Patch notes · v0.1.0 · Nov 5, 2026

Closed Playtest

Items

Big Splash

  • BalanceBig Splash: splat and blast size +30% → +20% a stack.

Blast Vest

  • NewNew Common item, Blast Vest: a padded bomb-suit collar. You take less damage from blasts (bombs, drones, mines, decoys, crash landings and the rest): 3.6% with one, 16% at 5 stacks, 30% at 10, 50% at 20, 72% at 40, 88% at 100, never more than 90%.

Bomb Belt

  • NewBomb Belt: new grenade look: a cast-iron frag shell splashed and dripping with your team's paint, a band round its middle with SPLAT glowing on it, a fuse with a glowing lens, a spoon lever, a pin with its pull ring, and a spring belt clip.
  • BalanceBomb Belt: bombs now recharge one at a time, one every 6 seconds (was the whole belt after 8 seconds).
  • BalanceBomb Belt: your own splat bombs no longer hurt you (was half damage). They never hurt teammates.

Bubble Shield

  • NewA grey shield shows right of a player's name while they have damage resistance (Bubble Shield up, on the board, flying, or hidden).
  • BalanceBubble Shield: damage cut while it holds 50% → 25%.
  • BalanceDamage cuts now multiply instead of adding up (shield and board together: 85% → 40% damage resistance).

Chameleon

  • NewThe Ghillie Poncho is now the Chameleon: a chameleon in your team's colour rides your left shoulder in place of the poncho and fades out with you when you hide. Its eyes dart around and lock onto the nearest enemy it can see within 25 m. What the item does is unchanged.
  • BalanceChameleon: no longer boosts healing. Instead you have 50% damage resistance while hidden.

Fat Hopper

  • BalanceFat Hopper: fire rate +15% → +10% a stack.

Grapple Line

  • NewNew Rare item, Grapple Line: hold E to aim (a dashed line shows where it goes and turns green when it would catch someone), your character twirls a lasso over their head; let go to fling it. A caught foe is tied up in it while he's pulled in and rooted. The coil on your hip is gone while the lasso's out and pops back when it's ready. It flies 45 m/s out to 22 m (+5 m for each extra stack) and catches a foe within 0.55 m of it (+0.2 m for each extra stack, up to 1.35). A caught foe is rooted and yanked in to 1 m in front of you, halfway between his height and yours, over 0.3 seconds, then stays rooted 0.6 seconds more (he can still shoot). The lasso comes back after 8 seconds, 1.5 seconds sooner for each extra stack (never under 3.5). At a castle gate lever, E still pulls the lever.
  • NewNew recommended combos: Reel and Roll (Grapple Line + Mini Dozer), Point Blank (Grapple Line + Pressure Valve), Big Gulp (Pressure Valve + Fat Hopper) and Hyper Beam (Pressure Valve + Overcharge).

Megaphone

  • NewMegaphone: new look: a flared horn with a glowing rim, a speaker grille in its throat, bolted collars, glowing level meters on its sides and a proper pistol grip.
  • BalanceMegaphone: allies in range now also get +10% move speed, +10% damage, +10% blast size, +10% damage resistance and +10% soak speed (on top of +10% fire rate and healing 3 a second).

Mini Dozer

  • BalanceMini Dozer: nothing slows it now (paint, slopes, friction), and it speeds up as it slides.
  • BalanceMini Dozer: steers much more sharply while you slide (3x the turn of a normal slide).

Padded Vest

  • BalancePadded Vest: max health +10 a stack → +10% a stack (counted after Giant and Juggernaut).

Paint Drone

  • NewPaint Drone: drones show a health bar on them: bigger, with a dark outline, and it stays readable from far away.
  • BalancePaint Drone: no longer shoots. Each drone is now a kamikaze: it flies at a foe within 30 m that it can see, on a tight curve that leaves a glowing trail, and bursts on them (10 damage at the middle, 2.8 m across). Big Splash, Giant and Glass Cannon grow the burst like a bomb's.
  • BalancePaint Drone: one drone per stack, up to 4. They dive one at a time, 0.5 seconds apart, and a new one comes back 5 seconds after one is gone.
  • BalancePaint Drone: drones go after enemy drones first and burst together when they meet in mid-air. They fly around walls instead of into them.
  • BalancePaint Drone: drones have 20 health. Foes' paintballs, lasers and blasts can shoot them down, and a drone that's shot down bursts where it is.
  • BalancePaint Drone: burst damage 10 → 8.
  • BalancePaint Drone: health 20 → 12.
  • BalancePaint Drone: a new drone comes back 6 seconds after one is gone (was 5).
  • BalancePaint Drone: drones fly at half speed: 17 → 8.5 m/s.

Pod Magnet

  • NewNukes pull every item on the map to the player who dropped it, flying in one after another after the blast.
  • BalancePod Magnet: pull range 3 m → 5 m (still +1 m per stack, up to 11 m).

Pressure Valve

  • NewPressure Valve: new look. A pressure gauge and valve wheel stand on the right side of your rifle. The needle shows how full your tank is and swings into the red as the shot charges, and the wheel gets bigger with every stack.
  • NewNew Rare item, Pressure Valve: with a full tank, hold aim for 0.4 seconds to charge your next shot into a big glob (you see it swell on the end of your barrel). It costs a quarter of your tank and hits for 2x a paintball, times your tank size squared (3 Fat Hoppers: about 7x, 6: about 16x), +1x for each extra Valve. It paints a much bigger patch, and holding the trigger keeps firing normally after it. With Overcharge it's one thick laser pulse.
  • NewPressure Valve: new sounds for charging and firing. The charge looks darker and glows less, with fewer drops swirling round it.
  • NewPressure Valve: a thin light blue bar beside your ink tank shows the charge, and flashes when it's full.
  • NewPressure Valve: the valve wheel is now dark iron with five spokes, no longer in your team colour.
  • NewPressure Valve: no more chime when the glob is fully charged. The charge-up sound now fits the 0.3 second charge, its last note rings out when it's full, and its pitch changes only slightly between plays.
  • BalancePressure Valve: charges in 0.3 seconds (was 1.4).
  • BalancePressure Valve: each extra stack now also makes the glob cost 5% less of your tank (25% → 20% → 15%, down to 10%). Damage per stack unchanged.
  • BalancePressure Valve: the charged glob now explodes where it lands, hitting foes within 2.4 m (up to 4.5 m for a stronger glob) for 35% of its damage and knocking them back. The foe it hits square takes only the glob. It no longer bounces with Bouncy Balls; with Overcharge the charged pulse explodes the same way.
  • BalancePressure Valve: charging takes 1.4 seconds (was 0.4), and stopping aiming now loses the charge, even a full one.

