STALCRAFT: X [Patchnote 10.07.24]
EXBO“Legends say that only chosen stalkers with inhuman willpower and diligence will be able to read all the articles in this patchnote. Are you, Seeker, ready to take up the challenge?” (c) A well known graphomaniac.
Today is exactly 10 years since our Chernobyl Zone first welcomed its first stalkers. For more than a year, we have been preparing a major update for this memorable date, which will be a bright transitional point in the history of the project and will allow us to avoid a midlife crisis.
The game has changed so much that we decided to rebrand it a bit and from now on we will call it STALCRAFT: X. This move allows us to emphasise the transformation of the project and enter the new decade tidy and fresh.
Navigation
We have prepared not one, but a whole network of patch notes and guides for those who want to get acquainted with all the changes and updates in detail. Further in this article will be only general descriptions of some changes, and the patch notes themselves will be posted on our website.
🔻Guide on New Quests of the North
🔻Guide on Signals in the world
🔻Guide on General map of the North
Renaming of game entities
Our team consists of very loyal fans of the original universe, but at the current stage of the project's development, it is time to remove crossing titles. We have been extremely scrupulous in our approach to this issue, including a series of important player surveys.
In general, in combination with a large-scale update of the game, the change of names even allows you to look at familiar things in a new way. Also, some mutants and costumes got new models, and the visuals of artefacts changed completely. STALCRAFT is still as close to our favourite trilogy as it is possible for a commercial project.
New North locations
New northern locations have finally appeared in the game, customised for the confrontation of the four warring factions. You will have the opportunity to more or less safely mine resources on home locations, and on disputed ones to take part in new open world events. Also, owners of scientist suits can now visit full-fledged infected zones, where all others are not allowed to enter. And of course, in the centre of the new North is Forge-11 — it's not Backwaters yet, but it's already quite a serious test for your shooting and survival skills.
We didn't forget to update the southern locations (mostly in terms of vehicles and trees), but the northern ones will still stand out strongly against their background. We have used all the experience gained over the years to create a well-thought-out map with a lot of objects and buildings that can be played in your favour. Some of them are obvious, and some of them will be known only by experienced stalkers.
You can only enter the new North after joining one of the northern factions (for stalkers Frontier and Rise, for bandits Covenant and Mercenaries).
Northern factions storylines
After completing the main story in the southern locations, you will be able to access the larger quest lines of the northern factions. The northern faction quests are unique stories that reveal the world of the Zone from different sides and echo each other. Each story has its own special atmosphere and fully reveals the ideology of your chosen faction.
We also tried to surprise you with new mechanics in quest locations, which allows you to immerse yourself in the story even more and feel a new game experience. And remember an important point — since these are already northern locations, some stages in the story can be quite difficult to pass, but still very interesting!
New movement system
We've completely redesigned the character movement system and 3rd-person animations — we've been working on it for almost for two years! Besides aesthetic pleasures, the new animations allow you to better read the movements of enemies on the battlefield, and in general, significantly improve the basic game experience. And of course, no more Q when climbing obstacles. You get used to the new moves very quickly, and after internal tests, many of us found it very hard to play the previous STALCRAFT.
All NPCs have also been switched to the new movement system. In the northern locations they have significantly updated Artificial Intelligence, so now bots can be easily confused with regular players. At least for the first time.
New game mechanics
On disputed locations, everyone now has the opportunity to prove the supremacy of their faction by capturing “Outposts” and receiving quantum batteries as a reward. And hunting for mutants has become much easier, thanks to the “Territory” mechanic (now they live in areas and are highlighted on the map).
Hideout — your own den for resting and preparing for new raids, which you can equip with various furniture and useful structures. There, you will have access to the creation of high-level consumables, which can also be sold to other players.
We have also greatly expanded the variability of spawning various useful loot in stashes and on the map, at the expense of Hideout crafts. Around this, a full-fledged “Gathering” system has been built, which in addition to searchable decor now also includes various plants, and in infected areas and arch-anomalies — special crystals.
Daily and weekly tasks have become more flexible. Everyone decides for themselves who to work for and what to demand as a reward for their efforts.
Project “Socialisation”
We've significantly redesigned some interfaces, moving many of the PDA functions to the main menu and expanding them. Now you can make friends, write them letters, join squads and manage notifications in one place, and all this without shrinking into a small screen in the centre. The player profile view has also changed, and it's now possible to display the most important stats on the main page. This is just the beginning and the first iteration of the large-scale project “Socialisation”, which is designed to do everything we can to make sure you find great friends in your squad or subdivision.
