Night Falls & The Exiled Predator Arrives in the October Predator: Hunting Grounds Update!

The October update for Predator: Hunting Grounds has arrived! As has become typical of these updates, the PlayStation Blog updated this morning detailing the content drop for the game.

As expected, we have a new Predator. The Exiled Predator DLC Pack is now available.

This month’s paid DLC introduces the Exiled Predator to the universe. It’s unknown when or how this Predator was exiled, but it was clearly able to adapt and hunt undetected in the far reaches of Yautja territory. While avoiding common hunting grounds, this Yautja was able to hunt legendary warriors on chains of the Pacific Islands. The Exiled Predator carefully interpreted and crafted armor from local raw materials out of a deep respect for these warriors. In addition, players will gain access to the Hook weapon, which is an early access weapon skin that will be unlockable to all players by December 2021.

This is likely the Predator known as ‘Tiki’ that was datamined a while back. This Predator comes equipped with a Hook weapon (a variant of the War Club), which is currently in early access for purchasers of the DLC pack and will become available to all players in December.

But that’s not all! Just in time for Halloween, we now have Night Maps in Predator: Hunting Grounds.

Check out what the maps will look like under the cover of darkness:

October’s free update does not disappoint with ways to scare and scare yourself. Night maps have made their way into the game with this update. Get ready for all the jump scares! Night maps present a new way to play the game that has already produced plenty of exciting, very intense hunting experiences during our internal playtests. The Fireteam must now navigate through dark jungles and light-filled camps to complete their missions. To help visibility in the night maps, the Fireteam will be able to toggle Night Vision when needed. The Predator can now use the cover of darkness to stalk their prey, so make sure you don’t get your biomask knocked off by the Fireteam.

Night variants of the maps are a long time request, which we also recommended in our Wishlist editorial piece for the game earlier this year. It’s great to see this finally make it to the game and should add some significant new flavor to the six maps we have already, as well as actually change how a hunt plays out. The Fireteam is equipped with Night Vision which can be toggled, and while the Predator may have extra cover in the dark, losing a biomask will make things harder as well.

We also have three new Predator masks added to the game, Salamander, Mors, and Foxtrot.

Which are actually the masks of Chopper, Celtic, and Falconer respectively. These can be purchased with Veritanium, the in-game currency.

Cleopatra’s Ancient Smart Disc weapon is now unlockable to all players at level 27.

Posted over on the Illfonic forum are the full 2.28 patch notes which are listed below:

Patch Notes 2.28

The following maps are temporarily out of rotation

• Overgrowth (Day)
• Headquarters (Day)/(Night)

Optional Objectives in Night Maps are currently not spawning in properly and will be addressed in the next hotfix patch

Paid DLC

• New playable Predator – Exiled
• Early Access to the new Predator weapon Skin – Hook (War Club)

Free Update

• Max level has now been increased to level 999
  • Players will now receive a predator trophy every 50 levels post level 100.
    • Players who are already level 150 will already have trophies unlocked retroactively.
• Night map variants are now available!
  • The Fireteam must now navigate through dark jungles and light filled camps to complete their missions. To help visibility in the night maps, the Fireteam will be able to toggle Night Vision when needed. The Predator can now use the cover of darkness to stalk their prey, so make sure you don’t get your biomask knocked off by the Fireteam.
• Three new obtainable Predator Masks
  • Salamander
  • Mors
  • Foxtrot
• The Obsidian shader is now available for the Battle Axe and Norse Hammer
• Ancient Disc is now available at level 27

General

• Added Audio feedback when picking Veritanium
• Items on the weapon wheel will now display as a different color when unselectable
• Improved overall input sensitivity for held inputs
• Improved UI in mission briefing lobby
• Grenade icons no longer appear on the mini-map for both Predator and Fireteam
• Fixed several localization issues on Airstrip
• Fixed an issue where a UI element was not visible, using low graphics settings, when selecting to play as Fireteam or Predator
• Fixed an issue where the amount of remaining field lockers was not displaying correctly
• Fixed an issue where your current loadout would incorrectly display your previous loadout setup
• Fixed an issue where an error message was not displaying when sending invites from a crossplay linked account to a non-crossplay linked lobby or party
• Fixed an issue where push to talk, when bound to the mouse buttons, would not function correctly in lobbies
• Fixed an issue in the mission “Smooth Talk” where an objective could be completed through a wall
• Fixed an issue where Guerrilla Mercenaries were not being cleaned up properly after being killed