Rapid Pump

  • BalanceRapid Pump: fire rate +15% → +30% a stack.

Red Plunger

  • BalanceRed Plunger: on your own paint, your health starts coming back 25% sooner after a hit, per stack (2.5 s → 1.9 s with one).

Rocket Boots

  • BalanceRocket Boots: now Rare (was Uncommon), so they drop less often.

Stethoscope

  • BalanceStethoscope: heals you get x3 → +10% (+10% a stack, was +2x); heals you give teammates x3 → x2 (+1x a stack, was +2x).
  • BalanceNew Legendary item, Stethoscope: every heal you give and every heal you get is 3x as strong (+2x for each extra stack).

Trail Blazer

  • BalanceTrail Blazer: respawn while your team is behind and your trail is twice as wide for 5 seconds.
  • BalanceTrail Blazer: now Legendary (was Rare).

Twin Cherries

  • NewNew Legendary item, Twin Cherries: a pair of red cherries on your belt. Every Common item you pick up comes three at a time (+2 more for each extra stack).
  • BalanceTwin Cherries: every Common item now comes two at a time (was three), +1 more for each extra stack (was +2).

Augments

Decoy Slide

  • BalanceDecoy Slide: cooldown 8 seconds after the decoy is gone → 3 seconds after it goes out. You can have two out at once.

Giant

  • BalanceGiant: health +50% → +35%.
  • BalanceGiant: no longer changes your damage.
  • BalanceGiant: blasts now grow with your size instead of a flat +40%: 1.5x at base, +10% for each +10% health.
  • BalanceGiant: no longer slows you down (was -10% move speed).
  • BalanceGiant: grows with its health. Every item that adds health makes it bigger too, with no limit.

Jet Wings

  • BalanceJet Wings: damage cut while flying 35% → 20%.

Overcharge

  • BalanceBots with Overcharge aim worse: aiming skill -0.15 and 40% more aim wobble.
  • BalanceOvercharge laser: damage 60 → 50 a second (4 → 3.3 per pulse).
  • BalanceOvercharge laser: ink use 11.25 → 11 a second.

Paint Mines

  • NewNew augment, Paint Mines: foes you splat leave a mine of your paint where they fell. The first foe to step within 1 m of it sets off a blast (5.5 m, 45 damage at the middle). Everyone can see mines, but only your team sees the ring showing how close sets one off. Enemies can shoot a mine out first (30 health, about 3 paintballs; blasts and the Overcharge beam break it too), and it bursts without hurting anyone; its health bar shows once it has been hit. Up to 4 at a time, 45 seconds each.

Paint Surfer

  • BalancePaint Surfer: damage cut on the board 35% → 20%.
  • BalancePaint Surfer: the board now rides any paint, your team's or the enemy's, on floors and walls. Enemy paint no longer knocks you off it; only bare floor or bare wall does, after the usual moment.
  • BalancePaint Surfer: no longer tightens your aim on the board (shots spread 25% less before).
  • BalancePaint Surfer: enemy paint now counts as your own for everything. On it you heal as fast as on your own paint (26 a second, was 12), refill your ink from it, get your own paint's speed and full-length slides, can hide with a Chameleon and get Red Plunger's quicker healing; it no longer stings.

Rally Beacon

  • NewRally Beacon reworked: press 1 to plant a beacon at your feet (200 health, a new one every 20 seconds, it replaces the old one). While it stands your whole team, you included, respawns beside it twice as fast, and foes can shoot it down. Foes see it on the minimap once it has stood for 5 seconds. You no longer wait longer to respawn yourself, and teammates no longer come back on you. Bots plant beacons and shoot down yours.
  • NewRespawning at a Rally Beacon gives a gold temporary shield worth 30% of your health, 15% faster fire and 15% faster movement for 5 seconds. The shield then drains away over 1 second.
  • NewRally Beacon: a bigger health bar, and you get a hit marker and hit sound when you shoot a foe's beacon.

Reverberation

  • NewReverberation: new guitar sound, a real electric power chord that plays in G, F or A.
  • NewReverberation: a hit that would splat you now leaves you on 1 health for one last strum (1 second, nothing hits you), then you go down.
  • NewReverberation: you can move while strumming (you still can't fire).
  • NewReverberation: glowing gold music notes float off the guitar while you strum, and a ring of them bursts out with the blast.
  • NewNew augment, Reverberation: a flying-V guitar. When you're splatted, and again when you respawn, you strum a power chord that blasts your paint round you (5.5 m, 45 damage at the middle). Big Splash and Giant make it bigger.
  • NewReverberation: when you respawn you now strum the guitar for a moment (you stand still while you play); the blast goes off on the downbeat.

Sharing is Caring

  • NewNew augment, Sharing is Caring (team modes): when a teammate takes an item from a pod, you have a 50% chance to get one too, and when you take one your nearest teammate has a 50% chance to get a copy.
  • NewSharing is Caring: a new teddy bear model, sitting and hugging a glowing heart.

Support Main

  • BalanceNew augment, Support Main (team modes): your paintballs hit teammates instead of flying through them and heal them 4 each, plus 2 ink. With Overcharge the laser stops on teammates and heals 4 every pulse. Healing past full gives a gold overheal of up to +50% health that lasts 3 seconds after the last heal, then drains away over 3 seconds. You also get an overheal of your own worth half of all the healing you give. Without it, your paintballs fly through teammates again. Bombs always fly through teammates.

Triple Shot

  • BalanceTriple Shot: uses the same paint as a normal shot (was twice as much).

Blood PactCurse

  • NewNew curse, Blood Pact: +50% damage, but only takedowns heal you: each splat or assist heals 30% of your missing health (adds to Gilded Rose).
  • NewCurses: the floating curse lanterns have a new look: a bulging glass lantern with a peaked hood, glowing seams and dripping spikes, a fire inside in the curse's own colour (with dice in it for Gamble the Game), smoke in that colour, and glowing comets and shards that orbit it. Their icons are bigger.

