Estranged: The Departure News

A build is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux with new ending content, and some improvements to weapon handling!

[h3]New Ending Content[/h3]


There's now some extra content at the end of the game, a couple of minutes of new content. I decided to push this into the game while I flesh out the section after it, which will land in the next update (and likely tie-off Act II's story).

To jump directly to the new content, use the cheat map crash#cinematic (this will take you to the end of the previous update).

[h3]Gunplay Tweaks[/h3]
There have been two big changes to the gunplay in Act II:

• Running and gunning now results in the correct animation
  
• Holstered weapons can no longer be shot (until unholstered)
  

The first item above was caused by the "running" animation for most weapons not being appropriate for firing at the same time. For example, with the rifle, the running animation previously held the weapon close to the player's chest, and attempting to shoot in this state led to it snapping back into the shooting animation and back again.

The second item around holstering was very similar, previously if a weapon was holstered, shooting it would immediately yank it out of the holster animation, and back into it again after the shot was fired.

[h3]Other Changes[/h3]

• Fixes a floating camera in the range level
  
• Fixes a place you could get stuck in the scaffolding in the generator level in the mine
  
• Switches from OpenGL to Vulkan on Linux
  
• Added an option to invert the controller Y-axis
  

With Act II's final scenes approaching, I would again like to thank everyone that has been following and contributing to the project.

If you have feedback or would like to report bugs, please reach out on discord.gg/estranged

Thank you for playing!
Alan

A build is now live on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux with new content, a new weapon and improvements to the arcade game mode!



There's now more content around the street level, just after the Arque office building, with a set of new enemies to boot. Use the cheat map TheBase#sp05 to jump there!


There's now a hammer weapon in Estranged: Act II, which is available in certain places in the single player story. The Warehouse arcade level now has a lot more weapons available to the player, allowing you to pick from the Pistol, Rifle, Pickaxe and Hammer to fight the horde.




There's a new achievement, "Barista", which can be obtained by tidying the coffee table in the lecturing room in the Arque offices.



[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Fixes to the resolution selector in the screen menu
  
• Changes to freeze AI characters during loading screens
  
• Upgrades from Unreal Engine 4.22.3 to 4.24.0
  
• Adds a new developer log if "on-screen statistics" are enabled
  
• Fixes a bug where spawning in water would not muffle the sound
  
• Fixes bug with closed captioning around infected character chasing
  
• Enables frame rate smoothing to avoid hitches due fluctuation
  
• The view under-water is now downsampled (since it is blurry anyway) using a custom full-res blur
  
• The web browser has now been removed from Act II, since it was the source of many post-shutdown crashes
  
• The in-game news has now been replaced by a native UI widget driven by iamestranged.com

As with every update - thank you for playing Estranged! I'm around at https://discord.gg/estranged if you'd like to provide feedback, or just hang out with the Discord community.

Alan

[h3]Hotfix 1.4.10, 1.4.11, 1.4.12 & 1.4.13[/h3]
A hotfix update is now live to address the following issues:

• Fixed a problem with the "Flushed Away" achievement, since items could no longer be flushed down the toilets in-game
  
• Removed the Christmas menu background from rotation since it needs some work
  
• Fixes issue with crabs in Prelude
  
• Fixes issue with the screen flashing white when certain materials in view
  
• Fixes weapons disappearing through the floor when dropped
  
• Fixes the "Well Hydrated" achievement
  
• Fixes CJK character display
  

Estranged: Act II is now available on macOS, and I will try to keep it as up to date as possible with its Windows and Linux counterparts.

The addition of macOS as a supported platform for Act II helps realise one of my goals for the project: to make Estranged available to as many people as possible, on whichever platform they chose.

If you're interested in some of the technical challenges behind this work, you can read about how I automated the macOS build process (the same as I have for Windows and Linux) on my blog.


In addition to the macOS build, I have been continuing the story of Estranged: Act II, and working to bring the story of Act II to a close.



If you'd like to try out the current ending, you can by opting-in to the Steam "development" beta version of Estranged: Act II, and using the cheat map TheBase#sp10.

I would like to thank you for your continued support of the Estranged project, and I hope you will play the next few updates, leading up to the release.

As ever, I am available to talk to directly on Discord at https://discord.gg/estranged, or via the in-game feedback if you'd like to let me know what you think.

Thank you for playing Estranged!
Alan

Update 1.3.5 is now live on Steam for Windows and Linux, including French translations, and more content work for the Shooting Range arcade level!

This update should be compatible with old save files - this release serves as a test to ensure I can continue to add content post-release, and not break save files.



There have been a few updates to the shooting range, including access to all of the weapons in Act II, not only the pistol. The range also has a few added easter eggs for you to find!


Act II is now translated to French! This unlocks the game for a lot of French-speaking players worldwide, which is something I am very excited about.




I have been working on content to continue the current final level - but that's not ready to play just yet. Watch for future builds for more content!

As with every update, if you have ideas for features you'd like to see, let me know on the Steam Forums or https://discord.gg/estranged

Thank you for playing!
Alan

There's a new update for Estranged: Act II on Steam for Windows (with Linux to follow soon), including continual work on the ending content, a re-work of the subtitle system to support captions and more!




This update includes the next section of the current final level, with a glimpse of the aftermath in the level that follows. To jump to the new content, you can use the cheat map TheBase#sp10


The subtitle system has been re-worked to allow for "stacking" of subtitles, and support for captions (which can be enabled in the Sound menu).



The size and font of subtitles can also be changed in the new Interface menu if you find the default too large or small, or you have trouble reading the font.


The Controls menu has been split into a "Keyboard Bindings" and "Controller Bindings" menu, which supports the re-binding of controller buttons alongside keyboard and mouse buttons.

The subtitle re-work and controller button re-binding features were mainly aimed at making Act II accessible to all. If you have ideas for other improvements to make the play experience better for you, please let me know!


Act II now supports Vietnamese, thanks to a community contributor! This brings the total number of complete and partially complete languages supported up to 23! I would like to thank all of the translators in the community for their help with this - if you would like to help out, contact me on Discord!

Thank you for playing and shaping Estranged: Act II! If you'd like to submit feedback directly, join me and the rest of the community on Discord - https://discord.gg/estranged

Alan


I have pushed a patch to address the following issues:

• Addresses issues with the Vietnamese translations
  
• Allows the subtitle font to be updated live
  
• Makes the hints respect the subtitle font selections
  

This patch is binary-compatible with the version released above, meaning your saved games will still work.