Big Demo Update Before Early Access!

Early Access is almost here!

Barfender launches into Early Access on October 12! Before the doors open, here's a big demo update packed with everything we've developed since our last demo update.

Bartending & Gameplay

• Bottles break! Throw or drop one hard enough and it'll shatter, leaving broken glass behind to clean up.
• Weight now matters: heavy objects behave differently, carrying them slows you down, and throws feel much more physical.
• Press G to quickly box up items and carry them away.
• Drink orders and icons now properly show their glass and garnish.
• Improved tray and shelf interactions.

Combat & Movement

• Combat feels much better: punches are faster, more responsive and push you forward as they land.
• New running and first-person hand animations.
• Improved knocked-out player carrying and ragdoll behaviour.
• Fixed several issues with fainted characters and their effects.

Emotes & Characters

• New emotes and an improved emote wheel.
• Customers now have improved drinking and movement animations.
• Player name tags with colour palettes.
• Improved colour controls in the avatar creator.

Visuals & World

• Major lighting overhaul with improved bar lighting, fog, shadows and street lights.
• The neighbourhood has been heavily expanded with a city skyline, new roads, shops, a construction site and more..
• Brand-new particle effects.
• Rebuilt shaders and improved loading preparation for smoother gameplay.
• Redesigned floating texts, recipe unlocks and star celebrations.
• New end-of-day report with highlights from your night.
• Sharper 3D text throughout the bar with full localization support.

Main Menu & Multiplayer

• Brand-new main menu featuring a 3D bar scene and our new logo.
• Completely rebuilt Multiplayer screen: see your whole crew, Ready up together and preview the host's selected save.
• Leaving a co-op session now returns you to the Multiplayer screen.
• Improved notifications when players join, leave or buy licences.
• More reliable multiplayer connections with better recovery and clearer connection messages.
• Hold to delete saves, with automatic backups just in case.
• Streamer Mode now has its own main-menu button.
• Keyboard menu navigation added.
• Steam Rich Presence: your friends can now see what you're getting up to in the bar.

Localization

• 6 new languages: Italian, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Hungarian, Polish and Portuguese (Portugal). Barfender now supports 16 languages!
• Added Hungarian Forint and Polish Złoty.
• Numbers, dates, clocks and currencies now follow regional formats.
• Hundreds of localization fixes and improvements.

Bug Fixes

• Improved fullscreen and window behaviour on macOS.
• Fixed players occasionally being teleported to the bar entrance.
• Improved gamepad binding visibility.
• Feature cards can now be viewed again from the Help menu.
• Lots more bug fixes and polish across the game.

Thanks to everyone who played the demo and sent us feedback. A huge part of this update came directly from your reports and suggestions! If you're enjoying Barfender, wishlist it now so you don't miss the Early Access launch on October 12. See you behind the bar! Proto Division & Rock Paper Publisher