Friday the 13th developers say 'sorry' with a new update and free stuff for everyone

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Friday the 13th did not have a particularly auspicious start for an online game. We actually liked it quite a bit, calling it "a gory game of hide-and-go-seek that’s fun with funny people" in our review, but it was plagued by serious server issues that kept an awful lot of people from taking part. Some problems remain, going by the state of the discussions on Steam, but the situation has apparently improved enough that developer Illfonic has decided that it's time to start trying to make up for it.

"We do want to make note that you are being heard and updates will continually be rolling in. We have a lot planned to continue this trend, but we hope this first one will be interesting to you as we move towards more and more for this game," the studio wrote.

As mentioned in the video above, a free content update coming June 20 adds a new "retro" model for Jason, two new costumes for each counselor, and doles out 13,000 Customization Points to all players. There's also a double XP weekend starting on June 23.

"Our thanks to the community for their support, their feedback, their concern and their suggestions. This has been a rocky release, to be frank. Our team is looking forward to the future to get more features, more content, more updates rolling at a quick pace and we hope you enjoy!"

Just ahead of the weekend, Illfonic also rolled out a "quick stopgap" update to Friday the 13th that plugs a number of security holes, including "the perk selling issue that users have been running into." Full patch notes are below.

Improvements

Steam matchmaking searches longer for lower pinged games.
Various minor matchmaking optimizations made.
Lobby countdown timer closes menus at the 3 second mark instead of when it starts.
Warning beeps can now be heard from sub-menus.
Added lots more environmental kill locations to all of the maps.
Leaving a match while a party leader now prompts you to disband or take the party with you.
Security updates to prevent account spoofing.
Dynamic camera and character animation improvements.
Added an option for controlling the PTT sound.
Increased XP penalty of team killing fellow counselors to -1,000XP from -200XP.

Fixes

Fixed several exploit locations on all maps.
Fixed Steam party members not following the party leader.
Fixed Steam party main menu voice stuttering.
Fixed Jason getting stuck in the grab pose if a grabbed counselor disconnects while being pulled out of a car.
Fixed an issue with block detection on boat seats.
Fixed some counselor vehicle interactions not being blocked while in a context kill.
Fixed some floating items on item swap and with traps.
Fixed the Shotgun sometimes floating after use.
Fixed an issue with tracking total Jason kills.
Fixed multiple achievement related bugs.
Fixed windows sometimes displaying the wrong open/close position on listen servers.
Fixed an issue where sprint was canceling fear animations & some stances.
Fixed some dynamic camera issues when interpolating from a kill back to the player.
Fixed Jason being able to morph into the boat and get shoved out of the map.
Fixed a case where spectators would not hear alive players.
Fixed session presence not always updating immediately to point at your game session (for invites) after you leave a party session.
Fixed some game server specific crashes.
Fixed the game sitting for the duration of the outro when no outro is played.
Fixed the scoreboard staying on the screen when the end match menu opens.
Locking the end match scoreboard on-screen.
Fixed defaults not always functioning in Video Settings.
Made the Gamma slider easier to use with a gamepad.
Fixed a case where a player's mute state may not be sent to the server after loading the map.
Fixed character placement issue when getting out of a tent.
Fixed character placement issue when ejected from a car and your door is blocked.
Fixed being able to use other items while using the sweater.
Fixed some exploits with trap placement.
Fixed multiple crouch exploits.
Fixed multiple fireplace kill interaction distances.
Fixed multiple cases of Jason being struck and flying off the map.
Fixed multiple interaction lock bugs.
Optimized Steam P2P lobby tag updates, dedicated server tag space usage.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.