Ultra-Realistic FPS Bodycam Gets Major Game-Changing Update

Reissad Studio has rolled out a substantial new update for its ultra-realistic first-person shooter Bodycam, marking the first major overhaul since the game entered Early Access in 2024. The Paris-based developer, which has expanded its team to over one hundred members, detailed the extensive changes in a recent Steam community announcement. This update focuses heavily on enhancing performance and stability while also introducing fresh content for the Zombie Mode, signaling a renewed commitment to the project’s development.

Following months of gathering player feedback, the studio concentrated on addressing a significant number of bugs and implementing broad performance enhancements. The objective is to establish a more robust foundation for future content drops, moving past a period dominated by smaller patches and hotfixes. The development team confirmed that other critical areas, including server infrastructure, anti-cheat measures, and a complete user interface overhaul, remain high-priority goals for upcoming releases.

Luca Dassier, the studio director at Reissad, emphasized the community’s demand for a polished experience. “We understood that optimization and stability were absolutely essential for our players,” Dassier stated. “This update is our first major step in delivering on that commitment. By upgrading to Unreal Engine 5.5 and forming a dedicated internal quality assurance team, we have fundamentally strengthened our development pipeline. This structural enhancement, supported by our expanded staff, allows us to consistently provide high-quality, impactful updates throughout the Early Access phase. We are dedicated to listening to our community and shaping Bodycam into the definitive visceral FPS.”

Players will find the new content includes Village, the studio’s largest Zombie map to date, accompanied by adjustments to zombie spawning and artificial intelligence. Although Reissad still considers the Zombie Mode a secondary experience to the core multiplayer, the developers have promised more content for this mode in the future. The update also introduces a new crossbow weapon. For the primary multiplayer offering, a new map called CQB Powergun has been added, which is modeled after a real-world airsoft arena located in France.

Bodycam initially launched on Steam Early Access on June 7, 2024, as a tactical multiplayer shooter distinguished by its authentic body-camera perspective, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Upon its release, the game received a mixed reception, with critics noting its visual novelty but questioning its long-term appeal beyond the initial concept.

Below is a summary of the key changes included in the November 2025 update.

Performance & Optimization The game has been migrated from Unreal Engine 5.2 to the more advanced Unreal Engine 5.5, with full adaptation to Lumen and Virtual Shadow Maps. This transition has led to optimized GPU and CPU usage across all major maps. Developers have reduced draw calls, dynamic render targets, and shadow complexity. Redundant sublevels were cleaned up, meshes were merged, and texture streaming overhead was lowered to improve efficiency. Shader complexity and light culling saw improvements to reduce overdraw. Significant gains were made in the Play Menu, with tick time and memory usage both substantially reduced. Asynchronous texture loading was optimized for both user interfaces and game environments. A dedicated team is now focused on GPU optimization to further refine the rendering pipeline. Virtual Shadow Maps have been efficiently integrated across all maps, and approximately ninety percent of textures have been switched to Virtual Textures. Lighting passes were re-baked to align with the new engine features, and post-process effects like volumetric fog were tuned for better visibility. Overall, these efforts have resulted in improved load times, streaming consistency, and higher, more stable frame rates across the game’s various maps. Settings management and input responsiveness have also been polished.

Bug Fixes & Stability A critical lobby crash that occurred when hosting or loading a game after a friend invite has been resolved. The Bodycam friends detection system, indicated by green squares, now displays correctly. Several issues with the in-game scoreboard have been fixed, including incorrect scores and duplicate players appearing in the friends list. Problems with Steam invites that prevented disconnected clients from rejoining sessions have been addressed. Softlocks during map loading on specific locations like Paintball and Hospital have been resolved. A user interface bug that incorrectly showed “Defeat” after a player won a match has been fixed. Missing sections in the server list have been restored, and friend visibility in lobbies has been improved. Numerous spawn bugs, instances of players getting stuck, and invalid collisions across multiple maps have been corrected. A voice chat initialization crash and various replication errors during host or client disconnections have been fixed. Weapon switching and camera issues, along with an infinite loading bug in the locker shop, have been resolved. Desynchronization issues affecting round wins or losses in online matches have been corrected. Input rebinding problems introduced during the engine migration have been fixed. Missing bomb sounds and invalid event triggers in multiplayer logic have been restored. Bot behavior has been improved, fixing instances where they were immobile or never reloaded their weapons. Multiple map vote issues, including black screens and players being kicked, have been resolved. Freecam spawns on the Rome map and unbalanced teams in Teams mode have been fixed. All issues related to end-of-round and match screens, such as incorrect victory/defeat labels, have been addressed. A ragdoll issue that prevented players from switching to spectator mode has been fixed, and edge cases in team assignment for two-player games have been improved.

Gameplay & Systems A new Crossbow has been added, first appearing in the new Zombie Village map. The Zombie spawn and behavior systems have been expanded with improved wave pacing, designated loot areas, and special enemy types. A map voting system has been implemented at the conclusion of matches. The sprint mechanic has been updated to function as a toggle rather than requiring a key to be held down. Comprehensive fixes were applied to the input binding system, ensuring that warnings appear for keys already in use and that reset functions work correctly. Zoom and camera navigation in several interfaces have been improved for a more natural feel. Weird player rotations when turning the head while opening interfaces have been limited. Posthumous grenade kills now correctly award points. The bomb timer has been adjusted to prevent rounds from ending too quickly. Bots now correctly defuse the bomb after a player dies. Several achievements and their in-game tracking have been fixed and validated.

