REPO devs tease its first big update and make a plea to modders: We don't need "skyrocketing server costs," so please optimize your mods

As the development team behind co-op horror hit REPO plays catch-up amid runaway success rivaling its distant relative Lethal Company, they're also working on a big update that will improve the game's lobby situation, content variety, and social features.

In a recent Q&A video, developer Semiwork addresses a few community queries and pulls the curtain back just a bit on its first big update. The headliner is "long-awaited matchmaking," complete with server passwords, lists, and region pickers, as well as a kick feature for those uncooperative randos.

With new weapons and balancing, not to mention the new Overcharge mechanic, Semiwork is also promising a "more interesting late-game experience." Old maps, not just the new one, will receive these updates as well.

Games like REPO reach the heights they do not just because of their gameplay, but for how they enable funny and memorable social situations. To that end, new expressions are coming in the update, too, so you can adequately display your excitement or despair as needed.

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The Q&A also confirms a few things that aren't currently in development, even if they also aren't necessarily off the table. Semiwork isn't working on additional mechanics similar to Overcharge, for example, and there's currently no plan for a traditional finale for the story. Instead, the devs want players to unpack the environmental storytelling at their own pace.

Likewise, there have been discussions about harder variants of monsters that appear in later levels, but the team isn't actively working on them. Potential collaborations – perhaps with Lethal Company, whose creator has been inspired by REPO to tinker with his own game again – are in a similar spot: Semiwork is open to game collabs, but is too swamped to pursue them right now.

Looking at the server features coming in this big update, Semiwork notes that it has considered the possibility of a 'late join' function that lets people jump into in-progress matches, but "the game is not built for this, so it would be a big rework." The current lobby setup doubles as a good hacker filter, too, which complicates things further.

If players want to make changes of their own in the form of mods, Semiwork is all for it. "We encourage mods," one dev says, but "please optimize the amount of server traffic they send to avoid any skyrocketing server costs."

Finally, a fun fact for the folks who haven't heard it: before it was named REPO (Retrieve Extract Profit Operation), the game was called Taxnight and Repossession internally at various points.

For a crash course and some useful tips, here's how to play REPO.