City Mode Open Beta

[p]We’re introducing one of the city backstreets — Unfinished Highway, part of the Streets biome in City Mode.
[/p][p][/p][p]This location can start with one of two side missions:[/p]

• [p]In one, you’ll need to eliminate a trio of dangerous bandits.[/p]
• [p]In the other, your goal is to steal a briefcase from a mobster’s stash.[/p]

[p]If you take the time to explore the back alleys, you can also uncover an additional hidden case, guarded by a security camera: [/p][p]
[/p][p]Along the way, you can find and collect weapons to prepare yourself for the final task — steal the mobsters’ stash from the guarded Club Basement and get out alive. All unlocked guns will be available to you before the final shootout.[/p][p][/p][p]Get ready to jump into a full-on killing spree mission in the Night Club Arena, featuring more linear gameplay and a brand-new soundtrack.
[/p][p][/p]

Current Limitations (this release):

[p]This is a limited first iteration, so some features are not available yet:[/p]

• [p]Alternative final mission route leading to Harbor.[/p]
• [p]Random encounters inside the Unfinished Highway.[/p]
• [p]Longer runs that include multiple locations from the Streets biome (to avoid exhausting players).[/p]

[p]We plan to add some of these elements during January and see how more complex routes perform.[/p][p][/p]

Enemy AI: New States

[p]We’ve fully reworked all in-game enemy animations and moved them to a new state machine, allowing us to add many more behaviors and animations in future updates. Huge shout-out to our animator for this massive amount of work!
[/p][p][/p]

⚠️ Important Note ⚠️

This is NOT the final version.

[p]This system is a new platform that allows us to introduce all kinds of new behaviors and animations. [/p][p]Today’s release doesn’t represent the final vision — it simply reflects what we could realistically deliver by the end of this year and we believe it’s solid enough to ship.[/p]

New behaviors include:

[p][/p]

• [p]City Mode: Sound awareness: Loud gunshots, explosions or the death of other mobsters will reveal your position and trigger attacks.[/p]
• [p]City Mode: Vision angles. Currently a simple 110° field of view, without peripheral vision or long recognition time.[/p]
• [p]City Mode: New idle animations.[/p]
• [p]Hand injury reactions: Enemies will drop their weapon and switch to a secondary one.[/p]
• [p]Gun-butt attacks: Enemies may use pistols or rifles for close-range melee attacks.
[/p]

Other Enemy Improvements:

• [p]Improved movement over dead bodies — enemies now trip and fall much less often.[/p]
• [p]Easier weapon stealing from enemy belts — belt weapons now have higher grab priority than the body itself.[/p]

[p][/p]

Current Limitations (this release):

[p][/p]

• [p]The "quick sidestep” animation has been temporarily removed, making enemy movement more predictable.[/p]
• [p]Some animations (such as strafe) currently require more free space, so they occur less often in narrow areas.[/p]
• [p]Transitions between certain animations may take slightly longer — this will be improved in future updates 👍[/p]

[p][/p]

Gun Updates:

• [p]Lucky-7 Shotgun received new, unique shot, reload, and pump movement sounds.[/p]

[p][/p]

Roadmap Updated

[p][/p][p]As you can see, we’re planning a lot of AI and City Mode updates for the first half of 2026. We’ll also continue adding new weapons and visual upgrades on a monthly basis.[/p][p][/p]

Thank you!

[p]Thank you all for an awesome year ❤️ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year![/p][p]
We’ll push a small update next week and then the team will take a 10-day break. See you all next year!
[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Check out our Socials and have a chat with us!
Twitter Discord Instagram Mods [/p][p][dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1294760/HARD_BULLET/"][/dynamiclink][/p]