Evil Dead: The Game has now been available for two weeks. That's enough time for players to get the hang of playing the asymmetric multiplayer game and all of its eccentricities. Unfortunately, that's also true for less ethically sound Evil Dead: The Game players, too. Cheating, exploits, and mid-match cheeses have grown in use. Developer Saber Interactive is responding, though. The latest patch for Evil Dead: The Game addresses a number of issues, including one particularly frustrating exploit.
Some Evil Dead: The Game players likely confronted this exploit and never realized it. There was a simple method that allowed players to cancel animations, but still allowed them to complete the action they were taking. Evil Dead: The Game patch 1.0.5 fixes this exploit, so players shouldn't have to worry that their opponent has an innate advantage over them.
A variety of other quality-of-life changes have also been made to Evil Dead: The Game to prevent more egregious cheating in the game. Cheats allowing players to speed hack, have rapid health generation, and even to change their character model have all been addressed. Further, Saber Interactive says it's working on a more substantial anti-cheat update that should take a more active role in preventing cheating in Evil Dead: The Game rather than waiting on Saber to address problems via updates.
The patch also makes some small but significant balance changes to Evil Dead: The Game. Players may notice that both Cheryl and Ash from the first Evil Dead have had their healing attributes rebalanced. Further, Amanda's Weapon Master: Pistol skill has also been adjusted. Saber Interactive is clearly watching trends and making balance changes based on what the gameplay meta demands.
For Evil Dead: The Game players, this is an encouraging effort from Saber Interactive. Successful live-service games, like Evil Dead: The Game hopes to be, demand constant oversight as the multiplayer meta shifts week to week and month to month, as new content is added and old content falls out of popularity. Patch 1.0.5 is Evil Dead: The Game's first update, but more is certain to come.
There remain important questions regarding Evil Dead: The Game's ability to maintain its player base in the months to come. Since the new game isn't on Steam, it isn't easy to track its popularity, but Twitch viewership has fallen since launch significantly. The asymmetrical horror game genre is competitive. It's currently dominated by Dead by Daylight, which has big plans through the rest of 2022. This patch won't maintain Evil Dead: The Game's audience, but it certainly won't hurt it, either.
Evil Dead: The Game is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch release in the works.