Dry WellCurse

  • NewNew curse, Dry Well: your ink never runs out, but your team's paint no longer heals you faster or speeds you up.

Gamble the GameCurse

  • NewNew curse, Gamble the Game: you copy a random half of your items when you take it, and a random half of every foe's items when you splat them; but each time you're splatted you lose a random half of yours, and your splatter takes half of those (half rounds down, always at least 1).

Glass JawCurse

  • NewNew curse, Glass Jaw: your headshots do triple damage, but one headshot on you splats you.
  • BalanceGlass Jaw: headshots on you now do double damage (was: any headshot on you splats you outright).

Lead BootsCurse

  • NewNew curse, Lead Boots: 60% damage resistance, but you move 20% slower and can't jump or slide.

MarkedCurse

  • NewNew curse, Marked: +50% fire rate, but foes see you through walls and on their minimap all match.

Paper LungsCurse

  • NewNew curse, Paper Lungs: +25% move speed and 30% smaller, but your health is a shield: heals give half, though they can push it past full (regeneration can't).

Shared PainCurse

  • NewNew curse, Shared Pain (team modes): +40% damage, but half the damage you take also hits your nearest teammate.

Ticking HeartCurse

  • NewNew curse, Ticking Heart: nothing heals you and you lose 2% max health a second (never below 1); each splat heals you fully and adds +10% damage until you're splatted.

Mechanics

Rifle

  • NewController aim assist: your aim slows down near an enemy you can see (most at the middle of them) and follows them a little as they move while you're moving a stick. It never turns you toward them on its own. Within 40 m; not on enemies hidden by a Chameleon. Set its strength (0-100%, default 100%) in Settings > Controls, or each split-screen player in their own settings.
  • BalancePaintballs fly faster: 160 → 175 m/s. Range unchanged.

Movement

  • NewWall runs are 10% faster than a sprint.
  • NewYou can no longer wall run backwards: you have to face the way you're running to take a wall, and turning round on it drops you off.
  • NewWall jumps: you can still jump off a wall for 0.2 seconds after steering off it, so jumping wall to wall is easier.
  • NewMoving fast pulls the view out to a wider lens: from a sprint (8.5 m/s), up to 14° wider at 13 m/s and up (slides, sprint boosts, falls).
  • NewTutorial: a Wall run drill after Slide: run at a wall, jump and stick to it, then run along it through the rings.
  • BalanceAiming behind cover no longer leans you out to the left or right. Crouching onto a ledge to rest your rifle stays.

Paint

  • NewYour teammates no longer show enemy paint when they're hit, so they always stay in your team's colour. Paint from your own side still shows on them.
  • NewNew mutator Fading Paint: paint left alone for 15 seconds dries away over the next few seconds. Painting over it starts the 15 seconds again.
  • BalanceEnemy paint no longer slows you down (was 55% slower). It still stings.
  • BalanceSlides on enemy paint go as far and as fast as on bare floor (they used to stop short and slow down).

Bots

  • NewBots shoot out enemy Paint Mines near them when there's no one to fight.
  • BalanceBots on an outnumbered team play a little sharper.
  • BalanceBeginner bots are much easier: their aim is far looser and hardly leads a moving target, they turn their aim about 40% slower, wait about half a second longer before shooting, fire in short bursts with pauses instead of holding the trigger, notice you over a narrower view (40° to each side, was 50°) and hop, slide and throw bombs far less.

General

  • NewNew mutator Lights Out: the map at night, lit only by a dim moon. The paint and paintballs glow.
  • NewNew mutator Cursed Party: everyone starts with the same random curse, named in the feed when the match starts.
  • NewCurses: rare augment cards (black, with a burning purple-red border). A big boost for a bad price, kept all match, and you can have more than one. About 1 card in 10 is a curse; re-rolls never give one.
  • NewCurses now show on you: each one floats beside your head in a smoked glass lantern with its curse inside (two dice for Gamble the Game), wrapped in deep purple smoke. Chameleon's hiding still hides the smoke.
  • NewPlayers are much cheaper to draw (about a fifth of the work), which helps slower computers. Hats, masks, guns and eyes no longer cast their own small shadows; the body's shadow stays. The team-colour outline no longer shows on the paint gun's glass hopper.
  • BalanceThe crown comes at 7 kills in a row (was 3), and it only passes to someone on a 7+ streak who has the longest one.
  • BalanceSpawn protection after respawning: 1.6 → 3.2 seconds.
  • BalanceThe woman runner is now the same height as the man (she was 5% shorter), and her headshot zone starts at the same height as his (it started 4 cm lower).
  • BalanceClaiming a bounty or breaking the crown now also heals you to full and refills your ink.

Maps & Modes

All modes

  • NewEvery map has new spawn points out on its flanks. You come back in at the best one: never near or in sight of an enemy if there's a safer spot, in King of the Hill about 24 m from the hill (facing it), otherwise near your team.
  • NewRespawning throws a big burst of your paint round you (about 10 m wide), so you come back on your own paint.
  • NewSplatted twice in a row without a splat or assist? You get to pick one of 3 random items, and another pick on every splat after that until you get a splat or assist (rolled at the same odds as item pods), on cards like the augment pick, with a re-roll. The item lands when you respawn. Bots get one too.
  • BalanceMatches last 6 minutes (was 5).
  • BalanceRespawn wait 5 → 4 seconds.
  • BalanceRespawning after a hot streak is quicker: 7 / 9 / 11 / 15 seconds → 5.5 / 7 / 9 / 12 seconds (at 5 / 10 / 20 / 30+ splats in a row).
  • BalanceAugments: 4 picks a match (was 2), at 5:00, 3:30, 2:20 and 1:30 left (was 3:20 and 1:40).
  • BalanceThe first splat of a match earns a Rare item.
  • BalanceWiping out a whole team gives everyone on your team a Common or Uncommon item.
  • BalanceItem odds now step up through the match. 0:00: Common 70%, Uncommon 30%. 1:00: Common 60%, Uncommon 35%, Rare 5%. 2:30: Common 50%, Uncommon 38%, Rare 10%, Legendary 2%. 3:30: Common 45%, Uncommon 35%, Rare 15%, Legendary 5% (was always Legendary 3%, Rare 10%, Uncommon 29%, Common 58%).
  • BalanceAugments are now picked only while you're splatted. Bots pick theirs on their next splat too.

