Here at Firesprite Games we have been toiling away on some great new features for The Persistence, and we are delighted to announce that it will be coming to you as a free update on October 18. The update has four brand-new game modes, a whole host of accessibility features, and even the screen display is sharper!
New Game Modes
Right now, the game has the main Campaign, plus Survival Mode where you are challenged to play through Campaign again using only 10 clones. The new modes add a massive amount of variety to the game.
- GLASS CANNON: This is an all-action challenge mode which proved really popular at EGX last month. In it, you need to make it through 24 increasingly difficult rooms to get to an escape pod at the far end of the Deck. You get to select a gun at the start of each attempt, which comes with infinite ammo – the downside is that you only have one hit point, and there are no health pickups! Each time you enter a room, the doors lock and the mutants attack. You need to take them out as quickly as possible as the game is against the clock. How quickly can you get to the escape pod?
- CAMPAIGN+: In Campaign+ you keep all your Gear and Upgrades from your previous Campaign playthrough, and are now challenged with an ultra hardcore difficulty mode. The rules of the game have been changed to make it feel different too. You can no longer use SuperSense to spot enemies hiding in cover, and you will notice that a Bloodhound just keeps following you! To combat this, there are all-new character upgrade levels, and ‘Platinum’ rarity Gear items to give you a fighting chance.
- FIRST BLOOD: First Blood is a stealth based challenge mode where you need to make your way through another huge procedurally generated deck to the escape pod. Only equipped with a Peacekeeper knife and totally outnumbered, can you sneak your way through to the escape pod?
- PERMADEATH: As the names suggests, in this mode once you die, that’s it. You’re dead! The challenge is to complete the entire campaign on a single life (it’s not for the faint-hearted!). However, there is a big change that makes a big difference. There are Deck Porters in this mode that take you instantly between all Decks, and to Recovery, to quickly upgrade and buy Gear.
All-New Accessibility Features
We really focused on designing The Persistence to be a tough challenge, but we also believe that games should be fun and inclusive for players of different skill levels, and also for players with disabilities. It’s because of this we have included a comprehensive suite of accessibility features with this update. You can check some of them out in this video.
Assist Mode
You can turn on Assist Mode in the Pause Menu at any time, in any Mode or Playthrough. It gives you fine tuning of the game’s difficulty to help you get through parts of the game that are proving too challenging.
- Game speed. Slows down the game speed to assist players with less ability to react quickly.
- Damage. Reduce the damage taken to help survive longer.
- Infinite teleport. Get around more quickly with less reliance on the Sticks.
- Infinite ammo. Ideal for players with less ability to aim with their head.
- All enemies ‘tagged’. See enemies through walls at all times, to reduce the need for quick reactions.
- Auto shield. Automatically deploy the shield reducing the need for fast twitch reactions.
Assistance For Hearing Impaired Gamers
For hearing impaired gamers there are several features to make the game more inclusive, most notably, the visual representation of key audio events. A lot of the strategy in The Persistence comes from hearing where the danger is and reacting to it, so displaying this information on screen gives that vital communication to all players.
