Patch Notes 0.9.3

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KILLER INN and NieR:Automata cross path! Play KILLER INN during the event to get your hands on a variety of exclusive collab items! Collaboration Period:

From May 21, at 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT / 17:00 UTC to June 18, at 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT / 17:00 UTC

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Steam post image Custom Lobbies

• Players can now browse and join custom lobbies that are in progress

• Players can now join in-progress custom matches as a spectator

• The custom lobby finder now has a filter tab to select which types of lobbies to show

• Players who host custom lobbies now share their unlocked characters with all other players in the lobby

  Note: Characters unlocked in this way do not gain XP or progress their reward tracks

• Custom lobbies now support custom game rules that can be selected by the lobby host

  0.9.3 supports the following custom rules

  -Match Start Gold (0-50G, in 50G increments) -Wolf Player Percent -Guardian Health (1000-3000, in 100-point increments) -harbor Open Timer (500～1500 sec, in 50-sec increments) -Match Start Immunity Time (30～300 sec, in 10-sec increments) -Retaliation (enabled/disabled)

• Custom matches now grant metagame XP if the match has at least 8 players

• Improved the responsiveness of refreshing the custom lobby explorer

Tutorial

• The elimination menu now shows gameplay tips based on how you died

• New players will now be prompted to play the tutorial the first time the Play menu is opened

• The tutorial selection dialog panel now also links to a tutorial video

Matchmaking

• Beginner players will now queue into lobbies with other beginner players for their first 20 matches

  If there are insufficient beginners online, you will temporarily be placed in the normal queue instead

• Matchmaking now attempts to balance player skill level across teams more rigorously

Due to low population levels, we were finding that beginners were frequently being matched against experienced players which could lead to a negative experience for beginners. While there has always been logic in the matchmaker to ensure that players of widely different skill are not matched against each other, with low population counts, beginners and experts were still getting matched against each other far too frequently.

While it is still possible for beginners and experts to be matched against each other when population levels are extremely low, we have altered the logic to be much more explicit – beginners with 20 games or less will only be matched against each other, provided there are enough beginners available to start at least one game. Once you have exceeded 20 games, you will be matched in the general pool.

Metagame

• Match participation XP now scales with the time survived per match

We wanted to increase the total XP earned for players who didn’t necessarily win the match. We also didn’t want to penalize people who played for a long period of time in the game but didn’t manage to get into a top spot to earn extra XP. Now, the XP earned increases the longer you play the match and the overall amount of XP earned should be higher per match on average.

Battle Pass

• Season 2 begins May 22, 2026 and includes a new battle pass to progress!

• Previous battle passes can continue to be progressed, but only one may be active at a time

• The battle pass menu has a new tab to select your active battle pass

• The main menu appearance has been revised for the latest collaboration event

• Claiming battlepass rewards now allows skipping through the confirmation windows much faster

Partial Clues

Even when Wolf players tried to hide their identity and play more stealthily, there was an issue where other players could pick up their Partial Clues and identify them as a Wolf too easily, even before they had killed anyone.

One of the biggest reasons for this was that it was simply too difficult for the Wolf player to notice when they had dropped a Partial Clue in the first place. Even if players were watching the clue corner UI closely to catch the exact moment the number increased, they could still end up dropping Partial Clues without realizing it.

With this patch, sound effects and controller rumble should make it much easier than before to notice when you have dropped a Partial Clue.

We have also improved the UI so that the clues you have left behind are easier to recognize on the map.

• The clue corner now pops up a small notification when you drop a partial clue as a wolf

• Dropping partial clues as a wolf now plays a sound effect and controller rumble

• Wolves can now see their partial clues on the minimap and can use the map to track their nearest partial clue

• Clues dropped by you are now marked as "yours" on the minimap and interact panel

• Clues dropped by you now appear instantly on the minimap when dropped

Gameplay

• Showdown mode now starts at 6 players remaining instead of 3 players

• For small player count matches, the threshold decreases (for example at 4 players for a 12-person match)

• Ladder sprinting now consumes 50% less stamina than regular sprinting

• Dropped guardian keys are now visible through walls

• Bad guessing now heals back the victim for all recent damage dealt by the bad guesser

