Hey everyone! Here with another major update! This update lays out the foundation for BET to grow throughout early access. Raising the quality bar and hardening our systems for the development road ahead.
In order to better highlight our new features, we've moved it to an external website where you all can let us know which improvements you like the most and which ones missed the mark. (If you just want to see the detailed change log, see the bottom of this page)
Version 12 New Features
We are so excited about the future of BET and have put together a roadmap for all of you to see where we are headed. Don't forget to vote for your favorite cards in the roadmap via the voting feature. Backrooms: Escape Together Roadmap
We are almost always working on new content, levels, gamemodes, and features not seen in these betas. The team's effort is split 50/50 on polishing versus making new levels. I know our pace of new content has been slow, but all I ask is you bear with us as we grow the team to get levels out at an acceptable pace. We see BET as a multi-year long project stretching far into the future (see the roadmap!), growing our total levels exponentially as the team scales. We are avoiding dumping a bunch of levels out just to say BET has X amount. We want to make sure every new level is better than the last, and that the old levels are updated to meet the new quality bar. Our mission is for BET to be a photorealistic backrooms simulator that provides an exceptional player experience.
Without them, this update and future plans would not be possible:
Blake
Declan
Ethan
Jarod
Kareem
Kyle
Mourad
Engine, Performance & Stability
Upgraded to Unreal Engine 5.6 (large graphics & performance uplift).
Improved visual fidelity via higher-precision High-Quality GBuffer normals.
Global performance gains across all levels (5-20%).
Significantly reduced VRAM usage at all presets (especially Low).
Numerous crash fixes (including multiplayer-related); ~90% of game-code crashes fixed vs v0.11.
Various performance & visual tweaks to props; extra performance improvements on Levels 1, 3, and 37.
Optimized enhanced raytracing by up to 80% on some hardware!
Graphics & Rendering
Enhanced Raytracing enabled by default (when supported) with no performance drop.
Added DLSS Ray Reconstruction.
Added DLSS Frame Generation with 3× and 4× multipliers; Frame Gen enabled by default.
Fixed various graphical issues; camera clipping with water (Level 37) fixed.
Small tweaks in Graphics Settings UI.
Fixed blurry graffiti.
Multiplayer
Improved voice chat quality
Spectators can now talk to each other when dead
Laid the ground work to allow us to ship on any platform with cross-play support.
Disconnect reasons are now shown if you experience an unexpected disconnect from the host
Added voice chat in the menu when joined to a lobby
Microphone speaking indicators are now shown for you and other players
Added the ability to:
Kick players
Mute players
Block players
Report players
View a players Steam profile
Player, Movement & Interaction
Added equippable Party Hat
Made Camera equippable
Overhauled interaction detection
Increased max interaction distance
Adjusted jump height based on movement speed
Polished jump animations.
Added sound when landing.
Increased look-back amount; free look/look back now smoothly resets when Alt is released.
Players can prolong death when downed via sanity items.
Liquid Pain now instantly kills; Increased Liquid Pain spawning across all levels.
Endurance consumables now instantly restore stamina.
Reduced tired effect duration.
Added subtle “out of stamina” feedback while tired.
Fixed issue where jumping could close the interact menu.
UI/UX & Controls
Overhauled Biometrics view
Objectives now display as a tooltip at level start.
Added Extras tab.
Updated Main Menu UI.
Full UI controller support; improved PlayStation controller support.
Added settings option for controller vibration.
Added on-screen keyboard when selecting text (Steam Deck/Big Picture).
Allow back-arrow button to toggle across all Settings UI.
Equipment UI: origin equip slot now shows GREEN tile (aligns with inventory behavior).
Fixed movement keys exiting item inspection; controls settings now visually update correctly.
Interact progress bar no longer hidden by keybind.
Fixed being able to select the screen while in inventory on controller.
Fixed loss of input on controller when booting main menu; fixed “B” to close Settings while spectating.
Audio
Greatly improved audio spatialization.
Added wind sounds to camera movement.
Improved button press sounds (Level 4 puzzle).
Fixed footsteps sometimes playing the wrong audio.
