More Of Your Questions Answered!
Operatives - to foster more of an understanding between players and developers regarding future plans, patches and more, we want to answer more of your questions! See some of your questions, and our answers, here.
Gameplay Questions
Can you provide more clarification on how “self-sacrifices” work? What exactly saves, and what gets wiped?
When you perform a self-sacrifice, the following aspects persist:
- Your Crystallised Active Matter balance
- Discovered map areas (fog of war)
- Any self-sacrifice rewards you’ve earned
- Items purchased through the “Special” shop section (containers, beacons, and after a patch, Isolated Raid passes)
- Dog tags
- Beta tester bonuses, edition pre-order bonuses and Twitch drop unique items
Edition-exclusive items (apart from Crystallised Active Matter, which persists rather than gets restored) will be restored fully after you self-sacrifice, including adding the extra Isolated Raid passes from the editions to your existing persisted passes.
Everything else is reset:
- Credits and items in your stash
- Character level
- All Monolith progress
- Unlocked blueprints
- All chronogenes
- Music player tracks
Similarly, what happens when the “Harmonization of the Multiverse” occurs? Does it work like a self-sacrifice or is it different, and can players opt out?
We’re adding an in-game description about the Harmonization of the Multiverse in the coming patch.
What is the point of self-sacrificing? Will the rewards improve, since the starter Body Sleeves aren’t ideal rewards for everyone?
We plan to expand the reward pool in upcoming updates.
If I change the level of difficulty of a Raid with more contracts, does this mean I encounter more monsters or something else? Is default Raid difficulty decided only by monster count and time of day?
Currently, the number of monsters and other difficulty factors in a Raid do not depend on how many primary contracts you have selected. In the future, some monsters (including player-controlled ones) will prioritize hunting players who offer a higher potential reward - those who have gathered more Active Matter or completed more contracts.
Why did you remove the custom keybinds for Hunters? Different languages use different keyboard layouts, so customization always serves as localization and helps people with physical issues/disorders.
Having separate bindings for monster actions – such as one key to dash as a Hunter and another to reload as a regular player, or two different bindings for attack, and so on - complicates binding and customization. It becomes especially confusing when you switch into a monster mid-Raid and the controls change unexpectedly.
Hunters (players who turn into monsters) are still overpowered, despite recent nerfs. It’s unfair to reveal other players’ locations to a group. Why was this mechanic allowed to be used in a squad, and will there be more changes?
Firstly, we believe gameplay shouldn’t differ between playing solo and in a squad. Players can form ad-hoc teams in battle without forming an official in-game group beforehand - the game doesn’t know they’re together - so they’d still be able to reveal locations of other players, etc. It also feels more natural and less artificial if a mechanic works both solo and in a squad.
We’re still balancing Hunters; this is only the second iteration. We want them to be powerful and terrifying - if they were on a similar power level as regular operatives, the mechanic wouldn’t make much sense. They’re not “in-balance” with humans - that’s why the transformation artifact activation is visible to everyone on the map. However, we do want to change them more, and we plan to give Hunters more distinct weaknesses in a future update.
Will monsters see some reworks? Distorted look like they clip through the player sometimes. Any plans to make encounters more engaging and less confusing?
We’ve been continuously tweaking and improving monster behavior since release, and more updates are coming. However, we don’t have immediate plans to adjust the Distorted’s dash or specific animations at this time.
Similarly, a Distorted’s dash often lands very close to the player, but due to how guns work, you can’t shoot them unless you step further back. Will this be reworked?
We identified some issues with shotguns and their hit detection against a Distorted dash at close range. That has been fixed in a recent patch – we hope it feels better now.
Is the M110A1 meant to be viewed as an overpowered or late-game weapon? Will it receive more nerfs? Recent nerfs mostly applied to the Replicator, but it’s still very powerful.
We are carefully watching over weapon balance. We’ll likely make further adjustments to the M110A1. First we want to gather more data on how players feel once it becomes rarer, to avoid making fast decisions. In any case, we plan to make it less comfortable to use while on the move.
SMGs are often seen as underpowered. Are there any plans to make them more viable?
We have a range of SMGs which are quite different. For example, the XV AVP (a late Monolith unlock) has a blistering fire rate that makes it deadly in CQB. Some SMGs can sometimes seem relatively underpowered, but we improve them - in our latest patch we also largely reduced the UMP45’s recoil. We’ll continue to monitor performance and tweak SMGs as needed.
