Skydance’s December 2024 Patch Addresses Player’s Combat Concerns

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 18, 2024 3 Views 17 Min Read
Skydance's December 2024 Patch Addresses Player's Combat Concerns



Summary

  • Behemoth’s new patch addresses combat criticism, enhancing mechanics and balance.
  • In response to player feedback, a beta feature, “Freestyle Mode”, minimizes stamina drain.
  • Skydance seeks more input for future updates as they work on an “Arena Mode 1.0” for 2025.



Skydance’s Behemoth, one of the year’s most hotly anticipated VR titles, has released a new patch addressing what the developer calls a “controversial” player response to the game’s combat. Skydance’s Behemoth launched in early December to disappointing reviews, with critics citing repetitive gameplay loops and glitchy combat as the primary detriments to the game’s playability.

First announced in 2022, fans of immersive gaming have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the titular behemoths, which represent the latest outing from the team behind The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, one of the most well-received VR experiences of recent years. A gameplay trailer released earlier in 2024 generated a healthy dose of hype around the title, stirring up nostalgia for the classic PS2 game, Shadow of the Colossus, which featured similar giant-scaling mechanics and a haunting environment. Now that Skydance’s Behemoth has been released, players have voiced some dissatisfaction with elements of the game’s combat.


behemoth review

Related
Skydance’s Behemoth Review

Behemoth is a breathtaking VR action-adventure game that is a must-buy for anyone with a compatible virtual reality headset.

Announced in a Twitter post, Skydance listed a few of the major elements contained in the patch, including improved combat mechanics and alignment, reduced hand jitters during climbing, and general gameplay balance improvements. Skydance’s Behemoth‘s combat compares handily to Blade and Sorcery‘s physical fighting mechanics, but some players aren’t having as much fun with it. Noting that some people “love [the combat] as designed”, Skydance acknowledged that others have reported being frustrated by stamina drain, parrying, and tight tolerance for dodging. The patch has sought to address those issues without stripping the challenge from the experience. In that effort, Skydance has incorporated a new beta feature called “Freestyle Mode”, that minimizes the stamina drain from combat to negligible levels, allowing players to hack and slash without any real impediment.


Skydance has stated that it’s hungry for more player feedback, as evidenced by the incorporation of comments regarding the feel and parameters of combat. While the game continues to evolve, there’s more to look forward to, with a promised “Arena Mode 1.0” rolling out in 2025, alongside some other as-yet-unnamed surprises teased by the developer. With a dearth of AAA VR titles like the well-received Batman: Arkham Shadow on the horizon, XR gamers would benefit greatly from a swift recovery after Behemoth‘s unsteady roll-out.

While it hasn’t so far proven to be a game-changer for the struggling VR form factor, Skydance’s Behemoth is available for PSVR2, Meta Quest, and other compatible headsets via Steam VR. Whether the game can grow and maintain an audience may depend largely on forthcoming updates, including live service play, and any possible expansions Skydance may throw in the mix.



Skydance’s Behemoth 12/12 Patch Notes

***Spoilers Ahead***

QUEST SPECIFIC

Over 1000 Art & Audio, Gameplay, and Player Experience changes and improvements made to Quest 3, Quest 3s, and Quest 2 including:

Quest – Player Experience

  • Added “Shader compiling” loading screen at game boot; appears if the player encounters a situation where shaders needs to be re-created or downloaded from Meta’s platform. If you see this message, no, the game is not frozen, please wait for 2-3 minutes and it should continue.
    • We will be looking to add better communication of the installation progress in the near future
  • Haptics added to Main Menu
  • Fixed crash during Arena Mode [BETA] when gong was struck in specific situations
  • Fixed several low frequency crashes


Quest – Gameplay

  • Rare instances where players could clip into Dreddstag have been fixed
  • Climbing refinements to Shacklehide’s leg and side
  • Added collision to geometry that players were able to phase into
  • Ragnar will no longer disappear in the Forge during tutorial
  • Fixed final boss glitch state that could occur
  • Fixed janky handling when interacting with player’s Scroll
  • Fixed possible progression blocker during Nightscraper fight
  • Keys will respawn in their ghost form when saving and reloading
  • Fixed Mad Marauder from spawning inside geometry and getting stuck
  • Improved collision around the Forge to prevent awkward interactions
  • Improved action on opening sarcophagi in crypt puzzles
  • Improved hit reactions and state transitions on enemies in combat
  • Refined hand grips and IK on vertical and horizontal rope grips
  • Added torches and wall mounts to Nightscraper’s domain

Quest – Art & Audio

  • Improved numerous environment and foliage textures on Quest 3
  • Improved material resolution on various surfaces
  • Improved lighting for visibility and dramatic flair
  • Substantial reduction to visual popping issues in the environment
  • Improved player arm position when using Forge
  • Fixed several floating assets: arrows, medicine bags, rubble, etc.
  • Improved cliff collision at start of game
  • Added boundaries to prevent player from seeing out of the world
  • Music will no longer stop during Shacklehide battle


PSVR 2 SPECIFIC

  • Blood should no longer show as black (bathe yourselves in crimson ichor!)

