Shambling Through the Snow

Holiday Sweaters are Back!

Bundle Up Pack Returns

A Cure for the Cure

• On the one hand, this means you can no longer exploit the old Cure cutscene to despawn all the zombies around you.
  
  
• On the other hand, it means you’ll no longer be locked in place to be helplessly murdered by a Feral while trying to cure yourself.
  

• This replaces the former behavior, where the patients would be walking around believing they were still checked in, and refusing to do anything else, with no way to resolve their delusions.
  

A Lethal Shade of Winter

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Lethal Action

• All sources deal +100% damage to the player (compare to +60% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Infection gains from zombie attacks are +100% (compare to +60% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Infection from plague consumables is unchanged from Nightmare
  
  
• Blood plague kills survivors within 5 minutes of infection (compare to 10 minutes in Nightmare)
  
  
• Zombies can cause nearly twice as many different injuries as they do at lower difficulties, leading to deeper injury stacks piling up
  
  
• Duplicate injuries instead apply 80% of that injury as trauma (compare to 66% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Dodging costs +100% Stamina (compare to +50% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Vehicles take +300% damage from hitting or getting hit by zombies (compare to +160-180% in Nightmare)
  
  
• They also take +200% damage from other sources (compare to +125-150% in Nightmare)
  
  The undead are terrifying and relentless.
  
  
• All freaks are replaced with the blood plague freaks from Heartland
  
  
• You can encounter hordes with one of each plague freak. It’s a plague party!
  
  
• Gun noise is raised by +150% (compare to +75% in Nightmare), bringing even more zombies
  
  
• Zombies will now chase a sound for up to 5 minutes (compare to giving up after 1 minute in Nightmare). Got your running shoes on?
  
  
• The baseline siege threat at your base starts at 8 (compare to 5 in Nightmare)
  
  Plague hearts are extremely tenacious and dangerous.
  
  
• Destroying a plague heart does not kill all nearby plague zombies.
  
  
• Plague Hearts take significantly less damage. Note that melee is now (comparatively speaking) a bit more effective than other options, rather than less. Get up close and personal, if you dare!
  
  
• Melee = -50% Damage (compare to -33% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Ranged = -62.5% Damage (compare to -25% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Explosion = -62.5% Damage (compare to -25% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Fire = -62.5% Damage (compare to -25% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Vehicle Impact = -75% Damage (compare to-25% in Nightmare)
  

Lethal Map

• About 70-80% of houses are pre-looted
  
  
• There are zero non-guaranteed resource drops of any kind
  
  
• That means you only get the resources you expect from looking at a site’s flyout on the Map Screen, if that, and never any surprise bonus rucksacks
  
  
• Other “lucky find” drops are similarly reduced to very low rates, or even zero, including a lot of mid-range guns
  
  Good luck finding a ride.
  
  
• The map has only 33% the normal number of vehicles (compare to 65% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Vehicles are always out of gas and seriously damaged
  
  Plague hearts are everywhere.
  
  
• There are 3 times the standard number of plague hearts (compare to 1.5 times in Nightmare)
  
  
• Plague hearts are hidden, and the radio command to find them is available (same as in Nightmare)
  
  
• Plague hearts are allowed to cluster up with each other like crazy (unlike in Nightmare)
  
  
  
  

  Lethal Community

  
  
  Your survivors know they’re doomed
  
  
• All survivors have a -30 Morale penalty (compare to -15 in Nightmare)
  
  
• All survivors gain experience at -60% the normal rate (and Nightmare is now -30%)
  
  
• Nightmare used to be -50% but we reduced the penalty
  
  
• All survivors gain standing at -40% the normal rate (and Nightmare is now -20%)
  
  
• Nightmare used to be -30% but we reduced the penalty
  
  Resources are consumed quickly
  
  
• Survivors consume 2 Food each (compare to 1.5 Food in Nightmare)
  
  
• Food outposts provide 2 Food to compensate, and this time, they won’t break your entire community when the update launches
  
  
• Costs at the base are increased over Nightmare in a few areas:
  
  
• Ammo costs are +150% (compare to +100%)
  
  
• Materials costs are +150% (compare to +100%)
  
  
• Parts costs are +100% (compare to +50%)
  
  
• Weapons repairs cost +50% (compare to +25% in Nightmare)
  
  
• Vehicle fuel efficiency is reduced by 25% (compare to no reduction in Nightmare)
  

Other Difficulty Changes

• 75% standard on Dread
  
• 66% standard on Nightmare
  
• 50% standard on Lethal
  

Optimized for Xbox Series X|S

Don’t Worry, Stay Frosty

Additional Updates

Systems

Missions

Facilities

Gameplay

A Celebration of Fear

Scary is Back in Season

Quick Fix

Community Contest

Sailing Away...

