The Infected News

Hey folks,

Welcome to another Beta Build Cycle!

This update brings big changes to early-game flow, loot balance, controls, and sets the foundation for future story mode content. While a new save isn’t strictly required, we’d really appreciate it if folks started a fresh playthrough for this cycle. A lot of the updates target the early experience, and feedback from clean saves helps us dial things in more effectively and get a better read on how the changes feel for players.

Thank you for all the feedback during the beta cycle—and as always, we appreciate your continued support.

[h2]Reminders: [/h2]

Centralized Patch Notes:

• Every time we release a new Preview Build, we’ll edit this post to include the latest changes by day.
  
• You can track the progress of the update in one place.
  

Translations:

• Translations will only be added once the entire update is complete.
  

Feedback and Bug Reports:

• To keep things organized, we've set up a dedicated subforum on Steam specifically for the public beta branch.
  
• All feedback, suggestions, and bug reports should be posted in this subforum. This helps us and the community moderators keep track of everything in one place. Again, we will only intake issues, suggestions, and feedback when posted to the new subforum—so please head there to post!

How to Access the Steam Public Beta Branch for The Infected:

1. Open Steam
   Launch your Steam client and ensure you’re logged in.
   
2. Go to Your Library
   Locate The Infected in your game library.
   
3. Right-Click on the Game
   Right-click on The Infected and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Navigate to the Betas Tab
   In the Properties window, click on the Betas tab on the left-hand side.
   
5. Choose the Beta Branch
   Under "Select the beta you want to opt into," choose beta- Beta Branch.
   Wait for the Update.
   Steam will now download the beta version of the game. Once the download is complete, you’re all set to launch the game!
   

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[h2]V23 Preview Build Notes[/h2]

[h3]Build 1 -April 7th[/h3]

[h3]Additions:[/h3]

• Save file stats now appear in both the main and in-game menus.
  
• New tutorial system added.
  
• New quest journal system added.
  
• New quest journal UI added. (This is where quests will live for future story mode updates.)
  
• New keybind for opening the quest journal.
  
• Added Sandbox vs. Story mode option in the game settings. (Story mode not yet implemented.)
  
• Added trader tech that allows crafting of Electrical and Mechanical Parts. (25,000 coins)
  
• Added "Take All" shortcut when looting POI containers. (Default key: T)
  
• Full Controller support added.
  
• New footstep sounds added.
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Players now start at random locations.
  
• The ATV no longer spawns by default at the lighthouse.
  
• The ATV now spawns fully repaired at a random POI.
  
• Reduced number of Gas Barrels found at POIs. They no longer respawn.
  
• Significantly reduced number of bandages and medical items found at POIs.
  
• Bolts now reload automatically after each shot. No need to press R.
  
• In-game UI icons updated (i.e., interact prompts) to better support controllers.
  
• Crocodiles will now ignore swamp trees when moving.
  
• AI now has a chance to dodge incoming player attacks.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed issue where upgrading a ceiling ramp to cement would incorrectly turn it into a foundation ramp.
  
• Fixed issue where multiple ore types could be toggled on extractors while powered off.
  

[h3]As a heads up:[/h3]

• This patch includes foundational systems for future story integration.
• We’re still working on polishing controller support, UI elements, and some deeper balance tweaks—those will continue in upcoming betas.

[h3]V23.4 - Apr 9th:[/h3]

• BUGFIX - Moving the NPC Town Hall and House would sometimes duplicate the doors.
  
• ADDED - Corner Dirt Plots and Stone Paths foundations.
  

[h3]V23.5 - Apr 16th:[/h3]

• ADDED - New cave, see image below for location.
  
• ADDED - Fish Ration, crafted on the Food Prep Table, see image below for stats.
  
• CHANGE - Some items added to Dead AI drops.
  

[h3]V23.6 - Apr 17th:[/h3]

• BUGFIX - Could not snap vertical walls below another vertical wall.
  
• ADDED - Quarter Foundations with legs (long).
  
