As part of the update, players will be able to find new garments through the new levels and mission type. Enemies are also getting new toys, such as the new Geist module that allows monsters to turn invisible. The module can also be stolen by the player’s Pet Gun to give players a temporary cloaking device.

RIPOUT was released in Early Access back in October. The game is a co-op-centric sci-fi horror shooter that has players travel to different derelict spaceships in order to make their way to the end. Throughout their time exploring, players will uncover the game’s story, while also finding materials with which to upgrade their arsenal.

The Payload Update is the first part of the roadmap available on the game’s Steam page, with future updates focusing on new weapons and enemies, as well as new enemy types.

RIPOUT Payload Update Patch Notes:

System improvements and additional features

• Tutorial update – we have updated the tutorial steps with a new room purposed for practicing critter retrieval and using the pet on enemies
• We have added an animated outline around the hints text box
• Enemy dodge behavior – we have updated enemy behavior with the dodge feature. Now enemies will move more unpredictably and not go in a straight direction toward the player
• New music themes are added for different types of ship
• SFX orientation is improved for enemies and environment sounds. Now, the direction of those sounds should be clearer
• We have enabled the functionality to skip the Credits screen
• We have improved the weapon recoil system and weapon spread
• Added camera shakes on character landing
• Added camera shakes for Sidearms and Axe
• Added new blood hit effect on all enemies

Hotfix

• Major Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where the Pet doesn’t do damage on a weak spot if that weak spot is destroyed before the Pet attack is done
• Fixed an issue that locked a Player if escape was pressed in the mission complete screen
• Fixed an issue with Pet stuck on the enemy with a tentacle attached
• Fixed an issue where players can get locked in a black screen on Boss’s entrance
• Fixed an issue where a self-rescue token was not given to the players on the Boss level
• Fixed an issue with players getting Boss level in earlier sectors if they completed all quests

Minor Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue of the wrong name tag shown for the player locally
• Fixed an issue of Enhancement station always being available for clients
• Fixed an issue with FOV
• Fixed an issue with sidearm third person equip animation
• Fixed issue on Boss level – door was missing making the players fall outside of the map
• Fixed an issue with critters trying to go for windows and jump on them
• Fixed an issue with Pet turret animation stopping after the first fire was shot from the Pet turret
• Fixed an issue of one Critter taking two spots on the enemies
• Fixed a visual issue where we were showing requirements on the 5th sector – Boss level
• Fixed an issue of Enemies getting stuck in a corrupted resurrection station
• Fixed an issue of Enemies starting to spawn even if you destroy the corrupted resurrection station
• Fixed an issue of Hazard turret being available as a Pet target after destruction
• Fixed an issue where all enemies were jumping while ensnared
• Fixed an issue where boom bugs didn’t have any VFX on the explosion
• Fixed an issue with the escape menu that didn’t work on the input
• Fixed an issue where pressing escape in the mission complete screen locks the player
• Fixed an issue where a dead dotter critter fires projectile after death
• Fixed an issue where Soldiers could hit players through the security point door
• Fixed material and mesh discrepancies between Mimic and normal door
• Fixed an issue of Dotter hazard, Mimic chair, and Turret not showing damage indication numbers

The Early Access release of RIPOUT comes with quite a bit of content right out of the box, including a 3-player co-op mode, ability upgrades for the player’s Pet Gun, 10 monster types and 8 critters, 8 different types of Pet Gun types, and 9 Suits with different buffs.

The studio has released a content roadmap on the game’s Steam page. While the roadmap doesn’t include any release dates for future updates, it does give us a glimpse at some of the future content planned for RIPOUT, such as new mission types like Payload and Cover, as well as the addition of new monster types, weapons, and other equipment.

RIPOUT also features support for single-player, with its difficulty scaling up or down depending on the number of players in a team.

Today, we will be looking at yet another similarly promising game from developer Pet Project Games – RIPOUT. RIPOUT is a co-op survival horror game that takes heavy inspiration from the likes of Prey and G.T.F.O. to create an experience that’s equal parts horrifying and an adrenaline-pumping thrill ride that’s bound to captivate legions of FPS fans from all over the world.

RIPOUT is set in the year 2084, a futuristic dystopia where humanity has to fend off aliens species for the survival of its race. You see, humans have lost the safe haven that is Earth and now the aliens who attacked the planet have followed the remaining survivors to space. There’s an entity by the name of Sanctuary that somehow holds the key to banishing these aliens – and you take upon the role of one of the last remaining soldiers on this very important quest to save the world.

