Relentless Frontier RSS Feed

Autumn sale, + bugs, slugs, and drones, oh my! Collectibles are live!

Major Arlene — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 16:29:37 +0000

- INCOMING KOR TRANSMISSION -

Noah, your helmet is too shiny. Your omnifuel is too plentiful. They'll kill you.

- END TRANSMISSION -

Huh, that was weird. But anyway, hey! Hope you all have been enjoying the Lore N' Vania update!

AUTUMN SALE

Autumn has come around again and with it, some more discounts! Relentless Frontier will be 34% off so if you've been waiting to pick it up, now's a good time to do so! We've also got some epic bundles with other fantastic boom shoots like Hedon, Project Absentia, and Extraneum!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44435/Relentless_Hedon/
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/45228/Relentless_Absentia/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44434/Relentless_Extraneum/
COLLECTIBLES + POINT SHOP ITEMS

We now have collectibles! Earn trading cards and other cool goodies like emotes and profile backgrounds just by playing the game!

We have:

6 badges
6 trading cards
3 profile backgrounds
6 emotes

We also have some fancy-shmancy animated profile backgrounds, mini profiles and avatars you can get from the Points Shop. Earn points buying games (like Relentless Frontier, if you haven't yet) and then you can use those points to show your love for the game on your profile!

Lore n' Vania Update Released

Korzodin — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:03:01 +0000

Changelog:

Lore - Data logs and environmental storytelling! The city maps, in particular, have received a lot of work.
Vania - We've leaned more into the Metroidvania aspects of Relentless Frontier, adding more environmental interactivity with the player's weapons and abilities!
The Pulverizer - A new bolt-action mine thrower! Launches sticky proximity mines that can latch onto the environment as a trap, or fired directly at the enemy to detonate on impact. Effective against armor and swarms, but the ammo is rare and expensive to omnistruct. Use 'em wisely!
Poison Pods - The bugs have started using chemical warfare! These armored, purple-glowing pods emit a potent corrosive gas, eating through armor and flesh alike in the blink of an eye. Direct damage doesn't seem to have an effect, but they seem to be extremely flammable...
An Actual Ending Sequence - You will no longer be dumped into a "YOURE WINNER" screen at the end of Episode 1!
Improved FX - Better gore, more destructibility, cooler hit feedback, and most importantly, etc! Lots and lots of etc.
UI / UX Improvements - Smoothing out the menus, and adding more options (Including a walk/run toggle!)
Bombardier Refinements - Everyone's favorite lump of literal (and metaphorical) bugginess is getting some much-needed attention! We want to emphasize his role as an artillery tank, and make him less frustrating to fight without fire damage. Maybe get him a new coat of FX work?
Fixes! - Ideally, we've fixed everything! Realistically, we've fixed most things. But players always find more things. If you do find a bug, feel free to shout at us on the Steam Forums, or join our Discord[discord.gg] and shout at us there!

Relentless Frontier: The Big Roadmap

Korzodin — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 21:30:24 +0000

What it do, fellow humans? Korzodin here, project lead for Relentless Frontier! Hope you've all remained alive and hydrated in these thrilling times.

Us? We've been plugging away at Relentless Frontier, progressing along the Big Roadmap. "What is the Big Roadmap?" you ask? Let me show you:

LORE N' VANIA UPDATE

Planned Release: Q3 2025

Lore N' Vania! A sorta goofy way to say:

We're adding more lore and story to Episode 1, as well as improving the exploration aspect.

Story and Exploration are the two primary focuses of this update, but we've got a whole list of planned improvements:

Lore - We're improving the game setting through data logs and environmental storytelling. The city maps, in particular, have received a lot of work.
Vania - We're leaning more into the Metroidvania aspects of Relentless Frontier, adding more environmental interactivity with the abilities the player acquires.
The Pulverizer - A new bolt-action mine thrower! Launches sticky proximity mines that can latch onto the environment as a trap, or fired directly at the enemy to detonate on impact. Effective against armor and swarms, but the ammo is rare and expensive to omnistruct. Use 'em wisely!
Poison Pods - The bugs have started using chemical warfare! These armored, purple-glowing pods emit a potent corrosive gas, eating through armor and flesh alike in the blink of an eye. Direct damage doesn't seem to have an effect, but they seem to be extremely flammable...
An Actual Ending Sequence - You will no longer be dumped into a "YOURE WINNER" screen at the end of Episode 1!
Improved FX - Better gore, more destructibility, cooler hit feedback, and most importantly, etc! Lots and lots of etc.
UI / UX Improvements - Smoothing out the menus, and adding more options (Including a walk/run toggle!)
Bombardier Refinements - Everyone's favorite lump of literal (and metaphorical) bugginess is getting some much-needed attention! We want to emphasize his role as an artillery tank, and make him less frustrating to fight without fire damage. Maybe get him a new coat of FX work?

