Mercs and Knights, it's Update Thursday again, so we're dropping Update #23 on the streets of New Boston. Update #23 addresses an issue that was preventing the Cyberdecks Power Play from activating, and does a number of big updates to the weapons and armor sold on Power Plays including the FSC Armor, Fadelight Blades and Rook Prototypes. This update also introduces a slew of new special rules for weapons, upgrades the story-reward Burnermouth E-Rifle, fixes map issues and dialog problems with which Hacker talks during victory conversations. Plus, we've fixed a giant pile of community F10s to polish and smooth out different parts of the game.

If you're enjoying the continued support for the game with new content, improvements and more, please take a minute to leave a review. A special thanks goes out to everyone who reviewed this week!

Now - it's a big one, so let's dive into the details!

Power Play: Jupiter Decks

First up, there was a mistake made in the 4th Power Play to gain access to Jupiter Decks. This is now resolved and the Casting Director can correctly connect a Contact on Power Play who is having a Limit Break with the storyline offer. You'll see it start appearing and access can open up to Power Level 7 to 10 Decks!

This Power Play storyline features a highly compressed series of missions that cannot be delayed, so it is cool to see another type of challenge coming online.

Power Play: Upgraded FSC Armor

The Power Play to get connected with FSC armor offers 10 new options of high-level Armor to purchase from your Contact. Based on the player feedback we've received, we've completed a round of up-balancing to improve them, making them more exciting and rename them. Overall - give these another look!

Also, very importantly, we fixed a bug that was hiding the intrinsic effects of Armor in the market. So these looked really bad, because they didn't have their special effects visible until you bought them!

Here is a summary of the up-balance:

• The names are now more evocative of where they came from and feel less like the names of corporate armor you can get through other sources.

• All of the armors now have interesting Intrinsic effects to show off - Move Points, Action Points, Reduction in Movement Noise, HP, Wound Res, Recoil Reduction and more.

• Many stats like protection, Initiative and Movement Penalties have been improved across the set.

• All Armors sold by the FSC Armor service have been upgraded to Rare Rarity.

New Weapon Special Rules

With Update #23, we've started a new run of introducing special rules to weapons. There are a set of tried and true and very powerful special rules already - such as Rapid Fire, Heavy Hit, Double Armor Shred and Precision Burst.

Following that model, we've added the new set of special rules for weapons:

• Full Auto: Max 5 Targets - while this has been available to Gun Kata Gunslingers for a bit, certian special Full Auto weapons can now hit more than 4 targets.

• Powerful Glance - this special rule means that the damage reduction from Glancing Hits is 50% less than it normally would. This means your Glancing Hits can still pack a more solid punch and be better finishers, and it pairs well with Precision Burst ... or even better, for a melee weapon.

• Overwatch Lockdown - this weapon gains 1 free extra reaction shot whenever being used for Overwatch. So, even when invoking Overwatch with 0 AP, you'd get 2 Reaction shots.

• Splinter Strike - If this weapon scores a Critical Hit, the attack immediately rolls a second Armor Shred %, which may Shred up to 2 Protection Points.

More special rules for weapons will be coming that help to further push weapons into cooler and different corners and use cases, differentiating them on more than just stats and breaking up the "sameness" that can occur within a single run of Assault Rifles (etc).

This special rules are primarily deployed along the Fadelight and Rook Prototype weapons today - which is our next topic!

Power Play: Fadelight and Rook Prototype

We've continued to hear from players that the weapons offered from Fadelight and Rook Prototype Power Play services are okay, but that depending on when you get access to them they don't stick out enough versus what you can craft and loot at that point int he game. So, we've went back into the balancing shop and completed some up-balance to help these special weapons out.

Overall - give these another look!

Upgraded Burnermouth E-Rifle

In the slew of upgrades on weapons, we've also come back around the early story reward weapon, the Burnermouth E-Rifle. With the growing availability of E-Rifles through contact sales, Blueprints and looting, this weapon had lost its cool. We have refreshed it with upgraded stats and a special rule that allows it to hit +1 extra targets during Full Auto (now max 5) as well as increasing its Full Auto shots to be higher than usual at that level for an E-Rifle.

Overall - give this one another look!

Here is a summary of the up-balance:

• Increased some stats (Dmg, Recoil, Accuracy) in a few places.

• Added thematic special rules to every weapon in the sets to help them really pop. Of course, every Rook Tech UAR offers Full Auto: Max 5 Targets special rule, because Rook is a heavy weapon's division and it just feels good. Go boom, go bang!

Better Stage Navigation

With Update #23, we've added clearer navigation hotkeys to explore multi-stage missions. That is all!

Bug and F10 Crush!

We fixed a ton of your F10s with this update, thanks for posting them!

• The right Hacker now talks in victory screens ːsteamhappyː

• The new Delta Clinic map had some odd areas where sight lines were totally broken, now resolved.

• Mr. Freeze achievement was not working, it will now work the next time you achieve it (sorry we can't backport it).

• Mass Trauma Kit can now be used on the carrying character

• Empty Lootboxes correctly outline in gray through walls

And more and more - check the full release notes for everything!

v2.1.33 - #23: Rarity on the Rocks - 7/31/2025

- Fixed Casting Director issue that was preventing Jupiter Decks Power Play from being offered

- Upgraded / fixed issues with FSC Armor offerings (rename, rebalance, fixed intrinsic effects)

- Upgraded / fixed previous weapons from Power Plays: Fadelight Blades and Rook Prototypes - more power, special rules, all Rare+

- Added first wave of new weapon special rules to game (FA max 5 targets, Powerful Glance, Overwatch Lockdown, Splinter Strike)

- Upgraded Burnermouth storyline E-Rifle to PL 4 plus extra damage, +1 Full Auto shots making it stand out again among Energy Rifle options

- Fixed bug where the wrong hacker (who was not on the mission) would talk or get credit in victory screen

- Fixed issues with new map "Delta Clinic" - areas with blocked sight lines and terminals not being highlighted by objectives

- Fixed bug where empty lootbox was showing as gold when seen through a wall

- Fixed bugs with Achievement Mr. Freeze not firing correctly

- Fixed Mass Trauma Kit item unable to heal the character who used it

- Fixed possible camera lock up when exiting matrix after having preview security devices

- Improved mission planning & victory screen with better navigation prompt and next/previous hotkeys to swaps stages

- Fixed bugs with using Body Bag Talent on drones or other enemies with backpacks

- Fixed issue with sorting items by price not being 100% correct all the time

- Fixed bug where armor intrinsic properties were not shown in the market

- Fixed issue with odd blinking red square around Hacker's attributes sometimes in New Game