The premise is simple, and seems pretty rooted in the standard tropes that come with a futuristic dystopia and post-apocalypse. Of course, most would agree that an action game like RIPOUT doesn’t necessarily need to focus its efforts on delivering a memorable narrative – as the central selling point is most certainly the core gameplay. That said, the game is also brimming with personality – thanks to its dark and dreary aesthetic and majestic spaceship architecture, and terror-inducing enemy designs. On the topic of art direction, one of the most interesting things about RIPOUT‘s art style is how it manages to create a horrifying vibe with its environments without resorting to extensive use of darkness. Sure, there are plenty of dark corners in the game’s many environments – but the game retains a decent level of visibility regardless. It’s highly reminiscent of Prey’s art style in that context, thanks to a brilliant combination of contrasting colors like red, green, brown, and grey, among others.

Now coming to the gameplay side of things, RIPOUT is a first-person horror game and plays exactly like one. You need to be tactical with your movements and shooting to make it out of most encounters alive. That said, RIPOUT is certainly unique in the fact that it’s a bit more fast-paced than something like Prey but also not as fast-paced as something like Shadow Warrior. As such, its mediocre pace of gameplay also lends a unique charm to it that makes it stand out amongst the ever-increasing crowd of first-person shooters.

Your main weapon for survival against the many alien species is a trusty Pet Gun. A weapon that’s equal parts companion and a full-fledged arsenal of destruction, the Pet Gun is easily one of the most creative weapons we have seen in recent games. The gun can morph into several shapes and forms – from a standard pistol to a shotgun to a grenade launcher to even a flamethrower. Of course, each weapon type serves a vital purpose in the combat proceedings – as you will be changing weapon types on the fly to suit your needs. Additionally, you can also throw the sentient pet gun at your enemies, dealing area-of-effect damage and culling the herd in the process.

The developer has also stated that players will have the option to customize their pet guns according to their playstyles, although it isn’t known exactly how that would pan out. Furthermore, players might also have the option to harness the power of enemies. If you look closely, you can see enemy tentacles hanging off the player’s left shoulder multiple times in the gameplay – which could indicate that they can be turned into a weapon.

And on the topic of enemies, RIPOUT has an interesting implementation of enemy types. Unlike most games that have a set amount of enemy types, RIPOUT will feature enemies that can reconfigure themselves according to the situation at hand to give players a challenging experience at all times. For instance, small enemy bodies may combine to form a bigger enemy that has a larger pool of health and deals more damage with every blow. At the same time, the enemy biomass could also re-shift to strengthen a certain body part – allowing it to be used as a stronger weapon. It’s easily one of the more interesting aspects of the game, and we can’t wait to see how this idea pans out with the full release and how this affects the moment-to-moment gameplay.

RIPOUT is a roguelite in that its levels are procedurally generated by a random generation algorithm. While there are a select number of mission types where objectives will presumably remain constant, the actual architecture of the environments and level layouts will change with every subsequent run. Completing these missions would most likely net players some currency that can be invested in making one’s character stronger than before, allowing them to take up challenges of higher difficulties and fine-tune their pet gun to their own needs. Developer Pet Project Games states that the average mission duration length would be anywhere from 10-20 minutes which should make these bite-sized missions highly replayable.

While players can go through the game solo, RIPOUT is meant to be played in co-op. We don’t know how many players can play together in a single session, but the developers have stated that it would be limited to small teams. In co-op play, players will have to play off each others’ strengths to have a shot at survival. The trailer showcases multiple instances of this, such as one player distracting a giant monster towards themselves while another shoots down the weak spots on the enemy’s back. Pet Project Games has also stated that the difficulty will scale according to the number of players in a single session, so players should expect to be up against a decent challenge regardless of their strength in numbers.

It’s currently in development for PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5 with a target release window of 2022. While it’s a pretty ambitious release window for a game that’s just been announced in an official capacity, we are keeping our fingers crossed for the time being.

There’s still a lot that we don’t know about RIPOUT, such as how the progression works or the many types of missions that players will be taking part in. However, the core premise of this roguelike co-op horror shooter is certainly promising. RIPOUT has more than a couple of neat tricks up its sleeve, and we are hoping that it manages to deliver a compelling experience that’s worth all the hype and anticipation – and then some more.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.