Barotrauma Unto the Breach Update: PvP Rework, Ruins, Husks, and Outposts

Barotrauma: Unto the Breach is a large update aimed at making Europa feel more dangerous, varied, and better suited for both co-op crews and PvP groups. The headline feature is a rebuilt PvP mode, but the patch also touches alien ruins, husks, outposts, items, AI, performance, and plenty of smaller systems.

Unto the Breach Release Date

The update was expected during the week following the developers' October 18 Steam update. It went live on October 22, after the Blood in the Water update that released on April 4, 2024.

PvP Gets Rebuilt

Unto the Breach gives Barotrauma PvP a much larger overhaul than a balance tweak. Two new mission types arrive with the patch: Outpost Deathmatch and King of the Hull.

Outpost Deathmatch is focused on hunting the opposing team and reaching a kill score. King of the Hull instead asks teams to capture and hold a beacon station to earn points. Both modes are built to make PvP feel more structured and less like a submarine safety training video gone horribly wrong.

Sub vs. Sub also receives important improvements. Teams can pick their submarine, enemy submarine positions are shown, and map sizes are reduced to keep fights from spreading too far apart. Boarding has more options as well, including boarding pods and new harpoon ammunition.

A perk point system has also been added for upgrades, talent points, and items. Stun weapons were rebalanced for PvP and other modes so they fit the new combat pacing better.

Alien Ruins and Husk Changes

Alien ruins receive new visuals, modules, puzzles, traps, and events. Their walls and doors are tougher to break through, making exploration more deliberate. Sometimes that means solving the problem intelligently. Sometimes it means bringing enough firepower to make the wall reconsider its career.

The gene system has been rebalanced and expanded, giving genetic materials more uses. Dementonite is also introduced as a new mysterious material tied to the update's biology-focused changes.

Husks receive new variants, including the Husk Prowler, Husk Chimera, and Exosuit Husk. The patch also includes fixes and improvements for husks and other monsters.

New Outpost Modules

Outposts gain 36 new modules based partly on community suggestions. Examples include a bathhouse, nightclub, and new storage areas. These additions make stations less repetitive and give campaigns more environmental variety between stops.

Storage modules also come with new related events. Outpost generation has been adjusted through module probability, which changes how frequently different rooms appear and how large layouts can become. Modders can use the same feature when building custom outposts.

Other Fixes and Improvements

The update includes many smaller fixes beyond the major content additions. Medic AI receives notable improvements, performance has been optimized, and saves can now be loaded from backup slots.

Other changes include fixes for mission equality check errors, logbook spawn problems in wreck missions, adjustments to the audio low pass filter, new components for advanced circuit builders, and one-handed riot shields.

All images in this post are from Barotrauma's official website.