This version taps into that fun feeling of discovery and exploration in GTA. You find a random staircase, climb onto a rooftop and discover a cool item as a reward for your efforts. Geneshift now does this with the addition of rare loot crates. These boxes glow in purple and contain extra valuable items such as superweapons, chemicals, $5000 perks, life fragments, etc.

The megamap has been updated with over 50 spawn points where these rare loot crates might spawn. Each location has been designed as a puzzle, which requires some form of parkour to get to. In the screenshot below you can see a rare loot crate has spawned in a new balcony area. This balcony is too high up to access via normal jumping, and requires you to parkour your way up there, as shown with the arrows below.

The idea with these puzzles is to provide players a change of pace from the fast-paced combat of Geneshift. They also make exploration more fun, and get you using your brain to solve puzzles in completely different ways.



Everytime you shift there is now a brief window of time where your gun will fire critical bullets. You see an enemy, shift towards him, and then have 0.5s to fire off a few rounds with extra damage. This window of time is small, so you better make sure those critical bullets hit!

Critical bullets deal +20% damage, which can be increased to +50% damage via looting ammo kits. Previously, critical bullets played a fairly small role in the game as they were only available as the final bullets in your magazine. But now they're relevant to every single fight as long as you have the quick aim and timing to use them effectively.



+50% damage is a lot! It can easily decide the winner of a fight. A well timed shift might give you the extra damage needed to secure the kill. But you might instead choose to save your shift so you can escape to safety at the last minute. By giving shifts both an offensive and defensive use, shifts are far more interesting to use.

To offset this huge buff, shifts now regenerate a lot slower (once every 4 seconds). We're also capped at only max 3 shifts at a time - so use them wisely! It is possible to bring that max up to 5 shifts, but only if you find them in the purple rare crates mentioned above. Basically shifts are now a lot more powerful than before, but a lot rarer too - so use them wisely!



A big issue with survival mode was how to cater to players of different skill levels. Generally it was too hard for newbies and far too easy for veterans. This has been solved with a whole new economy around lives.

For starters, bots are a lot harder. More accurate, bigger guns, more skills, etc. There is also a minimum number of bots you must "assassinate" each round, to force players to take action and not hide on a rooftop somewhere. You're now going to be in a lot of tough fights, and are going to lose lives in the process. This keeps things far more engaging for skillful players.



To offset this increased difficulty there are new ways to gain back these lives. You can now buy them for $3000 at vendors, and you can find them in the new purple loot crates. Lives are now your main "resource" in the game, and you'll need to explore, farm cops, get sick combo kills to earn enough cash to buy the lives necessary to survive.

There are additional incentives for skillful players to play their very best as well. If you manage to survive a round without losing a single life, a free supply drop will land next to you which gives bonus score and goodies. You can also SELL your lives for extra XP if you're feeling risky and don't think you'll die anyway.



Survival also has a new zombie swarm stage that happens at the end of each round. After you kill all the players, zombies will respawn and swarm you with their meaty fists. This can be quite challenging, but really rewards skillful usage of area of effect skills and chemicals, because the combo-kill potential is insane.




--- BIGGEST CHANGES ---

- For a brief 0.5s after shifting, your gun will fire critical bullets. This gives shifts a new offensive usage and makes them worth saving up for tough encounters.

- Added over 50 secret loot areas to the megamap. These loot areas will occassionally spawn a RARE crate with expensive loot. However, they are often hidden or require you to figure out a jumping puzzle to get them.

- If you avoid losing a life within a survival round, a bonus supply drop will land next to you at the end of the round

- Survival mode is quite a bit harder, but you can now buy extra lives from vendors for $3000

- In survival mode you now have the ability to SELL lives from vendors for 300xp per heart

- Bots no longer respawn as zombies in survival mode, but instead will spawn as a special "zombie swarm" at the end of each round


--- OTHER CHANGES ---

- Rare loot crates are hidden in hard to reach places and will drop one of the following:
A) 2 quarter hearts
B) A random perk
C) $2000 in cash
D) 10 xp vials
E) A chemical
F) A tier 2 weapon
G) A crate full of 4x nades

- Survival mode now requires you to assassinate 8/12/16/20 targets each round (randomly chosen enemy players)

- These targets show with a little crosshair above their healthbar, and will not be attacked by other bots - ensuring you MUST fight and not camp till the final showdown

- One of these targets will be a primary target with an arrow pointing towards him. Killing this guy gives $1000 bonus bounty

- Supply Drops now give +10 score instead of +5 score in survival mode

- At the end of each survival round you will gain bonus cash based on how many lives you lost

- Nades now cost $500 instead of $300, and lob slightly faster in the air

- Capped the amount of money from a kill combo at $2000 per kill (won't affect civs at all, but prevents broken amounts of cash from player kills)

- Fixed a bunch of bugs with AI

- Superweapons now cost $15000 instead of $10000

- Shifts are now considered a rare loot type, only showing in the special purple loot boxes

- Max number of shifts is now 5 instead of 8

- Warp Fields now passively increase shift regen rate by 50% each, instead of giving +2 max shifts

- Cooldown time between shifts is now 0.65s instead of 1.0s

- Shifts take 4.0s to regen instead of 3.0s

- Survival mode lets you collect up to 8 lives instead of 5, and you start with 4 instead of 3

- Civ vendors now have 300hp instead of 500hp

- Civs no longer spawn in survival once the timer hits 0, to prevent infinite civ farming

- Changed the sound effect and reduced the duration of losing a life

- In survival mode it is now possible to get quarter hearts from looting crates

- The option to pay off cop bounty is now in a dedicated 6th slot in the buy menu, and doesn't replace the 5th slot

- Losing a life in survival mode no longer removes your unfinished life quarters

- Some cool map changes made by player GelatinOverlord, mostly own the bottom right of the map, adding some much needed gameplay and graphical improvements. Thanks!

- Bots in coop survival mode squad together tighter, making them harder to take down

- Survival bot hitpoints increases by +25 each round

- Nerfed BT slowdown to 25/20/15/10%

- Nerfed MP5 recoil a touch

- You now lose 2 score whenever you die in survival

- Sonar Cells reveal range is now 40m isntead of 30m

- Fixed a bug where bots wouldn't look at mirror image

- Xray vision now reveals loot crates

- Shifts now look cooler, leaving a little blue trail behind them

- Deagle damage is now 20 instead of 17, with a rpm of 240 instead of 300

- All guns now start at +20% critical damage instead of +50%, and go up to +50% instead of +100%. This is to offset the increased frequency you can use them now via shifting.

- Plenty of bug fixes

And a happy new year!

Have fun!
bencelot

For a "GTA-inspired" game it sure took a long time to add cops - but they are finally here!

We have cops, cop cars, special forces and more. If a cop sees you commit a crime your wanted level will raise - with an increasingly larger force trying to take you down. Cops add plenty of flavor and action to the game, with emergent car chases, vehicle explosions, chain reactions and new cop-centric missions.

Cops provide a whole new level of risk/reward decision making to PvP games. You can intentionally farm waves of cops for bonus loot - but you might not survive. If you want to lose the cops you have two choices. Pay a bounty at a vendor, or escape the blue circle on your minimap. If you go for the later you better bring a car, because the cops will chase you down, sirens blaring.



PvE is more exciting not only with the cops but also with the addition of kill combos. If you kill two enemies in a row you'll get a double kill which pays out 2x XP and cash. Triple kills give 3x, Quad kills 4x, and Multikills 5x. You need to kill within 2.0s to maintain your combo, and while multikills are rare, they feel VERY satisfying.

This change makes cop and civilian combat far more interesting. Sure you could just fire a bazooka at a cop car. But if you wait a moment you can line it up to kill a nearby civilian as well, getting 2x the reward. This quick decision makes every civilian or cop and opportunity to test your skills and get rewarded for it.

