A few months back, I shared Cortex Override after 2.5 years of development, and the response from this community was incredible. Thank you all for the feedback, bug reports, and encouragement!
I'll be honest - life got busy after release and I wasn't able to work on updates for a while. But with a friend planning to stream the game soon, I wanted to push out some important improvements based on your feedback.
What's New in v0.2.2:
- Tutorial added to mission 1 - Many of you mentioned the game could be confusing for newcomers, so I've added guided instructions for the first level
- Minimap implementation - One of the most requested features! Navigation in larger levels is now much more manageable
- Bug fixes and polish - Addressed movement issues and map glitches reported by the community
These might seem like small changes, but they make a huge difference for new players jumping in. The tutorial especially helps explain the core mechanics without overwhelming anyone, and somehow I managed to squeeze the minimap into PICO-8's tight memory constraints!
The game is still the same cyberpunk action-roguelike experience - you're the last uncorrupted nano-drone fighting through an infected digital grid, with all the fast combat and multiple abilities crammed into 32kb.
I'm grateful for this community's support on my first game. Even small updates like this feel meaningful when you know people are actually playing what you've created.
As always, I welcome any feedback or suggestions for future improvements!
Changelog:
- v0.2.2: Added tutorial in mission 1, implemented minimap, various bug fixes
- v0.2.1: Improved movement mechanics, fixed map issues
- v0.2.0: Initial release
Wow, this is a really fun and fast-paced game! I beat all the levels, but missed a few shards or enemies here and there.
The exploration and combat are great. The levels are large enough to wander around, but are varied enough and not too big so I never got lost. Secret passages / shard locations are fun to find. Weapons and enemies feel very fair - it's possible to dodge or avoid most enemy attacks, and weapons have clear advantages (burst and machine gun for hallways, missiles and plasma cannons outside and vs bosses). Later levels I ran very low on ammo, not sure if there's a backup peashooter if I run out. The minibosses are fun (and somewhat difficult), and barrels add another danger (especially at later levels). Is there a final boss? (the last room with two Clerics was pretty deadly though)
A few things I noticed: On level 1, you can walk out of bounds around bottom middle of the level :) And on level 2, there is a mandatory passage that looks like a solid wall.
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