We’re Here for You

• Customizable Difficulty: You can now adjust your game difficulty using three separate aspects: Action, Map, and Community. This lets you tune your experience to better match what you’re looking for!
  
• Open Range Pack: This new Western-themed content pack includes iconic revolvers, lever-action rifles and shotguns, and a wealth of hats and outfits inspired by the Old and New West.
  
• Access Survivor Inventory: You can now access the inventory of anyone in your community just by walking up to them!
  
• Hide Character Backpacks: You now have the option of hiding the backpacks carried by your community members, letting your carefully chosen outfits take center stage.
  
• Facility Flexibility: Long-duration actions on facilities (such as upgrades) no longer block you from performing quick actions (such as crafting).
  

Customizable Difficulty Sliders

• Action: Adjust the number and toughness of zombies, the rarity of freaks, the deadliness of hostile humans, the durability of vehicles, and the virulence of blood plague.
  
• Map: Make it easier or harder to scavenge the world and find the resources, weapons, items, and vehicles you need to survive and thrive. This slider also increases or decreases the number of plague hearts on your map.
  
• Community: Tweak the challenge of building and maintaining a healthy community. Skills might improve faster or slower, morale is easier or harder to keep up, and resource costs and influence gains are increased or decreased, among other variables.
  

The Open Range Beckons

• Model 1875 Sceriffo: An elegant modern replica of a hard-hitting .44-caliber revolver from the Old West.
  
• Mare’s Leg: You’ve seen this iconic short-barreled shotgun in TV and movies since the 50s, and now it can be yours.
  
• Model 92 Rifle: This lever-action .44-caliber rifle is a brass-clad veteran of conflicts long past.
  
• Sawed-Off Model 1887: A cut-down version of an infamous buckshot dispenser, useful as a zombie-killing roomsweeper.
  
• Scoped Big Hank Rifle: This classic .357-caliber lever-action rifle adds a modern optic for accurate long-range shots.
  
• Black Sherpa Suede Vest: Lets you stay warm and keep cool at the same time.
  
• Snakeskin Western Straw Hat: This slick, shiny hat will be the envy of all your friends.
  
• Big Daddy Skillet: It’s not just the biggest frying pan you’ve ever seen, it’s also great for clonking zombies!
  
• Bundle of Dynamite: The first new throwable explosive added since 2018’s Daybreak Pack features a fuse that’s juuuust long enough to draw in the zeds before it goes BOOM!
  
  The remaining guns, weapons, and outfits can all be found by scavenging.
  
  This content pack includes many highly requested ideas from the Wishlist: (linkety linkety link, and linkety linkety link). Thanks for the suggestions!
  

Riding Into the Sunset

Coming Soon!

Additional Updates

• From the Wishlist (linkety link): You can now manage the inventories of your community members without taking control of them. Just walk up and talk to them, and you’ll see a new option to Access Survivor Inventory.
  
  This opens their inventory, with your inventory also available on a tab. Selecting an item in one inventory will push it into the other, letting you freely swap items back and forth.
  
  
• From the Wishlist (link): This means that while you’re out scavenging, you can easily use your follower as a pack mule to help you carry more.
  
• While exploring the other survivor’s inventory, you can also use and equip items for them, just as you can in your own inventory.
  
• From the Wishlist (link): This means that you can activate a healing consumable within another survivor’s inventory to heal them in the field.
  Note that this replaces the former option to pass a rucksack to another character, as that is now one of many things you can do with this new feature.
  
• From the Wishlist (link): You now have the option to hide all backpacks on your survivors.
  
• This allows you to see things like the patterns on the backs of their jackets, and avoids the scenario where every character with a decent-sized backpack looks like they’re about to climb Mount Everest.
  You can find the option on the Settings screen, in the Gameplay Section, as Hide Character Backpacks.
  

