One of my top early access games is finally getting a second level: a 3-hour underground factory-city with an overhauled, Thief-style stealth system, a new RPG hub area, and an explanation for where all those FPS crates come from

I've been a Fortune's Run freak since first playing its bafflingly good demo level two years ago, and after launching into early access with a single, sprawling space station playground, we're finally seeing what comes next: an underground factory and settlement with a projected three-hour runtime and accompanying sneaking overhaul set to arrive in August.

Fortune's Run is like Thief or Deus Ex running at 1.5x with all the immersive sim, sprawling, «feels like a real place» level design and systemic interactions you could want⁠ alongside lightning fast, combo-oriented melee combat. Mechanically, this new update is shaking things up by recentering stealth, with new tools at your disposal as well as beefed up enemy capabilities to encourage you to use them. The changes include:

The new level, meanwhile, is an underground foundry operated by a hitherto unseen scrapper/outlaw faction, with the developers joking(?) that it's where all those ubiquitous FPS crates come from. Team Fortune is squeezing a lot of variety out of New Zabra, a setting with that historical, anthropological authenticity of great sci-fi like Dune or Disco Elysium. The game's previous finished level was a massive space station with a unique, centrifugal layout, while the demo level (yet to be reintegrated with the campaign) is a nightclub with a revolutionary weapon smuggling operation in the back.

Perhaps most exciting for me will be the beginnings of a non-combat hub we'll visit in-between missions. One of my favorite parts of Fortune's Run's demo level, Trouble at Club V'heni, was that it opened with a solid 5-10 minutes of fight-free exploration, letting you soak up the atmosphere and RPG worldbuilding conversations. Something like that but writ large, and potentially with a Deus Ex sensibility for exploration, discovery, and changes throughout the campaign could really set Fortune's Run over the edge.

We have a minute to wait for it all, though: the stealth update is currently targeting an