GOING ROGUE UPDATE

Planned Release: Early 2026 (rough estimate)

Not quite going full rogue, just going more rogue-like...

The "Going Rogue" update will add a new game mode: Rogue Mode. This mode will add a variety of randomization and progression options for a customized second/third/hundredth playthrough!

A few of our plans for this mode include:

New Upgrades - The likes of which would have made the base campaign horribly imbalanced! But in Rogue Mode, the sky's the limit (sometimes literally, with the right mobility upgrades).
Random Events - Maybe you come across a squad of friendly RDI troops, maybe you find a drop pod filled with supplies or upgrades, or maybe a pack of Titans decide to show up and ruin your day? Who knows, roll the dice!
Enemy Mutations - Enemies can spawn with random mutations, giving them extra abilities and effects!
Corruption Cards - At the start of every level, choose one of three gameplay modifiers to add to the rest of the run!
Endless Mode - Run doesn't end until you die. Levels are shuffled, and once you beat a set, they're shuffled again. Get them massive gains / corrupt your run to insanity!

EPISODE 2

Planned Release: 2026 (rough estimate)

I'm going to be real with you guys for a moment -

Episode 2 is a doozy. We're introducing new enemy factions, a large hub-connected environment, and a bunch of new mechanics and weapons.

The biggest reason for Episode 2's doozy-ness: we've decided to combine Episodes 2 and 3. I wanna make this clear, you're not losing content. We didn't want player progression to get interrupted for this episode, as it's going to be a much larger factor in Episode 2. Pacing-wise, it will feel much better as one part. Story-wise, it will be much more impactful.

All that being said - I'm very excited for Episode 2. Maybe I'm a bit biased? But I'm hoping that excitement comes through in a tangible way.

- Michael "Korzodin" Ewer

Relentless Frontier Update 0.5.0 Now Available

Korzodin — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:38:54 +0000

Heyo! We've got a new major update for Relentless Frontier and a Soundtrack release, dropped just in time for the Steam Winter Sale! What a coincidence!

Update Changes include:

New Score Attack Gamemode! Start fully-equipped with extra lives and DO BIG COMBO to watch that score sail and get those letter grade medallions!*
Improved Shotgun Altfire! The electrodart affects more enemies, creates a huge electric explosion when it hits water, and can supercharge explosive barrels, launch flame canisters, and turn the electric barrel into an electric turret!
A bunch of bugfixes and improvements!

Also, take a look and a listen at the Relentless Frontier Soundtrack! Good jams cooked-up by Malaphors and John S. Weekly (Primeval)! High quality FLACS and additional suite mixes are part of the deal!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their year!

Relentless Frontier Update 0.4.2 Now Available

Korzodin — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 06:34:17 +0000

Top of the [TIME UNIT] to ya. We've been toiling in the dev mines to drag up some raw IMPROVEMENTS to Relentless Frontier, and I think we've got some good stuff to show just before Boomstock!

Main Changes:

Level Select has been added! When you start a new game, you can either start up a campaign like normal, or go to Level Select and choose which level you would like to start on (as long as you've been to the level once before), as well as the difficulty.
Menu Upgrade! We've done some work on the main menu, and laid down some framework for the extra game modes we have planned for the future.
Aim Assist! We've implemented an enhanced aim assist (thanks Jay!). Can be toggled in the Gameplay settings, with adjustable pull strength.
Finished optimization on all enemy sprites, which has lowered VRAM usage a bit more. Should result in better performance when a bunch of enemies are shooting and spitting and clawing and whatnot.
A buncha small map changes and fixes!

Next update, we'll be adding some new side areas to Episode 1, beefing up the story a bit, and adding the Score Attack gameplay mutator! (Score attack is fun as hell btw, can't wait to show it off).

As always, if you've got feedback or questions, let us know!

Relentless Frontier 0.4.1 now available on Beta Branch

Korzodin — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 05:00:58 +0000

Heyo! We heard your complaints and have been hard at work fixing (some of) them!

Main changes:

Optimized Titan sprites to take up less VRAM. This brings the game below the 8gm VRAM mark with all assets loaded, which should help with frame issues on mid / high-tier computers. We're looking to optimize more sprites this way in the coming months.
E1M6 split into two maps! E1M6 was pretty huge, which unfortunately put a lot of strain on peoples computers (and especially Steam Decks!). Splitting the map has lowered load times and increased gameplay performance a bunch.
Gunner Slugs sprites have been changed, to make them stick out a bit better. Hopefully they don't get confused for their dumber, punchier cousins as often.
Relentless difficulty rebalanced! Its a lot harder now. Sorry?
General monster placement rebalanced a bit. You might be surprised with what you find on E1M2 and E1M3...

There's a bunch of other stuff, I'll have a more organized list of every change we have logged later down the line. It's mostly bug fixes and little adjustments to make the game feel better. Of course, if you find any bugs or issues, let us know on the Steam Forums or in our Discord![discord.gg]

IMPORTANT

Changing versions is very likely to break your saves. Be ready to start a new game if you switch to the beta branch!

