Ahoy there!

We hope everyone had a lovely holiday and New Year! Today we are releasing our 1st update for 2022, which includes some of the features we were unfortunately unable to release in December plus a lot more. The team have been hard at work adding new content, improving current gameplay, and squishing as many bugs as we can!

Have a read below to see what the Monstrum 2 February update has in store for you all:

New Content

• Three new Exterior Balcony puzzles (Diving Bell, Laser and Code Cage)
  
• Four new Rooftops with additional puzzles (Genetics, Suite, Operations and Archives)
  
• New porta-cabins added to rooftops and the Helipad
  
• Yellow call out marker assets added around all puzzle content
  
• Health Kit changed to a Health Spray
  
• Discord button added to Main Menu
  
• Connection Menu is now fully animated
  
• Revamped loading screen with an updated HUD, additional hints and improved formatting
  

Balancing

Switches
We have become increasingly aware that power switches can be completed very quickly by experienced players. We have introduced a system which will slow down the rate that power switches can be done and allow the monster to attempt to defend the power switches in a more meaningful way.

• Power Switches take 3 seconds to activate - it is no longer an instant activation
  
• The interaction key must be held down for this entire time period in order to complete the switch
  
• Time spent interacting on a switch is reset if the interaction was not fully completed
  

Speed Changes

• Bhagras movement speed on the ground has been reduced to 4.133m/s (Previously: 4.144m/s)
  
• After any Monster successfully strikes a Prisoner with a non-lethal hit the Prisoners speed will increase to 140% for 2.5 seconds (Previously: 135% for 2 seconds)
  
• After any Monster uses their main attack ability the Monsters speed will reduce to 65% for 2 seconds (Previously: 70% for 1 second)
  

Defensive Items
Fire Extinguishers became the new Meta item to have to survive as a Prisoner and became a frustration point for Monsters. We have decided to reduce the effects that the Fire Extinguisher applies to the Monster whilst still providing them some use to the Prisoners.

• Fire extinguisher now only reduces a Monsters movement speed down to 60% for 2 seconds (Previously: 50% for 2 seconds)
  
• Monsters can now attack through fire extinguisher smoke again
  

Hiding Spots
Numerous Lockers throughout the Sea Fort have been repositioned and in some cases removed. This is to lay the groundwork for further improvements to the locker search confrontations in future updates
Several desks and other furniture props have been moved further away from window openings to ensure unobstructed vaulting for all the characters

Animations
The animations being worked on were focused on Item and Locker interactions. Some of these animations are a work in progress towards a larger change to their system. Further updates and improvements to these animations and more will continue to happen in future updates.

Brute

• Brute will stand closer to a locker when searching
  
• Altered Brute searching an empty locker animation
  
• Altered Brute animation whilst starting a locker Mini Game
  
• Brutes camera positioning when performing locker searches and kills has been repositioned to line up better with the gameplay camera
  

Bhagra

• Bhagra jumping on top of a locker animation altered, jumping onto it from further away.
  
• Bhagra searching an empty locker animation sequence has been altered to include a look around.
  
• Bhagra jumping back off of a locker animation altered
  
• Bhagra no longer stares at an empty locker after searching
  

Malacosm

• Malacosm losing a Locker Mini Game will play a stunned animation

Prisoner

• Left arm of the prisoner will not be locked to the body when carrying items
  
• Left hand pose now consistent when holding items
  
• Improved item holding animations and hand pose loops
  
• Prisoners will play an animation to use the adrenaline
  
• Prisoners will now hold out their right hand when dragging objects
  
• Prisoners will no longer have their item in their hand whilst dragging objects
  
• Health Spray animations added
  
• Sledgehammer damage synced with animation
  
• Fuel pouring animation fixed
  

Art

• New breakable floor asset
  
• Updated Tutorial walls in all tutorials
  
• Rooftop assets for Archives
  
• Rooftop assets for Genetics
  
• Rooftop assets for Operations
  
• Rooftop assets for Suite
  
• Improvements to Level Thematics and Set Dressing
  
• Lighting Optimisations
  

Audio

• Health Spray audio
  
• Footstep audio for metal walkways
  
• Footstep Surface material added for Brute footsteps
  
• Improved audio occlusion for items being dropped
  
• Background audio added on Connection Screen
  
• Red Crates opening audio
  
• Attenuation optimisations
  
• Audio CPU usage optimisations
  
• Prisoner dialogue optimisations
  
• Monster and Prisoner Footstep optimisations
  
• Motion Detector alarms will no longer play its alarm twice for a single activation.
  