Downtown

  • NewDowntown: the fountains have flowing water: sheets of water spill off each bowl into rippling pools, with a bubbler on top.
  • NewDowntown: the street lamps on the boardwalk now lean in toward the middle of the map, and the two in the base plaza face the other way.

Free for All

  • NewFree for All and Juggernaut: when a match is found, everyone now rises up on the lobby's paint cans like in King of the Hill, each in their own colour.
  • BalanceFree for All: you're back in 2 seconds at most, even on a bounty.
  • BalanceFree for All: Rally Beacon is no longer offered.

Juggernaut

  • NewNew mode, Juggernaut (Free for All, 5 players): the first splat makes you the Juggernaut (the crown, 3x health, +20% damage, 30% bigger, 8% slower). Everyone else hunts the Juggernaut and can't hurt each other while there is one. Splat the Juggernaut to take it over. Only the Juggernaut scores: 10 points a splat. First to 150 wins.
  • NewJuggernaut: once there is a Juggernaut, all the hunters are one team: their paint (old paint too) shows in your colour and the Juggernaut's in the enemy colour, it counts as your own paint underfoot, hunters show as teammates, and drones, mines and bots go only for the Juggernaut. Every time the crown changes hands the teams and colours switch over.

King of the Hill

  • NewKing of the Hill: markers on the HUD show where the hill is and, before it moves, where it goes next, with the distance. Off screen they sit at the edge and point the way, like the flags in Capture the Flag.
  • NewKing of the Hill on Torrent Bridge: the hill can now move to each castle's spawn terrace and under the bridge, on the wooden deck round the pier.
  • NewKing of the Hill on Downtown: the hill can now move to the store's and the café's upper floors, the flats' roof and the garage roof.
  • NewKing of the Hill: the hill moves every 60 seconds, from the middle to a spot on one side, then the other side, then back to the middle. It goes neutral when it moves; points you've scored stay. The HUD counts down to each move, and for the last 10 seconds the minimap shows where it's going next. It doesn't move in overtime.
  • NewNew hill spots: Simulation Deck's side catwalks, Ember Mesa's canyons, Neon Alley's covered halls, Downtown's fountain plazas and Torrent Bridge's plank catwalks.
  • BalanceKing of the Hill: spawns now move with the hill. The two teams always come in on opposite sides of it, 25 to 47 m away, about as far as each other.
  • BalanceKing of the Hill: you no longer spawn within 25 m of the hill. Spawns near it shut while it's there, and near its next spot 10 seconds before it moves.
  • BalanceKing of the Hill: the hill now moves to a random spot each time, never the one it's on.
  • BalanceKing of the Hill: first to 200 points wins (was 100).
  • BalanceKing of the Hill: overtime ends once a team leads by 1 point (was 2).

Simulation Deck

  • NewPrime pods: the pods in the middle of each map only give Rare or Legendary items. They open 1:30 into the match and refill 45 seconds after someone takes the item. Legendary chance 15%, then 25% from 2:30 and 35% from 3:30.

Sky Pillars

  • NewSky Pillars is now on the map vote. Every map can come up on the vote.

Torrent Bridge

  • NewThe castle braziers now burn with real fire: flickering flames, sparks, drifting embers, heat shimmer and firelight.

Turf War

  • NewTurf War has been removed. King of the Hill is the default mode.