As you level up in-game your weapons and skills get stronger, which makes it easier to pull off these combos. This creates a sort of farming engine, where the stronger you become the faster you can farm, similar to farming creeps in MOBAs. All the skills have been given bonus damage modifiers against civilians, and civilian combos brings a whole new way to use the existing skills in the game.



This version places a large emphasis on PvE combat in preparation for the upcoming roguelite mode. Scoring has been reworked to give points for killing cops and civilians, as well as completing missions. If you want to play GTA and fight an army of cops with a minigun you can do so - and get score for it. This creates new paths to victory and viable new playstyles.

A new scoretab shows when you hold TAB which shows you exactly what your score is, how it was calculated, and what else you can do to maximise it. This should help new players understand how to win the game.



There's also a focus on sandboxy, explosive GTA mayhem. There are a lot more civilians in the map, and more cars driving around as well, making the city feel far more alive. This version really redefines the role of cars in the game as well - to go BOOM! Cop cars will chase you but their hitpoints are low. A well placed bazooka will set off chain reactions of explosions as the cop cars detonate.


I've reworked the lighting engine to not only run faster but look better too. The cop sirens look pretty great as they zoom along, reflecting off the fog and shiny metal objects. Bullets are cleaner, muzzle flashes brighter, and explosions bigger. Turn on high GFX mode and enjoy!



There are plenty of other neat changes. Health upgrades no longer reset when you die, Smoke Bomb has been reworked to turn you invisible, QoL improvements, a new arrow in the HUD directs you towards the nearest civilian mission, better vehicle handling, and the usual balancing and bug fixing. Read the changelog below for the full list!


--- BIGGEST CHANGES ---

- Police now exist in the game. They will patrol the streets on foot or in a car, and if you commit a crime nearby they will start hunting you

- Added a new kill combo system that makes civilian kills more fun. If you get kills within 2.0s of eachother you'll gain a combo multiplier and earn more cash and XP.

- Completely reworked scoring. It's still first to 50 points, but you can now get score for killing civilians, cops, and doing missions. Much more of a PvE focus.

- Significant peformance optimisation as well as beautiful graphical improvements made to dynamic lighting (try High GFX!)


--- POLICE MECHANICS ---

- Wanted levels go up when you kill cops. Wanted 1 = fists, wanted 2 = pistols, wanted 3 = primary weapons, wanted 4 = special forces, wanted 5 = civilians riot.

- To lose your wanted level you must escape the blue circle on the minimap then hide for 30s. If you damage a cop the timer will reset.

- You can also lose your wanted level by paying a bounty at civilian vendors. It costs $500 per wanted level.

- On wanted level 4 cops will start spawning as "special forces" types and be able to cast skills. Each wave of cops will cast a randomised skill (a wave of Plasma users for example)


--- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES ---

- Max hitpoints, critical bullets and phase shifts no longer reset when you die. They last the entire match.

- Health kits now give an instant +30hp in addition to +5 max hp.

- Vendors are more likely to sell T2 and T3 guns than T1 guns.

- Removed all the collision tiles in the map, meaning you can jump anywhere.

- Twice as many vehicles and civilians spawn in the map, making it feel more alive.

- An arrow now points you towards the nearest civilian mission giver.

- Sped up the leveling curve so you get to spend more skill points.

- Added a new option to automatically open the vendor buy menu when you stand next to him (default on)

- Kills give +1 score instead of +2 score.

- You get +1 score for every 5 civs/cops that you kill.

- A round win now gives +10 score instead of +20.

- Supply drops now give +5 score instead of +10.

- Survival/Placement gives +1 score instead of +2 score on 10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 players remaining.

- Civ missions now give +3 score instead of +2.

- Added a new scorecard that shows your score progress when you hold TAB.

- Civ missions now give either a random perk OR they give +$2000 and +100xp.

- Some civilian missions have been reworked to now focus on cops instead. For example knifing 4 cops, or killing cops with grenades.

- Added vertical auto aim vs cops and civilians.

- Civs now have 50hp instead of 30hp and do a bit more damage (33% instead of 25%).

- Civ kills now give 10xp instead of 5xp.

- The BR circle now shrinks at 2:00 mins remaining instead of 3:00 mins remaining (but shrinks 1.5x faster).

- Supply drops and the heart now begin falling at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 minutes, and land at 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 minutes.

- Loot now falls every 60s instead of 120s, but half as much each time.

- In squads mode the score chart is now sorted by individual score instead of by squads, and it awards kill coins this way too.

- Bots buy superweapons less often.

- Zombie rezzing is now easier. Heart drops are no longer randomized, but guaranteed to drop a half-heart every 2nd kill.

- Zombies no longer take 2x damage in the red zone, but can no longer cast skills inside it (just as they can't fire guns).

- The red zone is now graphically brightly visible when you're a zombie.

- Replaced the "collect health kits" civ mission with "get quad kills".

- Movement speed while in the air is now 100% instead of 50%


--- VEHICLE CHANGES ---

- You are now 100% immune to enemy bullet damage while inside a vehicle. However the driver can now only fire your gun while the car is stationary

- Vehicles have far less hitpoints than before, but only do 20hp damage to passengers when they explode.

- There is now a 0.8s delay when you enter or exit a car before you can fire your gun. Same delay is applied when you change seats.

- Improved the acceleration and reverse speed on vehicles.

- Reduced the cost of vehicles down to $500 to $1000.

- Added a new cop car called a "Patroller". Left click to turn on the siren.

- Empty vehicles take 50% more damage, and regen 3x faster

- Vehicles will no longer explode you into the air unless you're actually standing on a car (or have done so in the last 1s)

- Vehicles now have a 0.5s buffer from when its hitpoints hit 0 to when it actually explodes and make a cool "whiiirrrrt!!" noise


--- WEAPON CHANGES ---

- Superweapon ammo now only costs $1000 to fully refill instead of $4000, but supers only have 50% as much reserve ammo in them

- Bazooka now does 320hp vs vehicles instead of 200hp.

- Ruger now penetrates players/civs one time.

- Nailgun now pierces up to 3 enemies instead of bouncing bullets.

- Deagle damage is now 17 instead of 15. It does x1.5 damage vs civs and cops.

- Capped explosives at 4 instead of 5, reduce explosives rate of fire.

- Minigun does 23% more damage, but spread goes from 3 to 10 degrees (spray and pray baby).

- Spas damage is now 56 instead of 42, but fire rate is now 120 instead of 144.

- USP damage is now 10 instead of 9

- Blast Cannon damage is now 27 instead of 24, but rof is now 200 instead of 240

- The movement speed gain on weapon perks is now +20/40/60% instead of +15/30/45%


--- CHEMICAL CHANGES ---

- Changed the Synthetic Shop icon to a dollar sign

- Goo Traps will slow civs/cop to 10% speed

- Laser Tripwire duration is now 20s instead of 10s

- Laser Tripwire will fire upon chasing cops instantly, without the 0.5s activation time

- Damage Stimulant now gives +1% crit DMG vs civs/cops

- The activation time for chemicals is now 1.5s instead of 2.5s

- Warp Fields now come with 4 instead of 2 charges.

- Supply Beacon chemical now has 1 charge instead of 2

- Supply Beacon no longer drops a health kit (too OP)


--- SKILL CHANGES ---

- Skill cooldown perks are now -20/30/40% time instead of +30/60/90% speed

- Smoke Bomb has been reworked. Smoke bomb no longer fades your enemies screens to black, but instead makes you invisible as long as you stay inside the smoke.

- Self Repair cooldown is now 2s longer.

- Plasmaball no longer blasts you up into the air

- Blade Fury slashing DPS increased from 50 to 60 hp/s

- Blade Fury no longer disables your weapons upon firing, but it does less damage and bursts after 2s instead of 1s

- Venom now does a flat 10hp/s damage, and the duration grows 2/2.5/3/4s. It used to be a fixed 4s duration with a total 20/25/30/40 damage dealt. Venom is able to kill players yet again and doesn't cap at 1hp.