Why do you put spawns of players so close together? For example, in Cargo Port everyone spawns at the bottom of the map, which leads to many fights and some spawn kills in the opening minutes.
We’ve added a lot of spawn points to prevent camping, which can result in some appearing close together. The bigger issue is players spawning when there is already danger nearby, so we’re improving the spawn logic to reduce those risky spawns. In fact, much should be fixed in latest patch (01.10.2025).
Will there be an ability to mark a location without using the map? In a firefight, it’s hard to mark enemy locations.
We understand this is challenging in the heat of battle, but for now we’re keeping it this way to preserve a realistic feel and to give solo players a better chance against squads. We recommend using voice chat to coordinate positions.
Could we get more in-depth descriptions of certain nebulous terms in the hover tool tips? For example, “Fine Motor Skills” - a loading-screen tip says it boosts magazine packing and healing speed, but that info isn’t in the chronogene tooltip or a character sheet.
Great suggestion! We’ll add more detailed descriptions for skills in future updates.
New Features & Future Plans
Can you add more detailed in-game statistics to guns? We want to see the quantified impact of modifications, exact damage values, etc.
We’re expanding the stats shown on weapons and their mods. You’ll already see more information on ADS speed, recoil, and dispersion than before. Our goal is to make guns more understandable and predictable, so expect even more detailed stats in future updates.
Will aim-assist be released with console? How will this be balanced to prevent an unfair advantage?
We don’t plan to enable cross-play, and the aim-assist decision is still under review. It’s likely we won’t include it, but we need more testing before making a final call.
Will we get magazine replication?
Replication for some better magazines is already live, and we’ll add more over time. We aren’t sure that we are going to allow replication of basic magazines or ammo boxes, though.
What are your plans for the economy in Active Matter? With all the ammo and medicine you use in Raids, it’s really hard to break even - random sellable loot rarely covers your costs.
We adjust the economy weekly. Some players are already millionaires in-game, so breaking even is absolutely possible - even without Agency gear. Look for another economy balance update during the week.
You recently massively reduced the reward for refining non-enriched items, making PvP kills far less rewarding. Why, and how will you make hunting other players attractive again?
The Agency pays for Active Matter, and values enriched items far more than common gear that it has a lot of (and sells to you). That said, it’s true that rewards from both PvP Raid kills and contracts have been lowered, so we’re working to increase both.
We love how frequent the updates and patches are right now, sometimes multiple times per day – will this always be the case?
We’d like to settle into a steadier cadence - ideally one or two hotfixes per week, and more time for major updates. For now, there are still many urgent tweaks and fixes, so patch frequency remains high.
When will the game’s first major update arrive?
Definitely later this year.
Do we have an estimated date for FSR4 (or FSR3) support, and DirectX 12?
We’re working on those features but don’t have a firm ETA yet. DirectX 12 support is still not that stable.
Do you intend to create maps with specific weather conditions like snow, fog, etc.?
Absolutely. We’ve already experimented with Overgrowth and Distortion Raid variants, and we plan to add more weather effects and other mysterious and dangerous conditions - both as variants and in entirely new Raids.
Will bayonets be implemented as a weapon attachment? We already see some improvements in modifications for weapons, but a bayonet would be useful against some monsters.
It’s possible, but not immediately. We’re prioritizing shooting-related mods first. That said, we think it’s great to see strong demand for melee options and may add bayonets in a later update.
Will player dog tags be used for anything aside from simply collecting them?
Yes - dog tags will serve more than just a decorative purpose in your shelter.
At the moment, the TKB-022P is present in the game. Will there be more prototype weapons?
Yes - we have some already in development, but we don’t want to spoil the surprises just yet!
Right now, it’s unclear what to do with lots of spare low-level chronogenes. Will we be able to combine, exchange, or sell chronogenes that are no longer needed?
We plan to introduce chronogene fusion in our first major update!
We are still patiently waiting for proximity chat! When can we expect it, as you said you were testing it already?
We need to return to work on the major update in order to finish testing and implementing such impactful features like proximity chat. We hope to have it soon!
Are there plans for a premium currency and/or microtransactions, and what will they entail?
We are surprised how often we receive requests to create microtransactions and/or a free-to-play version of the game, but we have no such plans. The obvious place for microtransactions would be in customization and cosmetic items, but we do not yet have enough of these. Also, it is important for us to maintain a realistic look and feel in the game, so there are limited customization possibilities.
That’s it for this time - but it’s not the last! Our plan is to do a number more Q&As, so if your question didn't make it into this Q&A, don't worry! We may answer it next time.