Splatstick 1.2

Splatstick is out on Mac. One build for both Intel and Apple Silicon. There is nothing to buy: Steam downloads the version for your system.

The whole game is redrawn. Fighters are assembled from drawn parts, with fists, feet, an eye and a brow. Each of the eleven arenas has its own backdrop, ground and platforms, plus grass, lava, a pendulum and conveyor belts. Weapons, items, balls and towers are drawn now instead of built from rectangles. Hits, explosions and dust use new effects.

New animation. Kicks wind up and snap, the heavy punch swings over the top with a lunge, jumps have three phases and the idle stance breathes. Fighters reel from hits, get up after a knockdown and celebrate a win. Hitboxes and timing are unchanged: only the drawing is new.

Smarter bots. They no longer fall into pits, they jump onto moving platforms, split roles in team modes, and in Football they dribble and shoot at goal. Each bot has a temper of its own: after a knockout they cheer, wave and dance.

Sound. Every arena has its own ambience: crickets in the night forest, rain beyond the walls of The Well, the hum of The Foundry, molten metal bubbling in The Forge. An announcer calls the rounds, counts down the start and names the winner.

• Button prompts show your own gamepad's buttons: Xbox, PlayStation or Switch
• The main menu plays only its own theme, without the music of the fight behind it
• Fixes: Chinese glyphs, darkness on tall maps, Ice spreading over chasms and more
• Online play needs version 1.2 for every player