We rewrote the entire game code from scratch. The old codebase was holding us back, so we tore it down and started over. The result is way better optimization, a more stable game, and a foundation that makes it much easier to build new chapters and get the game running on consoles.
A few of the bigger things that changed:
We upgraded to Unreal Engine 5.6, which is currently the most stable version. Beyond the stability, this gives us a much cleaner Lumen — less noise, better performance. We took advantage of that to rework the lighting across a lot of the game, especially the Level 0 areas.
Visuals got an overall pass too, both for looks and for performance, so the framerate should hold up much better now on PC and consoles alike.
The settings menu was completely rebuilt. You now get way more control over the graphics, so you can dial in the right balance of visuals and performance for your specific PC.
We added full controller support. This was mainly for the console versions, but it also makes the game a lot nicer to play on Steam Deck.
A couple of things were removed:
The VHS filter is gone for the moment. It was causing too much blur and acting up at certain resolutions. We're rebuilding it from scratch and it'll come back as an option in the menu later. For now, I hope you enjoy the game looking as crisp as possible — maybe for the first time.
We also removed all the AI-generated images. The idea behind them was to create a sense of unease that fit a Backrooms game, but a lot of players didn't read it that way, and honestly we get it. They're gone, and we won't be using anything like that in our games again.
On top of all that, a ton of bugs and collision issues got fixed — and there were a lot of them. Huge thanks to Doriplushh on Discord for reporting them.
There was also a content update meant to ship alongside this one, but we had to push it back a bit — it'll come a little later. And since this was such a big rewrite, you might still run into some bugs here and there. We'll be pushing out smaller updates throughout the week to clean those up and fix whatever needs it.
There's a lot more coming. We post every update on our Discord first, so come hang out there if you want to keep up.
For Those Asking for Multiplayer One more thing — a lot of you have been asking for multiplayer in Lost Tape. That's something that probably won't happen here, since Lost Tape is meant to be a single-player experience focused on story and that lonely, isolated atmosphere. But if multiplayer is what you're after, we recently announced our new game, Space Delivery, which features plenty of the Backrooms. The trailer is bellow — give it a watch and add it to your wishlist!