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BioWare has launched a new update for Anthem–introducing several balancing changes and features. Called Patch 1.1.0, the update adds The Sunken Cell stronghold, which becomes available once you’ve completed Anthem’s main campaign. Many of the new features introduced in the update add long-requested features to the game, such as the ability to change Javelin gear loadout during a mission.

Patch 1.1.0 allows you to select contracts from the start of any expedition, as opposed to needing to pick contracts from their corresponding boards in Fort Tarsis. You can also now immediately launch new missions after completing an expedition instead of having to return to Fort Tarsis and climb back into your Javelin. Patch 1.1.0 allows you to access the Forge during missions, strongholds, and freeplay too, so you can experiment with new gear loadouts without needing to return to Fort Tarsis first.

Several general changes have been made to Anthem as well. A new cortex entry has been added to the game that explains exactly how combo, detonator, and primer abilities work. Three new Masterwork components have been added to the game as well–an extended sniper rifle magazine, rapid hollow point ammo for machine pistols and autocannons, and extended special arms magazines for heavy pistols and grenade launchers.

The remaining changes are bug fixes and minor changes. For example, the bug causing the Arcanist Loyalty 3 trophy to remain locked on PS4 has been resolved, as has the issue causing challenge notifications to not appear correctly. New primer and detonator icons have been added in the cortex next to gear entries as well.

The full patch notes for Anthem’s latest update can be found on the game’s main website. Below, we’ve outlined the major gameplay balance adjustments now live in Anthem. Anthem is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Anthem Patch 1.1.0 Gameplay Balancing Changes

Masterwork Weapons

• Retaliation of Garretus – Trajector Machine Pistol
  • Increased bonus from 200% to 400%
• Rolling Carnage – Vengeance Shotgun
  • Increased bonus from 50% stacking 3 times, to 83.33% stacking 3 times.
• The Last Stand – Mauler Autocannon
  • Increased bonus from 200% to 225%
• Fist of Stral – Cloudburst Autocannon
  • Increased bonus from 10% stacking 10 times, to 16% stacking 10 times.
• Unending Battle – Fulcrum Machine Pistol
  • Increased bonus from 110% to 135%
• Death From Above – Guardian Marksman Rifle
  • Increased bonus from 65% to 235%
• Wyvern Blitz – Deadeye Sniper Rifle
  • Increased bonus from 40% to 185%

Masterwork Gear

• Colossus
  • Final Judgment – HE Mortar
    • Increased bonus from 35% to 55%
  • Fist of the Crucible – Flamethrower
    • Increased bonus from 12% *10 to 24% *10
• Interceptor
  • Serpent’s Veil – Venom Bomb
    • Increased bonus from 100% to 202.5%
  • Ruthless Stalker – Searching Glaive
    • Increased bonus from 60% to 110%
  • Bitter Harvest – Cluster Mine
    • Increased bonus from 60% to 110%
• Ranger
  • Cold Blooded – Frost Grenade
    • Increased bonus from 235% to 270%
  • Avenger’s Boon – Pulse Blast
    • Increased bonus from 210 % to 220%
• Storm
  • Ponder Infinity – Lightning Strike
    • Increased bonus from 60% to 165%
  • Chaotic Rime – Frost Shards
    • Increased bonus from 125% to 250%

Gear

• Friendly player projectiles should now be able to pass through Javelins in your squad.
• Colossus’ Firewall Mortar should now more reliably spawn the Firewall effect when directly hitting enemies, sloped surfaces, or next to walls.

Status Effects / Combos

• Delay between when players and creatures are frozen and when the visual effect is applied has been reduced to improve readability of the status effect.
• If a player applies a status effect that already exists on a target, but the new status effect has a higher damage than the existing one, the damage will now scale to that higher value.
• Players who prime targets for combos will now also see the “Combo” text when detonated by another player.
• Increased the damage of the Electric status effect when applied to creatures.

The games industry has been grappling with crunch as companies rush to complete projects by their release date, but staff at Epic Games have reportedly complained of similar conditions due to the explosive success of Fortnite.

Polygon reports that several current and former staff members spoke under the condition of anonymity about the crunch culture at the studio. While Epic had always needed to pull long hours at some points, developers felt they knew when the periods were coming and could prepare themselves. Fortnite was different because the wild popularity of its battle royale mode was so sudden and unexpected.

The result was reportedly long work weeks, some as much as 70-100 hours, with employees complaining of stress and unhealthy behaviors. While it wasn’t strictly required, they said, some employees were fired for missing deadlines after choosing not to work weekends. That helped create a culture of expectation for the long hours.

The studio was said to be impacted in other ways as well. One was a sudden influx of contract workers, who needed training to catch up with the rest of the work force. One source in customer service said the support requests went from 20-40 per day to 3,000, and so the company added 50 more contractors. The other was turnover, as some employees would quit. This period was punctuated with large bonuses, roughly three times their salary, and so some employees would stay to earn a few bonus checks before leaving.

A representative for Epic conceded many of the major points of the story to Polygon.

“People are working very hard on Fortnite and other Epic efforts,” a spokesperson said. “Extreme situations such as 100-hour work weeks are incredibly rare, and in those instances, we seek to immediately remedy them to avoid recurrence.”

The spokesperson also said that Fortnite “achieved a far higher level of success than we had ever anticipated” and that the team “rapidly expanded the game to grow the audience.”

Epic has taken some steps to remedy the situation, including mandatory break periods twice per year. One source said younger employees are still especially vulnerable to working long weeks, as the competition for promotions is fierce. The spike in long hours was a natural outcome of Epic shifting its infrastructure to support a live global service, but now that it has gotten there the workload is still heavy. The game’s seasonal nature requires Epic to put out substantial updates on a fixed schedule. One source described the current workload as “just endless.”

GameSpot contacted Epic Games, which declined further comment.

April continues to charge forward, which means we’ve got another exclusive look at Rage 2 as part of this month’s IGN First! This time, I sat down with id Software Studio Director Tim Willits as he goes deep into how its skill trees and upgrade systems work. Watch the video above for a first look at all the customization it offers.

If you’re hungry for even more, we’ve got loads of coverage from this month, including 11 minutes of Rage 2 gameplay, a breakdown of the enemy factions you’ll be fighting, and a look at how Rage has evolved since the original. We’ve also got a full Rage 2 preview after spending a few hours in its wasteland that you can watch below.

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Despite being full of cards, SteamWorld Quest doesn’t feel like a card game. As the first RPG in the SteamWorld series (the excellent SteamWorld Dig 2 being the previous entry), it bears far more resemblance to a game like Final Fantasy than Hearthstone or Gwent. Instead of letting its deck-building mechanics take over entirely, they instead give SteamWorld Quest one of the most flexible and fun turn-based RPG combat systems I’ve played with in a long time.

Steam World Quest tells the charming tale of a group of ragtag fantasy robots out to save the world from an evil army, rising to the threat before them despite their inexperience. It’s not exactly a unique premise (except for the robot part, I suppose), but the twists and turns it takes along the way make it stand out in interesting ways, and the big bad behind it all is a compelling one to fight. The story digs into larger themes about heroism and growing up with some nicely written dialogue that’s never long enough to drag the action down, and can even be genuinely funny or touching at times.

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