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SWAPMEAT Early Access begins October 21!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Put down that hot dog... we're finally pushing the "Early Access" button! This is a huge milestone, but just the beginning of our journey together.

This is your chance to score an exclusive Founder's Edition of the game, which comes with:

🎶 The B-Sides (available Oct. 21) and Original Soundtrack (coming in 2026 at full release!)
🍗 An exclusive cosmetic set featuring "Alt Comedian Head Mask," Carl's Original Gold Ball antenna, and a Golden Spatula
ːsteamhappyː More Founder's cosmetics to come based on player feedback

Get a taste of what everyone will be talking about and play the demo for free right now ahead of Steam Next Fest!

SWAPMEAT's going to Steam Next Fest! Demo now available!

Welcome to the SWAPMEAT public demo! We've been publicly playtesting SWAPMEAT for nearly two years, and we're excited to share a slice of the game in a non-alpha state for the first time. For us here at One More Game, we'd consider this a graduation from alpha into beta. We're still actively working on the game and receiving feedback, but this is a reasonable representation of a slice of what to expect once we begin Early Access.

For this public demo, players will have access to a subset of what will be available during Early Access. Here's what we're shipping today:

  • The Tutorial and Solar System 1 (Act 1) – After a short tutorial, you'll traverse three planets containing a number of random events, a mini-boss, and the final boss of the first act.
  • Level up to Employee Rank 10
  • Unlock all 9 different weapon platforms
  • Unlock and configure the 9 different weapon upgrade grids up until Employee Rank 10
  • Fight over 30 unique enemies with three different tiers of difficulty


You might only have access to the first Solar System, but why not try to defeat it on Easy, Normal, Hard, and Nightmare mode? We have it on good authority that it's quite challenging to defeat on Nightmare mode when you're only able to progress to Employee Rank 10.

This demo will remain available throughout Early Access and beyond. Our Alpha-Driven Development process means the demo will continue to be updated alongside the full game as long as SWAPMEAT is in active development. If you purchase the full version of SWAPMEAT, your progress from the demo will be carried over into your purchase. Farm to your heart's content and earn those higher-tier resources by playing on higher difficulty levels. This will be the last time we intend to wipe progress.

Thank you to all of our testers who have helped us get here. We truly could not have done it without you.

Gameplay
  • Added support for "out of combat" tracking. Researcher legs now move faster when out of combat. More to come on this.
  • Your ranged weapon that is not currently active will automatically reload after a short period of time.


Visuals & Animation
  • Matched weapon upgrade art and icons to the upgrade picks.
  • Hooked up escape rocket to end of payload event.
  • Polished Hunter Intro and Frank Defeated cutscenes.
  • Added custom models to tier 2 and tier 3 enemies.
  • Polished the Mode Select intro and added animated sharks to the scene.
  • Updated all the key cutscenes and systems. Still WIP, but more of the story is being told with more refined content than just rough blocking.
  • Spot polishing some alien enemy animations, adding more impactful staggers and filling in some gaps.
  • Added a new "thanks for playing" from Carl at the end of the demo to thank players for checking it out and to share links for wishlisting and social media.


UI / UX
  • Added subtitles for all cutscenes.
  • Text copy editorial pass on all subtitles in the game to match the spoken lines.
  • New hunter threat meter located under the compass.
  • New rewards treatment for directives.
  • Updated Hunter Detection System Upgrade description text and image for more clarity on how the system works. (Related: We disabled the older explainer video that is out of date.)
  • Upgrade grid visuals have been altered slightly to improve readability.


Audio
  • Lots of work on the VO systems in preparation for final recording down the line.
  • Game mix and default settings refinements and balancing.
  • SFX passes on key cutscenes.
  • Fixed some audio corruption bugs.
  • New music track for the Hunters when they get enraged.


Bug Fixes
  • Fixed bugs where wrong VFX, SFX, and damage types were applied to elemental variants of Wasp Spit, Meat Missile, Landmines, and Grenadier Bomb.
  • Fixed a bug where wishlist text would no longer go offscreen when running in non-English languages.