- Clip Magnet and Ammo kits no longer give less ammo to superweapons

- Radiate no longer disables weapons upon firing, but it does less damage. Duration is 1s longer for all levels

- Radiate now only does 5hp/s damage to self

- Vampirism gives 50% more healing vs civilians.

- Spike Trap does +5 damage per level (30/35/40/50).

- Venom Shot does 2x damage vs civs and cops.

- Shockwave duration is now 6s vs civs/cops

- Skill shot now has a 10% chance to trigger vs civs/cops

- Black Hole duration is now 5s instead of 10s

- Black Hole does extra slow vs civs/cop: 70/50/30/10% speed

- Backtrack healing per level is 40/60/80/100% instead of 25/50/75/100%

- Xray Vision range vs civs/cops is now 20/40/60/100m


--- BUG FIXES & TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS ---

- Significant improvements to framerate and netcode warpiness

- Significantly improved pathfinding speed of AI

- Reduced the filesize of the Geneshift install by 800MB

- Improved the loading time and memory usage of the megamap.

- Fixed a bug where you could fire skills while standing on black tiles

- Fixed a bug where rerolling wouldn't work

- Fixed a bug where ex-vendors would have too much HP after a round restart

- Fixed a bug where vendors could offer the same car twice

- Fixed a bug that made zombie AI too aggressive

- Fixed a bug where you would join as a zombie in a coop survival game


Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare!

Have fun!
bencelot

Geneshift is borrowing from the roguelite genre to massively increase the game's replayability, variety, and adaptability. The idea is to give players different guns and skills each round so that each match feels unique. No two matches will ever feel the same, and players will need to adapt to new items to survive.

To do this, the old skill menu and buy menu have been removed and replaced with brand new systems with limited choices - skill drafting and vendors. Players are now rewarded for thinking on their feet and creating a smart build on the fly. Let's explore!



Whenever you level up you'll now be given a draft of just 3 skills. You can level just 1 of these 3 skills, and will get a fresh set of 3 every time you level up. This is of course a huge change, as you can no longer choose whatever skills you want anymore. But it results in every match feeling completely different as your build is never the same. You'll discover new skill combinations and have to adapt as you play. If you don't like any of the 3 options, there is an option to reroll for another set of 3, but you can only do this once every 120s.

For example, you start the game and for your first skill point see Plasma Ball, Blade Fury, and Vampirism. Which do you choose? If you take Plasma, you'll want to look for other skills and guns that suit the long range playstyle. If you choose Blade Fury, you better go searching for a shotgun. Lets say you decide on a ranged build and take Plasma Ball. Then you level up again, and are offered Plasma Ball (level 2), Energize (level 1), and Self Repair (level 1). What do you choose now? When you choose one, you might not see the other options again. So what's more important? An extra powerful Plasma, or the ability to heal? Decisions decisions..

Drafting not only adds replayability and adaptability, but it will also do wonders for the new player experience too. No longer will newbies be overwhelmed with 30+ choices. There are just 3 skills to consider at a time. Furthermore, skills now go up to level 4, and this 4th level is STRONG. But the drafting algorithm won't show you the 4th level until you hit level 10, making this a nice milestone.



The buy menus have undergone a similar change. Instead of heading to a buy zone, pressing B, and choosing from the entire buy menu, players now must explore for Civilian Vendors. These are specials civilians with a yellow speech bubble above their head. Pressing E on them will open up a small buy list up the top right of the screen, with just 5 things for sale. Typically each vendor will sell: 1) ammo, 2) grenades, 3) a gun, 4) a chemcial or vehicle, 5) a special perk.

Each vendor sells a different set of items. and players are now rewarded for exploring the map and checking out a few vendors before making a purchase. If you don't like what a vendor has for sale, find another one. Vendors will sometimes sell items on discount, such as a Minigun which is 30% off. Nothing feels better than finding a vendor who has the perfect weapon for your skill build and it's on discount. Even cooler, vendors now sell perks as well! Previously you could only get these perks by completing missions. But now you can buy them directly for $5000. For example, a vendor might be selling the +20% Firerate perk for SMGS, which works great if you've managed to buy an MP5 elsewhere.

The end result of these two huge reworks is that special feeling you get in a roguelite where everything just comes together (or not). The addition of level 4 skills, discounted guns, and perks allows for some insanely overpowered combos if you ge lucky. But you won't get this everytime, so it feels extra special when you do.



Another neat change is the ability to capture enemy chemcials. Previously you could destroy enemy chemicals by standing on them for 3 seconds, but now you will capture them instead. This is way more fun, and can result in some really interesting emergent gameplay. For example, you are walking along and discover an enemy has placed down a Health Stimulant (which gives you health regen when standing nearby it). It's out in the open and your enemy is guarding it, but you turn on Force Fields to protect you while you capture it. Now it's yours and you have the health regen. So your enemy throws down a Molotov Cocktail to get you to retreat and tries to reclaim it himself. It creates a very interesting king of the hill mechanic.

Now you might be thinking "why should I place chemcials when my enemy can just steal them from me?" Well another change solves this. Chemicals are now hidden from enemies unless they step inside them. So you can place a Health Stimulant in an obscure corner somewhere, and get the health benefits from it, and as long as your enemy doesn't see you do it they are unlikely to walk there and discover/capture it. A well placed chemical can really give you a hidden advantage now.



The way difficulty scales in survival has been changed as well. Previously bots would just gain +25% damage each round, which was a bit bland. Early rounds were too eash, and later rounds had some OP situations where they could 1-shot you with an M3. So now bots always do a flat 100% damage like normal. Instead, each round they will level up their weapons and skills. Round 1 has them using tier1 weapons, round 2 gives tier2 weapons, and round 3 has them using superweapons. They'll also gain more powerful skills each round too. This is hard, but a lot more interesting to play against. In the final round all the bots unite against you, and you'll need to take on an army of superweapon wielding enemies to survive. But if you draft a good build and buy some nice perks, you might just have what it takes.



The M4 has been changed to a burst fire gun. There are new skills in the game like Counter Shot (which turns enemy damage into health for a short duration), and Skill Shots (which makes you skills recharge faster whenever you get a skillful non-gun kill). Other add-on skills like Spike Trap, Mirror Image and Smoke Bomb are now their own separate active skills and have been buffed considerably. Weapon recoil has been improved, lives have been buffed and are now exclusively earned via the Genetic Heart, and plenty of skill, weapon and chemical reworks based on player feedback. Check the full changelog below for details!




--- BIGGEST CHANGES ---

- Skills are now leveled via a draft of 3 each time you level up. You can reroll the 3 choices once every 120 seconds.

- The buy zone no longer exists. Instead, players buy items from civilian vendors who sell items on discount.

- Civ vendors now let you buy mission rewards (the perks you get from completing a mission). These cost $5000 each and are never discounted.

- You can now capture enemy chemicals by standing on them for 3 seconds. Doing so will make that chemical your own. This replaces the concept of destroying enemy chemicals.

- Chemicals are invisible to enemies when you first place them down (but will revealed if the enemy steps into them).

- Every skill can now go up to level 4, and the level 4 values are extremely powerful. These only appear in the skill draft once you hit level 10.

- Bots in survival mode no longer gain in damage. It is always 100%. However, they will gain power by unlocking more powerful guns (tier 1, 2, 3) and skills instead.


--- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES ---

- Capped the number of lives a player can earn in PVP to 1, and this can only be earned from the Genetic Heart.

- When you consume a heart you are now able to keep firing your gun. But you're no longer invulnerable. you'll simply gain all your health back and take 50% damage for the next 3s.

- Civilians can now drop loot.

