In this version of Blacktrace, Alpha 9, I worked on the lighting in all the scenes. Global Illumination makes levels look great but performance takes a hit. So I tried recreating the lighting with normal lights. This also improved the loading times and reduces stutters while playing. I think the scenes look almost identical and in some cases visibility is greatly improved while still maintaining a film noir aesthetic. 

The second biggest chance is more gameplay oriented. I started with a stealthy way to kill enemies using a knife or fists. But after making these I felt like the other weapons needed a kill animation as well, even though they are not stealthy. So for the other items there is an execution style attack when you use it behind an enemy. I hope you enjoy these new features!

Changes:

• When using ATTACK behind an enemy, an execution/stealth kill animation is triggered, instantly killing them.
  
• Doors can now be kicked open regardless of which weapon is held by using ATTACK near it.
• Added a damage multiplier to the settings so the combat can be more or less forgiving.
  
• Added film grain effect which can be tweaked in the settings menu.
  
• Removed global illumination and tried to recreate it with normal light sources for better performance.
  
• Added rain to a few levels.
  
• Made footstep volume lower for the player character.
• Slowmotion is triggered when player is damaged to give the player a chance to hit back.
• Fixed X-ray material not showing on loose body parts.
• Reduced the amount of bones in character rigs for better performance.
• Added proximity fade to the mist particles and made them less uniform.