Known Issues
  • Playing in native Linux mode on Steam Deck is not yet supported.
  • No significant performance tuning has been done yet. If you are graphics bound, you can try lowering the quality settings in the Esc menu via Options → Video, but systems with more constrained hardware may struggle.
  • Not all input buttons and keys have icons in the UI yet. Text descriptions (e.g., "J" or "Button West") will show up for things that do not yet have an icon in the input glyph map.
  • When observing other players, some UI bits such as the reload HUD don't show accurate information for the observed player.
  • All cutscenes and voiceover dialogue are WIP (and most lines aren't in at all yet).

LATAM Meat Lab 7.5: Patch Notes 2025-09-18

Meat Lab 7.5 2025-09-18.a
[p][/p]
[h2]Gameplay[/h2][p]- Added a slight lockout (400ms) from firing ranged weapons after using a melee attack[/p][p]- Added a light camera wobble after using a melee attack[/p][p][/p][h3]Abilities[/h3][p]- Buffed Bone Armor (Stellar Chef Torso Ability)[/p][p] - Increase Radius of Bone Armor from 15m -> 30m[/p][p] - Increase Duration of Bone Armor from 15s -> 30s[/p][p][/p][h3]Difficulty Levels[/h3][p]- The default difficulty level is Easy. You can unlock harder difficulties by beating Solar Systems at the previous difficulty setting. Playing maps on higher difficulty levels yields greater rewards[/p][p][/p][h3]Franken Beans[/h3][p]- Lowered max health of the stone pillars used for cover in the arena[/p][h3]Hunters[/h3][p]- Carl will now warn you when the Hunters are near via a PiP (Picture in Picture) popup and VO line[/p][p][/p][h2]Art[/h2][p]- Hunters now look like themselves when crashing down to the planet (instead of the old meatball models)
[/p][h2]Animation[/h2][p]- A bunch of animation and vfx polish updates on Hunters for when they are Incapacitated, Teleporting, and Arriving[/p][p]- Scaled up the Meathedral and added more rotation and a slower descent to help make it feel more imposing and visible when it arrives[/p][h2]Audio[/h2][p]- Hunters now have some temp VO when they are spawned in.[/p][p][/p][h2]UI / UX[/h2][p]- Revised objective text in tutorial to improve readability[/p][p]- Added subtitles to cutscenes[/p][p][/p][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2][p]- Fixed some issue with in-world enemy spawners (eg. egg spawners, satellite smoker control panels, etc) were not doing a good job finding valid spawn points for the enemies they were spawning[/p][p]- Fixed Hunter Warning VO+Pip that wasn’t being triggered[/p][p]- Fixed a bug that was causing PowerLeech to try to do server-only stuff on clients[/p][p]- Fixed some spots on Calypso where terrain collision was either not present or misaligned, which would allow players to fall through the world[/p][p]- Fixed a visual bug of a large planet prop sitting in the middle of some of the levels: Tangus Prime, Moon of Tangus, Franken Freak Off[/p][p]- Fix mispelling of Thunder Crown (was Thunter Crown). Thanks @Blackbeard ![/p][p]- Fixed cases where events would get stuck at “0/0 enemies remaining” if the targets were eliminated before the player entered the event activation radius[/p][p]- Fixed an issue that could cause a game to soft lock after clicking OK to a network disconnect error message during the loading screen[/p][p]- Fixed a bug that would cause the player character’s animations to become unstable and jittery while animated Picture-In-Picture popups were playing[/p][p]- Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause enemies to spawn under the world at event locations[/p][p]- Fixed a bug that was causing border collision to get disabled in the Mutant wrestling arena[/p][p]- Fixed an issue where the Goober Shooter’s name was missing[/p][p]- Fixed an issue