- Reworked the way skill information is displayed in the HUD.

- Repositioned the final red zones in BR, limiting them to bigger more open areas with fewer rooftops around.

- Grenades now fall into the red zone in overtime along with other forms of loot.

- You gain +5% DMG when you loot the same gun, and this caps at +50 instead of +30% DMG (on critical bullets).

- Survival bots now have randomised skills, like in PvP. They don't all have the exact same skill (which is too repetitive).

- Improved bot AI to no longer prioritize humans over other bots.

- Killing a bot at max wanted level extends the timer by 3s instead of 1s.

- Added a cross to the center of the crosshair.

- Vehicles now have 2x as many hitpoints, but when they catch fire, they stay on fire for 10s (forcing players out).

- Improved the quality of gun sound effects.

- Increased the sound range so you can hear enemies shooting in the distance.

- Killing survivors now awards $500 while killing zombies now awards $200.

- Warmup rounds now have superweapons in them, and players no longer keep their guns when the warmup ends.

- Supply Crates visually look bigger.

- Supply drops are now guaranteed to drop a weapon always, which will be glowing to indicate that its critical bullets do +50% more DMG.

- Fixed a bunch of bugs.


--- WEAPON CHANGES ---

- The M4A1 is now a burst fire weapon, firing 3 fast bursts at a time.

- Buffed molotov's radius, while reducing duration from 5s to 4s.

- Weapons in general have less recoil.

- Deagle now costs $3000 and rate of fire is now 300 instead of 275.

- Improved the movement speed of rifles.

- Improved the range of machine guns.

- Tapping doesn't work as well for controlling recoil, but bursting works better.

- All guns have +40 zoom range (including snipers).

- Bazooka flies 90% as fast through the air.

- Grenades, flashbangs and molotovs now cost $300 instead of $500 (or cheaper if found on discount).


--- CHEMICAL CHANGES ---

- Chemicals now have a 2.5s activation time before they do anything.

- You can now carry up to a max of 4 chemicals.

- The benefits of the three stimulants now last for 8s instead of 3s.

- All chems now have 2 charges max instead of 3.

- Warp Fields now last in the map for 20 mins instead of 6 mins. They also have a 1s warp time instead of 1.5s.

- Sonar Cells now have a "discovery radius" of 5 meters. But they will reveal enemies with a 25m range. This lets you hide it in a corner and get vision benefits, without the enemy standing inside and discovering the chemical.

- Fission Mine's no longer give extra throws (too OP). Instead they'll give +1 free grenade every 60s.

- Only one of your fission mines can be activated at a time.

- Laser Tripwire now has a 0.5s activation time before it can do any damage. Once an enemy steps into it, it will activate and become visible to everyone in the server.

- Once active, Laser Tripwire has an 10 second duration where it will deal damage to any enemies who step inside it. After this 10s is over it will expire.


--- SKILL CHANGES ---

- Skill cooldowns are in general faster.

- Players can now go up to level 30, and the leveling curve is now faster.

- Bionic Charges has been replaced with a new pure passive skill call "Skill Shot", which works like so: Whenever you kill with an enemy with a non-gun damage source (eg: skills, vehicles, knife, grenades), you'll gain a charge. These charges speed up your skill cooldowns. Charges reset on death.

- Clip Magnet is now called "Rapid Refill" and works slightly differently: When Frenzy is active, each bullet you fire has a chance to not reduce your ammo count.

- Smoke Bomb is now its own active skill with a 15s cooldown. It is completely independent of Black Hole.

- Mirror Image is now its own active skill with a cooldown of 10s, and buffed duration of 4/6/8/15 and buffed clone health of 25/50/75/100hp.

- Assault Armor renamed to Counter Spell, and it will now also block enemy grenades, in addition to skills and chemicals.

- Ignition Orb is no longer disabled when an enemy steps inside it. Only when the owner steps inside it.


Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare!

Have fun!
bencelot

This version cleans up the HUD. It looks nicer on the eye, but more importantly removes clutter and only shows the most important information. There is also a new crosshair that expands in size based on your current level of recoil, making recoil much easier to control. Recoil in general has been increased, and combined with this new crosshair combat is significantly more skillful as recoil control is now a key component in gunplay.



Mana has been completely removed from the game. Active skills now only have cooldowns, ranging from 5s to 30s based on their strength. You'll now hear a new "ding" sound whenever a skill comes off cooldown. The screenshot below shows how skills are displayed in the new HUD. You can see a progress bar and countdown on each skills' cooldown (EG: Self Repair has 8s left on cooldown). This change removes the frustration of running out of mana mid-combat, and keeps you in a state of flow as you skillfully outplay your foes.



The new lives mechanic has been streamlined as well. Previously when you used a life, you'd still die and respawn again.. the only difference was that you didn't come back as a zombie. But this still felt like dying. This has been changed so that when you use a life, you get to stay in the action. You'll simply consume the life and regenerate your health on the spot. This takes 3s and during this 3s you will be invulernable, move 2x faster, and be unable to shoot. This gives you (and your enemies) a 3s window to reposition and reload.



The DMG looting system has been reworked. Ammo kits used to give you +2% damage on your gun, which was nice, but not particularily exciting. Now ammo kits give you "critical bullets" instead. Critical bullets do significantly more damage, ranging from +50 to +100% of your usual damage. A critical blast from the M3 Super can kill in a single shot! But there's a catch.

Only some of your bullets are critical, and the critical ones are all at the end of your magazine. So an AK47 has a clip size of 30 bullets, and you might have looted 5 critical bullets. When you reload, the first 25 bullets will do a normal 10hp damage each, and the final 5 will do 20hp each, right before you reload. This creates an interesting risk/reward mechanic where you need to decide between playing it safe and reloading to get a full clip, or taking the risk to fire off those critical bullets, hoping you finish the kill before you run out of ammo.

Firing these critical bullets also feels great. Your crosshair turns orange, the bullets are red, and there's plenty of screenshake and big red damage numbers pop up when they hit. In a gun like the Barrett, that final shot does +50% damage and might be enough for a 1-shot kill - but you better not miss.




--- BIGGEST CHANGES ---

- Completely redesigned the HUD, including a new crosshair that dynamically shows your gun's recoil.

- Mana has been removed from the game. Skills now rely entirely on cooldowns instead.

- When you lose a bonus life you'll no longer respawn, but will stay alive in the action. You'll simply consume the heart and gain your health back over the next 3s.

- Weapons now have a new concept called "critical bullets" which do huge bonus damage (+50 to +100%). However, you only have a few of these bullets at the very end of your gun's magazine.

- You can no longer buy ammo from anywhere in the map, however all guns have 2x as much reserve ammo.

- Vehicles now have infinite boost.

--- GAMEPLAY CHANGES ---

- Zombies can no longer use guns in the red zone.

- Lives are now dropped from enemies when you kill them instead of gaining a flat +0.2 per kill.

- Lives become less likely to drop as the remaining player count gets below 10, and in the final 1v1 no lives drop from kills.

- When using a life, you will not be able to shoot, but you also won't take any damage. You'll also move 2x faster so you can ecape to safety.

- In Survival mode you now start with 3 bonus lives, but the enemies are much harder.

- Civilians now drop a random amount of cash.

- Looting ammo kits gives you more critical bullets.

- In overtime in BR (not survival), health, cash, and ammo kits will fall from the sky into the red area, to incentivize survivors to get out into the open and grab the loot.

- Survivors now gain +2 score when there are 25,20,15,10,5,4,3,2 players remaining (instead of gaining +1 per minute).

- Killing survivors now gives +2 score per kill (killing zombies is still +1).

- Civilian missions now award $2000 instead of $1000.

- Added some red bars along the top and bottom of the screen that make it easier to see how much health you've lost.

- Vertical aiming no longer works on civilians.

- Mental tree skills now only give +10% shift regen, not +20%.

