PEARS/PEARS 5

PEARS ATTENTION! This changelog contains information about a Patreon Early Acesss Rebalancing Session (PEARS). Not all of these changes will make it into the base game, if any.

PEARS Session 4
Testing Period
23 Apr 2025 to 3 May 2025
Session chronology
Previous Session	Next Session
PEARS 4	N/A
External Links
Original changelogs

Patreon Early Access Rebalancing Session

Session 5 - Early Game Overhaul

Patreon Early Access Rebalancing Sessions (PEARS) are experimental testing sessions offered to Patreon Supporters. PEARS allows for the development team to experiment with concepts in a prototype state without affecting the development cycle of an upcoming update. Feedback gathered from these sessions will help determine whether these ideas are worth pursuing. With that said, features included in a PEARS are not guaranteed to be implemented into the live game.

This document can be freely shared and distributed to the public.

If you’d like to participate in upcoming PEARS sessions alongside other Patreon Supporters and members of Northwood Studios, you can do so by subscribing to the “Research Supervisor” tier on our Patreon via the link below:

Patreon Link

Overview

The early game of SCP:SL has been largely untouched for many years. This PEARS aims to test a radical set of changes to completely overhaul the early game by giving it a more defined structure, overhauling keycard and loot progression, introducing new escape paths, changing the role and position of Guards, reducing reliance on SCP-914, slowing the pace of the early game, increasing the relevancy of and expanding Light Containment, and much more.

By far, this is the largest set of changes introduced in a single PEARS yet and completely shifts how the early game plays. We are excited to see how everyone receives these changes. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask a Game Designer or Patreon Representative. Without further ado, here is the full changelog for PEARS 5.

Starting Situation

The starting situation and position of every class has changed. The presence of militant forces at the start of the round is almost entirely removed, with them coming in later as “Early Militant Waves” (further elaborated upon in its respective section).

• Facility Guards no longer spawn at the beginning of the round.
  • Instead, they (alongside a new class known as the Chaos Insurgency Infiltrator) can spawn as a part of an “Early Militant Wave” later into the round.
• One new Foundation human class, the Containment Officer, spawns in on round start in HCZ.
• The ratio between Foundation humans to Class-D will now be roughly 2:3.
  • In a 25 player round the game should begin with four SCPs, seven Scientists, one Containment Officer, and 13 Class-D.
• SCPs will be ensnared for the first 25 seconds after round start (meaning they cannot move) and are granted Spawn Protected for the same duration.
• SCP-079 will now start the round with zero AP.
• Scientists now only spawn in checkpoints.
• Class-D can now also spawn in a new second cellblock.
• Both of the EZ checkpoints are locked down for the first 7:30 minutes of the round.
  • Multiple switches are located in HCZ to override the lockdown early. These switches require an admin keycard or blowing the door open to unlock.
  • Further details can be found in the “Progression” section.
• Decontamination will now occur at 13:30 minutes (from 11:30 minutes).
• Light Containment’s layouts are now much bigger.

Containment Officer

The Containment Officer is a new Foundation civilian class that spawns at the beginning of the round. It spawns in Heavy Containment and must make its way to Light Containment and meet up with the Scientists to progress. Although it is given a headstart, it must outpace the SCPs to get there in time (or hide until the situation clears).

• Spawns inside SCP-127’s Containment Chamber.
• Aligned with the Foundation.
• Can escape the facility to become an NTF Specialist.
• Spawns with a basic survival kit including a Zone Manager keycard, COM-18, Adrenaline, and Flashbang.
• In the PEARS, this class has an altered Facility Guard model.

Progression

Progression has been entirely overhauled. Keycards have had many of their access tiers and purposes changed, and escaping the facility requires overriding the Entrance Zone lockdown manually or running out the clock. Additionally, SCP-914’s capacity to propel you to the highest level of access has been limited. The goal of these changes is to encourage exploration.

Loot progression has been changed as well, with a further emphasis on early game weaponry for Light and Heavy armories, with Entrance containing new equipment in the form of a special GOC rifle as well as high-tier engineer cards.

Keycard Gameplay Overhaul

Keycards have been overhauled, and are now specialised to certain access tiers. The only “generalist” keycards are militant cards or extremely rare admin cards.

• Civilians will have the choice to specialise in either Armory or Containment tiers, depending on what they find in LCZ.
  • Then, in HCZ, they must search for a valid Administration-tier keycard to override the EZ checkpoint lockdown early, and open gates.
• SCP-914 recipes for keycards have been entirely remade, limiting how far you can progress by exclusively using SCP-914.
  • Further elaboration in SCP-914’s tab.
• The inventory limit for keycards is reduced to two (from three).
• Each card now has subtext in its inventory UI that briefly describes its purpose.
• Below is a table displaying all of the relevant keycards for this test, including access tiers and purpose.
  • A keycard name highlighted in yellow means it is an existing keycard that has changed in some way.
  • A keycard name highlighted in green means it is a new keycard or a keycard that was previously RA-exclusive that has been implemented into the game.
• Names not highlighted remain unchanged.

Containment Cards - Colored Yellow/Orange/Green
Keycard Name	Access Level	Purpose
Scientist	Containment Tier 1	Used to access SCP-914, SCP-330, and new research offices to obtain a Research Supervisor Card.
Research Supervisor	Containment Tier 2 Administration Tier 1	Used for SCP item pedestals and unlocking checkpoints. Also needed for SCP-096’s and SCP-106’s rooms.
Containment Engineer	Containment Tier 3 Administration Tier 1	Used to unlock SCP-127’s pedestal. Spawns in Entrance.
Armory Cards - Colored Purple/Deep Blue
Armorer	Armory Tier 1	Used to unlock LCZ armories to obtain a Quartermaster Card.
Quartermaster	Armory Tier 2 Administration Tier 1	Used for HCZ armories and unlocking checkpoints.
Weapons Engineer	Armory Tier 3 Administration Tier 1	Used to unlock Experimental Weapon lockers. Spawns in Entrance.
Administration Cards
Zone Manager	Administration Tier 1 Containment Tier 1	Used to unlock checkpoints and SCP-914.
Facility Manager	Administration Tier 2 Containment Tier 1	Used to unlock the EZ override switch room and open Gate-A and Gate-B. Several spawn in HCZ locked behind Containment Tier 2 in 096’s room, 106’s room, and Server room.
Site Director	Containment Tier 3 Administration Tier 3	Used to unlock the Alpha Warhead and any SCP pedestals or chambers. (Note: this is the equivalent of the current Facility Manager). Spawns in SCP-079’s Armory.
Generalist Cards
MTF Operative	Armory Tier 3 Containment Tier 2 Administration Tier 2	Used to unlock various things and the Micro-HID. (Note: This means that all NTFs have the same access, like CI do. We felt this would be justified as they only arrive later in the round now, and so they all can get the Micro. It also no longer spawns in the facility.)
MTF Captain	Armory Tier 3 Containment Tier 2 Administration Tier 2	Same as above.
Chaos Insurgency	Armory Tier 3 Containment Tier 2 Administration Tier 2	Same as Operative, but for Chaos Insurgents.
Facility Guard	Armory Tier 1 Containment Tier 1 Administration Tier 1	Unchanged from live.
Infiltrator	Armory Tier 1 Containment Tier 1 Administration Tier 1	Guard card equivalent for Chaos Infiltrators.
O5	Armory Tier 3 Containment Tier 3 Administration Tier 3	Unlocks everything, but harder to obtain via 914 now.
Janitor	None.	Only one spawns now, in 914. Used to be upgraded for anyone that gets in without a card.

Entrance Zone Lockdown

At the beginning of the game, Entrance Zone will be locked down for a long period of time. The lockdown will be overridden automatically as a failsafe, but players are incentivised to try and override it early to allow their escape by flipping switches throughout Heavy Containment. There are two main ways to open the doors leading to the switches: unlocking them via a Facility Manager card if the player is going down the Containment tier path, or blowing them open with Door Breaching Devices if the player is going down the Armory path.

• In Heavy, there are new Lockdown Override offices that require Administration Tier 2 or an explosive to access, containing an EZ Override Switch. Three of these offices spawn per round with one switch per office.
• The HCZ-EZ checkpoints are locked down for the first 7:30 minutes of the round.
  • This timer can be reduced via the Lockdown Override office switches.
    • These can be found in the Lockdown Override offices.
    • Activiating a switch reduces the lockdown timer by 40 seconds.
    • If all three switches are enabled, the lockdown is immediately overridden and lifted.
  • Once overridden or when the automatic timer is up, C.A.S.S.I.E. will make an announcement and the checkpoints will be unlocked.

Door Breaching Devices

A new throwable that is primarily used to break open locked doors (specifically the Lockdown Override offices) quickly. Intended for use in the Armory progression path. They can also be used to help deal with a certain malicious AI that happens to be blocking your way.

• Guaranteed spawns in both HCZ armories (the current T-Armory and the new one).
• For the PEARS test, it appears as a purple HE Grenade.
• It has a very quick fuse, but deals little damage to living targets and has a weak throw.

General Loot Progression & Zone Changes

Each zone now has a defined set of loot within each of them. These come with several new rooms as well as changes to existing ones.