where +1 Jump Count was removed from the Ninja Legs Passive[/p][p][/p][h2]Known Issues[/h2][p]- Playing in native Linux mode on Steam Deck is not yet supported[/p][p]- No significant performance tuning has been done yet. If you are graphics bound, you can try lowering the quality settings in the Esc menu via Options → Video, but systems with more constrained hardware may struggle[/p][p]- Not all input buttons and keys have icons in the UI yet. Text descriptions (eg. “J”, or “Button West”) will show up for things that do not yet have an icon in the input glyph map[/p][p]- When observing other players, some UI bits such as the reload HUD don’t show accurate information for the observed player[/p][p]- Squat Daddy Legs Banzai Drop doesn’t play the “gainer” animation on initial leap[/p][p][/p]
Patch Notes en Español
[h2]Jugabilidad[/h2]
  • [p]Se agregó un pequeño retraso (400 ms) al disparar armas a distancia después de usar un ataque cuerpo a cuerpo[/p]
  • [p]Se agregó un ligero movimiento de cámara tras usar un ataque cuerpo a cuerpo[/p]
[h2]Habilidades[/h2]
  • [p]Mejoras en Armadura Ósea (Habilidad de Torso del Chef Estelar)[/p]
    • [p]Radio aumentado de 15 m -> 30 m[/p]
    • [p]Duración aumentada de 15 s -> 30 s[/p]
[h2]Niveles de dificultad[/h2]
  • [p]La dificultad predeterminada es Fácil. Puedes desbloquear dificultades más altas al superar sistemas solares en la dificultad anterior. Jugar en dificultades más altas otorga mayores recompensas[/p]
[h3]Franken Beans[/h3]
  • [p]Se redujo la vida máxima de los pilares de piedra usados como cobertura en la arena[/p]
[h3]Cazadores[/h3]
  • [p]Carl ahora te advertirá cuando los Cazadores estén cerca con una ventana emergente (PiP) y una línea de voz[/p]
[h2]Arte[/h2]
  • [p]Los Cazadores ahora se ven como sí mismos al caer en el planeta (en lugar de los antiguos modelos de albóndiga)[/p]
[h2]Animación[/h2]
  • [p]Mejoras de animación y VFX en los Cazadores cuando están incapacitados, teleportándose o llegando[/p]
  • [p]Se aumentó la escala de la Meatedral y se ajustó su descenso para que luzca más imponente y visible[/p]
[h2]Audio[/h2]
  • [p]Los Cazadores ahora tienen voces temporales al aparecer[/p]
[h2]UI / UX[/h2]
  • [p]Texto de objetivos en el tutorial revisado para mejorar la legibilidad[/p]
  • [p]Se agregaron subtítulos a las cinemáticas[/p]
[h2]Correcciones de errores[/h2]
  • [p]Se corrigieron problemas con generadores de enemigos en el mundo (ej. huevos, paneles de control, etc)[/p]
  • [p]Se arregló la advertencia VO+PiP de los Cazadores que no se activaba[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió un error que hacía que PowerLeech intentara realizar tareas solo de servidor en clientes[/p]
  • [p]Se arreglaron colisiones de terreno ausentes o desalineadas en Calypso[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió un bug visual de un planeta gigante en algunos niveles: Tangus Prime, Moon of Tangus, Franken Freak Off[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió un error tipográfico en Thunder Crown (antes Thunter Crown). ¡Gracias @Blackbeard![/p]
  • [p]Se arreglaron eventos atascados en “0/0 enemigos restantes”[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió un bloqueo blando al aceptar un error de red en la pantalla de carga[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigieron animaciones inestables del jugador durante ventanas PiP animadas[/p]
  • [p]Se arregló un bug que hacía que enemigos aparecieran bajo el mundo[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió la desactivación de colisión en la arena de lucha mutante[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió el nombre faltante del Goober Shooter[/p]
  • [p]Se corrigió la pérdida del +1 Salto en las Piernas Ninja[/p]
