Shooter's done being a tech demo. This week it became an RPG that happens to be made of explosions.
Armor with a face. Three slots - head, torso, legs - across six sets, from the free SCRAP RIG to the endgame INFERNO. Pieces give percentage defense, attack, and speed; wearing a full matching set adds +10% to everything. And it all shows: torso plates recolor your bro, set trim glows across the chest, head pieces range from an open combat visor to a fully sealed helm with a glowing slit. The Juggernaut set makes you slower and you can tell just by looking at the silhouette. That's the bar.
Character levels. Kills pay XP scaled by how dangerous the unit was and how deep the wave is. Levels raise your base health and gate the equipment list - the quad-barrel rotary rifle is a level 6 purchase, the planet-cracker rocket is level 10. The Armory shows REQ LV right on the card so you always know what you're grinding toward.
Smartillery. One consumable type equipped per drop, triggered with its own button mid-fight: a Patch Kit that restores 60% health, an Overdrive stim (+60% damage for ten loud seconds), and the Frag Nuke, which is exactly what it sounds like and leaves exactly the crater you'd hope.
Economy note: perfect waves - clearing without taking a hit - now stack a +5% Boomite bonus, up to +50%. Greed and discipline, finally married.
One more systems week to go (gun mastery, planet gimmicks, long-run structure), and then the whole thing goes under the polish knife.