Difficulty Tuning

• From the Wishlist: Hostile humans have received a balance pass to offer a fairer experience on higher difficulties.
  
• They can no longer kill a player who isn't in "fight for life", even if they score a headshot. Using consumables to stay in the fight will mean you're going to survive at least one more hit.
  
• The damage dealt to a hostile human by a headshot is now more consistent.
  
• There is now a minimum headshot damage received by hostiles at Dread and Nightmare, so that even if you're using a suppressed .22 pistol, the number of headshots needed to take them down should be more reasonable.
  
• It still takes a lot of body shots using low-caliber suppressed weapons. We haven't changed that.
  
• Hostiles have an exceptionally high chance to miss their first 1-4 shots before they "get on target", with that chance disappearing faster on higher difficulties.
  
• They also have massively reduced accuracy at long ranges.
  
• The amount of influence you earn from killing zombies now declines as you move the Community slider into the Dread and Nightmare settings. (It used to escalate as difficulty rose, leading to massive overearnings in Nightmare when combined with high zombie populations.)
  
• If you still want the influence bonanza you used to be able to get on Nightmare by killing so many zombies, try playing with Community at Standard and Action at Nightmare.
  
• There is now a smooth ramp of plague heart population across the different notches on the Map slider, starting low at the Green end, and getting steadily higher as you progress to Nightmare. (There used to be a dip in plague heart population at Dread.)
  
• The baseline morale penalty for all survivors now gets worse as you shift the Community slider from Dread to Nightmare, increasing from -10 Morale to -15 Morale. (The penalty used to be -10 for both.)
  
• Blood plague juggernauts now continue to spawn, even after all plague hearts are defeated, when the Action slider is set to Nightmare. (This was already true in Dread for some reason.)
  
• Plague heart loot is now consistent across all difficulty settings, granting 3-6 Plague Samples and what were formerly considered Nightmare-level items.
  

Gameplay Tuning

• Ambient enclaves should now offer a wider variety of items for trade, and offer more useful gear, such as suppressors, mid-tier weapons and firearms, gas cans, repair kits, facility mods, and some quirky consumables like box mines. This has been applied primarily to the more randomly-generated enclaves, such as the ones you can summon over the radio.
  
• The chance to knock down a zombie on the first shot when firing a weapon chambered in .44 Magnum is now 60%, up from 30%.
  
• We adjusted the collision on vehicles with snowplows attached to the front, to make them less likely to get caught on obstacles like guardrails.
  

User Experience Improvements

• Long-duration actions on facilities, like upgrades, no longer block you from performing quick actions, like crafting.
  
• Now when you accept a mission in dialogue, the game automatically pins it as your current mission in the HUD, rather than requiring you to hunt it down manually on the Map screen.
  
• When you move your community to a “random” map, the game will no longer drop you into the same map you just left a quarter of the time. You’ll always end up somewhere new.
  
• he most essential missions for recruiting new survivors (the ones that create new enclaves and progress your relationships with them) have been moved into their own category under the hood, to prevent them from being held up by other missions. That means that:
  
• Missions that lead towards allies and recruits should be available more often.
  
• The typical number of missions listed on the Map screen at any given time may go up slightly.
  
• All container icons are now visible through walls in sites that you own, but have not yet fully scavenged. (Previously, this feature only applied to unclaimed sites.)
  
• Player characters are now less sensitive to doors while sprinting, so you are less likely to suddenly bash your way into a building that you intended to run right past.
  
• Bounties that formerly stated that you needed to kill enemies “from stealth” now more accurately describe the requirement as “while crouched”.
  
• The Red Talon Officer’s Quarters now counts as a latrine for survivors with digestive problems. Please feel free to imagine how that plays out any way you like.
  

Broken Achievements

• Sayonara (get a character killed)
  
• Heart of Darkness (destroy a plague heart)
  
• These Dreams (destroy 5 plague hearts)
  
• Total Eclipse (clear out all plague hearts)
  
• Barley and Spoiled Blueberries (kill a bloater)
  
• Be Still My Dog of War (complete a legacy as a Warlord)
  
• I Am the Law (complete a legacy as a Sheriff)
  
• Speedy Delivery (complete a legacy as a Trader)
  
• If You Build It They Will Come (complete a legacy as a Builder)
  
• The Game is Afoot (accept a bounty)
  
• Bounty Collector (complete 5 bounties)
  
• Collect 'Em All (complete 25 bounties)
  
• It Looks Good On You Though (unlock an outfit via the bounty broker)
  
• After our fix, you should receive retroactive credit for nearly all of the above achievements if you were one of the players who missed out. There are only two exceptions that we couldn’t support this way:
  
• Barley and Spoiled Blueberries — Keep an eye out for one more bloater!
  
