Swarmlake 4.1

Hi, the free Swarmlake 4.1 update is out now. Where 4.0 rebuilt the game, 4.1 deepens it at both ends: more ways in for new players, and more room to master for everyone else.

Added assists: Optional sliders to tune the challenge: game speed, enemy spawn rate, enemy damage, maximum health, beam charge speed, and beam charge count. Enabling any assist disables leaderboard uploads and achievements, so the leaderboard stays fair.

Added accessibility options: Colorblind filters, reduce flashing, camera shake amount, and two motion comfort options.

Added threat warning: A directional ember glow at the screen edge and a radar in the screen center point to enemies closing in from behind or off-screen. Removes the most common source of unfair-feeling deaths. Can be toggled in HUD settings.

Added early-game spawn structure: The first stretch of every run now follows a hand-authored enemy progression. Introduces threats one at a time so new players can learn each enemy instead of being overwhelmed at once.

Added endless practice mode: A fixed difficulty training mode with no time limit, for experimenting with movement, the beam, and enemy patterns at your own pace.

Reworked death camera: Death now freezes the moment, then eases smoothly from first-person into a third-person view of the scene.

Added beam-jump recharge: Ascending during a beam jump continuously regains beam charge, rewarding skilled vertical movement.

Reworked jumping off bombs: You can no longer jump directly off a bomb. Instead, detonating a bomb by running into it grants a brief mid-air jump window, so the timing is more deliberate.

Improved impact feedback: Added a brief hit-stop when you take damage and when a bomb is detonated by collision, plus heavier explosion debris.

Improved damage clarity: The enemy that hit you is briefly outlined so it is clearer what happened.

Added rotating game-over hints: The game-over screen now cycles localized tips, including a pointer to the new assists for players who are stuck.

Stretched the enemy spawn scaling curve past its old plateau: Keeps difficulty climbing instead of flattening into an endurance test, making the early and mid game more relevant to your final score rather than rewarding long survival alone.

Tightened the beam's bomb-detonation radius: Makes beam detonations more skillful and intentional. Missing a bomb on purpose is now easier, so you can leave bombs standing to detonate later for healing.

Improved stats chart: Reworked the post-run stats chart layering and event display for cleaner reading.

Please keep in mind that top scores will be lower now due to the gameplay changes, in particular the steeper difficulty curve at the top 1%. Therefore the leaderboard also had to be reset.

Swarmlake has continuously evolved over time with the goal to make it more fun for more players. I am aware that people dislike change and I am sorry for the frustration this can cause.

Thank you

• Dominique