Continuing the early access development for co-op horror-themed extraction shooter The Forever Winter, developer Fun Dog Studios has released a massive new update for the game. Dubbed The Descent to Averno is Easy, the update brings with it a host of changes, including entirely new mechanics surrounding its water management aspects.Dubbed Water 3.0, the mechanic now has water no longer be a resource that is constantly being drained in real-time. Rather, water is now a currency that is used to get access to regions through various entry points. Each entry point has specific water costs that are randomised from a small range.In multiplayer, the host of the game will be responsible for paying the water costs to enter their region of choice. Co-op partners, however, can lighten this load by giving the host some of their water.The mechanics surrounding how water is found and gathered also got rebalanced to account for Water 3.0. Water barrels, for instance, are now stored in the Innards water supply, and additional water that is brought back from an excursion is automatically turned into currency. Water thief attacks can still happen if players leave 0 water in their Innards.The core gunplay of The Forever Winter also got a major overhaul, with recoil, dispersion, kick, swing, and weapon handling stats all getting retuned. Aiming down sights is also more feasible now thanks to the guns position in the view having been changed, and there are also new and improved reload animations for a host of weapons.Improvements to how enemies work in the game revolve around better indication for when enemies have detected players, and adjustments to enemy sensors.There have also been improvements to some of the games behind-the-scenes aspects, including network stability and game performance. There have also been rendering improvements to raise frame rates.For a complete list of changes made to The Forever Winter in its latest update, check out the patch notes below. And in the meantime, check out our review of the title from an earlier stage of its development.The Forever Winter March Update Patch Notes:Water 3.0Water is no longer a resource that drains real-time. It is now a currency that is used to access region entry points.Region entry points have specific water costs that are in an RNG range. The RNG range changes daily.The current water cost per region is on the region map and in the ready roomThe host of the current game pays the water cost to enter the regions. BUT the other players can give water to the host (and other players in the game) to help with the cost.To account for water 3.0, a rebalance of water drops in regions and rewards for quests was done.Water barrels are now only stored in the Innards water supply. Any additional water brought back from regions is converted to currency.When you update to water 3.0, only water that is in your innards water supply will remain. Your save game will also be marked with a special tag so we can reward you for your real-time water participation at a later time (dont delete your save if you want this TBD reward in the future!)NOTE! You can still be invaded by water thieves if:You leave the game with 0 water in your innards.Your water bots are followed back (if you have hired them).Other in-battle reasons can also incur the ire of the Water Thieves, so be carefulMore Base invasion triggers will occur in the future as we introduce additional enemies and objectives in the battlefield. The reward and risk will be high.Water TradingPlayers can now trade water with each other on the ready room screen.Players receive notifications if a friend has given them waterPlayers cannot give water if the recipient is already full (the transaction will be aborted). Increase your innards water supply!Gunplay 2.0The core gunplay system for player used weaponry has been overhauled.Recoil, dispersion, kick, swing (based on size / weight) and weapon handling are completely renovated and retunedWeapon upgrades / mods have been adjusted for the new system.The guns position in ADS has been adjusted for better sight pictureWhen in ADS, there is depth of field on the periphery to help focusing on the targetShotgun weaponry has been retuned for cone size, # of impact decals, etc.This results in less damage when target is far away and more damage at danger close rangesReload Animations: The reload animations have been improved for the following weapons. The Old Man character has been used as the first to receive the new goodness. We will continue to expand this to all weapons and all characters as we release more updates.The Grenade LauncherThe M60The R8 PistolThe M79 Sawed-off pistolThe P90The TKB-0146The S12 Shotgun (not to be confused with the SURPLUS shotgun)Enemy Detection ImprovementsEnemy detection icons show up more reliably with the correct information on % of awareness / detection and state (??? for investigating, !!! for aware but not targeting YOU, and eyeball-icon for aware and targeting YOU)Enemy detection icons now show up to 4 arrows showing which players they are detecting so you can more easily see if they are tracking you or an allyThis info only appears for the 3 closest in-view enemies to avoid a super noisy HUDEnemy detection icons will not appear if the view of the enemy is blocked (if they are behind a wall or pillar, etc.). It will re-appear if they are in view.Enemy sensors (hearing, vision, communication / transference, etc.) have been adjusted to improve chances of slipping by undetected if they are occupied with combat (unless the AI is specifically tasks to hunt players aka the Hunter-Killers)Game Performance ImprovementsVarious low to mid-level gamethread and rendering improvements have been made to increase FPS.Additional crash detection has been added to help prevent item loss if a crash occurs.Help us help you, if you had a rough time, scope out the discord and leave a message with your hardware specs, we will do what we can!Network Stability ImprovementsFinding and joining games via session browser and friend invites should be much more stable now.Searching for games and quick matching should be faster.Additional tracking has been added for unexpected disconnections to allow us to improve networking in future updates.AI spawning ImprovementsAll scenarios and encounters on all regions have been audited and adjusted to mitigate and hopefully completely remove:Seeing enemies spawn right in front of you out of thin airHaving enemies spawn right on top of you or out of viewNew Region: Stairway to HeavenA new region has been added to explore and complete quests inNight Mode for Frozen Swamp RegionThe Frozen Swamp now has a night / horror mode that you may find yourself thrown into when you visit if the conditions are rightLooting ImprovementsThere are now HUD elements on screen indicating what object you will interact with / open / pick up and if you are close enough to do so.It is now much easier to aim at and select the specific item you wish to pick up or open on the ground when there is a clutter of items in a pile or nearby.There are options in the option menu to adjust this HUD feedback for more or less info depending on your tastes.AI Melee ImprovementsThe system for how AI performs melee has been overhauled and made much more data driven.The Orga has been improved using this system as well as Mother courage. Both these units will have additional surprises.Additional QuestsAdded quests that can be accomplished in both the new and existing regionsFaction Status AdjustmentsPlayer damage to different factions will have a more deleterious effect on the faction relationship (i.e. it will go down quicker)Quest faction influence has been adjusted per quest (completing quests will adjust the faction scores more or less depending on the quest)Vendor faction thresholds have been adjusted so its more challenging and rewarding to gain and maintain maximum faction rating (i.e. its more challenging to get the vendors to sell you the good stuff)