Interface

• The safe zone interface has been revised and is now at the top center of the HUD

• The guardian status interface has been removed from the top center of the HUD

• The appearance of the2D maps have been significantly revised

• The career summary now includes an average of your max player level across all matches

• Overhead clues no longer appear next to other players if the player is revealed or if the clue is a lamb clue

• The player status interface on the HUD no longer includes the character name

• Loading tips have been revised to match the utility item revisions

• Revised the appearance of the utility item icons on the buff bar

• Emotes can now be directly bound to keybinds in the options menu

• Player ID numbers are now displayed in all locations that include the player's name

• Improved the menu responsiveness of switching workbench tabs

• The "Max 3 Quests" shop warning is now on a separate line from the "New Quest" label

Animation

• Revised the lever pull animations

Level

• Quest distances have been revised to be shorter and much more consistent across levels

• This should improve Solarium Wing often feeling much slower for questing than Lunum Wing

• Added a wolf bot to Solarium wing's training mode

Audio

• Revised the sound FX for various grapple animations

• Added sound FX to certain character idle animations

• Revised the sound FX when auto-reloading the shotgun

Optimization

• Increased server packet send rate for more reliable network synchronization

• Optimized various game systems to improve memory performance

• Optimized shadow rendering speed to reduce shadow flickering

• Optimized object loading time when running into new areas of the level

Characters

Author

• VIP now has a 30 second cooldown upon performing a free staff action (including purchasing shred clues for free) before actions become free again

There were some circumstances where the Author could repeatedly heal at the doctor or buy a large number of clues in a short period of time that fell outside the intended goal of this ability. We have revised to include a short cooldown so that purchasing of clues or healing is almost always available when you would naturally approach a Staff member, but cannot be used back to back repeatedly.

Gamer

• Gamer Rage damage bonus reduced from 50% -> 25%

• Gamer Rage move speed bonus reduced from 50% -> 25%

Hunter

• Tracker damage bonus reduced from 50% -> 25%

Ninja

• Ninja's Stealthy and Throwing Expert passives now explicitly state they affect damage over time potency

Otaku

• Otaku's Deal Finder passive now has a custom shop widget that allows viewing and purchasing the discounted item

Retaliation

• Poisoning no longer shows the retaliation icon above the player's head

  Retaliation is still allowed, but you will need to pay close attention to know who poisoned you!

• Flashbang grenades no longer trigger retaliation

The retaliation icon is a useful indicator to see who may have harmed you so you could freely retaliate, but it also negated the stealth value of poison gases by instantly revealing aggressors. By disabling the icon (but secretly leaving retaliation active) items like poison spray should increase somewhat in utility as a stealth focused early game option for wolves, while still allowing you to retaliate if you notice someone using them against you.

Grappling

• Grapple victims are now immune to further grappling for 2 seconds after escaping

We wanted to eliminate cases where you could be grappled by multiple players back to back, leading to cases where you would be effectively stun locked with zero recourse.

Melee

• Melee attacks while sprinting now play a lunging sprint attack

• Club Disorienting blur effect has been reduced

• Club Disorienting duration decreased from 7s -> 4s

• Club Stacking damage decreased from 15% (max 60%) -> 10% (max 50%)

• Club Spiked bleed decreased from 50% -> 40%

• Club Backstab damage decreased from 75% -> 50%

• Club Smashing damage decreased from 50% -> 35%

• Axe Sharp bleed decreased from 60% -> 40%

• Axe Slashing damage decreased from 35 -> 30

• Axe Toxic Coated damage decreased from 50 -> 40

• Stamina drain on melee attacks Increased from 10 -> 15

The new sprint swing attack has made it easier to catch up to and attack people with melee who may be running, hopefully reducing the number of times you think you are in range, swing, only to come up short.

We have also reduced the strength of numerous melee upgrades, and the strength pill’s melee damage bonus. This should hopefully make the melee weapons more consistent to use, especially in chasing situations, but also less total power overall, in particular in closed spaces.