Menus, Sound & Online

Menus & HUD

  • NewGoing from the title screen to the lobby and back is now a quick sideways swipe instead of a fade to black.
  • NewNew body in the Locker: the Sport Girl, free for everyone. She comes with her own face, hair, cap and clothes, drawn in a cartoon style with ink outlines; your team colour goes on her cap and pants. Her ponytail swings as she runs, turns and jumps.
  • NewNew body in the Locker: Bearded, free for everyone. He wears his own sweater, trousers, hair and beard; your team colour goes on his trousers, and your eyes, hat, mask and skin tone still go on.
  • NewThree new bodies in the Locker, free for everyone: Toon, Toon Woman and Toon Bearded. The Man, the Woman and Bearded redrawn in the Sport Girl's cartoon style: smooth, a bigger head, ink outlines. Everything that goes on the originals still goes on them.
  • NewMatch loading screen: shows what's loading (the map, the sky, the paint, the players...) with a progress bar, and online waits with "Joining the match" until the server has you in.
  • NewCalling Cards: a new cosmetic, the banner your name and title sit on over your head in the lobby and on the versus screen, for everyone to see. 14 animated designs: Standard and Splatter free, Racer, Camo, Bubblegum, Retrowave, Inferno, Electric, Holo Foil and Gold Rush in the store, and Tidal, Toxic, Graffiti and Galaxy on the Battle Pass (levels 12, 28, 42 and 95, which gave Coins before). Pick yours in the Locker's new Card tab.
  • NewLobby: everyone's title now shows under their name (was only yours), coloured by its rarity.
  • NewMatchmaking: the map vote offers 3 random maps each match (was every map).
  • NewMatchmaking: the map and mutator vote lasts 18 seconds (was 12). Offline, it ends 3 seconds after you've voted (was 2).
  • NewMap vote: simpler headings (MAP over the maps, MUTATOR over the mutators) and no instructions line. The clock is big in the top right corner, with a ring that drains as time runs out and turns red with a tick for the last 5 seconds. Cards and mutators grow a little under the mouse, and each mutator has its own colour stripe.
  • NewMatchmaking: vote for the mutator right beside the map vote: No Mutator or one of 3 random mutators. Only players vote on it; most votes wins, and no votes means no mutator. Mutators your party picked in the lobby still skip this vote.
  • NewNew title logo on the main menu: the splattered cyan and magenta Paintball Mayhem wordmark.
  • NewNew hat in the Store: Beer Bong Hat (Rare), a hard hat with a can on each side and tubes to your mouth.
  • NewNew: temporary shields show in gold past the end of your health bar, and on the health bars over players' heads.
  • NewReplays you download from Match History are kept for good in Documents / Paintball Replays, and stay watchable after they expire. Before, only the last 10 were kept.
  • NewReplay viewer: M jumps to the next multi-splat (anyone's), follows the player who got it and marks it for Export Short.
  • NewCombo hints are on for every combo by default. Untick any you don't want in the Guide.
  • NewCombos you craft in the Guide can have a description of their own. It shows in the Guide and on the combo card in matches.
  • NewAugments: you no longer have to stand on your spawn platform to pick one. Press F (d-pad left on a gamepad) to open your cards anywhere, even during the kill cam.
  • NewAugments: the announcer tells you when an augment is ready, and a blinking F key shows on screen until you pick it.
  • NewAugments: if you're splatted with an augment still waiting, you pick it to respawn.
  • NewTutorial: a new step teaches you to press F to open your augment cards.
  • NewMatch History: open a match and pick the new STATS tab to compare every player with bar charts. Pick a stat from the menu on the left (damage dealt, damage taken, healing, paint, splats, assists or deaths) and see each team's players and total side by side.
  • NewMatch History: matches now record how much damage each player took and how much they healed.
  • NewEnemies and allies now show a health bar under their name, with a black tick every 25 health. It's drawn over the body, so it's readable from far away.
  • NewSettings: Fullscreen and Fullscreen borderless now offer every resolution that fits your screen. One that isn't your screen's shape is shown with black bars.
  • NewYou can open your free crates while you're searching for a match.
  • NewSettings > Video: "Show minimap" switch. Off hides the minimap and saves some frame time. On Low graphics the minimap starts off.
  • NewMinimap: black background with light block edges. Allies are white arrows and foes orange (were green and red). Item icons no longer pulse, and the King of the Hill ring is thicker.
  • NewFree crates are now 3D: the crate drops in and perks up when you point at it. Opened, it rumbles and pops its latches as it glows its rarity colour, then blows open: a flash, a shockwave, the screen shaking and paintballs everywhere. An orb of light shoots out, slams down in front of you, and bursts into your item. Click to skip straight to the item.
  • NewOpen 1, 2 or 5 free crates at once: that many crates line up and blow open together, each in its own item's colour; an orb comes down for each item, the rarest last, and the cards line up together. Opened crates now stand still.
  • New"Pick an augment" is now big white lettering that pops in over the cards.
  • NewDance any time: press T and your runner does your dance from the Locker. Moving, jumping, crouching, aiming or shooting stops it. Everyone sees it, in replays too.
  • NewPings: press Ctrl (or bind it to a side mouse button in Controls) to mark a spot for your team. Ping an enemy and your team sees a red ENEMY marker on them for 4 seconds. Pings show on the minimap too.
  • NewPush to talk moves from T to B (T is the dance key now). Rebind it in Controls.
  • NewClick during the kill cam to queue your respawn: you come back as soon as the timer's up.
  • NewVictory dances: pick yours in the Locker's new Dance tab. 8 to choose from (Groove, Robot, Running Man, Shopping Cart, The Twist, Charleston, Fist Pump, Big Win), all free. Everyone sees it when your team wins, on the podium and in replays.
  • NewNew finisher, Soap Bubbles (Rare, in the Store): a spray of soap bubbles blows out over your splat, each one off in its own direction, then pops one by one.
  • NewRubber Ducks: no more soap bubbles. The bubbles are their own finisher now.
  • NewLocker: the camera opens on your whole body. Close Up closes in on the part the tab dresses. The turn to the locker pulls back a little further.
  • NewClassic face: the eyes sit in the face instead of on top of the head.
  • NewConfetti: the spiky star burst at the pop is gone. The paper and glitter stay.
  • NewMatch replays: watching someone in Follow, First person or Director shows their hit markers and +1 SPLAT / +1 ASSIST lines (with HEADSHOT, DOUBLE SPLAT, REVENGE and the rest), with the hit and splat sounds, and you hear the announcer as the match did. New recordings only.
  • NewMinimap: your own arrow has a ring in your team colour and is a little bigger, so you can find yourself at a glance (allies stay plain white arrows).
  • NewCamera: V (Y on a pad) now just switches between the shoulder and close views. The wide and centre views are gone.
  • NewSettings > Video > Graphics detail: switches for Screen grade, Glow, Reflections, Ambient occlusion, Bounce light and Sun shadows, plus a Colour saturation slider (115% to start).
  • NewPaint detail is fixed at 50% for everyone: its slider is gone from Settings > Video.
  • NewMain menu: new look. A bigger title across the top, and the buttons in a row on a black bar along the bottom.
  • NewParty mutators: pick up to 3 in the lobby (or the custom game's leader picks them): Fat Tanks, Big Boys, Geared Up, Glass Arena, Lasers Only, Bouncy Castle, Sharing Party, Low Gravity, Modern Warfare (2 splat grenades and 2 Paint Drones each).
  • NewSharing Party in Free for All and Juggernaut: each item you pick up has a 50% chance to give a copy to the nearest other player.
  • NewLobby: the locker takes paint now, like the bunkers.
  • NewLobby: Party, Missions and Progress moved to the top right on a solid black panel. The mode, mutators and bots are now a side bar down the top left, and the mode list opens downward.
  • NewPainter's Guide redesign: every item stands on a lit, turning pedestal in a studio glowing in its colour, shown bigger, with its name and text beside it. The lists are grouped by rarity.
  • NewLobby redesign: the mode, mutators, bots, party, missions and progress panels are rounded glass cards. Each mode has its own colour and icon, missions show progress rings, the pass level sits in a ring that fills as you earn XP, and hovering a mutator says what it does.
  • NewMutators have their own art, on their buttons in the lobby and on the mutator vote.
  • NewCouch play: each player on this screen has their own Locker. Press Y on your controller in the lobby to open it: d-pad or left stick to pick, LB / RB to change tabs, A to wear, B to close. They can wear anything you own, and their look is saved for next time.
  • NewCouch play: everyone on this screen votes on the map and the mutator with their controller: each player gets a cursor in their colour (d-pad or left stick to move, A to vote). The votes from this screen decide; a tie goes to the roulette.
  • NewCouch play: with more than one player on this screen, each one has an outline and a badge in their colour in the lobby: P1 blue, P2 red, P3 green, P4 yellow. Their vote dots use the same colours.
  • NewGraphics presets moved down a step for weaker computers: a new, lighter Low; Medium is the old Low; High is the old Medium; Ultra is unchanged.
  • NewThe game now picks a graphics preset for your computer until you choose one yourself.
  • NewDynamic resolution: when your graphics card can't keep up, the picture renders at a lower resolution (down to 50%) and goes back up when it can. On by default; switch it off in Graphics detail.
  • NewFrame cap now starts at 60 FPS on Low and Medium and 120 FPS on High and Ultra (was off), until you pick one.
  • NewRemoved the Soldier outfit, and the Outfit tab in the Locker with it.
  • NewLow graphics: the screen colour grade is now off (switch it back on in Graphics detail).
  • NewLow and Medium graphics: effect particles fade sooner (60% of their time on Low, 80% on Medium).
  • NewLow and Medium graphics: small map details, and players' faces, hats and masks, aren't drawn past 30 m (Low) or 50 m (Medium). Cover and items always are.
  • NewReplays you download stay in Match History for good, however many matches you play after. Any replay in Documents / Paintball Replays shows there too.
  • NewMatch History: each match card shows the augments, curses and items you ended the match with (hover one for its name, click the row to see them all).
  • NewMatch History: new ITEMS tab on an open match. Pick any ally or enemy to see every augment, curse and item they ended the match with, with their stacks and what each one does.
  • NewNew look for the item and augment cards (the pick, the card you get, the hover card): dark glass with the item on a glowing pedestal, the whole card lit in its rarity's colour (Common white, Uncommon green, Rare blue, Legendary orange), and a lift when you point at one.
  • NewNew look for the health and shield bars: solid dark slanted bars cut into chunks of 25 (30 for shield), the health number big on the left, and a white-hot edge on the fill. Hits shake the bars, throw sparks and flash the lost chunk white-hot before it drains; healing sends little crosses up out of the bar and pops each chunk as it fills; the shield shatters when it breaks and flashes when it's full again.
  • NewThe health and shield bars now show how fast you're healing (like "+12/s"), even at full health. Ticking Heart's drain shows in red.
  • BalanceDOMINATING now comes at 7 in a row (was 8), INSANE at 11 (was 10).

