Team17 and Small Impact have announced the Marauders Excavation update, a major content patch for the multiplayer shooter. Set to land next week, Excavation will bring a new raid to tackle, as well as a brand new raid boss, changes to healing, and lots more.
Excavation serves as the third major content update for Marauders since it launched in Early Access, following on from April's United Allies update. The biggest new addition in this update is the Mining Frigate raid, in which you'll descend into the depths of an industrial mining vessel and a set of hollowed-out asteroid caves in search of loot.
There's also a new raid boss to tackle in the form of The Warden, whom you'll be able to battle in the Penal Colony raid (as you might expect). The Warden comes complete with personal bodyguards and plenty of gear to loot, as well as the highest-tier armor in the game, the Warden Riot Helmet. Of course, he won't be a pushover to take down, so you'll need to bring your A game.
Small Impact says that starting with Excavation, Marauders will be moving away from what the studio calls a "movement shooter", taking a more hardcore and tactical direction instead. Changes therefore include a "more hardcore" healing system, as well as a new bleeding effect, caused primarily by shotguns and dart weapons. More balance changes in this spirit will be coming in later updates, so watch out for those.
Unfortunately, this update doesn't contain the long-awaited Solo Queue system. Small Impact says it's delayed that feature in order to establish "a more robust matchmaker". However, once the studio is "happier with matchmaking overall", it's still intending to introduce a solo queue option, so you'll just have to wait a little bit longer for that.
The Marauders Excavation update launches next week on July 4th (and what better way to celebrate Independence Day?). You can read more about the update here, and you can grab the game right now on Steam, where it's currently in Early Access. Make sure to take a look at our Marauders guides to set you on the right path in this brutal looter-shooter.