[h2]Problemas conocidos[/h2]
  • [p]Jugar en modo nativo de Linux en Steam Deck aún no está soportado[/p]
  • [p]No se ha hecho optimización de rendimiento significativa. Puedes reducir la calidad gráfica en Opciones → Video si tu hardware es limitado[/p]
  • [p]No todos los botones y teclas tienen iconos en la UI aún (se muestran descripciones de texto como “J” o “Botón Oeste”)[/p]
  • [p]Al observar a otros jugadores, ciertos elementos de UI no muestran información precisa[/p]
  • [p]Las Piernas Squat Daddy no reproducen la animación “gainer” al iniciar el salto[/p][p][/p]
Patch Notes en Brazilian Portuguese
[h2]Jogabilidade[/h2][p]⦁ Adicionado um pequeno atraso (400 ms) para disparar armas de longo alcance após um ataque corpo a corpo[/p][p]⦁ Adicionada uma leve oscilação da câmera após usar um ataque corpo a corpo[/p][h2]Habilidades[/h2][p]⦁ Melhorias na Armadura Óssea (Habilidade de Tronco do Chef Estelar)[/p][p]⦁ Raio aumentado de 15 m -> 30 m[/p][p]⦁ Duração aumentada de 15 s -> 30 s[/p][h2]Níveis de dificuldade[/h2][p]⦁ A dificuldade padrão é Fácil. Você pode desbloquear níveis mais difíceis ao completar sistemas solares na dificuldade anterior. Jogar em dificuldades maiores rende recompensas melhores[/p][h3]Franken Beans[/h3][p]⦁ Reduzida a vida máxima das colunas de pedra usadas como cobertura na arena[/p][h3]Caçadores[/h3][p]⦁ Carl agora vai avisar quando os Caçadores estiverem próximos com um popup PiP e uma fala de voz[/p][h2]Arte[/h2][p]⦁ Os Caçadores agora aparecem como eles mesmos ao cair no planeta (em vez dos antigos modelos de almôndega)[/p][p]Animação[/p][p]⦁ Várias melhorias de animação e efeitos nos Caçadores quando estão incapacitados, se teletransportando ou chegando[/p][p]⦁ A Meatedral foi ampliada e seu movimento ajustado para parecer mais imponente e visível[/p][h2]Áudio[/h2][p]⦁ Os Caçadores agora têm vozes temporárias ao serem gerados[/p][h2]UI / UX[/h2][p]⦁ Texto dos objetivos no tutorial revisado para melhorar a legibilidade[/p][p]⦁ Adicionadas legendas às cutscenes[/p][h2]Correções de bugs[/h2][p]⦁ Corrigidos problemas em geradores de inimigos (ex.: ovos, painéis de controle, etc)[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido aviso VO+PiP dos Caçadores que não era disparado[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido bug que fazia o PowerLeech executar tarefas de servidor em clientes[/p][p]⦁ Corrigidas colisões ausentes ou desalinhadas em Calypso[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido bug visual de um planeta gigante em alguns mapas: Tangus Prime, Moon of Tangus, Franken Freak Off[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido erro de digitação em Thunder Crown (antes Thunter Crown). Valeu @Blackbeard![/p][p]⦁ Corrigidos eventos presos em “0/0 inimigos restantes”[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido soft lock após aceitar erro de rede na tela de carregamento[/p][p]⦁ Corrigidas animações instáveis do jogador durante popups PiP animados[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido bug que às vezes fazia inimigos surgirem debaixo do mapa[/p][p]⦁ Corrigida desativação de colisão na arena de luta mutante[/p][p]⦁ Corrigido nome ausente do Goober Shooter[/p][p]⦁ Corrigida remoção do +1 Pulo das Pernas Ninja[/p][h2]Problemas conhecidos[/h2][p]⦁ Jogar no modo Linux nativo no Steam Deck ainda não é suportado[/p][p]⦁ Nenhum ajuste de performance significativo foi feito ainda. Reduza a qualidade em Opções → Vídeo se tiver hardware limitado[/p][p]⦁ Nem todos os botões e teclas têm ícones na UI ainda (mostram descrições como “J” ou “Botão Oeste”)[/p][p]⦁ Ao observar outros jogadores, alguns elementos da UI não exibem informações precisas[/p][p]⦁ As Pernas Squat Daddy não reproduzem a animação “gainer” no salto inicial[/p]

