CULTIC v105 Released on Beta Branch

Update v105 is finally out on the beta branch! To opt-in, go to the Betas tab in CULTIC’s properties via your Steam Library and select the beta branch!

As always, if you’ve got the time to check it out, feedback and bug reports are much appreciated! The lighting changes and new survival map in particular are subject to further improvement as needed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The brightness slider should default to 0 as of this update. A small patch was just pushed to fix this not working. If you played the beta before the patch (9:90PM CST on 3/3/23) and your brightness defaulted to a different value, 0 is the correct baseline.

This is a fairly chunky update, so I’ll get right into the changes:

• New Survival Map “Unholy Commotion” – Romp around the crypts and rack up those S-Ranks!
• New “Survival Options” menu added with configurations to change spawn rates and disable the Survival timer. Use of these options will disable achievements and leaderboard progression.
• Changes in game version will backup player’s preferences and profile, to preserve that data in the event of a problematic patch
• Added optional hazard directional indicators to Accessibility options, to aid players to locate hazards that partially rely on audio cues (dynamite, ghost props)
• An “Ambient Light” slider was added to Options > Video, and can be adjusted to have darker overall environments. This value has been defaulted to a slightly lower value than the game launched at, so you may notice moodier environments. Push this value to “100” to restore the original brightness levels.
• The “Brightness” slider was fixed to allow negative values without breaking HUD transparency. You should be able to darken the game as well as brighten it now.

• Most enemy sprites have been re-rendered to clean up aliasing and enhance shading, which should result in better visual clarity in conjunction with the in-game dithering/filtering.
• Survival Mode has a new map select menu, rather than clicking on the map to start the match.
• The FG-42 has a proper contextual indicator for toggling fire-modes, and the upgrade verbiage was altered to better illustrate the toggle.
• FG-42 scope visuals were cleaned up to provide a more usable crosshair
• Menu sliders are now locked to particular unit intervals when using keyboard/gamepad, and you can hold the directional keys to slide it continuously.
• Individual dynamite sticks now have a hitbox and can be detonated with gunshots
• Dynamite sticks no longer respond to physical impulses from other explosions to help with Cluster Toss consistency
• Enemy pathfinding was adjusted so they are more willing to drop off of ledges if they don’t think the fall will kill them
• The previously selected Survival Difficulty is now remembered when you exit and return to that menu
• Survival Difficulty now defaults to Standard, rather than Casual

• Menu sliders should now work properly when controlled via keyboard or gamepad.
• Trees that were improperly showing their low-LOD sprite in E1M6 were adjusted
• Some stretched textures in E1M3 were fixed
• A sharpshooter in E1M7 had their AI zone changed so they’ll correctly engage with the player
• A lighting issue in E1M4 was fixed
• Several instances of sound emitters ignoring the sound volume settings were fixed
• An issue was fixed with explosive projectiles that was causing damage to go through walls
• A see-through mesh in E1M4 was fixed
• Incinerator particles no longer cast shadows
• Certain enemies should no longer spam sounds when burned without first drawing their aggro