And if people want to know what exactly changed, they should... go to Steam to read it?

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2008420/view/4248664999220861527
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2008420/view/4248664999224456975

Could have just copy-pasted the whole thing over here:

"The major update is now available

Following the update, we recommend starting a new game to fully enjoy the gameplay improvements and avoid any potential conflict with your previous game save.

Overview of changes
Gameplay improvements
Possibility to lock onto enemies
Improved melee combat
New laser aiming ability
Manuel reloading replaced by an overheat system
New button dedicated to activating the Supernova

Controls improvements
Better control of crouch and run, easier menu navigation
After a GAME OVER, the player will now return to the latest save (the previous respawn system is still an option)
More intense battles: difficulty adjustments and improvements to boss fights
New and improved sound and visual effects
Performance optimization
Various bug fixes
New text languages available: Polish, Czech, Russian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic

DETAILS
General updates
After a GAME OVER, the player is now spawned at the last savepoint instead of instantly respawning in the battle
New and better located savepoints
Improved aiming: New option to add a laser aim. Aim-assist sensitivity has been adjusted
Controls adjustment - Key points:
Manual reloading replaced by an overheat system
Addition of a manual enemy lock-on button
The supernova can now be stored and triggered with a dedicated button
Sprint can be activated with a simple press of the Sprint button
Crouch is now activated with {[Crouch]} while Conrad is not moving
The directional buttons can now be used in menus and inventory
Molecular Analyzer is now automatically triggered when necessary

Melee attack improvements
Overall difficulty balancing - Key points:
Fine-tuning of fight difficulty in certain parts of the game. Implementation of a 3-medkits limit. Users cannot save up infinite medkits

Boss battle improvements (patterns, visual effects)
Cameras and HUD revamp in the final zone
Significant improvements to in-game HUD and menus
Tutorials update: explanations of new game mechanics, better organization of existing helps, clearer guides
Improvements to performance and stability
Various bug fixes: Cameras, Menus, Visuals, Collisions…

Notable fixes in this update
Fixed mini performance freezes on the Tarmac part of New Washington Returns, after descending the stairs
Fixed issue where the Activation & Deactivation of the Flow Analyzer could stop working after the first use of the item
Fixed issue in the Mandragore in which the player could leave the playable area and get stuck in the scenery after using the "jump" function in a corner of the hideout
Jungle: Fixed an autosave that could be triggered on the zipline, causing Conrad to fall into the void each time this save was loaded
Fix of an issue where the Heavy Mod VFX blasted Conrad instead of the enemies
Fix of an issue where Conrad could go and fight in an area out of camera range
The “Deliver packages” mission doesn’t restart anymore when the player reaches Atlantica after finishing it
Fix of an issue where the wrong input was displayed in the Missions panel"

Second crappy release from Microids (first was XIIi remake) where the devs actually choose to stick around and fix the game. Credit where credit is due.

I played Xlli remake after they patched the game. The remake was pretty darn good to me after being patched.

Question is, will this share the same fortune?
I hope it does.

Where is the actual sequel to Flashback called "Fade to Black" from 1995?

I thought it was decent but not great. Played it after the first big patch tho, not the second.

Yeah why IS Fade to Black AWOL? It's a DOSBox game right? Shouldn't be too many technical issues...

Well, I don't think it's a license problem.

Odd, I could have sworn Fade to Black was on GOG, but apparently not then. I did play and finish the CD version a long time ago, but have to admit I don't remember much of it, other than that it had the over the shoulder 3D polygon graphics. A bit like Tomb Raider, a bit...

And by modern sensibilities, the controls are REALLY janky, making the original Resident Evil games (Oh hey there), feel smooth and intuitive to control.

I did play Fade to Black for a bit again a few months ago, and getting the hang of all the controls and weirdness was more jarring than I remember.
But the game was also released on the PS1, and like 40Winx and Tunnel B4, Gog has shown they can release PSX games too. So it might be a case of licensing issues...or maybe the publisher really would rather forget it exists.

dingdingding. this.

i'm curious about that, too.

[edited to add: i mean. it's not a great game. but it's at least part of the sequence. so it'd be great if it was here.]

Yeah I don't recall being overly excited over Fade to Black when playing it. At best it was kinda ok, and of course kinda cool with its 3D graphics, which were not that pretty though.

Tomb Raider, which came one year later, had a much bigger impact on me and did make me very excited over it. It also helped it got 3Dfx Voodoo support too, making it one of the major showcase games for my new Orchid Righteous 3D (3Dfx Voodoo) graphics card. And the gameplay was great too. It was quite a revolutionary game in many levels, or at least so it felt.

I recall visiting some friend's family and he played Tomb Raider with his Playstation, and his mother said something like "Oh my how gorgeous graphics that game has!". I remember thinking to myself, seeing the cleaner and crispier looking PC 3Dfx version would blow her mind, if she felt the inferior looking PSX version was already "gorgeous".

Because "Crisp" and "Clear" are what we associate with 3DFX now ;-)

But yeah, 3DFX was amazing back then, even if what it did was mostly to smudge out the textures and make edges less noticeable.

As to Fade 2 Black. Just like how Flashback had a lot of cool actions you could do compared to most platformers (Still love drawing my gun, stepping off a ledge to land in a crouch, turn around and blast an enemy), F2B also had a lot of actions which went for the cinematic look. From peeking around corners, to sidestepping with your gun held up by your head.
Can't say it didn't try its best.
Biggest sin I believe it did was mostly that the draw distance was atrotious. And there were too many instant deaths (Oops, that enemy you didn't see got close, goop dead. Oh you were wanting to jump over that electrified floor, but misjudged distance of your steps? Too bad, back to last save point)
If someone were to just make a new engine to run it, bigger draw distance, less convoluted controls and maybe quicksave and it might actually be a fun game to revisit.