Yet Another Content Update 0.9

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

I hope you're doing great! We certainly haven't been resting for too long the last few months, as we've been busy juggling both the 0.9 update and a console Early Access release!

But first things first, get your tickets ready!

[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː New Map: Dead Terminal![/h2][hr][/hr]
All aboard the zombie-mowing train!



New map is here, this time doused in crimson steel and rusted iron. Hear the distant train horn? It might be closer than you think, so watch out not to stand on the tracks, as this wild ride never ends!

Ready yourself to fight against six new enemies, each with distinct attack patterns and abilities. Face two new terrifying bosses: the Humongous zombie, which transforms his brethren into elites, and the Chainsawman, who's always ready to dance... with death!

Dance, as the crossroads meet, and death clad in iron is waiting to crush its prey at any given moment. Rock out to the two new metal compositions from our acclaimed magicians at Music Imaginary.

And, most importantly, try the...


[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː New Game Modes: Endurance & Infinite![/h2][hr][/hr]
Remember Endless? This is him now:


As promised, we've divided the old game mode you know and love into two separate experiences, each crafted for the two types of endless enjoyers, so that each one can enjoy the game to their heart's content!

Endurance Mode takes the spot previously owned by the Endless Mode. While early game doesn't differ much from what you're already used to, I dare you to try to survive forever, no matter which build you fancy. In fact, you'll be challenged to survive as long as you can, as every 5-10 minutes, after the 20-minute mark, you'll face an increasing number of new horrors: the Elite Bosses. These foes are not only stronger and tougher than the rest, they are also immune to most things normal zombies aren't. Show us your best moves and prove the World that you can survive the longest!
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Infinite Mode in straight contrast is a much more chill experience. While its based on Endurance wave definition, you'll soon find that you can stomp the horde fast and hard, with the fact, that in this mode there is no item limit. Feel free to equip your 89 favorite items, sit back, and relax to your brand new screensaver (popcorn sold separately) that can go on, and on, and on, and on... BUT! To not make the game feel meaningless, this is an optional game mode, in which most achievements are disabled. As such, you'll still have incentives to play other modes and progress further than before!

We hope that this separation will prove both sides happy as now you can choose if you want to be challenged or prefer to chill and watch the numbers go up.

And the numbers WILL go up, because all difficulty levels, game modes, and arenas now have...


[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Better Scaling - Horde HP & Speed Down, INT Up![/h2][hr][/hr]
Remember the good old days, where you had to kite the bullet sponges (boss enemies) through every corner of the map, barely escaping before they died? Me neither!

With this update, we're fixing the inconsistencies between different levels, so that you know what to expect when starting your run, and making sure you'll get rewarded for going for the extra challenge.

In addition to better difficulty VS reward curves, we're nerfing the Horde representants Max HP and Movement Speed stats. Zombies no longer increase their movement speed with time, keeping the challenge fair and increasing players' feeling of getting stronger as the run continues.



But it wouldn't be a challenge if the battle were one-sided, don't you agree? Saying that, zombies are now more organized, striking sooner, and with improved encircling AI. Ice damage type is no longer the "only right way" to clear late game content, with its crazy scaling nerfed, and Horde can now break free of a taunt effect if you come too close to them while they're distracted!

Be sure to let us know what you think about these changes after playing a few runs. We'd love to hear more of your feedback to know if the difficulty is in the right spot or if we should re-adjust it.


[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Achivements, Minimap Radar & Auto-Choices![/h2][hr][/hr]
We heard you like tabs, so we've put tabs in your Achievements!


Besides the new achievements we're adding in this update, there's also a redesign of the achievements interface, aimed to support the additions that we've promised before. Achievements UI is now divided into three parts:

• Progression: which hosts achievements related to progression and points you in ways on what you could do next to progress deeper into the game's main content.
  
• Achievements: Non-progression related challenges you know and love (to have more).
  
• Hall of Torments: Fully optional, very hard to extremely difficult non-Steam achievements, that give you nothing but bragging rights (and potentially some in-game points for visual-only rewards). The Torments are coming soon, with a standard update to 0.9, but the UI is ready.

We've also added a minimap, which was also an often requested feature. You can customize it to your liking from within the new Options menu tab: Interface. With the addition of minimap, you can choose to disable the classic indicators, as well as the map, or use both at the same time - your game, your choice!

Speaking of choices, we've also added the Auto-Choices function, which can be enabled in the General tab of the Options menu. This option adds an additional button in the pause menu, which allows you to set which types of power-up selection screens will have their choices selected at random. Feeling like putting your survival on the line, giving full control to the lady luck? Wanting to just relax and not think too much about your level-up choices? Now you can do just that!


There are also many other QoL improvements, like additional information in tooltips, more details in the skill trees, improved control of the power-up selection interface, and many more. For all the details, I invite you to check the full patch notes below:

[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Changelog:[/h2][hr][/hr]
[h3]Gameplay Changes:[/h3]

• New area: Dead Terminal. With new environmental hazard (trains!) & 6 new enemies.
  
