Yet Another Zombie Survivors News

[h2]Welcome, Survivor![/h2][p]
We are launching the beta test for the 0.9.2 update to the game. Apologies for the delay, the translations took a bit more than expected. Please read the information below to find out what's changing in this build and how you can help us test things. Keep in mind that everything is subject to change based on your feedback, so please let us know what you think.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]IMPORTANT: To reduce any possible confusion and accelerate the implementation of changes, please keep all the discussion related to the test versions to the spaces listed below:
[/p]

• [p]A dedicated #yazs-beta channel on our Discord server.
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• [p]"Public Beta Test" sub forum on YAZS Steam forums.
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• [p]Comments under this post.[/p]

[p]You can also send us your feedback at [email protected]
adding "0.9.2 Beta" somewhere in the title of your message. You can write about your experience with the beta version, what potential issues you've encountered, and how you find the changes made to the game itself. Thanks!

[/p][hr][/hr][h2]How to join the Public Beta Test?[/h2][hr][/hr][p]Want to help us out & get an early look at the new version of the game? Awesome!

[/p][h3]DISCLAIMER: Before jumping straight in, please understand that this version of the game might be unstable, create issues when switching between old & new builds of the game, and may generally be less stable, more buggy, and in an overall imperfect state. We will do our best to help you with any issues, but please understand the risks associated with beta testing.[/h3][p]
If you understand the potential problems and are willing to take the risk, here's how you can get in:

[/p][h2]How to join:[/h2]

1. [p]Open your Steam client, find Yet Another Zombie Survivors on your games list, right-click its name and select the "Properties..." option.
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2. [p]Enter the "Betas" tab, click the "None" drop-down menu on the right, and select the "public-beta" option. You can always return to the default version of the game by selecting "None" again.
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3. [p]If you want to share your feedback about the beta version (thanks in advance!), click the image below to join our Discord server (you'll need an account for that, but it'll be worth it, believe me!):
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4. [p]When joined, you will be able to comment on the current beta version in the new #yazs-beta forums, which you can join by selecting it from the drop-down list:
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5. [p]And that's all! If the beta/test version of the game is different from the current one, the Steam will update the game with its changes. You will know that the Beta Branch is active from the "\[public-beta]" text to the right of the game's title in your game's library.[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]What should I test in this version?[/h2][hr][/hr][p]
Here are some of the things that have been added/changed in this release:

• Added support for additional languages: German, French, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese-Brazilian, Korean, Spanish.
  
• New system: Weapon Range - Each weapon now scales differently with distance.
  
• New accessibility option: Game Speed - Change the gameplay speed from 50% to 200%.
  
• New leaderboard scores can now (once again) be entered to access their endscreen summaries (we will reset this version's leaderboards after the beta test period).
  
• Endurance Mode: Elite Bosses now scale their wind-ups and attack speeds with the Horde level.
  
• Added NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 support & improved FSR 3.0 upscaling quality.
  
• Minimap Radar now displays the current area's boundaries & closest Cash pickup indicators.
  
• Tons of optimization, stability & loading time tweaks, and lots of QoL you've asked for!

[p]We'll provide the final changelog at the full release of the 0.9.2 update.

[/p][hr][/hr][h2]What should I do if the game works worse or crashes?[/h2][hr][/hr][p]Keep us posted on the stability of the game, as we'll continue to work on improving the game and fixing any issues you may encounter with this beta test. If the game stutters or crashes more than before, please let us know!

If your game is performing worse than before, please press F8 on your keyboard and quickly fill out the survey to let us know what's going on. This will also send us your log files so we can check if there are any errors happening in the background.

If your game is crashing, freezing, lagging, or you've lost your progress, please make sure you've checked the Troubleshooting Guide (link below) first, and contact [email protected] with the description of the issue you've encountered.

ːfu_goldː https://steamcommunity.com/app/2163330/discussions/0/830459290005355070/

[/p][hr][/hr][p]There are a lot of additions in this update, but most of it should be easy to fix in case of potential issues. We'll probably keep this beta running for at least one week. Naturally, we'll make the necessary changes and improvements based on your feedback.

Thank you for all your support and patience ːheart_meː

ㅤ[h3]Welcome, Survivors![/h3]

It's been a while, hope you're having a great 2026 so far!

