Knights and mercs, we're here with Update #210, which is a really good one - fixing Power Play issues, optimizing the game and improving character Attributes plus fixing some F10s. Thanks to everyone playing and posting feedback, we're hard at work expanding the game (new Syndicate Debts storylines and map just this week) and are running headlong for the next story and map expansion already. If you're enjoying the game and the relentless pace of update, please take a moment to leave a review to help us keep rocking this Early Access.

Improved Attribute Bonuses

With Update #210, we've tuned up Will and Strength bonuses where their ratios were too weak to make enough of a meaningful difference in character build. Attributes are one of many sources that build up your character, and are provided by your class tree, Traits and by some cybernetics. For Update #210, we've improved Will by increasing its ratio to 2% Stress Res per 1 Will (from 1% per 1 Will). For Strength, we've improved the ratio to -2% Recoil gen per 1 Strength (from -1% per 1 Strength).

Fixed Power Play Hang Ups

Up to now, there have been a few well-hidden snags in the story system that were limiting the appearance of Power Play storylines in Limit Breaks more than they should be limited. We've now removed all of the ones that we could find and that were pointed out in F10s with Update #210, and now the Power Play storylines should flow. Part of this fix is to resolve an issue with how proc-gen storylines were "hanging on to" Contacts way longer than needed. This kept them assigned to the proc-gen story and prevent them from joining another storyline (such as Power Play). We've also fixed a few state checks that were just reducing the changes that Fadelight Blades and Ricksham Drips Power Plays could possibly attach to your Contacts via the Casting Directory. A big thanks to everyone who provided F10s to help us resolve this!

Shader Optimizations

We are excited to have completed a big batch of optimization within the game and are pushing it live with Update #210. Shader variant compilation is a big part of the time of building an update and are what the game need to load into the GPU to render all of the 3D assets. With some clever changes, isolating some expensive parts of shaders into new more limited shaders - we have been able to reduce the total number of compiled shader variants needed by the game by over 75%. On one such shader type, we went from over 25,000 shaders variants to 3,300. This will both speed up the build time for updates (we can go faster!??!) and has some positive impact on memory footprint and load time for the game.

Other F10s!

With Update #210, we hit a few more F10s. We've continued to clean up the new Syndicate Debts content, rewriting some confusing dialogs, fixing a few more misattributions and of course, typos. We also found an odd bug in the animation stack for feminine characters carrying shotguns. This made their faces squeeze extra skinny. Very odd but now fixed! And we fixed a confusing fail clause that had gotten accidentally attached to the Thumb on Snitch Legwork.

v1.9.107 - Update #210: Shader RIPs - 1/31/2025

- Increased Will bonus to give +2% Stress Res per 1 Will - Increased Strength bonus to give -2% Recoil gen per 1 Strength - Fixed bugs that could prevent Fadelight Blades or Ricksham Drip Power Plays from connecting to a Contact - Fixed issues with proc-gen cleanup holding on to Contacts too long and preventing them from Limit Break or Power Play - More Power Play and story missions give improved XP over other missions - Major shader optimization - reduced shader variant count by 75%, faster load times - Fixed confusing fail clause in Thumb on Snitch Legwork - Fixed animation bug that was squishing some characters heads by 10% when carrying a shotgun

[ 2025-01-31 21:15:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Explore the dystopian cyberpunk future of 2231 as you command a company of shadow mercenaries working for the highest bidder. Cyber Knights wraps a world full of consequential story choices and significant character development around a rich core of classic and new mechanics. The game combines tactical elements like stealth, hacking and tense combat with strategic features like base building, contact management and in-depth squad customization. Cyber Knights invites you to jack in and explore a unique cyberpunk world and the immersive, human stories of your merc team in the dark future of 2231.

• Turn-based Tactics: Deep and tactical gameplay using a turn-based, gridless third-person combat simulator. Cover! Overwatch! Recoil!
  
• Dynamic Cyberpunk Story: Unique interwoven narrative with depth, meaningful player choices and hundreds of hours of gameplay
  
• Sophisticated Missions: Combine stealth, hacking and combat across multi-stage missions. Gain pre-mission advantages from Contacts
  
• Endless of Builds: Experiment with endless combos of Jobs, cyberware, weapons and gadgets to build the perfect team
  
• Evolving Characters: Your team evolves as the story, your choices and battle leave lasting wounds, add Traits and threaten to strip their humanity
  
• Safehouse Base Building: Construct a custom safehouse and upgrade rooms such as weapon shop, hund kennel and medical bay.

Cyber Knights strikes a unique tone with a futuristic setting that has passed through the messy near-future to arrive at dystopian 2231. Man-made environmental disasters have ravaged our biosphere. Artificial consciousness has been created, subsequently murdered, and then strictly outlawed at a global level. Megacorporate colonies and research stations dot the solar system from Venus to Jupiter. Quantum computing has radically altered the digital landscape and the very meaning of privacy and digital security.

The game's threaded stories originate from both inside and outside your team -- weaving together threads from your hired mercenaries, criminal connections and history that just won’t die. These stories operate on three interconnected and at times overlapping levels -- personal stories (your team), contact stories (your employers) and event stories (city-wide).

And every choice you make and mission you run will impact your character's permanent Traits, changing them in both subtle and big ways. Their stories and your choices combine to create a unique narrative for every game, every Knight and every team.


The second game our studio created, Cyber Knights RPG, took hundreds of thousands of gamers on an gritty cyberpunk roller-coaster, trying to get rich or go down shooting. The classic Cyber Knights has always had a huge following within our community and we are xcited to come back to the world and stories we started creating there so many years ago with an all new game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint.

We’re weaving together the genre’s classic themes with the unique setting and history of Cyber Knights to create some of the most cutting, gripping and human stories we’ve ever told. Betrayal, sacrifice, trading away humanity for an advantage, living fast and dying young, revenge and testing the bonds of friendship and trust -- it's all here under the New Boston dome.