BURNED HORIZONS News

[h2]// WEAPON SYSTEMS — Mods, Attachments, Evolution[/h2][hr][/hr][p]Weapons don’t just appear out of thin air. They evolve on two fronts:

WORLD EVENTS
A seized shipment, a captured cache, or a manufacturer rolling out a new variant — that’s how new hardware enters the fight. Always logical, always within reach of the era.

GUNSMITH GROWTH
They’re not menus, they’re people. Gunsmiths are operators in their own right. The more jobs they log, the more pathways open — better cuts, refinements, custom builds. Other specialists — mechanics, medics — grow the same way: by doing the work.

MODS & ATTACHMENTS
[/p]

• [p] Optics and grips can be swapped in the field — if the operator’s got the tool and the skill.
  [/p]
• [p] Deeper work (barrels, tuning, full conversions) happens back at the bench.
  [/p]

[p]This mirrors real life: PMCs and front-line teams adapt gear by skill and circumstance — not “magic unlocks.”

A carbine might stay stock… or edge toward an LVOC-style build as events and skill push it forward.

* \[ EARLY CONCEPT ART — NOT FINAL ]

— END OF BRIEF

//---

SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.

OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.

ALPHA SIGNUPS // Open. [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]
[/p]

// DISPATCH UPDATE

We’re posting two devlogs today as a catch-up drop — pulling everyone into sync on where Burned Horizons is headed. From here on out, new devlogs will release every Monday.

For the latest versions — including edits, notes, and extras — you’ll always find them first on our Discord and the d-logs.

[hr][/hr]


* [ EARLY CONCEPT ART — NOT FINAL ]

⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [0002]

[// DEV]
[2025-06-09-1025]
[POE // DVG-98]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: THE OLD RULES]

I’m a visual person. So you start with the art.

For me... realism isn’t just about the mechanics.
It’s in the depth and detail of what you’re seeing.
The more real the image, the more real it becomes.
An operator that looks like a cartoon — yeah, you can use your imagination and make that work.
But there’s still a disconnect.

So... you try to make the art reflect reality.
The gear feeling right — fatigues with weight, webbing that looks field-worn,
a plate carrier that makes sense for who this guy is.
But the more real it all looks, the more hollow the old systems feel.

You finish the art for an operator → now he needs a backstory → where did he serve → where’s he from → how did that impact his behaviors/skills → what skills does he have → ranks → roles → terms → structure → formatting → regional details → and on it goes. The train just keeps chugging.

So, how to make them real and not just pixels on a screen?
Well, I started with how actual people behave.
Which means XP, skill trees, role/class guardrails, RNG stats (INT, STR, DEX)
just weren’t gonna cut it anymore.

You don’t level up in a real fight.
You don’t get better at suppressive fire because you looted the right bush or jogged across a tile.
And war changes people.

The old rules don’t hold. So, you write new ones.

The start is UCD/S + Scars → then Roles → Archetypes → Specialization Pathways → Attributes

FWIW: Not saying all games are ‘bad.’
Some hit the tone just right but fail in other respects.
Some get further along with mods.
But many of them — even the good ones — make tradeoffs for financial considerations (like greater appeal).

This is especially true of games in this genre.

[hr][/hr]



⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [0003]

[// DEV]
[2025-06-16-1000]
[POE // DVG-87]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: PROGRESSION]

You don’t “level up” in a real unit.
You survive. You adapt. You get fractured.
You get better — or you don’t.
And what changes you isn’t a point bar.
It’s what you’ve lived through.

>> SCARS
Scars aren’t upgrades.
They’re what’s left behind — good or bad.

Maybe it makes you faster under pressure.
Maybe it makes you flinch when you shouldn’t.

But it sticks. And people notice.
Squads remember. So does the system.

>> UCD/S
Unit Command Designation / S
Two layers. Both leveled.

UCD-1 to UCD-4 tracks your standing inside NAFOSEC — from probationary to field leadership.
S-1 to S-5 measures cohesion and trust — what the unit sees in you, not just what you’ve done.