• Sayonara — You’ll need to get another character killed. Don’t worry, we believe in you.
  

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

• We made several minor mission fixes, correcting typos, misleading icons, and small bugs.
  
• We also made several minor map fixes, correcting missing markup and missing containers.
  
• We fixed an incorrect icon on the Choose Your Leader screen.
  
• We fixed an area in Drucker County where you could submerge yourself completely underwater, and stand there like some kind of crab person.
  
• We fixed a problem that could cause a nonplayer character to run forever into the edge of a high platform.
  
• We fixed a bug that could cause certain rare characters to spawn without a Close Combat weapon.
  
• We fixed some missing audio on the Saw Blade Sword, for when you attack a plague heart while exhausted.
  
• Smoke can no longer render heavy weapons ineffective against zombies.
  

Go Bag Gets Bigger

• Compensating Suppressor: This versatile attachment improves control and power while also reducing noise by half. It’s a great compromise between a brake and a traditional suppressor.
  
• Bug Out Bag: This striking new backpack has all the room of an 8-slot pack, but has the smaller profile of a 6-slot pack. Thanks to its bright orange hue, your friends can easily pick you out even when you’re surrounded by zombies.
  
• Mad Norma: The “Norma” pickup truck has been a fan favorite since the original State of Decay. This model features some apocalypse-style improvements, along with a shiny new paint job. You’ll almost feel guilty splattering her with zombie guts!
  

Go Bag Improvements

Go Bag Bounties

Coming and Going

Anything Else?

Bug Fixes and Gameplay Improvements

An Important Request

Riding Shotgun

• Vehicle Tune-Up: Our mechanics have improved performance for all vehicles in the game.
  
• Shotgun Upgrade: We’ve drastically upgraded the zombie-stopping power of the humble boomstick.
  
• Drucker County, Enhanced: We made this plateau map more visually appealing and much friendlier for drivers.
  
• Free Bloodmobile: Use your radio to call in this unique vehicle for your community. Available for a limited time!
  
• World War 2 Pack Returns: Older weapons are now in loot, and new weapons and outfits are available from the Bounty Broker.
  

Vehicle Tune-Up

• Increased acceleration to escape juggernauts intent on wrecking your ride
  
• Better off-road performance, allowing you to drive over rough terrain without getting stuck
  
• More power in reverse to help back out of those annoying ditches that keep jumping in front of you
  
• Revised terrain and tire interaction to better capture the different “grip” on roads, dirt, mud, and water
  
• Audio remixed to follow new torque and acceleration curves
  

Shotguns Get a Shot in the Arm

• Shotguns reliably deliver kills inside five meters.
  
• Shotguns offer crowd control to about 20 meters, scoring knockdowns and dismemberments.
  
• Shotgun noise dropped significantly and is now comparable to a 5.56 round, so their use draws less unwanted company.
  
• Your shotgun remains less effective at longer ranges (that’s rifle territory), and it’s not ideal for stealthy kills. Instead, it’s the best weapon for mowing through zombie hordes, or for delaying oncoming zeds when you need to retreat.
  

Drucker County Map Improvements

Free Bloodmobile for all Players

World War 2 Pack Returns, With an Upgrade

• Ceremonial M1A1 Thompson: This beautiful submachine gun remains pristine and fully functional, thanks to years of loving maintenance.
  
• OSS Silent Night: Military historians claim this permanently suppressed revolver never existed as anything but a prototype. But they’re all dead, so no one can stop you from appreciating its power, accuracy, and surprising range.
  
• MP40 Submachine Gun: This 20th-century German weapon of war, brought to America as a battlefield prize, provides an exceptionally controllable assault platform thanks to its smaller caliber, modest fire rate, and longer frame.
  
• FBI Fighting Rifle: This vintage weapon is based on the military BAR and delivers large-caliber firepower with surprising control. Each rifle is equipped with a special Vintage Rifle Compensator attachment (see below).
  