Fireteam

• General
  • The U.A.V Scanner now has an idle noise when being held in a Fireteam member’s hand
  • Made several improvements to Search Area missions for better player clarity
  • Improved UI to primary objective markers for better player clarity
  • Fireteam gear will now display larger icons on the mini-map
  • Spotting the Smart Disc as the Fireteam will now display the proper icon
  • Added a maximum range to the “Kill” marker that appears when a guerilla NPC goes to pull the alarm
  • Fixed an issue that would reset the “Waiting for Player” countdown when a player would join a lobby and replace a friendly bot
  • Fixed an issue where looking at the countdown timer of an objective,while ADSing, would result in a graphical error
  • Fixed an issue where the Isabelle Steam Exclusive Skin was not displaying properly
  • Fixed several audio issues where long claiming Female Fireteam members would result in an incorrect VO
  • Fixed an issue where two voices would play when long claiming Dante
  • Fixed an issue where the burning sound would never go away after dying by fire in a Clash match
  • Fixed several Zeus VO issues in Headquarters
  • Fixed issue where Dutch’s hair would sometimes disappear
  • Fixed an issue where the exfil ropes would not appear for client-sided Fireteam members
  • Fixed an issue where a Fireteam member may not spawn in the correct location if the player joined the lobby right before the game starts
  • Fixed several Veritanium spawn locations that the Fireteam was unable to interact with
  • Fixed an issue where the Poncho face paint would not appear properly when obtained from a field locker
  • Fixed an issue where UI elements would overlap when picking up O.W.L.F. collectables and Veritanium
  • Fixed an issue where “Inside the Search Area” displayed when Fireteam members were not inside the search area
• Fireteam Bots
  • “Classic Hunt Without Fireteam Bots” Game Mode added to custom Private Matches
  • Fireteam Bots will now chase after the Predator if the Predator is the only player in the match
  • Fireteam Bots will now move out of the player’s way when the player is too close
  • Fireteam Bots will now attempt to avoid or move away from activated explosives
  • Fireteam Bots will now use their gear more frequently
  • Fireteam Bots will now teleport to a player if they get too far away
  • Fireteam Bots are now better at reviving downed Fireteam members
  • Fixed an issue where Fireteam Bots would not mud up correctly
  • Fixed an issue where Fireteam Bots remained perpetually on fire under certain conditions
  • Fixed an issue where reinforcing a Fireteam Bot would result in that bot having double the speed
  • Fixed an issue where, in private match lobbies, bots would be placed into a waiting for player slot even when an actual player was present
  • Fixed an issue where Fireteam Bots did not display correctly in the Mission Planning Screen
• Weapons
  • S-R3D
    • Added SFX for the S-R3D reloading

Predator

• General
  • The Predator is now able to cancel the boar eating animation
  • Made several improvements to Predator melee combat
  • Adjusted UI location for Predator HP
  • Added a hit indicator for the Predator when damaging Fireteam supplies
  • Added several visual improvements to the Predator stamina bar
  • Improved Mission Planning Screen when a Predator Player is joining a lobby
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Predator from equipping the City Hunter Rebreather Mask
    • If the issue persists after patching, try deleting your save data to resolve the problem
  • Fixed an issue where the war paint selection menu was available while equipping the City Hunter Rebreather Mask
  • Fixed an issue where mask shaders were not displayed in the same location across all masks
  • Fixed an issued with war paints not aligning correctly with the Prophet Predator Mask
  • Fixed an issue where the Eclipse and Journeyman Mask were applying War Paint incorrectly
  • Fixed an issue where the Mr. Black Mask did not have the Olive Shader
  • Fixed several Predator Skins not showing up correctly when obtained from a field locker
  • Fixed an issue with the Predator hitmarker not displaying correctly when destroying Fireteam gear

• Weapons
  • Smart Disc
    • Fixed an issue where the Ancient Disc would not properly return control to the Predator Player under certain conditions
  • Handheld Plasma Pistol
    • Added SFX for the Handheld Plasma Pistol reloading
  • Battleaxe
    • Rebalanced several aspects of the Battleaxe
  • Norse Hammer
    • Rebalanced several aspects Norse Hammer
      • Classes
        • Cleopatra
          • Increased run speed
      • Perks
        • Spectral Awareness
          • Text is now properly situated in the Perk box.

Of note, the level cap has been raised from 150 to 999, and players will be awarded a Predator trophy cosmetic item with each 50 level increase past level 100.

While a new roadmap has yet to be announced, we can’t help notice a big red arrow added to the end of this one, which is easy to interpret as more to come!

If you’d like to play as the Exiled Predator, you can purchase the DLC pack on the PlayStation Store, Epic Games Store, and Steam.

Be sure to keep your targets set on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for all the latest Predator: Hunting Grounds news! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. Be sure to join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums as well!

---