If you’ve been in a rut looking for FPS games that feel like the ‘good old days,’ Selaco needs to be on your radar, and it just got a whole lot bigger. Drawing inspiration from some of the best of the genre, developer Altered Orbit has built a brilliant base that combines the smart level design of Half-Life 2 with the viciousness of FEAR and the high-octane combat of Doom. It’s earned itself a 93%-positive user rating since it first hit early access in 2024, and now the studio has just delivered a massive update expanding its campaign, all while introducing a wealth of extra systems and some fresh tools of destruction.
New Selaco expansion The Machines of War is the “biggest content drop” since the boomer shooter first landed on Steam. Its campaign picks up from where Chapter One finished, introducing a total of 19 maps that round out to an estimated “six to eight hours” of gameplay. Alongside that, the existing levels have all been polished and improved to integrate some of the other additions in this update, including revamped item progression, refined enemy encounters, more set pieces, additional dialogue, and “many other surprises” to discover.
During some of the new missions, protagonist Dawn will be joined by a computer-controlled companion, who you’ll be able to order about or instruct to take their own actions. Once you finish the game, you’ll be able to bring an ally along permanently with the new mutator system, which is a series of gameplay modifiers that you’ll unlock as you complete specific tasks. These include the ability to add more random enemy encounters, hide prompts and pop-ups for more immersion, or even cut out the story beats to focus on the action.
If you want to ramp up or customize the level of challenge, Altered Orbit has a mutator for you. ‘Safety First’ makes most enemies drop armor shards, but with incoming damage much more vicious if you run out of protection. ‘Attrition’ causes your max health to slowly deplete if you take too many hits. ‘Maranax Projectiles’ turns all enemy attacks into near-hitscan speed; “This is the most punishing mutator we have so far,” the team notes. If that’s too scary, go the other way and use ‘Loaded’ for all weapons, ‘Demigod’ to never die, or ‘Railgun Start’ to, well, start with a Railgun.
One of the most divisive aspects of Selaco has been finding your way through the environments. Altered Orbit has previously been insistent on its hands-off approach, but says “the beauty of early access is it helps you understand your own game better and course-correct where needed.” As a middle ground, there are now goal markers to show you the destination, while still trusting you to find your way there, and any important progression point will be marked on the map if you walk near them. “Accidentally missing a switch is never fun.”
On the weapon side, you’ll find three new primaries: the Heavy Machine Gun, Charge Rifle, and Remote Bombs. Heavy-Ordnance tools have been added, including a Minigun, Rocket Launcher, and “a super-powerful secret one.” The UC-11 Compact is reworked and now operates as an SMG, meaning it uses separate ammo from the UC-36 Assault Rifle and is much more accurate, but with reduced damage over longer distances. Alongside this, all weapon kits have been touched up alongside extra upgrades and plenty of rebalancing, but don’t panic, because “the Shotgun remains as powerful as ever.”
Equipment has also been reworked, and you’re now able to carry just two at a time, raising to three when you find a Grenade Bandolier. There are some new tools to watch out for: the placeable LS-03 Vanguard Shield, a deployable Mini-Turret that attacks enemies in range, a Sentinel Drone that follows you, and a Shock Stick. You’ll also find Heavy-Ordnance Cases that provide the new weapon type, with the ability as you progress to specify which one you want through the use of weapon kits.
Enemy AI has been “rewritten from scratch” and now utilizes what Altered Orbit calls its “Thinker System,” placing more emphasis on smart decision-making. This gives your foes a proper field of view, patrol routes, and the ability for them to rally their allies to follow them. The team says its improved pathfinding should result in “much more natural movement comparable to FEAR, which we unapologetically take a lot of inspiration from.” Of course, you can also expect multiple new opponents, along with reworks to some older faces.
There’s still much more in the full patch notes, including a whole load of immersion-boosting improvements, performance increases, quality-of-life features, and an update to the level editor. Alongside all of that, a rework to the lighting system should make the game both look better and run smoother. In fact, this technical work is such a notable step forward that the developer is planning to share it with the GZDoom and UZDoom communities to help map creators and modders to make use of it.
Selaco: The Machines of War is out now, as a free update for all players. The game is also on sale at a 33% discount until Friday November 27, so you’ll pay just $16.74 / £14.06.Grab it here and sink into some glorious boomer-shooter goodness.
Because this is such a major update, with transformative campaign changes, Altered Orbit warns that old saves won’t carry over. If you’ve already previously finished what was there, you can start at the new stuff. If you haven’t, head to the game’s properties menu from your Steam Library and jump back to the old ‘Chapter One’ build – or simply start from scratch to see all the new additions. As for what’s next, an update to the ‘special campaign’ is currently on the cards for the first quarter of 2027, promising “extra oomph to replayability.”