Mechajammer News

It’s time, offworlder. Your journey through — and more importantly, escape from — Calitana is about to begin. And while you might have the skills and virtues to succeed, you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself. This is no walk in the park.

Do not go in unprepared. Do not go in ill-equipped. If you’re not going into this with the right mindset, Calitana will chew you up and spit you out. Thankfully, we’re on hand with some advice.

Pay heed:

[h3]INFORMATION IS POWER (READ: USE YOUR NOTEPAD)[/h3]

Information will not be served to you on a silver platter. When someone tells you about something they need or a location you need to get to, TAKE NOTES. You will not be offered a quest journal or waypoint markers or anything that takes away from your sense of agency. The in-game notebook (and the notes you choose to write in it) are your only guide. Use it.



[h3]KNOW YOUR BACKGROUND. KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS[/h3]

Your experiences and histories dictate who you are, and how you interact with the world around you. Before you begin your journey, answer the questionnaire about your birth and occupation(s). Choose your virtues and your studies. And don’t rush this. Your choices define your background.

Each background has its Privileges and Woes; be mindful of the skills you pursue, as they'll influence how you'll proceed to tackle the hardships of Calitana. Did you put all of your Studies points into Slug Guns? Then use those whenever you can, and skip the Laser Guns. Know your strengths, basically, and play to them.



[h3]TAKE THE SIMULATION TRAINING [/h3]

Nobody is above training. And while no simulation can accurately recreate the hive of scum and villainy you’ll find in Calitana, it’s also true that going into the real thing uninitiated would be….unwise.

Talk to Medic when you first arrive in Calitana (or choose “Tutorial” from the Main Menu before your journey formally begins). Run the simulation. Get familiar with what you’re capable of. Movement. Your weapons. Hiding. Sneaking. The flow of battle (see below!). Learn how this all comes together, and you should be ready when you hit the streets of Calitana for real.

[h3]UNDERSTAND THE RHYTHM OF COMBAT[/h3]

You move, they move. That’s what you need to learn. Need a moment to think through a scenario in your head? Plan out your actions? Do it. You have time. But as soon as you move or attack again, so too do all of your opponents, simultaneously. Say it again: you move, they move. Internalise this fast-paced turn-based thinking and you’ll find your groove.



[h3]GET ACQUAINTED WITH YOUR MAP[/h3]

From the dense jungle to the grimy suburbs to the heart of the city, Calitana’s open-world can be explored at your leisure. But it can feel overwhelming at times, and nobody is going to hold your hand. While getting your bearings is on you (nothing will familiarise you with the jungle colony better than simply exploring), your map is always on hand for reference. Use it. Set your own waypoints. And, in combination with the Notepad, create your very own system for making it through the world.

[h3]THE SHADOWS ARE YOUR FRIEND[/h3]

Maybe you’re a gun-slinger. A risk-taker. Somebody who shoots first and asks questions later. That’s cool. But then again maybe you’re not. Maybe you’re somebody who prefers to skulk through shadows and get the job done without making a scene. Nice and clean.

Keep an eye on your interface, and keep two things in mind: your enemies’ line of sight, and your own noise-making radius. If both of these are looking safe, stick to the shadows and slink through quietly - just be sure to crouch to minimise any noise. If your enemy’s attention is worrying you, however, you can always create a distraction…



[h3]DON’T GO IT ALONE[/h3]

You’re a badass, we get it. But escaping Calitana on your own will be tough. Take advantage of the various denizens of the jungle colony who might be able to lend a hand - if you’ve invested in your Charm studies, you should be able to easily sway somebody to your cause. Calling them ‘friends’ might be a stretch, but recruiting a team of ‘travel companions’ might turn the tide of battle in your favour. If a particular situation is proving too tough, why not go on a hiring spree, and come back with some friendly firepower added to the equation.



Ok, you ready?

Great. See you on Calitana, offworlder. And may the dice be ever in your favour.

Want more? Check out the Mechajammer Feature Deep Dives into Combat,
Stealth and Exploration

https://store.steampowered.com/app/485400/Mechajammer/

There was a progression blocking bug whenever you'd talk to Sullivan in attempts to advance through story. Now fixed!

The jungle colony of Calitana might be a dark cesspit of corruption and villainy, but today the sun is shining. Today is a bright, glorious day. Today, Mechajammer launches on Steam.

And you can play it right now.

If you like your CRPGs dank and grimy then you’re very much in luck. Mechajammer, with its distinctly dirty flavour of cyberpunk, tasks you with escaping Calitana by any means necessary. With more player-agency than you can shake a pair of dice at, you may choose a path of violence, stealth, or coercion. Or any combination thereof. Just pray that lady luck is on your side...

