Update 1.2.1 is here!
Hey Drivers! The 1.2.1 update for Velocide Overdrive is here. It brings many bug fixes, balance changes for several power-ups, visual reworks, performance optimizations, and improved controller support — especially in Steam Remote Play Together.
Power-up renames (clarity)
Shield → Reflector: the power-up wasn't just blocking, it was already bouncing every projectile back at the attacker. The new name describes what it actually does.
Zombie → Virus: the name Virus better matches the concept of propagation.
Gameplay balance
Flamethrower (buff)
Range 45 → 68 px (+51%).
Duration 4 s → 5 s (+25%).
(New) The caster slows to 90% during use, giving a better mobility / area-control trade-off and giving pursued players a chance to escape.
Tesla (buff)
Electrocution chance per tick 5% → 7%.
(New) Each Tesla tower now displays a dashed circle showing the bolt range. The Tesla also got a visual rework.
Pyramid (buff)
Attack-speed ramp boosted by +25%: max attack rate is now reached in ~16 s (instead of ~21 s).
Smoke Screen (buff)
Smoke cloud size +20%, final death-explosion puff +20% — the fog is slightly denser.
Virus (nerf)
Contact contagion aura: -40%.
Pestilence cloud 62 → 45 px (-27%).
A zombie's death no longer triggers the eliminated player's standard elim effect on top of its pestilence cloud.
Nuke (visual rework)
The nuke bomb visual has been refreshed.
Meteor (visual rework)
Meteors have been visually reworked.
Reflector (visual rework)
New visual: a shield bubble surrounding the player.
Readability & comfort
Special-round descriptive subtitle (Frenzy, Negative, Team, x2): the rule is shown on screen before the countdown.
Start-direction arrow during the countdown: the player's name automatically flips below the character if the arrow indicator points up.
Space Gates: two arrows on the entry side now show that the portal is bidirectional (you both enter AND emerge through it).
Easy Mode: new visual icon.
Default skin: a small golden star twinkles every 3 seconds to remind the player they can pick a skin.
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug in the player-name input: some characters weren't registered under certain conditions.
Match end: the Restart button now hides as soon as a player has crossed the score limit — only New Match and Back to Menu remain available.
Tie at the top: if multiple players reach the score limit with the same score, a tiebreaker round is now played (flagged with a dedicated banner).
Space Gates: fixed a bug where you could cross the elimination zone at a near-perpendicular angle without teleporting or being eliminated. Players shouldn't get stuck inside, they should reappear at the other available portal.
Random arena (🎲): the same arena can no longer come up two matches in a row, except in the specific case where only a single arena is available.
Fixed a bug that, in specific cases, could assign the same color to two different players.
Brightness: the default brightness is now 50% for new players (was 90%).
Power-up icons
22 power-up icons unified: previously some appeared as system emojis (rendered differently across Windows / Steam Deck / SteamOS). Now identical on every platform, both in the selection menu AND when the power-up appears in the arena.
Performance
Tomahawk: the in-flight effect wasn't optimized and was lagging the game even with a single tomahawk in flight. Now fixed.
Banana: the freeze when picking up the power-up is fixed (lighter halos and trails).
Smoke Screen: smoke sprites are pre-baked once, to prevent lag spikes especially when many smoke power-ups are active simultaneously.
Match initialization: optimized the cleanup of effects between matches and removed unnecessary caches for some effects.
Elim effects with 3+ simultaneous deaths: adaptive LOD with low priority, so the surviving players' experience isn't impacted.
Audio: audio and GPU pre-loaded at startup, fewer freeze/lag hitches the first few times sounds and effects play.
Sakura arena: optimized the static decor.
Controller stability & Steam Remote Play Together
Significant improvements to controller stability in Remote Play Together:
Unique controller identification: their ID will no longer change.
Controller indicator in the menu: red (missing), orange (waiting for a first input), solid green (detected), pulsing green (sending input). The player can see at a glance whether their controller is connected and whether the game recognizes it.
Cancellable detection: pressing Esc or clicking outside cancels the detection and assignment of a controller.
Controller reconnection: in some cases, it is no longer necessary to restart the match or the game after a controller disconnect for it to be detected again.
Double-bind detection on two physically identical controllers: detected and corrected automatically.
Support for some older DirectInput controllers. If issues persist, please check the controller's physical condition or its OS compatibility.
In the menu, a controller plugged in after a disconnect is now detected without restarting the game.
Steam Remote Play Together: Steam Input integration. Guest controllers can be bound on the first attempt, without having to touch the Steam panel. A guest's controller is labeled Remote: .
Any Remote controller can drive the menu — previously, only the one at the first OS slot could make changes.
Translations
Steam Input manifest localized in 19 languages: the Turn left / right and Back to menu actions are now translated in the Steam Input overlay when a player wants to remap their buttons through the Steam interface.
Coming next
The next update will be a major one and will deliver the Boss Battle mode mentioned in the previous patch — multiplayer fights against unique bosses, each with their own signature abilities. The goal is to provide a real challenge, playable solo and in co-op for up to 4 players.
Thanks to everyone who plays Velocide Overdrive and helps me improve the game.