Screamer

Welcome back, Screamers!

Over the months, we have continued updating Screamer also following your feedback. We have a new patch available and, considering the important updates included, such as the Single Stick mode, we asked Federico Cardini, Screamer’s Game Director, to show you what’s new.

Hello Screamers! This patch adds a brand-new way to control your cars in any game mode called Single Stick mode: activating it allows you to Steer and Drift using a single stick on the controller. Note that Twin Stick is still the recommended way to enjoy the game at its fullest since the ECHO System has been designed around that, but we understand that the unique Twin Stick controls might feel weird on their first few uses, so we decided to add this new option for players who prefer to start with something more familiar. 

Here are the complete patch notes:

• New Control Mode - Single Stick

• You can now select a new control mode that combines Steer and Drift on a single stick. This can be changed to/from the default Twin Stick from the options menu outside of races.

General

• The gameplay camera you select in a race will now be set as your default camera for the following races.

• Added a new unlock condition for the Tournament Crew characters: you can now unlock them in any game mode after having unlocked all other characters and tracks.

• The Tournament

• Reviewed all dialogues to remove unnecessary suspension lines.

Characters

• Roisin

• Increased SGU speed threshold from 230km/h to 240km/h

• Decreased SGU Sync generation from 2,3 to 2,1

• Decreased Strike exit speed from 255km/h to 245km/h

Keiji

• Increased low-RPM power delivery in every gear

Gregor

• Lowered SGU speed threshold from 237,5km/h to 227,5km/h

Ritsuko

• Decreased torque power when in Overdrive

• Reduced Sync bars from 5 to 4

• Decreased Sync generated from her skill from 2,5 to 2

Announcer

• Style loss on failed Strike reduced from 0,8 to 0,4

• Style loss on collision reduced from 0,33/0,495/1,75/2,45/3,5/4,725 to 0/0/0,5/0,5/1/1

• Lowered SGU speed threshold from 235km/h to 223km/h

Mr. A

• Decreased torque power when in Overdrive

Tracks

• Fixed an invisible collision present just before the shortcut in the Steel Bowel track

Considering the changes made to the characters, the team performed a Leaderboards reset to ensure fair and coherent results

Thank you again for your support; your input is always a source of improvement. See you on the racetrack!

Спорный геймплей на релизе: Уникальная механика управления двумя стиками (Twin Stick), где левый отвечал за руль, а правый — за угол заноса, оказалась слишком сложной для казуальных игроков. Из-за этого «порога входа» и жесткого ИИ многие бросали игру в первую же неделю.

Что изменилось: Новая опция совмещает руление и дрифт на одном левом аналоговом стике, делая управление привычным для фанатов классических аркадных гонок. Изменить схему управления можно в меню настроек игры (Options). Разработчики при этом отмечают, что управление двумя стиками по-прежнему остается рекомендованным для полного погружения в механику ECHO System.

Проблемы с онлайном и продажами: На релизе игра продавалась по полной цене в $60–$70, что многие посчитали завышенным для нишевой аркады. В итоге проект не смог привлечь широкую аудиторию, а активная база игроков на Steam и консолях быстро испарилась.

Хвалят за стиль и смелость: Игроки и критики в восторге от её яркого аниме-киберпанк стиля, крутого саундтрека, отличного звука моторов и смелости разработчиков, которые попытались сделать самобытную боевую аркаду в духе старых хитов PS2.

Пресса: Профильные журналисты встретили игру тепло. На Metacritic у нее крепкие 76 баллов из 100, а пользовательский рейтинг держится в районе 7.4/10.

Сложился классический сценарий «культового провала»: игра получилась качественной, оригинальной и стильной, но коммерчески слабой из-за высокой цены, специфического управления и нехватки контента.

Hello Screamers!

This patch brings with it some important bug fixes and buffs to the characters that are currently under performing in races.

In particular, check out the new Aisha ability! Before, you only had 1 free shield during a race but now the ability recharges, making Aisha much harder to take down. Combined with her innate high speed, this should make her a new contender to the top position in Races and Team Races.

We're also making a change on how the game starts: if you've never played it before, it will now bring you to the Main Menu instead of going straight into the Tournament story mode.

This is because we understand that not everyone might want to play the story and also in-game tutorials are now available from the options menu, so we no longer feel the need to make sure you see the essential ones in the first events of the story mode.

We're also continuing to take action against illegitimate leaderboard times obtained through cheats or other unfair methods.

Following internal investigations, a number of times have been removed, and a warning has been sent to offenders. Players who continue to engage in unfair behavior may face further sanctions.

Thank you for your reports and for helping us keep the competition fair for everyone.

Check out the full patch notes below:

General

• On first boot of the game you'll now be brought to the Main Menu instead of starting The Tournament. This change as also been applied to the Demo Version of the game.

The Tournament

• During races you can now see your set customization for each car.

Characters

Aisha:

• Ability now recharges after 45 seconds, granting her multiple free shields throughout a race

• Reduced the threshold to activate SGU from 282.5km/h to 268 km/h .

Frederic: 

• Increased passive sync generation rate

• Increased active shift generation rate

Fermi:

• Increased maximum entropy by one

Akane:

• Fixed an issue where Akane could activate Strike and the Boost gained from her Skill at the same time

Steering Wheels

• Fixed an issue on some peripherals where force feedback wasn't working properly and couldn't be tweaked from the options menu.

Score Challenge

• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to gain very high scores using the Pause button.