Zombie Mode Zombie audio replication has been fixed so all clients hear the correct sounds in online sessions. A severe frame rate drop that occurred when zombie sprinters spawned has been resolved. Sprinters are now easier to identify by sound due to an increased audio range. Specific audio cues for both sprinters and the scarecrow enemy have been added and tuned. The Mystery Box sound effects have been reworked for a more satisfying feel. An issue where sprinters might fail to spawn correctly during the first wave has been fixed. Multiple cases of zombies getting stuck or despawning incorrectly on the Village map have been resolved. A crash related to explosions on the Village map has been fixed. The zombie clothes system and several end-of-wave sounds have been adjusted. A bug where snow could appear incorrectly on players has been corrected.

Maps & Environment The new Village (Zombie) map and the new CQB Powergun multiplayer map have been added. The Airsoft map received a few fixes and a new staircase to improve player flow. A large optimization and polish pass was completed on the CQB Powergun map, fixing bot pathfinding and footstep sounds on metal surfaces. On the Paintball map, a broken wall material was fixed, and a full technical art validation was performed. The Public Pool map had an inaccessible Hardpoint fixed, its starting lighting corrected, and its Hardpoint locations polished for better gameplay. The Russian Building map saw fixes to walls and environment elements, an adjustment to an overly bright night sky, a correction to a non-functional Hardpoint, and a fix for an overly dark starting state. The characteristic blur effect was restored and applied consistently. A spot where players could get stuck was fixed, and a leftover “trailer bot” was removed. The Warehouse map is no longer locked in debug mode and is playable again. Full technical art passes were completed on Worn House, Hospital, Asylum, Bomb House, Shooting Range, and The Backrooms, with missing Hardpoint locations added or fixed on several maps. Bots that were immobile on the Airsoft map have been fixed, and a post-process polish was applied. General fixes were made for several stuck spots across different maps, and the Village and background areas received more foliage and visual detail.

UI / UX Full aspect ratio scaling and partial controller support have been integrated for all menus. Play Menu performance was optimized using asynchronous texture streaming. New Play Card visuals and data assets were added for map and mode selection. A functional Pause Menu with proper layering and back navigation was implemented. The input rebinding interface was redesigned for Unreal Engine 5.5’s Enhanced Input System. Font scaling was optimized, and global user interface visuals were unified for consistency. The scoreboard, map voting, and match end displays were fixed to be consistent and reliable. Scaling issues on non-standard resolutions and aspect ratios were corrected. A bug causing the rank user interface to appear blurry was fixed. Player nameplates now correctly follow players. Eye adaptation issues that affected player visibility have been resolved. The Bodycam detection icon (green square) displays correctly again. The overall behavior of the Escape key, menus, and global navigation has been improved. Long player names no longer break user interface layouts. The Score Tab now shows clearer information about the match state, such as time remaining and win conditions. A Back button that could break navigation has been fixed. In the shop, scrolling now automatically selects the first item in a newly visible area for smoother navigation. When editing a class, the camera now stays focused on the edited element instead of zooming out. Additional eye adaptation fixes were made to further improve visibility.

Audio & VFX New footstep, impact, and melee sound effects have been integrated. Looping bird and ambient noise clutter has been removed from several maps. The global audio mix has been balanced, and sound occlusion has been adjusted, especially on the Village map. End-of-wave audio cues and new voice lines for zombie spawns have been added. Greybox visual effects that appeared after the Unreal Engine 5.5 migration have been fixed. Niagara particles for blood, muzzle flashes, debris, and impacts have been updated. Blood decals were reworked and their reflections in the lighting were improved. Post-process visual feedback, including motion blur, depth of field, and chromatic aberration, was enhanced. The Main Zombie Theme was added. A global rebalancing of reverb, environmental ambience, footsteps, surface variations, and bullet impact audio was performed to boost immersion. Environmental ambience and audio on the Village map were improved. Wind sounds while turning were adjusted, and several blood-related particles were restored to better match previous versions. Audio parameters that were not applied correctly on some sounds have been fixed.

Networking & Multiplayer The host-to-client disconnection flow has been improved, ensuring clients consistently return safely to the lobby. Incorrect game mode transitions in some cases have been fixed. Replication performance was enhanced, reducing lag spikes during player updates. The lobby and matchmaking flow saw improvements with better state synchronization. Server travel was optimized, and session recreation times were reduced. Disconnected clients can now properly join a new host. Duplicate entries for a single player in the lobby have been fixed. An issue where map voting could kick players and put the host into freecam has been resolved. A bug causing an infinite loading loop when joining or rejoining a lobby has been fixed. Several issues with player names displayed in the score and end screens have been corrected. Voice over IP quality assurance checks were completed to stabilize and validate voice chat behavior. Nameplates replication was fixed so they track players correctly for all clients. Edge cases where two-player matches could behave strangely with team assignment were adjusted.

(Source: IGN)