Sound

  • NewSplat streaks have new announcer calls at 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 20 and 25 in a row, with new ones: PAINT THE TOWN (9), SPLATSTORM (13), MONOCHROME (15), THE ARTIST (20) and PAINT GOD (25).
  • NewThe other team now hears a warning when you hit a streak.
  • NewEnding a streak of 7 or more gets its own call, bigger the longer the streak was.
  • NewEach streak call has several takes, so you hear different lines.
  • NewNew multi-splat calls for 5, 6 and 7 or more splats in a quick run (was "Quadra splat" for all of them).
  • NewOne announcer call per splat: when a splat also hits a streak step, you hear the streak call instead of the multi-splat call.
  • NewTutorial: the announcer has a few words for you if you take a long time on a step.
  • NewMatches: the announcer teases you if you leave your augment cards up for 10 seconds without picking, or stand still without shooting for 20 seconds.
  • NewMusic volume starts at 50% (was 60%) for new players.
  • NewAnnouncer: says one thing at a time, the one that matters most. Lines he can't get to in time are skipped instead of piling up (the HUD still shows them). Victory, defeat and overtime cut in straight away; only the nuke outranks them.
  • BalanceAnnouncer idle jokes: after 20 seconds on the augment cards (was 10) or 35 seconds standing still (was 20), then no more than once a minute (was every 30 seconds).

Online

  • NewDropped out of an online match? Join the server again and you go straight back into it, on your own player.
  • NewAfter an online match you're queued for the next one automatically, so the group stays together.
  • NewPlayers searching while a match is on now see "match in progress, you're in the next one".
  • NewLose your connection mid-match and the game reconnects by itself (it keeps trying for 30 seconds) and puts you back in.
  • NewPlay Playtest has a Server password field, for servers that need one.
  • NewMessages from the server's admin show as a banner at the top of your screen.
  • NewCustom games: the leader sets how many play on each team with - and + in the Custom Game panel, 1 to 8 a side, and the sides don't have to match (3 v 4, 2 v 6). Bots fill the empty places.

Bug fixes

Items

  • Bomb Belt: its card and the Painter's Guide now say "Press Q to throw a grenade" and describe the blast and the paint it leaves.
  • Item cards and the handbook now say "damage resistance" for damage you take, instead of "less damage".
  • Chameleon: a crowned player's crown now vanishes with them while they're hidden, instead of floating in the air over them.
  • Megaphone: on pods, in the Painter's Guide and on its icon it now sits as it's held, grip down and horn level.
  • Mini Dozer: the keys now hang through the key ring, by a hole in each key.
  • Paint Drone: its health bar is narrower and smaller, and smaller still while it circles you.
  • Paint Drone: while it circles you, it now turns to face wherever you're aiming.
  • Victory podium: drones no longer show health bars, and they face the camera.
  • Hitting an enemy Paint Drone now gives you a hit marker and hit sound, like hitting a player.
  • Drone, Rally Beacon and mine health bars are now the same size as player health bars (the drone's used to grow huge from a distance).
  • Pressure Valve: you can now tell when the glob is charged: a much louder ping, a bright light on the glob, and your runner glows in your paint colour. The charged shot now fires with a deeper, bigger gunshot, and its boom comes from where it lands.
  • Pressure Valve: the charging glob now stays on the end of the barrel while you move, instead of shaking and sliding off it.
  • Twin Cherries: the stems are smooth all the way along (no more rings at the bends or dark patches where they join), and the white dots on the cherries are gone.

Augments

  • Chain Splat: all your blasts are now 20% bigger and deal 20% more damage.
  • Chain Splat: its icon, its pod and the Painter's Guide show it silver, as it looks worn (no longer in your team's colour).
  • Glass Cannon: no longer lowers your health (was -40%).
  • Glass Cannon: damage +50% → +35%.
  • Overcharge: the laser now always comes straight out of the front of the cannon (it could leave at an odd angle) before lining up with your aim.
  • Overcharge laser: the splash where the beam lands now keeps going while you hold it on a spot, and runs much smoother with many lasers firing. Its splat sound no longer stacks up into a roar.
  • Shots (and Overcharge's laser) no longer hit a low wall in the middle distance when your crosshair clearly sees over it onto a target further away.
  • Fixed a crash in the match after one that ended with Paint Mines on the floor. It hit the game and online servers (the countdown stuck on 1 for everyone).
  • No more hitch when hopping off Paint Surfer's board or when Overcharge's coils vent.
  • Triple Shot: the middle paintball (or laser) now hits for full damage; the two side ones hit for 75% (all three were 2/3).
  • Blood Pact: card reworded to "Only takedowns heal you" (it works the same).
  • Gamble the Game: no more freeze when it copies a pile of items (half a second with 300+ items). The copies now land together with one pickup flash instead of one each.
  • Ticking Heart: the health bar no longer flashes and shakes all the time from the drain.

