Another day, another way to be mercilessly slaughtered on a foreign world. The developers of The Red Solstice, an 8 player co-op action RPG, have apparently decided that all this holiday cheer just isn't working for them, and players need to be reminded that everything's awful, especially Mars.
With the release of the latest update, Ironward edges their game ever closer to a full release out of Steam's Early Access program, and it's looking pretty solid content-wise. Hot off the presses comes a new industrial themed map which aims to provide players with a good reason to comply with workplace safety laws. Also, monsters on the map move 10% faster, presumably because their bosses have threatened to lay them off if marine-slaughtering numbers don't increase by the next fiscal quarter.
Four missions have been addecd alongside the new map for player consumption, which have marine squads working together to complete objectives ranging from restarting failed reactors to exterminating alien eggs that threaten to overrun the compound. I'm most looking forward to Colony Defense System, in which players must deal with a rogue hacker who has programmed the local turrets to fire on anything that moves while he uses all the facility's bandwidth or some other nefarious deed.
Other additions include new skills, weapon modes, and a freshly tweaked boss creature. Though he had been added previously, the Burrower, Sargon, has had his terrifying mechanics perfected in the update. Immersion improvements round out the list of changes, as Ironward has seen fit to add more mood-setting music and make marine and alien deaths even more spectacular with the reintroduction of HDR effects. Crazy as it sounds, the devs aren't completely against the holiday cheer, as the game is currently under a 50% discount until January 2nd.