Here be dragons: Reintroducing Abyss creatures

Hello everyone!

The last month, with two new feature teasers, a free event and a big sale*, has been pretty busy for us. Thank you for joining us by reading, playing and commenting! It’s been great to see such an active response from you. Now, the new month has kicked in…

…with a bit of a joke. The “pants slot”, a separate slot for legwear, is unlikely to make a comeback. We know it has its proponents, but isn’t it easier to just wear coveralls?

Now, on to something more serious: the next feature sneak peek. Along with the abandoned outposts and the radiation-related campaign map changes, the next update is, at a very long last, going to reintroduce two legacy abyss creatures. Please welcome to the stage – Charybdis & Endworm!

Charybdis

A blast from the past, the original charybdis as seen in pre-Steam legacy Barotrauma:

Barotrauma legacy charybdis monster
The charybdis was originally an inverted T-Rex with no legs. Placeholder art at its finest!

The new one looks quite different, and it’s also received love from our creature wrangler to make it a more interesting opponent in battle. It’s quite large and pretty aggressive, and it should be a bit of a challenge to kill. It does have a weak spot, though – care to guess where?

Oh, and it roars. Here’s something you’ll want to watch out for on your sonar display:

Barotrauma abyss creature sonar effects

In other words, the trick to dealing with the charybdis – and also the endworm – is to try and spot it before it’s on top of you. There will be both sonar effects and sound to hopefully help you do that before there are monsters knocking on your hull.

Endworm

As perhaps the most iconic Barotrauma creature of all, the endworm may already be known to many – despite how it hasn’t spawned naturally in the game ever since our Steam release. Fittingly for an enormous armored worm, it is the largest and most durable creature on all of Europa, and it sports an attack pattern somewhat similar to the charybdis where it… actually, let’s not spoil it! Let us know what you think about encountering an endworm, when the time comes.

Barotrauma abyss monster endworm

While there are similarities, the charybdis and endworm are not identical as enemies, and each will need to be dealt with a little differently – so keep an eye on that sonar screen to anticipate which one you will be up against. Both make sound, and you can also tell them apart by what they look like on the sonar… although ideally, you don’t want them this close before identifying them.

Barotrauma endworm and charybdis sonar view

The abyss

The abyss itself is, of course, in the game even now. It can be a little harder to access in the more enclosed areas, like the Cold caverns, but it’s always there, below every level. Later on, in the Great sea, you may even fall into it by accident.

With this update, we want to add a few good reasons to wander abyss-ward on purpose. Hunting big game, or perhaps trying to survive being hunted by it, is probably incentive enough for some. Besides that, we’re adding islands – floating land masses that can contain caves, with rare minerals. They should make the abyss a little more enticing to explore, and more interesting to behold (it is still pretty dark down there, though!).

Barotrauma abyss islands with mineral caves

What else do you think should be found in the abyss? Let us know – we may not be able to make a lot more changes to the next update at this point, but we’re always keeping our ear on the ground for future development needs. We look forward to hearing your feedback once the update drops, later this month!

* P.S. That big sale is still going on at the time of writing this.

Comments

  • April 2, 2021
    reply
    Rept1le

    What about some kind of parasites or spiders that only live in caves UwU

  • April 2, 2021
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    R. W.

    So, we are finally going to be able to get the endworm achievement legitimately then?

  • April 2, 2021
    reply
    Безчастнов Кирилл

    Good day, I think that charybdis does not need eyes and without them it looks much scarier and more atmospheric. In addition, it will be more suited to its dark ecosystem. The second version of the charybdis with a bunch of tentacles looked a little damp, but its head was very steep. I hope you will listen to my words ,because I am not the only one who thinks so. Thanks. I wish you further success in your development.

    • April 2, 2021
      reply
      Безчастнов Кирилл

      By “second” version, I mean the one that came after legacy. The one that looked like the oldest version, but had tentacles.

  • April 6, 2021
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    no i won't give a name

    You know the whole faction system in game is a little small. Just price up price down? Why don’t do something crazy like destroy the other factions bring chaos and destruction or make communion with the husk?

    • April 6, 2021
      reply
      no i won't give a name

      by the way church of a husk is my favorite 🙂

    • April 8, 2021
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      Dynamoon

      Hi! I do believe we’ll flesh out the factions a bit more, later 🙂 I’m not sure we can make absolute chaos an option, but the plan is to make the different factions more meaningful. More about that once our plans are detailed further!

      • April 8, 2021
        reply
        no i won't give a name

        I am satisfiend

      • April 8, 2021
        reply
        no i won't give a name

        Can’t wait

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