Mechanics

  • Shots fired from behind low cover no longer hit the cover when your crosshair can see over it.
  • Movement tricks (Bunny Hop, Slide Hop, Perfect Landing, Slide Cancel, Wall Chain) no longer pop up text on screen. The moves and their sound are unchanged.
  • Leaning round cover while aiming is simpler and steadier: you lean all the way out or not at all, and switch only after 0.3 seconds blocked. You no longer get walked sideways out from behind cover.
  • Big paint fights run smoother: the splash blobs from beam hits cost much less frame time.
  • Wet sprays put out at most 100 drops (the nuke's spray was 140).
  • Victory dances: feet no longer sink into the floor during some dances (lobby, Locker and podium).
  • Mac: the game now ships with its fast paint and paintball code (it was missing, so Macs ran a much slower version). Big moments like the nuke no longer lag.
  • Hats no longer go see-through from one side (Cowboy, Top Hat and the Crown, Wizard and Chef hats): their back is solid now.
  • Much less stutter late in a match when someone picks up an item: only the new item's gear is put on now, not everything they wear (worst frame on a busy late-match moment 82 ms → 36 ms).
  • Every runner's rim glow was your team's blue, enemies included (most visible in Lights Out). Enemies glow in their own colour again.
  • Much less stutter when someone respawns late in a match: they come back in their last body instead of getting a new one built (a respawn with ~100 items: 31-36 ms → about 17 ms; worst frames in a big fight about halved).
  • A splatted body now pops as soon as its owner goes down again and respawns (one body lying per player at most). Before, a quick second death could leave two.

Maps & Modes

  • Fixed a crash that could happen mid-match, most often in longer matches with lots of item pickups and splats.
  • Fixed a crash when lots of items reach you at once, as when a nuke pulls every item on the map to you.
  • Fixed respawning past an augment pick: you can't respawn until every pick is taken.
  • Fixed an item pick getting in the way of an augment pick: the augment pick always comes first, then the item pick.
  • New mode: Capture the Flag (4v4, 8 minutes). Steal the enemy flag and run it to your base (your own flag must be home to score); carriers run 6% slower and drop the flag when splatted; a dropped flag goes home after 20 seconds or when its team touches it, and the other team can pick it up. First to 3 captures wins.
  • Capture the Flag: markers on screen for both flags with their distance, pinned to the edge when off screen. A flag on an enemy's back only shows where he is once a second; a carried flag no longer shows through walls.
  • Capture the Flag: announcer calls for flags taken, stolen, dropped, returned and captured, and when your flag must be home to score.
  • Downtown: shots now pass through the fountains' water; only the stone stops them.
  • Free for All: now won on splats, not paint. Each splat scores 1; first to 25, or the most splats when time runs out.
  • Juggernaut: the leaderboard now says JUGGERNAUT instead of KING OF THE HILL.
  • King of the Hill: the hill could "move" to the spot it was already on (the centre). It always goes somewhere new now.
  • King of the Hill: overtime no longer ends while the trailing team holds the hill, even with nobody standing on it.
  • King of the Hill: the "Hill moves in" timer no longer shows when the match will end before the hill moves.
  • King of the Hill: the hill's marker counts down the last 10 s before it moves, and says "LIVE IN" while it is offline.
  • King of the Hill: the announcer calls out when the hill is about to move, when it has moved, and when it is live again.
  • King of the Hill: the hill is offline for 5 s after it moves: nobody can take it or score on it until it lights up grey-white again.
  • King of the Hill: each hill is now a clean square or rectangle that fits the floor it's on (the tower roof, the plateau, the catwalk, the hall), and only the ground inside it counts. The minimap shows the same shape. Torrent Bridge's round in the middle stays a circle.
  • Downtown: the fountain plaza hills now cover the whole lawn round the fountain (the hill sits 3 m off the middle line, mirrored on the other side).
  • King of the Hill: for the last 10 seconds before the hill moves, its next spot is marked in the world too: its outline in marching amber dashes on the floor, a tall amber pillar of light over it, and NEXT HILL with the countdown over that, seen through walls from anywhere.
  • King of the Hill: the hill's paint ring shows its real colour again (white when neutral, your team's paint when held), with its gloss and glow, instead of a dull dark grey.
  • King of the Hill: in the kill cam, SPLATTED and the respawn timer no longer overlap the hill's status text, and "TAKE THE HILL" and "HILL MOVES IN" are white instead of grey.
  • King of the Hill: the hill's move timer now shows in place of TAKE THE HILL instead of under the capture bar, where it overlapped.
  • King of the Hill: a captured hill now scores for your team the whole time you hold it; nobody has to stay on it.
  • The floating square specks drifting over the maps are gone.
  • Aiming over a low wall or the castle battlements never leans you round it: standing, you shoot over it; crouched, you rise to rest your rifle on top at one steady height (now up to 0.7 m, was 0.65 m).
  • Smoother frame rate when paint hits walls, most of all on Torrent Bridge and with a bouncing Overcharge beam (one late-match moment went from 52 to 61-73 fps).

