Swarmlake

Released: Mar 12, 2018
Platforms
Last updated: 16 Sep 2026, 00:52 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

28 Jul 2026Developer post
Swarmlake 4.2
Hi, the definitive, free Swarmlake 4.2 update is out now: Added rival runs : Pick any leaderboard entry as your rival and their run is overlaid directly on your stats chart, curve for curve, so you can see exactly where they pulled ahead. With no rival selected it compares agains
24 Jun 2026Developer post
Swarmlake 4.1
Hi, the free Swarmlake 4.1 update is out now. Where 4.0 rebuilt the game, 4.1 deepens it at both ends: more ways in for new players, and more room to master for everyone else. Added assists : Optional sliders to tune the challenge: game speed, enemy spawn rate, maximum health, an
25 May 2026Developer post
Swarmlake 4.0: Zenith
Hi, the free Swarmlake 4.0: Zenith update is out now. 8 years after release, this is the definitive version of Swarmlake: Added shooting beam: A manual fire mode that charges and fires a concentrated energy beam. Can create corridors through enemies, detonate bombs directly and c
Hi, the free Swarmlake 4.0: Zenith update is out now. 8 years after release, this is the definitive version of Swarmlake:
Added shooting beam: A manual fire mode that charges and fires a concentrated energy beam. Can create corridors through enemies, detonate bombs directly and create an explosion on the floor, opening up new scoring combos and high-skill expression.
Added beam jump: Fire the beam at the ground while jumping to launch yourself upward. Can be cancelled mid-air.
Added variable jump height: Tap for a short hop, hold for a full jump. Opens up more precise vertical control in tight situations.
Added training mode: Structured scenarios that teach the game's core mechanics one at a time. Addresses the most consistent feedback since release that Swarmlake is hard to get into without practice.
Changed enemy steering and prediction behavior: Chasing enemies drift more when the player changes direction rapidly. Charger (yellow) enemies predict circular player motion. Rewards active movement over running in circles.
Added GPU particle system: Explosions now have more density and atmosphere.
Added volumetric lighting: Light shafts pass through the scene dynamically, most visible when looking toward the sky's zenith.
Improved visual clarity: Enemy rim lighting makes dense groups easier to read. Colors are more saturated. Emissives are now transparent. UI panels use a frosted glass backdrop.
Improved shadow quality: Softer, more natural edges.
Improved input precision and responsiveness: Aiming and movement now register more precisely and consistently at any sensitivity or framerate.
Rebuilt on DirectX 12 and 64-bit: A modern graphics API and native 64-bit process, delivers the best frame pacing and performance on Windows.
Improved CPU performance: Approximately 3x improvement across the board through extensive optimizations. Most players will see a noticeable jump in frame rate and smoothness. Startup is also significantly faster.
Rebuilt arena: The floor is now hexagonal tiles, the wall is dynamic hex panels, and ocean waves fill the space beneath.
Improved music-reactive visuals: Light beams, ocean, and the wall now pulses to the beat.
Added floor reactions: The floor responds visually to bomb explosions, beam impacts, and projectile hits.
Added 3D gun HUD: The weapon's status display is now rendered in world space, appearing physically mounted on the gun rather than overlaid on screen.
Improved gamepad controls: Aim assist, a dynamic stick curve for finer small adjustments, and reduced deadzones.
Added gamepad rumble: Explosions, hits, and scoring moments produce physical feedback on controllers.
Improved replay: Includes a gameplay statistics display, player model damage and heal feedback, and replay scrubbing. The game stays in replay after a run ends.
Added localization: The game is now localized into multiple languages.
Improved leaderboard: Names display correctly for all languages including CJK. Right-click any entry to open the Steam profile.
Improved player responsiveness: Direction reversals are snappier, reducing input lag at speed.
Reduced auto fire rate: Power shifted toward the beam. Better fits expectations of when taking damage relative to enemy density.
Added score-gated active bomb cap: Limits how many bombs can be active at once early on, smoothing the difficulty curve.
Increased enemy spawn scaling: Speeds up pacing.
Tweaked bomb spawns to bias toward center with more height variation: Encourages more vertical play.
Removed delayed shard attraction: Encourages more aggressive playstyles.
Reworked achievements: Split into tutorial and score tiers. Score achievements are now higher due to increased maximum score achievable, which should result in similar challenge.
Improved defaults: Defaults to vsync and borderless fullscreen. Skips rendering when minimized.
Added retrying failed replay upload
A beta branch legacy_3.0 is available for players whose hardware does not support 4.0's requirements. In Steam, right-click Swarmlake > Properties > Betas > select legacy_3.0.
Thanks for playing!
- Dominique
Watch on YouTube
Original post
13 Sep 2023Developer post
Swarmlake 3.0
Hi, the free Swarmlake 3.0 Update is out now: Added player health Improves understandability of game overs which was by far the most common complaint since release. In the past the binary nature of one-hit deaths resulted in frustrations as there was no warning possible. Also inc
Hi, the free Swarmlake 3.0 Update is out now:

Added player health
Improves understandability of game overs which was by far the most common complaint since release. In the past the binary nature of one-hit deaths resulted in frustrations as there was no warning possible. Also increases the elasticity of the game challenge. This will affect the gameplay dynamic as it is now possible to intentionally take damage to get to a bomb.

Added bowl-shaped arena wall
Removes the punishing nature of falling off the arena while keeping effectively the same playspace as the recently introduced arena limit. As a reminder having a limited arena reduces the amount of invalid options such as running infinitely backwards/forwards or making too big of circles. Since the game gets harder over time this only ever resulted in slower and more frustrating deaths which were not obvious to understand. It also increases the required decision making and adds more positioning and meaning to space. So overall this improves the depth tree for both beginner and expert players.

Added wall jump
Added bomb detonation healing a fraction of health
Added health bar display
Added player damage audiovisual feedback
Added player top percent display to leaderboard
Added leaderboard rank display
Added settings tab to hide individual HUD elements
Improved enemy jump sign display
Improved shard despawn warning feedback clarity by increasing flicker speed over time
Improved sound effects mix clarity
Improved milestone score visual effect
Improved startup speed
Fixed startup delay if loading showcase failed
Reset leaderboard and settings
Decreased fire rate by 10%
Better fits expectations of when taking damage relative to enemy density. Also increases decision making by having to avoid enemies more and adapting to their patterns. This changes game feel so it might take some time to get used to it.

Increased bomb spawn height variation by 20%
Encourages more vertical play and reduces repetitive single jump strategies.

Increased enemy spawn scaling by 25%
Speeds up pacing and balances out the increased survivability of the player due to adding health.

Unfortunately the leaderboard also had to be reset.
Swarmlake has continuously evolved over time with the goal to make it more fun for more players by always keeping player feedback in mind. I am aware that people dislike change and I am sorry for the frustration this can cause.
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
16 Jun 2023Developer post
Swarmlake 2.14
Hey all, Swarmlake 2.14 is out to improve understandability and depth: Added arena limit Increases the required decision making and adds more positioning and meaning to space. It improves the depth tree for both expert and beginner players. For the latter it reduces the amount of
Hey all, Swarmlake 2.14 is out to improve understandability and depth:

Added arena limit
Increases the required decision making and adds more positioning and meaning to space. It improves the depth tree for both expert and beginner players. For the latter it reduces the amount of invalid options such as running infinitely backwards/forwards or making too big of circles. Since the game gets harder over time this only ever resulted in slower and more frustrating deaths which were not obvious to understand.

Improved enemy spawning to be independent of player look direction
Less punishment and more freedom of where players look. While this increases uncertainty of where enemies spawn there is still no randomness as it is the same sequence for everyone. Especially players now need to adapt more to reach bomb enemies which makes the game more dynamic.

Improved avoider (orange) enemy projectile avoidance to be a bigger threat
Makes this enemy more noticeable and reduces situations where player vision is completely blocked by enemies.

Improved bomb min move height (now can trigger without jumping if pulled down)
Increases discoverability of detonating bombs. If a bomb is not hit by a projectile and therefore possibly pulled down they still require jumping to detonate.