• New enemy type: Elite Boss - Tougher, immune to status effects, drop Tag point upgrades.
  
• Endless was completely redesigned into two separate game modes:
  
  
  • Endurance - Spawns an ever-growing number of Elite Bosses every 5-10 minutes after the first 20.
    
  • Infinite - Play as long as you like without the item slot limit but with most achievements disabled.
• Difficulty & Horde stat scaling rework:
  
  
  • Better and more predictable scaling on all maps, game modes, and difficulty levels.
    
  • Horde HP scaling is much slower than before (less damage sponges all around).
    
  • Horde no longer increases its Movement Speed stat with Horde Level changes.
    
  • Enemy behavior improved to better surround the player when possible.
• 17 new items:
  
  
  • One For All, Fire Extinguisher, Warm Ice Cream, Battery Leakage, Biofuel Energy, Nail Bat, Expired Sushi, Treasure Finder, Nuclear Fusion, 99'th Balloon, Explosive Surprise, Power of Friendship, Life Savings, Mouse Trap, Last Unicorn, Broken Glass, Well Prepped.
• Achievement interfaces reworked into three distinct tabs:
  
  
  • Progression: Displays what can be unlocked next to help players decide their steps.
    
  • Achievements: Non-progression related challenges you know and love (to have more).
    
  • Hall of Torments: COMING SOON! Fully optional hardcore non-Steam achievements.
• 20 new achievements (note: as usual, some item rewards changed/swapped places).
  
• Radar Minimap - with multiple customizable options in the Options -> Interface tab.
  
• Auto Selection - automatic choices, separated for each power-up selection type.
  
• Mechanic Survivor unlock requirements lowered to 4,000 ability activations (from 5,000).
  
• Optimization & game size improvements (we downloaded more FPS for everyone!).
  
• Research Pod event: Virus Sample indicators no longer disappear after a few seconds.
  
• Other minor tweaks.

[h3]Quality of Life:[/h3]

• New "Interface" tab in Options, with additional settings for indicators and radar minimap.
  
• Improvements to interface navigation (e.g. scrolling, power-up selection on gamepad).
  
• Sony PlayStation DualSense and DualShock controllers now display correct prompts.
  
• Controller vibration no longer activates when collecting XP when set to medium or lower.
  
• Added Reroll/Banish/Lockdown/Skip binding in Remap Controls function in Options.
  
• Reroll function now stays selected after rerolling (doesn't reset to the first power-up).
  
• Some items that lacked visual identification for their activation now have it added.
  
• Survivor Specialization Level now displays on their cards at the SOS Signal interface.
  
• Pause Menu: Weapon & Ability tooltips now display their current DPS value.
  
• Skill Tree: Weapon & Ability descriptions display their rank 4 damage type tag bonuses.
  
• Skill Tree: Ability Evolutions are now listed in their unlock node descriptions.
  
• Items: Jade Amulet: Now displays the bonus amount it grants in its tooltip.
  
• Item swap interface now displays items' full description when it's selected.
  
• Huntress: Arrow Rain: Downpour: Tooltip now shows the number of times it will launch.
  
• Medic: Resuscitation: Tooltip now displays how many times it was activated.
  
• Optional game modes are no longer included in map completion at the area selection UI.
  
• Total number of defeats no longer displays in the Zombiepedia.
  
• Other minor QoL additions with interface, color, and translation improvements.

[h3]Balance Changes:[/h3]

• Survivor changes:
  
  
  • Taunt effects now taunt up to 16 enemies with a single effect activation.
    
  • If Survivors are close to the taunt effect, zombies are now able to retarget them.
    
  • Engineer: Energy Shield: Protection: Now blocks projectiles spawned inside the shield.
    
  • Medic: Syringe Gun: Increased starting clip size to 5 (from 2), damage to 120 (from 100), final clip size by 1.
    
  • Mechanic: Chainsaw: Hitbox increased (RIP...).
    
  • Pyro: Axerangs: Hitbox increased (...AND TEAR!).
• Tag changes:
  
  
  • Tag effect activation chances now have diminishing returns, scaling towards ~90%.
    
  • Ice: Slowing effect is now a constant of 25% (no longer scales with Tag amount).
    
  • Ice: Perma-Freeze chance reduced for Elite & Boss enemies.
    
  • Fire: Burn instances now stack up on each other. Each stack lasts at least 3s.
    
  • Fire: Burn effect transfer chance is now a constant of 10% (no longer scales).
• Item changes:
  
  
  • Devil's Deal: Survivor stats are now increased by +25% (from +20%).
    
  • Burger: Max HP decrease effect is now -25% (1/4, from 1/3).
    
  • Scented Candle: Status effect duration now decreases by -15% (from -20%).
    
  • Zugzwang Hypergaster XD: Now increases damage type tags by +5 (from +4).
    