• ADDED - Mirrored Ceiling (Ladder Access) pieces.
  

[h3]V23.7 - Apr 18th:[/h3]

• CHANGE - Doors that are open when a file is saved will load open.
  
• ADDED - Wooden Double Door Frame, can be upgraded to Metal.
  
• ADDED - Double Doors. (2 variations)
  
• ADDED - Arrow to identify the direction of doors.
  

[h3]V23.8 - Apr 19th:[/h3]

• ADDED - Garage Door that can be added to the new Double Door Frame.
  

Hey everyone,

Just another small patch to fix some bugs and a small change to the map/environment.

Best regards

ADDED - New cave and some changes to the landscape near the new City POI.
CHANGE - Changes to the map image to reflect the new environment.
BUGFIX - Cart could end up underground in some spots in the new POI.
CHANGE - Reworked the large cliffs to have less vertices and more aggressive LODs. This will result in an increase in FPS in some environment spots.
BUGFIX - Deletion of map markers would sometimes not work.

Hi everyone, just a few changes and fixes.

Best Regards

CHANGE - AI in city POI will not drop coins. Since the AI respawn on death it became to easy to mass gather coins.

ADDED - Elevator settings panel that allows you to add tooltips to your floors and disable unwanted floors.

BUGFIX - Could not upgrade the half pillar to concrete.

Hey folks,

Below is a breakdown of the new features, fixes, and changes live in V22. This build is heavily focused on build parts and some end-game advanced placeables.

Thanks for all the community feedback and suggestions during this beta cycle! Your input has been invaluable in shaping the game, and we appreciate your support. If you've been enjoying the updates, we’d love to see your reviews—it really helps!

A quick note: The Beta Hub will close soon as this cycle wraps up, but don’t worry—it’ll return for the following public beta phase.

Reminder: If you have suggestions, feedback, or bug reports, please post them in the Steam Forums. That’s where both the community and the developer check regularly. Head over to the forums here to share your thoughts - or visit us in Discord!


We hope you enjoy the new additions and improvements!

[h3]Build Part Additions:[/h3]

New set of Wooden foundations and ceilings:

• Wooden Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Corner Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Triangle Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Triangle Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Ceiling 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling R 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling L 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Triangle Ceiling 2 (Ladder Access)
  

New set of quarter foundations and ceilings:

• Wooden Foundation Quarter
  
• Wooden Foundation Quarter 2
  
• Concrete Foundation Quarter
  
• Sandstone Foundation Quarter
  
• Wooden Ceiling Quarter
  
• Wooden Ceiling Quarter 2
  
• Concrete Ceiling Quarter
  
• Glass Ceiling Quarter
  
• Sandstone Ceiling Quarter
  

New sets of vertical half walls:

• Wooden Vertical Half Wall
  
• Interior Wooden Vertical Half Wall
  
• Glass Vertical Half Wall
  
• Sandstone Vertical Half Wall
  
• All the upgrade variations of walls (Brick, wood, concrete)
  

Other build part additions and changes:

• Wooden Slanted Roof Quarter
  
• Wooden Door 2
  
• Wooden Door 3
  
• Wooden Ramp (Ceiling) – Snaps only to ceilings and has no legs.
  
• 3 new sets of metal railings.
  
• Mirror versions of the corner foundations and ceilings so textures align correctly.
  
• Wood and Concrete half pillar.
  
• Change: Pillar snap points adjusted slightly to accommodate quarter foundations and ceilings. Previously placed pillars will maintain their original position.
  

[h3]Other Additions:[/h3]

• New POI – Added a new POI and roadway near the center of the map.
  
• New POI – A more city-like POI that contains an enormous amount of loot. This POI will not include any technologies but will offer some other cool items that can be found with a fresh/new game save.
• Advanced Sawbench – Electric Circular Sawbench: requires 200 power and trader tech—yields five planks per log.
  
• Trader Tech – New Electric Sawbench tech available from the trader for 1000 coins.
  