UI

• Loading Screen Changes
  
• Loading screen has now been updated to show the stage progression of the game and provide hints to help guide players through the game.
  
• The loading screen hints will be tailored to your character chosen
  

Locker Mini Game

• Locker Mini game UI has been changed to match the visual style of the rest of the UI
  
• The Locker Mini Game will remain on the screen for a few seconds after the mini game has concluded
  
• The UI will now signify if you won or lost the Mini Game by turning green for a win and red for a loss.
  

Misc UI

• Updated World Marker and Ping UI
  
• Add friends UI has been updated and improved
  
• UI Chat Widget visual changes
  
• Improved World Marker ranges
  

Miscellaneous

• Updates to moveable trolleys, new prompts and adjusted movement rates
  
• Removed physics on barrel assets, they are now just static props
  
• Extra ladders added to Vault and Infirmary Rooftops
  
• Removed the puzzle in Genetics involving jumping over to a secret hatch on the exterior, a replacement puzzle is now on the rooftop
  

• Fixed an issue with a camera blip when vaulting
  
• Fixed an issue with the Malacosm getting stuck in spectate when using clairvoyance on a downed player
  
• Fixed bug where Prisoners were not able to heal themselves in some locations
  
• Bhagra scent trails now render past the fog
  
• If in a party the camera now moves to the lobby scene vs staying in the menu
  
• Fixed bug where Buff UI would continuously stack when spectating another prisoner
  
• Fixed visual bug where “Buff Title” would appear when spectating another player
  
• Server buttons - a change to how we fetch the server list to display the server buttons in the connection screen should fix the buttons not appearing
  
• You will no longer say “Thank You” after healing yourself with a Medical Spray
  
• Fixed issue where buttons on the Main Menu would not highlight properly when using a gamepad
  
• Monster Selection screen should work better with controllers
  
• Tutorial hints should localise to controller inputs instead of always being Mouse and Keyboard
  
• HUD should localise to Gamepad controls more consistently
  
• Fixed various unreachable item spawns
  
• Fixed several Power cables in the Suite Building that were flowing in the wrong direction
  
• Fixed an issue where the Monsters camera would be off centre during Kill animations
  

• At times the player’s body can render through their skinned clothes
  
• Monster’s heads can still sometimes not appear during the monster cutscene
  
• Monsters cannot vault through the windows of the new porta-cabins on the Helipad and rooftops.
  
• Random disconnects - if this does happen please report them to us on our discord channel #m2-bug-and-support so we can track them down!
  
• Footstep audio will sometimes be inconsistent with the floor type
  
• Diving Bell puzzle has little indication when the diving bell has fully hoisted and ready
  
• External Audio can be heard in the Submarine Escape Area
  
• Loading screen hints when loading into Tutorials are defaults for the main game and do not change to Tutorial content
  
• In Suite, the yellow tape markers will appear on the walls for all spawn locations for Fuseboxes, and not only for the Fuseboxes that spawned in.
  
• The updated Bhagra locker search animation in 1st person is still in progress and the current version can be a bit intense
  

Season 3 will be launched on February 22nd

The Progress Tracker and reward content for season 2 will continue to be available in the game until Tuesday, February 22nd 2022. The season 3 content will be released once Season 2 concludes.
New Store Cosmetics will be released with this Season update.


We are, as always, very thankful for all your feedback and to our discord community. Monstrum 2 is continuously evolving throughout it's early access period and we wouldn't be where we are now without all of your input. If you would like to join the discussions on our discord server, you can do so by clicking here: discord.gg/junkfish

We hope you enjoy the 1st update of 2022!

Team Junkfish