Chain Games: Chain Reaction Beta v0.41.0 makes weapon choice set your running speed

In Brief:

• On Oct. 17, Chain Games shipped Chain Reaction Beta v0.41.0, a build that makes a player’s movement speed depend on the weapon in their hands.
• The update also syncs hit registration between client and server, changes how positional audio gets muffled, and brings frame generation back to AMD Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 desktop cards.
• This is the fifth consecutive weekly beta build for the free-to-play shooter, which rewards kills with CHAIN tokens.

Chain Reaction Beta v0.41.0 went live from Chain Games on Oct. 17. The biggest change links how fast a player moves to the weapon they have equipped, which means every loadout pick now comes with a trade-off in mobility.

bravoadam posted the GitHub release notes, which sum up the build like this: “Chain Reaction v0.41.0 is live with weapon-based movement speeds, new ladder climbing audio, improved positional sound, more consistent hit registration, smarter bots, graphics improvements, and another round of gameplay and map fixes.”

How each loadout moves

The quickest picks are pistols and the Rift Blade. SMGs run a little faster than the baseline, while snipers slow players down.

The XM77 Helios and the Rocket Launcher carry the biggest penalty, and players holding them move noticeably slower.

Hit registration and bot fixes

Client and server now agree on hit registration after this patch. Hit detection on the Rift Blade’s lunge is also tighter.

Bots received a handful of fixes. After an interrupted burst they pick their behavior back up, and their navigation issues on the Slums map have been solved. Solo matches against bots should also play out more consistently.

Sound changes

The studio changed the way muffling works. According to the release notes, “Muffling now depends only on the walls between you and the sound, not on which way you’re facing.”

A grenade going off near cover won’t sound muffled anymore. Ladders also have dedicated audio now. The notes say: “You and other players now make a sound on every rung, starting from the first one.” Another fix makes sure that sound keeps playing for the entire climb.

Frame generation back on AMD

Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 desktop cards get frame generation back with this update. Screen effects keep the same size during zooming or scoping, and at high FOV settings they now fill the whole screen.

On the map side, the patch addresses collision and visibility problems on Dune and Slums. The timing of the spectator elimination card has also been corrected.

One minor tweak lands in the Team Deathmatch lobby. “In the Team Deathmatch lobby, a scrollbar now shows when the list holds more players than fit,” according to the notes.

A build every week

Chain Games has put out a new beta build about once a week. v0.37.0 arrived Sept. 18, followed by v0.38.0 on Sept. 26, v0.39.0 on Oct. 3 and v0.40.0 on Oct. 10.

In v0.40.0, players could pick operator skins from loadouts, track kills with a Gun Progression counter, and face redesigned spawn shields and bots that were smarter with rocket launchers. That build also stopped memory from growing over long sessions, a problem caused by lunge afterimages and dropped-token effects that never cleared.

About the game

Chain Reaction is a free-to-play first-person shooter on Windows, macOS and Linux. The beta ships through GitHub as two-part archives, and the official site says an Epic Games Store release is “coming soon.”

A “Kill to Earn” system hands out CHAIN tokens, with extra bonuses in ranked matches and payouts for winning. Cosmetics such as weapon skins and emotes are sold through a lootbox marketplace.

Players can choose from three modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Gun Progression. Matches take place in three arenas: the Slums, Dunes and Moon, which has low gravity.

On X, Chain Games described the patch as: “Weapon-based movement speeds, better hit registration, smarter bots, improved positional audio, AMD frame generation support + another round of gameplay polish!”