Relentless Frontier: Episode 1 is OUT NOW!

Korzodin — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 17:02:38 +0000

Its bug stomping day! Will you be doing your part...?

Relentless Frontier is out NOW on Early Access! Grab a copy, and shoot / smash / burn / explode / evaporate / perturb every bug you can get your grubby mitts on!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677900/Relentless_Frontier/

Spot any bugs of a technical variety? Report them on The Forums immediately!

Chat with your fellow Penal Legionnaires* on the Discord: http://discord.gg/fp59DpxEkV

*Penal as in prison, not the other thing.

And don't forget to leave a review!

Confirmation of Release Date: July 24th

Bridgeburner — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:42:34 +0000

This is a just a quick message confirming that the release date for Relentless Frontier early access is July 24th. We announced the shifting of the date over a week ago, but very cleverly forgot to mention it on Steam.

The reason for the delay is the usual stuff, we found a few (non flammable) bugs that were serious enough to warrant another week of polish and testing to make sure Relentless Frontier is fit for release. And the good news is that it is! The issues found have been fixed and we're very much in the final stages of being ready to share this with you all. There will be a proper release day new post with all the juicy details so I'll leave it at that.

On behalf of the Relentless Frontier team,

Cheers,

BB

Whoops, All Crystals!

Korzodin — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 21:07:04 +0000

Hey everybody! RF Project Lead Korzodin here, with some progress on a horror-themed map! I also bring news about the Early Access release date, new ways you can stalk me while I work on RF, and some additional planned features that I'm pretty sure some of you will appreciate! Let's get down to it:

E1M7: Surge Protection

Noah finds his way to the Blackwater Power Plant, a massive underground geothermal / nuclear power plant with it's own crystal mine. He's on the trail of the city governor, who carries an important key and chose to flee to the mines and probably die in a really inconvenient spot. What a jerk!

It's fine. Noah is armed to the teeth. The lights are out and the power is failing, but the darkness isn't hiding anything he can't handle... right?

Theatrics aside, horror is hard to design when the player can move at the speed of light and dump out damage at a similar rate! We had to get psychological, and come up with with a concept completely foreign to the player; enemy variety something the player doesn't want to shoot.

Also, crystals and mushrooms! They radiate light, and other things that might cause some long-term problems. Don't worry about it.

Early Access Release Date

Gonna just rip the bandage off quick here, we've chosen to delay the Early Access release date. We were rushing, we were making mistakes, we wouldn't have enough time for testing. I know Early Access likely has some expectations of roughness, but I want to make damn sure that what we release to the public is stable and fun.

We definitely still plan to release EA this year. We'll announce a solid date once we're feature complete and testing.

Dev Streams

I stream Relentless Frontier development on Twitch! Check it out:
https://www.twitch.tv/korzodin_rf

Whenever I do level design, sound design, or graphic design, I stream my work on Twitch. I've been streaming for a couple of weeks now, and I think I've got this "streamer" thing figured out. I typically stream on weekdays, from 6 - 10pm PST. Drop in and say hi!

Discord Server

We have a Discord server! Join up here:
discord.gg/fp59DpxEkV

I post rougher progress shots here, and I'm pretty open to any questions or discussion. Again, drop in and say hi!

Future Plans

A quick list of planned features (that will probably be in our next progress post):

Toggle-able weapon upgrades! When you get a weapon upgrade, you can toggle it on/off to suit your needs. Some upgrades have added power/utility with an added cost or some other side effects, so we figured being able to toggle these would be pretty helpful.
Interactive Data Logs! If you're curious about what's been happening on Ross 128b while Noah was away, you can get some extra lore by reading tablets, computers, TV screens, etc. Some of this stuff might also hint at secrets and alternate routes! Alternatively, you can totally ignore these and just shoot stuff and jump around! You don't need to read any of these to progress.
Voice Acting! Yes, we're still planning on having our main cast voiced! We've got some VAs in mind, but if you're interested in pretending to be murdered in a recording, let us know! (DM me on discord, twitter, steam, etc)

Anything else you're interested in knowing? Ask in the comments!

Peace,
- Korzodin

Noah in the Big City!

Korzodin — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 23:15:22 +0000

Hope everyone had a good time over the holidays! Me? I've been making assets for the largest map yet in Relentless frontier: Blackwater Borough!

I hope you guys like jumping between rooftops, exploration, alternate paths, and blasting enemies off of high places to their deaths! Blackwater Borough will be acting as a hub for the second half of episode 1, and changes with each level you finish! As time passes, the rain starts to clear up, the city burns, and the bugs flooding the city grow in number...

PS: Skyline of city WIP, gotta get the functionality and gameplay of the map done before I start doing the heavy detailing pass!