Meat Lab LATAM - Playtest SWAPMEAT September 18-21

[h2]We are thrilled to announce our first-ever exclusive Latin American Playtest for SWAPMEAT![/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

From September 18–21, players in Mexico and South America will be able to experience SWAPMEAT fully localized in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

We want to hear from you: your feedback will help us shape the game as we prepare for Early Access in October.

[h3]Sign up now at [playswapmeat.com] to join Meat Lab LATAM and secure your exclusive "Quack Ops" cosmetic set in the full game.[/h3]



[h2]¡Estamos muy feliz de anunciar nuestro primer Playtest exclusivo para América Latina de SWAPMEAT![/h2]

Del 18 al 21 de septiembre, los jugadores de México y Sudamérica podrán disfrutar de SWAPMEAT totalmente localizado en español y portugués brasileño.

Queremos escuchar tu opinión: tus comentarios nos ayudarán a dar forma al juego mientras nos preparamos para el Acceso Anticipado en octubre.

[h3]Regístrate ahora en [playswapmeat.com] para unirte al Meat Lab LATAM y asegurar tu recompensa cosmética exclusiva.[/h3]

--

[h2]Estamos muito felizes em anunciar o nosso primeiro Playtest exclusivo para a América Latina de SWAPMEAT![/h2]

De 18 a 21 de setembro, jogadores do México e da América do Sul poderão aproveitar SWAPMEAT totalmente localizado em espanhol e português brasileiro.

Queremos ouvir a sua opinião: seus comentários vão nos ajudar a moldar o jogo enquanto nos preparamos para o Acesso Antecipado em outubro.

[h3]Inscreva-se agora em [playswapmeat.com] para entrar no Meat Lab LATAM e garantir sua recompensa cosmética exclusiva.[/h3]

Meat Lab 7 (LAST CHANCE) - Patch Notes 2025-09-08.a

Can you finish a run in one of our newly added difficulty levels? 🌶️

Thanks once again for your excitement and support throughout Meat Lab 7! Let's finish this one strong and start carving a path toward Early Access this October.

[h3]🤘 PLAYSWAPMEAT.COM 🤘[/h3]

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]
  • When starting a run from the main menu you will now start off from a previous planet if exiting a run before the boss. This will only happen after completing the first planet and hitting “exit game”
  • During the payload event, it will now be invulnerable until players approach it

[h3]Abilities[/h3]
  • Reduced overall offensive effectiveness of Wasp Torso Dash to compensate for it’s mobility factor
    • Reduce damage of Wasp Torso Dash projectiles 20/30 -> 10/15
    • Reduce projectile count of Wasp Torso Dash 20 -> 10
    • Reduce damage radius of Wasp Torso Dash projectiles 4 -> 1.25

[h3]Hunters[/h3]
  • Increased Hunter delay from all objectives in Easy Difficulty by +50%
  • Increased Hunter delay from Prime Directives from 90s → 120s
  • Increased initial Hunter delay on Jasonus V and Moon of Tangus from 300s → 450s
  • Hunters will now move faster when more players are present. There are fewer Hunters per player, so let’s give them a little pep in their step to put the pressure on when groups of players are present
    • Hunter Movement Speed +8% per additional player (Max +24%)
  • Hunters will arrive sooner with more players
    • Reduced initial Hunter delay by 10% per additional player (Max 30%)

[h2]Meta Progression[/h2]
  • Added new option at Trader Mike to exchange Data Points for Obtanium and Gastronaut Gizmos
    • Thank you to @squirrelessence for the feedback on this option to trade up!
  • Reduced the costs of Health Insurance 1.2 and Healthy Respawn 1.1 from 5 Carl Coins to just 1.
    • Thank you Kabutak for the Carl Coin economy feedback, this was definitely too high!
  • Fixed an issue where Mutant Cores were not being rewarded for beating the Glizzy Gulp Factory at the end of Moon of Tangus.
  • As a temporary fix we’ve added a 1:1 trade of Spiral Cores for Mutant Cores at Trader Mike as there is a deeper issue with rewarding this resource from extraction events on the first two planets of the second system, so this temp fix will allow players to convert their cores in the interim.
    • Thank you @cloudkracker and @soulreaper2376 for reporting this issue!

[h2]Art[/h2]
  • Each planet now has its own look for the Planet Intros and Outros
  • New death vfx for ManWasp and Butcher

[h2]UI / UX[/h2]
  • Torches in Tiger Mountain correspond to the path deck to help you navigate the central cave

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed some issues where you could kill objective enemies too early causing events to no longer be completable. Thanks @miniweeny and @squirrelessence !
  • Fixed the “Meatball” flair causing exceptions on clients
  • Fixed a sporadic exception when hunters were despawning
  • fixed event spawning outside of boundary on Moon of Tangus