• Soviet PPSh-41: A famous WW2 close assault weapon, known for its high rate of fire, sturdy construction, and simplicity of use. This one also features a permanently attached brake, and it’s been added to loot tables so you can find it by scavenging.
  
• Danger Dog PPSh-41: A skilled post-apocalypse gunsmith heavily modified this Soviet submachine gun to face today's nightmare world. It includes a welded-on AK-style suppressor, modified action to support three-round bursts, and other optimizations.
  
• Antique German Trench Tool: This “folding spade” is loud, weighty, and quite capable of hacking zombies to pieces.
  
• Tank Hammer: You might be surprised how many problems a tank can have that are most easily fixed by hitting it very hard with a large hammer. Works on zeds, too.
  
• Aviator Helmet: Your friends will all be jealous of this vintage leather flight helmet, complete with aviator goggles.
  
• Combat Helmet: This classic Army green helmet is an enduring symbol of service under fire.
  
• Vintage Rifle Compensator: This antique muzzle attachment provides stability, power, and durability. It is ONLY found on the FBI Fighting Rifle, but it can be removed and attached to any weapon that accepts a muzzle brake.
  

What’s Coming and Going

Other Fixes and Improvements

Loot Container Distribution

Systems

• You can now craft Toolkits and Advanced Toolkits at the Auto Shop, because what else would it be for? This includes brand new bulk-crafting options that actually make the Auto Shop the ideal place to craft them.
  
• We revised the UX for the experience of securing a site and revealing its container icons to make that experience friendlier.
  
• Icons that are through a wall from you show up “hollow” to make it clear that they are in another room.
  
• Icons for containers on porches and other close outdoor locations are now visible from indoors.
  
• We restructured our music playlists and increased the amount of variation in playback across all game modes.
  
• We corrected some icons in the closet that weren’t showing accurate colors for the associated outfit items.
  

Gameplay

• It used to be that .357 revolvers were louder than .44 Magnum revolvers, which didn’t make sense. So now all revolvers are quieter than they were before, but .44 Magnum revolvers are the loudest by a small margin.
  
• Weapon sway is now realigned to correlate better with barrel length. Expect to see more stability from .50-caliber rifles and long-barreled revolvers than you did before.
  
• If you have an ally firing “through” you harmlessly (due to the lack of friendly fire), you will no longer see gouts of blood splashing out of your body, sending you mixed messages about the sort of danger you’re in.
  

Balance Tweaks

• We fixed a bug that was causing the Big Boss (the upgraded Military Truck) to take engine damage twice as fast as any other vehicle.
  
• The Spec Ops AW sniper rifle is now six pounds lighter, making it only one pound heavier than the standard Arctic Warfare.
  
• The CM1-A Breacher now features the benefits of a Professional Choke, as that was the original intent for that weapon.
  
• We increased the magazine size of the Echo-S3 Shotgun to 6+1 to keep it competitive among all the updated shotguns.
  
• The mighty sword known as Excadaver has lost some luster over the years. To ensure that it still feels like a potent reward, we boosted its lethality, dismemberment, and ease of use.
  
• The Sweet Skull Sword also gains some improvements, though to a lesser degree.
  
• The Pyro Launcher’s effectiveness against plague hearts has been reduced. It’s still quite effective against groups of zombies, but no longer shall it reign supreme as the gimmicky destroyer of hearts
  

Miscellaneous

• We also fixed a few grayscale interior lighting bugs that crept into Update 18.
  
• We fixed a crash that could occur when engaging with plague wall fights in Heartland.
  

Welcome to the Green Zone!

• Enemies deal less damage
  
• Your Stamina lasts longer in a fight
  
• Freak zombies are much rarer
  
• Crafting items and building facilities is cheaper
  
• Rucksacks provide more resources
  
• Scavenging delivers more weapons and skill books
  

It’s a Pirate’s Life for You

• Sea Dog Blunderbuss: Some call this short-range shotgun-style weapon the original horde stopper.
  
• Spyglass Rifle: With a .50 caliber rifle like this elegant beauty, you can brave the darkest waters without need for a bigger boat.
  
• Dead Man’s Cutlass: This marvelous bladed weapon is just what you need to take arms against a sea of thieves. I mean troubles.
  
• Bilge Rat Shovel: It may not look like much, but this handy blunt weapon has plenty of “digging” left in it yet.
  