Massive graphics update
For many years we didn't pay much attention to updating the graphics of the project, because it's not easy to find specialists to work with our engine, and we had to concentrate on fixing the gameplay. Nevertheless, we finally solved this problem and prepared a delicious update of the overall visuals of the game. STALCRAFT now has gorgeous trees, beautiful models of vehicles, nice water and a new lighting system.
And that's not all! Our specialists have also developed a complex system for changing the “Weather”, so that every day in the Zone was not like the previous one. Now it can rain at locations of different strength, thick or light fog can form, clear days can be replaced by cloudy ones. Some weather events occur randomly, some are subject to certain cycles. All in all, it will be more interesting to go for a walk now!
Balance and economic changes
Well, it's not without it! This time the balance changes are not just about numbers — super-heavy, heavy and some combo suits got a bigger hitbox, corresponding to their size. That is, it became easier to hit massive opponents. The characteristics of many automatic rifles and some rifles have also increased. And good news for all fans of the AH series combo armour branch!
Also, all barter recipes have been recalculated, including the required resources have been adapted to the logic of using equipment. For example, bartering shotguns no longer requires resources from human camps, but requires more resources from mutants. The prices, weights, and ranks of some barter resources have been adjusted to better match the value of the resource and its weight. The exchange rate of trade coins for some resources has also changed. In addition, any branch of equipment can now be started immediately in the Bar (no more running to the initial locations to learn new lines).
Battle Pass points have been added to the rewards for announcement board quests, signals, dig up caches, parcel deliveries, and session battles. Weekly/daily quests are now more focused on the open world, and the narrowly focused and annoying ones have been removed.
Sounds update
We couldn't release the graphics changes without doing a lot of work on improving the sound design! Even though the overall upgrade of gunshot sounds didn't make it to today's release, the game still features completely redesigned mutant and expendable sounds, new footstep sounds (depending on surfaces), new gun interaction sounds and a bunch of great new ambient and story quest music.
There's certainly no need to read, but to play and listen!
In-game shop update
We have done a lot of work on redesigning the shop interfaces so that all items can be viewed clearly and conveniently. Some items can be purchased as a set or individually, and we have also introduced the ability to easily preview many items before purchase.
Well, and of course in honour of the big date, a new battle pack is now available to buy in our updated fresh shop, which includes:
🔻25 levels of season pass (25,000 season points);
🔻X-Mark paint set;
🔻X-Mask keychain;
🔻30 days of Premium;
🔻A case of fireworks;
🔻A case of champagne.
Compensation of award for 2023
So, you've made it through the huge canvas of text of this patch, now, let's talk about the award.
More precisely, about the award for seniority of the last year.
We have looked up the secret documents and found out that many of you did not receive all the awards, or they came incorrectly.
And today is the right time to make up for this misunderstanding.
What didn't reach the recipients a year ago has settled in the pockets of the former Intendant.
Don't worry, he's already been punished (in all senses), and the rewards you're entitled to will be sent to your in-game mail in a separate letter.
An important clarification: this is exactly the extra part of the reward.
That is, if you were entitled to 50 000 trade coins and 180 days of premium, and you received 30 000 coins and 120 days,
you will receive the remaining 20,000 trade coins and 60 days of premium.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Conclusion
The update is very large-scale and complex, so please be sympathetic to the possible abundance of bugs and flaws - they are inevitable, and we will try to fix them promptly. Also, in the coming weeks we are planning to release a large-scale revision of faction captures - there will be 1v1 tournament battles, a different format of captured bases in the open world, and much more.
For the last few years, everything we've been working on has been done with an eye on future development - any skeleton needs a muscle brace after release. So don't even think like we're going to relax and switch to anything. Many of the mechanics released today have huge potential, and STALCRAFT: X is not going to slow down in its development and scaling in the future. The evolution that STALCRAFT is experiencing is a direct reflection of the team's commitment to its development and the total dedication of each individual staff member to the overall endeavour.
EXBO has never had publishers or investors strangling the company with financial performance requirements. All we have is you, our players, and your support. STALCRAFT is not a game that you can just pick up and make for a lot of money - it's a whole world that has grown around the paths players have trodden and shaped over the years.
We always tried to be sincere with you, and please don't forget that behind all these updates there is a huge labour of live developers, who put all their heart and all their free time into it. And the main motivation for them is not money at all, but your emotions, your reviews, your feedback. Please don't forget to open our social networks not only to complain about something, but also to praise. We all care very much about what you write.
With endless love,
EXBO Team💙