Hey everyone,

The time has finally come...
I'm thrilled to announce that Major Update 1 is officially live!

Years of hard work

This update represents years of hard work, remastering, refining, and listening to community feedback. A lot of that time was spend on deep systems work that isn't always visible on the surface. Rewriting core gameplay loops, overhauling AI behavior, balancing combat flow, optimizing performance, and adding in the framework that will carry EXOME forward.

These were not quick fixes. They required tearing things down, testing, iterating, and building them back up in a way that I can now expand on more easily.

Major Update 1 also delivers a long list of improvements, bug fixes, and quality of life changes that I believe make the experience more intense, more immersive, and ultimately more rewarding for both solo and co-op players.

Thank you

I want to sincerely thank every single one of you who stuck with me through the long wait and supported the game during its early stages. Your patience, feedback, and encouragement were crucial, and this update would not exist without the community standing behind it.

Jump in, try it out, and let me know what you think. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on all the changes.

New Features

• New Procedural Event System
  One of the major developments has been the implementation of a new procedural event system. This system introduces dynamic and unpredictable outcomes to the platforms, ensuring that no two playthroughs are alike.

• New Weather System
  From torrential rainstorms and snowstorms to scorching heatwaves, the weather will not only influence the visual aesthetics but also alter gameplay dynamics. For instance, a sudden downpour might decrease visibility and intensify combat, while clear skies could make things more manageable.

• New Difficulty System
  There is a now a difficulty system to cater to a wider audience. Whether you're a seasoned gamer seeking a challenge or a casual player looking for a more relaxed experience. This ensures that everyone can play at their own preferred pace.

• New Partial Controller Support
  Can be played with a controller but menus aren't supported yet.

• New Poise System for players and monsters
  Players and monsters now both have a poise. Players will visual stumble, fall or get thrown back if their poise breaks in a short enough time. Monsters can be staggered if their poise breaks.

• New Player Dodging
  Added a dodging mechanic for the player. I've wanted the player to have more options on how to deal with attackers.

• New Player Melee
  Get your steel toes on because you're going to need them with all that worm kicking.

• New Explosive Weaponry
  Added explosive weapons in order to help the players deal with larger swarms of enemies. Who doesn't love blowing things up?

• New Bullet Ballistics
  Added bullet drop and ricochet to all weapons. Some weapons also have tracer rounds. Bullets also have travel time, influenced by the muzzle velocity of the weapon being fired.

• New Companion: T.E.S.A.
  Added combat assistant to support solo players in their playthroughs. She will draw some of the monsters’ aggro and help deal damage accordingly.

• New Save System
  After every update in the past, players would be required to start a new save game. This new save system will allow save game migrations for future updates so that you don't have to keep starting over with every update.

• New Long-awaited Boss Fight
  I'm thrilled to share that the long awaited boss fight is finally in the game. I hope you find this fight as fun and challenging as it was to make!

Monsters

• Monsters have poise now and are capable of being staggered if they receive enough poise damage in a short time period

• Monsters will now look at their target

• Monsters have a varied set of abilities that they will use

• Monsters have a incoming damage buffer that will let them update their target to the highest incoming damage source

• Monsters' ragdoll will now freeze in place if it is old enough

• Monsters now have a chance to study their target before trying to attack again

• Event monsters that are unable to be collected will quickly dissolve

• Addressed framerate issues when there are many monsters active

• Wildlife can now lay down to rest

• Wildlife will now react to gunshots they hear or bullets hitting nearby

• Fixed issue where wildlife would spawn en masse in tight spaces on the map

• Added micro-wormholes that monsters jump out of

• There is now a chance of a "wild wormhole event"

Weapons

• Added Grenade Launcher

• Added Rocket Launcher

• Added Glowstick throwable

• Added Secondary Weapon upgrade

• Players weapon reload animations are smoother

• Fixed weapons being visible while using their scopes

• Scroll wheel now goes to next/previous weapon slot

• UI fixes regarding weapon information presented to player

• Reload cancelling is now much smoother

• Weapons now have their own unique muzzle velocities

• Sniper rifle now shoots a tracer round

• Bullets have drop, travel time and can use tracers for select weapons

• Bullets have a chance to ricochet and continue to cause damage

• Disabled 4th weapon slot for now - it will be utilized in the future

• Adjusted visuals of Frag Grenade

• Various visual updates to sniper rifle scope

Player

• Players now have poise and will get staggered, fall down or get thrown if their poise breaks hard enough

• Players can be revived in place instead of being respawned in place

• Players can now perform a melee attack

• Added a square reticle to indicate if an interaction available

• Added in-game military time to top left of player HUD

• Players can now boost the rematerialization process while respawning, this costs MTR per second while boosting

• Players can now dodge roll in any direction

• Players can now switch camera to other shoulder

• Added new HUD mini-map that shows your immediate area

• Players no longer start with pistol

• Added T.E.S.A. and her deployment throwable

• Fixed player hand placement on all weapons

• Increased sitting health recovery

• Added notifications when buying weapons and upgrades

• Can now rotate character around in lobby

• Player stamina bar will flash if there's not enough stamina to do an action

• Reduced respawn materialization time from 60s to 45s

• Joining players to a boss fight in progress will be put into spectator mode, until the boss fight is over

Misc.

• Updated to Unreal Engine 5.6

• Added radial menu that is used for various functions the players can do

• Changed currency of CR (Credits) to MTR (Matter)

• Added Tab panel for Map

• Added Tab panel for Logs

• Added Tab panel for Inventory

• Map is now grid cell based and cells are hidden until visited

• Updated various markers on map

• Map icons for platforms now indicate if the platform has been completed or not

• Added sharpness slider in display settings

• Added weather volume slider to audio settings

• Added difficulty setting, can be changed mid-playthrough if desired

• Some upgrades will now require another upgrade to be purchased first

• Kiosks can now scroll if the content is long enough

• Moved gamma, field of vision, and motion blur to display settings

• Added new log entries and updated others

• Updated lobby to be a little more "ethereal"

• Added several new POIs

• Added underwater effects

• Default Global Illumination is now Lumen. There is an option to turn GI off completely or use Screen Space Illumination

• Added NVIDIA Reflex toggle

• Lobby browser details showing correct values for number of players and ping

• And tons of other bug fixes and quality of life improvements...

Known Issues

• Gamepad vibration feedback is currently missing

• Player indicators on the map can become stuck after a player revives. Rejoining the session resolves it temporarily

• Clients may not see the host’s recently purchased weapon

• T.E.S.A. may acquire an incorrect target and stop firing. Redeploying her fixes it for now

• T.E.S.A. initially runs to the host even when spawned by another player

• Rare bug causes players to appear to be firing a holstered weapon. Most commonly occurs when acquiring all weapons for the first time. Switching weapons fixes it for now

• Platform events will sometimes cancel and will have to be restarted

Additional Notes

• Update 2 is already in development. It will introduce a new map, new weapons, new enemies, new upgrades, and additional systems - all built on top of what’s now in place with Update 1.

• If you encounter a bug or want to provide feedback, you can do so through the in-game feedback panel or on the EXOME Discord (https://discord.gg/eUVQDBVNVE).

• Content creators: all music in EXOME is properly licensed and safe to use in videos or streams.

• From the bottom of my heart - thank you for your patience and support. Your feedback continues to have a direct impact on EXOME.

This is just the beginning, and there much more to come...

Sincerely,
"rudefrog"
RudeFrog Studios