The Beach Brawl Update is OUT NOW!

The Beach Brawl Update is here! Free to all owners of the game, this update brings the fearsome shore crab and sand lizard - two huge creatures for the beach environments. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us test out this update in the last few weeks - you're all legends.

It also includes Causeway, a new custom game map, and Chowder - an extra level based on it. As well as a multitude of fixes and optimisations, this update also brings a completely overhauled user interface and greatly improved controller support for those who like to use a gamepad or handheld device.

Check out the trailer, then see below for the full patch notes.

Headline Features - Beach Brawl Update

• Causeway: a new beach-themed custom game map for skirmish & freeplay supporting up to 6 colonies!

• Two new critters to inhabit it, plus variations!

  • European shore crab (Carcinus maenas)

  • Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)

• New extra level based on Causeway - Chowder!

  • The causeway is home to many crabs, and in particular one very large individual. Build up your forces to take down the huge shore crab before burrowing crabs at night overwhelm your nest!

UI Overhaul

• Complete redesign of user interface across the game

• All menus reworked & reorganised with a new styling

• Reworked campaign mission launcher is now descending rather than ascending,

• Icons redesigned with improved resolution

• Radial menu added with controllers in mind

• Improved visibility and readability should help with handhelds & TVs

Additions & Changes

• Added savannah uber creatures:

  • Uber giant centipede

  • Uber alligatorback scorpion

  • Uber rainbow lizard

  • Uber huntsman spider

  • Uber sun spider

• Updated artwork and / or animations for the following creatures:

  • American bullfrog

  • Whip spider

  • Eastern newt juvenile

  • Emperor scorpion

  • Alligatorback scorpion

  • Spiny devil bush cricket

  • Checkered beetle

  • Great blue skimmer (wings)

  • Dragantula (wings)

• Huge creatures can now be enabled or disabled in custom game setup to control what spawns at their landmarks

• New creatures added to Battle Arena

• Added military-style rank stripes in Battle Arena spawner to show creature size

• Added a walk animation to the great blue skimmer (for Battle Arena purposes)

• Added team stripes to colony creatures that were missing them

• Driver ant workers can now be added to custom colonies

• Updated victory & defeat dioramas for colonies with updated artwork

• Updated water plane material for a more controllable look

• Fixes to leafcuttter minor tile appearance

• Overhauled the way dithering works for foliage / terrain visibility dissolve

• Tiles marked for excavation now use a pulsing colour

  • The striped pattern can be restored from the “Other” section of the settings menu

• Changes to custom game launching to configure up to 6 colonies on supported maps (only the new Causeway supports this thus far)

• Added hotkeys to jump to colonies 5 & 6 (currently relevant only in Causeway)

• Termites from landmarks will now spoil on death

• Icons for the DLCs added to the main menu

• UI now scales to 115% by default on the Steam Deck

• Text size increased in several places for readability

• Changes to the spline creature system to accommodate new & updated artwork

• Added option for gamepad with trackpad to support controllers which have a trackpad attached

• Added an option for displaying advanded tile information

  • Defaults to off

  • Causes numbers from contributing tiles to be hidden by default

• Added an option to unlock the camera from 90 degree rotational increments

  • If enabled, the camera will be free-rotating and can be returned to default with another bindable button

• Team colours for colony creatures can now be toggled on or off from the menu

  • Find it in Menu > Settings > Other

• Fixed large underground creatures destroying tiles at the edge of the play area

• Woodworm, woodlouse & earwig nymphs now spawn much less frequently in custom games

• Queens in 1.x levels are now immune for the duration of victory sequences

• Added a confirmation to make sure you actually want to restart a level

• Main menu now has a brief camera animation on load & a button press to begin

• Demo level Surrounded now has difficulty options

• Larry

Fixes & Optimisations

• Significant optimisations to textures & materials across the game

• Ensured the newer sapling models appear on freeplay maps & landmarks

• Fixed cursor drift when using keyboard to move the camera

• Fixed small plant vegetation dissolve

• Driver ant soldier ability now mentions movement speed increase

• "The Savannah" title now displays correctly on its loading screen

• Lignocellulise info will no longer display on storage tile tooltip if using exploding termites

• Vacuum in The Real FInal Experiment now uses newer ant models

• Fixed termite colonies spawning with closed-off chambers in custom games

• Fixed 2.2's Within Reach achievement spamming failure notices

• Fixed a particularly stretched texture to the west of 3.1 The Harvest

• Fixed termites not leaving their nest in Drive Them Back (custom game version)

• Fixed colony termites not despawning if killed by environmental creatures

• Fixed Separation of Duties achievement being triggered by enemy colonies

• Fixed creatures that are trying to despawn themselves getting stuck in nest exits

• Fixed the scientist's hand staying visible after the third gateway mission

• Fixed leafcutter plants reverting to older models on load in custom games

• Fixed a subtitle being attributed to the wrong character in 5.1

• Various spelling & grammar corrections

• Numerous other small fixes