Ok, less talk, more gameplay. It’s launch day, and as is tradition we have a launch trailer for you. Make sure your socks are on tight because this is going to blow them clean off.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In bringing the Mechajammer launch trailer to life, we’ve partnered with the daddy of dark and brutal synthlines, Ital Tek, to create a new track for the game. “Calitana’s Handshake” is available now via your streaming platform of choice, and anybody that purchases the game will also get a free, exclusive copy of the MP3 with their download.



You can also get the song as a free download by signing up to the Modern Wolf Newsletter 👇



Mechajammer was developed by indie-duo Whalenought, and after years of development, today the gates to Calitana are thrown open to the masses for the first time. It’s a big, deep game, with a design philosophy that shuns hand-holding in favour of player exploration and discovery. As such, we are eyes open and ears cupped for your experiences and stories from the frontlines of Mechajammer’s immersive sandbox.

If you’ve been playing already and have a specific question, do check out our Player FAQ, where an answer might be lying in wait, and feel free to head over to the Mechajammer Discord Channel to pick up the conversation there should you wish.

Thank you to everybody that has supported Mechajammer up until this point - we can’t wait to hear what you think. See you on the other side x

Modern Wolf & Whalenought Studios

Calitana is a big, dangerous place; from the jungle to the streets, and the shadowy suburbs in between. Crucially, it’s also an open-world, meaning it can be explored as you see fit. But the level of player-agency lavished upon you, dear off-worlder, goes even deeper than that.

Mechajammer will not ram objectives down your throat. Nor will it offer up waypoints or bread-crumb trails leading to a destination. That’s all on you.

Mechajammer is heavily influenced by the glorious era of (both video and tabletop) games where the sense of adventure was heightened through use of a notepad and pen. You’ll need to be observant and come to your own conclusions about where to go, and how to get there. You’ll explore the world of Calitana at your own pace, but must be wary that around any corner you could face a stray wolf, crazed vagrant, or army of gangbangers.



With all this in mind, you’re probably going to want a nice cosy spot to call home, then.

Outside of Calitana’s central urban-sprawl, on the edges of the city, you’ll establish a base of operations where you can return at your leisure. Here you can heal, hire new companions and accept new quest objectives before heading off into the thick of it once more.

Just like the real world, the best way to get to know a place is to talk to the locals. Engage with the denizens of Calitana and take note of anything that could be interesting. Mechajammer has an integrated notepad allowing you to jot down anything of use, which you can return to at a moment’s notice. Leads might take you to a thug’s hideout for a black-market trade, a raid on the estate of a high ranking Quinton security official, or the location of a shiny new laser gun...



You’ll never be totally in the dark, of course. Mechajammer’s Terminal (found in the top-right of your interface) offers a map of your surroundings, allowing you to place your own Waypoints to navigate by. It will also display all the Terminals you may have already interacted with across Calitana, depicted as small white circles on the screen. By clicking these, you’ll bring up any key information that might have been gathered from that specific terminal and location — an archive of sorts, with reminders about world events.

So Mechajammer is built on a design philosophy that consciously abandons hand-holding, then. Player-agency above all else. This puts the ball back in the court of the community for the exchange of hidden locations off the beaten path, and solutions to the game’s various puzzles. Just like the good ‘ol days. So make use of the Steam discussions, take advantage of the official Discord channel, and talk with other players.

Mechajammer comes to life through the stories you’ll tell about your time in Calitana.

[h3]Wishlist today![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/485400/Mechajammer/

Following a close up look at the nitty-gritty of combat, our second Mechajammer Deep Dive will focus on a staple mechanic on the streets of Calitana: stealth.

In the immersive sandbox of Mechajammer, violence is, of course, only an option. Want to bash in one of Calitana’s vile gangbangers with a lead pipe? Cool! Go nuts. But there is always a less rowdy option.



Mechajammer’s interface not only offers up enemies’ sight cones, but also depicts your own noise-making radius — allowing you to judge the potential of a stealthy route through a given environment. At a moment’s notice you could switch from your normal walk to a silent, crouched mode, and then take advantage of some classic distraction tactics (read: throwing of objects) to create a diversion.

Not all enemies will attack on sight, however, giving you a small number of turns to leave their sight-radius (indicated by the meter above their head). If you’re able to successfully vacate this radius before their timer runs out, you can try to find another way around them and avoid a grisly combat situation — should that be your preference, of course.



The game field is littered with road barriers, burn-barrels and streetlamps — all presenting perfect cover opportunities — and players, companions and range-weapon enemies will use them to reduce their exposure to attacks or being spotted. If you’re comfortable straying from the beaten path, you can also creep through tall grass clumps to avoid being seen. Mechajammer offers up an expansive, isometric open world - use it to your advantage; there is more than one way to your objective...

...which is a perfect segue to wrapping up this particular Deep Dive, and thinking about our next: Exploration and Objectives. Join us next time as we get stuck into the world of Calitana, and how you’re going to approach exploring it.

[h3]Wishlist Mechajammer today![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/485400/Mechajammer/