- Cybernetic tree skills now only buff your weapon damage, not all damage.

- Weapon buffs from civilian missions are now given based on weapon TYPE instead of a specific weapon. So instead of getting +13% damage on the UZI, you'll get this for all SMGs.

- Fixed many bugs.

--- WEAPON CHANGES ---

- Recoil is now stronger on most guns. This allows for more skillful shooting. This is made possible due to the new crosshair very obviously changing size.

- Superweapon ammo is now split into clips, just like normal guns.

- You can now carry up to 5 of each nade type, instead of 3.

- Knife no longer has the charge up mechanic. But the basic swoosh has been buffed from 50 to 70hp damage.

- Knife/Claws now do 3x damage vs vehicles.

- Machine guns now have the same bullet range as rifles.

- M3 now has 8 bullets in a clip instead of 2.

--- CHEMICAL CHANGES ---

- Mana Stimulant is now called "Skill Stimulant" and has been reworked. When held passively, you will earn +20% xp from kills and loot. When placed, your skills will cooldown +50% faster.

- Supply Drop now has 2 max charges instead of 1, and now costs $5000.

- Laser Tripwire recoil reduction now also applies to movement recoil, and now costs $5000.

- Damage Stimulant gives +2% DMG per kill, and this no longer resets upon death. It also now costs $5000.

- Health Stimulant now costs $5000.

--- SKILL CHANGES ---

- Venom Shot no longer kills enemies (it'll stop at 1hp). Duration is now 5s instead of 4s.

- Energize speeds are now +20/30/40%.

- Radiate cooldown is 15s instead of 30s.

- Black Hole now has a much larger starting size of 16/18/20m (instead of 10/15/20m), but the slow isn't as strong at level 1 (0.8/0.65/0.5).

- Bionic Charges now last until you die (or consume a heart). You now gain 2 charges per kill, capped at 3/5/7 charges. Each charges gives +1hp/s.

- Shockwave duration is now 4s instead of 3s.

- Phasic Rebound damage after bouncing is now 40/80/120% instead of 50/75/100%.

- Return Fire damage is now 100/150/200% instead of 50/100/150%.

- Bionic Charges now gives 4/6/8 max charges, allowing for 4/6/8 hp/s regen.

- Phase drifting speeds are now 140/170/200% instead of 130/150/170%.

- Frenzy ROF is now 112/118/124% instead of 110/120/130%.

- Casting Frenzy no longer disables shooting for 0.5s.

- Radiate durations are now 2/3.5/5 instead of 2.5/4/5.5s.

- Stagnation slow is now 85/70/55% instead of 80/60/40%.

- Blood Leech healing is now 50/75/100% instead of 30/60/90%.

- Invis reveal range is now 16/12/8m instead of 20/15/10m, and durations are now 10/30/50s instead of 10/20/30s.

- Fixed a bug where swift stalker wasn't working (nor were civ mission buffs that gave movement speed). Swift stalker now stacks with phase drifting for siiiiick speeds.

- Level Force Fields now makes you move faster as intended (bug fix).

- Infection damage boost is now 112/118/124% instead of 110/120/130%.

- Ignition Orb cooldown is now 15s instead of 5s.

- Teleportation has been replaced with a new skill called Backtrack, and has a cooldown of 20s instead of 10s.

- Backtrack marks your position with an X on the ground. After a short time you'll teleport back to this location and restore lost health. You can cast again to teleport back immediately.

- Backtrack duration is 3/5/7s, and the health restored is 20/30/40% of lost health.


Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare!

Have fun!
bencelot

This new map is 5x larger than before. With classic GTA2 vibes, this map feels immersive and completely transforms the game. Vehicles play a critical role in transport now, and the rules of Battle Royale have been changed to work on a larger scale. Over the coming versions I want to make Geneshift more sandboxy with a focus on exploration, and this mega map is a great place to start.



To go with the mega map we now have a new day/night cycle, fog effects, lens flares, rain and thunder, and more. It's a significant upgrade to the aesthetics of the game and the weather patterns really make the new map a lot more immersive.



- Enemies now have health bars above their heads. It feels satisfying to hit people and prioritize targets based on who has the lowest health.
- You can now rebuy ammo from anywhere in the map at any time. Just press B and buy ammo.
- Whenever you fire your gun you will be revealed for 1.5s to all other players nearby. This makes it much easier to find action in the minimap.
- Phase drifting has been removed as a default ability but made into a new skill in the Physical tree.
- Weapons have a reduced range, preventing people from firing at you off-screen.
- The firing delay on active skills like Plasma Ball has been reduced from 1.0s to 0.5s.



Everything has been scaled up for the new massive map. We have more players, longer rounds and a new scoring system to keep matches between 15 to 30 minutes. Instead of first to win 3 rounds, it's first to 50 points. With this change there are many new ways to gain score like doing civilian missions, hunting for kills or winning supply drops. This also allows you to feel productive even as a zombie.



Most exciting are the new rules for zombies, making zombie gameplay far more engaging and free. A few highlights are:

- Zombies can keep respawning infinitely and aren't forced to spectate.
- Zombies can now fire guns in the red zone, but take 2x damage.
- Zombies no longer resurrect from killing a survivor, but instead killing 5 enemies in a row (zombies included).
- Zombies can now resurrect with a new special "Heart" supply drop which falls every 2 minutes.

These final 2 points completely change the zombie meta, and let you focus on exploring the map, getting quality kill streaks, and winning the super intense Heart drop. To win the heart you simply need to stand on it for 5s. But be careful, because every other zombie will try do the same and only 1 player gets to revive!



Another big addition is the new lives mechanic. Battle royale is the last man alive. By default we all start with 1 life, and if you die you become a zombie with 0 lives. But now you have the ability to earn bonus lives! Every kill gives you +0.2 lives, so if you get 5 kills in a row you'll gain a backup life. If you get another 5 kills in a row you'll have 2 backup lives.

These backup lives mean that if you die, you'll consume the life but will not become a zombie. This system provides a much needed incentive to hunt for kills instead of hiding on a roof somewhere surviving. Every kill is exciting as it gets you one step closer to that bonus life that might let you win the game.



Chemicals now come with charges making them far more useful. When you buy a Warp Field chemical, it now lets you place FOUR warp fields instead of just 1. The charges refill every 2 minutes, so you can keep on placing them. Huge buff to chemicals, as a single chemical can be used to fully prepare an area for maximum advantage. I personally like to place Trip Wires all around the incoming supply drop.



Skills have been streamlined in a few ways. Firstly, you can take a skill directly up to level 3, without the confusing requirement to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first. Secondly, each tree now gives you a passive bonus for each skill point in the tree. Every point in the Cybernetic tree gives you a passive +2% damage. Physical skills give +0.5 health regen per skill point, and Mental skills +20% shift regen per point. The old skill queue system has been disabled by default, because it's honestly more fun to choose your own build as you play. But if you really want this you can re-enable it in the options menu.



- New map called Subvein-City 5x larger than before.

- Huge graphical improvements like fog, lens flares, bullet trails, random debris, rain and a day night cycle.

- New rules for Battle Royale to work with the big new map, such as increasing the number of players from 20 to 32.

- The rules for resurrection have changed. Instead of killing 1 survivor, you must now kill 5 enemies without dying (zombies included).

- A better way to resurrect however is to win the new "Heart" supply drop. This falls every 2 minutes and you can rez if you stand ontop of it for 5s.

- Battle Royale rounds now last 6 minutes instead of 3 minutes and scoring has been changed. Instead of first player to win 3 rounds, it is now first player to 50 score.

- Scoring system in Battle Royale is changed. You now get +1 per minute alive, +1 per kill, +2 per civilian mission, +5 per supply drop, and +20 for a round win.

- Zombies can once again respawn over and over again instead of going to spectator mode.