Today, I'd like to talk about the progress we're making and the changes we plan to implement soon.

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• [h3]Full Release Development Update[/h3]

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Work on version 1.0 is going on nicely and we're still aiming to release it in the first-half of the year.

At the time of writing, we're in the second half of the implementation of the brand new, main hub location, which is the Survivor's base camp in which you'll be chilling and spending time in-between runs. We're looking into translating the various existing main menu interfaces into Hub-integrated menus. Rest assured that we're ensuring your experience will be as seamless as possible. If you prefer to quickly navigate to your destination with a few button presses, you'll still be able to do so.

We've already written a lot of text, including character stories, quests and random dialogue between all the survivors, as well as radio station banter. In the final version, you'll have more than enough stuff to read, if you like to. That last part is important - we won't be forcing anyone into reading all that stuff - we'd love for everyone to take part in the game's lore and story, but if you'd prefer to jump straight into the action and have a great time doing just that, you can skip every bit of dialogue!

The same goes for the quests, which offer a fun way to learn about the characters, their motivations and how they ended up in a post-apocalyptic world. This content will remain optional, and there'll be no major unlock gated behind quests. Although completing quests will make your meta-progression faster, you'll still be able to obtain 99% of the unlocks without them. We might add an achievement or two related to them, but we're not yet certain about this, so let us know what you think!


PS The final map is looking good so far, and its environmental hazards certainly make things interesting!

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• [h3]Additional Languages Coming Soon![/h3]

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As we're getting closer to the full version release, we're ready to announce the additional languages that will be available for the release version of the game (in addition to English, Polish & Simplified Chinese).

We're working on implementing the following translations,
available later this month, in the upcoming version 0.9.2:

• German
• French
• Japanese
• Russian
• Portuguese-Brazilian
• Korean
• Spanish

If your language isn't on the list, let me explain. We now have 25,000 words of text in the game, and this will increase significantly with the addition of the Hub location, NPC dialogue, quests and more. While we'd love to add all the requested translations, please bear in mind that we're an indie team and professional translations are very expensive.

That said, we'll consider adding more languages in the post-release support phase. For now, however, our focus will be on ensuring that these 11 translations display and work flawlessly!

[hr][/hr]

• [h3]New Systems & In-Game Content![/h3]

[hr][/hr]
In addition to the things listed above, we're working on adding and tweaking more in-game systems. Here are some ideas we have for version 1.0 or even 0.9 still:

Disclaimer: Content described below is subject to change (please share your feedback!)
[h3]

• Weapons Effective Range

[/h3]
We're working on a new system to improve weapon diversity. The plan is to seamlessly implement range to all current and future weapons. This will make your weapon choices matter more by changing their damage output depending on the distance at which they hit their target. Now, your weapon choice will depend more on your build and team setup. For example: A shotgun will be more effective at short to mid range, while a sniper rifle will do more damage at long range. This will also allow us to enhance the gameplay with features such as Pyro's axe dealing extra damage when it hits an enemy with the blade end.
[h3]

• Item Upgrades - New Event

[/h3]
This one's was on our list for a long time. Here's the core idea: Depending on the game mode, up to three of your items will be able to be upgraded into their superior form, which will offer three to five times their normal bonus, or transform the way they work by adding new modifiers or even changing their effects completely. The best part is that the upgrading process will bring along a new in-game event, catching two birds with one net. We're looking at this system as a way to further diversify your runs by making different upgrade combinations viable in varied scenarios. Now, only one question remains: Will you dare to upgrade the Potato?
[h3]

• Badge System Expansion

[/h3]
We all love us some badges, so we aren't looking to removing them - instead, we're thinking of boosting them beyond their max ranks and adding a collection component to them, making you want to play "just one more run!". Our current idea is to make this system a bit more PoE-like, by adding badges as a randomized drop you get in your runs. By ranking up your badge nodes in each of your Survivor's skill tree, you could make higher ranked badge drops possible. These badges could be able to have special modifiers that can boost certain Survivors in addition to their normal effects. Once you have collected enough badges, you would be able to upgrade them to a higher tier, combine them for a shared (but slightly weaker) effect, and decide what to do with any additional special effects they might offer. In short, you can think of it as an additional layer of meta-progression!
[h3]

• Team Leader Passives

[/h3]
If you played the game in its early days, you might remember that starting with different Survivors as team leaders would grant you some stat bonuses. This system later evolved into the Badge System, but we've been saying that we'd like for it to return in an improved form. The current vision is for each Survivor in the game to have three different passive effects that can be unlocked and chosen from when selecting them as the team leader (starting character). Naturally, we want for these effects to be interesting, to add an incentive to who do you choose as your first Survivor for each run, but balanced enough so that you don't feel forced into any single option. Think things like an SOS Signal or an Item Chest spawning right away in your runs, but with the total amount staying the same as it would be without said passives. In short: additional interesting run modifiers!