• Buccaneer Bandanna: This handy piece of headgear bears the insignia of the mysterious Order of Souls!
  
• Naval Tricorne: It’s the hat that plundered a thousand ships.
  
• Pirate Jacket: This tattered coat has seen more than its share of pillaging.
  
• Kraken Hoodie: Terrifying monsters inspire the most attractive outfits.
  
• Megalodon: A gorgeous muscle car modeled after the legendary marine predator.
  

What’s Coming and Going

Garden Gnome Contest

Fixes and Improvements

Gameplay

• You can now see all the containers in a building once the site has been completely secured, to address the frustrating experience of failing to find that one last container. (This ability was previously reserved for Scouting specialists. Scouts still keep their loot-and-scoot advantage, as they can spot containers without having to kill every zombie in the building first.)
  
  
• We raised the fuel capacity of all vehicles by 40%. Gas cans still contain the same amount of fuel as before, so it now takes more cans to fill a vehicle … but you can stock up and drive around longer without refueling!
  
  
• The right-side panels (Inventory, Skills, and Radio) now feature tabs, so it is much easier to navigate between them, and for new players to discover that the Skills and Radio panels exist at all.
  They’re not technically tabs, visually. They’re little button things. But they work like tabs.
  
  
• We improved the way your survivor determines when they can interact with items in the environment, checking both the character facing and the camera facing to determine your intent.
  
  
• Minor accidental noises from stumbling or falling short distances no longer attract zombie attention.

Combat

• Pump-action shotguns no longer take durability damage, and are effectively indestructible like revolvers and bolt-action rifles, to help balance their slower rate of fire.
  
  
• Your survivor now moves forward slightly when swinging a heavy weapon at an enemy just outside their reach, to avoid frustrating near misses, especially right after knocking a zombie back.
  
  
• We increased bonus melee damage to juggernauts from behind from +20% to +40%, to make it more worth the risk of trying to get behind them.
  
  
• We fixed a bug that could cause your survivor to get hung up on their own ally while attempting to charge and attack a zombie.

Followers

• Followers now engage more intelligently with the larger enemies (juggernauts and plague hearts).
  
  
• In most circumstances, they should now use guns when appropriate and avoid area-effect attacks more rationally.
  
  
• Followers now prioritize human threats a little higher than zombie threats, because hostile humans are scary.
  
  
• Followers wielding shotguns and fully-automatic weapons now experience projectile spread like normal people, instead of every pellet in a shotgun shell parading directly into their target in single file.
  
  
• We made it possible for community events to check if a given character is your follower, so that we don’t have followers claiming to have run off and collected supplies or something while you were staring right at them.
  

Base Management

• We’ve increased the capacity of all Storage facilities by 10 for every resource. This should reduce resource storage pressure, especially during the early game.
  
  
• You can now check community members into the Infirmary to speed up the removal of partial infections (prior to full-blown blood plague). This was a thing that many players assumed should be possible, so now it is.
  
  
• This effect stacks with the benefits of the Sanitizing Machine and the Cleaning Station.
  
  
• Finding a new map via the upgraded Command Center no longer has a cost associated with it. This should remove some friction from the process of switching maps.
  
  
• In Green Zones only, if you keep your Morale at 10 or higher, new potential recruits will show up at your base once per day and offer to join your community.
  
  
• This should hasten the process of acquiring new people for your community, though we’re deliberately making these fairly average folks with no dramatically awesome or terrible traits.
  

Other Stuff

• Our audio team restructured the in-game music playlists to minimize repetition. Players should hear a more interesting and varied mix of music across all game modes.
  
  
• We made a minor audio tweak to make it sound less like characters were eating their textbooks.
  
  
• As always, we fix minor map issues as they crop up, this time including an unfinished building interior that we discovered while playing multiplayer with fans of the game.
  

Celebrate With Us!

New Weapons for Your Survivors

New Outfits and More

A Note on Retired Content Packs

Gameplay

AI

Missions

User Interface

Environments

• A fix to address invisible zombies in multiplayer and the dreaded Error 3 disconnects.
  
• A massive overall increase to weapon durability, muzzle brakes that improve durability, and a free one-time repair for all weapons.
  
• Juggernauts that take more damage from higher-caliber firearms and headshots.
  
