To preface, I am not an authority figure or end all be all type. This is simply my review of the changes and gradual improvements I have witnessed.
As someone who sits both as a player and a game developer/story teller, I am in a unique position to understand why things are done at a more fundamental level than most. As the player, to my horror and detriment, but as a fellow storyteller, with admiration and praise.
This review will be explicit spoiler free, but will make references to items or events that are common knowledge for those of us more experienced. This review will also not mention any bugs or glitches as that is not the point of this review. Reader discretion is advised.
To begin, The Good
The base feels much more alive in the sense of layout, purpose, and design. It feels like a base for multiple people that has slowly become dilapidated and is now running on minimal manpower. Once a jewel of discovery, now relegated to a minimum wage solo operation. Even if one were to blank out the walls and such with concrete grey like in previous versions, the design and layout has shifted from SCP-esque D-class experiment to a more believable setting. While to those that run the place, we might be the sacrificial lamb or toy to placate them, to us we're just sent out to manage a base that has way too much for us to do and not nearly enough time or manpower to do it completely.
The sense that this was once a place that was cutting edge discovery and wonder, now left to rot due to budget, on first glance is very believable. Trashed location, cracked walls, and the lack of anyone or anything to show signs of life sets the mood perfectly. We aren't just alone, we are alone to a very primal and very real degree. We are the tree in the forest, with no-one to hear when we collapse. Digging deeper only adds mystery, and to speak on things that border on spoilery territory, as we learn more about our location, we learn this place wasn't abandoned without reason. Humans were once here, but now, only you remain. For how long? Well, that's the story, isn't it? This update only adds to that sensation, the mystery, and the story. Doubling down on that creeping dread of knowing this facility was meant for multiple people, and now it's being ran one person at a time is a step in the right direction.
The way the forest feels alive, the sounds, the random bumps in the night, it reminds you that this is not your realm. You are the alien here, the proverbial intruder. You are the outsider, and it feels like it. Manmade structures in states of dilapidation, being overtaken by natural forces, you are merely one of many that have been here and will be here for the foreseeable future. Then, once you are no longer a part of it all, another will come and take your place as you took your predecessor's. Cosmic, existential, life questioning horror at its finest.
Moving to mechanical changes, the move from 0.8 single ping system into this triangulation system for signals is really cool, and very engaging. The modularity of the ATV, and even the way physical upgrades are now incorporated into the granular progression is wonderfully done (Mostly, more on that later.) Physically having to power down and install physical upgrades into machinery is beyond satisfying, and makes those major modules feel impactful.
All in all, this is a very good major update.
Now, The Bad
One of the biggest issues currently prevalent in this most recent update is the detector towers, their lack of explanation in the tutorial, how often they break, and the difficulty within which they make the primary gameplay loop unappealing.
Starting the player with 4 fuses in each tower as the current mechanics sit is an okay direction, however this must be addressed sooner than later. The fact the towers go down at a higher frequency than even baseline servers without any upgrades or modules is very problematic, not to mention their total chokehold on the main loop of discovering signals and experiencing the story. Even as a long time player, this mechanic makes signal scanning too much of a hassle and I've found myself rushing into other point-farming methods due to this. Unlike when a satellite server goes down in which it can be ignored until the daylight- especially for mid-game story reasons, these demand immediate attention or risk messing up the next day's balance of signals, codes, and tapes.
Now, I understand this interruption is more or less the exact reason this mechanic is forced as such an all-powerful force almost equal to the transformers going down, as to force the moments of discomfort and danger, and enhance that fear and apprehension. However, the frequency of breakdown and cost of prevention is too high as it sits. Fuse crafting is a high investment for a low payout when compared to say the cost of a cooler for a GPU frame. The copper wire especially if you're going on crafting cost alone. Then the point cost for either the copper wire or even the fuse itself is way too high for what it offers compared to the investment cost of other methods of point generation. Much like the server repair CDs from 0.8.2, they risk becoming a forgotten and underutilized mechanic.
On the topic of servers- the physical module upgrades are a pain to carry, deliver, and install on each satellite server while also remembering which ones are fully upgraded, which ones have pre-existing upgrades, and how many upgrades you have vs how many you need. The reason this works with the transformer's new upgrades is due to the low number of transformers and each one having the same number of slots. This variability makes it difficult if not painful to manage.
Second to last, The Proposed Changes/Adjustments
-Detector towers need an adjustment. There are three methods I can see that would assist in this mechanic's annoyance being decreased, while also forcing the player to remain in a state of forced fear and uncomfortability. I know I'm not the end-all be-all, these are just the ideas that fit with my personal design philosophy of making problems solvable- even if expensive/difficult.
1. Lower the frequency of tower breaks, as to make fuses more of a failure prevention system, and therefore enhance their value while lessening the annoyance factor
2. Making fuses function like transformer stability upgrades/having them share upgrades, thus making the breakdown periods preventable and workable- an issue with an actually permanent solution.
3. Keeping the frequency the same, but reducing the fuse costs. Make the same crafting recipe make 2-4 fuses each, make them cost 20-30 points each, copper wire cost 3 scrap and not 5 to craft, and copper wire costing 40-50 points. Make it so if we have to go from tower to tower with a backpack full of fuses, it's not multiple day's worth of work to get the resources to do so.
-Next issue, is satellite server upgrades. This is less of a pressing issue and more of a personal gripe with a mechanic that could be so cool but feels like it falls flat.
1. Make it easy to tell from a console command or even the signal console itself which server has what upgrades. This QoL change would save so much headache for my completionist brain. Even if it's just a color change on each server's bulb to say if it's good or not.
2. I'd love to make the server upgrades more than simple stability. Once we purchase a certain mobile assistant, server repairs become meaningless when you can tell it to go and fix them for you. Make it speed up downloads, or add to the detector tower's overall stability, or enhance the signal detector's quality. Maybe a mix of it all.
Finally, the conclusion.
This update has the makings for a great build that could even be a proper release of the game after some adjustments. The general improvements and adjustments are fantastic with some mild to moderate gripes about a few mechanics.
All in all, this update is a solid 89/100.