Poison

• Poison throw up animations have been shortened from 6 -> 3 seconds

• Poison now begins subtly slowing the player immediately once applied

• Poison duration scaling with resistance has been revised

  • Poison still takes longer to kill you while having resistance, but parts of the sequence that cause you to be unable to take actions no longer also become longer with more resistance

We had always intended poison to be very powerful when the vomit kicks in, while still affording a good amount of time to cure yourself if you noticed you were poisoned beforehand. However, the total slow down and stun duration was far too extreme. We have significantly shortened the slowdown for the vomit sequence and the stun duration. It is still a heavily punishing effect when it kicks in, but should be far less devastating than before.

Utility Items

• Pepper Spray has been removed

• A new utility item Stunner has been added

For many new players, understanding and learning how to counter instant-kill attacks from knives and Blackout Vapors was a major burden. At the same time, many experienced players were already carrying counter items such as Neck Guards and Gas Masks as standard equipment. As a result, instant-kill attacks often struggled to find opportunities to be effective.

In other words, they were too powerful against beginners, but almost useless against advanced players. To address this issue, we have been working toward a new direction: Simplifying instant-kill counters. With this patch, the new item Stunner has officially been added to the game.

The goal is to make things simple and easy to understand: as long as you have one Stunner, you can feel safe knowing that it will block one instant kill, no matter what type it is.

At the same time, because the Stunner is a single-use item, even advanced players should now have moments where they no longer have one available.

We hope this creates new layers of strategy around how to exhaust an opponent’s Stunner, while also allowing matches to be decided not only through gunfights, but through Knives, Blackout Vapors, and Grapples as well.

• If you are carrying a Stunner, it will automatically be activated and block an instant-kill attack form a knife or a Blackout Vapor

• Stunner is lost after it is used once

• When you are grappled, you can manually use a Stunner to block it Note: You can also choose not to use a Stunner and defend yourself through the minigame instead.

• Stunners do not stack within the same inventory slot Note: Each Stunner takes up one slot, and you can carry up to four at the same time

• Stunners can appear as a regular world pickup

• Stunners can be purchased from all staff types for 50 gold

• Stunners cannot be found in utility chests

• You can check whether the player in front of you has a Stunner by using Focus Mode. Note: However, you cannot tell how many Stunners they are carrying

• Neck guard now also gives +10% body armor

• Neck guard now has 2 durability, and breaks once fully used Note: When broken, the neck guard provides no armor or grapple protection, but can be sold for gold

• Neck guard cost increased from 50 -> 75 gold

  • Similar to the Stunner, we wanted the Neck Guard to still have some defensive utility, but give it limited uses, so it would be a resource drain to be permanently immune to rear grapple attacks.

  • To compensate, we have increased its gold cost and general utility by adding a flat armor bonus.

• Infrared goggles cost decreased from 75 -> 50 gold

  • We wanted to keep the infrared goggles as a utility item that helps you see through walls and protect against flash instead of being an item that helped out with grappling.

• Gas mask no longer counters blackout vapor

• Cat charm now also gives +10% move speed and +50% ladder climb speed

• Cat charm no longer appears as a regular world pickup

• Cat charm can now be found in utility chests

  We wanted to increase the utility of the cat charm so it would have more direct gameplay impact beyond simply reducing footstep sounds. Due to its increased utility, it has been moved to utility chests.

Consumables

• All status-effect consumables now last 90 seconds

  Includes: speed potion, stamina pill, strength pill, ghostshield potion, and resistance potion

• Strength pill melee damage bonus reduced from 50% -> 25%

We found that the differing durations on the consumables made them annoying to use together, and in some cases lasted quite a long time given their high utility. We have therefore unified all their durations to a middle ground that should increase the speed potion utility while counteracting by lowering the utility of the other consumables.

Miscellaneous

• Damage bonuses no longer affect damage over time effects unless explicitly stated as a "potency" bonus

  Ninja's passives are currently the only source of general potency bonuses in the game

• Damage reduction no longer affects damage over time and now reads as "physical damage reduction"

• Curse damage bonus reduced from 50% -> 40%

We wanted to create a clearer distinction between physical damage and damage over time, and reduce the ubiquitous power of overall damage bonuses and damage reduction, by applying them only towards physical damage rather than damage over time as well, except when specified. This shouldn’t dramatically impact balance as the changes tend to cancel each other out, but it should make item descriptions more clear and smooth out the extreme cases of ultra high damage reduction and bonuses.