Fixed jumping off of bombs
Fixed showing wrong leaderboard avatar in rare cases
Removed replacing bombs on spawn limit (now pauses spawning at limit)
Encourages more dynamic player movement patterns. In the past players could ignore existing bombs and move in an infinite circle as the farthest bombs would despawn and new ones would keep spawning in front of them.

Removed score-based fire-rate (now always at max rate)
Increases death consistency as it is tightly linked to fire-rate. This also makes the early game easier.

Removed doubled enemy spawn scaling after 10,000 score (now as before 10k)
Reset leaderboard
Please keep in mind that the max highscores will be lower now due to the gameplay changes. Unfortunately the leaderboard also had to be reset.
Congratulations to the top ten players and everyone else who competed the past year:
Swarmlake has continuously evolved over time with the goal to make it more fun for more players. I am aware that people dislike change and I am sorry for the frustration this can cause.
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
25 Aug 2022Developer post
Swarmlake 2.13
Hi, Swarmlake 2.13 is out to improve clarity: Added bomb projectile attract feedback Added death player hitbox pulse Added descriptions to settings and tutorial UI Improved fading out bomb shockwave Improved all UI icons Improved controller support Fixed bomb shockwave model size
Hi, Swarmlake 2.13 is out to improve clarity:

Added bomb projectile attract feedback
Added death player hitbox pulse
Added descriptions to settings and tutorial UI
Improved fading out bomb shockwave
Improved all UI icons
Improved controller support
Fixed bomb shockwave model size
Fixed UI interaction with right mouse button
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
07 Jul 2022Developer post
Swarmlake 2.12
Hi all, Swarmlake 2.12 is out to improve depth: Added bombs moving slightly to player on each projectile hit Added pulling shards vertically up to player on jump Added grace time to enemy jump Added enemy jump sign on UI Improved consistency of attracting shards vertically Improv
Hi all, Swarmlake 2.12 is out to improve depth:

Added bombs moving slightly to player on each projectile hit
Added pulling shards vertically up to player on jump
Added grace time to enemy jump
Added enemy jump sign on UI
Improved consistency of attracting shards vertically
Improved death camera by adding vertical offset
Improved replay compression
Reverted constant bomb movement from last update
Reset leaderboard
Unfortunately the leaderboard had to be reset due to the gameplay changes.
Thank you for your understanding
- Dominique
Original post
23 Jun 2022Developer post
Swarmlake 2.11
Hey, Swarmlake 2.11 is out: Added gun muzzle flash Added slight horizontal bomb movement (reverted) Improved bomb spawn interval consistency Improved visibility of shadowed enemies Improved visual clarity by reducing enemy explosion size Improved floor model Fixed orbit camera gr
Hey, Swarmlake 2.11 is out:

Added gun muzzle flash
~~Added slight horizontal bomb movement~~ (reverted)
Improved bomb spawn interval consistency
Improved visibility of shadowed enemies
Improved visual clarity by reducing enemy explosion size
Improved floor model
Fixed orbit camera ground collision by keeping player centered
Fixed floor springs being able to clip into third person camera
Thank you for your feedback and support
- Dominique
Original post
28 May 2022Developer post
Swarmlake 2.10
Hi, Swarmlake 2.10 is out to improve clarity: Added third-person death camera Added replay orbit camera mode Added 8x replay speed Added showcasing always a top 10 replay at game start Added gun fire rate display to UI Added first bomb movement to improve tutorial Fixed rare visu
Hi, Swarmlake 2.10 is out to improve clarity:

Added third-person death camera
Added replay orbit camera mode
Added 8x replay speed
Added showcasing always a top 10 replay at game start
Added gun fire rate display to UI
Added first bomb movement to improve tutorial
Fixed rare visual bomb spawn glitch
Fixed immediately stopping sound effects on pause
Tweaked visual player model
Tweaked visual enemy explosion sizes
Tweaked visual enemy sizes to better fit their collision sphere
Removed visual sun object
Removed score-based bomb spawn limit
Some of the listed changes were already included in unannounced updates over the past months.
Thank you for your continued feedback
- Dominique
Original post
01 Jan 2022Developer post
Swarmlake 2.9
Hey all, Swarmlake 2.9 is out aiming to improve the game based on recent feedback: Decreased distance of replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player by 40% Decreased time-based enemy spawn scaling by 20% (same as before 2.8) Readded score-based bomb spawn limit (rever
Hey all, Swarmlake 2.9 is out aiming to improve the game based on recent feedback:

Decreased distance of replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player by 40%
Decreased time-based enemy spawn scaling by 20% (same as before 2.8)
~~Readded score-based bomb spawn limit~~ (reverted)
Fixed replacing farthest bomb on spawn limit in rare cases
Removed replacing invisible bomb on spawn limit
Reset leaderboard
Touching bombs is one of the core tensions of the game. Interesting decisions emerge from moving towards bombs (reward) while judging (uncertainty) how to best avoid enemies (cost).
Having bombs move to the player undermines this dynamic as it was better to move in an endless circle and ignore bombs until they were close. Players wanting to win were forced to play this way which reduced depth. Therefore bomb movement was removed in the recent updates.
However this increased uncertainty due to the increased time to reach bombs. This update aims to address this.
Unfortunately the leaderboard also had to be reset.
Thank you for your understanding, feedback and support
- Dominique
Original post
28 Dec 2021Developer post
Swarmlake 2.8
Hi all, Swarmlake 2.8 is out to improve balance: Increased time-based enemy spawn scaling by 20% (reverted in 2.9) Decreased fire-rate increases to 1,000, 3,000 and 6,000 scores Decreased distance of replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player by 20% Readded avoider (
Hi all, Swarmlake 2.8 is out to improve balance:

~~Increased time-based enemy spawn scaling by 20%~~ (reverted in 2.9)
Decreased fire-rate increases to 1,000, 3,000 and 6,000 scores
Decreased distance of replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player by 20%
Readded avoider (orange) enemy intercepting the player (same as in 2.5)
Fixed spawning bombs too close to each other in rare cases
Removed bomb movement
~~Removed score-based bomb spawn limit~~ (reverted in 2.9)
Removed score-based bomb spawn frequency
Moved slowmo from fire-rate increases to 10,000 score intervals
Reset leaderboard
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
22 Dec 2021Developer post
Swarmlake 2.7
Hey, Swarmlake 2.7 is out to improve balance: Decreased bomb speed by 95% Increased bomb to bomb avoidance radius by 100% Increased bomb spawn frequency by 20% Added replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player Improved bomb spawn height variation Removed slowing down
Hey, Swarmlake 2.7 is out to improve balance:

Decreased bomb speed by 95%
Increased bomb to bomb avoidance radius by 100%
Increased bomb spawn frequency by 20%
Added replacing bomb on spawn limit when far away from player
Improved bomb spawn height variation
Removed slowing down bomb on projectile hit
Removed bomb itself dropping a shard
~~Reverted avoider (orange) enemy intercepting the player~~ (reverted in 2.8)
Reset leaderboard
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
24 Nov 2021Developer post
Swarmlake 2.5
Hi, the free Swarmlake 2.5 Update is out which improves balance based on player feedback: Readded fire-rate increases at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 scores (same fire-rate as before 2.4) Added time-based enemy spawn scaling Added score-based bomb spawn limit until 4,000 score Improve
Hi, the free Swarmlake 2.5 Update is out which improves balance based on player feedback:

Readded fire-rate increases at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 scores (same fire-rate as before 2.4)
Added time-based enemy spawn scaling
Added score-based bomb spawn limit until 4,000 score
Improved movement of avoider (orange) enemy by intercepting the player
Increased crystal attract speed by 100%
Increased swarmer (white) enemy max speed by 10% (same as before 2.4)
Removed slowmo outside of fire-rate increases
Reset leaderboard
Thank you!
- Dominique
Original post
29 Oct 2021Developer post
Swarmlake 2.4
Hey all, the free Swarmlake 2.4 Update is out now which improves balance: Added score-based bomb spawn frequency scaling Increased bomb spawn frequency by 33% Decreased bomb spawn limit from 5 to 3 Decreased swarmer (white) enemy max speed by 10% (reverted in 2.5) Removed score-b
Hey all, the free Swarmlake 2.4 Update is out now which improves balance:

Added score-based bomb spawn frequency scaling
Increased bomb spawn frequency by 33%
Decreased bomb spawn limit from 5 to 3
~~Decreased swarmer (white) enemy max speed by 10%~~ (reverted in 2.5)
~~Removed score-based fire-rate increases~~ (reverted in 2.5)
Reset leaderboard
Congratulations to the top ten players and everyone else who competed the past year:
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
25 Jun 2020Developer post
Swarmlake 2.0
Hi all, the free Swarmlake 2.0 Update adds the most requested features since release: Leaderboard replays, a new gun and more! Swarmlake 2.0 is the biggest update yet and required a near complete rewrite to make the custom engine deterministic which in turn allows for efficient i
Hi all, the free Swarmlake 2.0 Update adds the most requested features since release: Leaderboard replays, a new gun and more!
Swarmlake 2.0 is the biggest update yet and required a near complete rewrite to make the custom engine deterministic which in turn allows for efficient input-based replays.
This update would not have been possible without the continued play-tests, feedback and support from the passionate players:

Added leaderboard replays with slow-mo, fast-forward and 3rd-person camera
Added deterministic gameplay simulation
Added new gun model replacing the old one
Added diegetic score display on gun
Added leaderboard navigation slider
Added showcasing player replay on start
Added additional music loop transitions
Added tutorial wait time limit
Improved gun placement and animations
Improved projectile shoot consistency
Improved bomb spawn consistency
Improved screen shake smoothness
Improved highlight lines by removing diagonals
Improved various models slightly
Improved performance and stability
Improved controller compatibility
Fixed sources of indeterministic gameplay
Fixed one frame input delay
Fixed one frame projectile enemy hit delay
Fixed enemy spawn scaling after 17,800 score
Fixed playing footstep sounds synced to gun animation
Fixed reducing CPU load if window is unfocused
Fixed game not launching in rare cases
Fixed tutorial input detection
Increased avoider (orange) enemy turn speed
Decreased charger (yellow) and swarmer (white) enemy speed
Decreased shoot rate by 25%
Decreased gun upgrade scores to 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000
Decreased grounded jump height by 10%
Removed score-based bomb spawn limit
Reset leaderboard and settings
Watch on YouTube
Thank you for your continued feedback and support!
- Dominique
Original post
12 Mar 2020Developer post
Swarmlake: Anniversary
Hey all, the Swarmlake: Anniversary Update is out improving the gameplay and leaderboard experience based on player feedback: Added distance scaling to off-screen bomb markers Added leaderboard user avatars Improved leaderboard loading smoothness, navigation and error display Imp
Hey all, the Swarmlake: Anniversary Update is out improving the gameplay and leaderboard experience based on player feedback:

Added distance scaling to off-screen bomb markers
Added leaderboard user avatars
Improved leaderboard loading smoothness, navigation and error display
Improved tutorial clarity
Improved various icons
Improved performance and stability
Fixed explosion effects and lag spikes on bomb explosions with lots of enemies
Fixed leaderboard loading in rare cases
Fixed possible freeze on achievement upload error
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
27 Feb 2020Developer post
Swarmlake: Visions
Hey all, the Swarmlake: Visions Update is out improving visual feedback and more: Added see-through bomb outline and overlay Added off-screen bomb direction marker Improved mountains visual clarity and subtlety Improved jump icons Improved performance and stability Fixed grain ar
Hey all, the Swarmlake: Visions Update is out improving visual feedback and more:

Added see-through bomb outline and overlay
Added off-screen bomb direction marker
Improved mountains visual clarity and subtlety
Improved jump icons
Improved performance and stability
Fixed grain artifacts after playing for a long time
Fixed score display after dying on final achievement target score
Fixed showing off-screen markers for bomb spawn animations
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
17 Feb 2020Developer post
Swarmlake: Redux
Hey everyone, the Swarmlake: Redux Update is out improving the gameplay experience with a ton of quality of life features based on player feedback: Added enemy spawn scaling increase after 10,000 score Added hemispheric ambient color to improve shadowed enemy visibility Added bom
Hey everyone, the Swarmlake: Redux Update is out improving the gameplay experience with a ton of quality of life features based on player feedback:

Added enemy spawn scaling increase after 10,000 score
Added hemispheric ambient color to improve shadowed enemy visibility
Added bomb indicators
Added keyboard layout detection
Added exit game confirmation dialog
Improved accessibility by increasing the bomb trigger radius by 33%
Improved balance by increasing bomb spawn max rotation to that of other enemies
Improved visual vibrancy
Improved score and tutorial display
Improved bomb explosion and killer highlight visibility
Improved jump sound audibility
Improved performance
Improved supported controllers
Fixed excessive bomb explosion radius for avoider (orange) enemies
Fixed crash on game start after waiting on the tutorial screen for a long time
Fixed stopping music visualization on death
Fixed first enemy wave spawn delay when initially jumping backwards
Fixed gun and killer highlight resolution scaling
Fixed user interface resolution scaling above 4K
Reduced required disk space
Reset the leaderboard
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
11 Nov 2019Developer post
Swarmlake 1.0
Hey all, Swarmlake 1.0 is out featuring a new engine with improved visuals, audio, gameplay, performance and much more: Added new data-oriented engine to maximize performance Added partial projectile ground hit reflection Added audio-visual effect when reaching final achievement
Hey all, Swarmlake 1.0 is out featuring a new engine with improved visuals, audio, gameplay, performance and much more:

Added new data-oriented engine to maximize performance
Added partial projectile ground hit reflection
Added audio-visual effect when reaching final achievement score and multiples of it
Added visual bomb pulse effect
Added new shoot sound
Added new achievement icons
Improved jump arc control by decreasing fall speed by 25% (same as before Update 18)
Improved jump height control by decreasing grounded jump height by 20%
Improved ability to stop bombs by increasing bomb projectile hit radius by 33%
Improved death consistency and feedback
Improved bomb min and max height bounce behavior
Improved bomb outline visibility
Improved visual vibrancy
Improved CPU performance by ~33%
Improved game startup speed
Improved audio mix clarity
Improved UI visibility
Fixed 6,000+ score-based shoot rate increase not activating
Fixed last shard and gun flicker not activating
Fixed projectiles hitting spawning enemies during animation after first animation frame
Fixed projectiles now hitting closest enemy when hitting multiple enemies in the same frame
Fixed player now dying from closest enemy when hitting multiple enemies in the same frame
Fixed jumping off of bombs
Fixed removing invisible bombs on bomb spawn limit to be field of view independent
Fixed death enemy highlight to be visible through ground
Fixed key rebind new key detection issue
Fixed key rebind UI button focus loss
Fixed some font symbols
Fixed some user settings by resetting all to default
Swarmlake 1.0 started by completely rewriting the custom game engine to use a data-oriented design in order to maximize the performance. This made me rethink and reimplement almost all gameplay logic again and allowed me to find hidden bugs. I am very confident in the results and hope that you will enjoy this extremely polished experience.
For years even after initial release lots of community-requested features and improvements were added with continued full-time development to increase the overall value and quality of Swarmlake by including better gameplay, balance, visuals, effects, lighting, animations, audio, performance, user interface, accessibility, achievements, persistent in-game global/friends leaderboard, trading cards, full controller support, rebindable keybindings and so much more. Therefore the price was adapted to reflect the current state of Swarmlake.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support since your feedback was essential for shaping up Swarmlake!
Thank you
- Dominique
Original post
01 Oct 2019Developer post
Swarmlake Update 24
Hey, Swarmlake Update 24 is out improving input, pacing and more based on player feedback: Added sub-frame input detection Improved initial wave pacing to speed up restarts as much as possible Improved playing music instantly on restart after tutorial completion Improved gun upgr
Hey, Swarmlake Update 24 is out improving input, pacing and more based on player feedback:

Added sub-frame input detection
Improved initial wave pacing to speed up restarts as much as possible
Improved playing music instantly on restart after tutorial completion
Improved gun upgrade flicker color visibility
Improved performance smoothness
Fixed touchscreen player look input
Fixed visual projectile rotation variation if multiple projectiles are fired in the same frame
Fixed playing audio on switching settings tab using a controller
Thank you!
- Dominique
Original post