  • Stretcher: Now reduces the Dodge Chance by -1% per stack (from -2%).
    
  • Camping Set: -5 Movement Speed effect removed (what was it even doing there?).
    
  • Wooden Stick: Tweaked for Infinite Mode, counting empty item slots up to 8.
    
  • Empty Chest: Tweaked for Infinite Mode, counting empty item slots up to 8.
    
  • Glass Cannon: Now decreases your Max HP by 25%.
    
  • Gold Medal: XP required to level-up increased by 10% (from 5%).
    
  • Schrodinger's Cat: +10 Luck effect removed.
    
  • Congratulations Letter: Now grants up to two Military Training upgrades at a 50% ratio.

[h3]Bugfixes:[/h3]

• Fix for the new save game files having the default game volume set to 0%.
  
• Items: Skip Rope: Now properly grants bonuses for Research Pod event selection Skips.
  
• Items: Zugzwang Hypergaster XD: Fixed the wrong order of calculations.
  
• Huntress: Bear Trap: Now no longer spawns blood in the no-blood mode (sorry, dads!).
  
• Fixed a rare sound volume issue that happened when alt-tabbing the game window.
  
• Other minor fixes.

PS If you encounter issues with the game crashing or freezing, please refer to our Troubleshoot Guide first!

[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː What's to come?[/h2][hr][/hr]
The update 0.9 is officially the final major update of the Early Access version (release hype!).

That, however, doesn't mean we won't update the game still before the 1.0 version drops. In fact, we currently plan to release a series of smaller updates, which will consist of not only hotfixes to potential reported issues, but also some of the planned features.

Here are the next things we plan to work on:

• Translations / new languages support!
  
• Hall of Torments - Very hard, optional challenges.
  
• Interface/text scaling for handheld devices / Steam Deck verified.
  
• Completion of missing pages for Zombiepedia & Survival Guide.
  
• Presets for requested interfaces (e.g. Item Pool Customization).
  
• Team leader's passives and/or perks for even more run customization.
  
• New gameplay mechanics/map interactables within the playable area.
  
• At least one main boss encounter (one main boss for each map planned).
  
• Ninth Survivor & new map(s?).
  
• More synergies between Survivors, possible item upgrades and/or combinations.
  
• Additional column (fifth rank) for the general & Survivors' skill trees.
  
• Prestige system (new game+).

And... you'll not believe it, but...

• Main hub...
  
• with a story...
  
• and additional quests...
  
• and dialogues with NPCs and Survivors!

Which brings us to:

[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Release date estimate changes![/h2][hr][/hr]
With the amount of things to come - especially with the last surprise addition mentioned above - we've decided that we're moving the full game release date a bit forward, which now officially stands at the first half of the 2026.

We're sorry for yet another delay, but we ask you for a bit more patience, as we really want to do the release correctly. Version 1.0 impressions from the new and old players will be extremely important for us, as a successful launch on PC and consoles will pave the way for us to continue the development further, adding all the crazy stuff we've missed along the way in our shared adventure in the Early Access!

This time, if we won't encounter any complications along the way, we're confident that we can make it this time, as we have a clear cut of what we want to implement, as well as a bit of leeway to make it happen, with some of the upcoming features actually already being worked on as I write this.


[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Xbox Game Preview version released![/h2][hr][/hr]
Yes, you've heard that right, YAZS is now available on all Xbox Ones & Series, in a Game Preview (Early Access) version. Also, your demo progress transfers to the retail version!

- https://www.xbox.com/games/store/yet-another-zombie-survivors/9NCK0FXQL38F

Forgive us for not bringing the game to consoles sooner, but we've encountered some roadblocks along the way. For Xbox release, we've had to be selected by the platform holder to be accepted into the Game Preview program, and we actually were, around a month ago (which is the surprise on why update 0.9 got delayed to September, oops)!

About the other console platforms, well... both Sony & Nintendo approach to early access titles and game releases overall required us to skip the "game preview" versions for both of these ecosystems, as well as plan the demo release to be closer to the full game release. While it's unfortunately something outside of our control, we can assure you that...

Our test builds for both PS4, PS5, and Switch (the original one!) are working great, and you'll be able to play the full version of the game at the same time as everyone else, no matter which platform you're on!

PS Update 0.9 will come to Xbox soon, as we polish the last few console-specific related quirks!


[hr][/hr][h2] ːfu_skullː Thanks for sticking with us![/h2][hr][/hr]
If you've read through it all, you're the real MVP!

There were a lot of things happening in the background these last couple of weeks, so we're thankful for your patience while we've worked on the update to one of your favorite post-time activities.

Special thanks, as always, to our brave beta testers, who made sure your experience will be bug-free (except the bugs we've added in the last few days - sorry!)!

Now, please enjoy yourself, no matter if you're playing on Steam or on Xbox. We hope you'll continue to enjoy the game and will keep us informed on what you would add or change. Remember, we're here, and we DO listen to all your feedback and suggestions!


ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


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