Enemies can ragdoll into one another and knock each other down, if the contact was hard enough. And don’t even get me started on the Chainsaw…!
The Rapier has an animation set for light attacks as well, if you’re feeling particularly fancy. Katanas, Odachis, and Ninjatos have a unique animation set once you’ve reached Core 3 skill in Melee. Charge-Up attacks now occur when holding down the attack button in Hand-to-Hand combat. You aren’t invincible while doing it, but it can get you out of trouble in an instant without leaving you on the floor like a traditional dodge. With the Snap-Dodgie skill (formerly listed as Tac-Shuffle), you can tap Space to do a quick dodge to the side. Added melee swooshes! Trails will follow weapons now in a way that is MUCH improved over what we had in the Kickstarter demo. Now, no matter what, your reload will continue where you left off without a problem. Tiny, hard-to-encounter issues would occur when being interrupted during a reload. Testing a new system that doesn’t punish slower computers with slower recoil. Recoil recovery wasn’t game-speed-dependant. NPCs need to know the difference between their standing non-combat orders, and the orders given to them in battle. As we move into Story mode, a more complex system of applying orders to characters is required. Update to Squad mechanics and Squad Orders. Madarang particle was screwed up, and was sharing an effect with the Molotov. Characters won’t turn their entire body to face whatever they’re looking at unless they’re trying to kill it. The first round of character Origins are now active!
Keep your eyes fixed on the screen, because we’re moving into the Beta portion of this game incredibly soon, and Alpha 1.7 is the last major update before that happens! In addition to the significant changes made to the core engine, we’ve added all kinds of new features and fixed some old ones. We’ve worked very, VERY hard these last few months to make sure the game feels better, if not recognizably the same, as it was before these revamps were introduced, and we’re finally confident with what we’ve got. Many new core features have been phased in and are ready for inclusion in Story Mode.
The core code governing characters and their controls (by NPC AI or by player keyboard/mouse input alike) has been scrapped and rewritten nearly from scratch. It’s been MONTHS, but the engine revamps are finally in their live testing phase!
(copy pasted from the official PN 2 website)