UCD is about who you are in the structure.
S is about who shows up when the pressure hits.

And somewhere past UCD-4... there’s a UCD-5.
You won’t see it in early deployments —
but if you stick with someone long enough, it’s there.
It’s not a class unlock.
It’s what you become when the system stops needing to ask.

Operators may also carry Legacy Tags — VETERAN, RELIC, NON-STANDARD, ASSET-R.
You won’t see those right away either.
They follow UCD-5.
They aren’t cosmetic.
They affect how people see you —
and how command calculates risk when your name comes up.

>> ROLES + SPECIALIZATION PATHWAYS
Everyone starts with a Role.
Not a class. A function. A signature.
CT-17, AF-75, RW-31 — they’re not kits.
They’re starting points.

From there, behavior takes over.

Specialization Pathways emerge based on what you do — and how often you do it.

• Stick to your lane? You refine it.
  
• Drift hybrid? The system adjusts.
  
• Shift entirely? It doesn’t wipe the slate.
  

Nothing is lost.
You keep what you’ve earned.
You don’t discard your role — you expand on it.

//-----

SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.

OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.

ALPHA SIGNUPS // Open. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3985330/view/501710244523540881?l=english

[h3]
We’re opening alpha signups for the first Operational Test Build of Burned Horizons.[/h3][p]
\[ If STEAM is removing the links for some users - join our Discord (link on store page) and post in the #fwd-dep channel. ] [/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]TARGET WINDOW:[/h3][p]December 2025[/p][h3]FORMAT:[/h3][p]Limited Steam keys (invite-only)[/p][h3]PURPOSE:[/h3][p]Early gameplay test + community feedback
[/p][hr][/hr][h3]
// WHAT THIS IS[/h3][p]This is not a polished demo.
It’s a vertical slice — very early, work-in-progress build.[/p]

• [p]Core tactical combat[/p]
• [p]Early persistence systems (SCAR + UCD/S)
  [/p]

[hr][/hr][h3]
// HOW TO SIGN UP[/h3]

1. [p]Wishlist + Follow Burned Horizons here on Steam[/p]
2. [p]Take a screenshot[/p]
3. [p]Complete the signup form → UPLINK \[ https://burnedhorizons.com/fwd-uplink?source=alpha ][/p]
4. [p]If selected → Join our Discord (keys + feedback live there) \[ https://discord.gg/QRnh2pbqKd ][/p]

[h3][/h3][hr][/hr][h3] // WHY TO GET INVOLVED[/h3]

• [p]First hands-on with Burned Horizons[/p]
• [p]Be part of the first field test — your input on this limited build shapes the mission going forward[/p]
• [p]Insider access as we prep for Kickstarter (Jan 2026)
  [/p]

[hr][/hr][p]
⚠️ Note: Visuals = placeholder. Content = limited. Testing focus: stability, flow, readability of systems. Expect rough edges.[/p][p][/p][p]⚠️ Slots are scarce. Sign up early for a chance at the shortlist.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]
— \[POE // DVG-98] // Burned Horizons Studio[/p]

SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.

OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.

[p][/p][h2]OPERATORS — FORWARD DEPLOY[/h2][p]
[/p][h3]SIGN ON[/h3][p]• WISHLIST + FOLLOW ON STEAM
• SCREENCAP WISHLIST + SUBMIT A NAME OR HANDLE OR DISCORD \[ annex / #fwd-dep ].
SUBMISSIONS MAY APPEAR AS AN OPERATOR ALIAS, INTEL DROP, OR CODEX SCRAP.
[/p][h3]SPIN UP[/h3][p]• PRE-DEPLOYMENT FUNDING SUPPORT
SUPPORT ROLLS INTO OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 (P2).
FORWARD DEPLOYED RECEIVE PRIORITY IN OPERATOR BONUSES. GROGNARD \[GRG] TAG IN CREDITS / DISCORD.
[/p][h3]OPERATION FULCRUM // P2-KICKSTARTER[/h3][p]LOCK YOUR OPERATOR BONUSES: SERVICE JACKET, CALLSIGN, + MORE.
DEPLOYMENT WINDOW >> JAN. 2026[/p][p]
//---

SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.

OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.

ALPHA SIGNUPS // Open. [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]HOW THE XP GRIND KILLED TACTICAL GAMING

Tactics used to mean desperate choices under fire. Hug cover or sprint for a flank? Push your luck or fall back and regroup? Every call could end in blood. Victory came from positioning, suppression, and sheer nerve.

But somewhere along the line, XP crept in and rewrote the rules. Suddenly, you weren’t winning fights because you out-thought the enemy — you were winning because you’d grinded long enough to unlock a perk. Soldiers became walking spreadsheets, defined by passive bonuses instead of battlefield decisions. That’s when tactics started to rot.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
The First Shots

XP wasn’t always poison. Early tactical games flirted with progression, but it stayed in the background.

X-COM: UFO Defense (1994) — Soldiers gained accuracy or morale slowly over missions, but even a rookie could kill a veteran with one lucky shot. The battlefield always mattered more than stats.

Jagged Alliance 2 (1999) — Mercs had unique stats, but survival hinged on situational play: cover, panic, line of sight. Numbers flavored the fight, they didn’t decide it.

Back then, XP was seasoning — not the meal.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
The Shift

In the 2000s, the cracks began to show. Developers leaned on XP to stretch campaigns.

Silent Storm (2003) — Introduced heavier RPG skill systems. Still tactical, but drifting.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012) — The big pivot. Suddenly missions were just XP pipelines to turn rookies into superheroes. The gamble of desperate firefights was replaced by perk trees and progression loops.

XP didn’t just creep in. It took over.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
The Body Count

By the 2010s, the genre was drowning in XP.

Fire Emblem (modern) — Once brutal permadeath chess, now a dating sim wrapped in level grinding.

XCOM 2 (2016) — Doubled down on perk trees. Veterans became gods; rookies became cannon fodder.

Gears Tactics (2020) — A cover shooter bolted onto an RPG grind loop.

Phoenix Point (2019) — Marketed as a return to roots, but collapsed into XP drip-feeds.

The result: tactics replaced by meta-progression. A lucky flank doesn’t win the fight — your sniper’s level 5 perk does.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
Not All Dead Ends

Some games still show glimpses of what tactics can be.

Door Kickers 2 proves how alive combat feels when it hinges on angles, arcs, and split-second timing. Even within their design limits, certain games remind us: you don’t need XP to make tactics compelling. You just need context, consequence, and choices that bite.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
The Autopsy

Tactical games always had modifiers — line of sight, morale, recoil, weapon condition. These are battlefield physics, not RPG gimmicks.

Situational modifiers = immersion. Blood, terrain, gear, psychology.

XP progression = padding. Flat bonuses that stretch the game with artificial growth.

That’s what XP killed: the knife’s-edge tension of knowing every decision could cost a life, with no perk tree to save you.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
The Aftermath

XP didn’t just twist tactics. It replaced them.

But tactics don’t need XP. They never did.

What they need is consequence.

An operator who flinches after taking shrapnel until they get treated.
Ammo running low because you chose suppression three engagements ago.
A squad that trusts each other because they’ve bled together, not because they hit an arbitrary level threshold.

Consequence means your decisions echo forward.

XP killed tactical gaming. But consequence can bring it back.
Because a bullet doesn’t care what level you are.
Neither should tactics.

That’s the line we’re drawing with Burned Horizons — putting this philosophy into practice. No XP crutch, just consequence, scars, and the kind of tactical calls you can’t grind your way out of. Operators don’t “level up” — they adapt and scar through what they survive. Pathways and Specializations emerge from lived experience: a soldier who’s survived multiple close-quarters engagements might develop better reflexes in tight spaces. One who’s called in artillery support learns to read terrain differently. Training happens through mentorship and certification programs, not arbitrary point accumulation.

Fragile, human, and consequence-driven — that’s tactical gaming built on consequence instead of comfort. The way it used to be. The way it should be again.

// If you believe tactics should be built on consequence, not grind — add Burned Horizons to your wishlist.[/p]