• Infestations that don’t repopulate right after you clear them out.
  
• Irritable characters that can more easily be prevented from starting fights.
  
• The ability to stealthily kill your way through a horde.
  

Pawn Shop Pack

• PPQ 45 — A .45 caliber variant of the PPQ frame that uses polygonal rifling instead of “lands and grooves” to achieve extraordinary accuracy.
  
• G45 — An evolution of the G19 that incorporates years of field experience into a new, highly durable version of the classic pistol.
  
• Hunter SKS — This rifle was modified with a scope and brake for pinpoint protein procurement. Now it has other uses.
  
• Non-Compliant SKS — This SKS joined an outlaw biker gang, adding full auto conversion, a high-capacity “double stack” magazine, and a high-speed optic.
  
• Wyrmling — A gorgeous new close-combat weapon that pairs well with its larger cousin, the Wyvern.
  
• Wyvern — The most elegant blade you could expect for three installments of $29.95. Pick up the Wyrmling to complete the set.
  
• Guandao — An ancient, heavy blade meant to be swung with power. Use it to vanquish hordes of your enemies.
  

Content Pack Cycling Update

Multiplayer

Weapons and Mods

• Muzzle brakes no longer cause a weapon to make additional noise.
  
• Brakes now improve weapon durability, making repairs less frequent on any weapon to which they are equipped.
  
• This effectively grants 33%, 50%, or 100% more shots (for handmade, professional, and advanced brakes) before repairs are needed.

• A high-end choke now allows a shotgun to be effective at ranges previously reserved for longer pistols or shorter rifles.
  
• Chokes also grant modest increases to power (10%, 20%, and 30% for handmade, professional, and advanced)
  
• The power increase makes them more effective against plague hearts, hostile humans, and juggernauts.
  
• This work also fixes a previously undiscovered issue where chokes would actually make shotgun effectiveness worse as you got farther from the target. Essentially, the same bug as the “suppressor bug” we identified in CU14 appears to have been stealthily lying in wait on the choke attachments since … well, a long time ago.
  

• All heavy weapons increased in durability, some more than others. The biggest beneficiaries are the Sledge Hammer and the Groundbreaker Shovel.
  
• All heavy weapons gained additional impact (which helps against enemies with hit points, like juggernauts and humans). The biggest beneficiaries are the Coffee Can Mace and the Groundbreaker Shovel.
  
• Most heavy weapons gained tweaks to their additional effects, like knockdown and dismember chance. These are largely minor and varied, and most are beneficial.
  
• Most heavy weapons also had their weight and stamina-cost-per-swing adjusted. Most got lighter, and only a couple got a bit heavier.

• Juggernauts now take greater damage if you use higher-caliber firearms and power-enhancing weapon mods. So the difference between an AK-47 and a .22 pistol really comes through. We’ve done a balance pass across all firearms to make sure players are rewarded for bringing more firepower to a Juggernaut encounter.
  
• Body shots to Juggernauts are now less effective, and headshots become increasingly effective the more you degrade the Juggernaut’s skull with accumulated damage, rewarding players who keep their cool while he's charging.
  
• Juggernauts no longer ignore damage when they’re in their “stagger” behavior, and can be staggered again sooner after recovering. This damage immunity was helping to mask the problem, and now the natural assumptions players make about whether they are hurting the Juggernaut are actually true.
  

Gameplay

• Destroying an infestation now creates a temporary moratorium on the creation of new infestations, removing that annoying moment when an infestation pops up literally ten seconds after you cleared out the last one.
  
• The death of a zombie no longer automatically gets the attention of the horde they are a part of, making it much easier to quietly kill your way through a horde, one zombie at a time.
  
• When a zombie is on the ground next to a container, we now prioritize finishing the zombie with the interact button, rather than looting the container.
  
• AI-controlled humans are now able to shoot zombies out to the effective range of their weapons. (They were previously inadvertently limited to about 50 meters.) This is particularly valuable to characters staffing Watchtowers.
  
• AI-controlled humans now get into vehicles more promptly, avoiding walking in indecisive circles beforehand.

Facilities

• We removed the influence cost to Reveal Map Exits at an upgraded Command Center, to smooth the path for players who want to try new maps.
  
• Checking a character into the Infirmary to halt the progress of Blood Plague no longer has an ongoing meds cost.
  
