Half-Life 2's anniversary.

Probably the event that happened that was the most relevant to FIREFIGHT RELOADED was the ENDGAME Update finally being released after 6 years. A massive gameplay overhaul with new maps, movement mechanics, a Linux port, a soundtrack, and much more was the end result of this update. I have released a blog post here detailing development and a lot of the things that changed during the update: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/397680/view/6743666355140245477?l=english

However, just because it's called the ENDGAME update, doesn't mean that's the end. After ENDGAME released, a new update titled "INVASION" started development. This update includes new enemies, weapons, and maps. One of these maps, made for Half-Life 2's anniversary, is a new map made for FIREFIGHT RELOADED. Here, you will fight and drive through the White Forest area from Episode 2. The map will include additional gameplay elements, such as vehicles and strider busters, which I hope will spice up the gameplay a bit. Enemies such as the Classic HL2 Vortigaunt, Kamikaze Zombie, and Combine Aerial Cauterizers will meet you in the update. Weapons such as throwable Manhacks and the iconic M1014 shotgun have also been introduced to the FIREFIGHT RELOADED meta. This even includes small aesthetic settings, like classic fire and blood, inspired by the HL2 Anniversary Update.

Of course, we can't forget the most important parts with this update. More crashes and bugs will be fixed in this update, which should make it even more stable than ENDGAME. INVASION also includes enhancements to the GamepadUI, allowing you to easily adjust sliders with a single click and your scroll wheel. This update also fixes floaty movement, allowing for much easier bunnyhopping. EDIT: Forgot to add that INVASION will also fix a bunch of balancing issues by limiting ammo counts and by adjusting the damage of NPCs and weapons.

In addition, there will be a brand new soundtrack EP composed specifically for the INVASION update.

This is just a piece of what INVASION will offer when it releases in 2025, but I wanted to put some updates here.

I also started a translation project for the mod, as detailed here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/397680/view/4536906156535185614?l=english

I will update the translations on the GitHub with the new updates currently on the GitLocalize page. Whenever the update goes gold, I will implement the translations into the game and give credit to everyone involved. I do notice some translations that have gone uncredited, so please let me know in the discussion for the above post. If you already talked in there, I probably already have you on the list of people to credit! Thank you for helping make FIREFIGHT RELOADED more accessible!

As for what's coming after (or during the development of) INVASION, I'm not entirely sure yet. INVASION is meant to be a major quality of life update that improves gameplay and adds new content. I've been considering on improving Steam Input support in the future, but I've also been considering on working on a much larger project I've put on hold for a while.

2025 will also mark the 10 year anniversary of FIREFIGHT RELOADED's release on Steam and ModDB, so I'll be sure to do something for it if INVASION releases before then.

This has been an important project for me and I appreciate everyone's love and support throughout the last decade. If you loved or hated the mod, or just thought the mod was just okay, I still thank you wholeheartedly for playing the mod and giving it a shot.

I plan for an INVASION beta update to release sometime during this first week of January.

Happy New Year,
- Bitl, Bitl Development Studios