• Elevators – Added both Elevator Frame and Elevator Cabin- tech required from the trader.
  
• Trader Tech – New Trader technology for unlocking elevator components.
  
• Settings – Added menu settings to adjust the number of AI spawns in POIs (default is 3).
  
• Lighting – Players can now change the color of powered lights. Additionally, lights can now have adjustable intensity and a flashing effect.
  
• Lighting – New linear light added.
  
• Lighting – New wall light added.
  
• Watermill – Provides 350 power and must be placed on rapids. Trader tech required.
  
• Trader Tech – New Watermill trader tech available for 1500 coins.
  
• Water Bottle – Can't be crafted but can be found in loot.
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Build UI – Adjusted to accommodate all the new build parts.
  
• Spike Traps – Now have a 10-20% chance of breaking when hit by AI Vambies. Barbed wire is recommended for complete protection.
  
• Environment Rapids – Rapids no longer freeze in winter.
  
• Vambie Drops – 30% chance for Vambies to drop coins (between 5-15 coins). It makes coin collection easier and adds incentive for combat.
  
• Rain Sounds – Rain sounds are dampened when in buildings and bases.
  
• Log Cart – It will no longer push logs, frogs and other objects on the ground.
  

[h3]Bugfixes:[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where some objects could not be placed on glass ceilings.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could get stuck in the fridge UI, requiring a forced reboot to exit.
  
• Finally resolved (hopefully) all rain-in-base issues.
  
• Mike would sometimes have issues opening gates if they were placed near slopes.
  

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the Beta Test Cycle for V22! Suggestions are especially valuable during this phase, as we can implement and test them directly—so if there’s something you’ve been wanting to see in the game, now is the time to share it!

[h2]Here’s how it works:[/h2]

[h3]Preview Builds:[/h3]

• Updates on the beta branch will be released as Preview Builds (e.g., Preview Build 1, Preview Build 2, etc.).
  
• Players can test new content, provide feedback, and report bugs as we develop the patch.
  

Centralized Patch Notes:

• Every time we release a new Preview Build, we’ll edit this post to include the latest changes by day.
  
• This means you can track the update’s progress all in one place.
  

Translations:

• Please note that translations will only be added once the full update is complete.
  

Feedback and Bug Reports:

• To keep things organized, we've set up a dedicated subforum on Steam specifically for the public beta branch.
  
• All feedback, suggestions, and bug reports should be posted in this subforum. This helps us and the community moderators keep track of everything in one place. Again, we will only intake issues, suggestions, and feedback when posted to the new subforum—so please head there to post!

How to Access the Steam Public Beta Branch for The Infected:

1. Open Steam
   Launch your Steam client and ensure you’re logged in.
   
2. Go to Your Library
   Locate The Infected in your game library.
   
3. Right-Click on the Game
   Right-click on The Infected and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Navigate to the Betas Tab
   In the Properties window, click on the Betas tab on the left-hand side.
   
5. Choose the Beta Branch
   Under "Select the beta you would like to opt into," choose beta- Beta Branch.
   Wait for the Update.
   Steam will now download the beta version of the game. Once the download is complete, you’re all set to launch the game!
   

------

[h2]V22 Preview Build Notes[/h2]

[h3]Build 1 - Jan 22nd:[/h3]

• Bugfix: Issue where some objects could not be placed on glass ceilings.
  
• Bugfix: Could get stuck in the fridge UI, requiring a forced reboot to exit.
  
• Bugfix: I think I finally fixed all the rain-in-base issues.
  
• Change: Tweaks to spike traps—between 10% and 20% chance of a spike trap breaking when hit by AI Vambies. Barbed wire is recommended for 100% safety.
  
• Added: Map update—new POI and roadway added near the center of the map.
  
• Added: Electric Circular Sawbench, requires 200 power and trader tech. Yields 5 planks per log and no Oil required.
  
• Added: New Electric Sawbench tech available from the trader for 1000 coins.
  