[hr][/hr]

• [h3]Bullet Heaven Tag Situation Update![/h3]

[hr][/hr]
Remember our fight to get a genre-defining tag on Steam? Well, it's still not here yet, but that doesn't mean things haven't been set in motion. In fact, Valve (Senpai) has noticed of our efforts!

There will be an official Steam event for both Bullet Hell & Heaven games! This new event will launch on 8'th of June, so we'll make sure to remind you all about it when the time comes.

Small wins = still wins! Thank you all for your support so far! Although this event is still some time away, we're happy that things are moving in the direction of making things easier for gamers and developers alike.

Check out Diana's latest short video on this topic:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Important note: Many of you have suggested different names for the genre, and that's perfectly fine - your opinions and choices are valid. That said, we still need to take action, and this requires just one tag. So, let's at least agree that it's best to go with the option that received the most votes. While alternative names for the genre are all well and good, nothing will come of taking multiple options - we still need a single tag to make change for us all. So, please continue to tag the games you know in this genre as "Bullet Heaven" to help the cause and bring about positive change to the current gaming landscape. Thank you!



[hr][/hr]

• [h3]Happy Golden Retriever Day from Bekon & Figa![/h3]

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• [h3]Thanks for sticking with us![/h3]

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We're always grateful to have such an awesome community. It is your support that drives us forward. Keep sharing your feedback, ideas and suggestions - let's keep improving the game together!

On a quick note, we've recently updated the demo version of the game on Steam. YAZS is constantly being developed for all modern gaming platforms, so expect a demo version for PS4 and PS5 very soon (apologies for the delay!). If you own an Xbox, you can already check out the Game Preview (Early Access) version. Nintendo Switch demo will come at a similar time to the full release, due to this specific platform's requirements (sorry!).

Finally: Stay safe! The world can be a scary place at times, but let's believe that positive change is possible if we're given the chance. So stay strong, stay vigilant, and most importantly...

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤKalafiorek @ Awesome Games Studio

We have received 8,023 responses, thanks!
You can view the results of the poll [HERE].

And so, it's decided.

Horde Survival took the third place, Survivors-like the second, and...
with 3,528 votes as the first choice, the winning tag we'll be using is:

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Drum roll please!
[h2]ㅤㅤBullet Heaven[/h2]

Thank you, everyone, for taking part in the gaming history!

While this means we did it, and we're almost there, there's one more thing we can do together:

[h3]ㅤTag the games in this genre with the "Bullet Heaven" user tag![/h3]

This way, the road to the official tag will be much faster, with Valve simply having to upgrade it to an official store tag! See the animation below for a quick refresher on how to tag the games:



We all know that this tag might not have been your first choice, but please keep in mind, that splitting votes across different tags will only hurt our chances. We need one tag... to rule them all!

Here's a quick TLDR video from Diana:

[previewyoutube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVjG3oCstyo[/previewyoutube]

Also, thanks for your continued flow of feedback on Yet Another Zombie Survivors! We've pushed another, unnamed hotfix to the last update (0.9.1e) adding more QoL (e.g. laser sights on aiming override) and fixing the remaining issues you've reported (like the skill-tree node cost display).

Just a reminder - if you encountered any save-game related issues, fill out this form, and we'll help you out with the restoring process (or recreate your save from your description): Save Recovery Form

PS Don't forget about the -50% discount on YAZS, it'll be available for a few more days!


ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


ㅤ  Discord ㅤ   Bluesky ㅤ   X ㅤ   Facebook ㅤ   Instagram


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2163330/Yet_Another_Zombie_Survivors/

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3][p]

Before we drop 0.9.2 with bigger changes, here's a little more winter spirit for all of you:

• Seasonal Events system added to the game, currently applying cosmetic changes to your runs.
  
