The new theater is The Crucible Circuit, Full edition only, unlocked after Ember Reach. Your company enters the Grand Crucible as it stands: same pilots, machines, damage, and credits. Eight 1v1 bouts, each opponent heavier than the last. You wager one machine. Win, and you take theirs in the condition you left it. Lose, and that hull is gone, but the pilot stays. If you still have a lighter machine that can fight, you can try the same bout again or withdraw. Nothing forces you to stay in the tournament.
Also in this update:
Battle-map mechs are cleaner and easier to read. Each chassis sits in its own tile, company units have a cyan-teal glow, and hostiles have a red-amber glow. The deployment hangar lists hulls from lightest to heaviest. Community scenario installs work again when the download hides its checksum header. Battle playback, enemy intel, machine condition, withdrawal results, and after-action casualty reporting are clearer.
Posted by the game’s developer or publisher to its Steam community hub and published by Valve through Steam’s public news API. Sifter reproduces it unedited and writes none of it.