ALL SUPPORTED PLATFORMS

  • Progression Blocker Fixes
    • Kragjaeger, Dodstreng, and Lognbryter should no longer go missing when transitioning levels
    • Shacklehide’s Cradle – The gate leading to the combat room should no longer be closed before entering the area
    • The Hollow King – Players should no longer get stuck in or repeat Phase 1
    • Players should now be able to Fast Travel after the end of the campaign to continue their post-game collection
  • Combat Updates
    • Tuning changes:
      • Player dodge is more forgiving with additional i-frames for a total 0.5 seconds invulnerability
      • Enemy dodge/side-step has been disabled (for now…)
      • Exposed headshots on standard enemies should now be 1-hit kills (minibosses can still take more than 1 strike to the head, depending on their remaining health)
    • 2-handed weapons feel has been greatly improved
    • Block and Parry – Weapon angle for successful parries and blocks has been increased (Forgiveness Angle is based on how “perpendicular” the players weapon is in relation to the incoming attack)
    • Combat Stamina Drain
      • Tuned across all difficulty modes, using Kragjaeger and minimum stamina bar as baseline
        • 5 swings with Kragjaeger red-lines you without sending you into winded
        • 3 combo attack, followed by a throw will redline you without you going over
        • Reduced throw stamina cost so 4 successive throws with Kragjaeger will wind you (increased from 2)
        • Removed the stamina penalty for player attacks that are blocked by the enemy by hitting their shield, weapon or helmet
          • Stamina Loss Multipliers are tuned by difficulty level
          • Tenderfoot has 0.35x combat multiplier, 0.5x noncombat multiplier
          • Standard has the baseline values
          • Barbarian has 1.25x multiplier across combat and noncombat
        • Stamina drain during climbing is unchanged
      • Freestyle Mode (BETA)
        • Players can enable fractional Combat Stamina, allowing them to hack and slash until they can’t physically swing anymore
          • This can be toggled on/off via Options Menu > Gameplay > Stamina Mode (BETA)
        • Achievements / Trophies are disabled when Freestyle mode is enabled; we are still testing how this affects combat balance and progression
        • Stamina drain during climbing is unchanged
    • Tenderfoot game difficulty has received additional adjustments to reduce damage from enemy attacks
    • Parry tutorial Marauder’s health has been increased and attack damaged decreased, to give players more opportunities to master the art
    • Text for Parry and Block tutorials have been updated to be more specific and instructive
    • Herbs are faster to eat and recover health at increased rate
    • Feral archers attack damage has been reduced
  • Miniboss Tuning Updates
    • Sora Ortel
      • Reducing homing distance while attacking
      • Reduced overall damage
    • Sora Vrisak
      • Should no longer spawn in the ceiling and fall to her death (even if it was occasionally funny)
      • Dagger attack damage has been reduced
    • Pale Archer
      • The Pale Archer should no longer turn invisible
    • General Ludovic
      • Shield bash attack will no longer one-shot players who are at full health. It’s still plenty deadly, however. Increased i-frames on your dodge should help with avoiding that!
    • King Ragnar
      • Increased health
      • Increased attack rate
  • Level Updates
    • Shacklehide opening scene should no longer replay when the player revisits the arena after already defeating this Behemoth
    • Players should no longer take massive damage when touching Shacklehide’s feet, but players should still stay alert!
    • Zephyr’s Pass – Spikes have been moved to the side of the room to help mitigate enemy self-destruction on Spike Wall
    • Duskhold – The Lever puzzle should no longer cause the door to not open
    • The chest after the Pale Archer should be easier to open
    • Throne Room – Replaced extra Health upgrade with the proper Stamina Upgrade
  • Miscellanea
    • Trophy Room Collectibles – Seems like the Trapper cleaned up while you were away. All statues have been moved to their wall inventory slots for now. We’ll continue working on this area in future updates. For the time being, if you rearrange collectibles, they will go back to their inventory slots when you leave and return
    • Health and Stamina points should show correctly when the scroll is first opened
    • Medicine pouches outside of the Trapper’s cell should no longer float
    • Tooltip for changing your difficulty at the start of the game should no longer pop up
    • Game version watermark should properly be shown on the Main menu
    • Many visual popping issues have been resolved
    • Various music streaming improvements
    • Various VO lines should no longer overlap
    • Various lighting issues have been resolved
    • Various crash fixes have significantly improved stability across all platforms


KNOWN ISSUES STILL BEING HAMMERED IN OUR FORGE

  • Official support for currently unsupported PC headsets on Steam will come in 2025
    • Controller map image for these headsets will not be present in the game
    • Controller mapping may be awkward
  • Infrequent, random crashes in Nightscraper zone. We have updated our crash reporting to help us identify and resolve issues that have been reported.
  • Some players may find hip slots too high. We’re working on this, but our solutions need more time for testing and verification so we don’t accidentally create new bugs.
  • Quest only – Music may occasionally drop out during certain sequences. This appears to be the result of a streaming issue that is not easily fixed. Rather than take drastic measures that could negatively impact frame rate and performance, we are going to continue working on this problem.
  • In rare instances, Behemoths may trap players causing a soft blocker. We are looking at how this is happening and to determine which solutions won’t hamper the current experience. If you encounter this bug, often it can be resolved by reloading to the latest checkpoint or an earlier save.
  • Standard weapons (not Kragjaeger, Dodstreng, or Lognbrytermay) may fall into the geometry and be unrecoverable. This has significantly improved but there are still infrequent instances.
  • Some languages are not ideally formatted for the best experience.
  • Some enemies may still get stuck in level geometry.
  • Some Coloss collection values may be incorrect and not properly registering. We were hoping to have a fix in time, but need longer to make certain we get it right. For now, please report any instances where your Coloss collection does not register.
  • Camera judder when throwing daggers and breaking pots and killing enemies. This is still being investigated.
  • Some jank can happen with items in hip slots. Issues reported have been variable, so we are looking into whether there is a root cause.
  • Trophy Room Collectibles – We want to make it so you can rearrange your collectibles in any order, without the Trapper cleaning up after you. One of these days, he will keep his grubby hands off your stuff.


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