Light Containment Loot

• Low-tier cards such as Scientist and Armorer cards are freely accessible.
• Research Supervisor and Quartermaster cards can be found locked away in new Research Offices and armories respectively.
• COM-15s, Flashbangs, and Light Armor can be found in armories.
• There are ten new important rooms in Light Containment:
  • Two Security Offices that contain Armorer cards.
  • Three Researcher Offices that contain Research Supervisor cards.
  • One new armory. Both armories would contain Quartermaster cards.
  • Two tram room elevators that lead to the new tram sublevel where the early militant waves spawn in.
  • A second Class-D cell block.
  • A new elevator: Elevator-C.
  • New minor miscellaneous rooms spawn with various loot as well.
  • All existing rooms have had their loot spawns tweaked.

Heavy Containment Loot

• Zone Manager and Guard cards are freely accessible.
• Greater quantities and higher tiers of militant gear (COM-18s, FSP-9s, Combat Armor, and Grenades) can be found in armories.
  • A new armory has also been added to HCZ.
• Facility Manager cards can be found in both SCP-096’s and SCP-106’s chamber, replacing the Operative card spawns, alongside one in Server Room.
• Experimental Weapon Lockers spawn as normal.
• The Micro-HID door can no longer be blown open and now also requires Containment Tier 2 to access.
  • This ensures that the Micro can usually only be obtained after a proper militant wave spawns in, relegating it to the mid and late game.
• Each elevator system has a new greybox design to discourage camping.

Entrance Zone Loot

• Three GOC corpses are spread across the zone, each having a chance to come with a new gun: the I-S Stellarator.
  • The I-S Stellarator is a GOC fusion rifle that has high damage, penetration, and accuracy, but high recoil and low fire rate. Intended as a special reward for reaching Entrance.
  • These corpses spawn exclusive Fusion ammo to be used with the rifle.
• Entrance lockers now contain Containment Engineer and Weapons Engineer cards alongside Surface Access Passes.
• A guaranteed Surface Access Pass spawns in a random office room.

Early Militant Waves

Early game militants are militant classes that are less geared than their mid-to-late-game counterparts. Their purpose is to provide civilians who died early another chance to play and escape, take the SCPs’ attention off of the alive civilians, and drive civilians still stuck in LCZ into HCZ, either by force or by escort.

• Each team has an early militant class.
  • For the Foundation, that class is the Facility Guard.
  • For the Insurgency, that class is a new one called the Chaos Insurgency Infiltrator.
• Early militant waves are composed of the respective team’s associated class.
• The initial timer of both early militant waves is four minutes.
  • Like regular militant waves, these timers can be influenced by completing standard objectives.
• Early militant waves spawn in the new LCZ tram sublevel. They spawn inside the tram that is implied to have come from SZ.
• The Foundation early wave is announced via C.A.S.S.I.E., however the Insurgency’s early wave is not as they arrive silently.
  • This serves to bring back the unannounced CI wave in a way that actually fits their role.
• Only one early militant wave can spawn per round.
• After spawning, each normal militant wave have their timers set to four minutes.
  • After a normal militant wave spawns their timers proceed as normal with their default intervals.

Early Militant Classes

• The Guard has the same equipment as now, but spawns with an increased 45x 9x19mm in reserve (from 30x).
• The Chaos Infiltrator spawns with a new gun: the Specter, alongside Light Armor, their own access device, and other equipment.
• Unlike other Chaos Insurgents, Infiltrators do not have unique footsteps, sharing the same footstep sound and audio range as Guards.
• For the PEARS test, the Infiltrators use a kitbash model to distinguish them from other Insurgents.
• Both early militant classes can escape the facility much like civilians can.
  • Unlike civilian escapes, they do not grant any Influence points upon escape.
  • They grant a -5s timer reduction upon escape.
  • The Facility Guard becomes an NTF Specialist upon escaping.
  • The Chaos Infiltrator becomes a CI Conscript upon escaping.
  • They can be detained like civilian classes can.

Specter

• The Specter is a new 9x19mm SMG for Chaos Infiltrators.
• It is equipped with a suppressor attachment by default.
  • Note: It is very quiet.
• It has better damage and penetration than the FSP-9, but lower ammo capacity, worse recoil, and less fire rate.

Miscellaneous Changes

• Chaos Insurgency footstep audio range is decreased to match that of the NTF.
• Light Armor 9x19mm ammo capacity slightly increased to 80 (from 70).
• All humans have their sneak speed increased to 2.3 m/s (roughly 60% of regular walking speed; from 1.6 m/s).
  • Note: Intended to boost civilian survival by allowing them to sneak around quicker.
• Lowered the SCP item inventory limit to two (from three).
• The COM-15 has been slightly nerfed to accommodate for the fact that it is more common and LCZ armory access is easier to acquire.