This day went into the screens between the fights. Almost everything you see from the main menu to the Deploy button was rebuilt in the metal look of the main menu, the Arena got money to spend, and the missions got their own music.

From the main menu to a mission

The way into a run is shorter now. Your profile sits on the main menu as a small plate with a drop-down list of slots, each with its last-played time and run record, so the separate Profile Select screen is gone. Training has its own button on the main menu and needs no profile at all. The roster screen that used to come after the profile pick is gone too: you go straight to choosing your squad.

The squad selection now shows every merc as a dossier card: portrait, HP, AP and movement, both weapons, helmet and utilities, and three scar slots. Every scar and item has a tooltip with its icon. Until the first mission starts, you can back out to the main menu at any point for free. It no longer counts as a lost run, and the screen remembers the squad and region you picked.

Nowak, Garcia and Robot picked, the rest dimmed. Four more mercs are marked Coming soon.

Before you deploy, each mission now has a proper briefing: a picture of the map, the situation and the orders, the goals with what each one pays in Reputation, how many attempts you have left, and the squad you are taking in.

The Black Market

The Black Market is now a dealer’s table: goods, hires and ammo on the left, your squad on the right with their scars and all seven equipment slots. Pick an item and the slots that can take it light up; click one to buy. Every item shows the same numbers the TitBoy shows in a mission, anything your merc carries can be sold right from its slot, and mercs who died this run stay on the table, marked KIA.

A flamethrower picked: the detail shows its stats, and the slots that can take it light up.

Scar rewards that warn you

The scar reward now tells you what a scar will do before you commit: “Gets Goliath” with the free slot lit, or “Full, replaces one of 3 at random” with the scars at risk in red. Revealing the hidden offer flips its card over to LOCKED IN. The rules are the same; a full merc still loses a random scar, but now you know it beforehand.

The hidden offer turned out to be Goliath. Every merc has a free slot, so nobody loses anything.

The Arena: a new lobby and loadouts

The Arena lobby is now a command table. The host can set up the match before anyone joins, and if the guest leaves, the invite address keeps working. Each arena has a name, a description and a picture. Hover a merc to see their stats, kit and scars. Both players see the other side’s lineup while it is being picked.

The host picking a lineup for The Hall, with Robot’s stats and kit in the strip below.

And there is a new option: the host can switch on LOADOUTS and set a budget. Each merc then starts with empty slots, and both players buy their gear in a new LOADOUT tab at Black Market prices. Selling back returns the full price, and you can watch the opponent shop as they do it. With loadouts off, the Arena plays as before.

The LOADOUT tab: three mercs on the left, the shop on the right, the budget at the top.

Smaller things

• Every mission has its own music. Six new tracks, one per mission, and a new intro for the main menu.
• Litter flies. Grenades and rockets throw the cans, bottles, boxes and newspapers on the streets away from the blast, and a bullet landing next to a can knocks it over.
• Bored enemies. An enemy with nothing to do now fidgets every few seconds: shifts from foot to foot, gets angry, or waves a bad smell away from their nose. Anything that needs them cuts it short.

What’s next

Six new scars are designed and waiting to be built. Lucky survives one fatal hit per mission, Mag Dump fires some burst rounds for free, and Wasteful shoots cheaper but eats twice the ammo. More when they are in the game.