• "Seasonal Events" setting added to the Options menu: Enable, disable, or force a seasonal event.
  
• "UI Scale" setting added to the Options menu: Set interface and font scale to your liking. This settings works independently to HUD Scaling, which was added in the previous update.
  
• [Steam Deck] Default UI scale is set to 150%, but can be freely changed with the new setting.
  
• Decreased XP required per level when over level 150 (more level-ups in late game endless modes).
  
• Medic: Experiment 21: each grenade can be of a different element, instead of all being the same.
  
• Fixed the laggy fade-in effect of the main menu screen from the last update.
  
• Fixed some item combinations not working correctly in specific scenarios.
  
• Fixed the framerate skyrocketing on some loading screens.
  
• Fixes for some other minor errors.

Additional hotfix - 9'th December 2025:

• "Reroll" function now stays selected when rerolling power-ups.
  
• Stat display unified to show only one digit after the decimal point (e.g. 23.543% -> 23.5%).
  
• Enemy death animations fixed (especially Mummies).
  
• Manual aim override displays the laser sights now for easy of aiming.
  
• Fix for skill tree node costs not displaying.
  
• Fix for the endscreen weapon & ability stats sorting when swapping Survivors.
  
• Fix for missing translation for the Crowbar item.

For everyone who has lost your progress due to the cloud saving turmoils plaguing some previous builds of the game (sorry again!), please remember we'll do our best to restore your progress for you.

If your progress was reset, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/BK42H3NQU8dDdSUt6

Read more on manual method (if you don't want to fill the form) here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2163330/view/591788407966926843

See you in version 0.9.2 (for real this time)!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


ㅤ  Discord ㅤ X / Twitter ㅤ  Facebook ㅤ Instagram ㅤ TikTok


[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

I've got an offer you can't decline:

[hr][/hr][h2]Let's create a new video game genre![/h2][hr][/hr]
In Bernie's famous words: I am once again asking you for your help in shaping the gaming world!

Together with many other developers of the games in the same genre, we're launching a super important survey campaign, in which we ask you - our players - what would you like for these kind of games to be named. Yes, you heard that right - you can now decide how these games are named!

Please spend less than a minute to select three options in this form to take part in the gaming history:

ㅤ[h2]ㅤㅤㅤGenre-defining 30 second form:
ㅤhttps://forms.gle/8SNkDWi9GrJ37ARdA[/h2]

The results of this poll will be presented to Valve, and from the amount of media coverage we've got this far, they are sure to react to the voice of people. Please don't spam GabeN about it though! We've got a special team for these tasks ; )

By the way, here's a short video by Diana describing this campaign in detail:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In short: many devs are excited to make similar games but worry their work will disappear without the right Steam tag/category. Let's help them out - more games, more fun! On behalf of everyone, thank you!

Oh, by the way, the festival is on!

[hr][/hr][h2]Biggest discount so far![/h2][hr][/hr]
Bullet Heaven Festival this year is sponsored by us! It's a festival for the genre (yeah, the one lacking a proper tag still), which will takes place from now to 11th of December. That means BIG DISCOUNTS!



You can get Yet Another Zombie Survivors at a -50% discount, which is the biggest discount yet, so let you friends and family know, or maybe... gift it to that special someone 👀 It's up to you!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2163330/Yet_Another_Zombie_Survivors/
You can also browse all the bundles with other awesome games here: https://store.steampowered.com/bundlelist/2163330/

Don't forget to check out the official Steam page of the event here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BulletHeaven3

[hr][/hr][h2]New update tomorrow![/h2][hr][/hr]
If nothing explodes, we'll be releasing a new minor update tomorrow, simultaneously on PC and Xbox.
This will include two new settings, fixes, and improvements that you've requested.

Also, we hope to bring some seasonal feelings to your daily runs ːheart_meː

ㅤ

And speaking of the future, we have a clear idea of what we'll be working on, and everything is looking good so far. With a healthy mix of our ideas and your suggestions, future versions are shaping up nicely.

We'll continue to work on minor updates for version 0.9.X, and then we'll take some time to develop the huge 1.0 update, which will be released on all platforms! We hope you'll be there with us when it finally happens.

Enjoy the festival!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio