Squad Busters to overhaul victory conditions, progression systems and remove many modes in tomorrow’s update

Supercell’s Squad Busters is receiving a major update tomorrow, May 13th, with revamped mechanics and progression, including some new features while others are being removed.

As per an update video, Squad Busters’ next big update will overhaul victory conditions with players now required to defeat a Hero character leading a squad, as opposed to beating the full squad.

These Heroes also each have a unique ability, such as Barbarian King’s close-combat Mega Punch and Archer Queen’s long-range arrows.

Players will still expand their squads via in-game chests each round, but those squads will soon be able to deal damage while moving, unlike current gameplay where they must stand still to attack.

Out with the old, in with the new

Supercell is removing a number of modes in the new update, including Doppelgangers, Double Trouble, Epic Overload, Loot Machines, Hatchling Herder and more.

Some older progression systems are also being rebalanced and certain skins are being removed, so players who had invested in now-changed features are expected to receive items and Hero Points as compensation.

The need for compensation is arguably symptomatic of Squad Busters having only spent one month in soft launch, setting a different expectation for features present in the global version now being overhauled or removed.

Many past Supercell titles spent much longer in the soft launch phase refining mechanics, but Squad Busters appeared to have "good early metrics", hence its fast global rollout.

It has ultimately been a much smaller success by Supercell standards, far from a global mega-hit like Clash of Clans or Brawl Stars.

The overhauls are coming just weeks ahead of Squad Buster’s first anniversary on May 29th, which will mark one year since the party game’s global release. Daily piñata events are due to start ahead of this date in celebration, with each having a chance of containing a new unlockable Hero, Mortis.

Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen recently noted that it has become "very hard to break through with a new game".