Game update

0.3.6 — Beacons, Clatter & Honest Hits

Echo Mates Playtest · published 1 Oct 2026, 16:08 UTC

One new piece of kit, a lot of new noise, and a melee rewrite that makes the client's screen the one that counts.

A passive slot item from the shop. Every two seconds it drops a point on the map for the whole crew — with an off-screen arrow — and flashes on the floor in the colour of whoever is carrying it.
It does not spill when you die. It keeps blinking on your body, so the crew can find you in the dark and haul you out. If the body never makes it into the lift, the beacon is gone with it.
Stowed, it rides on the back of your belt where everyone can see it; thrown away, it keeps blinking on its own in the colour of whoever ditched it.
The flash is light only — creatures do not hear it, it does not heat the floor, and it does not open up the map like a real wave does.

Every piece of equipment now clatters when it hits the ground, with its own material — a wrench, a plate, a plastic casing and a jingling keyring all land differently — and throws a reveal wave like any other impact.
Which means dropping your kit is now a real mistake: it is heard, and it lights you up. Fumbling a tool in a corridor used to be completely silent.

The whole roster is now judged by the striker's screen. A client's swing claims the creature its own swipe actually crossed — the one drawn in front of them — and the flinch and the impact sound play on the frame of contact instead of waiting for the server. Damage, AI and death stay server-side; the host plays exactly as before.
Grabs now favour the defender. A creature's lunge at a remote player is measured against their fresher position, so you are no longer snatched a step after you were already clear.

Dead players get the map on TAB. The same tablet screen you use alive, laid over the spectator view — seen through the eyes of whoever you are watching, with their arrow and a cross where you died, plus the job progress and the shift timer.
Knocked-out gear comes back properly. Dropped kit no longer waits out a full concussion before returning to your slot — stand up within five metres of it and it is back where it belongs.
Acid now visibly sticks to creatures. A lab grenade or a smashed flask leaves a stain on the body, and it keeps burning after the splash.

PA horns. They were tilting up into the ceiling and the voice came out of the nearest horn even when that horn was behind a wall. The horns use a proper loudspeaker model now, hang correctly on their brackets, and the voice is routed along the sound's actual path — a horn behind a closed door sounds like it is behind a closed door.
Placing items as a client. Pressing E while moving could drop the item into your feet and have it pop back up off the floor; placement now uses where you actually stand and where you are actually looking.
The haul job turned up almost never past depth 1. The job pool was pulling it out after the first floor and never putting it back, so most of a run went without it.

Other announcements

Game update

Echo Mates Playtest · published 1 Oct 2026, 16:08 UTC

One new piece of kit, a lot of new noise, and a melee rewrite that makes the client's screen the one that counts.

A passive slot item from the shop. Every two seconds it drops a point on the map for the whole crew — with an off-screen arrow — and flashes on the floor in the colour of whoever is carrying it.
It does not spill when you die. It keeps blinking on your body, so the crew can find you in the dark and haul you out. If the body never makes it into the lift, the beacon is gone with it.
Stowed, it rides on the back of your belt where everyone can see it; thrown away, it keeps blinking on its own in the colour of whoever ditched it.
The flash is light only — creatures do not hear it, it does not heat the floor, and it does not open up the map like a real wave does.

Every piece of equipment now clatters when it hits the ground, with its own material — a wrench, a plate, a plastic casing and a jingling keyring all land differently — and throws a reveal wave like any other impact.
Which means dropping your kit is now a real mistake: it is heard, and it lights you up. Fumbling a tool in a corridor used to be completely silent.

The whole roster is now judged by the striker's screen. A client's swing claims the creature its own swipe actually crossed — the one drawn in front of them — and the flinch and the impact sound play on the frame of contact instead of waiting for the server. Damage, AI and death stay server-side; the host plays exactly as before.
Grabs now favour the defender. A creature's lunge at a remote player is measured against their fresher position, so you are no longer snatched a step after you were already clear.

Dead players get the map on TAB. The same tablet screen you use alive, laid over the spectator view — seen through the eyes of whoever you are watching, with their arrow and a cross where you died, plus the job progress and the shift timer.
Knocked-out gear comes back properly. Dropped kit no longer waits out a full concussion before returning to your slot — stand up within five metres of it and it is back where it belongs.
Acid now visibly sticks to creatures. A lab grenade or a smashed flask leaves a stain on the body, and it keeps burning after the splash.

PA horns. They were tilting up into the ceiling and the voice came out of the nearest horn even when that horn was behind a wall. The horns use a proper loudspeaker model now, hang correctly on their brackets, and the voice is routed along the sound's actual path — a horn behind a closed door sounds like it is behind a closed door.
Placing items as a client. Pressing E while moving could drop the item into your feet and have it pop back up off the floor; placement now uses where you actually stand and where you are actually looking.
The haul job turned up almost never past depth 1. The job pool was pulling it out after the first floor and never putting it back, so most of a run went without it.