Twelve years on, AudioSurf gets an update outta nowhere

At twelve years young, beat-riding arcade game AudioSurf just got an update out of nowhere. All casual like, Dylan Fitterer has just posted some changes to the game including some new aspect ratio goodness and an update to make corkscrew twists on the roller coaster style tracks feel cooler and more earned.

If you don't know AudioSurf, here's the lowdown: you throw in your own favorite tunes and then "the shape, the speed, and the mood of each ride is determined by the song you choose." Collect the big colorful blocks and whatnot as you speed down the bumpin' and thumpin' tracks. It's generally a nice musical experience with some arcade-y bits.

This new update is a short one, but it's got everyone seemingly remembering that the thing exists. Fitterer's Steam post explains that the musical surfing game was originally designed for 4:3 screens and as of this update plays nicer with both ultra-wide monitors and standard 16:9 resolutions. You can even play in "narrow screen" mode if you'd for some reason like to pretend you're playing on your phone. Or I suppose if you've got a vertically-mounted monitor.

The fun change is to corkscrew twists. You know, the roller coaster version of a barrel roll. Corkscrews used to happen randomly during songs but now Fitterer says they'll "highlight a big moment in the song." There's still a 25% chance of any ride having a corkscrew twist "except for songs that really want one and therefore always have one," Fitterer adds.

Apparently RPS-ers have been writing about AudioSurf since the dawn of time, as fascinated with it as folks were with Geometry Dash for a hot minute. They like it so much that Alex Spencer wrote about it again just last year, playing a bunch of 2018 music hits in AudioSurf. There's an AudioSurf 2. It turned into AudioShield with VR several years back. The thing just keeps on keepin' on.

You can find the original AudioSurf with its screwy new update on Steam.