- Zombies can now shoot guns in the red zone. However they will take 200% damage in the red zone.

- Survival mode has been changed to only have 4 rounds instead of 12, but rounds are longer.

- Survival mode now ends the moment you actually die, you don't get to become a zombie anymore (except in coop).

- Everyone's top scores in Survival mode have been rescaled downwards, to correspond to the new reduced number of rounds.

- Conquest mode has new rules for the big map. You can now capture any point, not forced to go in order from A to B to C to D to E. The capturing cooldown has also been removed.

- There is a new "lives" mechanic in Battle Royale. If you kill 5 players without dying you'll gain +1 life, which prevents you from becoming a zombie if you die.

- Chemicals now work on a "charges" system. For example, buying a Warp Field now lets you place down 4 warp fields instead of just 1.

- Chemicals placed on the ground will now automatically expire after 360s.

- Phase Drifting (double tapping shift) has been removed as a default ability.

- Phase Drifting is now a skill in the Physical tree, and you are now able to fire your gun while drifting.

- Enemies now have health bars above their heads.

- When you fire a gun, your location will be revealed to enemies for 1.5s in the map and minimap.

- Each skill tree now has a passive benefit for each point invested in it:

- You get +2% damage for each point spent in the Cybernetic skill tree.

- You get +0.5 hp/s regen at all times for each point in the Physical skill tree.

- You regenerate shifts +20% faster for each point in the Mental skill tree.

- You can now level skills right up to level 3, without needing to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first.

- Skill builds have been removed from the game by default. The game is funner when you get to choose your build as you play. But you can re-enable this in the advanced options if you wish.

- You can now buy ammo at any time from anywhere in the map. Simply press (B) and click the yellow "Buy Ammo" button.

- Increased the amount of cash and XP earned killing enemies, killing civiliand and doing civilian missions.

- Players are now smaller and move faster, requiring more skill to hit them.

- Reduced the firing delay on offensive skills like Plasma Ball and Venom Shot.

- Reduced the damage, bullet speed and range of all guns by about 10%.

- Big improvements to AI in all game modes.

- Minor balance tweaks to various weapons and skills.

- Streamlined some elements in the HUD.

- Plenty of bug fixes.

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button! I hope you enjoy this crazy big new version and have a rockin Christmas.

Have fun!
bencelot

This version completely reworks all the systems of the game. There is a huge focus on in-game progression, the core gameplay loop, and giving a sense of becoming stronger and stronger within the match. You'll start with a single skill point but can now level up by killing people. Meanwhile, cash is never wasted as your weapons and chemicals are no longer lost on death. Instead, your purchases last forever allowing for key strategic decisions on how you create your build in-game.



The biggest change is to the skills system. We now start each match at level 1, with a single skill point. But as you kill enemies you will now gain xp and level up. Each level lets you invest another skill point and become more powerful. This is especially true as every skill in the game has been reworked to remove skill penalties. If you put a point into Vampirism you get free healing with absolutely no downside. Level 3 skills are objectively more powerful than level 1 skills, and every skill point is valuable.

All of the skills have been individually tweaked as well, and some completely reworked. For example, Radiate now fires a nuclear missile at your target location. Active skills have become more skillful to use too, by adding minor firing delays that require you to use the skills tactically instead of blindly firing them in combat.



Killing enemies not only gives you XP to level up your skills, but it also gives you cash. And now cash is really valuable. Why? Because the things you can buy with cash (weapons, chemicals and cars) are now all permanent. Before this version, you might save up $5000 to buy a super weapon, only to die and lose it all. This hurt a lot and removed any sense of progress you got from earning cash. But no more!

Now you get to keep your weapons and chemicals on death, meaning that the expensive weapon you bought will be yours for the rest of the match. The price of these items has been increased to compensate for this, and this creates some interesting milestones throughout the course of a match. You start by buying a tier1 gun, then saving $5000 for a tier2 gun, and then $10000 for a superweapon. Which weapon you buy (or chemical) has now become a big, important, strategic decision. But whatever you choose, you'll be growing more powerful and truly rewarded for the cash you earn in-game.



There is a new way to move around the map - phase drifting! Simply double-tap shift and you will go into a new sliding motion. This lets you move around the map faster, and you will gain in speed the longer you can travel too - but there's a catch. Your movement has momentum, like you're skating on ice. This requires a bit of skill to pull off, but once you get the hang of it you'll be Tokyo drifting around corners and ramming into supply crates. This change simply makes movement fun.

Supply crates are a new addition to the game too. The random loot scattered around the map is now bundled up into these crates, making them like fun little presents to open up. You can even use them as temporary cover to block against enemy bullets (until they explode). The main supply drop comes in a super golden grate with extra health and lots of goodies inside.



The chemical system now works in a fundamentally different way. Before, you had to choose between either holding a chemical, or placing it on the ground for different benefits. This was a tough choice and often people chose to go for the simpler option of just carrying them. But now you don't need to choose. When you buy a chemical you get both the carried version AND the placed version for free. You can pour some of your chemical onto the ground to get the placed benefits, while still holding onto it. Then after a 120s cooldown, you can place it down again in case someone destroys it.

This makes it significantly easier to set up a quick base around a key area, as you always have your passive chemicals on hand. For example, you might decide to buy 2 Sonar Cells and a Fission Mine. You go to a building, and set Sonar's on the chokepoints and a Fission Mine on the buy zone. They after you win your fight there, you can run to the next location, wait for the cooldown to expire and reposition your chemicals again. Just as with weapons, the chemicals you purchase are permanent for the rest of the match, and act as significant tech upgrades that grow you more and more powerful.

A few more chemical changes are that now everyone can destroy chemicals at any time, for free. Simply stand on an enemy chemical, hold CTRL and click Neutralize. This works now because enemy chemicals aren't permanently destroyed, but merely put on cooldown and can be replaced later (it would've been too powerful otherwise). Also, Alchemic Acid has been removed and replaced with a new chemical called Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300s.



- Everyone now starts at level 1, but instead of looting for skill points, you will earn XP and level up by killing enemies.
- Skills no longer gain penalties as you level them up. Level 3 is now objectively stronger than level 1, making every level up valuable.
- Every skill in the game has been rebalanced and reworked with some big changes. EG: Radiate now fires a nuke at your target location.
- You no longer lose your weapons on death. This lets you save up for expensive guns and keep using them for the rest of the match.
- You can now double-tap shift to enter a new movement mode called 'phase drifting'. This lets you move faster but reveals you to enemies.
- You no longer lose your chemicals on death. The chemicals you buy will stick with you all match, making them great tech upgrades.
- You can now place chemicals for free based on the chemicals you're carrying. If your chemical gets destroyed, you can simply replace it.
- Some chemicals have been reworked and replaced. EG: Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300 seconds.
- Everyone can now Neutralize enemy chemicals for free all the time. The Neutralizer chemical has been removed.
- You only have to buy a car once to unlock a license for it. This license lets you rebuy that car for free for the rest of the match.
- Loot is now bundled up into 15hp crates, and supply drops now come in a big shiny 150hp crate. Shoot or shift into them to open them.
- When you kill an enemy, you'll instantly gain +50 hp and mana, allowing you to keep fighting and avoid getting third partied.
- Adjusted the costs of all chemicals, weapons and vehicles, generally making them more expensive as they are now permanent upgrades.
- Accessing level 3 skills is now a bit different. You can take a single skill up to level 3 on your 5th/10th/15th point in that tree.
- Your player level (shown up the top left of the screen) is now higher, as I've changed the leveling curve so people level up more frequently.
- And much more! Balance tweaks, bug fixes, and quality of life changes based on hundreds of hours of discussion in the Discord.


Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button!

Have fun!
bencelot

The giveaway has ended and it's been a lot of fun! The servers have never been fuller and I've received some fantastic feedback from all the new players. I hope you all continue to enjoy the game as I implement this feedback over the coming weeks.


