Build 26357621

Gameplay
- Laser hits now slow the rival. Any rival whose head or trail is inside the beam's path is slowed to half speed, exactly like SLOW RIVALS. A red LASER hit lasts 1.5x the SLOW RIVALS duration, a WIDE LASER hit 2.5x. Each shot slows each rival once, no matter how many cells of trail it cuts. Cutting your own trail does not slow you. The syrup-strand effect shows who is slowed.
- SLOW RIVALS now stacks. The slow is tracked per affected player and durations add up: another SLOW RIVALS (or a laser hit) landing on an already-slowed rival extends their remaining time instead of resetting it.
- The slow no longer ends early when the player who grabbed SLOW RIVALS is eliminated; it always runs its full course.
- Speed is still capped at half: stacked slows never go to quarter speed, and braking while slowed stays at half.

Tutorial
- New step 13: SLOW SHOT. Grab the WIDE LASER, hit the rival from behind, then use the slow to overtake it along the right wall and cut it off. It fails if the shot misses, if the slow wears off before the rival is cornered, or if you take the rival down without slowing it first. The step unlocks after clearing step 12.

Online
- The "Online now" player count is now also shown on HOST / JOIN, the JOIN lobby list, CASUAL / RANKED matchmaking and the lobby, not only on the title and START GAME screens. The number is Steam's periodic count and can lag a few minutes behind.

Help
- Item descriptions for SLOW RIVALS, LASER and WIDE LASER now mention the slow on hit and the stacking.

Replays
- Replay format updated to v21. Older replays still play back exactly as recorded, with the previous SLOW RIVALS rules and no laser slow.

Note for online play: all players need 1.1.0 for matches to stay in sync. Steam updates automatically; if a friend is still on an older build, restart Steam to pick up the patch.