Just yesterday, Semiwork launched a new major content update for their horror coop extraction game R.E.P.O. dubbed the “Monster Update.” To boot, they have made the game free over this Halloween weekend for you and up to five other players to hop into and get scared one last time for the tail-end of spooky season. And befitting of Semiwork’s zany community outreach posts and developer art, they announced this along with a live action short film on Youtube, which sets the tone of the content they’ve added in a really fun way.
Upon the game’s launch earlier this year in February, it boasted a peak concurrent player count of over 260,000–an impressive number for a title from such a small studio. Some of R.E.P.O.’s success may be attributed to its premise, which is very similar to the also popular Lethal Company and Content Warning, both of which had their fame boosted by prominent streamers and content creators sharing their scream-filled exploits of the games. And these extraction horror titles attract attention for a good reason. They have a simple but effective formula; get your friends together, steal loot from some decrepit ruin, and laugh-cry as one by one your group succumbs to various monsters and environmental hazards. Automatic fun. But R.E.P.O. separates itself from its competition by focusing on physics in its levels, forcing players to move cumbersome furniture and fragile valuables around giant floating heads and laser clowns, both of which will destroy the value of your gathered items either by accidentally bumping into them or plowing through to sic another player.
And with this new update put out by Semiwork, there’s even more hilarity to be had from more monsters, more loot to hoard, and more tools and abilities to buy with whatever you manage to extract. The four procedurally generated maps have also received aesthetic upgrades, and according to the developers, the loot within the maps now fits their theme better than before; where you could find a magic wand in an arctic research laboratory. As well as a bevy of this new content detailed in the developer’s update notes, there are also many quality of life changes, featuring additional music and ambience, player movement improvements, and texture quality increases. With all of this added onto an already immensely enjoyable game, there’s never been a better time to hop back into R.E.P.O.