There were a few hiccups, mostly servers crashing and people not being able to log in, but those have fortunately been fixed. There was also some confusion about the nature of the giveaway, as the DLC was not included. I made sure to mention this on the Steam page and in the announcement, but understandably not everyone read this. But I'm grateful to the people who left reviews on this topic, as it's made me rethink the business model. People were mostly concerned about the progression benefits of the DLC, and as a result I have significantly toned this down.

You used to unlock items significantly faster with the DLC. This didn't give any exclusive access to items, but it did allow you to earn kill coins 5x faster, saving you time. But this was simply too different of a gaming experience for those who did and didn't have the DLC, which this giveaway made clear. So I've made big sweeping changes to fix it and greatly nerfed this DLC benefit.

Non DLC players can now progress 3 to 5x faster than before, as you now get more rewards from leaderboards, challenges, and leveling up. If you do get the DLC, you'll get a minor 2x coin boost only to the challenges and leveling up, but nothing else. For example if you top the daily leaderboards you'll now get the same +200 coin bonus whether you have the DLC or not (it used to be only 40 coins without the DLC). I've also flattened the costs to unlock new items to give a more steady sense of progression.

Anyway, I've made this fix and the game plays a lot better because of it. So thanks again to everyone who made their voices heard and letting me know! Over the next few weeks I'll continue going through all the reviews, analysing the feedback and making changes. You can follow the dev updates in the official discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift





For the next 48 hours you can get the base game of Geneshift 100% free. Please keep in mind that this giveaway is only for the base game and does not include the Supporter's Edition DLC. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so please tell your friends and get it while you can!

There are going to be a LOT of players online due to this giveaway, so if you want to dominate the PvP servers, or are curious about the brand new singleplayer survival game mode, now's the time to play!





Last week Geneshift released a HUGE new version with a whole new singleplayer game mode - Daily Survival Runs. You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger and the only way to survive is to complete these new GTA2 style missions for civilians, which give you randomly generated bonuses to your items.

These bonuses are great fun and give you crazy powers like +50% movement speed on your knife, or +200% size when you cast Radiate. You'll need to adapt your play-style based on the bonuses you get if you want to survive and top the leaderboards. These new civilian missions and their bonus rewards have been added to the PvP modes too. This game is getting more like GTA2 every version!

If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporter's Edition DLC you can play this mode in 4-player co-op with friends (and only one of you needs to own it as well).

Geneshift will be doing a free-to-keep giveaway on June 8th! You may have noticed that the game went free-to-keep a few weeks ago too. That was due to a miscommunication between Valve and I, so we're doing it again. There will be plenty of new people online, so make sure to join the fun!



This version introduces a new singleplayer mode - Daily Survival Runs! You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger by gaining more damage, health and skills. The final rounds are very difficult, and the only way to survive them is to grow stronger yourself, which you do by completing missions and unlocking special bonuses.

You can play this new mode once per day, and after you win (or lose) your score will be added to the new daily survival leaderboards. If you manage to survive all 12 rounds, you'll unlock Hardcore, then Insane, and finally Ultimate difficulty - where you can play endlessly to try set the highest score possible. If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporters Edition DLC you are able to play this mode in 4-player co-op!



Some civilians now have a little "HELP ME" text bubble above them. Pressing [E] on these civilians will start a mission. These missions are available in all game modes, but are especially designed for the new survival mode. They will have you doing things like driving over civilians, or taking out armed thugs, or killing enemies without taking any damage. Every mission is different, and in co-op you complete them together with your allies and all share the rewards. What rewards you ask?



When you complete a civilian mission you get a special reward that lasts for the rest of the match. For example, you might unlock +80% bullet speed on the AK47, or +50% damage on Plasma Ball. These are generated in a semi-random way, trying to buff items that you're already holding, but exactly which item is unknown. Also, in the new survival mode you'll start the match with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which are reset every 24 hours and shared by everyone.

These random bonuses encourages you to adapt, and makes every game feel different. One round you might be sniping due to the extra high damage Plasma Ball, and another you might be charging with a shotgun due to the +30% movement speed on the M3. It's a whole lot of fun trying out these OP bonuses, and a big strategy to winning the new survival mode is to get as many as you can in early rounds to try survive the later ones.



You can now carry 2 primary weapons at the same time, allowing for smart combos like a sniper & shotgun combo. However it takes longer to swap between them, and you might want to use a pistol anyway for the faster swapping. The cost of ammo has also been increased significantly, making cash a lot more valuable. The ammo cost is especially high for tier2 weapons, and even more for superweapons. This creates an interesting dynamic where you get more damage at higher tiers, but the ammo efficiency is way worse, meaning you'll need to save up cash in early rounds to sustain the ammo in later rounds when you are forced to use a higher tier gun (in survival).

Skills now only require 2 points to max out, instead of 4. Before, there was no point in leveling a skill to level 2 or 3.. it was just a waste of time clicking. Now things are clean. Your first point into the skill unlocks it, and the next point maxes it out. The new level 2 skill has the same power as the old level 4, so it's just been rescaled. But wait, there's more! Because if you spend 8 skill points within the same tree, you gain the ability to spend a third skill point on those skills within the tree, and this third point is much much stronger than anything we've seen before (the equivalent of level 6 from last version, if such a level existed).

Also, you can now freely unlock skills from any skill tree. Meaning you can combine Cybernetic, Physical and Mental skills together without having to pay any cost. This really opens up the skill builds you can create. Another change is that everyone's starting level has been drastically reduced, but there are more skill points lying around. This places an emphasis on looting for skill points and actually growing stronger throughout the round.



You can now shoot 360 degrees out the window of your car, instead of just 180 degrees to the side you're on. This makes driveby shootings much easier to do. To compensate for this the car offers less protection.

Chemicals are improved too, as you can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time. This not only makes it easier to pick up and put down an entire base, but it also lets you stack the chemical's passive abilities. If you carry 3 Fission Mines for example you will throw FOUR grenades at the same time for the price of one (as each one gives +1 free grenade). Is this crazy OP? Hop on to find out!

Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone, meaning they always have a chance of getting back into the game, even when the final survivors are in the final circle. However, to prevent endless zombie claw spam, if you die as a zombie you are forced to spectate for the rest of the round. This has the added benefit of making you really value your life as a zombie, as if you die you're out of the round.



- Pressing [E] on a civilian now gives you a mission, which if completed awards you special bonuses.
- In the new daily survival run, you will start with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which changes every 24 hours.
- You can now carry 2 primary weapons. Switching time is longer if doing this though.
- You can now shoot 360 degrees while driving vehicles, but they offer less protection.
- Skills now cap out after 2 points instead of 4. They're rescaled though, so the new level 2 is as strong as the old level 4.
- If you spent 8 skill points in the same tree, you are able to spend a 3rd skill point which makes it ultra powerful.
- Players now start with far fewer skill points, giving a new emphasis on looting points as you play (go for Supply Drops).
- You can now combine skills from multiple skill trees, allowing for far more interesting skill builds.
- Changed the mana cost of active skills to 20/35/50. Mana regenerates slower to compensate.
- You can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time, and pickup chemicals instantly.
- Renamed the Complete Edition DLC to the Supporters Edition DLC.
- Health and mana regenerate in the campaign, just like in PvP.
- Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone.
- If you die as a zombie, you must now spectate the rest of the round.
- Daily challenges can now be done against zombies (like get 6 shotgun kills).
- Killing a zombie now gives +1 score in BR, and it's first to 60 instead of 50.
- Tier1 guns are capped at +30% DMG, Tier2 guns at +50% DMG, and Superweapons at +100% DMG.
- Ammo is generally more expensive and guns have fewer bullets, making cash more valuable.
- Added a dedicated 'Buy Ammo' button.
- Added pretty new graphical animations and particle effects.
- Rearranged the position of items in the HUD.
- Rearranged some items in the hex grid.
- Fixed countless bugs.
- Added a whole new singleplayer survival mode. Go try it!

