Encased Update – Early Access Content Expansion Overview

According to this recent Kickstarter update, sometime in December the Early Access version of Dark Crystal Games’ post-apocalyptic RPG Encased will be getting its first major content update. The update will offer an overhauled intro section, expand the main quest, introduce a couple of NPC companions and modify a lot of the game’s mechanics. Here’s what you can expect from this update:

The New Intro

The first release version of the prologue had several drawbacks: a lot of text in the beginning, insufficient action, and too much Magellan (which was originally designed as a late game content).

The new intro looks completely different: a dynamic scene in transportation capsule descending under the Dome, a short run through the Concord station, and after that – the all-familiar gas station and the grim Nashville. By the way, Concord is an important piece of the storyline puzzle, a cargo terminal, located directly under the Spire station. From there, relics are being sent to the outer world, and it’s there where the cargo and new employees arrive. After completing a short training course, the recruits are assigned to numerous CRONUS facilities scattered throughout the Dome. But your protagonist has his own way, just like last time…

We’ve carefully finalized and decorated the locations of the prologue and fine-tuned the main quest logic, making it more comprehensible. In general, we are aimed at putting you in the game faster – so that those who are playing Encased once again can quickly get into new zones. But do not worry: the previous locations will also be available, and those who wanted to return to the Magellan (thoroughly revised and updated) will be satisfied.

The Main Quest

The new storyline is perhaps what players expected most from the update. We are firmly committed to maintaining the scale of events, so in the December update the game’s storyline will have lesser “vertical” changes but more “horizontal” ones, due to the many small branches (explicit ones or not) that bring players to the storylines of individual factions.

Players will have access to the prologue and the first act, the events of which unfold in the suburbs of the city built by CRONUS after the Maelstrom burst out of the Nashville caves. During two years the protagonist stayed in stasis, the world under the Dome has changed radically. The CRONUS Corporation collapsed and turned into some sort of a totalitarian state called the New Committee. Its priority goal, rather then the Dome exploration, became the construction of the Emulator – a special device designed to control the Maelstrom… It is to no surprise that several fractions formed after the collapse of CRONUS are waging a political struggle for control of the Emulator, because the one who controls the project controls the future of the Dome. And each of the factions has its own vision of the future. We will talk about those factions, their leaders and ambitions in detail in one of the following updates.

The protagonist, who’s reached the Junktown, gets into the thick of things, dealing with which alone will not be so easy. You do see where all this is headed, don’t you?

The Companions

Characters traveling with the protagonist make an interesting RPG even more interesting. In the December story update, two partners are waiting for you, each with their own quest, skill branch and plans for the future.

The first of them, a stern Orange nicknamed Crump, can be found in a bar in the suburbs. Just before the appearance of the player, he finds himself in an unpleasant situation, and will gladly join the protagonist, who is able to help him.

On the laboratory floor of the Magellan, you can find a scientist who will ask you to save his daughter, who is in trouble. We will not spoil exactly who the missing girl is. Let’s just say that she is the second companion available in this update.

Encased partners can engage in dialogue, condemn player decisions, and give advice. You can quarrel to the nines with them (and then they will leave), or you can build friendly or even closer relations.

Companions can engage in battle. We heeded the wishes of the players, so we made it so that partners can be controlled directly.

The Modified Mechanics

When we were creating the gameplay, mechanics, and the Encased role-playing system, we could not even imagine that we were opening the Pandora’s box. Now that the game is in early access, many of the mechanics are still broken, and we are actively repairing them, adding new ones and modifying the old ones. There are many changes and we will talk about them point by point.

• Psychic abilities will be available;
• It will be possible to purchase a special psionic glove from in-game traders, without which psi abilities do not work in battle;
• The branches of medicine, heavy and high-tech weapons will be expanded and corrected;
• Many small changes will be made to the abilities of other branches;
• Destructible objects will appear: now the player will be able to blow up doors and some small obstacles;
• Traps, mines, as well as exploding objects with different types of damage dealt will be added;
• Weapons with area damage (grenade launchers, flamethrowers, etc.) will be reworked;
• The ammunition system will be modernized: the number of calibers will decrease, however, special ammunition with effects like poisoning and freezing will be added;
• A number of changes will be made to the game economy, prices and characteristics of most items;
• Some elements of the interface will be fixed and improved;
• Also new perks will be added.

Instead of an Afterword

We end this text with words of gratitude that have already become traditional. Thanks to everyone who believes in us. Thank you for the bug reports, support, criticism and dozens of hours spent in game.

In the coming days, we will begin to publish some story materials for the year 2018. Most of these ideas have been discarded, or got into the game in a very modified form, so if you want to learn how Encased was being developed, you will have such an opportunity.

And yes, today part of the team is leaving for DevGamm, which is being held in Minsk, to participate in the exhibition and compete for the Grand Prize, as well as prizes in the Best Desktop Game and Excellence in Narrative nominations.

Wish us good luck!