[h3]Build 2 - Jan 29th:[/h3]

New set of Wooden foundations and ceilings:

• Wooden Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Corner Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Triangle Foundation 2
  
• Wooden Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Triangle Ceiling 2
  
• Wooden Ceiling 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling R 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Corner Ceiling L 2 (Ladder Access)
  
• Wooden Triangle Ceiling 2 (Ladder Access)
  

New set of quarter foundations and ceilings:

• Wooden Foundation Quarter
  
• Wooden Foundation Quarter 2
  
• Concrete Foundation Quarter
  
• Sandstone Foundation Quarter
  
• Wooden Ceiling Quarter
  
• Wooden Ceiling Quarter 2
  
• Concrete Ceiling Quarter
  
• Glass Ceiling Quarter
  
• Sandstone Ceiling Quarter
  

New sets of vertical half walls:

• Wooden Vertical Half Wall
  
• Interior Wooden Vertical Half Wall
  
• Glass Vertical Half Wall
  
• Sandstone Vertical Half Wall
  
• All the upgrade variations of walls (Brick, wood, concrete)
  

Some other additions and changes:

• Added: Wooden Slanted Roof Quarter
  
• Change: Pillar snap point slightly adjusted to accommodate quarter foundations and ceilings. Previously placed pillars will maintain their old position.
  

[h3]Build 3 - Jan 29th:[/h3]

• Added: Wooden Door 2
  
• Added: Wooden Door 3
  

[h3]Build 4 - Feb 3rd:[/h3]

• Added: Elevator Frames
  
• Added: Elevator
  
• Added: New Trader technology for unlocking elevator stuff.
  

[h3]Build 5 - Feb 4th:[/h3]

• Added: Wooden Ramp (Ceiling) Snaps only to ceilings and has no legs.
  

[h3]Build 6 - Feb 6th:[/h3]

• Added: 3 new sets of metal railings.
  
• Change: Some changes to the Build UI to accommodate all the new build parts.
  

[h3]Build 7 - Feb 7th:[/h3]

• Added: Mirror versions of the corner foundations and ceilings so that the textures can align.
  
• Added: Wood and Concrete half pillar.
  

[h3]Build 8 - Feb 8th:[/h3]

• Added: Menu settings for quantity of AI spawns in POIs (default is 3)
  
• Added: Players now have the ability to change color of powered lights. Furthermore, I have added the ability for you all to change the light intensity and to make them flash.
  

[h3]Build 9 - Feb 9th:[/h3]

• Added: New linear light.
  
• Added: New wall light.
  

[h3]Build 10 - Feb 11th:[/h3]

• Added: Watermill that provides 500 power, must be placed on Rapids.
  
• Added: New watermill trader tech for 1000 coins.
  
• Change: Rapids will no longer freeze in the winter.
  
• Change: 30% chance at Vambies dropping coins, between 5 and 25. Helps gather coins and adds another reason to actually wanna get out there and kill em.
  

[h3]Build 11 - Feb 23rd:[/h3]

• Added: Translations for all available cultures.
  
• Added: Water Bottle, can't be crafted but can be found in loot.
  
• Added: New POI, a more city like POI that contains an enormous amount of loot. It is mostly completed but still lacks some detailing that will be worked on in the upcoming days and some potential balancing. This POI will not contain any technologies but will offer some other cool items that can be found on fresh game starts.
  
• Change: watermill power from 500 to 350.
  
• Bugfix: Mike would sometimes have issues opening gates if they were placed near slopes.
  

[h3]Build 12 - Feb 24th:[/h3]

• Fixed: Rain in the new POI buildings.
  
• Change: Cost for the watermill tech increased to 1500.
  
• Change: Reduction of item drop rates in the new POI from approx. 70% to 60%. (Trying to balance loot quantities)
  
• Change: Slightly reduced coin drop amount from cash registers in the new POI.
  
• Fixed: Watermill still read 500 power in the control panel.
  
• Change: Rain sounds are dampened when in buildings and bases.