As thanks to our many supporters on itch.io, we are making Build 52 (title "Definitive Edition") available early on itch.io. This build is still in the beta branches on Steam and GOG (so technically playable there) but we want to make it available here for anyone that would like to give it a try and help us squash the final bugs!

Here's a quick summary of the new stuff:

• Added a Stealth mechanic to the game . Enemies have a lower visible range to allow for positioning your troops before waking up a pod.
• Any characters on overwatch should take shots at dispersing enemies. 
• Added the Saboteur class. Their primary skill is Sneak Attack which does extra damage if alert level is low. They are fun to play with if stealth is interesting to you.
• You can freely switch between characters and in most cases, the character should have their turns together.
• The encounters on the map now show more details about what type of encounter it may be so you can better plan your route through the area. We also added many new encounter scripts.
• When in Follow Mode, the followers will by default teleport to their location rather than having to walk
• Completely rebuilt the tutorial to better reflect the actual game. It's no longer on rails but you have to finish each room to unlock the next one.
• Very large overhaul to balancing and difficulty.
• The game is much shorter. I thinking you could easily finish the 45 main story objectives in around 10 hrs. This used to be more like 20. The maps are linear (so you have less choices) and a lot smaller (especially in late game) so it takes less time to get to the objective destinations. 
• Stop movement and refund actions if an enemy spotted even if on first ("green") action (previously only on second "orange" action)

Small Items and Polish

• Sub damage gets a new sound effect and animation
• In missions that start in "high alert" the player characters will all get one turn before enemies can go to prevent ambushes
• If there are enemies that are active but hidden, the first one will display in the queue as "Hidden Enemy" 
• Stop movement and refund actions if an enemy spotted even if on first ("green") action (previously only on second "orange" action)
• Damaging a character in Overwatch will cancel the Overwatch
• Character can dodge at most one attack per round
• Enemies have a lower visible range to allow for stealth and positioning before waking a pod
• Mission Difficulty will be set for each map node as you encounter them rather than for the entire map
• Turrets won't appear until hard difficulty on Casual mode
• Turrets will not always spawn in the airlock and will sometimes be in different rooms
• Zone maps are a little bit smaller so it takes less time to get to the objective destinations
• Draw the shortest path to the selected destination on the map and display the amount of fuel you'll need to get there.
• Minimap yellow blips on loot will stay on the map once they are visible to make it easier to get loot or objectives you may have missed 
• Reduced clickable area of active character on HUD
• You can't sell equipped items to the merchant you find on a mission and the merchant UI would sometimes be obscured by the HUD
• 4K resolution was zoomed out way too far and a few general resolution improvements
• First objective loadout and tutorial UI's are simplified
• Rewrote the fog of war to improve performance
• Redid loot container UI and expanded minimap UI 
• Display status effect name and make icon larger on active character 
• DIsplay class names everywhere instead of just icons
• Can skip studio splash screen
• Can hide tutorial popups with setting
• Added controller layouts for PS4 and Xbox One to help (won't work on Windows, sorry!)
• Deadeye visual range reduced but added cover effectiveness as a class stat effect
• Status effects appear as icons over the character's head so it's more clear when they have a status
• Added visual and sound effect for damage and healing

And some of the outstanding bug fixes

• Soft lock if choosing a dead team member to be the point
• Save slot edge cases resulting in objectives not loading when you try to save an unsaved game in a new slot
• Sometimes an inventory item would disappear when you clicked on it
• Enemies wouldn't always use doors
• Enemies occasionally would try to move to the same space as a player character and just walk in place for a few seconds
• Last player was not saying their lines in a cutscene if you had more than 3 characters on the team
• multiple wall tilesets would display on "final" mission for objective
• Bypass module is using up ammo but not doubling damage
• Could get extra characters on a sub by choosing a transport sub, adding characters and then changing to a lower capacity sub
• Weird "bonus actions" you would sometimes get when walking have been fixed
• Health dots on character display in map UI not lit at beginning in standard/casual mode
• Could not defend if using a sniper rifle out of class and had moved
• Boost Aim (or other no action skills) were counting as moves for sniper rifle out of class
• Sometimes smoke or stun grenades would not throw but would be marked as used

There are actually a lot more small improvements in the game that i didn't list so this is not an exhaustive list. 

If you find a bug, please let us know when the in game bug reporting tool (look for the bug icon in the top right with mouse active).

thanks and happy gaming!