Have fun!
Bencelot.

The base game for Geneshift is currently free-to-keep on Steam. This means that if you download the game right now, you'll get the game in your library, free, forever!

Please keep in mind that this is the BASE game, but does not include the DLC. I repeat, the DLC is not included. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so get it while you can!

Funnily enough, this giveaway was NOT meant to happen today. I woke up this morning to see that Valve accidentally enabled it a full month ahead of schedule! I have sent them numerous support requests to reschedule the giveaway to June as planned, but have yet to receive a response. (to be fair, they work on Valve time). Let me tell you, after a shock like that I didn't even need my morning coffee.

I've asked Valve to cancel this giveaway now, so that I can do it *properly* in early June as planned. This means that the giveaway might randomly go away sometime in the next few hours. Rest assured, if you got the game for free, you will keep the game for free. And if you miss out, you can always get it again when we do the giveaway properly in early June.

Anyway, have fun!
Ben.

The biggest change this version is in the new chemical system. "What chemical system?" I hear you ask? I don't blame you, as it was FAR too confusing before. Well no longer. Chemicals have been improved in various ways. The biggest of which is that chemicals now give you a passive ability when you carry them! For example, if you carry a Warp Field, you will increase your max shifts by +2. Chemicals are much cheaper now too ($1000) each. So you can almost view chemicals as cheap combat enhancements. Even if you never place them, you can spend a cool $1000 for some serious upgrades! Such as:

- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your gun's DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (a new chem) makes you throw 2x grenades at once.
- Laser Tripwire (a new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Neutralizer now makes you immune to enemy chemicals.



There are 2 brand new chemicals that do some really fun stuff when placed as well - Fission Mines and Laser Tripwires. When an enemy steps inside your Fission Mine, it will detonate with a HUGE explosion dealing 100hp damage to anyone nearby. They have 1.5s to escape before the boom. Laser Tripwires let you set up a tripwire across a chokepoint, which shoots a laser beam at anyone who steps into it, taking off half their health. These new chemicals are great for area control, and are an intuitive way for new players to understand the chemical system.

Another huge change is that when you place a chemical on the ground it is now visible to your enemies. Yes, you can actually *SEE* them, unlike before where they were all invisible. This is a huge change, and makes it far easier to find and destroy enemy chemicals, which will award you big bucks! If you want you can still make your chemical invisible, but this will cost you an extra $1000 to "conceal" it.

This mechanic makes for some interesting choices. For example, you could spend $1000 to buy a Laser Tripwire and place it in a chokepoint. By default this will be visible to enemies, and might deter them from coming through that route. This might be enough. However, you can upgrade it for another $1000 to make it invisible, which means they'll accidentally step into the tripwire and get shot by it.



There is a brand new way to resurrect as a zombie - finding the Genetic Heart. The Genetic Heart is a special piece of loot only available to zombies. If you step into it, you'll instantly respawn! There is only one heart in the map at any one time, and it will spawn randomly somewhere in the map. This gives zombies a great new way to get back into the game (in addition to killing a survivor).

This mechanic was added to encourage looting and exploration. And because there is only one heart at a time, it becomes a race against the other zombies to find it first. Vehicles are by far the best way to do this, so you can now finally play GTA-style, cruising around in a vehicle and have an actual competitive reason for doing so!



A huge improvement to the skill system is that you can now create skill builds across multiple skill trees! You no longer have to stick to just the Cybernetic, or Mental, or Physical skill tree. You can now create a super defensive skill build that combines Self Repair (Cybernetic) with Force Fields (Physical). The options are endless! It costs 4 skill points to access each additional skill tree.



The hex grid, which is where you spend Kill Coins and unlock stuff, has been split into 6 distinct tiers (containing 21 items each). You now need to fully complete the previous tier before you are able to unlock anything from the next one, and all items in a tier have the same cost. The kill coin costs per tier are 5, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200. These costs overall are cheaper than before, and are especially cheap for new players as the start of the game (as there are now a bunch of items that only cost 5 coins each). Daily Challenges now give 2x as many Kill Coins, making everything even faster to unlock.

The reason for this change is to give players a sense of progression ("3 more items till I unlock the next tier!"). This also simplifies decision making. A problem the old system had was that you would end up with like 50+ items available to unlock, all of them costing different amounts of kill coins, and it was really hard to know what to get ("Do I unlock the UZI for 15 kill coins, or the Force Fields for 75 kill coins, or any of the other 48 items I can't remember?"). Now, every item costs exactly the same amount of coins, so you only need to focus on the actual item itself. And the available options are far less, letting you actually keep them all in mind and make a more fun, informed decision. Finally, when doing daily challenges to grind for kill coins, you now know exactly how many coins you need as all items have the same price.



Health Kits are far more important, and give you a huge incentive to stay alive and loot. There are health kits everywhere, which will increase your max hp/mana by +5. It's expected that you'll gain about +50 max hitpoints by the end of the round, really helping in the final showdown. But if you just camp, or become a zombie and resurrect, you won't have this health advantage. Basically, the health kits have been reworked to strongly reward and encourage players who loot the map, while still trying not to die. You can't just rely on a last minute resurrection anymore, as you'll be at a serious health disadvantage. Stay safe!

There are a bunch of other goodies in this version, such as damage numbers that show up whenever you hit someone (I love this one). Here is the complete list of changes!

- All chemicals now have passive abilities when you hold them! EG:
- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your guns DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (new chem) gives you a free grenade each throw.
- Laser Tripwire (new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Chemicals are now visible to enemies by default. Huge change!
- Chemicals can now be made invisible by standing in them and buying a "Concealer" for $1000.
- Chemicals now cost $1000 instead of $3000.
- You can neutralize your own chemicals to refund them.
- Damage/Mana/Health Stimulants are now separate chemicals detached from Base costing $2000.
- Added a new chemical called Fission Mine. It explodes when enemies step in it.
- Added a new chemical called Laser Tripwire. It zaps enemies who step into it.
- Warp Fields can now warp to ALL buy zones.
- There is a new piece of loot called the "Genetic Heart" which will resurrect zombies who find it.
- You can now unlock skills from multiple skill trees.
- Skill points now cost $1000 instead of $2000.
- Generally, weapons across the board do less damage, but are more accurate.
- Killing enemies now causes them to drop excess chemicals, health and mana kits.
- Increased the shifting length from 6m to 8m.
- Non-BR game modes now have designated buy zones, similar to BR.
- Removed the capturing cooldown timer in Conquest mode.
- In Conquest, each team starts with 2 points captured already to save time.
- Zombies in BR now have 100 mana and can use passive skills.
- Zombies can no longer see or loot for health or mana, making survival key.
- You can now go all the way up to a max of 200 hp/mana from kits.
- Adrenaline Rush has been changed to make you run faster while you're reloading.
- Generally there is less cash in the map and you only get $100 cash per kill.
- Superweapons now cost $8000 instead of $5000.
- You get to keep the ammo in your gun between rounds.
- Everyone runs a little bit faster.
- Vehicles have less health, but much faster out of combat regen.
- You no longer need to eject from a car that's on fire. It will heal itself naturally.
- Bazooka, Grenades and Stinger Missiles all do exactly 300hp vs cars (enough to kill buggies).
- Reorganised some items in the hex unlock grid, and also split it into tiers.
- In order to access the next tier in a hex grid, you need to unlock a certain amount of items first.
- Added damage numbers that show up whenever you shoot someone.
- Daily Challenges now give more kill coins (30/40/50 vs 10/20/30).
- Ammo piles now give you +2% DMG to your currently held weapon.
- Fixed countless bugs and AI issues.


Have fun!
Bencelot.