I notice Steam doesn't allow an official downpatch. A pity how few games do allow this. Were vital skips/tricks patched out? I notice there's separate leaderboards for different patches.

The only difference is the main method of movement. In Patch 0 you hold your head up and lift your tail almost all the time while in Patch 1 you have to do the intended slither mechanic. The same skips are used in both patches.

Appreciate the reply. The former does sound more interesting (and is apparently faster?) so is there any way out there to downpatch?

We have a post pinned in the discord with information on downpatching using official steam methods.