• Characters made “busy” by a mission can now still be checked into the Infirmary.
  
• We fixed an inconsistency in the amount of experience awarded for "Primary Care" when used by an Infirmary 3 or Field Hospital. It was 200, but now is reduced to 100 to match the same action on the Infirmary 1 or 2.
  
• We fixed an issue where “Emergency Medicine” awarded Mechanics skill experience, instead of Medicine skill experience. Or maybe your survivors were actually robots up until now? Didn’t see that coming, did you?
  
• The new Ranger SUV can now be upgraded to a Smashwagon, like other SUVs.
  

Community

• The numbers that lead to characters starting fights based on their traits have been changed to fall in line with the existing morale thresholds. In general, this makes those characters less likely to start fights.
  
• Characters with “irritable” traits won’t start fights unless they are below “Cheerful”.
  
• Characters with traits that “start conflicts” won’t start fights unless they are below “Empowered”.
  
• Characters at your base will no longer complain about noise when the Threat level is less than 14.
  
• Morale-driven filth on characters is now visible in multiplayer. A reminder to make sure to shower before seeing other people.
  
• Running low on meds no longer issues an inaccurate “Food Dire!” penalty to morale. Survivors now recognize that bandages are not food.
  

User Interface

• Now when you equip an item (like a weapon or a backpack) directly from your supply locker or from a vehicle, the game swaps your previously-equipped item back into that container, rather than dropping it into your inventory by default. We made this change because in our experience as players, this is what we actually wanted the game to do about 99% of the time. Note, this does not apply to lootable containers out in the world, which still cannot receive items from you, but can only provide them.
  
• You can now click and drag scroll bars in the menus if you are using a mouse.
  
• Moving to a new map in Nightmare no longer reveals all the Plague Hearts.
  
• Dead characters and empty leader slots no longer offer you access to their closets.
  
• We reduced the time it takes to load up and interact with the Community Screen, which was becoming an issue on some hardware.
  
• The keybinding screen no longer issues a warning when you leave the older Dodge/Crouch action unbound.
  
• We’ve bound the option to delete Legacy survivors via the Main Menu to the X button instead of the A button to prevent unfortunate accidents.
  
• Remember last update, when we said that we had made it possible to bind Interact and Quick Finisher to the same button? We made a mistake. That arrived in this update.
  
• We also did some general cleanup work on the interface, making sure you can see what you need to see.
  

Missions

• We fixed an issue with map markers on vehicles that was making them very difficult to find in missions like Action Hero: Fast Cars, Rookie Mistake, and the Mysterious Broadcast with the abandoned van.
  
• We slightly increased the starting resources for players who skip the tutorial. You now begin with 6 food, 2 meds, and 3 materials.
  
• Builder: Gimme the Loot, though still rare, spawns more often than it once did.
  
• Builder: Pillage and Plunder no longer instructs you to stick a rucksack in your supply locker.
  
• Sheriff: Right of Way can no longer cost you an alliance with an enclave.
  
• Claiming the Shop has had its missing map marker restored, making the shop much easier to claim.
  
• Maslow’s Hierarchy no longer appears when you already have the Lounge it wants you to build.
  
• Who Should Lead no longer doubles up on the same leader tutorial if you recruit a new community member who matches your current character’s leader type.
  
• Connect with Other Survivors now handles the scenario where you start the mission already in the possession of a food rucksack.

Misc

• We added a console-only option to the Video Settings called TV Display Border (Overscan). You can use this to compensate if your television cuts off the edges of the game screen.
  
• We made several minor map fixes, with such effects as:
  • Avoiding players getting trapped by geometry, especially around their own parking spaces.
    
  • Preventing characters from spawning on rooftops.
    
  • Preventing players from getting trapped inside plague-engorged houses in Heartland. Because ick.
    
  • Creepy debris floating above the road. If you want to see weird floating debris on purpose, check out the game Overland.
    
• We fixed a few clipping issues on character outfits and hair.
  
• We also fixed a few rare crash and soft-lock bugs.
  
• We expanded our support for international keyboard standards. French AZERTY keyboards now use ZQSD instead of WASD by default for movement. New users and users who reset their keybindings will receive the change.
  
• Also, players with German and Italian keyboards can use 0 instead of = to sign out or reset their keybinds.
  
• And as with every update, we continue to improve our localization quality in several languages.