The developers behind the popular indie game Clone Hero, a modified PC version of the game Guitar Hero, recently announced the release date of Version 1.1, which came out on May 1st, 2026. This new update came with a bunch of new features, as well as new songs that come by default with the game. What kind of updates? Let’s dive into it!
Version 1.1 creates a whole new perspective on the game. While the game is not an official Guitar Hero title, it has grown quite popular among the Guitar Hero community as a modern-day game players have been looking for. Guitar Hero itself saw quite a downfall since the release of Guitar Hero Live, which featured a 6-fret gameplay style instead of the classic 5-fret from the original game. Clone Hero gave players a little of everything: 5-fret, 6-fret, bass guitar, even drum gameplay. Clone Hero became one of the most played titles in the rhythm gaming industry next to the Rock Band clone on PC known as Phase Shift.
While Clone Hero gave us the opportunity to add custom content to the game including songs, highways, image and video backgrounds, even color profiles, v1.1 adds much more for the player. In 1.1, one big feature finally came out that players have been wanting: Leaderboards! Players no longer need a 3rd party program, or anything 3rd party for that matter, to submit to the leaderboards. Clone Hero finally has integrated Leaderboards, and once you’ve played a song, your scores automatically upload to the leaderboard. Not only did we see this, but players also got:
- Input Viewer – A live viewer of which buttons are being pressed at a certain time, along with a counter to see how many times an input was pressed, as well as a sustain counter showing how long at one time an input was pressed.
- Increased Texture Resolution – Clone Hero had a bit of a texture issue in its last release. In 1.1 everything looks more High Definition, and you can definitely notice it!
- Added Xbox One Instrument Support – Most players were able to use an Xbox 360, PS2/PS3, or Wii controller to play. Some even went with the new CRKD guitars (myself included). If you have an Xbox One instrument, you’re in luck! You can play Clone Hero with that instrument now!
- Added Support for SNG file format – When adding new songs, you had to make sure certain files were in the song folder in order for it to work. Now, Clone Hero supports a new SNG file format, where everything for a song is compressed into a .sng file, and you can just upload that to your game!
- So much more!!!!!
I’ve already gotten a chance to play the new 1.1 update, and I have quite enjoyed it! I do feel a bit more competitive now with the leaderboards, but that adds more excitement to me. I’ve been a huge Guitar Hero fan since the very first game came out on PlayStation 2, and my parents got me the game & guitar for Christmas, and I was in love with it! Clone Hero 1.1 is definitely your modern-game Guitar Hero game.
While the original developers of the Guitar Hero game, RedOctane, have also recently announced their return to the rhythm gaming scene with their new title, Stage Tour, a release date has not been announced as of yet.
Author: HLX Typhon 7