Sunkenland Update: Overhaul Release

After months of dedicated work, we’re excited to finally share this overhaul update. This release brings big improvements to Sunkenland, with refined visuals, smarter AI, redesigned islands, and new base-building features—all designed to add depth and balance to the game. We focused on creating a smoother, more immersive experience, enhancing systems you know and enjoy while introducing fresh elements to discover. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!

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[h3]⚠️ Important: New Game Start Required ⚠️[/h3]
Due to a major system overhaul, saves from version 0.2.X will not be compatible with this update. If you’d like to continue with an existing save from version 0.2.X, you can access it by switching to the “olderversion” branch:

1. Right-click the game in your library.
2. Select Properties.
3. Go to the Beta tab and choose olderversion.

Note: Saves created in version 0.5.X will remain compatible with all future updates. We apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

[h3]Here’s a full breakdown of everything waiting in this new release:[/h3]

Graphic Overhaul:

Enhanced rendering quality for both underwater and land scenes, bringing a more immersive and visually appealing experience to players. Every aspect of the environment has been refined to create a more cohesive and realistic look.
Improved lighting adds depth to each scene, enhancing shadows and highlights for a more dramatic effect.

Improved Underwater Scenes:

Added more seaweed, overgrown decayed buildings, and denser biomes, making the underwater environment more vibrant and diverse.
Deeper water areas now have enhanced darkness for more atmospheric immersion, creating a more foreboding and realistic deep-sea environment.
More engaging underwater exploration: explore sunken buildings, navigate through debris, and face new challenges, including navigating tight spaces and discovering hidden treasures guarded by aquatic threats.

Island Overhaul:

Remade Islands: Redesigned the islands/atolls to be more visually distinct and combat-friendly. Each island now features unique topography, offering varied tactical opportunities and distinct visual themes to keep exploration exciting.
New Islands Added: Introducing new locations, some featuring unique enemies and factions. These new islands add depth to the game, providing players with more diverse environments and additional challenges to overcome.

New Factions:

Oceanic Republic: A group of survivors who have claimed a few islands. They are not well-equipped, using whatever weapons they can find, though some have firearms.
Atomic Clan: A highly skilled bandit group that primarily occupies the nuclear-polluted power plant area. They are well-armed with machine guns and sniper rifles, making them extremely dangerous.

New Enemies:

We've revamped some of the old enemies and introduced a variety of new ones, each with a look that reflects their faction's background, making each group visually unique. For example, the Atomic Clan wears radiation-protective gear, while the Warhead Clan is outfitted in full military gear.

Improved Enemy AI:

AI now uses advanced tactics: flanking, taking cover, repositioning, using grenades, and charging with melee.
Enemy AI is more aggressive and responsive compared to previous versions, posing a real combat challenge to players.

Combat Enhancements:

Larger, complex islands require extended engagements, encouraging players to carefully plan their assault and make strategic decisions on the fly.
Preparation is key—ensure you have enough supplies like food, water, ammo, medicine, and appropriate weapons for the environment. Engaging in extended fights without proper planning can leave you vulnerable and unprepared.

New Base Items:

Added turrets, fish ponds, seaweed planters, heavy machinery workbench, inventory management robot, and land mines, expanding base building and defense capabilities.

A few notable base items:

Inventory Management Robot: Place items into the robot, and it will automatically store them in the appropriate chests (chests that have the same items). This greatly reduces time spent organizing and allows players to focus more on exploration and combat.
Heavy Machinery Workbench: Enables crafting of gas engines, compressors, and superchargers, necessary for crafting advanced vehicles and items.
Turrets and Landmines: Blueprint items essential for base defense, providing automated defenses and strategic placement options to fend off enemy attacks.

New Blueprints and Items:

Added night vision goggles, harpoon gun, chainsaw, grenade pouch, ammo pouch, and more. These new items provide more options for combat, exploration, and resource gathering, enriching the overall experience.

Improved Base Defense:

Enemies can break walls, infiltrate buildings, and target valuable assets, making base defense a crucial part of gameplay.
Defense investments like traps, barriers, and mines are now more crucial to prevent infiltration and protect valuable assets.
You will receive a notification when enemies are approaching, and an earlier notification if you have built a siren. This allows players to better prepare for incoming attacks.
If you are engaged in combat on another island, enemies are less likely to raid your base, reducing the hassle of having to return to defend. This change helps maintain gameplay flow during extended combat sessions on distant islands.

New Traders:

Added gun dealer, furniture dealer, and a contractor (WIP). Each trader offers unique items and services, expanding the trading options and giving players more choices in how they obtain resources.

Re-balanced the existing trader to include essential resources at a high price, making trading a more viable option for acquiring hard-to-find items while maintaining the challenge of resource management.

Crafting Progression Update:

Essential resources can now be crafted from lower-tier materials, providing players with more flexibility in how they obtain the items needed for advanced crafting.
Lower-level resources remain useful throughout the game, ensuring that all collected materials have value, reducing waste, and making resource management more rewarding.

Gameplay Loop and Progression Improvements:

Rebalanced crafting requirements, weapon damage, survival difficulty, enemy strength, blueprints, and trading to create a smoother and more engaging experience.
Reduced grind while adding combat and defense challenges, making progression more satisfying without unnecessary repetition.
All items are now valuable and integrated into gameplay, ensuring that every resource and item has a meaningful purpose in the player's journey.

Gun Crafting Overhaul:

Modern guns can now be crafted by collecting or crafting parts and assembling them with optional accessories, without needing to collect hundreds of resources to craft a gun like the previous version.
Gun parts can be stored in the gun workbench, freeing up inventory space and making it easier to manage resources while crafting powerful firearms.

Improved Electricity System:

Electricity is essential for advanced crafting and is tied to food production, as fuel now requires food.
Electricity is more useful now than before because many advanced game features require electricity.
Keeping food stocked is crucial for maintaining an electricity supply, creating a stronger link between food production and the ability to power advanced machinery.

Gun Handling Updates:

Reworked gun animations, improved recoil, and overall handling to make gunplay feel more realistic and satisfying. Each weapon now has a distinct feel, adding depth to combat mechanics.

New Guns Added:

Added high-level guns, including VSS, FAMAS, and SVD. These new weapons provide more options for players who prefer long-range firearms.

Claimed Islands Building:

You can now build bases on islands conquered from enemies, allowing players to expand their influence and establish new footholds in hostile territory. This feature encourages players to take control of more areas and grow their base network.

Improved Oxygen Tank Mechanics:

Equip an oxygen tank and press 'C' to manually breathe or automatically when low on oxygen. This mechanic adds more control over underwater exploration and helps players manage their oxygen supply more effectively.

Quality of Life Improvements:

Auto pick-up wood planks when chopping bushes, reducing the tediousness of manual collection.
No need to unequip the air tank for pumping, streamlining underwater gear management.
Extended daylight hours provide more time for exploration and gathering resources, making daytime activities more productive.

Weather System:

Added varying weather conditions: clear skies, cloudy, and rainy storms. These dynamic weather changes add variety to the environment and affect visibility, movement, and overall atmosphere.

New Text Tutorials:

Access tutorials via the pause menu (ESC). These tutorials provide helpful information to guide players through new mechanics and systems, ensuring they can make the most of the game.

From refining gameplay flow to introducing quality-of-life updates, this update brings Sunkenland closer to our vision of thrilling exploration, strategic base-building, and the challenge of survival.

Thank you for being a part of Sunkenland’s journey. We’re looking forward to seeing how you dive into this new chapter!