Only days after hitting early access on June 24th, the team behind high-mobility shooter EMPULSE has rolled out its first major update.
Early Access Update #1 is a sweeping pass targeting stability, performance, and weapon tuning, but the real headline here is a massive adjustment to how the game handles in your hands.
EMPULSE
If you felt the initial release was a bit sluggish, the developers were listening.
Movement receives a massive buff
The core theme of this update is momentum. The developer’s mantra, “Movement is Freedom,” is getting a literal translation in the patch notes with across-the-board buffs to acceleration and velocity.
- Base Acceleration: Skyrocketing from 2000 to 3500 cm/s.
The devs have adjusted multipliers for Wall Boost Pads and Speed P.A.I.N.T. so you don’t instantly fly out of bounds, but the net result is a significantly snappier, more responsive neutral game.
- Jetpack Performance: Horizontal acceleration jumps from 4000 to 6000\text cm/s, making mid-air strafing a viable evasion tactic.
- Wallrunning & Speed P.A.I.N.T.: Terminal wall-run velocity is up, and Speed P.A.I.N.T. sees its max boosted speed pushed to 1800 cm/s
The controller aim assist nerf on PC
In a move that is bound to spark conversation across the community, the patch introduces a specific nerf to aim assist for PC players using controllers.
Notably, console players are entirely unaffected by this change in EMPULSE.
It’s a clear line in the sand aimed at preserving competitive integrity on mouse-and-keyboard territory while the meta establishes itself.
Mech-on-Mech violence gets deadlier
Pilot-to-mech and mech-on-mech interactions have been rebalanced to make mechanical combat feel heavier and more rewarding.
Melee attacks from a mech now deal double damage (150, up from 50) against rival mechs, turning close-quarters mechanical brawls into absolute scrap metal fights.
Explosive P.A.I.N.T. follows a similar logic, now dealing twice its player-damage value when hitting a mech armour plate.
Under the hood: Performance & bug fixes
Beyond the balance, a lot of work went into fixing early performance hitches in EMPULSE:
- Projectile Clean-up: Long-range projectiles fired off into the distance were previously staying alive far too long, dragging down frame rates mid-gunfight.
Their maximum lifetime has been cut short, drastically improving on-screen performance during heavy firefights.
- The Invisible Hammer: Fixed a frustrating visual bug where the Finale (Hammer) weapon would completely disappear.
- Slide Corrections: Landing on uneven ground will no longer randomly cancel your slide momentum.
Early Access
Early Access for EMPULSE has been less than a week and 1047 Games is already on it. It’s incredibly encouraging to see an indie development team move this quickly post-launch.
Tuning base movement variables this early shows a willingness to lean into the game’s high-speed identity rather than playing it safe.
It feels like the right change, but we’ve got time to invest to see if it’s really going to be a full-time investment from the studio.
Our hands-on with the demo was really promising, and now we’ve got our Early Access version of the game downloading. We’ll keep you up-to-date.
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