Estranged: The Departure News

An update is now live for Windows, macOS and Linux containing a crash fix!




This update overhauls the load game logic in Estranged: Act II to increase its reliability. This is in response to crash reports submitted by players, where in some circumstances a certain type of saved game could cause a crash when it is loaded.

If you are able to reliably reproduce any crashes in the game, please contact me directly at alan [at] alanedwardes (dot) com or via https://discord.gg/estranged.

As ever, thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan

An update is now live on Steam for Windows, Linux and macOS, including a new short level, localisation updates and other bug fixes.

[h3]NEW SHORT LEVEL[/h3]




There's a new short concept level available to play using the cheat map Short01 on the Extras menu.

This is something I have been working on in the past week - it takes place in the Estranged universe, but isn't directly related to the plot of Act II. It is a bit of an art test, and uses all dynamic lighting.

Please note that it is not intended to hit the same performance target as the singleplayer campaign, so you may notice it running at a lower frame-rate.

[h3]LOCALIZATION UPDATES[/h3]

The following localisations received updates in this build: Portuguese (Portugal), German, Vietnamese, Slovak, Latvian.

[h3]FIXES[/h3]

The following bugs have been fixed in this build:

• Allows audio volume sliders to be set to 0%, instead of 10% minimum
  
• Pressing the Interact button (default E) when looking at the lifeboat now moves the player into the driver's position (previously you had to look at the motor)
  

I'm always looking to fix bugs and improve the game, so if you see anything you'd like fixing let me know on the forums, or at https://discord.gg/estranged.

Thank you for playing!
Alan

Estranged: Act II is now released from Early Access for Windows, macOS and Linux! As with my last post, I would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this project. I hope that you have had as much fun playing as I have had developing it over the past 6 years.

I mentioned in the post linked above about the future of Estranged, and will share more in the weeks to come after the dust settles.

Join me and the other 800+ people on the Estranged Discord server if you'd like to hang out, and I'll be around in the forums to answer any support requests that might arise.

I'm still looking to update the game with fixes and localisation changes, so you're interested in translating Estranged: Act II to your language or improving an existing translation, please drop by the Discord server!

Thanks again,
Alan

I'm excited to announce that Act II will be releasing on the 22nd of May 2020! It has taken around 6 years of spare-time work to get to this point, with just over 3 years of that in Early Access. There have been 80 content updates to the game in total across the 3 platforms supported, with 35 development blog videos and 800+ members of the Discord community.

As I've promised throughout, anyone that downloaded the game during Early Access will get to keep it for free, so if you know someone that might enjoy it, let them know they can grab it for free up until the 22nd of May.

On the release date, as described in the Early Access description the game will become a paid for title, for around 6 USD (and a launch discount). Since a few people have asked - if you played the free version of Act II and really want to give something back, a cool thing to do would be to gift a copy to a friend!



I was digging through the build archives, and wanted to share this build for Windows from the 30th of November 2014 - build-30-11-14-with-prereqs.zip (314 MB). This is the earliest playable build of Act II, and you can see how the first section of the game evolved into the first few levels of the game.

I'll have more to say about the future of Estranged post-release: it depends on how the game is received, and whether there is an appetite for more. I would absolutely love to develop more, and there is a lot more of the Estranged story to tell.

I say this every post - but I want to give a sincere thank you to everyone involved in the project. From those that tested it and submitted feedback to those that translated the game - thank you for making Estranged: Act II possible!

Alan

An update is now live for Windows, macOS and Linux bringing the final ending to the game, two new achievements, some additional Arque easter eggs, and some fire safety devices.

[h3]Final Ending[/h3]


As I said in the last news post, the previous ending was temporary but very nearly final - the game now has a final ending. Use the cheat map bunker#cinematic to jump there directly.

[h3]New Achievements[/h3]
A few players have requested more achievements for the game - so there are now two more! The first is for listening to recorders, and the second is for aligning the satellite the same as its real world counterpart in the final section of the game. I would like to thank everyone that contributed achievement ideas!



Since I also get complaints about adding achievements in Early Access, I have created a guide for getting collectables for those that want to 100% the game, but don't want to play it. I would like to be clear that any Early Access game (due to it being in development) is not suitable for those continually looking to 100% a game (e.g. achievement hunters).

[h3]Easter Eggs[/h3]


It might be the staying-at-home thing getting to me, but I reprised my role as Liam Jones for some live action easter eggs embedded in the game - a total of 4. Keep a look out in the Arque office areas!

[h3]Fire Safety[/h3]


Arque's fire safety standards weren't quite up to standard, so work has been done to remedy that in their facilities throughout the game.

[h3]Release[/h3]
I would like to thank everyone that helped test this update, and everyone that has been following the project so far. It has been a pleasure to work on Act II for such a great community, and Estranged wouldn't be where it is today without you!

This will likely be one of the last content updates for Act II. I am going to start organising the full release, and (as mentioning in the Early Access blurb on the Steam store page) transitioning the game from Early Access to a paid-for title on Steam. As I have said in the past, if you downloaded the game during Early Access, you will get to keep it forever, for free.

I will communicate further when a release date has been decided.

If you'd like to join the community to give feedback, report bugs, or just hang out, you can do so here: https://discord.gg/estranged

Keep safe,
Alan