Metagame

• Fixed match awards not being granted if the player disconnects at the same time as dying

Gameplay

• Fixed Hunter's tracking damage bonus not applying on her automatic tracking from inspection

• Fixed bug where cosplayer would stand up when using hedgehog ability inside a vent

• Fixed bug where camera appeared in the wrong position if starting a zipline while crouched

• Fixed Serial Killer's Calling Card granting HP when any killer died

• Fixed cases where players could climb beyond the top of ladders

• Fixed cases where a clue could show a single suspect but not reveal that player's role

• Fixed cases where players could become stuck in minigame menus and animations

• Fixed spectator mode picking the incorrect player to spectate when manual cycling is disabled

• Fixed target quest drones sometimes requiring multiple shots to kill

Interface

• Fixed the text on earned accolades to be white instead of teal

• Fixed text overflow on certain item descriptions on the item wheel

• Fixed the career screen XP text to match the bar progress

• Fixed the spectator switch player buttons incorrectly appearing interactable when hovered

• Fixed lamb and wolf marking to be rebindable in the options without using the Ctrl modifier

• Fixed custom lobby region selection not showing the correct region when the lobby owner changes

• Fixed square brackets not displaying correctly in character stories

• Fixed text overlap in the EULA and Privacy Policy menus

• Fixed the premium battlepass automatically attempting to purchase when accepting any dialog on the battlepass menu

• Fixed text overflow on character story rewards

• Fixed the clue refinement panel being vertically offset in some cases

• Fixed vertical offset of the Support ID button

• Fixed the description text for guaranteed chest weapons to specify it will only apply if you don't already have that weapon

• Fixed the clue HUD panel sometimes leaving a gap between elements

• Fixed overlapping menu navigation buttons on various menus

• Fixed misaligned level text on player overhead bars

• Fixed the inbox menu's page buttons having an offset clickable area

• Fixed misaligned level text on the level up flourish

• Fixed incorrect button spacing on the first game start up panel

• Fixed middle mouse button not being unbound from Ping after assigning it to another action

• Fixed button icon sizing for various keyboard keys

• Fixed text overflow in options menu labels

• Fixed text overflow in grid menu headers

• Fixed MVP icon overlap in the match history list

• Fixed long player names overflowing in various clue menus

• Fixed text overflow in the custom lobby "transfer host" text

• Fixed squad mates' positions being visible at all times on the minimap

• Fixed player input becoming stuck when cycling spectators and opening a menu at the same time

• Fixed certain HUD buttons being erroneously clickable and potentially causing a game freeze if used

• Fixed text overlap when pinging partial clues

• Fixed text alignment in the match history screen

• Fixed text overflow on key found and key delivered flourishes

Network

• Fixed clients failing to reconnect to the match during a network disconnection when using streamer mode

• Fixed players being disconnected from the match upon purchasing a clue lead from staff

Animation

• Fixed other players appearing to slide around when running and using melee weapons

• Fixed animation popping when moving while aiming

• Fixed an animation T-pose when bad-guessed on using blackout vapor

• Fixed animation popping when opening drawers

• Fixed animation popping when aiming a throwable weapon

Graphics

• Fixed safe zone impact visual FX not working correctly for melee attacks

• Fixed the Ninja Casual skin's hair sticking through the helmet

Level

• Fixed physics issue in the harbor occasionally causing players to fall through the level

• Fixed players sometimes failing to render near the Lunum wing kitchen area

• Fixed the workbench lamp being excessively bright on certain items

• Fixed players sometimes randomly dying in the harbor

• Fixed some floating item pickups in Solarium wing

Audio

• Fixed a rare crash when voice chat was disabled

• Fixed incoming voice chat sometimes not working if all outgoing voice chat options were disabled

• Fixed the bridge raised sound from playing multiple times

• Fixed the out-of-ammo sound playing while the gun still had ammo

Localization

• Fixed text character overflow issues in Japanese and Chinese

• Fixed Japanese and Chinese line wrapping in incorrect places

• Fixed text in the Square Enix Members menu not displaying correctly in some languages

• Fixed line wrapping issues in Chinese and Japanese clients

• Fixed line break issues in Russian and Korean languages

• Fixed text for active voice chat speakers always showing as English regardless of system language

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