More zombies are waiting for you! Today’s update introduces our new archetype zombies! Additionally, our melee weapons now have a special melee attack, while our guns have received more realistic visual effects.
Our zombies are evolving!
In the last update, we introduced elite zombies and the first zombie with a ranged attack. Now, we are adding 5 new, different, and unique archetypes to the game – with many more to follow. All archetypes are harder to defeat due to the debuffs they can inflict and they therefore grant more XP than the normal walker zombies you already know. And just like the other zombies, they get stronger the further you travel from Junction. To ensure a smooth start to the game, we haven’t placed any archetypes in the immediate proximity of Junction.
Our 5 archetypes can be divided into 2 melee and 3 ranged zombies.
Melee archetypes
Runner
While the runner may have lower HP and DPS compared to our current walking zombies, don’t underestimate its movement speed – it will easily outrun you! Additionally, there’s a chance that you will be affected by one of the debuffs “crippled” or “bleeding”. Crippled reduces your ability to run and bleeding inflicts constant damage through the bleeding effect. Be quick to kill him or be dead!
Dreadnought
This zombie moves slowly but has lots of HP. With two melee attacks and a chance to confuse you, it’s tough to take down. Kill it before it gets to you, or you won’t be able to use any active skills due to the “confused” debuff. And how do you want to take it down without your skills?
Ranged archetypes
Spitter
Spitters are downright disgusting and their spitting attack has the widest range among all ranged archetypes. Additionally, they can hit you with the “disgusted” or “suppressed” debuff. Even though they’ve got less health than regular zombies, dealing with them becomes a real pain when you can’t heal yourself due to being suppressed, or your attacks aren’t hitting as hard as they should while you’re slowly trying to retreat from them with reduced movement speed.
Banshee
While some may consider the Banshee a weak zombie, the reality is quite different – the debuffs it can inflict make it a nightmare to deal with!
It can paralyze or distract you, severely limiting your agility or the damage you deal. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so weak anymore, does it?
Hurler
Theoretically, the Hurler deals less DPS than our walking zombies. However, the two debuffs “vulnerable” or “blind” that it can inflict on you can change this: You will either take more damage from all attacks or find it hard to see for a while.
Have you ever wondered what the mod “PTFE-Coated with “lower chance of gaining Acid debuff” are good for? Wonder no longer!
The Hurler is an acid elemental zombie, which means it has a chance to inflict the elemental debuff acid. This debuff reduces your evasion rating and damage reduction rating in addition to the debuffs listed above.
This mod increases the likelihood to resist these effects.
We have also added a new perk to the survival tree called “resistances”, where you can spend your attribute points to further increase the chance of being resistant.
The perk is named “resistances” because we are planning to introduce more elemental debuffs in the future, and this perk will work similarly for all of them.
Please note: All archetypes use placeholder graphics at the moment, but will get their own unique look in the future.
Our crawlers are crawling again
We’ve not only been developing new zombies but also continuously refining our existing ones to add more variety to the game and to ensure all zombies have the appropriate animations. In our last update, we introduced our new crawler zombie models, but they were walking instead of crawling. This issue has now been resolved, and our crawlers are back to making your life harder. So be cautious in high grass; they may be lurking there, ready to kill you!
Melee – special attacks
Our melee weapons have received an upgrade!
In our last update, we removed the function of blocking with the right mouse button while holding a melee weapon. Now, all melee weapons– excluding improvised weapons – have their own special attack when using a right click!
These special attacks add some extra advantage to the normal attack available with the left mouse click and therefore cost stamina. There are 8 different available special attacks, which are randomly rolled retrospectively on the melee weapons currently owned by your character, as well as all the melee weapons your character will find or buy in the future. These special attacks don’t change when upgrading an item’s quality; they are always the same.
The special attack of the starter knife is predefined to be “precise strike” which does 10% more damage to the target than the normal melee attack. Some other special attacks are
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- Disarming strike: In addition to the normal weapon DPS, the target(s) receive the physical debuff “disarmed”, which prevents them from attacking with weapons.
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- Wounding strike: In addition to the normal weapon DPS, the target(s) receive the mental debuff “vulnerable”, causing them to take increased damage.
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- Broad strike: This attack hits all targets in front of you, instead of being limited to the usual number for your melee weapon.
The item tooltip now displays the type of special attack the melee weapon has, along with the amount of stamina it consumes. If a debuff is applied, this information is provided, detailing the specific effect of the debuff. These details can be found below the general stats and above the available mods.
Please note: Currently, these special attacks are not visually separated from the normal melee attacks. This will change in the coming updates.
Further changes
In addition to the new archetypes and the melee special attack, we’ve also added some smaller features, implemented one of the three missing skills, and improved some visual graphics. Additionally, we’ve worked on balancing the survival tree, the skill system, and the item system, especially the weapons. Lastly, we’ve begun working on the game’s performance. This means you’ll experience higher FPS while in-game. Also, our launcher now opens directly when started. However, the loading time and RAM usage have not yet improved.
New game features
Each mod has three different tiers, and after the first tier reaches its maximum potential, the next tier must be unlocked in the bunker before you are able to unlock the potential of the mod’s next tier. We added a mod unlockable indicator for items with a mod that has reached its maximum potential.
While the inventory is open, any item with a mod capable of unlocking the next tier will display the same bunker symbol in the top right corner.
The next tier can be unlocked in the workshop section of the bunker using cash, with a guaranteed success rate of 100%.
Please note: The bunker is scheduled for redesign in the upcoming months, and all bunker functions, including the unlocking of the next tier for mods, may undergo further changes in the process.
We’ve received the feedback, that it would be nice to see a preview for the new values of a weapon before upgrading it, so you can see if the weapons quality is worth being upgraded. We heard you. Now, when placing the item in the upgrade slot in the bunker, the green numbers will show you which values the weapon will have after being upgraded.
Shooting with a weapon has now become even more realistic with our newly added muzzle flash. This effect is now present on all guns.
Additionally, we’ve made changes to the damage symbols. The headshot, critical damage, and critical headshot symbols have been replaced with more intuitive designs, and we’ve adjusted the color range for better visibility. Normal hits are represented in white, headshots in yellow, critical hits in light orange and critical headshots in dark orange.
We’ve also introduced a subtle blood effect on zombies when they are hit.
Another aspect of realism in gunfights is observing where bullets hit, whether it’s a bus, water, grass, or walls.
With this update, we’ve introduced projectile impact effects. Now, you can see when you miss a zombie and the bullet strikes another surface, even leaving small holes in metal and stone.
First aid kit and large medipack
The “first aid kit” now has a good quality and represents the improvement of the “bandage” which has a common quality, as the first aid kit restores more HP. We now also introduce the “large medipack” to you as an improvement to the first aid kit, restoring the most HP of all available first aid medical consumables. All medical consumables can be produced in the bunker.
New skill
In our last blog, we mentioned that three skills were still missing from our skill system.
With this update, we introduce the thievery beginner active skill called “Sixth Sense”. With this skill, you’ll be able to detect all harvestables in the area, regardless of whether they are behind walls or obstacles.
We’re truly grateful for your ongoing support and value all the feedback you’ve given us. Please keep sharing your thoughts about our game on our forum or on Discord.
See you in the game!
⁓ Your Community Management Team