Menus, Sound & Online

  • Kill cam: a lot of gear now wraps onto two or three rows instead of piling up on one, and stack counts no longer cover the next icon.
  • Going between the title screen and the lobby no longer freezes for a moment, even the first time: the lobby is now made while the game starts up, and both stay loaded.
  • The lobby opens faster, and the Locker's and Store's pictures are saved, so they're there straight away from the second launch on.
  • End screen: one button now, Continue (E, or A on a pad), back to the lobby. Play Again and Watch Replay are gone from it (replays are still in History).
  • The lobby now has the same colour as a match (it was paler).
  • Camera near walls: it eases in and out instead of snapping, starts moving early as you walk past boxes and pillars, widens the view (up to 12°) while it's pulled in close, and no longer drops into your head when you look along a wall.
  • Lobby: no more stutter the first time you open it after starting the game. The fade in and the first second and a half are smooth now.
  • Locker and Store: the Cap card shows the cap close up (it sometimes showed the whole runner).
  • Start-up: the icon's bounce-in no longer stutters as it starts.
  • Lobby display stands: items that are switched off no longer show. Bubble Shield is shown smaller and Jet Wings bigger.
  • Free crates: opening several at once no longer turns big parts of the screen white or pink on some graphics cards.
  • Match History: the panel is wider, and a match's scores and stats no longer run under the Download Replay button.
  • Match History: Juggernaut matches show each player's points (they showed as a huge paint %, like 10000%).
  • Augment cards are taller, and long descriptions no longer get cut off.
  • Lobby: going to the Locker now turns the stage clockwise, and you no longer jitter on your pedestal while it turns.
  • Augments: the cards you're offered stay the same each time you open them, instead of looking re-dealt.
  • Tutorial: the slide drill's ring no longer appears inside a wall.
  • Tutorial: augment cards can't be re-rolled in the tutorial.
  • Tutorial: the first step (walk into the gold ring) shows again. It used to tick itself off while the match loaded, so the tutorial opened on the camera step.
  • Tutorial: the slide drill's ring and the bomb drill's floor ring now pop when you finish the drill (a slide on your paint, or the ring painted), instead of staying up.
  • Tutorial: the wall run drill counts a run along any wall (4 m), with no rings to find.
  • Locker and Store: the full outfit view sits a little higher, so tall hats and stalk eyes no longer go under the top bar.
  • Lobby and podium: runners stand on top of the paint can lid instead of sinking into it.
  • Enemy names and health bars are sized in the world now: they shrink with distance, and the bar stays right under the name at any range (it used to slide into the enemy's body when far away).
  • Lobby and podium: paint on the can lids lies flat on the lid, and runners stand on top of the paint.
  • The "press F" reminder now says ITEM for an item pick, AUGMENT for an augment pick, and AUGMENT AND ITEM when both are waiting (it always said AUGMENT).
  • Menus: small detail text (captions, counts, hints) and the whole Locker now use a new hand-brushed font; headings, tabs, buttons and Match History keep the usual font.
  • Crates, Store and Locker: the Confetti finisher's picture stays inside its card instead of spilling off the sides.
  • Lobby: the top bar now matches the main menu bar: solid black with a paint line, white labels, a block of colour behind a tab on hover and a coloured strip under the open one. The "Paintball Mayhem" name is gone from it.
  • Lobby: the bunkers no longer have tie-down ropes.
  • Lobby: you can no longer shoot the paint can you're standing on.
  • Item icons are no longer cut off at the edges (the Padded Vest's bottom).
  • Main menu: the buttons now stack down the middle under the title (no more bar along the bottom), and hovering one splashes glossy blue or pink paint behind it, sized to the word.
  • Power-ups are now called Augments everywhere (the Painter's Guide, loading tips).
  • New mode picker: the modes open as big cards across the screen, each with a shot of that mode in play; hover one to see how it plays.
  • Play: the mode card in the top left now shows a picture of the mode, like the mode picker's cards.
  • New mode icons for King of the Hill, Free for All, Juggernaut and Capture the Flag on the Play screen and the mode picker.
  • The game's opening animation no longer stutters as the logo pops up.
  • Split-screen: the view in each half is no longer stretched extra wide; it shows about as much as a normal screen does.
  • Split-screen: two players can now play side by side (left and right) instead of top and bottom (Settings > Controls > Split screen).
  • New Field of view setting (Settings > Controls): -15° to +15°.
  • Split-screen: each couch player has their own stick sensitivity, field of view, camera view and shoulder. Press Menu on your controller and pick "P2 Settings" (P3, P4 for the others); they're remembered for next time.
  • Split-screen: fixed both halves showing a black screen instead of the map.
  • Dynamic resolution no longer slows every frame down, and changes resolution at most once every 3 seconds (each change can cause a small hitch).
  • The F3 performance panel no longer makes the game stutter while it's open.
  • Smoother frame rate late in a match: the combo markers over items and the combo cards in the corner cost much less (the HUD's moving parts 1.6 → 0.3 ms a frame).
  • Watching a replay from the end screen (V) or Match History now saves it for good too. Before, it could be deleted after 10 more matches.
  • The lobby's Party list now shows each player's calling card (its art, name and title, like the one over their head) instead of a letter icon and plain name.
  • The announcer no longer repeats his 7-splat call at 8, 9, 10 and up in a quick run; past 7 he stays quiet.
  • Quick multi-splats no longer pile up behind each other: a bigger call replaces the one waiting, or cuts off one that has only just started.
  • Tutorial: plays the main menu song instead of a match song.
  • Online: the matchmaking screen now shows everyone in the look they last picked in the Locker and Store, and other players see your latest look, finisher, dance and spray tag in the match too (it used to keep the look you had when you joined the server).
  • Online servers no longer freeze for 2-3 seconds in one go while loading a match.
  • Online: players on the latest build can join servers again (they were all told "the host is on a different version").
  • A short freeze or connection hiccup no longer drops you from an online match: the game now waits 15 seconds (was 5).
  • "Back to lobby" after an online match keeps you on the server (it used to drop you into an offline lobby).
  • The pause menu's button in online matches now reads "Leave Match", and says how to get back in.
  • An older build joining a newer server is told to update, instead of joining and misbehaving.
  • A match no longer starts until every player's screen has finished drawing the map, so slower PCs don't drop on a map they haven't played yet.
  • Two players can't join a server with the same name.
  • A server on a different build now turns players away with "get the latest build" (they used to get in, and the round countdown ran on past 1 into negative numbers). The countdown never shows below 1.
  • Online: rejoin a match while you're splatted and you come straight back in at a spawn. You used to be stuck at 0 health, unable to jump, shoot anyone or respawn.
  • Online: an augment or item pick you were dealt before you dropped is offered again when you rejoin.
  • Custom games: when the leader picks no mutators, everyone votes on one alongside the map, like in matchmaking.
  • Custom games: the Mode, Mutators and Bots cards stay where they are on the Play screen (only the leader can change them), with a new Map card under them; picking teams is now in the Party section.