What is perhaps one of the funniest games of all time has got an update for us. I had reviewed Gang Beasts a little over four years ago, and to this day, the game is still getting updated, and I still get a good chuckle out of it.

This update packs quite a punch in terms of new content and bug fixes, and it’s free. Most notably, a new stage has been added; an aquarium that has a deadly octopus residing in the pool in the center:

Be careful once those tentacles come out! They’ll pull your character right into the watery depths below if it gets too close.

The engine has been upgraded from Unity 2017 to Unity 2020. Some of the benefits that come from this upgrade include:

• Bloom effects are now working
• Some of the in-game physics have been updated as a result of the upgrade, and have brought a small performance/stability boost
• The physics objects in each stage are now ‘interpolated’; it should “reduce an appearance of lag locally and online”

The patch notes explain that though this is a significant upgrade and several bugs have been fixed, some bugs may still remain. Based on the brief time I tested this update, I haven’t really encountered any in-game issues.

The splash and loading screens have been updated; this is a temporary placeholder until the UI gets an overhaul:

Some elements in the game have been completely restructured. For instance, buoyancy has been overhauled to “perform significantly better on all systems and allows us to do multiple types of liquid (such as meat paste).” The way glass gets fractured should also yield a performance boost.

New costumes have been added to the already massive amount. The “Yogscast Charity Drive 2015 DLC” has been added to the game as a default option. The patch notes explain:

We found far too many people trying to exploit our users on grey markets by trying to charge exorbitant amounts of money for legacy codes. Since the DLC has achieved its purpose of raising money for charity and it has been several years since its release we figured this was the best way to protect our players.

Additionally, 8 “Supers” costumes have been added, giving a total of 24 new parts to try on.

All stages have re-baked lighting; they look more visually appealing:

Each individual stage received their own fixes and tweaks as well; far too many to list here. But just for example, on the Ring stage, it was brightened up a bit, and the height of the ropes have been adjusted to make it a bit easier to throw opponents out of the ring.

Character physics also got a long list of updates. These include “increased punch velocity for close targets”, the ability for the character to swim for a short period of time before they sink, and stamina being consumed while grabbing, even if the character’s feet are touching the floor.

Audio received improvements. Engine noises have been added to the Train stage and the Trucks stage. Audio cues have been added to indicate an oncoming traffic sign or an oncoming train. The developers also mention, “Added a new way we manage audio to improve the consistency of sounds across the game.” Finally, the audio has been changed “to use the new systems and [the developers] did a pass on every sound in the game to be better balanced and more pleasing to the ear.”

Online multiplayer had several issues fixed. Boxes on the Incinerator stage are now properly rendered. Vehicles on the Trucks stage should be moving correctly. Optimizations have been incorporated to improve online performance. This, along with many other fixes!

As for the Mac and Linux builds of Gang Beasts, the Mac version now uses the Metal API, which should result in some performance improvements. As for Linux, this version now requires a 64-bit operating system; as of Unity 2019, 32-bit distros are no longer supported. I will also note you will need to rename the executable file (Gang Beasts.x86_64) to Gang Beasts.x86; otherwise, the game won’t launch on Steam. An easy way to get access to the game’s files is by accessing the game’s properties on Steam, going to the “Local Files” tab, and clicking “Browse Local Files…” Game works just lovely on Linux; getting a good 80 FPS or so on the highest graphics settings at 1080p.

This is great news; an awesome game is still getting updates three years after it has left Early Access. Have fun!

Check out the full patch notes here. And if you haven’t bought the game already, you can currently get the game for half-off on Steam until December 14.