Addressed robotic voice artifacts (post level transition & during spectate).
Networking, Social & Voice
Added player mute/unmute, block, profile view, and report tools.
Added voice activity indicators.
Added clearer error messaging after online disconnects, being kicked, etc.
Various fixes for joining lobbies.
Automatically rejoin voice chats after timeouts due to poor connection.
Accessibility & Localization
Made Level 4 and Level 37 color-blind friendly (added symbols).
Updated translations throughout; fixed missing fonts on loading screens for Asian languages.
Addressed missing string table on Level FUN.
Levels
Level 0
Increased bandages; reduced soup in sub-level; added rusty cans in sub-level.
Removed inaccessible cubbies over pitfalls.
Reduced CPU usage, especially during blackout.
Level 1
Added interactable doors; starting door is interactable.
Added staircase sign; exit door trim.
Randomized generator rotation.
Fixed cones clipping into concrete pillars.
Level 2
Removed gum; randomized pipe sounds.
Adjusted sanity drain (initial increase; later lowered).
Fixed spawns in shelves/lockers.
Level 3
Removed generator functionality; reduced hub requirements to progress.
Greatly tweaked sector sizes; reduced hub size; added extra Clump to final sector.
Added interactable doors to hub areas; reduced amount pneumatic door opens.
Added Liquid Pain to Level 3 (then reduced spawns by half).
Reduced ceiling wire hitbox; tweaked Clump awareness & spawn proximity in Sector 1.
Fixed grabbing items through locked boxes/shelves; fixed level connectivity issues causing unbeatable runs.
Greatly optimized when sectors are open.
Increased brightness of lights.
Fixed exceptionally long loading times; other performance fixes.
Level 4
Reworked keypad puzzle to monitor-based puzzle.
Added smoke detectors (may require batteries).
Added interactable doors.
Puzzle/UI tweaks: sticky note restored; monitors monochromatic; brightness & display tweaks.
Fixed monitors not emitting light unless close; fixed office furniture clipping.
Fixed skybox regression.
Button press audio no longer heard across entire map.
Level 6
Added garage theme to starting sector.
Starting/first-sector buttons scale with player count.
Entity now actively hunts & kills players.
Replaced wires with blue tape in starting sector.
Ensure players always spawn facing forward.
Difficulty tweaks.
Fixed objectives tooltip not displaying for clients.
Fixed dead-end generation causing unbeatable layouts.
Level 37
Added slides; added supports and made slides double-sided.
Reduced puzzle green intensity.
Fixed slide supports sometimes not spawning.
Fixed camera/water clipping.
Level FUN
Added SmallLand Warehouse theme;
Starting area now leads directly to warehouse.
Doors now wait until ticket counter opens; ticket counter slows as it nears 1500.
Added interactable party hats; small environmental improvements.
Overhauled many assets & textures; generation & speed tweaks.
Lowered max size of minigames by 20%.
Added celebration sounds to ticket counter and ending.
Fixed multiple ticket counter bugs; replaced old tablecloth mesh instance.
Level Run
Added items on blocking tables.
Door-breaking sequence now waits to start until all players have loaded.
Fixed dead-end generation causing unbeatable layouts.
Hub
Fixed ending screen being stuck shown.
Fixed being able to move/look during Hub ending screen.
Loading, Transitions & Menus
Polished loading screen for smoother level transitions
New ETA for shader compilation at startup; fixed shader compilation screen sometimes appearing during gameplay or dismissing too early.
Fixed menu reappearing instantly on controller when holding exit button.
Fixed camera sometimes defaulting to a strange angle when returning to menu in multiplayer.
Equipment & Tools
Added camera controls tooltips; added wind sounds when moving with camera.
Flashlight is now Dimmer, but Has a Longer Range
LiDAR: controls tooltip added, blocked scanning during boot completion, and removed extra text block on controller.
Inventory/UI polish: equipment origin slot color behavior updated; fixed drop panel showing for non-droppable items.
Miscellaneous
Opinion Collector added.
Removed anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety pills from the game.
Added items to blocking tables (Level Run).
Journey time calculation fixed for new saves.
Various small environmental and minor level tweaks across the game.