Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted rolled out in October, and I thought it was pretty good: Really just a higher-resolution (and more expensive) version of the original PvZ phenomenon, sure, but fine overall, and of particular benefit for people who want to play the game on a Steam Deck. Serious fans were unhappy, though, for a number of reasons, foremost among them the music.
Music in the original Plants vs. Zombies is dynamic, you see, changing with the events on the screen, but for some reason EA did away with that in the remaster—instead, it only played the “high intensity” version of the soundtrack. It sounds like a minor thing (even at its most intense, PvZ music is pretty not intense) but holy cow, did people notice—including composer Laura Shigihara—and they did not care for it. Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted landed with a sub-50% “mixed” rating on Steam, quite a contrast to the “overwhelmingly positive” rating the old GOTY Edition holds.
I created the music in Plants vs. Zombies with the specific intention of it being dynamic. Instruments gradually appear to match the intensity of zombies & prevent audio fatigue.Replanted Level 1-1: ALL THE DRUMS RIGHT AWAYYears later + bigger team -> dynamic audio gone? 😑October 18, 2025
The uproar did not go unnoticed by EA, and now it’s responded. The newly released 1.3.0 patch brings back “the classic and plantastic Dynamic Audio” that was inexplicably cut, along with a small number of other fixes and adjustments. I’ve tried it and it works—it still feels like a fairly minor thing to me, but based on the comments posted in response to the patch announcement, players are very happy about the change, although there are still plenty of complaints about problems with achievements, the lack of online co-op play, and a slew of other, more granular issues.
Luckily for all, EA says the next patch, 1.4.0, “is close to being done” and should go live within the next two weeks. That one will give people with controllers the ability to collect sun by squeezing a trigger, and aims to kill “more pesky bugs,” among other things. Details on that patch will be posted closer to its release—the full 1.3.0 patch notes are below.
Audio
- ○ Added Dynamic Audio to the level music so it no longer always plays at the highest intensity version (perfect time for a blindfolded run)
- ○ Minigame, Puzzle, Survival and Almanac menus now play the correct music instead of the previous menu’s music
- ○ Sound effects no longer overlap menu music at higher game speeds
- ○ Added missing menu open SFX for Pause Menu
- ○ Collecting Sun has a wider range of audio played
General
- ○ [Vs Mode] Plant and Zombie tooltips now properly appear when using controllers during match selection
- ○ Retro Zombies no longer unexpectedly jump or teleport ahead during movement (Dr. Zomboss got us good with this one)
- ○ Disabling Vsync no longer impacts Mouse cursor speed
- ○ Fixed plants showing incorrectly when collecting sun while dragging them to be placed with Touch inputs
- ○ Dr. Zomboss no longer signs his notes with a comma after his name (We wonder if Tugboat was forging those notes for him)
- ○ Various text string fixes
- ○ Cards are hidden properly after Planterns are eaten in Vasebreaker
- ○ Fixed various visual issues with Magnet-Shroom grabbing items
- ○ Fixed a few Controller prompts showing incorrectly when not using controllers for input
- ○ Flags now raise properly when reached on the Level Progress bar
- ○ Fixed Conveyor Belt sizing to show all 10 slots
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