Screamer’s latest update improves online multiplayer stability and AI balancing

Nearly a month after launch, Screamer has received a new patch that improves online multiplayer stability and AI opponent balancing, while also adding new pause menu tutorials.

Since launch, players have experienced netcode issues in Screamer’s online multiplayer. According to the patch notes, the online racing should offer a “more stable experience” with the update, but lobbies may take longer to show in search results.

In lobbies, the timer countdown before a race starts has also increased to two minutes, giving players more time to join.

In our review, one of our criticisms of Milestone’s anime-inspired arcade racer was the lack of tutorials that explain the complex mechanics, from the dual-stick controls to the attack and defence abilities inspired by classic fighting games. While the opening story missions briefly introduced you to these mechanics, there were no reference guides.

The update addresses this by adding new tutorials, accessible in the pause menu when playing any Arcade game mode. This menu also opens automatically when entering an Arcade game mode for the first time. It’s a welcome addition that should hopefully make Screamer more welcoming for new players.

Elsewhere, the update rebalances the AI so that opponents no longer get a Perfect Boost start in every race. This applies to all game modes and difficulty levels.

Screamer 20^th April update patch notes

New Feature – Pause Menu Tutorials

• When playing in any Arcade game mode, all gameplay mechanics Tutorials can be accessed with a new dedicated button in the Pause Menu. The very first time you enter any Arcade game mode this menu will be opened automatically.

The Tournament

• Fixed various Róisín text dialogues saying ‘fuck’ instead of the Irish slang ‘feck’. This is done to make those lines correctly reflect the spoken dialogue.
• Fixed minor inconsistencies between various spoken and written dialogues.

Cars

• Noboru: raised collision shape of the car to avoid unexpected collisions with the track in certain circumstances.
• Fermi: raised collision shape of the car to avoid unexpected collisions with the track in certain circumstances.

AI

• Fixed AIs performing a Perfect Boost every time they used a Boost. This fix affects all difficulty levels and all game modes.
• Fixed various performance bugs with the AI Assist option , which caused its performance to be lower than intended.

Online

• In order to improve the online experience, we’re doing changes to how matchmaking operates. Searching for a lobby might take longer, but the resulting race should offer a more stable experience.
• Increased lobby timer before a race to 2 minute. This allows for more people to join a lobby before the match starts.
• Fixed the issue where, during Matchmaking, the game wasn’t progressing to the Lobby screen after a match was found.
• Fixed a bug where performing certain actions with Mr. A and then exploding would cause him respawn on the track slower than intended.
• Fixed various bug that could cause unintended behaviors when joining a Lobby while in a Party.
• Fixed players distances not being present in the leaderboard during races.

Checkpoints

• Fixed Checkpoint Drones having collisions on all Tracks.
• Tracks
• Fixed invisible collisions in the Steel Bowels track that, in extreme cases, could impact cars handling.
• Fixed the rain sound being played in the Misty Hills track.

PS Only

• HUD sound effects now use the DualSense speaker.

PC Only

• Fixed the game not starting correctly when Serbian is set as the system language.

General

• Fixed the Boost HUD sound not stopping if the Boost HUD disappeared immediately after being triggered.
• Changed the description of the Hunter achievement/trophy to make the objective clearer.
• Fixed some cutscenes using UK English subtitles instead of US Subtitles when setting US English as the chosen language in the Options.
• Numerous other bug fixes and improvements.