You can now knock down enemy garbage bags by using the plate as a brutal frisbee in Selaco. Excellent. A first-person shooter filled with satisfying explosions, gunshots, bullet ricochets, shattered glass, sparks, goo, blood splatter, dust, ice particles, smoke, plaster particles, and bad guys screaming at each other about how she is therecan be described as loud, in both the auditory and visual senses of the word. This is what we like, you know. The latest update to the Early Access shooter builds on this by adding even juicier shooting effects. It also adds a completely fresh game mode and tons of other improvements. The bad news is that some parts of the story are now delayed.
First of all – the fresh “Special Campaign” mode is basically the equivalent of a fresh game plus for a shooter. It will allow players to replay the campaign (as it was) “but with unique endgame content and randomness,” say the developers of Altered Orbit in update post. It will add random enemy encounters and give weapons occasional ARPG-style colors, among other customizable settings.
It was planned to call this mode “Randomizer”, but it looks like the developers redesigned it and changed the name. As with classic fresh game plus examples, you must have already completed the game to unlock this fresh special mode (or, in this case, the first chapter of the campaign – what exists in the game so far).
What’s more fun for me than this fresh mode, however, is how the FEAR-like enemy patrols have been improved. As I mentioned, they will fall if you throw a plate at them, but now they will also trip if you shoot them in the leg. They will take increased damage when frozen by ice grenades and will call out to each other more often when looking for the player (for example, they will now shout that the flashlight is giving you away).
Many other improvements have been made, such as faster Halo-style melee attacks and several balances between different types of firearms. There are also many bug fixes. “Throwing toilets at enemies no longer causes the game to crash,” we were told. “Fixed a rare bug where enemies killed by electricity would become invincible.” God I love patch notes.
As for noise – there is also more of it. “Improved fire extinguisher explosion power,” they shout enthusiastically in the update notes. “Improved sound effect when walking on glass,” another note shouts. “I’m crazy about the sound of the bullets hitting and whistling,” the third note whispers, but with a manic and delighted look that suggests there’s a landmine nearby. Don’t worry, the mine’s blast radius has been reduced by almost 50%. You’ll be fine.
This is quite a enormous update, which the creator cites as the reason for the delay in the plot, which was supposed to bring players closer to the main character. The narrative additions they previously mentioned include “a main narrative that showcases Dawn as a character, the world of Selaco, and the overall plot.” It was planned for the end of this year, but according to the creators, it was postponed by a few months to January or February next year. Meanwhile, work on the FPS’s second chapter “continues to progress rapidly,” they say, posting hints of foldable towers, miniguns, and… is that a mech suit? Interesting.
If it’s sometimes challenging to keep up with Selaco’s many additions and changes, it’s partly because the developers don’t operate a roadmap like other studios during Early Access. “Action plans usually have a negative impact on development/work” – they do he said in the past. “Experimenting with new ideas takes time, whereas action plans focus on a schedule and don’t allow for such things.”
No matter what they do, everything seems to work well. Ed liked Selaco when he reviewed the first early access version of the game, calling it a work of impressive “GZDoom magic” and praising its cunning AI enemies. Here’s what he had to say about running and/or shooting.
Shootouts are a garbage fest, with printer paper raining down and computer monitors crackling and alien soldiers covering everything in sticky purple goo when you explode them. While the results of your bullets can be quite messy, the shootouts really do a good job of straddling the line between a tactical shooter and a boomer, ball-to-the-wall shooter…
It is currently Discounted during the Steam Fall Saleif you like a little noise.
